So, I wrote back: "I hate to admit it, but I’m not familiar with Dirk Benedict or the reference to “Big Brother in the UK. If you can enlighten me, I’ll see what I can find out."

Peter's reply came swiftly: "You must know Dirk Benedict though? All I wanted to know is what cigars he smokes."

Well, you can understand my embarrassment when I googled "Dirk Benedict" and instantly found the link for his website. www.dirkbenedictcentral.com. Alas! On the home page is a picture of a youngish-looking man smoking a cigar. Oh, right! Dirk Benedict! Sure! The guy from The A-Team, who is probably even better known for his starring role on Battlestar Galactica, and is currently on the British version of the Big Brother reality TV series. His site has some very interesting information on him, too, worth checking out. He's actually had one helluva career.

In my defense, I rarely ever watched The A-Team, never watched Battlestar Galactica, nor have I ever watched Big Brother, so pardon my American Pop Culture ignorance in Mr. Benedict's case. I was however, a loyal Star Trek fan.

So, on behalf of Peter, I sent an email to Dirk via his website asking about what cigars he smokes, only to learn that his site does not accept personal messages, but maybe I'll get lucky and spark a reply.

While doing my research I learned that Dirk's a serious cigar smoker, so I figured if he's working in the U.K., he's probably smoking a lot of Havanas.

Also in doing my research, I came upon a recent blog at www.daggle.com by Danny Sullivan titled "Stealing Dirk Benedict's Cigar".

Mr. Sullivan tells how Celebrity Big Brother was "kicking off yet another run on Channel 4 here in the UK." His wife asks him if he likes Dirk Benedict, yadda-yadda-yadda, and Sullivan, a big Battlestar Galactica fan, tells how he once stole Dirk Benedict's smoldering cigar right after an appearance at a 1977 sci-fi convention and mailed it to a girlfriend. "A few days later, it arrived at her house in Texas by mail, smelling all the way. And she loved it."

So now that I've been enlightened as to the who, what and whereabouts of Dirk Benedict, if you're reading this Dirk, I've got a good cigar waiting for you.

~ GK