[Sussex] Mingling with the Rich and Famous

[Cowfold Seagull]

Well, since you asked...sorry, about to be the loud clangs of multiple names being dropped...

Dave Grohl - thinner than you’d think, very friendly and chatty.

Iggy Pop - not quite all there...

Sean Dyche - Very complimentary of Brighton - this was back when we were both Championship clubs. Not complimentary of Jose Mourinho.

Josh Homme - incredibly charming, witty and friendly. Always happy to stop and chat (a few times at various festivals). Tall.

The Pixies - again pretty nice, fairly quiet and serious from my experience.

Arcade Fire - the two lead singers’ toddler offered me a half eaten crisp. I abstained politely.

Kieran Gibb - very polite, he seemed a bit bemused as to why he was even at a Royal Blood gig, think his girlfriend was a fan.

Jimmy Page - met him years ago outside HMV, he was buying loads of Zeppelin albums (said he needed them for some charity thing he was doing, and it was much easier and quicker than asking the record label!) He was happy to chat to do my dad and me for a while, when asked to sign a copy of the book Hammer of the Gods (includes some of the more sensationalist stories about them - red snapper, anyone?) he said I’ll sign something but I won’t sign THAT, so obviously not a fan.

Chris Wolstenholme (bass player for Muse) - absolutely lovely bloke. Really friendly and it got to a point where I was genuinely the one thinking come on, you probably want to talk to someone else now don’t you? Chatted about football a load - he’s a big Rotherham fan - and talked about breaking his arm years ago at a festival playing football with The Cooper Temple Clause and The Streets.

Interpol - Paul the singer was charming, Daniel the guitarist was pretty aloof and stick thin, bassist (not Carlos but the live guy) was drunk and overbearing.

Foals - really nice guys, very funny and a good laugh.

Hmmm l only know a few of those names.

Who is this Sean Dyche you speak of?

 

[GREASED WEASEL]

I’ve spotted quite a few on planes:

and best of all Pascal Gross the morning after we lost 3-1, I think, to Burnley. He literally sat in the seat next to me, we chatted a lot and he even helped me with some German homework I had......and I embarrassingly got a selfie as well.

Brilliant!

 

[METALMICKY]

Was flown to an Iron Maiden gig in Dublin by Bruce Dickinson back in 2003. Also aboard were bassist Steve Harris, drummer Nicko McBrain and their manager Rod Smallwood who lives on Hove seafront. As a huge fan was distinctly tongue tied when I managed to have a little chat.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Weirdly, my daughter knows FBS but I don't. She calls him "Norman" like he's just another one of the adults and he told her that Biden had been declared the winner over Trump.

My one Sleb friend used to be on CBeebies and you'd only know him if you had kids my kids' age. Sat next to him at many games in the Championship and he is an absolute gent and very funny.

Robbie Williams was apparently on my flight back from Hong Kong once and I was even in Business but he seemed to have a whole section to himself and I only noticed when we disembarked and he shuffled past me wearing shades and pursued by a couple of dribbling trolley dollies.

I'm pretty sure anyone who used to drink in the Lion and Lobster or Robin Hood around the turn of the century has had a pint with or piss next to Mark Williams?

And finally Wardy - surely many on here, especially those who have been to REMF dos have met the great man. Very down to earth for a legend, unbelievable how much he's done for this great club of ours in his lifetime.

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

Frank Bruno in the mid-late 1990s. His younger daughter attended the school in Essex where I was HT. Frank came to a sports event - he was very respectful.
Whispering Bob again at a Nickel Creek concert at the Irish Club in Birmingham around 2002/3 or so.
The England Cricket team at a hotel in Multan during the 2005 Pakistan tour. Had my pic taken with Straussy and a young Liam Plunkett.
Best of all of course a pic with The Great Man(TB) at the Villa away game when we should have sealed the Championship title. Staff at my school in Birmingham had bought me hospitality tickets. Great day of course but Sock Boy did his best to take the shine off!

