Fika With Vicky Welcomes Mark Ryan, May 18th, 2023

Replay: Our guest this week is Mark Ryan, an author, actor, singer, and action director. Mark Ryan grew up in Yorkshire, Northern England, playing in Sherwood Forest as a child, as generations of his family had before him. Playing hide & seek in and around The Major Oak, which is steeped in the legend of Robin Hood and which he describes as the heart of Sherwood and the tree that local folklore has it held Robin Hood’s treasures and even in which Robin himself hid from The Sheriff of Nottingham. He was a member of the British Army’s Intelligence Corps - attached to DSF (Director Special Forces) specializing in Human Intelligence (HumInt) but worked with all aspects of the UK's military intelligence community and has consulted with, and trained various US Federal and friendly foreign government personnel. As an actor, he's played Hal Gates in the series Black Sails, Nasir in Robin of Sherwood series, the voice of 5 Transformers in the Michael Bay franchise and dozens of other roles in film and TV, working with legendary names such as Hal Prince (Evita), Antoine Fuqua (King Arthur) and Bob Anderson (First Knight) in a career lasting over forty years. As an author, he has written The Greenwood Tarot, The Wildwood Tarot, Hold Fast: A Hollywood Pirate Tale, The Pilgrim, and Wild Magic: The Wildwood Tarot Workbook and the forthcoming: Sherwood Oracle with John Matthews with artwork by Yvonne Gilbert to be released by Sterling Books in 2023. Mark performed with Eric Idle in the US national tour of 'Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python' appearing at every major US theater venue including Carnegie Hall and The Hollywood Bowl. Mark has been a West End leading man, intelligence officer, a CA licensed private investigator, pirate quartermaster, Merry Man, alien robot, author, tarot creator and reader, singer, swordmaster, historic WW2 occult warfare expert and UFO/UAP buff! He’s also a master story-teller regarding the eclectic, curious and colorful tales of his incredible life journey. Enjoy!