1961 Magazine Fall 2016

SPOTLIGHT
Q: Ashley, how did Legend Quest come about?
A: I was 34 years old and had just published my second
book when I got a call from a very flamboyant agent
in LA. “We’ve seen you and we think your great, would
you travel to Costa Rica to cast for a new show called
Legend Quest?” I was on top of the world; this was
it my big break, every boy’s dream! I flew there and
upon arriving I discovered they had cast 164 people
for the part and had shortlisted 16 of us for this last
casting shoot.
Two weeks after the shoot our agents called us all up
and said the show has been trashed, the budget had
been pulled and the show was cancelled all together.
What a disappointment and complete waste of time.
Then three months later I got a call out of the blue
saying we’ve got three weeks to film the first episode.
We shot the episode in cathedrals and churches in
Palermo and France and the network loved. So off I
went for a year of my life filming all over the world.
After we filmed the show a post-production team was
chosen by SyFy and they twisted and bent the stories
into more story than fact, more action than thought
provoking TV. These out-of-the-blue calls aren’t always
great though. One summer I got a call from Mr. Robert
Watts, the Associate producer of the Empire Strikes
Back. He called me and paid me a massive compliment,
that I was a real life version of the person Indiana Jones
was based on. He wanted to buy a movie option for
my latest book. There I was thinking this is about as
big as you can get, here is Robert Watts telling me
he loved my stuff. Then, several weeks had passed
with no replies to my emails and I never heard from
him again. I found out some years later after meeting
other researches in my fields that he had gone all over
Scotland telling everyone in the business the same
thing. What a pr**k. Blowing young people up like
balloons, and pricking them with a needle, is not cool
Q: Were you ever a protégé to someone or did you have
someone who inspired you along the way?
Photo by Carlo Sanchez
A: When I was 22 I met Niven Sinclair, Head Sponsor
of the Clan Sinclair. I set up a historical research
team with Niven and he commissioned me to study
paintings, and artefacts pertaining to the clan Sinclair.
We took helicopter rides over castles and sacred sites
in Scotland. I spent an entire year of my life studying
Rosslyn Chapel and he was very supportive. I measured
the church architecture, and reverse engineered it
all the way to the foundations. The crypt at Rosslyn
Chapel was sealed in the 18th century. Sir Walter Scott
recorded that 20 Templar Knights were sealed inside
the crypt. A mysterious painting which had been kept
in the Dalhousie family’s private collection for over
150 years recently surfaced at an auction in Edinburgh.
The painting was titled, “Templar Knight at Rosslyn
Chapel”, by R.T. McPherson circa 1836. Niven Sinclair
commissioned me to study and analyze the Masonic and
Templar symbols in it. The painting reveals a staircase
that is no longer in the chapel today. Perhaps this was
artistic flair or interpretation on behalf of the artist, or
perhaps this could be the entrance to the crypt which
was sealed in the 18th century. It’s not so easy to get
into these secret chambers, believe me I’ve tried.
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Fall 2016 1961 Magazine