I (Mike Ellison) first met Bill under his true name of Clive Harris in 1983.
He was the presenter of a custard pie caper held at a venue near Hammersmith, London.
I next remember meeting him a year or two later, this time hosting a mud wrestling event on the 1st floor of a pub also down London’s West End.
As a freelance writer, he had many fingers in many pies, but was a dynamic, yet irreverent, innovator.
I next met Clive (now renamed as Bill Shipton ) 11th March 1989 at the 1st Aquantics Convention held at the Harbour Heights Hotel (now converted to flats!) in Tenby, South Wales.
Bill had decided to launch a wet and messy magazine under the name of ‘Splosh’.
WSM girls Carol and Debbie provided the ‘splosh’ entertainment that time (see image set S058 which i last reviewed on 6th December 2019, but you can view 4 pics by going to http://www.wsmprod.com
>>>>>>> http://www.wsmprod.com ‘What’s New’, then paging back under ‘Older posts’ to 6th December 2019 (sorry no video of this shoot).
Bill formed a good working relationship with Shaun Kendall (the WSM film editor) and they went on to make the ‘Buff’ range of videos.
Bill’s writing and comic skills were well apparent, so WSM signed him up as our script-writer and Bill produced the scripts for the WSM Vintage Films numbers 3 to 9.
In fact, it was better than that, as Bill was only too happy to show his versatility by taking a number of roles in the videos. So Bill had real ‘hands-on’ experience in the 90’s.
Bill started his Splosh website as a haven for many WAM inclined people who had lived uncertain and lonely lives. He was the accepted reassuring face of WAM and a means of connecting like minded peoples. This was successful but sadly there was no inbuilt legacy as to who was to pick up the torch.
But this Tribute’s purpose is to look at his work in creating the Splosh magazine.
Bill’s 1st issue of Splosh magazine was shot in the basement of the Harbour Heights Hotel in Tenby.
WSM assisted Bill by supplying content for Splosh issues 2 through to 11.
But Bill realized at the end of the 90’s that a new phenomena was changing the world.
So the internet made magazine production too costly and sales fell away.
But what a remarkable talent Bill had to put together a new magazine and manage to produce 40 issues.
Now, 8 years after Bill’s passing let us take a nostalgic trip as I look at Splosh magazine issues 1 to 10.
Issue 1 had a black and white cover but a coloured middle section with Mirrel and Zeta in the basement of the Harbour Heights Hotel (which was run by Colin Twyford – see article on Colin in Issue 2).
The cover pic was of model Karen ‘coated in custard and ketchup’. Why that pic? No idea!
Issue 2 features Debbie on the cover in another b/w shot ‘Debbie soaked, then coated in creamed rice and custard’
The coloured middle section of Issue 2 featured Carol and Debbie reprising their ‘Just Desserts’ shoot – see the original in Vintage Film 4 Stream 4, shot in the actual restaurant of Harbour Heights.
Issue 3 features ‘Carol after a roll in the river’.
Issue 4 surprised me with a colour middle section devoted to Debbie and Mary who are, as the title says, ‘Wet and Sticky’.
Issue 5 has Debbie on the cover again this time ‘after a mud wrestle’ – see Vintage Film 3 Stream 1.
Wendy of WSM features in the coloured centerfold of issue 6 with Susie.
Mirrel gets the first colour front page on issue 7 while WSM’s Melanie is splendidly muddy on the inside back cover (in colour) – after her shoot in Vintage Film 4 Stream 3.
Issue 8 has a colour pic of Carol on the cover in a shot taken from ‘The Spy that Gunged me’.
We also show you two further pics from that shoot – see it on Vintage Film 6 Stream 6.
The back cover shot on Issue 8 has ‘Eve mudlarking in rubber’ (also in colour).
[img]http://wsmprod.com/updates/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/DSC_0895.jpg[/[img]]
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Issue 9 features Carol in a full page muddy shot (clad only in a thong).
We see Carol’s full mud shoot in colour in the middle section.
Issue10 has a coloured cover pic of a painted Debbie.
But quite a remarkable shoot also featuring a Mum and her daughter titled ‘Debbie painted plus Tracy and her Mum’.
We show you 4 further pics from that shoot.
We conclude Issue 10 with the rear inside colour pic of ‘muddy Carol in the river’.
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Okay, the images are not the best being hastily put together, but you should get some idea of what those initial Splosh magazines meant to the WAM community.
Issue 1 of Splosh was published probably 1990.
All these issues were pre-internet.
Okay, you may say I am biased as I feature the WSM models and pics I have taken.
But I have to…….for copyright purposes.
But we are looking at history………history that cannot be re-written but if not seen is not history!
Next year, if I am still here and WSM is still here, I will take a look at Splosh magazine issues 11 to 40.
We end this tribute to Bill with a few Clips from the WSM Vintage Films range, which may all be accessed free of charge.
Film 6 ‘Mucky Kind of Magic’ Clip 3 the disappearing yolk trick!
>>>>> SEE CLIP
>>>>>>> http://wsmprod.com/updates/wp-content/u ... clip01.mp4
Film 8 ‘The Ring’ Clip 3 Carol has her boobs Sploshed!
>>>>> SEE CLIP
>>>>>>> http://wsmprod.com/updates/wp-content/u ... clip01.mp4
Film 4 ‘WSM’ll Fix It’ Stream 1 Clip 02 with introduction by Bill Shipton.
>>>>> SEE CLIP
>>>>>>> http://wsmprod.com/updates/wp-content/u ... clip02.mp4
Such a tragic early loss to the WAM community.
8 years but still very much missed!
To see the detail on our Vintage Films go to http://www.wsmprod.com then ‘Downloads – Online Store’, then [/b]
‘Digital Download – Vintage Films’
>>>>>>> http://wsmprod.com/shop.php?go=dd&cur=gbp
where they are listed with Clips and write-ups.