I went through a phase of reading a lot of biographies, including books on musicians, artists, writers and comedians. After a while, I noticed something happening…I frequently ended up disliking the subject of the biography.
For anyone who reads Harry Thompson’s biography of Peter Cook (and I’m sure there are some on this site who’ve read it), it’s somewhat revelatory to see just what a nasty man ol’ Pete was. And that book was written by a fan.
There really aren’t many people who’ve grown in my estimation; I’m aware this may be a failing in me. I definitely warmed to Leonard Cohen. I like Frank Skinner – and he can be pretty unpleasant – but his autobiography was wonderfully honest (losing his virginity to a prostitute, for example).
So, away from books, who in the world of celebrity generally comes across well? I like Bill Nighy. Richard Osman seems a decent cove. I had a lot of time for Kirsty MacColl. I’m struggling now.
Keanu.
Not generally one for the whole thing of pretending I actually know anything about celebs personally, but if anyone seems like a decent person, largely uncorrupted by the kind of fame that would probably turn most of us into entirely unbearable tossers, it’s him. He’s either a proper human being or he has a genius doing his PR.
He does insist on doggedly refusing to age though, which is objectionable.
Keanu? Eranu!
I read a whole series of things about the Reevester recently that made him sound so thoroughly admirable that I felt a bit sheepish for having laughed at him in that Shakespeare film.
Is the correct answer. If half of the stories of his incredible decency are true, the man’s a total love.
By all accounts Taylor Swift is a genuinely nice person, and – somehow – manages to be quite unstarry, despite being about the most famous woman alive. I’m not sure how much of that is just really well-curated PR, but she does come off really well in documentaries and interviews. Seems properly decent and thoughtful.
I’m also going to nominate Clooney. Seems like a really good guy, though the palazzo on Lake Como doesn’t necessarily scream “grounded”.
And The Rock, obviously.
I was going to mention Taylor. She does come across as having a good heart, and a reciprocal appreciation of her fans which manifests in a plethora of thoughtful gestures and deeds.
George Clooney – admits he has made plenty of rubbish films so he can produce his own art house projects.
Always think Tom Hanks comes across well when interviewed. Nice depreciating sense of humour.
Has he made plenty of rubbish films? Looking at IMDB there are some titles from the beginning of his career that might not be that good and his Batman was a total clunker, but most of his films seem pretty decent. Even those that are not at all my kinda thang (like kids’ films) are fair stabs at their genre and those that failed somewhat (like Hail Caesar!) were clearly not in the “took-it-on-knowing-it-was-crap” category. Does indeed seem like a decent bloke though.
Incidentally, the first actor I came across with the “I’ll do crap to allow me to do the serious stuff” attitude was Dirk Bogarde.
I was impressed once with a Tom Hanks appearance on Graham Norton once. A guy on the big red chair had worked as an extra on Saving Private Ryan and had stood next to Tom on the boat arriving in Normandy scene. Tom remembered the guy and that he had just come out of drama school. I can’t even remember who my next door neighbour is.
I just happened to listen to a Talking Sopranos podcast today in which Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa (Chris and Bobby) were talking about nice celebrities. Steve used to work in Las Vegas (some sort of entertainment manager / booker) and knew lots of big names and he confirmed that George Clooney is one of the nicest. He didn’t have a lot of time for Robert De Niro and said that Tiger Woods doesn’t tip.
Both men have spoken at length about how kind and patient James Gandolfini was and I seem to remember a story about him negotiating a pay rise in his contract that he would only sign if his colleagues received a similar rise.
I also remember reading somewhere that Mel and Sue, when filming Bake-off, if it looked like any contestant was going to get upset or agitated, they would start shouting ‘Fuck’ loudly or slandering politicians so that the footage could not be used thus sparing the contestants blushes…
Gandolfini also gave the entire cast $50,000 each before that as he thought it unfair that he was paid so much more.
