OK, so my definition of “celeb” is…interestingly defined. But two things landed over the last coupe of days that cheered me.
I wrote a wee note to a historian who wrote a book that I thought was fantastic. Well researched, strongly argued, put Starkey to the sword, and so very very readable. So I told her that, and she wrote back.
And then I signed up for the Saltfishforty email list, which gives you the chance to leave a message. So I did, telling them how much I adore Bere and that their Orcadian music had made it to Alexandria, Va. I got a nice note back as well. Not a form, canned response, but one that actually showed that they’d taken the time to read the note and personalize the answer.
You know, it’s not much. But at a time where simple human kindness seems to be growing rarer and rarer, and at a time when I’m having a wee bit of a down spell, the two things were remarkably uplifting.
So what has a ‘celeb’ done to you that was nice and made you feel good?
Sitheref2409 says
Obligatory video:
davebigpicture says
Posted both of these before but since you asked.
When I was about 6, I was in a local store where Michael Bond was signing copies of his latest book, Michael Bond’s Book of Bears. My mother said I should go and talk to him, which I did. He asked if I was going to buy a book but I told him we couldn’t afford it and without missing a beat, he signed a flyer for me to take away, saying another child hadn’t wanted it. What a nice man.
Gail Porter gave me the most radiant smile when I was at her feet (taping cables down at the Natural History Museum ). I went all gooey. This would have been around 1999 when she was in all the so called Lads mags. “Swoon”
Gatz says
Sorry to lower the altruistic tone of the thread so soon, and I’m sure I’ve said this here before, but Gail Porter has a powerfully charismatic bum. When she she dating Keith Flint, round about the same time she gave Dave that memorable smile, I worked in a nearby bookshop. One day I came down the stairs with my head full of whatever thoughts were in there, only to have them supplanted by the single, irrestible, brain-filling rush of, ‘That is the best arse I have ever seen!!’ She must have been ten metres distant, facing away (obviously) so I had no idea who she was at that time. She bought a book I had written a recommendation for on the shelf (Alan Warner’s The Sopranos if you’re interested) and we exchanged some pleasant words before I wistfully watched her walk away. I still feel quite giddy thinking about it.
Moose the Mooche says
“Round about” hurrrr
Twang says
Staying carefully away from the substance to avoid storm of outrage re objectiifcation of women etc etc, but a friend of mine had a similar reaction to seeing Kylie standing in a queue right in front of him at Singapore airport. He wans’t right for weeks.
Emanuelle Beart got out of a taxi and smiled at me in Avenue Georges Cinq and I nearly fainted.
Moose the Mooche says
“The substance”
Hurrr
Leicester Bangs says
I don’t understand what Michael Bond did that was nice…?
Black Type says
Signed a flyer. He could have stretched it to giving a book away, I suppose, but all that marmalade would be expensive…
Leicester Bangs says
Well, yes, I did wonder about that. Also, ‘another child hadn’t wanted it’. The flyer?
davebigpicture says
There was no other child. He gave me something when I said that we couldn’t afford his book. Which was nice.
Leicester Bangs says
Sorry, Dave, I’m not at all trying to take away from what was clearly a lovely gesture, just trying to understand it!
davebigpicture says
I didn’t explain myself very well. It’s been a long couple of weeks. No offence taken.
davebigpicture says
or meant.
Leicester Bangs says
👍
Wayfarer says
Susan George at Wimbledon in 1975 stopped and posed for the 19 year old me, allowing me to take this blurred photo. She was George-ous. I also tried to get a photo of teen sensation Martina Navratilova, who gave me an Eastern Bloc scowl and walked on, which I enjoyed as much as Susan George’s smile. Happy days.
Moose the Mooche says
Eastern Bloc scowl… reserved for somebody asking for a CD of Brothers in Arms in a Manchester record shop.
Wayfarer says
And rightly so.
Martin Hairnet says
Looks like you got two for the price of one there, with Rodney Bickerstaffe in the background.
