Over the years I've occasionally happened upon a famous person by chance, as most of us have I'm sure. I started making a list a few weeks ago. Turns out there are loads of them, too many for one post (and my attention span) but I'll make a start and keep going (in no particular order). Most of them are from my time in London.
Post 'em if you got 'em!
In 1996 or 1997 I sat next to the woman who played 'Anna', Terry's girlfriend, in Brookside on the tube. She was reading a script. Looked up her name just now: Kazia Pelka. She was in Coronation Street as well apparently.
In 1996, I went to a go-karting event laid on by one of our vendors for the department I worked in, and the F1 racing driver Mika Salo was a speaker there. In October 2004 I saw him again when he walked past Sari and me on his way into Helsinki Vantaa Airport. Remember Sari? She was a frequent TNMS contributor for a couple of years in the noughties although she used the userame 'Sary'.
The Labour politician Paul Boateng, then a shadow home affairs spokesman, sat opposite me on the Northern Line in 1995. He eyed me slightly suspiciously on realising that I'd recognised him, perhaps sensing a degree of contempt which I had politely tried to disguise.
A few weeks before Christmas 2001 I saw Ed Bishop, UFO's 'Ed Straker', in the Tesco Metro at Covent Garden. As a diehard UFO fan since the age of 10, I went up to say hello to him, and say how much I'd enjoyed UFO. He was very gracious.
I saw Mike Oldfield at Heathrow Airport in the late '90s, looking a bit scruffy.
Saw Russel Harty on a Glasgow - London train.. he sat couple of rows behind us.. think he got on at Carlisle or Preston..
Saw Kirsty Wark at breakfast at the Auchrannie Hotel in Arran earlier this year
Saw Ian Hislop at a tube station years ago.. could have been Victoria
Scottish footballer Alex Mcleish sat next to me at Gatwick departure gate for a flight to Glasgow couple of years ago
Walking out of a Todd concert in Manchester a few years ago and I spotted his wife Michelle..who was walking straight towards me... I said hello and told her what a great concert it had been
Mostly football players since I lived closby the Feyenoonrd stadium area.
However, one of them Peter Bosz lived in the area where I delivered mail at the time so I saw him quite a bit. Must have been early 90s. He is the current PSV manager.
To make this a bit more surreal: my wife was a vet's assistant in those days so she saw people come in with their animals. One day a man with a Golden Retriever walked in, she looked at him and asked: can I get you name please? He smiled a bit and told her his name.
So she got home, I asked her about her day and she said 'the strangest tings happened...a man walked in with a retriever and when I asked his name everyone looked as me as if I was mad..'. So I asked what was his name:
You guessed it, Peter Bosz, a famous football player at the time.
Many more no doubt, but always in passing by and because people can bo so out of context, you vaguely recognize them and only later realise: Hey! that was (fill in name)!
Quote from: Slim on July 15, 2024, 11:29:50 AMI saw Mike Oldfield at Heathrow Airport in the late '90s, looking a bit scruffy.
Moonlight five o'clock shadow?
Living in Stanmore used to see the odd celeb shopping there - Robert Runcie, Clare Raynor, Big Boy Barry (who remembers him?).
Saw Ruth Madoc outside the theatre in Bristol. Asked for her autograph but only had a beer mat lol.
Jackie Charlton having a coffee at a cafe at Dyce Airport, Aberdeen. My wife went up to him and asked if he was Jackie Charlton - duh.
When I was at Derby College, I sometimes used to meet up with my dad if he'd been down to London on business, it'd be in the dining car and he'd buy me a can of beer. One time we'd got Tony Benn and Mick McGahey sitting across from us. Wedgie was talking serious left-wing guff and Mick kept telling Tony that it was his round and he wanted a whisky...
Once sat behind Gary Lineker and Willie Thorne at an England v India One day International at Old Trafford.
Spent a day at the bar under a stand at Lord's for a wet NatWest final in the company of Colin Welland.
Nearly bumped into Annie Nightingale on a street in London.
Met Biff Byford in the bar at Sheffield City Hall when I went to see Sammy Hagar, had a nice chat and he signed my Sammy Hagar tour programme. Def Leppard were in the bar too, but everyone ignored them.
Saw the bloke with a Moustache from the Great British Sewing Bee on a street in Edinburgh.
Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on July 15, 2024, 07:12:26 PMWhen I was at Derby College, I sometimes used to meet up with my dad if he'd been down to London on business, it'd be in the dining car and he'd buy me a can of beer. One time we'd got Tony Benn and Mick McGahey sitting across from us. Wedgie was talking serious left-wing guff and Mick kept telling Tony that it was his round and he wanted a whisky...
Once sat behind Gary Lineker and Willie Thorne at an England v India One day International at Old Trafford.
Spent a day at the bar under a stand at Lord's for a wet NatWest final in the company of Colin Welland.
Nearly bumped into Annie Nightingale on a street in London.
Met Biff Byford in the bar at Sheffield City Hall when I went to see Sammy Hagar, had a nice chat and he signed my Sammy Hagar tour programme. Def Leppard were in the bar too, but everyone ignored them.
Saw the bloke with a Moustache from the Great British Sewing Bee on a street in Edinburgh.
and a famous drummer or do you just want to forget that?
In my first days in London I went to a gig with my cousin, probably thirty years ago this month now I think about it. At the Hope and Anchor, I think. Annie Nightingale was sitting talking to Mark Lamarr in the bar.
I also saw Mark Lamarr chatting to his radio sidekick at the time, the comedian Mark Steel in a caff at the top of Regent Street near Broadcasting House (Langham Place), about half an hour after they'd been on air sitting on for Jonathan Ross. Probably 2003 or 2004.