Just finished Bob Mortimer’s book. He seems like the best person to share a pint with.
I’ve also listened to Rob Halfords audiobook. Judus Priest aren’t really my thing but he comes across as a top bloke. Another audiobook I’ve done was one about The Replacements. Great band but what a set of dicks. Each and every one of them needed a slap.
I read the chapter on the ‘Ments in Our Band Could Be Your Life and that was enough. Slappage was indeed in order.
Yer man out of Fugazi came across well though, although I don’t have much time for them musically.
Another here that read Halford’s book without being a JP fan. He doesn’t take himself too seriously but it struck me that an awful lot was left unsaid around his time out of the band and then KK’s departure. As told, the whole sequence of events seems way too thin.
Rob Halford came across as a really decent bloke in the Heavy Metal Britannia documentary that was on BBC4 a few years ago. Bill Ward came across as a nice guy too. Burke Shelley, not so much.
I’ve just read Bob Mortimers book too & he comes across brilliantly. I think anyone would enjoy a pint with him, but I he would rather be at home with some cheese watching TV.
I did really like how Damian Hirst came across in the book too. Only a small part of it, but it was really touching i thought
Oh you’ve made me interested now, I’ll need to read that. My gut reaction is to detest Damian Hirst, but that’s not really based on anything apart from a dislike of chancers who do conceptual art. I would love to have my preconceptions overturned by a good anecdote.
He’s relatively minor in “celebrity” terms , but has got form with some big hitters, doing Last Chance to See with both Douglas Adams as a book and radio series, and Stephen Fry on the box, but Mark Carwardine is simply one of the most thoroughly decent human beings it’s ever been my pleasure to encounter. A very genuine and easy to like man. No edge at all.
I’m (hopefully) going to the Galapagos with him next year.
There’ll be other people there too, don’t worry, and I’m paying for the privilege, but still…
The Galapagos!
Wow.
I met someone in Montreal whose parents had been neighbours and contemporaries of Leonard Cohen. They told her that he really was as charming and genuine as he appeared to be. If he bumped into them or anyone else from his early days, he was pleased to see them and would talk about their families. He had no side at all.
They knew about his career, and were proud of him, like many people in Montreal seem to be, but thought his charm was wasted in the music business – if only he’d followed into the family clothing business – he could sell anything!
I had the great fortune to vaguely know Kirsty MacColl, as the sister of the guitarist in my pal’s band. She was a lovely human being. Her loss came as a great shock, and I got to know her mum Jean in the years after. I’m now friends with her half-brother’s wife. Let’s just say the whole clan are good eggs. Not sure I’d have liked Ewan, though.
I could not have brought myself to shake Ewan MaColl’s hand., because he was always putting his finger in his ear.
You don’t know where that finger’s been, do you? Well, yes you do – and it’s covered in ear wax.
I used to know her half sister a little through work. Did you ever meet her?
Probably. There are so many now, including kids (e.g. fella from Bombay Bicycle Club, surely a nomination for World’s Worst Band Name) that I can’t keep up. My chum is currently being TM for her mother-in-law, Peggy Seeger.
As in his ma, yes?
Nope. BBC lad is son of Neill.
Kirsty and Hamish were offspring of Jean.
Neill (guitarist in The Bible), Calum (occasional bassist in The Bible) and Kitty are offspring of Peggy. My chum is Calum’s wife.
Pete Frame would be busy making sense of it all.
Frame could go back as well. I learnt this very morning that Peggy’s mum was Ruth Crawford Seeger a previously neglected but increasingly well regarded modernist classical composer.
I believe her brother and half-brother sang a bit, too……
She’s Peggy’s youngest I believe. She must be in her late 40s I would think as I met her around the time of Tropical Brainstorm.