Wayfarer says
I thought it was Ernie Bishop from Corrie.
Moose the Mooche says
What the devil are you doing looking at Other Things in that picture?
Perverts.
Wayfarer says
I can honestly say that I never noticed Ernie Bishop until Martin’s comment just now
minibreakfast says
Have mentioned this before, but the author of the Vinyl Detective series was having a cull of his jazz collection, getting rid of duplicates etc., and sent me a Joe Pass LP for Christmas.
Tiggerlion says
That’s being kind???
Moose the Mooche says
What’s wrong with Joe Pass then? Too tuneful I suppose!
Tiggerlion says
It ain’t jazz.
Moose the Mooche says
You only like music if it fits into a genre?
Do you work in radio programming by any chance?
Tiggerlion says
Ok. Joe Pass is just crap.
minibreakfast says
Oh do fuck off.
Moose the Mooche says
Woahhh! Trouble in Paradise!
(… is another good Randy Newman album)
Tiggerlion says
I’m not a great fan of Oscar Peterson and his ‘duet’ albums with Ella were recorded as her range became more narrow. The song choices weren’t great, either.
He’s a nice enough, smooth player, very fond of his chords but not a natural improviser. I much prefer Django to Joe.
Peanuts Molloy says
Martin Hairnet says
How does Oscar Peterson sneak in here? I thought you were slagging off Joe Pass, but suddenly you’re on Peterson and Fitzgerald.
Who is smooth and likes his chords? Peterson or Pass? Confused.
Ps. I love Peterson. Effortless fluidity. His Christmas album is fantastic.
Tiggerlion says
You know, I invariably regret slagging someone off. These *guys* spend thousands of hours honing their craft and I dismiss them with a shrug. There’s always someone who bites me.
I was talking about Joe Pass. He has great technique, with all that practice, but I just find his music too easy, too comfortable and I like a bit of edge. I know him best from his trio work with Oscar and duets with Ella. None of those albums get my pulse racing, even though I regard Ella as one of the finest vocalists ever. Oscar’s piano playing, again has great technique. Those fingers are lithe but he doesn’t resonate with me.
There you go.
Peanuts Molloy says
Tuneful:
Moose the Mooche says
Rubbish.
…er…
minibreakfast says
It was Pass with J.J. Johnson, if that helps, yer honour.
Moose the Mooche says
Prrrrrrapp!
minibreakfast says
Frrrp.
Alias says
The Eminent JJ Johnson Vol 1 gets 4 stars and a crown in the Penguin Guide To Jazz, meaning it is essential.
Moose the Mooche says
JJ Johnson was a fuckin’ geezer.
That’s from the Moose Guide to Jazz.
Peanuts Molloy says
Lodestone of Wrongness says
One of the early Doctor Whos , no names in case he trades here under the name of Moose or Gary, started talking to me one fine summer’s evening in Holland Park. Being a simple lad frae Aiberdeen it took me a good twenty minutes to realise I had inadvertently chosen a part of the park where friendly men chatted to friendly men. Awfully nice chap but I suddenly remembered I had left the gas on back at the flat.
Gary says
Reading between the lines, what you’re saying is that you got a handjob off Worzel Gummidge? Cool!
Moose the Mooche says
One of the early Doctor Whos? No, but I auditioned to be that big green blobby thing that Tom Baker was so scared of. They were kind enough to say that apart from the skin tone I would have been perfect.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
You owe me a new computer, the last one disappearing under a torrent of spluttered tea…
Tiggerlion says
Elvis Costello bought me a pint once. Mind you, most of Duran Duran owe me a drink, especially that tightwad Simon Le Bon.
Moose the Mooche says
Duran Duran do not drink pints. Stop ruining people’s illusions.
Tiggerlion says
No they didn’t. Fucking martinis!! Very expensive round for a student, including their girlfriends.
Moose the Mooche says
Sorry, but I think this sort of behaviour is classed as “enabling”. See also, Boris Johnson’s personal stylist.
