When you were at school were you obsessed with anyone famous?

[MakeMineABombay]

& if so what did you do about it?

I saw an actor today on TV who I'd not thought of in ages. He's old now but when I was at school my best friend was OBSESSED with this actor. One year he had a rep part in a local theatre and she "made" (!!) me basically stalk him. Almost every Saturday she wanted to go and hang round the theatre before and after the matinee. I saw that show more times than it was worth.

She read every interview she could find and then if he said he liked a sandwich bar in a particular city she'd want to go there too.

This was pre-internet and it made me wonder whether this sort of thing is less common now because of the internet and social media that people have more perceived "access" to the object of their affection. Why go and hang round a theatre if you might have a chance of chatting to them on Instagram or Twitter without leaving your house?

If you were at school pre-internet did you do any of this kind of thing or drag your very lovely friends into your madness?

[PS: this friend of mine died when she was 30 so I'm sad I can't tell her I saw this guy on TV today looking old and crusty]

@fivetriangulartrees

Saw him in person but don't think I ever spoke to him. I also thought I had a psychic connection with him and he was sending me coded messages through the TV. Roped my best friend into watching out for these coded messages too. I wrote him a letter every single night in bed. And once I took out a classified ad in a magazine I thought he'd read.

Wow! This is amazing. Isn't that that syndrome that Ian McEwan wrote about? Someone help me out here?where you think someone is sending you messages.

The fabulous part of this story is that you grow out of it and life moves on - but at the time you are all coded messages. I'm glad my friend was just geting me to plays and stage doors not having to get codes.

What did you ask your friend to look for? what form did you think the messages took? I'm totally fascinated.

Simon Le Bon was probably my biggest crush. I was obsessed.

Then I went onto rock stars and changed to Rick Springfield and Bryan Adams.

Showing my age here

I had a really intense crush on Paul Merton when I was about 15. I remember hating Caroline Quentin (his then wife). Bizarre.

Not me but a friend of a friend was obsessed with Philip Schofield back in the days if Gordon the Gopher.

Oh God - there are two of us🤣🤣

You wouldn't believe me if I told you, so I won't!😂

Also Donny Osmond and David Essex.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotomania

This is what John Hinckley Jr had (supposedly) and his motivation for shooting Regan is that he believed Jodie Foster was sending him secret messages.

I know this from Assassins, the musical. I promise I'm not crazy.

Adam Ant
Christopher Dean
Stephen Collins (from Tales of the Gold Monkey)
Dirk Benedict from the A Team
James Garner
Lewis Collins

Shane Ritchie

Les McKeown. I still can't accept that I didn't marry him as planned.

Orlando Bloom!

Still get excited if I see him on the TV unexpectedly 🤣

Not obsessed but somehow me & school bf got Declan Donnellys mums phone number and used to phone her up from the school lobby pay phone. He was in Byker Grove at the time.

Sorry you lost your friend OP xx

No

Plenty of actors, singers or others I admired, loved watching but never on obsession stage, i certainly wouldn’t be one of those screaming at concerts or planning on marrying a celebrity crush. The closest I probably came was Shakin Stevens and Bobby Ball when I was little.

I think if I ever met a famous “hero” for want of a better word, I’d be nervous, more quiet, but I don’t think I’d fall over myself for them, too many years under the belt to care now.

Daniel Vettori, who was a NZ cricketer. Started playing for NZ when he was 18.

I wrote him a letter and got a very nice reply from his dad.

When I was 16 he came to my little home town to play a basketball/netball match (one half of each sport) for charity so my friend and I went along and I got a photo with him. It is still one of my treasured possessions.

I too had a massive Manics obsession, think it went with the territory of being a fan of them at the time !

George Michael 💔

Loved Morten too! 💕💖

Mark Owen. The most obsessive thing I did was stare at posters of him and fantasise about marrying him !

So many!! One at a time and I can’t even remember the exact order now. Started with Gary Barlow. Also Dieter Brummer (RIP), Dean Cain, and finally George Clooney. I had signed photos of most, was in fan clubs, went to conventions etc. I was convinced I was going to marry Gary Barlow. Thankfully by the time of George I had grown up a bit and realised that was unlikely, although given he married someone in the year above me at uni, maybe I should have held out for him 😂

God my mum had to put up with me making her watch and read and listen to an awful lot of very dull stuff!

Christian Slater 😝

Olivia Newton John - I grew up to her music in the 70s

Cindy Crawford.

I thought his Dolphin tattoo was the sexist thing in the world 😂

Gareth Gates. My bedroom was absolutely full to the brim of posters and magazine cut outs of him to the extent I had to cover my door and ceiling. I went to all concerts and local appearances and held up big banners each time. Had T-shirts and even called my hamster Mrs Gareth Gates. I sobbed for hours when he lost pop idol after attempting to vote for him all night but being unable to get through, convinced myself it was a fix!

Can’t stand the wet lemon now, he’s basically a tangerine.

Ian McEwan? I don't know which book you're referring to but that sounds like a great premise for a novel.

The coded messages... I don't think it was anything elaborate. More like, if we can hear each other, say the word tomato. Oh my god, he said tomato!!

I'm so glad you acknowledged that we grow out of these things as I didn't make it explicit in my post that I don't still think like this!