I saw Steve Wright, the celebrated DJ who sadly passed away last year round there at roughly the same time, having a surreptitious phone call on a mobile phone outside Broadcasting House. I said "Steve Wright! Hello!" and he gamely replied "Hello, how are you?".
Just before Christmas 1996 I went to lunch at a swanky restaurant at Canary Wharf with a few work colleagues. I think we must have got it on expenses on some pretext, we wouldn't normally eat there. Bob Geldof was at a nearby table with a couple of people in suits. Record business execs maybe. Seemed to be having a high old time.
In '97 and '98 I used to go to a restaurant at Notting Hill with my Japanese friend-with-benefits. Taking her to nice restaurants was an unspoken part of the arrangement. One time, Oliver Tobias - star of a couple of indifferent low-budget British action films and once touted as the next James Bond to replace Roger Moore (mainly by himself, if I remember correctly) was at the next table with his daughters.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes (explorer) in my local Morrisons, asked me if I knew where the bagged salads were. I noted he was pushing his trolley with very few full fingers.
Simon"our tune"Bates,Radio 1 DJ, in my local Tesco.
Had a piss in Bristol airport next to the bloke from Tears foe Fears
Johnny Ball was on the same tourist trip with me in Cairo in 1998ish. Then he was on my table for lunch on a boat on the Nile. He was as lovely as you'd think he would be. Nobody on the table referred to the fact that he was Johnny Ball.
Got a jab from Muhammad Ali in 1977 in a mosque in South Shields.
Steve Cram lived on my estate in the 1980's. His mum made him get his medals out for me to look at when I happened upon his house whilst collecting money for charity. He signed a picture for me as well. He was really grumpy but his mum was very kind. I think she was German.
Quote from: captainkurtz on July 15, 2024, 09:38:46 PMHe was really grumpy but his mum was very kind. I think she was German.
The British School's Athletics championships were once held in Chesterfield and we put up a couple of contestants from the North East whilst they were competing.
They told us to watch out for a kid called Steve Cram, they said he was a bit grumpy and his mum was German :)
Funny old world.
Quote from: pdw1 on July 15, 2024, 07:39:45 PMand a famous drummer or do you just want to forget that?
I'd forgotten all about that :o
Also forgotten that when I was at Birmingham University we had Wednesday afternoon off for sport. So I used to go and read the week's music papers at WH Smith. And most weeks Big John Thomas from Budgie used to come in and stand next to me to read the music papers. He wore the same white lapelled leather jacket that he wore on stage.
Quote from: captainkurtz on July 15, 2024, 09:38:46 PMHad a piss in Bristol airport next to the bloke from Tears for Fears
Glad you mentioned that because I'd forgotten this one: at a John McLaughlin gig in the late '80s at Newcastle Uni I went to the loo and stood next to the singer from the Kane Gang (Martin Brammer) at the urinal.
Speaking of the Kane Gang, David Brewis who was their guitar player (and also produced my favourite ever record, Prefab Sprout's
SWOON) used to work at JG Windows, a music shop in Newcastle and sold me a Les Paul in 1983.
I had a piss at a wedding in Inverness about 6 years next to one of the Proclaimers.. Charlie I think.. got a photo with him later in the evening ..
Also at another Todd concert at the forum in London 1993 .. Kim Wilde walked past me..
I saw Paul Stanley walking along Columbus Avenue in NY in 1987, with a very ostentatious chunky gold Rolex hanging off his wrist. I saw Paul Rutherford from Frankie Goes To Hollywood in a shop in Newcastle, some time in the '80s. He looked slightly uneasy when he noticed I'd recognised him, though I didnt bother saying hello.
I nodded to Nigel Planer from a window seat at Pret A Manger on the Strand as he walked past, and he smiled back, looking slightly sheepish and embarrassed for some reason.
In 1980 I stood behind Maggie Philbin in a queue at the ticket office at Huddersfield Railway station. She was co-presenter of the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop at the time, with Noel Edmonds of course, and Keith Chegwin whom she married a couple of years later. She was having a row with the British Rail employee behind the counter for some reason.
Another Todd concert one.. Tubes drummer Prairie Prince walked into the pub we were in pre concert next to the Usher Hall in Edinburgh..
Ex Rangers footballer Ian Durrant was staying at the same resort as us in Paphos Cyprus early 2000s
My first recollection was seeing Jon Pertwee getting out of a Rolls Royce in the West End when he was Doctor Who.
Bob Geldof said "good on ya" to me while I was working at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid. I was carting rubbish at the time.
Jimmy Somerville was eating in the same cheap restaurant as I was in Madrid in the height of his fame.
Sure there are more but not coming to mind at the moment
Just remember another. Matthew Parris on the same DLR as me in the late 90s
I sat opposite Bill Deedes (legendary British journo, and the inspiration 'Dear Bill' from Private Eye) on the Docklands Light Railway. He edited the Telegraph for a while but I think he would have been a columnist for the paper at that time (1997-ish). He was a Tory cabinet minister as well once. I probably recognised him from one of his appearances on Have I Got News For You.
"Mr Baxter" from Grange Hill (Michael Cronin, just looked it up) was in my local Sainsburys at Dog Kennel Hill in South London one of the first times I went in there in 1994. I smiled when I recognised him and he gave me a wary look. He was also in an episode of Fawlty Towers.
