Spent a wonderful few hours on a train journey north with Claire Grogan of Altered Images she was delightful

Yep. Met her when both our bands did “The Old Grey Whistle Test” (ancient TV music show).

She is indeed.

I have never knowingly met anyone famous, so you can have a vicarious one:

I met some lads out mountain biking in california and we were chatting at a break point half way up a 10 mile trail. They were saying that last time they were there, Brian Lopes and some other bloke had turned up, stopped for a few words and then set off for the 5 mile descent. One of these lads REALLY wanted to chase Lopes down it, and so he blocked off the other bloke and set off after him.

It was Troy Lee, apparently ! 😀

ooh, no, wait – I “met” two of JLS once; nice lads. I had no idea and my kids were too scared to say anything 🙄

Took Angela Ripon climbing for telly once. She bought me an ice cream.
Various famous climbers. You can’t live in Llanberis for 10 years without sharing the bar or a table with them. Paul Piana was especially amusing but Joe Brown was a bit grumpy.
Has been pro cyclists Mick Bennet, Mick Morrison, Trevor Bull, Keith Lambert. Dave Brailsfords dad was head of OE at Bangor and a keen bikie and organised “training ” weekends for course members and got his old mates to come along.

Spoke to Paloma Faith, couldn’t understand a word she said and she was as mad as a box of frogs. Seemed a nice person otherwise.

Seen Roy (say what you see) Walkers knob in the pool changing rooms at Hilton Coylumbridge Aviemore 😯

Jo Brand used to be our neighbour, met Pete Postlethwaite (rip) a few times, got very pissed off with the lead singer of nizlopi to the point I was about ready to punch him, he kept knocking into me with his guitar because he couldn’t seem to avoid all the swinging guitar Bs despite being in a tiny bar.

Used to regularly chat to Paul Heaton (Housemartins, Beautiful South singer) in bars/clubs around Hull in my late teens, early 20s. Bought him a couple of pints to apologise for only having taped his music. Grumpy bugger most of the time but I’d imagine a constant stream of “Alright Paul… Look lads, it’s Paul” when you’re trying to have a quiet beer is a pain in the arse.

Shared a lift with Kim Wilde in a Brussels hotel after an event where she’d been the “Star” turn. Couldn’t say if she was nice or otherwise, but I can say that whilst she was certainly gracious with the hordes of 40/50-something blokes reliving teenage crushes when in the bar, she looked relieved to be getting out of there.

Chatted to Fran Millar, exchanged a couple of words with Shane Sutton and interviewed his nephew CJ, interviewed Dave Thorpe, spoke to Travis Pastrana (and what an outrageously nice young man he is) and have seen Toni Cairoli in his pants.

The Queen: “who is the Architect?”
Me: “erm, me Ma’am”
Queen: “You must be proud of your building.”
Me: “Yes Ma’am”

That was it. Not my finest moment in conversation but at least I didn’t say anything silly.

Blimey, working on a train station on West Coast mainline there are hundreds, nicest people have been:

Scott Quigg
Sir Alex Ferguson
Kevin Sinfield
James Anderson
Sam out of Game of Thrones
Anthony Crolla
Bez
Becky Adlington
Laura Trott
Johnny Marr
Jonathan Ross
Ricky Hatton
John Bishop
Andy Burnham
Sam Tomkins

T0$$ers:

Gary Neville
Andrew Vaughan
Paul Scholes
Simon Rimmer
Danny Cipriani
Roy Keane (a very angry man indeed)
Jason Manford (possibly the worst customer who comes on station)

I’m mates with Stewart Lee.

I also worked in football for years and met loads of ‘stars’ – with very few notable exceptions, almost all are dull as ditch water.

most of the famous folk i want to meet these days are a) dead b) live in japan

Having a beer in my local and spotted Richie Porte, bought him a beer for helping Wiggins win the TdF the had more beer then went chasing more beer around town with him before he headed back to Monaco. Really nice bloke but can’t handle his ale 🙂
Did a race in Victoria this summer, spent a out 40mins chatting with Curtis Keene about bikes and stuff while hiding from the sun, took set up tips from Cedric Gracia and said hello to jarred graves. Had dinner that night with CG and Chris Ball from ews. All top guys as we took the piss out of CG for scraping the mayo of his sandwich so he didn’t get fat.

On holiday, this year, met Hannah Barnes

me, (having never met the woman) “so, Hannah, do you cycle at all”?

Hannah Barnes (pro-cyclist and brand ambassador for Specialised) “Yeah, a bit…” She was lovely, which is why she has a Bazillion followers on twitter and FB, no doubt…

On the same day, at supper, sat next to Tracey Moseley, I know who she is …

Another one I remember fondly was Julia Carling – who brought her pet dog to the local hospital to cheer patients up (yes, it was an official thing).

I’d seen her in the papers being cheated on by Will Carling, but she was far more beautiful in real life. I remember that interview took much longer than most, with lots of pointless questions about her dog.

About 2/3 of the names mentioned in this thread I have never heard of, having a piss next to somebody who was the drummer in an 80’s band who had 1 top ten hit is obviously a big deal in the shires.