Tiggerlion says
A few years later, after they’d actually made a record, I saw Simon and Jasmin (not his girlfriend when I bought the round) boarding a train. They were up at first class, of course, and I was in cattle class.
“Oi! Simon! You owe me a drink.”
He just smiled, waved and got on the train. He probably had no idea who I was. Mind you, Jasmin’s smile was much better.
Moose the Mooche says
Still is. She’s a veritable peach.
Just sayin’.
Leedsboy says
Lynn Davies at Superstars in Bracknell (that Kevin Keegan episode). I had been swimming and had bought a packet of Polos from a vending machine. Lynn Davies walks up in Superstars kit and I (politely) ask him for his autograph. He grins and says he would only if I let him have a Polo. He takes a Polo and I take his autograph and he chats and is just genuinely nice for a minute or so.
Five minutes later, I spot David Vine. Armed with my celeb seducing mints, I (politely) ask him for his autograph.
“Piss off – I’m working” came the response.
Blue Boy says
I worked with David Vine once. That sounds pretty much par for the course.
Black Type says
Was it a golf broadcast?
fentonsteve says
Chris Difford gave me his rider.
He was a bag of nerves at his first ever solo gig in Docklands, despite having Boo Hewerdine and whasisname from It Bites in his backing band. The venue, not realising he was attending AA, had filled a cooler box in his dressing room with ice and bottles of posh lager and a crate of wine.
I was giving Boo a lift back to Cambridge, and Chris insisted we took all of the booze with us “if you don’t, the cleaners will nick it all”. We stuffed our pockets and sounded like a couple of tramps as we clinked our way back to the underground car park.
fentonsteve says
Another celeb shaming: Vanessa Feltz spilled my pint (as she turned round at the bar) in the Shakespeare’s Head pub, Carnaby Street, c. 1995 and refused to buy me a replacement.
Moose the Mooche says
In what way was that nice? Was she your AA sponsor?
fentonsteve says
This belongs on another thread, really.
Moose the Mooche says
Oh dear. I blame yer man out of Squeeze .
Paul Wad says
Both football related. Firstly, I attended a book signing in Brighton when Brian Clough wrote his first autobioraphy. There was quite a queue and I noticed he was giving older ladies a hug, ruffling the hair of young kids, but not really communicating with the blokes, who made up 90% of the queue. As he handed me my book, however, he held out his hand to shake mine. I said “thankyou Mr Clough’ and he said “it’s a pleasure young man”. ‘Young man’ being one of the things he was famous for saying, so I was thrilled.
The second took place in Brighton too, but after I’d moved away from there. I got diagnosed with a large tumour, right in the middle of my spinal cord, right at the top in my neck. I was quite poorly by this time and faced surgery to remove it. As they were going to have to slice through the spinal cord I faced quite a lot of danger. My surgeon, who was the chap who saved the boxer Michael Watson’s life, told me I had around 5% chance of being totally dependent post-op (i.e. Unable to move/breathe and on a ventilator) and of course there were higher chances I’d suffer serious problems with all of my bits below my neck (the outcome turned out as best as I could have hoped, although I do have loads of problems).
Anyway, my mates, colluding with my wife (then my fiance, which gave me a goal in rehab, as I was determined to be able to walk her back down the aisle 6 months later…and be able to wipe my own bum and all that!) arranged for us to go and watch a Johnstone Paints Trophy game between Brighton and Boston. We went in the away end, but also into the hospitality suite, which was a large prefab building at Brighton’s temporary ground. The draw was that my favourite footballer, Barnsley FC hero Neil Redfearn, played for Boston. The match went to extra time before Brighton won, but Redders, despite his advancing years by then, played a blinder.
