When you went to school with a celebrity and they lie about their story

[threeisacharm18]

I was listening to a pop star who was being interviewed and heard them tell some blatant lies about their background.

They claimed to never have gone to drama school or had any industry connections and miraculously was scouted.

I know this to be a complete lie. I was so surprised as to why they would lie this way. It makes no sense. It's been 20 years. No one cares that much so why lie... ?

I guess they were trying to flog something so maybe it the 'struggle story' sells better

His name is Harry Webb he must be 81ish by now I'm sure my Auntie said he was her age and she is 82 and she was a huge fan when she was younger.

That makes me think of this amazing song - and the very subtle changes in each verse!

Guy on TV who makes much of being Scots and of Scots ancestry, He comes from Croydon. OK, his mum (who went to school with my DSis) had a Scots Dad but that's about it. The rest is pure Croydon.

To be fair, Keith Lemon is a fictional character - so you can't really expect anything he might claim about himself to be factually true!

My friend has been a jobbing actress all her life. She's done a few things you'll have seen. She never became "famous" but she always had work, but was pretty much forced to retire at 40.

Off-topic, but she should look at getting back into it when she’s older. A friend of mine “in the business” once told me there’s a shortage of older actors for small parts, as anyone who was going to make it big will have done so, while a lot of people like your friend will have dropped out of the industry as work dried up.

To be fair, they're quite likely not intending to deceive, but are just geographically 'rounding up' to the nearest big place that people - especially their international audience - will have heard of.

Which American will have heard of Widnes; and which German has a clue where Runcorn is? Liverpool, on the other hand, is well-known across the world.

Did he maybe lie when he was starting out saying he was 18 when he was 16, and it stuck??

Leigh Francis did a podcast with Rylan (man is everywhere😀) basically he just fabricated everything to get on In his career they promoted Keith lemon as an actual person to see how far they could get !

So I would take everything with a pinch of salt.

What, so is passing herself as 24? Thats some difference!

I think you misunderstood the poster as well as the tone and point of the whole thread.

They weren’t saying that JS’s name couldn’t be mentioned on this website.

In fact I’m sure MNHQ would much rather discussion about Jimmy Saville than Russell Brand; only one of them is legally allowed to sue for defamation and it’s not the dead one.

RB hadn’t been mentioned on here at all though apart from as a guess to your tale about instantly knowing a certain celeb was evil. Up until then it had been a rather light-hearted thread about knowing a celeb when they were younger, and so knowing they were publicly lying about their age or hard background. And then you came along to talk about Jimmy Saville…cheers for turning the snark into sad

Actually she has just done her first film in decades playing an old hag now she's her 60s.

I'd keep editing it and provide wiki with any proof you have (school year books, if you have them, etc) just to be a pain in the arse! 😂

Lots of the stories on here are the kind of thing that the red tops would LOVE to hear about on their "sell your story" pages!

It might be a bit different now, 50 is the new 40? but back then, 30 somethings played all the roles up to 55ish

That reminds me of that infamous interview with the British footballer who had just moved to France, and all of a sudden was talking like he was French - with all the intonations and everything... Joey something?!

Yes, on holiday I generally say I'm from London, when I'm actually from a suburb no one will have heard from. I'm not doing it to deceive, just for ease

Did Daisy May Cooper embellish her cleaner story somewhat when in fact had family in the industry and quite a bit of experience under her belt?

Yes, I don't see any issue with having a stage name. Apart from the ones who have to change their professional name because there's already a well-known person with their real name, I can see how it would help you to compartmentalise your public persona from your private life.

A name can be anything - and it's really quite arbitrary; but the age thing... it's not like you're one of only a handful of 53yos out there, and so you feel self-conscious and exposed, but you find it so much easier to cope with anonymity of being one of the veritable flood of 48yos

Wait, I know this ...

That dodgy Cambodian bloke who was mates with Margaret Thatcher?

Daisy may went to RADA but she has said she cleaned to get by as she wasn't getting any work she also wrote This Country to give herself a job.

The irony is that she had a surname with strong links to the region. Its spelling could be seen as unfortunate to those who are not familiar with it. She's changed the sitting to a phonetic one.

Mildred Byeckowmuch-Owdtheeorses?

Ah, I suppose that's true dedication to method acting!

Sorry her uncle is an actor.

Oh that's it, Harry Webb. According to wikipedia he was born in 1940. So did your auntie go to school with him? Just wondering if her and my nan would have gone to the same school?

I can never hear the name of the talent show winner without automatically thinking of the dictator!

Oh no but she was a fan of his early music and he was her age iywim. He was an original teen.heartthrob😀