I also saw Stephen Frost in there once. He was a regular on the alternative comedy scene in the late '80s and '90s. He was in at least one episode of The Young Ones, on Whose Line Is It Anyway from time to time and on Saturday Live occasionally. I think he was in Blackadder once as well.
I saw Trevor Phillips, now a Sky TV presenter, then (I think) a member of the London Assembly at Euston station in 2002-ish. I'd seen him once before a couple of decades earlier in 1979 although that wasn't a random encounter; he'd come to speak at a fresher's week event as chairman of the National Union of Students. Can't remember a word he said.
I used to see Billy Connolly quite regularly around my hometown in the late 70s, early 80s. He once mentioned in an interview someone I know reasonably well. He was the friend he was with when a stranger approached and told him the famous park my bike joke and also the guy whom my friend's dog's kennel name was chosen after.
I saw Robbie Coltrane twice when out and about. Once in a newsagents queue in Byres Rd and the other time as I waited to cross a busy road on the way home from work. He was driving a massive 50s American convertible with the top down. He stopped on the pedestrian crossing as the traffic was so congested and as he looked apologetically towards me I almost asked him for a lift as I knew he had to drive through my town's Main Street on his way home. Always regretted not trying my luck. I once saw Alex McLeish in Leicester Square of all places. He was the Motherwell manager at the time and was looking through the hundreds of football club scarves on rails outside a shop. I had to stop myself from telling him he wouldn't find a Motherwell one.
Probably on the same London visit my when walking with my girlfriend just off Covent Garden, Joanna Lumley swept down a wide stone staircase as she headed in the other direction. It was quite an iconic image, her hair flowing just like the very long ivory coloured coat she was wearing. A more amusing one was when I noticed Tommy Gemmell and his friend enjoying a pint at the bar of my local. I would be barely drinking age and my friend slightly younger but bolder who blurted out "are you Tommy Gemmell?". He said no and we looked for a place to hide.
On a visit to my local Tesco quite late one night the only person I passed in an aisle was the actor Tom Conti pushing a trolley. I was too taken aback to even nod in his direction, and by the time I remembered that he had attended the same school as me it was too late for any possible exchanges about our respective times there. I'd like to have asked him about the system of corporal punishment, where the offence and number of ferulae to be administered were written in a specially printed notebook issued to the teachers. You then had to stand in a queue either at lunchtime or 4 pm listening to those unfortunates in front of you in the queue suffering their fate behind that classroom door on the first floor. The noise of the pupil being struck was quite deafening and could be heard clearly from outside the building. Quite brutal. I think the actual "weapon" was whalebone covered in leather. My only personal experience was for the serious crime of not putting my scissors back in the box quickly enough at the end of an art class. Disgusting to think back on. Quite clear why some psychos become teachers.
Walked past Paula Yates on the Kings Road in 1997.
Saw Joanna Lumley in Waitrose (might have been Sainsbury's) in Vauxhall around the same time.
Walked past the bloke from A Divine Comedy at a U2 show at Wembley Stadium, also in 1997.
Alan Shearer on my easyJet flight to Portugal in 2012.
Siouxie Sioux in the foyer of Hammersmith Odeon before a Radiohead show.
Stood next to Elvis Costello at the bar backstage at Brixton Academy after a PJ Harvey show.
Billy Zane walked passed me backstage at Shepherds Bush Empire after a PJ Harvey gig in 2001. He was wearing a blazer and a polar neck.
Saw England Test Cricketer Phil DeFreitas in the Golden Fleece pub in Chesterfield. We threatened to dob him in to his team captain, but Phil pointed him out in the corner...
In 1996, I was working for a niche travel agency for sports professionals and I was very occasionally tasked with flying down to one of London's airports to assist with group check-ins.
One such occasion was one Sunday lunch time, but as I'd gone out hard on the lash the night before I remember having one of the stinkiest hangovers I've ever had. Even though I had access to BA's executive lounge at Manchester airport and alcohol was complimentary, I couldn't face having a single drop, so I got an orange juice from the bar.
There was a TV showing an FA Cup match (a dire, goalless game, possibly with Leeds playing) so I placed myself on one of a few sofas near it, where there was a young guy, with two of his mates seated nearby.
Because I was so hungover and my attention was directed on the match, it took a few minutes to realise I was sitting on the same sofa as Mark Owen from Take That, and his two mates on another sofa were Jason Orange and Howard Donald (Gary Barlow was nowhere to be seen).
Take That were #1 in the U.K. singles charts at the time with their hideous cover version of How Deep Is Your Love, so partly with this in mind I made no attempts to engage them in any form of conversation whatsoever.
When I were a mere snippet of a boy (I'm guessing 10 - 12 yo), during one of my annual summer holidays in Canterbury, my mate from Canterbury took me to a Celebrity? Pro-am? golf tournament locally where we caddied for some low-level footballers or some such.
However, back at the club-house, I spotted Norman Wisdom, and rather shyly (and politely I'm sure) asked for (and received) his autograph.
I've kicked myself many times over the years for not looking after it. No idea what happened to it - but I did meet the great man. Well he was a great man in my eyes at the time anyway.
Of course, the story of the Stockholm - Helsinki ferry crossing and the fab four close encounter with Neil Peart is (or was, on T-N-M-S) well documented 8).
Oh yes - Sian and I saw Gryff Rhys-Jones on the train back from Cardiff one day, but left him in peace.
I'm sure there have been others.
Ah indeed - bumping into Ceri Morgan (Welsh darts player of old) in the loo at a service station after going to watch Wales play England, 40+ years ago. I asked him what had gone wrong with his game and he said (and I quote), "I played like a wanker".
