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.

Oh, I’ve thought of another who actually is famous-er now. Lady Hale, back when she was Baroness Hale and before all the spider woman stuff, but she was hugely admired in law circles. She was very polite and kind but absolutely TINY. I had a couple of photos taken with her and I’m fairly petite (5’4” maximum and under 8 stone) but I look like a giant in them! Anyway, she’s lovely.
Not strictly a celebrity but my grandfather was in the next room to James Norton’s relative, who adored him while he was playing sadistic murderers and gentle vicars (I have no idea what happens in TV Grantchester despite the fact that I live a stone’s throw away from the place) and never missed an episode of what he did until he played a member of the Bloomsbury Set and kissed a man onscreen. She never once watched him again. My fairly conservative but actually nice and humane grandparents (they’re the sort of people who say “we don’t like immigrantion but poor Mr and Mrs [name originating from troubled country, sadly too many of those going around to generalise], we’ve sent them a cake, the poor things, we really want them to settle in and feel welcome after the difficult time they’ve had”) were even shocked by that because a) they actually recognise what acting is and b) they are at least not homophobes.
I also went to school with Tallulah Riley-Martin, the lady who married Elon Musk twice. She was far above me but in school was definitely one of the popular clique in her form. A teacher who is now my friend reports he was a shitty husband - massive surprise! Who treated her badly. She was one of those kind, very girly but essentially good-natured popular girls. Fabulous actress in school plays too, although that school sort of did push people kind of at random towards careers chosen for obscure reasons.

I’ve met celebrities through my work including some of those mentioned. I agree with most-Lineker is a letch which disappointed me as he’s a fellow lefty, but I found Billy Piper to be unpleasant unlike other posters.
Working at the BBC in the early 70s, young staff members were always guided away from Saville by everyone from drivers and doormen to managers. I remember questioning this and was told he liked very young girls and was a weirdo. I got the impression that he was untouchable and people were scared of him in some way.

@Sandunesandseashells my friend was a student in Bath uni at the time and apparently he was know for strutting round the campus like he owned the place, insisting the student pool was shut for his kids to swim and being throughly unpleasant to everyone

Sara Pascoe - really lovely. She was heavily pregnant, and didn't tell me to eff off with my inane chat (which is what I'd have done at that stage of pregnancy).
Mrs Mack from Take the High Rd, through a school thing. She was really charming. She was my first celeb encounter, and I was totally starstruck! 😆
Stood behind Alistair Appleton in a queue, he seemed in his own little world.
Tom Chaplin. I didn't recognise him, I only found out a week or so later. He was really unassuming and polite.

I looked after Bill Maynard when I worked in a hospital many years ago, he wore a nightshirt and insisted on getting out of bed post op to go to the hospital restaurant instead of eating the food that came to the ward

I met King Charles via work. He was taller than I thought and his suit was exquisite.

Met Prince Henrik (Denmark) also through work. His handshake nearly broke bones!

Michael Morpurgo was incredibly kind to DS1 who asked him for an autograph. very generous and absolutely made DS's day.

Met Bruce Dickinson several times at fencing competitions. He was lovely, refereed a pool I was in. He just didn't want to talk about Iron Maiden when he was there to fence, which was absolutely reasonable.

I work on London Underground and quite a lot of people in the public eye use it. I think the most famous was Joanna Lumley. She was lovely. She was on her way to rehearse a play in the West End, maybe 10 years ago? Might be more.

Oh! And Hugh Grant. I saw him at Ravenscourt Park once, with his son.

Can I have a go in your time machine?

@Christmas202 Paul Hill was one of the Guildford Four

DH used to fence and also met Bruce Dickinson a few times. He said he was absolutely delightful. And so so intelligent.

Was he sweating and had he just been for a pizza?

I worked with Prince Harry at an event involving sick and disabled children. A couple of times come to think of it. Unlike a Pp I found him down to earth, and really focussed on the children. He sat in the floor with them , spoke with parents of children with terminal conditions, was empathetic, authentic, not showy. And he did this all the way through, not just when he was ‘on duty’. Funny, too.

I met my idol Richard E Grant. He was beautiful. Unfortunately I tried to kiss him on the cheek and he pulled away from me (understandably) so some might say I attempted to sexually assault Richard E Grant! I was mortified. He smelt amazing though.
I met the author Jaqueline Wilson and she was so lovely. Had fabulous jewellery.
Also met Gloria Hunniford. She was a cunt

Met Paris Hilton not that long ago. Honestly, I didn’t expect much but she was incredibly lovely. Made me feel very welcome considering I was just tagging along with other people for an event and didn’t even expect to meet her. She had a lot going on too as she was performing and I don’t think anyone would’ve blamed her for focusing on what she had to do but she had a lot of time for people along with organising a lot of stuff going on around her.

Also not quite a celebrity but Gareth Gates' mum was my midwife 😆
Also met Kimberly Walsh from Girls Aloud at my dance class she used to attend, she was lovely

Harry Styles - took my daughter and her friends to wait outside a hotel in London for the One Direction boys to appear. It was in their early days and not many fans outside but met all the boys as they came out. Harry was the last to come out and came straight over to me and hugged me! I think he was missing his Mum 🤣 My daughter and her friends were astounded 🤣🤣🤣

I met Chris Packham about 15 years ago. I’ve been a fan since The Really Wild Show. He was every bit as passionate and knowledgeable about the natural world as he seems on TV, and I’m still a huge fan. All the more so since his honesty about his autism diagnosis and his work with mental health charities for young people. He's also not afraid to put himself in uncomfortable situations in order to speak truth to power re the environment. He’s a brave, compassionate and utterly inspiring man!

Took a school trip to Shakespeare’s Globe and were told we couldn’t get close to the stage as someone was getting ready for a performance. Everyone else in the queue left but we had travelled quite a distance so we went in and there was Sting who was doing a sound check for a gig. He asked where we were from and when he heard we were from the north east he asked us for requests and he played them for us. He spoke to the students, signed autographs and sent autographs of the people playing in his gig to school. The students thought I’d arranged it 😂

I saw Tom Chambers (Holby/Strictly) in a pub once. Was quite tipsy so went over to introduce myself 😂 he didn't seem that keen to engage but then I told him that I'd really enjoyed watching him on Strictly and voted for him and he was super nice to me after that! He sat with me and my friends for a while and we chatted about our kids and doing the Recycling. He was really nice and lovely to talk to (and look at).

Dr Ranj from cbeebies fame...miserable,obnoxious twat. Attitude he has ugh.

Not met but spoke to dean gaffney on the phone. I used to work in a high end shop and because I wouldn’t give a discount he pulled the do you know who I am card

I met Jared Leto last year and was stunned by how genuinely young he looks. Quiet, polite, friendly, intelligent.

I met the chuckle brothers. Both were lovely men.

We also had a very funny altercation with a very drunk David Guest outside a pub! No idea why he was in our town, and he came up with some outlandish explanation about seeing his elderly aunt who was a retired prostitute.