Have you ever met a celebrity? And did they act or look different to what you were expecting?

[PrincessHoneysuckle]

I met Chris Gascoigne once who played/plays? Peter Barlow in Corrie.Very short and quiety spoken.

I was the biggest Queen fan in the world growing up. Went to a ballet once and Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Rick Parfitt from Status Quo were in the Royal Box. After the ballet we went up and asked if we could get autographs. Deacon didn't say a word. Roger Taylor was perfectly pleasant but Rick Parfitt was an absolute sweetheart. Very friendly and interested. Lovely man.

I have a massive (not very) secret crush on Clive Myrie, and just knew he'd be a nice man! Apart from all his other qualities, he has the most wonderful voice. I could listen to him all day long.

I also met Robert Plant, at New Street Station in Birmingham. I plucked up the courage to go and ask him for his autograph (well before the days of selfies!) and he was really friendly. It was 1982 and I was going down to London for an interview. We must have travelled on the same train because I was standing in front of Euston Station when I heard a car hooting. It was a taxi driving past with Robert Plant waving at me as they drove away!

I've met quite a few due to kind of work i did earlier. Boris Johnson during his mayor-days... Was exactly the same as on tv, very charismatic and makes you feel special talking to him. I've never been a fan of his politics, they appeared self-serving, but he likes to talk 😄

I've met a lot of celebrities through work. One of my favourites was Michael Rosen, who is just lovely and funny and sharp as a tack.

Victoria Beckham is remarkably nice - focused and professional but not an ounce of diva in her.

Jason Donovan made me laugh. He was in my local Tesco's and people were covertly watching him whilst pretending not to know who he was, and an older lady approached him. You could see him bracing himself but she just wanted him to pass her something she couldn't reach :) It was very unintentionally amusing.

The most famous person I've met was Paul McCartney - who was exactly the cheeky Liverpudlian (still!) you would expect.

Liz Taylor - tiny and incredibly beautiful even in her early 70's, unexpectedly quiet and shy.

Colin Farrell is stupidly good looking, ridiculously charismatic and effortlessly flirty. Everyone, including me, just ended up staring at him with heart eyes and wanting to be his bestie :)

I met David Attenborough near the shores of Lake Titicaca when he was with a crew filming Life on Earth some years ago. He thought I was out of earshot, but he pointed to me and said to the crew "Get one of that dirty Llama over there, then we'll wrap up and smoke a joint."

Dirty Llama indeed! I changed my mind about him right then and there I did.

I’ve met the comedians Jimmy Carr and Rob Newman and they both behaved like C-u-next-tuesdays

I'm really bad at recognising people, and when I see someone well-known, they look familiar and but I'm never sure where I know them from.

In 2019, DP and I were sitting in a pub garden with the dog, and this big tall man came over with his two little girls and asked if it would be all right if they said hello to the dog. It was, and they did, and we had a bit of a chat about her breed, age etc. They were a really pleasant family, and I was certain I'd met the man before.

As we got in the car, I told DP that I was positive I knew the bloke, but couldn't place him. He gave me a pitying look and said "That was Mark Williams" but I was adamant I didn't know a Mark Williams. DP then reeled off loads of the tv and films Mark Williams had done. After that, I saw him* a few times in town and he always said hello.

I also once said hello to David Dimbleby in Waitrose because I thought I knew him, and Boris Becker, who lived in the same town as me for a little while.

I don't know if politicians count, but I've met loads, mostly Labour (Tony Benn, Michael Foot, Ken Livingstone, John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbot, Margaret Hodge, Glenys Kinnock are probably the best known) but also 2 former Speakers (John Bercow and Bernard Weatherill) and former minister Amber Rudd. My area seems to be a bit of sunset home for old politicians, and at one time we had James Callaghan, Denis Healy and Kenneth Baker living nearby and I've met them all at various times (Healy and Callaghan were grumpy, Baker was utterly charming, which was a bit of a disappointment for an old lefty like me.)

*Mark Williams, not my late DP!

😂😂😂

I have met Ronan Keating who was horrible

Ah, yes, he has previous, attested to on MN - he was really deliberately nasty to a MNer who was a big fan (when she was a teenager) so her mum went over to his car, got him to wind the window down and then biffed him in the face

Loving the Elton story about him trying to gift a piano to that youngster, what a gesture.
I have a theory he sees himself as paying back his success, a passing the baton sort of thing. Gary Barlow talks of how he took Take That under his wing, he tried to save Robbie from his demons and he’s worked with so many younger artists. Blue, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, Dua Lipa, that young man he brought on at Glastonbury … Fair play to him.