My old boss at a nursing agency was a psychiatric nurse, and whilst building the company up he still did the odd shift in the hospital, as it was a great place to recruit other nurses. He told me that once he was looking after Shane MacGowan and Kirsty McColl turned up to visit him. My boss mistook her for one of our nurses, so he started asking her if she’s getting enough work and, if not, to give him a call and he’ll make sure she gets something. Apparently she was sweet about it and found it quite amusing. It’s only when she left that McGowan told him who it was.
Shane was in a psychiatric hospital?
Now I didn’t say that, did I [hurriedly looks at how I worded the previous post…]
Of course we have to mention Michael Palin, officially Britain’s nicest chap. I’ve enjoyed 3 volumes of his diaries, and have no reason to think he shouldn’t at least be in the running for that title.
The Python diaries, at least, read like proper diaries, very messy – for example all the way through Life of Brian everyone thinks it’s unfunny and a disaster. It goes through about thirty test screenings and recuts which are all absolute ‘terminal-breath’. I suppose it’s a lesson to us all.
I like the bit where he quite uncharacteristically loses his temper during an interview. He storms out and is in the street before he remembers he was being interviewed in his own house.
John Major did that after losing his temper with Ian Paisley in his office at Number 10. He stormed out, leaving Paisley just standing there, unsure what to do.
Thinking quickly, Paisley picked up the phone on the desk, adopted a nerdy Brixton voice and said “Nuke Dublin!”
🙂
From my days in south London, I can honestly say that John Major’s accent is not one I ever heard in Brixton.
He has an accent? Just sounds like standard south-east RP to my ears.
I would also nominate Michael Palin – he comes across as thorughly decent. A few years ago in Pigeon Forge the locals I spoke to were very complimentary about Dolly Parton and all that she had done for the local comnunity.
In current politics I would cite Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips as two ladies who come across as very decent principled people wheras Priti Patel comes across as a vile piece of work.
Dolly is a great shout. She’s clearly a brilliant person.
I’ve recently read Jess Philips’ latest book & think she is wonderful. More MPs like her would be a big win for everyone
I’ve met our MP a couple of times Kim Leadbeater who comes across as determined to make a difference (as did her sister Jo Cox) and is an extremely easy person to talk to. I voted for her as a person and not because she was Labour.
Also Leonard Cohen was charm itself when I met him at an exhibition of his artwork in Manchester. He seemed genuinely pleased to see you.
He voted L*b**r!
Burn him!!
As I say I voted for the person not the party..
Can I just have a Chinese burn?
The trouble is, plenty of the left wing of the Labour Party would not like to see more MPs like her. She was seen as calling out Corbyn, showing disloyalty. As a result, I fear her goose is cooked as far as leadership of the party is concerned.
Please note, I am a messenger here, not the source of the opinion.
I’’m sure Jess Phillips is decent and principled, but she does need to tone down her tendency to come across as an aggressive and sarcastic motormouth in pretty much every situation I’ve ever seen her.
I beg to differ. More aggressive and sarcastic Labour politicians needed please, especially now. Jess Philips may come over to some as liable to speak before engaging her brain, but I’d call that passionate and enthusiastic.
Passionate and enthusiastic it may be to speak before engaging the brain; vote winning across the whole electoral spectrum it may not be.
Unthinking rhetoric has done BoJo no particular electoral harm.
I like her too. She comes across as straightforward and down-to-earth and has given some excellent speeches in the Commons. But her friendship with Victorian undertaker Rees-Mogg is a bit weird.
That’s the reason I don’t like her. They are both in their own way playing a role for their own ends, and find common ground in that. Neither are to be trusted.
I saw her reading from her first book and she did a Q&A. She was terrific. I got a signed copy for Mrs. T. She signed it Jess Philips Esq. after we laughed about that tool Mogg insisting officials address him like that
I have a mistrust of those that play the full ‘working class’ card when it’s not exactly true.
Me too but i don’t think she does that.
Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie are 2 who come across as “normal” in a world of celebrity – probably because they don’t actively seek it out, and are happy in their (relative) obscurity, But I’d let either of them buy me a pint
(like that opportunity is ever going to happen?)