Met loads of famous people through work, I guess the most notable was photographing Cherie Blaire (I don’t mean snapping her in the street but a studio shoot for an ad campaign) funniest was Ozzy Osbourne, he’s a wrongun 😯

Oh, famous by proxy…my father tells a story of meeting Prince Phillip (twice) the first on the occasion of the Queen’s visit to Hong Kong in the 70’s my dad was there with an unruly bunch of cubs (to which Phillip made a bee-line) and chatted with many of them regarding badges and such. Met him gain some 10 years later in a line of folk at a building being opened by Phil. My father is introduced, Phil looks at him closely…

Phil “Have we met before?”
Dad “with some cubs, your highn…”
Phil, “ah yes (interupping) in Hong Kong, bloody hell, what a mob they were (laughs)

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew came up to see my etchings.

I got along well enough with Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Holly Johnson. He asked me to paint his portrait. I duly did and MCA used it for an album cover.

Wayne Sleep came for dinner at the Towers of Moont.

I was once in a chain gang with the brownlee brothers, i was giving it full beans and ended up on the front when my legs were starting to scream. I though i cant die now so gave it my all to stay in front when mercifully the lights changed to red and i got a break. Then the words that shattered my illusions were uttered by Johnny b “right shall we start from here”! Thats right,they were warming up while i was at full gas,suffice to say i only rode with them for about the next 12 seconds!

nickc – Member

Oh, famous by proxy…my father tells a story of meeting Prince Phillip

My grandad helped make the royal wedding cake, he was a proper full on royalist and freaked out every time one of the family dropped in to see how it was going… But King George VI being apparently an all round nice bloke always made the effort and finally got my grandad to engage him in conversation, at which point while trying to make a joke he fumbled it and sorta kinda accidentally told him he was a disgrace to the country and the crown for smoking himself to death. He literally never told another soul for about 40 years and to his grave he was still mortally embarassed about it but I always thought, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’d do too.

Him on the left, pre-treason:

Chatted to a fair few musicians that are famous through working in industry. Went on tour with The Fratelis (cool guys) Jim Davies formerly of The Prodigy (seriously nice guy!) Static X (no surprise when Wayne OD’d sadly) Used to teach Harry Styles, met John Bishop through work.

Was on a snowboarding holiday with Wayne Bridge and his wife in April…..they were both really nice and down to earth……Wayne was a great guy actually. They’re just people at the end of the day!

As always on these type of threads though, my fav ever stw famous person story is the guy who’s mate ‘took Dierdre from Corrie up the reverend’ 😆

Met Mike Mcshane last week at the festival, he was doing a show with a pal’s cousin. There was conversation going on while I stared in awe at the legend. Fortunately there wasn’t a suitable break so I could blurt “iusedtowatchyouonwhoselineisitanyway25YEARSAGO!!!”.

Diedre backdoor Barlow

Oh, and also met Dave Mcleod (famous climberist) in an easy jet queue years ago. We were going climbing so had helmets on our bags, he was just flying home. We said hi, so asked where we’re off to (Sardinia), he said he’d never climbed there….. Then 2 hours of awkward queuing stood next to him. The chats I’ve had with him in my head since!

Chris Bonnington in Booths Keswick. lovely gentleman.
Sir Jackie Stewart at the Monza GP about 2 years ago, again lovely.
Took the Pi$$ out of Damon Hill at said event, he took it well

My neighbour is a loyalties manager in the music industry. Often has “famous”*** people with him. ( I often have no idea who these people are, so looooong conversations follow afterwards.) The only person I met who I recognised was Moby.

Once met David Coulthard at Silverstone at a test day. Had a little chat whilst I got him to pose for a photo with one of my work customers who I’d taken along. Very gracious and decent guy.
We were staying nearby and on checking out of the hotel , Michael Schumacher stood next to me. I was far too star struck to talk but my colleague did jokingly ask him about taking about Jacques Villeneuve on that incident. He took it quite well.

I’ve been near quite a few but I’ve either acted as though they are anyone else or just looked through them. I held open a door for Giggs in town once as he was walking behind me. It’d felt abit ‘daft’ to say something so I just said ‘no problem’.

In London, in certain parts you see loads. Saying this if it was someone I thought was a legend/great I’d probably say something stupid and regret it.

If I saw Lewis or Damon I’d ask for a photo of it was convenient.

We’re on page 3 now so I guess I can weigh in with my mega tenuous brushes the rich and famous.

I’ve met Rhodri Morgan a couple of times, he’d often be going one way marching along some green lanes as I was going the other on my bike – quiet an intense, smart guy, but nice to talk to, he doesn’t ‘chat’.

One night in some flashy (for me) bar/club thing we shared a table with Goldie Lookin’ Chain, Dirty Sanchez and Danniel Beddingfield – I know, I know – Hello hasn’t stopped calling me for a scoop ever since.

Oh and although we’ve never met in person, my wife’s cousin lives with Meatloaf, she’s his PA / tour manager / link to the outside world. We chat on social media a lot, she ‘likes’ my pics of the Alps and a hundred pics of my kids doing stuff, I like her pics of her backstage in Vegas and having dinner with Kiefer Sutherland and his stuffed rabbit toy and dancing with Jeff Bridges. It’s fantastic voyerisum.

