Meeting Famous People ?

A quick questions and answers session for forum members
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Selby White
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Meeting Famous People ?

Post by Selby White »

Have you ever had a chance meeting with someone famous ?

Not just seen them, actually chatted.

Here are two of mine both actually on the same visit to Chicago 8 years ago.

1. Went for a mates birthday and on the first night following a few beers 3 of us were making our way back to the hotel but decided to stop in a pub for a night cap. Anyway was just us and small group of Aussies who turned out to be member of Melbourne Rock Band Jet (one of my mates recognised them, I wouldn't have had a clue).
They actually were quite shocked we recognised them invited us over to join them and bought our drinks.

2. Later on the same trip a very tall gentleman appeared from the shadows and asked us "Are there any good clubs around here ?" We explained didn't know the area that well as were from England.
Chatted with him and he started laughing.
Asked him why he was laughing to which he replied "Don't you recognise me ?"
Answered "No"
He really was shocked and said "Don't you play basketball in England ?"
Nope was of course our answer, he really was gobsmacked we didn't know him.
He confessed he was a top player called Anton (as I remember) and played for San Antonio Spurs, had sneaked out the team hotel for a beer and swore us to secrecy.
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by Davycc »

Having worked in the airport terminal you get to see quite a few celebrities but rightly it's against airport protocol to approach anyone. However I've been stopped by Ian Wright, Bear Grylls and Gerry Armstrong who all had questions which progressed into chats. Ian Wright is a real gent he'd been travelling with John Motson (not such a gent) when he noticed a girl struggling with a teenager in a wheelchair (Belfast Int Airport used to have a ridiculous escalator which alway packed up leaving people with an uphill push with trollies etc) he took off and pushed the young fella up the escalator then came back down and asked me to make sure he was looked after, then he just started to chat away about N.Ireland etc.

Bear Grylls again had a question but I just had to ask why when wearing a suit but with no tie was he wearing sandals. Apparently it's what he finds the most comforable on his feet and sod the image or words to that effect. Having been born in Northern Ireland he loves to visit especially the north coast (Selby White) !

Gerry Armstrong is another gent and really chatty. I was checking him in and we got to talking about Northern Ireland football and inevitably about his world cup goal v Spain in 82 I ended up getting someone to take over check in and we had a coffee whilst he waited for his wife to arrive for their flight to Spain.
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by Deleted User 728 »

I used to work in Oxford Street for Virgin and working in retail for so long you tend to meet more than the average person anyway, so I've met a few, some more bizarre than others :

Paul Darrow (Avon - Blake's 7) - an absolute "luvvie" but a proper gent. Really classy guy and very dry. I'm a huge fan of the show so it was a thrill to meet him.
Susannah Yorke (actress) - stunning in the flesh and when I met her she was in her late 40s. Spent a good ten minutes explaining the finer points of figure painting in the role-playing games section and I even showed her some of my own work that was on display there :)
Martin Degville (Sigue Sigue Sputnik) - full fright wig and fishnets outfit, strutting around London. I was on the door, covering the security guard who was on lunch, and couldn't really move. He stood there for five minutes talking to me. It was only when I was older that I realised he was trying to chat me up but I was too innocent to know at the time (19 or 20).
Richard Griffiths (Pie In The Sky) - must've caught him on a bad day because he was really grumpy and rude.
U2- can't stand them so I blanked them during a PA at the Megastore !
Walter Koenig (Checkov in Star Trek) - poor man. My boss was a huge fan of the original show and he collared him for about half an hour, getting him to sign everything he could. Lovely chap, though :)
They were all at Virgin in London.
The next lot were from when I ran Tower Records down here in Southampton :

Michael Winner (film director) - lived in the New Forest so often shopped with us. Lovely man, always smiling.
Artful Dodger - local boys, good blokes.
Jimmy Case, Matt Le Tissier, Hassan Kachloul, etc - lots of Saints players used to come in. Case and Le Tis are diamonds and Kachloul is really funny, very passionate - had a go at me about Lee Bowyer getting him sent off !
John Altman (Nick Cotton) - another lovely bloke. Very funny, knows his spiel and uses it well.
Jerome Flynn (Robson & Jerome, Game Of Thrones) - quite quiet, just looking to get away from several "women of a certain age" who were lurking while we were talking. Smaller off-screen than you would expect.

Random :
Kevin Keegan - outside my house, just down from the Dell. Really sound bloke. He was with his wife and stopped to chat. I was about 10 :D
Lawrie McMenemy - at the airport down here, waiting for our baggage. Real gent. Wife was lovely too. He laughed when I told him I was a Leeds fan and then added "Proper club, mind !" quickly when he saw my face :D

From working in clubs :
Chris Packham - another local boy. Very intense - we know why now - and his gf was lovely. Got to know her quite well as she'd often come in with friends when he was away.
Fatboy Slim - really cool, really relaxed. Very nice guy.
Craig Charles - met him two or three times and DJed before and after him once. Off his t1ts on coke every time :D
Selina Jones (singer) - one for the older readers here. Jazz singer who lived down here for a while, again in The Forest I think. Used to be a regular customer and one beautiful African American woman !