My memory is a bit vague on this, but I seem to remember meeting THE voice of darts, Sid Waddell on that trip, or it might have been a similar trip.
I strolled into Waterstones in Nottingham in the early '90s to see Stephen Fry sitting at the head of a queue, signing books. Probably his book The Hippopotamus, never read it myself.
Same experience with Brian Clough at Waterstones in Derby a few years later. Wish I'd joined the queue, but I didn't.
Oh yes and one afternoon in 1997 I went in to a bookshop in Oxford Street and Buster Merryfield was signing books, except that there wasn't actually a queue. So I bought his book and he signed it for me. He was exactly like Uncle Albert in real life. He even came round the counter to demonstrate some of his boxing moves to my diminutive Japanese girlfriend, though he stopped short of actually punching her thankfully. She had no idea who he was, but she thought he was hilarious.
I saw Daniel Ash, the guitar player in Bauhaus, in the Coach and Horses pub in Northampton town centre in 1984. Also saw Liz Kershaw in the street in Northampton in the early '90s. I saw Sharron Davies (the Olympic swimmer) in a Tesco in Northampton around about the same time.
Tony Blackburn hurried past me in the West End in 1994, carrying a box of records and wearing a tracksuit, if I remember correctly. On his way to Capital Radio most likely.
Ex-footballer Geoff Horsfield's career was spring-boarded between 1996-1998 after 70-odd appearances for Halifax Town, when his goals - at a rate for us of 1.6 per game - were a major factor in our return to the football league at the time, but it was only last year when I actually met him: former players from that glorious era were invited to The Shay Stadium for a league game and I was the beneficiary of a pre-match hospitality package.
I was taking a leek in the gents and he came in and used the urinal next to me. So of course I thanked him for what he did for us and quickly went over some away day memories and he was not only extremely gracious but inquisitive about how the currrent team were playing - the conversation ended with us shaking hands after having a laugh about making sure we'd washed them first. :)
Quote from: Matt2112 on July 20, 2024, 11:12:56 AMI was taking a leek in the gents and he came in and used the urinal next to me.
(https://i.ibb.co/R6Ykxzk/leek-loo.jpg)
Quote from: Slim on July 20, 2024, 11:45:25 AMQuote from: Matt2112 on July 20, 2024, 11:12:56 AMI was taking a leek in the gents and he came in and used the urinal next to me.
(https://i.ibb.co/R6Ykxzk/leek-loo.jpg)
Cheeky AI. But funny!😀
Quote from: Matt2112 on July 20, 2024, 11:12:56 AMEx-footballer Geoff Horsfield's career was spring-boarded between 1996-1998 after 70-odd appearances for Halifax Town, when his goals - at a rate for us of 1.6 per game - were a major factor in our return to the football league at the time, but it was only last year when I actually met him: former players from that glorious era were invited to The Shay Stadium for a league game and I was the beneficiary of a pre-match hospitality package.
I was taking a leek in the gents and he came in and used the urinal next to me. So of course I thanked him for what he did for us and quickly went over some away day memories and he was not only extremely gracious but inquisitive about how the currrent team were playing - the conversation ended with us shaking hands after having a laugh about making sure we'd washed them first. :)
I worked with someone who played with Geoff for a while. Maybe at Carlisle, or Scarborough?? Anyway, he spoke very highly of him.
Matt Lucas on his own having dinner in Wagamamas in Covent Garden around 1997.
Naseem Hamed walking around in Covent Garden in 1995.
Glenn Mcrory used to pick his kid up from the same school as my Daughter - they were in the same class, actually. I remember often sizing him up and reckon I could 'have him' :D
How could I forget, once shared a lift with Prince Naseem in Coles, Sheffield.
Seen Ian "The Bard of Barnsley" McMillan on trains a few times.
Having a beer (underage at 17) in my local pub and stood next to me was Paul Young also having a beer. He was in the Q-Tips then and a mate of the Landlord.
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on July 20, 2024, 11:58:54 AMQuote from: Matt2112 on July 20, 2024, 11:12:56 AMEx-footballer Geoff Horsfield's career was spring-boarded between 1996-1998 after 70-odd appearances for Halifax Town, when his goals - at a rate for us of 1.6 per game - were a major factor in our return to the football league at the time, but it was only last year when I actually met him: former players from that glorious era were invited to The Shay Stadium for a league game and I was the beneficiary of a pre-match hospitality package.
I was taking a leek in the gents and he came in and used the urinal next to me. So of course I thanked him for what he did for us and quickly went over some away day memories and he was not only extremely gracious but inquisitive about how the currrent team were playing - the conversation ended with us shaking hands after having a laugh about making sure we'd washed them first. :)
I worked with someone who played with Geoff for a while. Maybe at Carlisle, or Scarborough?? Anyway, he spoke very highly of him.
That'll probably be Scarborough, when his day job was brick-laying.
I said hello to Hugh Laurie when I passed him in Charing Cross Road in 1995. He replied with a disinterested "alright?".
Noticed the Labour MP Frank Field on the opposite platform at Westminster Station once in the late '90s. Noticed Sir Jonathan Miller a few feet along the platform from me while waiting for a Northern Line train in 2002. Can't remember which station, London Bridge probably. He was an author, theatre director, TV presenter and one of the original Beyond the Fringe crew with Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Peter Cook.
Went in Virgin Records on Oxford Street in 1996 to enquire if they had a copy of Victor. Just as I arrived at the counter, a pleasant old man wearing a cap was turning away from it. Before I could utter a word to the assistant, she blurted out "That was Ivor Cutler!"