I've met quite a few due to my job but a celebrity who I've met a few times and who is someone a lot of people love to hate, is Joshua Homme - and I can honestly say that to me, personally, he has always been very friendly, kind and respectful.
Not making excuses for his behaviour when he kicked the photographer but then HE doesn't make excuses for that either and that was one of the things that massively encouraged him to get help for his addiction and mental health.

Deacon didn't say a word. Roger Taylor was perfectly pleasant but Rick Parfitt was an absolute sweetheart. Very friendly and interested. Lovely man.

I believe John Deacon has always really struggled with the fame that being in Queen brought him, and seems very introverted, so it was quite likely more that he didn't want the attention from anybody rather than thinking he was too good for an ordinary member of the public.

Even Roger and Brian don't seem that outgoing or gregarious by nature - I think they were very happy to hide in Freddie's larger-than-life shadow whilst he was alive.

I was once stuck in a traffic jam and my granddaughter, about 3 at the time, starting giggling in her car seat, she said that the man in the next car was pulling funny faces at her. I looked and thought I recognised him, I only realised later that it was Prince Harry

I mentioned on another thread of this kind that I had met all the 3 lovely ladies from Fascinating Aida. After a concert they’re not hard to find. They will either be in the foyer waiting to meet people or in the bar. After putting on a fabulous show they are still there putting it out. Warm, welcoming, and brilliantly funny. Just lovely, lovely people.

When she remarried a friend said that Tim Lawrence had come to a party at their place when he was on board ship and had been painfully shy, hardly spoke to anyone.

Danny dyer opened his front door in his boxers to me and my friend when we were knocking for his brother.

That could have been badly misinterpreted

Liz Truss. She was absolutely awful, had an opinion on everything and would shoot from the hip with grand statements which contradicted the facts. Wasn't surprised when she embarrassed herself with the russian foreign minister because she didnt known her facts or that she was so awful a prime minister.

She wasn't nice at all and everything seemed like a transactional conversation or an opportunity for her to assert herself

In my teens I met Jimmy Saville. I remember being shocked by how bad he smelled - a fetid mix of BO and cigar smoke.

I was at uni with Peter Phillips. I didn't know him, but stood next to him twice. The first time, he was standing so that his back was propping open the door to the library, while he chatted to somebody. I wandered past him and walked on in. The second time, I was in the queue to pick up my post, and he followed me in. He stood in the queue behind me, and the porters then completely ignored the rest of us. It was all, "Hello, sir. Here's your post, sir!". A friend of a friend got a lift home to London with him one weekend, and said he was chatty and pleasant. She told him she was going to her grandparents' anniversary party. He said, "so am I!" It was Liz and Philip's golden wedding anniversary do. As he was dropping her off, he said, "How do you get to the palace from here?!" 😂

I know Henry Olonga and his family reasonably well. They've been to my house and I've been to theirs, before they moved away. His wife and kids are lovely. He's loud, expressive, opinionated and kind. I did some session work for him and he worked me HARD - he's a perfectionist. He gave me an itunes gift card to say thank you. I've still got it.

Got on a train with Ellen McArthur soon after she sailed around the world solo. She sat in standard class, behaved completely normally and everyone left her alone. Very unassuming and quiet. We were the same size, which means she's only about 5'2".

Bobby Davro's family used to have a shop near to where my grandparents lived. We met his dad and brother in there - both sweet, helpful people.

Met Frank Bruno as a child. He was big, and aloof.

Saw Peter Andre in town. Everyone was fawning over him, so I gave him and them a wide berth. He had unfeasibly large arms and was WAAAAYY too orange.

I've been to a few BBC Young Musician of the Year events so have seen some well-known presenters (including Alison Balsam and Clemmie Burton-Hill) and musicians (e.g. Jess Gillam) but not met them personally.

Oh, and my BIL was in the same restaurant as Tom Cruise a year or two again. Apparently he was being a knob.

I have met many famous people for a multitude of reasons. Most are very down to earth and normal.

When I was about 20, Charles Althorp would regularly pull into the petrol garage in Headington where I had a part time summer job. He always had time to speak to people and was really down to earth, like his sister. Quiet and reserved, but engaging. I believe he always remained a thoroughly decent individual.

FIL ‘Met’ Tom Cruise in a restaurant too. Was in the loo at the same time, said Tom was smiley and said hi. What a claim to fame eh.

@GellerYeller ha ha, yeah!

I've just remembered two more I met through work. Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, was absolutely lovely. Ian Botham was a prize twat.

I have met Joe Sugg and Noel Fitzpatrick. Both were extremely kind and friendly and were happy to take selfies with DD who is a big fan.