Marva Whitney (singer) - my all-time number one. She was playing a gig at the Soul Cellar where I DJed and I had the honour and pleasure of picking her up from Gatwick and driving her back to the hotel down here. She was James Brown's Soul Sister #1 back in the day, his top backing singer and a solo artist in her own right. You have heard her samples on more records than you can imagine, believe me. I've DJed one single of hers pretty much every single night I've ever played and I adore her.
She was about 67 and in a full-length leopardskin fake fur coat when I met her and a real gentlewoman.
We spent nearly three hours in the car due to traffic and she was amazing to talk to. She told me so much stuff about the old days, her times with the band, what an utter sod "Mr Brown" was - all the rumours are true - and the sad story that he never paid her taxes OR gave her writing credits for royalties, which is why she was still touring until her death a couple of years ago. She lost tens of thousands of dollars - possibly more - because of that.
She was jet-lagged and dead-beat by the time I carried her bags in to the hotel room. She gave me a hug, a kiss and said "See you on stage, honey" and fell asleep virtually before I'd left the room.

The best bit ?
At one point she started singing in the car - and I mean proper belting one out, an old gospel number.
That was an electric moment for me that still sends shivers up my spine when I think about it ..

Here she is in all her glory singing live on US TV in 1969 :



(the most famous sample is at about 01:26, a funky horn break used by Public Enemy)
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NottinghamWhite
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by NottinghamWhite »

The 2 stand out celebrities I've met are Bill Owen ( Compo from Last of the Summer Wine ) a truly lovely man despite at the time at the top of his proffesion. Secondly Jack Douglas such a grounded gentleman. To balance these 2 lovely men I give you Jimmy Clitheroe what a nasty little sh1t he was & Tim Henmans mother, beam me up snotty. In the early 70's I worked at the Box Tree Cottage restaurant in Ilkley & all the stars from Batley Variety club used to eat there these included Danny la Rue, Shirley Bassey & lots of others.

Meeting all the Revie Era guys at The Dons statue appeal will remain a true highlight of my life. Why on Sunday I chatted with cricketing legends Dickie Bird & Geoff Cope. I also had drinks over the weekend with TMS's Daniel Norcross who was a highly intelligent & witty man.

Others that I can remember are..

George Best
Brian Clough
Princess Anne
Bill Gates
Oliver Reed
Fanny Craddock
Pat Phoenix
Phil Collins
Franz Beckenbaur
Juergen Klinsman
Billy Connoly
Harold Wilson

I know I've forgotten loads more, will add as & when.
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Barlow Boy
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by Barlow Boy »

Me and a mate used to have a little competition going on this, you had to have your picture taken with them as proof. There are literally loads I’ve had photos with (not sure of that counts as meeting them though).

My best ever was the great Bobby Robson

I’d been working in London for the day, I got on a late train with a colleague , and we walked through first class, as it was the first carriage we could get on.

I glanced at this bloke and thought I know him, he gave me a little smile. We walked a bit further down the carriage, and it twigged who he was. I turned round in the carriage, and made my non sporting work colleague take a photo of me with him. We talked football for a good part of the journey, lovely bloke.

Lennox Lewis

Stood in the airport in Jamaica, waiting to check in to come home from our honeymoon and there was a load of big black guys stood in the aisle next to us (the aisles were separated by a bit of tape). Mrs Barlow spotted him, and said look who that is.

This one took me a bit of courage to get the photo, but I did it in the end. I’m only 5ft 7, so it looked like a bloke stood next to a small child. Again, lovely bloke with time for everyone in the airport.
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johnh
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by johnh »

Bill Shankly
Bobby Moore
Don Revie
Bob Wilson
Alf Ramsey
Jack Charlton
Norman Hunter
Gordon Banks (Played a round of golf with him)
Denis Law
Paul Reaney

Henry Cooper (spent over an hour chatting, one on one.)
Christy O"Connor senior (got a golf lesson from him)
Micky Walker (Lady golfer, played around with her - sorry played a round with her)
Laura Davies (Lady golfer, played a round with her)
Current Prime Minister (been in our house :D )
Jonathan Palmer (F1) Drove around race track with him.
David Lloyd (Bumble) Sat next to him at a dinner.
Paul Ridge (Had lunch with him in Chawton)
Last edited by johnh on 18 Apr 2018, 18:01, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by Deleted User 728 »

johnh wrote: Paul Ridge (Had lunch with him in Chawton)
Took your time, John :D
I thought you'd forgotten ;)

Speaking of forgetting, I've met Marcus Miller - one of the best bass players of all time and Miles Davis' band member - and I also interviewed Mark King of Level 42 for the paper I write for too. Don't know how I could forget that one. Love the band and he's really funny :)
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Mr Russell
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by Mr Russell »

Not many on my list but here goes -

Harry Kewell in a pub in Newcastle (his uncle or cousin owned the pub) - me and former forum member garper/Big Leeds fan 72 spoke with him for a couple of hours, this was in 1997 so he had not become famous. He seemed genuine back then but sadly not the case as the years went on.