After the match we all retired back to the hospitality suite, where the surprise of the night was that the lads had arranged for Redders to come and have a pint with us afterwards. He was great company and stayed with us for ages, holding up the Boston team coach who were already half and hour late setting off due to the extra time. We all posed for photos and said our goodbyes. I’ve actually met him a few times since at various events and he always takesthe time to chat. Top bloke, although as I presume most on here won’t have heard of him I’m pushing the term celeb a bit. He was a damn good footballer though.
Leedsboy says
I think Neil Redfearn counts as a celeb, a great footballer and a top man.
Harry Tufnell says
The name seems vaguely familiar… (stares into middle distance whilst stroking chin)
Paul Wad says
On another note, will you be able to make the film screening? Aren’t you one of the producer-type backers? I can see the 500 tickets selling like hotcakes, so I think I’ll go and queue up outside the Lamproom on Monday morning, as the phone line is likely to be jammed. It’s a shame Liam couldn’t get a couple of dates at the Parkway ( although I don’t know whether they tried asking Rob at the Parkway, or whether it was feasible from their end), as the downstairs screen there has quite a large capacity. But I’m looking forward to seeing the film, be it at the Lamproom or the DVD. The snippets they’ve shown us so far have been great.
I think the only time I’ve shed a tear at the theatre was when I watched my mate’s son playing Zack in School of Rock, but I might take a hanky to the Lamproom! Apologies to anybody who haven’t crownfunded a documentary about Barnsley FC winning promotion to the Premiership in 1997, as produced by the nephew of @harry-tufnell, as you won’t have a clue what I’m on about!
Paul Wad says
Ah, @neil-dyson tricked me with the name change!
Harry Tufnell says
I’ve sent a pm @paul-wad
Foxnose says
Football here too.
Was watching a Sportsball game in a Glasgow pub.
A very gracious Ray Wilkins turned around to ask us if we could see the game ok. Despite the tv being up quite high and Mr Wilkins being at a lot shorter than we were.
A gentleman indeed.
Twang says
I’ve had a few likes on Twitter – Jaqui Smith, Dr.Janina Ramirez, Isobel Hardman, Jess Philips, Ben Watt, plus I had a little chat with David Coverdale about a Whitesnake gig at the Oxford Playhouse back in the day complete with supplementary comments from Bernie Marsden. I rock.
Moose the Mooche says
Kathryn Williams recently liked something I said on Facebook.
Kneel before Zod!
Archie Valparaiso says
Amateur. I’ve been retweeted by Ant & Dec.
Moose the Mooche says
Yaboogaman!
fortuneight says
Some years back my ex went into the Priory for a couple of months. To help keep her spirits up I thought I’d write 2 or 3 letters to people she admired or places where we’d been that would bring back memories of better times. So I wrote off – an eclectic mix I admit – to John Peel, The Hamsters and to the Sardine Factory in Carmel (it’s in “Play Misty For Me”), saying where she was and how a brief note of encouragement would be appreciated. I had some more planned out to send over time.
The only reply – The Hamsters – plus a cd and a letter.
Ahh_Bisto says
Christiano Ronaldo missed that penalty for me last night.
Thanks Ronaldo, you made me laugh a lot.
Tiggerlion says
It would have been even funnier if he had been sent off.
Sitheref2409 says
Julian Dicks coached my son for a summer.
Now, Chris lived a ways from me, and I had no idea who “Coach Julian” was until I went down for a visit. I watched the session thinking “I know that guy…I know that guy…who is…Holy Hell that’s Julian Dicks”
I restrained my glee and only made quiet mention of it until Chris went o the next session. Had a brief, nice chat with The Terminator and then a longer one with my Mum who wanted to know how he made a living doing this; then a year later when I asked him for a birthday tweet for Chris, he did so. Was very good with the kids, and I went away thinking “well, he seems happy with it, but you wonder if he aspires to more”
Not too long after he’s working at West Ham…
eddie g says
Once, as a cub reporter of no real importance, Andy Partridge gave me a pre-release cassette of the Dukes ‘Psonic Psunspot’ album and wrote the track listing out for me in his neatest handwriting. He also gave me a plectrum. After the interview he signed all my albums, took me out to a local bistro… and forgot his wallet. Still. Top fella.
