Joseph McManners News

Joe's planned trip to Hong Kong

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:17:44 -0400

As I stated in the last news update, Joseph was planning on a trip to Hong Kong later this year, although nothing was finalised. However, Deborah has been sending some material out there and it seems this idea is going to become reality so all you Chinese fans might be seeing Joseph very soon.

Joseph's Play Kicks off

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:47:33 -0400

So Joseph's play, Dido, Queen of Carthage is currently being shown at Joseph's school. For those who don't know, Joseph is playing the leading lady, Dido

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More Joseph News

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:16:57 -0400

Just had a convo with Deborah, some interesting stuff:

We actually talked a lot about 'The Little Prince.' Malcom you might find this interesting, Deborah actually had a cameo as a weed. LOL. Remember those weeds that the Prince pulls up from the ground? Well, they're actually people's hands hidden behind the sand dune. One of which, was Deborah. Also, the plane was offered to Joseph as a present and is currently sitting in one of their many barns. Something I never knew.
Joseph plans on traveling to Hong Kong in December where he hopes to have about 18 concerts. This isn't confirmed yet so all you Chinese fans, don't get your hopes up.
Deborah will be giving me some autographs on Friday so all who are promised one will get them soon
Joseph hopes to take AS Level Mandarin - fascinating
We've all heard about Joseph and the tractor (if you haven't, browse through some of the existing news articles) well it turns out, he's just as rampant on his bike as he is on his tractor. Turns out he's buckled Deborah's front tyre which she needs to get fixed.
Joseph is taking a liking to gardening, looks like there's a possibility of re-opening their farm

That's it I'm afraid.

Joseph News

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:36:56 -0400

Although we spoke for a very long time this evening, there really isn't that much to update you with:

Joseph is still undergoing his exams so between them and his rehearsals for Dido (which I will be attending, received my official invite this evening ) he's a very busy chap
Deborah cut his hair! She says he looks too much like a guy now and she's worried what the director of the play will think now that he doesn't have long hair
Too add to the hilarious story about the tractor, although the tractor was fixed, Deborah managed to break it again so it's had to go in for another service.
Joseph's Chinese teacher stated that in the 8 years he's taught at Joseph's school, Joseph is definitely within the top 3 of his favourite students (academically speaking)
Some of you may know, Joseph entered a Poetry competition organised by Classic FM (http://www.arvonfoundation.org/) and apparently Joseph's poetry is fantastic so if he wins this will obviously be a big deal for him because poetry ties nicely in with song writing. So that's very exciting stuff.
Joseph hopes to achieve a grade 7 in piano and a grade 8 in singing. I managed to acquire my grade 8 piano when I was 16 and I offered him all my music books and theory manuals. Hopefully he can pass them with a high pass.
I asked how tall Joseph is now, a lot of members have asked. His official height is 5'3"
Some of Joseph's teachers have put his name down as a potential candidate for Cambridge University which, as most will know, is the best Uni in the UK and is the equivalent to the American Harvard. This is excellent news.

I think that's all we covered. If not, I'll add more.

Joseph News

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:16:29 -0400

Just got off the phone with Deborah:

We're going to be working on taking snippets of Joseph's new songs and uploading 'taster' teasers.
Deborah is meeting with another big producer next week
She apologises to everyone for the rather "boring hiatus" but things will pick up again within the next few months.
Fortunately, she's recovered from her illness
Joseph is still taking his exams

Joseph News

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:00:19 -0400

Just got off the phone to Deborah, here is some more recent news:

Unfortunately, Deborah has been very ill this past 8 weeks which has prevented any form of meeting from taking place. Obviously Joe is back at school at this moment in time and won't be back for a few more weeks. Therefore, everyone who is waiting for an autograph (Sjoerd being one) will have to wait a little longer I'm afraid.
Joseph has finally got his voice under control. He says it's a lot easier singing lower than it was singing higher. Now that his voice is now more controllable without it cracking and everything else, he will be making more frequent trips to the studio.
One of his producers, who also works with Robbie Williams thinks one of Joseph's songs is "fantastic"
Deborah was telling me about Joseph's report card. Apparently, he was getting all '1s' (the grading system extends to 5 which is the lowest) so this is fantastic news. He's now taking his iGCSEs and at the moment, he's sitting his 'higher maths' exam. This just demonstrates how much of a brainiac he is. He says he "loves" maths.
They're dealing with more kittens. The cat who gave birth to my cat (Angel) has given birth again. Unfortunately, she decided to give birth to them inside a wheelie bin and took about 5 days to have them rescued. Joe insisted on them being moved to the stables where the litter lived last year. All 4 kittens are live and well. There are 2 gingers, 1 champagne and a black one. She said that one was the size of a baked beans can which is quite big for a 2 week old moggy.
Hahaha everyone remember Joseph's tractor escapades?? (Here and here). The infamous tractor that the McManners have used for many years to cut their grass has remained dormant since that fateful day last year when Joseph decided to go on a rampage with it, managed to break it by driving over a dead tree stump AND lose the keys all in one day. Deborah admitted to nearly "strangling" him that day. It was a rather amusing experience watching the two red in the face screaming at each other. (Joseph then ran into the woods in a huff and seeked refuge at Deborah's parent's home who conveniently live at the bottom of their road.) Anyway, Deborah managed to track down a mechanic who fixed it yesterday and provided her with a pair of keys so she wouldn't have to start the thing with a screwdriver any more. So Joseph, who apparently loves cutting grass and who will return shortly for the Summer holidays, can return to his favourite pastime of cutting grass which is apparently over 1 feet tall at the moment. (I think the immobiliser Deborah installed will remain intact lol.)
Moving on...Joseph is learning Chinese. He says he loves it. As you all know, he has many Chinese fans so he'll be conversing in their home tongue very soon. Every so often, he along with some of his Chinese classmates venture out into town to a 'Rice Shop' and eat Chinese food. Very interesting.
The play he's currently rehearsing for is going well. Apparently, some lines are very long but he's managing to cope.