I saw Terry Hall (Specials, Colourfield, Funboy Three) in Our Price records at Covent Garden in 1998. Always been a fan but never said hello, he was with a young woman and they were having a laugh about something.
Saw Jemima Khan on Bond street one day in the Noughties. She was standing outside one of the shops talking to someone on a mobile phone. Hugh Grant, maybe? I smiled at her. She noticed that I'd recognised her.
Passed Nigel Havers on Jermyn Street in 2006, I think he'd just come out of one of the shops.
Tony Robinson ('Baldrick' from Blackadder of course) peered through the window of the Sushi place where I was eating in Covent Garden, apparently fascinated by the rotating conveyor belt carrying Japanese delicacies. I waved, and he smiled from ear to ear, apparently delighted to be recognised. 1998, probably.
I saw Simon Ward (Young Winston, All Creatures Great And Small) on St Martin's Lane in the late '90s. Perhaps he was appearing in a play near there. Also saw Jamie Theakston there, sporting a moustache at around the same time.
I was working in a private healthcare clinic in Leeds who moved to bigger premises in about 2002 - the formal opening was conducted by long-standing Leeds Central (as was) MP Hilary Benn, current Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
He turned up with his missus in a red Nissan Micra. He spent a fair amount of time talking to every staff member individually, including me of course. He came across as a very pleasant chap indeed.
About six or seven years ago I was visiting a friend who at the time lived in Chiswick Green. Minutes after he told me that quite a few celebrities lived in the area, we were walking over a rail bridge and Alex Jones of The One Show walked by us in the opposite direction, wearing a smart summer dress and shades.
A "Facebook Memory" from 14 years ago has just cropped up on my feed: I was playing with my band at a charity festival for a local hospice and, somehow, the organisers had persuaded Preston from The Ordinary Boys and Celebrity Big Brother and Lisa from Steps to each perform a short set, albeit their respective stars weren't exactly in the ascendancy at the time.
I didn't interact with Preston because word quickly got round the other performers that he was a complete knob, playing up to every pathetic pop star diva stereotype known to mankind.
However, Lisa was entirely the opposite, a smiling, charming young lady who willingly posed for photos, including a couple with my band mates and I that reappeared on my timeline today.
A particularly fondly-remembered encounter was with Elvis Costello, on Piccadilly, not far from Green Park tube station in 2003 - he walked out of a shop just in front of me accompanied by a young woman, and impulsively I shouted 'Elvis!' - he turned round and I stuttered something sheepishly about just wanting to say hello, feeling slightly starstruck - and he smiled broadly and offered a warm handshake - he couldn't have been nicer.
I found myself standing next to Ronnie Corbett, at the pedestrian crossing opposite Jermyn Street on Upper Regent Street late one night in the '90s. He was with his wife, very smartly dressed in a bow and tie. He looked up at me, expectantly waiting to be recognised - I smiled and said hello, and he said "hello, how are you?" - as if I'd been trying to get his attention, rather than the other way round. National treasure.
In 1984 or so I saw Paul Daniels smugly strolling through Eldon Square in Newcastle. A nearby woman exclaimed "Eee! It's Paul Daniels!" - and Paul obviously enjoyed the moment. About ten years later I encountered him again, emerging onto Regent Street from a side-street in his Roller, slightly incautiously, while I was crossing the side-street in question at the time as a pedestrian. I raised a reproachful eyebrow as he braked, and he gave me a withering look from the driver's seat.
Went for breakfast with the bonkers Japanese woman I was dating at the time at a Portuguese caff next to Fulham Broadway station in 1997. The Fairbrass brothers (from Right Said Fred) were also having breakfast there.
Around about the same time, I was walking along the Fulham Road one afternoon. Someone I recognised from the telly passed me coming the other way. She looked pleased to be recognised, but I didn't say hello. I only realised who she was months later - Sally Knyvette (Jenna from Blake's Seven).
I saw Janick Gers a few times round the pubs of Hartlepool in the late '70s and chatted to him a couple of times. But he was merely the guitar player in Hartlepool's own White Spirit at the time. My brother tells me that he brought Ian Gillan with him to one of Hartlepool's hostelries in 1981, which caused a bit of a stir. But I wasn't present for that myself.
I saw John Entwistle in the bar at the London Music Show at Wembley in 1993. Oddly, he was wearing something like a Kimono and had an Asian cutie in tow. He swaggered in like he owned the place, but he didn't get much attention. I saw Paul King (frontman of King, later an MTV 'VJ') at a London Music Show a couple of years before that. Come to think of it I saw Micky Moody there talking to a rep at the PRS stand one year in the early '90s.
Late one cold winter's night in 2000 while slightly drunk, I emerged from the Meridien Hotel on Piccadilly and saw Nicholas Parsons, wearing a wooly hat. I went up to him to say how much I enjoyed Radio Four's Just A Minute; he was most gracious and warmly, almost effusively appreciative of my gesture. Lovely man.
When I was working in New York in 1998, I used to wander round Midtown in the evenings sometimes. One evening my attention was drawn to an event that was going on at Rockefeller Plaza, as I passed there. A choir was singing and a small crowd was gathered. I went and joined them for a minute. Looked round and noticed Chevy Chase standing a few feet away from me.
Not long after I started working in London in 1994 I was browsing the racks in Our Price Records on Bishopsgate. Harry Hill strolled in, looking a bit bemused for some reason.
Had to pop up to get a visa from the Chinese embassy in London today. As I arrived at Paddington I crossed paths with Rory Stewart, told him I enjoyed his podcasts.