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I once made a corporate training video with Nick Hancock. We had based it around a type of panel gameshow and I felt he would make a good host for it. Not long after that he got the gig on “They think it’s all over”. I later learnt that at castings celebs would show footage from work they had done previously so always believed I was responsible for getting him the job.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Have met quite a few famous people, mostly sports.....

Last few years......

The late great, Peter Alliss - absolutely lovely, had good chat with my son about golf.

Corey Pavin - who I thought was going to be a ****, but was again very good....

Flintoff - nice bloke.

Also met a few others, who I don’t feel particularly positive about.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jevs]

Used to look after Andrew Lloyd-Webbers plants in his house in Belgravia. Over £50m of art on his walls.

 

[jakarta]

Well my Hugh Bonneville has been comprehensively trumped by the rest of this thread...

Perhaps I should have titled it Which Famous Person met You for Your COVID Jab?

 

[dazzer6666]

I like how random many of the celebrity encounters are. Here's a couple of mine, they are no different.

When I worked in Our Price, Rick Wakeman came in. I put some "Yes" on the shop hi-fi and he came over to say thanks and have a chat.

I was once flying in an almost empty first class cabin and former UFC fighter Kimbo Slice was sat next to me. We said "hello" and that was that.

Have had several flight sleb brushings - most recently Nathan Ake and Chris Powell were both on our holiday flight last year (not together obviously). Chris and his Mrs were next to us in the passport immigration queue and Ake and his partner were sat a couple of rows in front of us on the plane (one of the cabin crew said to me at one point 'there's supposed to be a PL footballer on the flight but I don't know who he is..............'. I sat a couple of seats away from Jay Z on a flight from New York (I didn't know who he was, it was only after landing and some ground staff went running over to get selfies as we got off the Heathrow shuttle train that I found out). BA lounges very often have slebs in them too - best I remember seeing is Ronnie Wood getting turfed out of the First lounge at JFK for lighting up a fag and refusing to put it out

 

[jakarta]

Years ago Cliff Richard’s was a regular at my uncles pub in waybridge. Always accompanied by his boyfriend.

Shirley You mean Una Stubbs?

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

My brother for a job that was essentially as a doorman for the VIP bar at a festival.
Peaches went to swan in and he stopped her. "Sorry over 18s only" he says.
Peaches responds with the classic "do you know who I am?"
"Yes Miss Geldoff I do know who you are. I also know it was your 17th birthday recently , so you can't come in"

That doesn’t surprise me tbh. The party was filled with similar self important, entitled kids from Worth and BH School for Girls and there was little old me in my Primark jeans feeling rather uncomfortable. Managed to convince my friends to bail when some of them started doing lines of the white stuff of each others naked bodies. Genuinely never felt so out of place in my life.

 

[jakarta]

Well, since you asked...sorry, about to be the loud clangs of multiple names being dropped...

Dave Grohl - thinner than you’d think, very friendly and chatty.

Iggy Pop - not quite all there...

Sean Dyche - Very complimentary of Brighton - this was back when we were both Championship clubs. Not complimentary of Jose Mourinho.

Josh Homme - incredibly charming, witty and friendly. Always happy to stop and chat (a few times at various festivals). Tall.

The Pixies - again pretty nice, fairly quiet and serious from my experience.

Arcade Fire - the two lead singers’ toddler offered me a half eaten crisp. I abstained politely.

Kieran Gibb - very polite, he seemed a bit bemused as to why he was even at a Royal Blood gig, think his girlfriend was a fan.

Jimmy Page - met him years ago outside HMV, he was buying loads of Zeppelin albums (said he needed them for some charity thing he was doing, and it was much easier and quicker than asking the record label!) He was happy to chat to do my dad and me for a while, when asked to sign a copy of the book Hammer of the Gods (includes some of the more sensationalist stories about them - red snapper, anyone?) he said I’ll sign something but I won’t sign THAT, so obviously not a fan.

Chris Wolstenholme (bass player for Muse) - absolutely lovely bloke. Really friendly and it got to a point where I was genuinely the one thinking come on, you probably want to talk to someone else now don’t you? Chatted about football a load - he’s a big Rotherham fan - and talked about breaking his arm years ago at a festival playing football with The Cooper Temple Clause and The Streets.