Joseph Auditioning

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:55:38 -0400

Joseph's attending a (quote) "very important" audition this week, no news of the film nor the character yet but as soon as I hear an update, I'll inform you all!

McManners paying me a visit

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:23:59 -0400

Thursday afternoon, Deborah and Joseph will be picking me up from the University and will be taking me back to my house where they will spend the evening 'catching up.' If any of you are on MSN at that time, you might get the chance to speak to Joseph via my account.

Joseph News

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:38:41 -0400

Joseph has been selected to play the part of Dido in Christopher Marlowe's play "Dido Queen Of Carthage" at his school. He doesn't seem bothered at all that this character is a female

Joseph News

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:13:15 -0400

Had a long conversation with Deborah a few minutes ago, unfortunately, she's still ill and suspects she's caught glandular fever *wonders who she's been kissing*

Deborah and Joseph were in London yesterday, Joe's second album is almost finished
They are just waiting for confirmation from two big producers regarding his final two tracks
He filmed a short promotional film yesterday

Sounds exciting

Joseph News

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:59:36 -0400

Received a phone call from Deborah today. Unfortunately, she's suffering from a really sore throat so I appreciated the phone call a lot more today

Casualty: sadly Joseph didn't fit the description the casting director was looking for therefore his audition fell through. Still no news on the Narnia auditions.
On a more positive note, Joseph is in talks to appear in a new feature film. The title is still unknown but the story is going to be based around a boarding school so Joseph should feel right at home!

Sorry, that's all.

Joseph News

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:37:49 -0500

Deborah rang me last night and we spoke for well over 2 hours haha

Joseph is about 7 tracks into a second album and he's meeting with another producer during half term (British holiday halfway through each school term). This producer has made the careers of Wham and Jamiroquai and now hopefully Joseph McManners
Deborah insisted that she wasn't intentionally trying to be a 'boastful mother' lol but she described Joseph's new music as 'utterly beautiful' she's going to offer me some samples soon.
Joseph loves his new school but she also said that he misses the Langton and has kept all his old school ties.
His new school resembles that of Hogwarts. It looks similar and they have 'Hog Heads' on their uniform.
Deborah has urged me to allow Angel to have at least one litter of kittens.
She's very impressed with Joseph's piano playing abilities. He was grade 3 standard when he left for his new school but came home at Christmas time playing music that was grade 6 level.
She hinted on a fan meeting and is in discussions with Joseph's headmaster to help with the arrangements.
Joseph participated in a 'secret santa' amongst his dorm friends and got given an electric guitar
For those fans of Deborah's book (myself being one), she's currently planning a second which should be finished within the next year

Joseph will audition for 'Casualty'

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:31:13 -0500

Joseph will shortly be auditioning for a role in the hit British medical drama 'Casualty' which has had many celebrity cameos including Kate Winslet and Orlando Bloom.

As soon as I hear more of this, I'll update you all.

New Songs

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:40:26 -0500

Joseph's new songs are coming on great. He'll be heading back into the studio over christmas

New CD on the way?

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:43:51 -0500

Deborah has returned from London very recently with a promo of a CD featuring Joseph. This is an EMI project might I add, not Sony.

Joseph Heading to London

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:43:00 -0500

I got word from Ryan this evening that Joseph is heading to London tomorrow (November 15th) to experiment with his new voice. Ryan's been told that the music he'll be experimenting with will resemble that of James Blunt.

Small News

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 05:27:13 -0400

Some of you may have already heard this but Joseph will be singing "Elenor Rigby," which for those who know this song will agree it's a very different genre to what we're all used to, for an inter-house concert at his school. He's also been asked to do a documentary for (English Version) ITV (which is a TV channel here in the UK) about talented young people. As soon as I hear more about this, I'll keep you updated

Update on Joseph

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:51:36 -0400

Just a quick update on what Joseph is up to. There is only so much I can tell you but not all of it is good news.

Joseph is attending a boarding school and starts Wednesday. This is a very late decision and more specific details of his acceptance aren't going to be released per request.
Joseph thoroughly enjoyed his trip to France but you all probably assumed this anyway.
It's going to be at least 9 months before another album is released. Unfortunately, his voice still hasn't matured enough. His producers have many ideas as to how they wish to market his voice. Once again as per request these details aren't being announced yet.
For those who are familiar with Joseph's tractor escapades. An immobiliser has been installed to prevent him from driving it
You can expect Joseph to appear in a popular UK magazine in the near future, More info on this later.
He's still receiving invites from various different countries whether they take up these invites, she's unsure about.
Then we spoke about University and other personal stuff

I apologise for the lack of news but you can class this break as a hiatus. He will be back and there is only so much info I can tell you but we have many ideas planned for the near future.

Watch this space...

Joseph's Audition went "well"

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:59:24 -0400

They've just got back and the audition went (quote) "...well..." Deborah said he came out smiling so that's a good sign. Unfortunately, because this is a very serious part, the auditioning process is very complicated and he'll have to return in around September period, however, we'll keep our fingers crossed for him.

Joseph also auditioned for a role in Harry Potter. Sadly, the character in which he auditioned for can't be made public. I'm sure you can all speculate amongst yourselves which character this will be.

In a few weeks, Joseph heads off to France for a holiday. His great Uncle owns a house 2 miles from Nice so they're having a family get together.

Then we went on to speak about University and other personal stuff that'll probably bore you so I won't post about it lol

Joseph Auditions

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:07:32 -0400

Joseph will attend an audition on Friday for the part of Eustace Scrubb in the upcoming Narnia film