Billy Bragg seems to be cut from a similar cloth – bit of a leftie though
You can’t be nice and a leftie, as we’ve seen on the other thread. In fact – kill him.
seem to remember someone meeting Radcliffe once when he was drunk and he came across very badly
and?…..
Agreement. Mark Radcliffe has settled in my home town and in a very non-flashy way is seen about the town, notably during the town’s music festival, where he strongarms his mates into appearances. Takes an interest in all. Doesn’t make an entrance.
His “band” Galleon Rant, who do sea shantys and the like, dressed as pirates,, and for whom he drums and sings, are as agreeable a crew of reprobates as you might wish to sink the yardarm with, having had beers and chats at a couple of festivals over the years. With them he is just one of the boys (and girl), rather than the kingpin.
I had a chat with Maconie in the bar after he, David Quantick and Andrew Collins premiered their Edinburgh Festival show at the Soho Theatre. He’s a nice bloke.
Michael J Fox. I read his (first) autobiography dealing with his rise to fame and then the initial onset of Parkinson’s. He came across as a genuinely charming guy who was humble about and thankful for his stellar career, and then (after the initial shock and difficult period of coming to terms with it) the grace and fortitude he has shown in living with his illness and putting himself forward to raise awareness and make a significant difference in our understanding and treatment of the condition. A man of real substance. And he invented rock’n’roll too!
….that’s because he made like a tree and got out of there.
It’s leave, Moose, dammit – make like a tree and LEAVE. Hey, Moose, your shoelaces are undone
Richard E Grant was very nice when I met him
I will throw in that I met Guy Garvey from Elbow, or, more specifically, he met me. A drunk friend got chatting to him (with no idea who he was) and dragged him in to meet me, as he had declared himself to be a fellow poetry fan. A genuinely gracious fella; he was actually interested in what I had to say, unlike 98% of my friends and relatives.
I’m dying to see who mentions Van Morrison…
In the days when I used to travel a lot for work, I was chatted with a driver who had opted for boring airport runs with even duller jet lagged blokes like me rather than the round the clock rock n roll shenanigans he encountered as a limo driver with an agency that specialised in high profile “talent”. He singled out Springsteen and Sheeran for praise – polite, chatty, curious. The worst – he was more coy but he said there was some weapons grade arseholes working as PA’s, and generally the bigger the entourage, the more you could expect to get dicked around.
Found a copy of Stone Alone, Bill Wyman’s 1990 autobiography recently. Fearsomely detailed, but he is basically a sleazier Alan Partridge. Smugly recounts just about every time he “made love” to some lucky lady and doesn’t skimp on the modesty either, quoting glowing archive reviews and press as well as frequently inviting friends and family to lavishly praise him for his work and personality.
I dont think Eric Clapton came across well in his autobiography (presumably ghost written). Nice enough but a bit “thick”.
Based on their tweets…
I suspect that Jah Wobble is good company.
Rick Wakeman appears to be amiably obsessed with animal welfare and soup-induced flatulence, not necessarily in that order.
The gold standard for all-round niceness these days is generally accepted to be Dave Grohl, but it seems like the truly good people have the knack of hiding it well, until it all comes out after they die.
Wobble for sure…Mike Harding (although he is a leftie-jeez), Maconie, Peter Davidson, Nick Heyward, Charles Sharr Murray, Emmylou, Joe Boyd, Ian Rankin, Mark Ellen, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt……..John Cooper Clarke..Oh and Robert Wyatt
Not sure about JCC
Read his autobiography and it got to the point where it was all about how to get his next fix. I hope he manages to keep his natural bonhomie and sparkling wit through it all, but you never know with addicts.
On the other hand, I finished Pete Paphides’ book and felt he was definitely a good egg.
I routinely bombard Pete Paphides with albums he might like to consider releasing on Needle Mythology and he has the good grace to not tell me to bugger off.