metal mickey says
Some years ago, Mrs Mickey & I were holidaying in Boston (Mass, not Lincs – actually Cambridge, technically), and taking a very early, jet-lagged, morning stroll around the Harvard campus while waiting for a breakfast place to open up, when a massive black limo pulls up and parks in front of us. The back door opens, and out steps a fully suited-and-booted Tommy Lee Jones, who stops, looks straight at us, and nods as if to say “yes, it’s me”, before heading off on his way…
Yes, minimal & trivial, but it made our day, if not our holiday… it turned out he was giving a speech at his alma mater later that day… and did you know his college roommate was Al Gore?
Black Type says
Yes, and Al reckons the film Love Story was based on his college experience; the film starred a certain Tommy Lee Jones.
Black Type says
As a bumbling English student doing my dissertation on John Fowles, I wrote to the man himself to ask for any insights into his work that would possibly help me along. He had the good grace to reply, which was a great thrill at the time.
Also, Tigger, celebrity of this parish, was kind enough to send me his spare copy of The Blue Nile’s ‘Hats’. Tigger’s indeed a wonderful thing.
mikethep says
Having witnessed the general sighing, tutting and eye-rolling that went on when students asked John Fowles for insights, I’m doubly impressed that you got a reply. Were there any useful insights?
Black Type says
Not particularly, he just said something on the lines of the reader’s response/interpretation being as valid as the writer’s intention – in other words ‘think for yourself, you lazy fucker’. Fair do’s, I suppose 😉 I did end up getting a First for the dissertation, though but. Did you know Mr F personally?
mikethep says
Yes, in the 70s, I edited The Ebony Tower, the revised Magus and Daniel Martin.
Talking of random acts of celeb kindness, when the edited typescript was finished with, he asked me if it would amuse me to have it as a wedding present (I was getting married the following week). I said it would amuse me tremendously – even then it was probably worth several hundred quid.
Unfortunately my boss, the mercurial Tom Maschler, vetoed this, saying that the typescript belonged to Jonathan Cape, the publishers. Fowles said this was nonsense, but somewhere along the line I gave up…
Black Type says
Wow! A substantial part of my diss was focused on The Ebony Tower and The Magus, also the then newly- published Mantissa, which he said was not actually intended for publication.
mikethep says
That was the edited typescript of Daniel Martin, by the way. I’ve never actually read Mantissa – by the time it arrived I’d moved on, and the reviews were not encouraging as far as I remember.
Tahir W says
One of the great things about Fowles is how different each of his books is to the others. I’ve read ’em all, some of them more than once, but Mantissa will likely stay at once. I think it was meant to be some kind of experiment.
Black Type says
As I recall from The Letter, he indicated as much but gave it a poncey French expression.
Rigid Digit says
Lenny Henry held a petrol station door open for me.
Not exactly uplifting, but it saved me the exertion.
Cheers Len
Moose the Mooche says
He said “That’s OOOOOOOOOOKAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY mate”
Yes I did make this joke the last time.
SteveT says
I chatted in between sets with the late great Jackie Leven when he played the Mac in Birmingham.
I asked him if he would play ‘wrapped up in Blue’ in the second set.
Halfway through the set he announced ‘some cunt in the audience asked me to play this, lets see if I can remember it’ and duly launched into it.
Beezer says
Another drink one.
Johnnie Walker bought me a pint. In a pub on Dover Street, opposite The Ritz. A girl I worked with had a series of late shifts during the summer of 1991 during which she listened to Johnnie’s radio show. She called in on several occasions and struck up a rapport with the bloke. So much so he asked her out for a drink one night after the show. I was roped in as pal/chaperone for the evening.
He rolled up on his Harley, bought us both a drink and politely ignored me while he spoke to my pal
Very soon after that I was back in the same Dover Street boozer. Standing either side of the narrow entrance, chatting to each other with drinks and fags in hands were two tall geezers. Looking very assured with some Substantial Hair each. I was within 2 feet of them when I realised they were – on my left – Nick Lowe and -on my right – Huey Lewis.