Interpol - Paul the singer was charming, Daniel the guitarist was pretty aloof and stick thin, bassist (not Carlos but the live guy) was drunk and overbearing.

Foals - really nice guys, very funny and a good laugh.

Blimey - do you know anyone that isn't a Rawk Celeb?

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

Oh, I forgot that I also served coffee to Mark Williams (as well as Casper Ankergren) in Burgess Hill and then when I moved up to the BC I served Jimmy Page. Serving coffee is the place to meet people I tells ya.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I nearly forgot, back in the day me and my brother spent an entire night in the Zap Club annoying Chesney Hawkes to the point where his entourage were starting to get quite moody.

 

[Farehamseagull]

Loads of Southampton footballers and managers over the years. Got to know some of them fairly well, mainly between around 2010 and 2018 era. Too many to go through them all individually but most really nice and friendly. Some that stick out and go against the general rule of thought:

Pardew - totally charming;

Steven Davis - lovely guy;

Jay Rodriguez - really nice and friendly;

Ward-Prowse - looks about 12. Massive wanker on the pitch but nice guy;

Fraser Forster - absolute gentleman. A unit!;

VVD - bit arrogant (obviously, being Dutch);

Victor Wanyama - very friendly, always thought he seemed a bit lonely;

Graziano Pele - the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in the flesh. And totally charming. *******.

Dusan Tadic - really friendly and absolutely tiny in height and frame!;

Charlie Austen - wanker.

 

[jimhigham]

Working at the airport, I occasionally have to go and attend to arrivals at the VIP suite. Consequently, I’ve had numerous short encounters with many celebrities over the years. Most of them are too brief to be of any note. Some are more rewarding. These few instances stick in my mind.

Kelly Brook is, without doubt, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She stepped off an overnight transatlantic flight, without makeup and still melted my heart with her beaming smile and sunny “hello”.


Steven Van Zandt was just a wonderful human being. Shot the breeze far longer than necessary (and despite the queue behind him). Witty, polite, seemingly interested in everybody he met that morning. A guy totally comfortable in his own skin.

The 30 minute spell when I met Brad Pitt, Usain Bolt and The Dalai Lama. That was quite the afternoon.

...and Pele. I didn’t actually meet him. I couldn’t get close. I’ve never seen anything like it. The entire arrivals hall just folded in on itself and formed an adoring circle about the great man. He smiled and shook hands every step of the way.

Honourable mentions for good humoured courtesy go to Michael Caine, Sean Connery, David Beckham, Robbie Williams, Noel Gallagher and a decidedly inebriated Cherie Blair. That last one certainly surprised me.

You’ll notice I’m too much of a gent to tell you which celebrities were twunts. There have been several.

 

[Mr Banana]

Chris Wolstenholme (bass player for Muse) - absolutely lovely bloke. Really friendly and it got to a point where I was genuinely the one thinking come on, you probably want to talk to someone else now don’t you? Chatted about football a load - he’s a big Rotherham fan - and talked about breaking his arm years ago at a festival playing football with The Cooper Temple Clause and The Streets.

Ha. Chris is good mates with a mate of mine, watched Rotherham on the terrace at Crawley with him and his lad once. He loves it and can talk football for days

 

[DJ NOBO]

I saw Will Young outside a nightclub in Oxford in 2004.
He was with a female friend and as they headed off I shouted “Will”.
I didn’t expect him to acknowledge me especially as I was clearly drunk.
But both he and his friend turned round with looks of expectation.
All I could come up with was “You the man”.
They walked away a little quicker.
Still makes me cringe, to this day.

 

[shingle]

Met George Robertson (former politician and nato secretary general) once, I had to photograph a 5***** hotel in Siena, Italy for an upmarket uk tour operator and he was staying there and came over and told me I shouldn't be photographing the pool with people around it, I had to tell him I had a job to do was there with the permission of the hotel and if he had any issues he should take it up with the management.