I badgered him with my Bowie reviews. He responded to a combination of Aladdin Sane and Pin Ups. My first thought was “He’s done that just to make sure I leave him alone now” which I try to do. Does seem decent chap though…
I read all the gushing stuff about Pete P’s book and gave it a go on Kindle, couldn’t finish it. It was well written and entertaining, but much much too long. Whatever happened to 200 page books? Same with films, invariably too long, like the new Bond film apparently (nearly 3 hours, what?) which also has had predictably over the top reviews.
A friend of mine living in France accidentally hosted Martina Navratilova at her house for a few days. Mucked in with the washing up and far more, apparently. Thoroughly good egg.
Cycled to the Wimbledon tennis from Woking on a whim back in 1982, when I was 15. You could just turn up, pay a pound, and walk around everywhere apart from Centre Court. Ended up on Court Number 1 watching the Women’s Semi Final. Navratilova was by far the most cheerful/nice tennis player that day. The game was a breeze for her, which probably helped.
I have an eBike which is great but a bit on the heavy side. Should I consider getting a Whim to replace it or are they heavy too?
Dr Suess writes :
I came here on a Whim!
He is tall and slim
He has a big grin
And he’s VERY prim
(But he is a bit dim)
A whim can be a bike
Or anything you like!
Just ask him!
He can cure your piles
He can run for miles!
He’ll even tickle your chin
Just ask him!
I hope that answers your question.
Bruce Springsteen always comes across well to me. A night talking music and guitars with the Boss would be great fun.
Ariana Grande reacted to a fatal bomb going off at her Manchester show by doing another, much bigger show in Manchester two weeks later featuring her and Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, yer Beebz and Stevie Wonder. Also Liam Gallagher, Take That, Robbie Williams and Coldplay. The money raised (17m quid) went to the families and Red Cross.
If she had steered clear from live shows for a year or so, no one would have blamed her. As a result of all of this, I think she’s great.
That’s a good call.
Yup, also quietly visited the injured in Manchester children’s hospital.
By all accounts Adam Sandler is an extremely likeable person.
You won’t hear a bad word about him, unlike his films which are total shite.
By all accounts, I am a very nice person. Trouble is that I’m not a celebrity.
There’s still time, Chris!
In my time (i.e. earlier drunken days) I have met both John Peel and Joe Strummer and they were both extremely lovely and lived up to their ‘man of the people’ personas. Also once came upon Shane MacGowan eating and drinking alone in a very cheap Indian restaurant in Kings Cross. I didn’t talk to him (Not sure if i was star struck or stuck up) but my two companions did and he was very nice chatting away for quite a long time
They say never meet your heroes but there should be a footnote to that which reads ‘unless it is Shane MacGowan’
In 2001 when the Pogues reformed & i was 18, I waited outside the Manchester Academy after their show & met all of the band plus John Cooper Clarke who regaled me with his Haiku* that I’d first heard when he supported Joe Strummer at the same venue some weeks prior.
All of the band were very lovely, but when Shane came out I was most definitely star struck. I held back as most people hanging around mobbed him somewhat, but when that died down and they left, he spoke to us for about 10-15 minutes & was genuinely lovely & interested in what we thought of the show. I thanked him for doing my favourite track (Bottle Of Smoke) & he spoke about it for a good 5 mins to us. Needless to say that I have had a very high opinion of him since
*The Haiku is ‘To convey ones mood in seventeen syllables is very diffic….’
I heartily endorse Shane McGowan as a good egg. Used to regularly see him & some of the other Pogues in a little dive bar in Fitzrovia. Always nice.
I had a super run in with him at a book launch in the 90s (sponsored by Absolut). I was lit up like a Christmas tree & inadvertently swiped his wine glass. He called me out & I got him a refill. As a thank you, he wrote me a little poem on the back of an envelope, which I still have indoors.