I think I blurted out ‘Fuck!’ as I walked into the pub between them.
Moose the Mooche says
Are you sure Pint* didn’t buy you a Johnnie Walker?
(*Half Pint’s big brother)
Beezer says
Ah. Zo, Meester Mooche. Come in. I haff been expectink you.
Moose the Mooche says
Hoi! Don’t be pointing that laser at me doodads!
Beezer says
Anyway, you’ll find this of interest. No bugger else will.
Talking of celebrities, I made eye contact with two more today. Lorraine Kelly. A telly woman. And Simon Weston. A war hero.
One was buying a coffee and one was waiting for a train.
I really am quite the raconteur
Moose the Mooche says
You’re life’s like Celebrity Squares or someat. Oh look, there’s Lennie Bennett buying Skittles!
metal mickey says
My favourite Lorraine story is that apparently she’s best friends with Robert Smith of The Cure, and they are allegedly banned from all Cunard line ships for the damage they caused on a cruise once…
fentonsteve says
Lorraine is also a massive Eddi Reader fan and can often be seen, erm, “under the effect of a wee dram or two” at ER gigs. She sometimes looks a bit tired on the telly the day after a gig.
Black Type says
There used to be a website dedicated to the glory of Lorraine’s boobage. Or so I’ve read. La Kelly was quite chuffed about it, and interacted with the group. A friend told me.
Moose the Mooche says
“Interacted with the group…” good lord. You’d think butter wouldn’t melt etc
Carl says
Not a nice thing to me directly, but I was a beneficiary.
Many years ago my youngest sister was visiting us and we had gone for a Sunday lunchtime drink to the Wells Tavern in Hampstead.
She had gone in to get a round and was ages.
She eventually arrived with the drinks. She said the barman had been ignoring her and was only serving locals. Eventually he looked over her head and said ” Yes Bob”. A voice behind her said “I think this young lady is ahead of me”.
She turned round to thank the stranger who turned out to be actor Robert Powell.
Sitheref2409 says
See? A celeb who knows bar etiquette. THAT’S nice
Moose the Mooche says
So Carl turns round and says “Jesus Christ!”… and Robert says, “Fuck sake, I’ve had 40 years of that bastard joke!”
Paul Wad says
I once saw Robert Powell in the Magdela with Jon Culshaw. So when he’s not acting or curing lepers he must spend his time boozing round Hampstead!
fishface says
On Larry Miller’s usual late gig crowd walk I once used my almost empty Newcastle Brown bottle as a slide on his beatup “Larrycaster”.
As my cackhanded attempt at blues came through the house PA we both laughed like loons.
Top top bloke.
Moose the Mooche says
The OP title keeps making me think of Eva Herzagova. Bur then, what doesn’t?
Martin Hairnet says
Tripe, in all it’s guises. There’s fifty shades of grey for you.
Moose the Mooche says
Correct.
And not unusual to find Fifty Shades… so close to the word “tripe”.
SteveT says
So good she had a country named after her.
Moose the Mooche says
No, you’re thinking of Emma-Louise Tuvalu.
Gatz says
Ian McKellen just followed me on Twitter, so that’s nice. I have no particular idea why as I really don’t tweet much, didn’t follow him until it reciprocal, and although I have tickets for his King Lear at the Duke of York next month have never followed his career that closely.
Leicester Bangs says
Joanna Harris followed me and then unfollowed me a week or so later. No idea why, unless it was the fact that I hadn’t tweeted in that time, and she thought I was a dead loss. The same thing happened with Matt Haig.
Gatz says
So fickle, these literary types.