If I met Shirley Manson I’d ask her out.. Well, she can only say no 😀

My mate sublet his apartment out for a patsy kensit movie as the green room.

Sundayevening having been partying for two days I found myself talking to a man in a kilt. I must have looked a state having not slept for days.

At some.point in the conversation he asked.me.if I recognised him. I didn’t . He told.me he was the bad guy from the fight scene in MI2 on the beach.

My response was less than flattering – Was that the shit mission impossible?

Mortified friends told me to call it a night at that point.

I introduced Barry Mcguigan to Tony Hawk !!

Now that was a strange conversation

I put Chris Bonington’s crampon back on for him about 15 years ago when climbing a route on Beinn an Dothaidh. We were climbing a route next to him and his partner. He hadn’t attached the toe clamp properly.

I,asked John Peel to play something at a Portsmouth Poly gig he was djing at. He said “OK!” Can’t remember what I asked for or if he played it.
Best one was Joe Strummer at a gig in Portsmouth. Lovely little venue, the Wedgewood Rooms… Pulp were playing supported by Elastica. I saw Joe there and had to go and speak to him, had a little chat and shook his (very small) hand.
Went something like ” Hi Joe”, “Hi”, “Just wanted to say thanks” “Cool, man” I was floating on a cloud 🙂
1993!

Roger Lloyd Pack (trigger from Only Fools…) i never realised he lived just down the road from us in Norfolk before he died, he played peek-a-boo with my then 3 year old daughter in Waitrose cafe in Swaffham.

I was flown back as a medical emergency from Bolivia following a nasty MTB accident and flight where went via Miami, i was placed in first class with BA and was put next to Sophie Ellis Bexter in weird bed/ chairs, i was in a sling with large amount of skin missing off arm and face and on very strong pain killers, needless to say after the two glasses of the red wine i lost my nervousness and talked endlessly at her before passing out! She was really nice and gave me her email asking me to let her know how i was.

Got stuck in a really bad traffic jam in one of the tunnels at top of M25 and there were 3-4 Ferrari and other exotic cars in lane next to me, as we were in a tunnel i asked the driver of the nearest Ferrari to “give it a rev” and he did making a deafening sound, i then tried to convince him to swap his red car for my red Berlingo van as mine would be more practical, but he wasn;t having it. It was only after he went that my mate in passenger seat told me i had been speaking to Nick Mason from Pink Floyd!

Met and spoke to most of the class of 92 in the Barton Arms in Worsley back in the day.

Asked David Beckham if he was ok after my mate put him in a head lock in the same pub while we were standing at the bar, he said he was fine and looked a little scared, we had been out on an all dayer 😀

Ben Thornley (of said class of 92) was my brothers best mate at school seen and spoken to him a few times since I think he is on sky now and again or MUTV cannot remember which. Decent lad always asks how our kid is doing.

Met and took pheasent’s off Ian Botham at a shoot “Shall I take them sir”, “Yes that would be great” when I was keepering in Hereford decent bloke made a point of coming over and thanking all the beaters for there help on the day and then shot his mates hat (not off his head obviously!).

Spoke to Steve Davis at Latitude a couple of years back, had a p#ss next to Bill Oddie, when he did a talk at work in the 90s, met Bobby George in a pub in St Neots many years ago, Julian Lloyd Weber is a neighbour, and the Duke of Kent was in my lab a couple of years ago, never met any of Led Zeppelin, which is a shame as I have most of their albums

I went to a talk by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston a couple of years ago, sponsored by Benromach. The evening ended getting drunk on the whisky, whilst smoking cigars chatting to Sir R. Fascinating Bloke.

Lennox Lewis used to come find me or my mate pat at work to borrow our darts and have a game in our mess room when he was waiting for a train.
He’s a big big bloke.

Sold t-shirts for Blast First merch desk for Dinosaur Jr one night in Embra (told that Stphen Pastel to get his nose out of the box…). I liked them, Lou especially.

Also manned the merch table for BF for Sonic Youth on first three dates of Daydream Nation tour which necessitated spending time with Susanne Sasic (Cool Rock Chick & SY’s then lighting person) and Dan Peters (Mudhoney drummer). Blew all cred with Susanne when the Vase-lines strolled in to the Glasgow gig (not only did I not recognise them, I’d never heard of them….). But she still told me how to make glitter jeans. Thurston Moore is a ****-ing giant, I might have said something along those things… 😳 also managed to piss off Kim Gordon 😳 😳 which broke my heart as I was complete awe of her 😳

Had that Johnny Dawes call up on the phone at work once, very bizarre.

More recent spoke with Meg Baird after her set in Glasgow last year. A very interesting and pleasant person, unsurprisingly we spoke about music (Arvo Part, Tim Buckley, the fate of Espers amongst other things). She put up with two half drunk Scottish mannies yabbling at her for half an hour… Didn’t even buy any merch as I already had everything (and she hadn’t even considered t-shirts).