Alan Sutton former Leeds Physio in the Howard Wilkinson era - he had come over to speak at the first year anniversary of the NSW Branch of Leeds United Supporters club, great man and you could speak to him for hours about any players during his time at Leeds. He does come to Australia from time to time but have not seen or heard from him in a while.

Ian Botham, Allan Border, Craig McDermott and Greg Ritchie - 3 Aussie Cricketers and a Pom, they were all playing for Queensland in 1987 and they were training at the Newcastle (NSW) university and i was over in Oz for a wedding and to see if we would move here eventually. Got their signatures but sadly lost them now somewhere, all 4 were talkative especially Allan Border who was so funny considering they called him "Captain Grumpy", still got the photos.

Darren Lehmann, Jason Gillespie and Anthony McGrath - Yeah another bunch of cricketers, met them with my best mate who now works at the Yorkshire cricket academy as a groundsman in a bar in Headingley after a 20/20 match in 2006, spoke with Lehmann for at least an hour about Oz, Newcastle (where i live) and cricket. Shame that his reputation is soured now with the ball tampering affair.

Roy Powell RIP, one of my father's friends and came to my 18th Birthday party, played rugby league for Great Britain and was an all round good guy who sadly died at training many years ago.
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by jordiboy7 »

Quite a varying degree of "famous" in my list, but here goes...

Sir Geoff Hurst - Met him at a football gala years ago (I was about 10) and he was with the FA Cup and the Community Shield. At the time I didn't have a clue who he was, until my dad explained. I remember him being very polite and took time to chat to all the kids.

Leo Gregory - "Bovver" in the movie "Green Street". (Not the most famous person ever, but I loved that movie growing up). Met him this year at QPR away. We parked the coach somewhere in Camden and went to find a pub. When we got back, "Bovver" had seen the LUFC flags in the bus window and came over shouting "We all love Leeds". He was quickly mobbed by the younger members of the SC, and took the time to have photos with us all.

Chris Kamara - He used to come down and play 5 aside football on a Sunday night on the same pitch as my team in Wakefield. He hasn't been down for a long time though, probably due to Sky commitments. Very nice bloke, as you can imagine!

Charlotte Crosby - From my time living in Newcastle. Met her on a night out in Bijoux. I've met most of the members of Geordie Shore, but she was the only one who was nice enough to take photos and chat.

Rugby League: Endless Rugby players with my brother playing professional. Met most of the recently retired Leeds Rhinos stars (McGuire, Burrows, Sinfield, Peacock etc) and quite a few from the current Wigan squad too. Really sound, down to earth people. Completely different to how footballers are perceived.

Harrison Ford: Okay, I didn't actually meet him/talk to him. But I chased him through Beverly Hills. When I travelled across America, my friends and I filmed most of the trip in a mockumentary style film. It was our way of looking back at the trip in years to come, instead of photos etc. I travelled with an Irish lad, two Colombians, two Americans and another English bloke. We were driving around in Beverly Hills in a VW Jetta, which was filled to the brim with pillows, cases of PBR and Ramen Noodles. Harrison Ford pulled up at the side of us at some traffic lights in an old style Jaguar, the kind you'd see James Bond drive. He looked over, saw us all crammed into this car, which looked like the ultimate "student" car, nodded to us and threw his head back laughing. He sped off once the lights changed to green, unfortunately before we could get our cameras out. Our first instinct was to chase him through Beverly Hills, before we lost him at another set of lights. We still talk about how we chased him through LA and how it was probably the only part of the trip worth filming. Maybe all those high speed chases he filmed over the years came in handy.
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kk white
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Re: Meeting Famous People ?

Post by kk white »

Mainly just footballers that I've met. Most were really generous with their time.
The 2 standout exceptions were at the Leeds Dinner Dance in 1996/1997:

Carlton Palmer was a smarmy (drunk) git, who 'jokingly' groped my missus while smiling at me. I didn't have to step in as her fiery red hair temperament let him know exactly what she thought of him :clap:

George Graham was posing for photos, and what struck me was how well he judged the camera. By that I mean he constantly had his usual scowl, but when the camera clicked, he flashed the perfect smile. This was before digital cameras, so when we developed the film, I expected the scowl, but he looks like the worlds friendliest guy in it.

I remember Gary Kelly at our table getting HUGELY drunk. It was about 2am and we were the last few in the Banqueting Suite. Gary got very emotional about Howard Wilkinsons leaving and starting telling us his insider reason as to what happend... A friendly security guard walked over, put an arm around him and said "A'right Gary lad, time to get you 'ome..." We were gutted.

Just as an aside, I have to mention a member of staff from that visit - unfortunately I never got his name. The wife and I took a little stroll around the hallways after dinner. We found our way to the players tunnel before a guy called out to say we weren't allowed there. We apologised and said we were over from Ireland and just got a bit carried away when we realised where we were. He paused, took out a set of keys and said "c'mere". He walked us out onto the pitch and told us to have a few minutes to ourselves. What a feeling. ER in darkness, with just enough lights on to silhouette the stands. Memory for life!
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