Went to get a coffee in a new coffee shop that's 5 minutes from home. Newcastle defender Fabian Schar was in there on his own having a coffee and some cake. He looked very handsome.
I saw Jeremy Bowen, now the BBC's international editor but then a reporter I think, near the BBC building at the top of Oxford Street in 1999 or 2000. I passed him coming the other way, he could see I'd recognised him but I didn't say anything.
I walked past a cafe near Carnaby Street about 20 years ago, Mike Read (the DJ, not the East Enders actor) was having a coffee outside with some pals. I saw George Layton (star of It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Doctor In The House) standing chatting to someone in a small branch of WH Smith on the Strand in 2000. Come to think of it he was in a couple of episodes of The Sweeney as well.
Late one night in 1996 I got on the Central Line at Holborn. The carriage was empty apart from myself, and a few seats further along, Jane Horrocks deep in effusive conversation with a sycophant.
I said hello to Pete Way at Manchester Airport (or possibly Birmingham Airport) in 2006. Chatted to him for a minute, he was lovely. He asked if I was coming to see UFO on their tour and I said yes (of course), but I didn't.
Saw most or all of Shed Seven in the guitar department in the Rose Morris shop on Denmark street in 1995, haggling over the price of musical instruments. Also saw Steve Hillage in there the same year, having a laugh with the guy behind the counter.
Climbed aboard one of the old slam door trains at London Bridge in '98 or so, en route to Charing Cross across the river. Sat down, Dominic Lawson was sitting opposite me, reading a newspaper.
Andre Previn strolled into a branch of Pret a Manger on the Strand while I was browsing their baguettes. 1996 or so.
Kevin Lloyd played DC "Tosh" Lines in The Bill, and I saw him chatting amiably to a small group of people in Wollaton Park near Nottingham in 1993. About five years later his brother, the ITN journalist Terry Lloyd walked past me in Bloomsbury. He glared at me when he noticed I'd recognised him, though I had no intention of approaching him. Seemed to be in a hurry.
Both dead now, sadly. Terry was killed by the Americans in Iraq in 2003.
I saw Don Warrington, best known from Rising Damp, with one of his kids one evening in Newcastle city centre, in the '90s I think. He looked bored.
Every now and then I run into Rob Jacobs, former football player and manager for most of this regions' clubs, including Feyenoord and Excelsoir. I looked him up just now, he is 81. Starting to look it as well.
He appears on local TV quite often as a football analyst.
When I lived in London I often frequented the guitar shops of Denmark Street in London and in 1995, while doing a bit of window shopping there, I noticed Bernard Butler and his girlfriend standing next to me.
In 1984, I stayed at a boarding house in Northampton for 6 months (I sometimes refer to this time as my "lost weekend"), and in September that year, an English actor called Patrick Holt came to stay for a few days while appearing in a play at the Derngate Theatre. He'd been the star of a few British films in the '50s and '60s. He had a small speaking part as an RAF officer in Thunderball. He recounted some old war and acting anecdotes to me over breakfast each morning he was there (three or four days I think). He gave me and our landlady free tickets for the play. Really nice bloke. Len Adamson, who had been written out of Coronation Street the previous year, and Derren Nesbitt, the SS Major from Where Eagles Dare were also in the play.
My most encountered celebrity is Michael Palin. I briefly exchanged a friendly greeting with Michael in Covent Garden one Saturday in '96. Saw him there again a few months later. Then in 2004 my wife and I went down to London for the day, got on a tube at Green Park in the late afternoon, sat down on the only two adjacent seats in the carriage, and he was sitting directly opposite the other half. I thought about saying hello again, but he seemed to be hiding behind a newspaper. Perhaps I'd have addressed him as "Mr Wensleydale", to be discreet. But I didn't.
I forgot about this one until now. Many years ago I went with my mum and sister to the local country park to walk our dogs. Afterwards we visited the park tearoom. As usual it was extremely busy but we found a table and settled down to enjoy a well earned rest and bite to eat. Another two couples squeezed past and sat at the tables behind us. I thought that I recognised voices so had a quick look over my shoulder to discover it was Gregg Hemphill and Sanjeev Kohli with their wives. They are of course Victor and Navid from the sitcom Still Game.
They quickly joined in with some light hearted banter with the surrounding tables and couldn't have been less like luvvies. I just wish that we had been sitting closer as it sounded very entertaining above the hubbub of the place. Navid steals the show every week as far as I am concerned. Sanjeev also attended my school, as did Tom Conti and Armando Ianucci.
I saw Sunetra Sarker, "Zoe Hanna" in Holby CIty and "Nisha Batra" in Brookside, in Top Shop on The Strand in 2007. A few years earlier when I lived in London, probably in 2000 or so, I saw Nicola Stephenson (Margaret from Brookside) and Angela Griffin (best remembered as Fiona Middleton from Coronation Street) together in a small basement night club in the West End. I think they were both in Holby City as well, at the time.
I remember seeing the BBC DJ Mark Goodier driving a van emblazoned with Radio 1 branding while out in a car one day in the '90s, but I can't remember where.
I met John Deacon (Queen bass player) at a swanky party given by Reuters to their market data customers at St Catherine's Wharf in December 1995. I was the only person there who recognised him. I wasn't 100% sure it was him, so I went up to a woman he'd just been chatting to and asked her "excuse me .. was that John Deacon you were talking to?" She replied that she had no idea who he was, but he said he played bass in a band. I talked to him for about 20 minutes. He was really humble and friendly. I wanted to talk to him about his bass guitars, he wanted to talk about market data and network protocols. But he did have an anecdote about being trapped in a hotel in Japan because it was surrounded by fans as far as the eye could see.
