Brushes with D-List Celebrites

Front half or back half?

Front or BAck …Lol

Sir Douglas Brown (Doug Brown) SCLI

Where is he now ?

…and

Sarah Churchill
Tommy Cooper
David Lean
Terry Thomas

PS I’m 78 BTW.

I was on the One Show in a cycling film with Euan Thomas. Had to film it twice as first go we did not wear helmets and the BBC flipped their lid (sic). Does that make me D list?

Apologies to Lucy Liu for calling her d-list, she just happened to be the first celebrity I could find a picture of… wait for it…

A brush with a d-list celebrity

On my first aid at work course I got to roll around the floor practicing the recovery position with a former local TV weather presenter, who had gone back to teaching.

Can’t remember her name but it wasn’t the worst morning of my life!

Keith Harris (of Orville &Cuddles) is a family friend and thoroughly lovely chap.

I was in Fish and Chip restaurant just outside of Blackpool about 3-4 years ago and Keith and his Wife where there having a meal. His Merc was outside with ORV 1LE number plate.

I didn’t speak to him, but overheard him taking to the staff and he seemed a sound bloke. Wish I had approached him now as it wasn’t long after he passed away and I loved Orville when I was growing up.

The Krankies fandabbydozy…in a chippy in aberaeron

I took Angela Rippon climbing at Symonds Yat for telly. She bought me an ice cream. Denis Healey’s wife shook my hand when I was about 9. I had won a school fancy dress competition as a viking.

I stood next to Mr Motivator on a bus at Zurich airport, transferring us to the terminal. He had a custom wire cage for his baseball caps. Anthea Turner was next to him. I’ve spoken to Roger Moore on the phone, he was actually trying to call someone else. Had to stop riding and wait for Tony Conti to finish filming in some woods near Oxford, he came and spoke to us afterwards, very nice chap. Had to change our route in Peaslake to let Tom Cruise film the chase scene for the Mummy. Brian Johnson of AC/DC was in the garage next to us at Le Mans, he’s very friendly, more importantly he was sharing the car with Hans Stuck, who is a legend.

Had a brief chat, on the phone, with Noel Gallagher as my bro-in-law was playing pool.
Had a kiss from Jet, the Gladiator, when at school.
Served Robert Plant & Nigel Kennedy drinks when I worked in the pub.
Met the queen.
Beaten Quentin Hann @ pool (then kicked him out of the pub for doing naughty stuff in the loo).
Played Jimmy White, Willie Thorne & Andy Gray at snooker. Lost to the JW/WT, beat AG).
Stopped to help a man in a broken down Morgan 3-wheeler, turned out to be Jay Leno.
Bumped into Danny Hart in Whistler last year.

The Krankies fandabbydozy…in a chippy in aberaeron

as it wasn’t long after he passed away

Eeeewwwwww. Kinda like Weekend at Bernie’s or something? 😐

Held the door open for Arsene Wenger at a hotel in St Albans. And Ian Wright.

Dined in the same Indian restaurant as Lenny Henry, he was on the table next to us.

A friend of mine is often on TV and radio talking about engineering, sex robots and technology. She’s absolutely ace.

Oh and I once shared an office with an ex-Monty Python. 😀

Held the door open for Arsene Wenger at a hotel in St Albans. And Ian Wright.

You held Ian Wright open for Arsene Wenger at a hotel? 😯

Do these football perverts know no bounds?

LOL!

🙂

Edit: A door. Not the back door.

Bought an EBay bike (a very nice S-Works Enduro) off this bloke a few years back. He’s a Zoolander type, name of Simon Clark:

Nice chap. Hilarious mid-Atlantic drawl for an accent. I picked up the bike from his house in a very smart bit of Surrey. I assumed he was a stockbroker or something, til the missus clocked him (she thought he was ‘well fit’).

Oh and I once went on a solitary date with Angel Coulby (Guinevere from King Arthur-based BBC TV show Merlin) through a popular internet dating service. Lovely friendly girl. I admitted I’d never watched Merlin, and she laughed and went ‘oh I wouldn’t bother, it’s shit’

I sat next to John Peel in a curry house, & we discussed the menu. Years later we sat near to each other in another restaurant but didn’t interact.

I was on a dive boat with mark Wingett who played DC Jim Carver on The Bill.

Rachel Atherton & I were appointed to British Cycling commissions at the same time. I’ve not met her though, and they didn’t write an article about me for the BC web site.

Had a piss next to Jarvis Cocker in a venue in London
Gemma Arterton walked into me on the street in Paris
Stood outside a takeaway with Damon Albarn waiting for food awkwardly trying to pretend I didn’t know who he was so we could have a normal chat
Bought Paul Heaton a pint as an apology for taping all of his albums

and my #1 D-list celeb encounter
Jilly Cooper was doing a book signing in Hatchards. She smiled as I walked up to her (there was no queue). Smile turned to distress/irritation/anger when, after asking me who I wanted the book made out to, I asked her to move so I could get at the books on the shelf behind her

[*]I was at school with Richard Hammond. [/*]
[*]I bumped into Mark Webber (literally) on the pit wall at Le Mans during the 24h a couple of years ago. [/*]
[*]I said “nice shoes” to Fernando Alonso as he walked up the grid at the 24h (the same year?). He smiled, but don’t think he heard me. He was just doing a PR grin to everyone, I think. [/*]
[*]Luc Alphand accused me (wrongly) of taking his ski poles after lunch on an Atomic skis test day. He’s quite tall, and clearly doesn’t use anything like the same size poles as I do. [/*]