Celebs where you don’t expect to see them

[Normaja]

I did a drivers awareness course today, one of the online courses where the group joins via teams or whatever it is. You only see everyone’s face and first name.
Anyway, there was one participant that after a while of thinking she was familiar, I realised she’s a TV presenter. I’m certain it was her, but if it wasn’t then this woman with the same name shares an uncanny resemblance.

I don’t spot many celebs where I live so it was quite exciting to be sharing a space with one. Even if it was that particular space. She seemed very pleasant.

Ever had any random celeb spots like that?

The then Duchess of Cambridge at horse trials in Norfolk.
Barry Manilow in my local pub eating fish and chips.

You’re a caulkhead then?? 🙂

Timmy mallet in a church at a family members christening (other families were also getting their children christened at the same time and he was with them)

YOU WIN!!!! (Or your mother did!!)

@Allnewtometoo My sister saw Stephen Fry at a pub in Norfolk back in the mid 90s.

Jimmy Carr sitting alone at the table next to us in a hotel restaurant.

Dr Ranj at an unrelated reality star’s west end Q&A session, a few rows behind us. Never seen someone drink so much wine and Prosecco in my life 🤣

Literally bumped into Stephen Fry in a Waitrose in Norfolk. He was thoroughly lovely. He has a very warm smile.

@SomeSuperhero Stephen Fry would definitely be someone I want to spend time at the pub with, chatting over a glass of wine.

Me too. Gutted my meeting him was so brief.

I saw Conchita Wurst in a small town Tesco. My husband was faffing about in another aisle and by the time I found him and fetched him to look, it was too late. So nobody ever believed me. But it was definitely her!

I saw Russell Crowe and his son at an aquarium. I was annoyed on behalf of my DS that this 1 kid and their dad were hogging all the staff and the creatures in the touch pool... then I realised who it was.

Jesus, that sounds like a fever dream,

Dec Donnelley and his then girlfriend Claire Buckfield at an all inclusive resort in the Bahamas in 2000

Couldn't get away from them the whole 2 weeks we were there 🤣

Poor bloke - he thought it was going to be full of Americans so he would go unnoticed....there were loads of Brits though and he barely got a moments peace around the pool!

Saw Chris Eubank in a youth hostel

Pete Burns when he used to work at Probe Records. He was famous for abusing customers. Used to see him getting the bus to his mums.
Spent an afternoon wandering around Liverpool with Courtney Love. We were both about 17/18 and just struck up a random conversation in the street. Recall she'd just got out of the American equivalent of borstal. Scary.

A lot of these accurately suggest I'm not 25!

I saw Richard Whiteley waiting for his cases at Faro Airport at 2am (wearing a blazer) and had a group school mums curry night with Chesney Hawkes (he told DH he was a greedy bastard and DH retaliated by asking him if was still in the music business).

Ruth Jones joined my village book group online during lockdown (I told her an extremely salacious story from my family history and she laughed a lot). I'm waiting to see it in one of her novels. She was really lovely and down to earth. If she wasn't a national treasure, I really felt we could have been friends.

I sat behind Maureen Lipman at a West End performance of Spamalot and saw Peter Purves in the interval drinking a LOT of champagne. I used to sell Frank Muir tobacco when I was a Saturday girl at a newsagent.

Martin Clunes at a 6th form open evening. Jeremy Vine sat behind me in church. My DD babysat for him.

Dean Gaffney from East Enders in a nightclub. Lee MacDonald from Grange Hill at about 5am in Trafalgar Sq after coming out of a night club. JK from Jameroqui standing next to his broken down Ferrari.

Saw Jamie Oliver at Luton Airport just outside Pret talking on a mobile and looking very unimpressed

Peter Andre at Gatwick with his wife and DC.
Nadia Comaneci on holiday when I was a DC,

Ramesh Ramanathen at the pub.

I was waiting for an interview in a school and saw someone from Emmerdale waiting in reception. Turns out his kids went there and his wife worked there. It took my mind off the interview nerves though and I got the job!

My mum saw a strange woman going into a friend's house after lots of vans moving things in and out. She was rather offended and upset that her friends had moved without telling her.

Turns out our friends had rented their house as a filming site and the woman my mum saw was Anna Friel.

I saw a woman I knew at Euston once on the phone. I couldn’t quite think of her name, but knew it was definitely someone I knew, so as I could hear she was finishing up I thought I’d wait and say hello and hope her name came to me when we spoke.

Thankfully I realised just in time it was actually Alison Hammond 😄 I think the combination of hearing the Brummie accent and the fact that I was catching a train to Birmingham - plus that she’s not the kind of celeb you’d necessarily recognise instantly - just made me think she was someone I knew from my years in Birmingham. I also saw Dev from Corrie at Euston once - at 7.30 on a Friday, weirdly enough, which made me wonder who was minding the shop 😆

Talking train stations, I saw Paul Weller coming down the escalator at Paddington as I was going up. I was looking thinking “Is it definitely him?” and realised he’d seen me and was now giving me a “Do I know you?” look. I tried to give him a look that said, “No, you don’t - I’m looking at you because you’re Paul Weller”, but that’s a lot to convey in one look in a few seconds 😄

Also at Paddington, a sad one. I saw this elderly couple behind me and the wife clearly needed a lot of help from her husband. I realised after a second that it was Timothy West and Prunella Scales.

Oh, and a woman in Tesco Express in Hampstead with very weather-worn skin. I remember thinking “She should have stayed out of the sun” before realising it was Judith Chalmers!

Yes, this! Steph McGovern often visits child group activities in my area with her toddler. I've never spoken to her though as I feel strongly that she should be able to have quality time with her child. Obviously I'd make small talk if my little one played with hers but that hasn't happened.