Strummer was also a diamond. Spent a chance hour or so in a cafe in Amsterdam with him – he was very pissed & so was I (which helped reduce the star struck fan syndrome) – everything you’d want a musical hero to be.
Both lefties though, so clearly the scum of the earth deep down.
Agree about Shane. Myself and a mate bumped into him a couple of times at the Sir George Robey in Finsbury park in about 1990 and he had many drinks with us, remaining charming throughout the evenings, despite the large amounts consumed. We even parted with friendly kisses. I’ve obviously never washed my face since.
I always worry when someone is unrelentingly nice. Makes me think that something is being hidden. Just like the happy-clappy types who never want to hear anything ‘negative’. Oh dear. Please let our darker selves find some or other kind of exposure. Shirley?
Slebs who I think always come across well are;
Sandi Toksvig – The youtube video of her hugging guests on QI is really heartwarming & seems to show a real affection for her by all.
Gary Linekar – I just think he is self-deprecating & is naturally funny. Know a few people who have met him & said he is great too.
From a music POV & based on autobiographies, I really disliked Dave Mustaine from Megadeth. I’ve always liked him but he came across like a real top hat from his book.
Having read all of the New Order/Joy Division books (just waiting for Gillian to do one now!), I think Hooky would be good company over a drink, but I can imagine working with him is incredibly difficult. Can’t imagine Bernard would be much fun in either scenario, but I reckon Stephen could be an interesting person to meet.
Oof Mustaine is an absolute walloper. A screaming toddler with the impulse control of a chimp on meth, and grudge-holding powers that would make Torquemada consider reining it in a bit.
Though Sandi Toksvig reminds me: Mel and Sue. Legends. Apparently, if someone was getting really upset on Bake Off, they’d always stomp into shot and yell “FUCK CUNT BOLLOCKS” so that the footage couldn’t be used. That’s class.
Morrissey seems pretty easy going.
David or Neil?
I met Mike Rutherford as 14 year old teenage Genesis fan. I was on a school summer camping holiday and he happened to live nearby. Three of was went to his house, a bit shy, slightly nervous, and he couldn’t have been nicer. Showed us around including his personal studio, where we got to see his set up in full, and he autographed some photos with an added peronsal message for each of us. His wife was lovely too.
Ooh, I’ve love to get a peronsal message…er, what is it, exactly? 😉
‘Keep up learning the guitar Rob! All the best, Mike (signature)’. Sadly the photo got lost in a house move way back.
Hard to imagine Tony Banks being quite so hospitable.
Agreed. He does come across as an arse.
Liz Fraser, the now late Carry On actress. I was only about 12 and she was guest of honour at a village fete type of affair one Saturday while she was up in the North East in a play somewhere.
I queued for her autograph not really knowing who she was. She was absolutely lovely. Very attentive to the bemused fatty in front of her. Pressed my hand and blew me a kiss.
I fell in love.
How lovely. What a star.
She was an avid bridge player and my other half played a few times against her in tournaments.
Pleasant enough in person but an absolute raving Thatcherite, so…
I tend to try and not label as such. I think it’s too easy to pin social/political/economical viewpoints upon a person’s character. Same with a raving leftist, ‘insert here’. It’s very convoluted, but either side, maniacs are pretty eay to spot. Cocktavius, our current leader, for example. My other current trending psychopath is Tommy Saxondale and Charles Manson’s ambulance bothering love child homunculus. You never see his arse on the tarmac, mind.
Kim Wilde offered to sign some singles for me after I’d done a general Tweet to find out if a signed one I got with some others from a car boot was real. She didnt think it was genuine but suggested I could post them all to her and she wold sign them and return them. I just didn’t get around to it and then I just worried the moment had gone. Very nice of her though.
I think that video of Kim Wilde pissed and singing on a train that went round a few years was all the proof I needed that she was one of the good ones.