He also had a few choice words about the prospect of Queen touring with George Michael on vocals, which was being touted as a possibility at the time. He very definitely wasn't keen on the idea.
There was a photographer present at the do, taking photos of people with amusing props. I still have a pic somewhere of myself with one of my colleagues, in which we're both wearing Mexican style sombreros and ponchos. John agreed to have a photo taken with me but annoyingly, the photographer had already left. Wouldn't that have been a nice little memento of a night out in London?
I saw Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer) standing around on London Bridge, talking to someone on a mobile phone, about 20 years ago.
Quote from: Slim on November 23, 2024, 04:00:45 PMI saw Sunetra Sarker, "Zoe Hanna" in Holby CIty and "Nisha Batra" in Brookside, in Top Shop on The Strand in 2007. A few years earlier when I lived in London, probably in 2000 or so, I saw Nicola Stephenson (Margaret from Brookside) and Angela Griffin (best remembered as Fiona Middleton from Coronation Street) together in a small basement night club in the West End. I think they were both in Holby City as well, at the time.
I remember seeing the BBC DJ Mark Goodier driving a van emblazoned with Radio 1 branding while out in a car one day in the '90s, but I can't remember where.
I met John Deacon (Queen bass player) at a swanky party given by Reuters to their market data customers at St Catherine's Wharf in December 1995. I was the only person there who recognised him. I wasn't 100% sure it was him, so I went up to a woman he'd just been chatting to and asked her "excuse me .. was that John Deacon you were talking to?" She replied that she had no idea who he was, but he said he played bass in a band. I talked to him for about 20 minutes. He was really humble and friendly. I wanted to talk to him about his bass guitars, he wanted to talk about market data and network protocols. But he did have an anecdote about being trapped in a hotel in Japan because it was surrounded by fans as far as the eye could see.
He also had a few choice words about the prospect of Queen touring with George Michael on vocals, which was being touted as a possibility at the time. He very definitely wasn't keen on the idea.
There was a photographer present at the do, taking photos of people with amusing props. I still have a pic somewhere of myself with one of my colleagues, in which we're both wearing Mexican style sombreros and ponchos. John agreed to have a photo taken with me but annoyingly, the photographer had already left. Wouldn't that have been a nice little memento of a night out in London?
I saw Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer) standing around on London Bridge, talking to someone on a mobile phone, about 20 years ago.
That's an amazing John Deacon story. That must count as one of the last, fairly lengthy chats he had with anyone before going off the radar. He's someone I would love to have met to talk bass amongst other things. I'd be quite happy to go along with anything he wanted to chat about. He was a much bigger contributor to Queen than many realise. A bit of an electronic wizard as well.
Nick Nairn the chef..this lunchtime.. well it was his gaff we were at
I happened across Tom Cruise in the financial district of Hong Kong one night in 2000. Actually I hadn't noticed him but my girlfriend at the time suddenly piped up with "it's Tom Cruise!"
Three or four other people were with him. They were all looking upwards, perhaps at something interesting happening on one of the upper floors of one of the many tall buildings around us. I offered a friendly "alright, Tom!". He looked my way, and in that very cool and nonchalant Tom Cruise way, replied in kind with "Alright". He was actually wearing aviator RayBans and chewing gum.
He'd bought a house less than a mile from me in Dulwich the same year, always thought it was ironic that the only time ever saw him was on the other side of the world in Hong Kong.
In 1995 Tracy Brabin, now Mayor of West Yorkshire, was "Tricia Armstrong" in Coronation Street and I found myself standing next to her on a packed Central Line train one Friday lunchtime that year. She was with her partner and a child in a pushchair. Just before I got off the train at Liverpool Street - we were standing right next to the door - I said to her "see you on the telly later then". She gave a gleeful laugh. She clearly loved having been recognised, and she waved to me from the train as it sped away.
I saw Hugh Cornwell at Tottenham Court Road tube station in 1994.
If you can call a Mayor of a large city (Rotterdam) a celebrity I met those, 2 of them at the same time. It was at the 650th anniversary of the city, and there were festivities and an exhibition. I was there with a group of fellow drummers to lighten up an airwalk that displayed photographs of the city through time. I think there were 4 stops, all accompanied by different percussion instruments.
Both of these guys are dead now, and it has probably something to do with drinking habits. Some people had been spending quite some time creating this, putting it together, getting the press lined up, and when the moment was there they were all but flying across everything to get to the bar.
So yes, I met them, in passing.
I saw Will Self with one of his kids emerging from a sports shop on The Strand in the early noughties.
Dave Brewis, guitar player in the Kane Gang and producer of the first Prefab Sprout album worked at a guitar shop in Newcastle in 1983 and he sold me a Les Paul there in May that year. His Kane Gang bandmate Martin Brammer stood next to me at the urinals during a break during a John McLaughlin set at Newcastle Uni in 1988.
My favourite of all celebrity encounters was with Paddy McAloon in a greetings card shop in Newcastle City Centre, in April 1988 and I wrote about that here (http://www.jamesgibbon.com/paddy-mcaloon/).
I was reclining on a cruise ship at Barbados a few years ago when Shaun Williamson, best remembered as "Barry from EastEnders" strolled past my lounger.
I noticed the music journalist / reviewer Paul Morley loitering in the foyer at the Vue cinema at Leicester Square in 1996. I recognised him from his occasional appearances on BBC2.
