Ian Carter's Showreel Website

Download my CV here.

Born in 1950, I live in Chesterfield, Derbyshire - but I travel all over the country as a barn dance (or ceilidh) caller.

I started my working life as a teacher of French in the mid-1970s, but it didn''t take me long to realise there was more to life than that!

Music

Naturally enough, I began to pursue some of my hobbies, especially in the world of music. At first, I joined 'Big Daddy's Blues Band' with Arthur Billington, a colleague from the first school I taught in, in Derby. Arf specialised in Classical Studies, and was an amazing character. We had a great time, and I alternated from piano to electric bass as Arthur thrashed his 1904 Gibson arch-topped guitar or wailed away on his blues harp (he had one for every conceivable key!).

In my second year at the school, Arthur and I were joined by an English teacher, the lovely Barbara Wynch, who introduced us to the singing of The Watersons and other traditional English (as opposed to American) folk musicians. Immediately, I found myself hooked! It didn't take us long to start singing three-part harmony, and pretty soon we were the resident singers at a couple of well known folk clubs in or near Derby. We called ourselves 'Back Kitchen', as we used to rehearse in Barbara's back room.

Acting

On top of the music, I rapidly developed an interest in acting, especially as the Central Television studios weren't so far away, in Nottingham. I joined Equity, and did some 'extra' work on Shine On, Harvey Moon among other things. I went down to Birmingham to be on Crossroads, and in the middle of the miners' strike I played a prisoner-of-war in Jenny's War, a mini-series on HTV, featuring Robert Hardy, Christopher Cazenove, Dyan Cannon and the Brigadier from Doctor Who.

Teaching abroad

Financial problems took me abroad, first to Saudi Arabia, then to Thailand and lastly to Burma, where I found tremendous satisfaction in teaching English to people who really wanted to learn. Such a different story when I came back to England at the end of 2006.

More acting

Since I got back, I've been involved in a couple of student movies. Fiver Live at Sheffield Hallam University, had me playing a well-heeled drunk, as well as a market stallholder (florist) - but unfortunately the drunk scenes weren't used in the final edit. In Doors at Manchester Metropolitan University, I played the bereaved father of a couple of 20-somethings, at a stressful Christmas lunch.

I was happy to contribute to a training video for a company in the former Yugoslavia, and have auditioned for similar jobs very recently.

A trip to Hull gave me the chance to play the coarse and vulgar father of an advertising executive in his 30s. The film, Desperate Men, is still a work in progress at the time of writing.

More music

I'm still involved in the music scene, as you'll find out at the Ram Company's website. A suite of songs I wrote back in the early 1980s has finally found its way out and made it onto CD in October 2008. The show is called Waltzers and Wonders: The Wakes is in Town, and it's all about the fairground.

My other website

For more videos of me in action, doing what I really enjoy, which combines teaching with music and entertainment, check out my other website, http://barndance.biz.