[Misc] Mundane celebrity encounters

[Comrade Sam]

Shared a lift at Newham college with Ian Dury. Edwin Starr brushed my elbow whilst passing. Met Tony Benn when decorating a book shop. Prince Buster danced to my band. Garry Nelson bought me a cup of tea. John Cooper Clarke complimented me on my trousers. I'll stop there, but clearly I just live my life drifting in an out of celebrity encounters.

 

[Titanic]

oh yeah, and I met Paul Hollywood in a restaurant in Cyprus... well I say 'met', actually he stared at me with his piercing blue eyes when I got my phone out.

 

[Comrade Sam]

Oh and shared a cab with Atilla in the 80s!

 

[Titanic]

and... this is a really good one... I bumped into David Cameron on Swanage Pier when he was PM... but didn't shake hands with him because I had just had some greasy chips.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I exchanged 'good morning' greetings with Les Ferdinand in the little shop at the Gosforth Park Hotel in Newcastle as I was staying there for work and he was staying there having just signed for Newcastle.

 

[Weststander]

In a cable car with Ian Dowie above Courmayeur, Italy. Unsurprisingly he was tw@t, I tried to chat and he slagged off the Albion.

Around 1983-ish in a Soho second hand record store, I was rummaging through vinyls next to Lenny Henry.

Around the time in a clothes shop on the Kings Road, perusing shirts I think, Seb Coe was doing the same thing.

 

[Titanic]

and... this one is so cool... I helped Milton Jones get stuff out of his car, going into a comedy night in The Stand in Edinburgh on a Monday night. He bought me a pint... well actually, I don't think he paid for it.

 

[Trufflehound]

I had lunch with Rod Stewart once before an England - Scotland game at Wembley in the 1970s (the same one where the Scots broke the goalposts after the game, but those facts are unrelated).

OK, so he was sat at the next table, not at mine...

 

[Bakero]

Held the door open for Keira Knightley at a Citarella in New York as I was leaving. She said I was cute and asked for my number but I was with my ex at the time so had to turn her down.

Shinny reckon

 

[Titanic]

Once, I held the door open for Michael Ball.... backstage in the Royal Albert Hall. He was a bit of a dick to be honest.

 

[Gwylan]

Maybe we need a separate thread for mundane celebs you have pee'd with. Neil Morrisey for me

Ooh, I can score highly here..

Stood in the next urinal to Jimmy Case at Shades, the same day that he scored the winning goal in the QF against Norwich

Stood next to David Suchet and Ronnie Corbett - but at separate events

Stood next to Chris Smith, the former arts minister at a theatre in Islington (where else?)

And in a grand slam of rugby encounters, I've stood next to JPR Williams, Scott Quinnell and Barry John

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

I helped Milton Jones get stuff out of his car, going into a comedy night in The Stand in Edinburgh

Liar, everyone knows his grandad does everything for him.

 

[Brovion]

Years and years ago I was in Las Vegas in the Sands Hotel (I believe the Venetian is there now if you know Vegas). I was having a wee in the toilet when in walked the legend of showbusiness, old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra himself! He didn't stand next to me whilst urinating, but we stood together whilst washing our hands. Plucking up my courage I said "Hi Mr Sinatra, I'm a huge fan."
He looked at he, half-smiled and nodded, so I thought I'd take it a bit further:
"Look," I said, "This is really cheeky but I'm with this girl and I'm trying to impress her, and what would be really great is if you could walk past our table, # 36, and just call out in passing 'Hi Tim!' I'm sure she'll be really impressed that I know the legendary Frank Sinatra!"
There was a pause, I thought he was just going to blank me and walk off, but he smiled again and said "Sure!"
So I went back to my table, heart beating, thinking 'he'll never do it'. But a few minutes later, true to his word he walked past our table, waved at me, and said "Hi Tim!"
I looked up at him and said: "Piss off Sinatra!"


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Parts of that story may not in fact be true.

 

[Bakero]

Sat next to Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) on a tube. Told him I liked his music and he said thanks. He got off next stop.

Which was nice.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Solly March asked me for a dog poo bag in Hove Park as he’d run out.

This is an absolutely DEFINITIVE mundane sleb moment. Thread NAILED.

It reminds me of the day I was walking our dog along Hove Prom and Graham Potter was walking the other way with his dog. Mine is a highly social dog who still acts like a puppy at the age of 2 and wants to say hello to every dog he passes, which would then have made put me and the Pottmeister in that awkward situation where our dogs are saying hello, and we're deciding if the humans will too.

GP was head down, deep in thought, the way you are when you absolutely don't want to talk to anyone. It could be his natural introvert tendencies, it could be him trying to remember who he'd picked in his masterful 2-6-3 to play Forest Green in the League Cup that evening or it could be that his Swedish stalker had texted him a picture of me with the words 'this is the guy on NSC who hates you. I don't though. I love you' beneath.

He was saved from having to either ignore my dog's attentions or put up with me saying something absolutely idiotic when one of my dog's best doggy pals in the world emerged from the beach and my dog ran to his old doggy pal, completely ignoring the pooch of the Brummie Geography Teacher, allowing the much relieved and soon to be much richer goal avoider to escape.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Shinny reckon

Chinny reckon

 

[Cordwainer]

In the mid 90s Roy Walker (who used to present Catchphrase) got off a train at the same stop as me as he’d realised he was on the wrong line so he asked me for directions to a cab office.

Solly March asked me for a dog poo bag in Hove Park as he’d run out.

Got a selfie with Solly a couple of weeks ago whilst standing in a skip outside my house. He was very gracious.

 

[Bakero]

Chinny reckon

Think about it...

 

[AK74]

Norman Cook - pleasant encounter while queuing to pay for fuel at the filling station at the bottom of Mill Hill.
Chris Eubank - equally pleasant encounter across the pumps at the filling station in Bolney.
Mick McCarthy - brief encounter at the breakfast buffet at the JW Marriott in Venice.

 

[pasty]

Encountered many a celeb whist working in room service at The Grand. Highlight being taking Annie Lennox breakfast in bed.

Absolute lowlight, encountering Robert Maxwell in a foul mood, shouting and swearing at his p.a. or someone because he couldn’t find his socks.