Leicester Bangs says
😥
fortuneight says
Were you already following them? If you weren’t I’ve seen it done to build follower numbers – I noticed one day that the execrable Grant Shapps was following me but he quickly buggered off before I had the pleasure of blocking him. Apparently it’s a social media “thing” – gets the number of people who follow you up, whilst the number of people you follow doesn’t really change.
fitterstoke says
I received a nice letter from that Hugh Hopper once….
I bought a cassette of a live performance – one of his Dutch bands, I think – by mail order from his home address. This was when I was still living with the parents in Glasgow. Several years later, having moved to the Isle of Man in the interim, I bought something else from him. The package also contained a letter, starting with the form “are you the same fitterstoke (insert real name) who ordered a cassette from me several years ago, posted to Glasgow?” Dear reader, I was that same correspondent!
Blue Boy says
Another literary one. When I was an Eng Lit student the late great Seamus Heaney did a reading at our Uni. Afterwards he and his wife Marie spent a couple of hours drinking tea and whiskey with a few of we awestruck students and was immensely generous and relaxed with his time. I still treasure the book he signed for me.
Blue Boy says
As a very young junior member of staff at a theatre I met a large number of mostly minor thesps and celebs. Quite the nicest was David Suchet – we’d cocked up over some tickets he was supposed to have but instead of tearing me off a strip as I expected he not only didn’t make a fuss, but was very kind in thanking me for trying to sort it out.
Quite the most gorgeous in every possible way was Michaela Strachan. I think Mrs BB has long sussed why I will happily watch Springwatch with her….
Moose the Mooche says
Dude, it’s the tree-slugs.
Arthur Cowslip says
HP Saucecraft once said something kind in reply to one of my posts, once.
Moose the Mooche says
What? Must have mixed up his meds
Beany says
Stuart Hall surprised me & my family with a free holiday for 2 weeks in Orlando on his Granada TV programme Traveller’s Check. My children have requested I do not post the video clip on YouTube for fear of embarrassment and ridicule.
Andrew Sachs thanked me for buying his single, a version of Shaddup Your Face. “You’re the one!” he exclaimed.
Tiggerlion says
I didn’t know you were afraid of embarrassment and ridicule, Beany.
retropath2 says
Especially as you were expecting It’s a Knockout
Moose the Mooche says
Doing sociology at A Level and finding a load of stuff by Stuart Hall in the coursebook was very confusing. “Bloody hell… There’s more to him than meets the eye” etc.
Sewer Robot says
Pfffft. Me and Eddie Waring were Oop And Undergraduates together..
Moose the Mooche says
Hands up who’s now doing an “AaaaAAAAaaa” noise a la Mike Yarwood right now.
Black Celebration says
When I worked at a high street bank in the mid-80s I was told that Russ Abbott visited while I was at lunch and did some routine bank things. He happily conducted the whole transaction in his “See You Jimmy!” persona and signed autographs and chatted to everyone there. I came back in from lunch and I could feel that something nice had just happened.
Moose the Mooche says
Why, was there an atmosphere?
Black Celebration says
Yes there certainly was. What I like about him is that you can tell he knows the material is pretty rubbish and the we know that he knows that he’s getting away with it. Status Quo were a bit like that.
Sewer Robot says
I often think the definition of “Light Entertainment” was (usually) geezers whose true skill was to get you to like them enough that you wanted to laugh at their feeble jokes..
Black Celebration says
I think you’re spot on there. Piers Morgan proved this to be true on a Have I Got News For You appearance. He answered a news question “er, is it jam?” and, in response to total silence, pointed out that Eddie Izzard gave the same answer last week and everyone laughed.
Ian Hislop responded “Yes, but people LIKE Eddie Izzard”.
Sitheref2409 says
Whoah. Status Quo produced some excellence.
Black Celebration says
As has Russ.
In his James Bond character, Basildon Bond.
M (sternly) “Bond! I think you’re cracking”
(Looking down, flattered but shy) “well…you’re not so bad yourself, Sir!”.
That’s equivalent to Down Down and Caroline. But to get there there’s a hundred Burning Bridges and Margaerita Times.