I was sitting in the window at a coffee shop at the top of Haymarket in the West End when I noticed Richard E. Grant strolling across the zebra crossing outside, in 1999 possibly. I saw Tessa Peak-Jones ("Racquel" from Only Fools and Horses) coming the other way along Oxford Street in 1996 or 1997.
I said hello to Neil Hamilton, then a Tory MP and former minister under John Major, just off Regent Street in 1995. He was wearing squash whites and carrying a sports bag. He was pleasant, but a little wary.
I saw Des'ree coming the other way near Trafalgar Square, accompanied by a man in a business suit, in 1998-ish. She looked very sharp in a black leather jacket.
I noticed Jerry Hayes in a branch of Rymans on Fleet Street in 2001. He'd been a left-leaning Tory MP and occasional TV personality, but had lost his seat in 1997.
On the 3rd August 2001 - I know the date because I'd gone for a long walk around London to celebrate 15,000 days on Earth - I saw Sir Bernard Ingham, once Margaret Thatcher's press secretary, near Westminster. When he noticed that I'd recognised him, he scowled at me from beneath his remarkable overgrown eyebrows.
One evening while strolling to Covent Garden tube station from a restaurant, I noticed the actor Simon Callow gazing into the window of an antique shop. 1997 probably.
For a time I used to go to lunch at Yo Sushi on Poland Street, just off Oxford Street, every Saturday. On one of these occasions I noticed Chris Difford eating with a young man who looked remarkably like Marti Pellow at one of the tables. They got up to pay the bill at the same time I did. The Marti Pellow lookalike smiled at me very pleasantly. Later I realised it was actually Marti Pellow, they'd been working together. Probably 2000 or 2001.
Probably the first celebrity or recognisable figure I ever spotted in the wild was Peter Fairley, ITN's science editor, in May 1979. I was visiting London for the weekend and I decided to walk from the hotel in Tottenham Court Road to the Post Office Tower. My route took me past what were at that time the ITN offices on Wells Street and I saw him getting something out of a car there.
On a train on the way to a Rush gig in Stafford in 1979, my friend Barry and I happened upon Steve Harris, Iron Maiden bass player, propping up the bar in the restaurant car and chatting to the steward. He raised his can of lager and greeted us warmly when he saw the Rush patches on our denim jackets.
I saw Peter Green coming the other way on Regent Street in 1994. Said hello and shook his hand. Wish I could say he was warm and engaging, but it was like greeting a zombie.
Saw (Whitesnake guitarist) Micky Moody at the London Music Show in the early '90s, talking to someone on the PRS stand.
I've seen Andrew Bridgen, erstwhile MP for NW Leicestershire and COVID crank in Tesco at Ashby-de-la-Zouch a couple of times.
I saw Michelle Collins, better known as "Cindy Beale" from EastEnders, hurrying along Oxford Street with a child in the late '90s.
And I do believe that's the lot!
Except that I think I saw Alan Alda in the lobby of a hotel in New York in 2000, but I'm not at all sure about that one. I only caught a brief glimpse.
A conversation with the young 'un about Gladiators reminded me of the time I was in the gym one afternoon in 1998 and "Wolf" came in and did what looked like a fairly light workout; he was starring in the local panto at the time.
Not wishing to disturb him much, I nodded to him and said, "Alright!" and he responded in kind.
Quote from: Matt2112 on March 13, 2025, 01:13:15 PMA conversation with the young 'un about Gladiators reminded me of the time I was in the gym one afternoon in 1998 and "Wolf" came in and did what looked like a fairly light workout; he was starring in the local panto at the time.
Not wishing to disturb him much, I nodded to him and said, "Alright!" and he responded in kind.
Lucky he didn't rip your throat out
I recall, possibly 2002, flying home from La Guardia following the Rush shows in TO and NYC, whilst sitting at the gate, John Cleese came towards us on the back of one of those people carrier things. We made eye contact I smiled and he then made an amusing gesticulation with his arms, as his driver realised it was the wrong gate and almost handbrake turned.
Mid 00's I chatted with Gareth Southgate briefly in Roule's Covent Garden, he was pretty boring.
Flying home from Florence similar year / period I had a nice chat with the Italian football ref ... thingy what's his name .
Collini?
Yes that's him, Collina.
There was a time he was almost as big a celebrity as the players.
In the early 2000's I was in a nightclub which had two rooms, one of which I used only because it was quicker to get served at the bar.
Aussie soap star/popstrel Holly Vallance was booked to make a promo appearance in that room, and unfortunately for me, the start of her performance coincided with me getting a drink at the bar. Of course, I wanted to escape to the other room, but all access had been roped off while Vallance was "singing" (she was clearly miming).
As I tried to find some way out, I ended up being at the end of the front row of spectators and could go no further; grumpily, I gave in and just endured the 15 minutes of being feet away from a flash-in-the-pan pop star whose music I despised.
When she finished, she walked along that front row, high-fiving some punters as she went with a broad grin on her face. She passed about three feet away from me, making brief eye contact.
"You're shite!", I said to her face, drunkenly.
Im not terribly proud of that moment nowadays.
A couple I'd forgotten about: I saw the theatre director, playwright and occasional actor Steven Berkoff strolling through Covent Garden in the late '90s. I recognised him from his roles as Astronaut Steve Minto in UFO and a bad guy Russian in the second Rambo film.
I also saw Jim Broadbent in roughly the same place, at about the same time.
Another two I'd forgotten.
I saw the BBC radio presenter Stuart Maconie standing around outside a caff next to Lake Windermere in 2010 or so. I saw Jarvis Cocker on one of the platforms at Sheffield Railway Station in 2005.