I understand the consensus in Hollywood is that Keanu Reeves, Martin Short, Hugh Jackman and Tom Hanks are the nicest actors to work with, although the latter has a weakness for the ladies.
What? “Happily married for 35 years, church going” Tom Hanks?
Hugh Jackman is happily married too…
John Grant was absolutely lovely when he signed my CD. I said it was one of the best things I’d ever heard, and he virtually wrote an essay on the cover as he chatted away.
I recently met a tour manager who has worked with loads of bands. Iron Maiden are the nicest.
Seconded. From 1991 to 94 I worked round the corner from their lock-up/rehearsal space and a colleague was their part-time bass tech (“Where’s Ken? He’s on tour with Maiden again”). It was quite common to see them in the paper shop or the greasy spoon cafe next door. A shame their music does nothing for me.
Ed Sheeran always seems like a nice bloke. Can’t abide his music, but he seems very humble and self effacing.
There’s a few Kiwis – film directors Jane Campion and Taika Waititi for a start. And probably Peter Jackson too although there are rumblings about how he treats his employees and the dodgy labour laws deal with the NZ Govt.
And of course dear old Neil Finn who seems a top bloke.
Neil Finn has the cheery bloke persona and is very affable at gigs, but has been/been forced to be (delete according to opinion) pretty ruthless in his dealings with band mates in Crowded House. I still haven’t quite forgiven him for unceremoniously dumping Matt Sherrod and, in particular, the long serving Mark Hart for his kids. Plus, the Finn Family Players version of CH put out a very forgettable album.
Have occasionally gone along to keep vigil with a must-have-my-photo-taken-with-Celebrity-X friend, and the two Flight of The Conchords fellows couldn’t have been nicer.
I’ve mentioned my two interviews with the lovely and adorable Andy Partridge on here a few times so I won’t bore you with them again- suffice to say he exceeded our ‘time’ and took me out to lunch and gave me advance copies of music together with a tour of his house and studio. But one I haven’t raised before is David Cassidy. He was in that show ‘Time’ in London at the…ahem…’time’ and I’d been told that he could be a bit prickly regarding the Partridge Family/Teenybop era (which, naturally, was the era I wanted to ask him about). He bounded in and was very friendly so I strategically (but truthfully) told him that his album ‘Cherish’ was the first record (cassette actually) that I ever had (my mum bought it for me at Christmas when I was eleven). I then (er…rather untruthfully I’m afraid) told him that ‘Ricky’s Tune’ off said LP (cassette) was my favourite track. He brightened up (like I knew he would) and told me that was the only song on the album (cassette) that he’d written himself. I feigned surprise. Of course I knew this all too well having studied the inlay card religiously as a kid. ‘So what were those days like David?’ I asked. ‘Well’, he said, ‘lemme tell you…’
And he did.
Talking with an old playwright pal the other week & the subject of ‘how is so & so (an extremely talented physical actor mutual friend) doing?’ came up.
Very well, it turns out- lots of West End work & dancing for various pop outfits.
My pal then recounted receiving a text a few years back that read ‘ Devastating News, prepare yourself, I’ll text in a minute with the details’
Fearing the worst my pal braces himself & the
2nd text duly arrives ‘ Hope you’re prepared. Spent the day at work with Gary Barlow. Turns out he’s the nicest bloke you could possibly meet. Not sure if I’ll ever recover from this’.
That’s gold. Love it.
Back in the day when we used to do training in person, I used to work with an event coordinator in Manchester who did all the signing in type stuff. One of her other jobs was doing things like meet and greets for Take That. She swore they were all lovely (at least post Robbie) and a joy to work with
Not sure if he counts as a celebrity any more, but I once spent a transatlantic flight sat next to Apache Indian, who was a nice guy who really likes music and films.
He really was a big noise for six months or so. Very limited, like Tight Fit for Select readers.
End of his career was hastened when the PC mob insisted he change his name to Apache Indigenous American