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?

Squeezed past and passed the time of day with Les Dennis in a soft play cage!

Cherie Blair at the Sealife Centre in Birmingham with her kids. I was only about 8 and on a summer holiday camp trip.

JK Rowling at school prize giving.Her daughter was a pupil.

Did a pub quiz one night in Kingston and the cast that had been performing at the local Theatre came for an after work drink and joined in on the next table. Didn’t really recognise anyone else but Dame Judi Dench was part of the quiz team.
Late in the evening I bumped into her as I came out of the toilet cubicle. She went out of her way to say hello and compliment our witty team name. I was so proud (and plastered drunk) that I phoned my mum at about 1am to tell her.
Wish I could remember the team name that impressed her. She was jolly lovely though.

Boris Johnson in Oxfam in Thame. David Cameron walking in the hills near chequers. No other celebs spotted!

My then three year old son had a long conversation with Andrew Lloyd Webber in Asda once!

Tom Hardy buying fish and chips from a chippy in Norfolk.

Wayne and Colleen were in the same hotel as us one year with their kids, and the next year Pippa Middleton and her DH were at another one we were at.

I've seen lots in London, Nicholas Hoult, one of the Kardashians and her DH from Blink 182 (can't think of his name) and Bryan Cranston were at the same place as me last year. They weren't together. Also caught a very fleeting glance of Brad Pitt in the same place a couple of weeks earlier but he was part of a big crowd so didn't get to properly check him out

Tom Hardy with his kids in a swimming pool in London.

Rick Witter at Tumble Tots.

Boris Johnson on the train, before he was Prime Minister. He sat next to me with his "entourage " and commented on the beauty of the Kent countryside, then got off at my semi rural station

Oh I did see Tess Daly at the panto once. She was with one daughter I think who was young at the time. She was in the row in front of me and I remember thinking it was odd someone rich and famous would have such shit seats.

Jarvis Cocker in a pub. Reginald D Hunter queuing for a flight at Heathrow. We were on the same plane, but he was in first class and we were not.

Saw Jeremy Clarkson outside a hotel in Edinburgh

Boris, Carrie and their 900 kids browsed my stall at a car boot.
My most random ever for location though would be Lynne Faulds Wood and John Stapleton on the next door table in a restaurant in Prague. They were enjoying beer cheese.
Oh and Sandi Toksvig having a fight with her partner on a BA flight from Copenhagen to Heathrow.

David Becham in Discoteque Royal in Manchester in the 90's! I swear he smiled at me! 😉😊😆

Paul Whitehouse in the Coop in Stockbridge. Prince (now King) Willem Alexander of The Netherlands at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, rushing for his flight.

I keep chortling at the thought of these people posturing in front of your workstation, going "I'm Joe Smith and I AM WELL KNOWN" 🤣🤣

Alison Steadman on the tube
My friend lives near Ed Sheeran and sees him around!
Dan Snow in London
Keith Allen sat behind me at the theatre - watching the graduate
2 people that had been on strictly on our flight to to Jamaica last year (I think one of them was called Molly)
Liam Gallagher flipped us the bird near the Ricoh in Coventry when oasis were together years ago

A friend saw William and Kate shopping in Tesco when they were first married.

Will Young walking through mist in Hyde Park

Mary Portas in Libertys.

Stanley Johnson cut me up in traffic outside Waterloo station. He looked unrepentant.

In my last job, I used to go to Canterbury Crown court a lot. One lunchtime I was standing in the queue to go through security when the man in front turned round and caught my eye. In my post lunch haze, I recognised him but couldn't place his name. Assuming he was a solicitor or someone I had worked with previously I decided to brazen it out by saying 'hi how are you? I haven't seen you for ages'. The guy sort of smiled and turned back around.
It was only when I met my colleague having passed security that she informed me that the man was actually Paul Hollywood!

There are a few famous dads at DC school. One is an actor, one is a footballer and one is an author. There is a former pop singer too that I just remembered. No famous mums though.

A couple of them came to my 40th and my brothers were absolutely agog at seeing the actor (they are nerds and love his work).

Anyway. It’s been a decade of school runs now so the cognitive dissonance of seeing these people ‘being normal’ has gone for us.

A long time ago my toddler daughter wandered over to another table in a restaurant in Holland Park to show off her drawings. Me and DH were busy trying to settle our baby so didn’t pay much attention at first. I then turn around to apologise to this other table and retrieve my daughter to find she is sat drawing with Anne Hathaway! She was super sweet and insisted that my DD sit with her and her partner drawing whilst me and my DH ate in peace. Such a sweetheart.

Amy Winehouse food shopping in Selfridges. Oprah serving me food on my flight