Random Encounters with Celebrities

[Fishy]

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

[dom]

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

[Slim]

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.

[The Picnic Wasp]

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.

[The Picnic Wasp]

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.

[captainkurtz]

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.

[Nickslikk2112]

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...

[Matt2112]

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.

[R6GYY]

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  .

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.

[Slim]

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.

[Matt2112]

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. 

[Slim]

I was taking a leek in the gents and he came in and used the urinal next to me.

[The Picnic Wasp]

I was taking a leek in the gents and he came in and used the urinal next to me.

Cheeky AI. But funny!😀

[The Picnic Wasp]

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. 

I worked with someone who played with Geoff for a while. Maybe at Carlisle, or Scarborough?? Anyway, he spoke very highly of him.

[captainkurtz]

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'