Did your grandparents ever mention unexpectedly famous people they had known?

[2catsandhappy]

As a young girl, whenever the WW2 came on tv, my late Nan would tell us that she knew Violette Szabo from when Violette was in London.
It meant nothing to me then, only in later years did the name mean anything.
No idea if Violette was a child or an adult. I presume adult as Nan was an adult in London. I have the vaguest idea they were sometime neighbours.
Anybody else had an unexpected name crop up in conversation with grandparents?

My Australian granny said she was at school with Don Bradman and I had a great aunt who eloped with a French pilot and they lived in Paris and she used to walk her poodle with Mrs Simpson.

My Grandad once acted as chauffeur for prime minister Harold Macmillian when he was visiting our area.

And I went to school with his daughter - Kirsty McColl.

Yes my grandad knew Nye Bevan the founder of the NHS my dad mentioned it recently. My grandad was a big labour supporter always telling stories I just found it strange he never mentioned it

Hitler

😮

My DM used to babysit Mark Lester, (the kid who played Oliver), when he was a baby, as his grandmother lived on the same street as mine.

My DM said he was an adorable baby.

I found this quite interesting as a child who absolutely loved the film ‘Oliver!’

I meant county not country😀

sounds like she was an interesting character

My grandparents used to live next door to Manny Charlton of Scottish rock band Nazareth.

Sorry, best I could do!

Not my grandparents but my great uncle was in India during the war and met Ghandi.

My nan was a big friend of Arthur Tolcher - he was the man who used to come on at the end of Morecambe & Wise with a sweeping brush and brown overalls. They used to shout “not now Arthur”. He was regularly at nans for a gossip on a Sunday morning. Camp as a row of tents !!!

My dad showed him to his seat at the 1953 coronation.

My mum used to casually chat to Tom Conti around Fulham. In fact, coming from West London we usually bumped into minor celebs, and sometimes even major ones.

My grandma dated Johnny Carey, Man U footballer and she met Robert Donat when she was working in a hotel in London.

My mother was an extra in the bullfight scene in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman as was Dylan Thomas in the scene shot at Pendine Sands and it's the only film of Thomas

My father played the piano for Hitler a few times. He was a teenager in a good music college in Germany. He was also in a PoW camp with Bert Trautmann.

Growing up as kids there was a picture on our wall of my mum with an older man . Never really thought much of it as it had been there all my life and sort of assumed it was a distant relative.

turns out it was a picture of Gianni Versace. Mum used to work for the Versace company, and one year she was their number one sales girl , so he custom made her a one of a kind diamond pin 😱

fancy your parents having a life before you where born 😉

My late Mum knew Judi Dench, reasonably well...and spoke v highly.

My nan's cousin was one of the women who came for Tiffin with Sid James in Carry on up the Khyber. Much later in life she lived across the road from one of Black Lace - don't know which one but he was "lovely" Another relative of hers worked at a school in NZ where Prince Edward did a gap year or some such and spent quite a lot of time with him.

My grandfather got to meet Laurence Olivier in his own house. That’s quite cool I think.

@JustCraicOn I’m very impressed with the Ronald Searle connection, I love his work.

@FruAashild my grandfather visited Gandhi in prison in India.

DP’s mother was a flatmate with a nice girl called Wendy, and one day she turned up with a spectacularly gorgeous boyfriend and that was Peter Cook. Wendy was his first wife.

My great uncle Bob used to make wigs for the Archbishop of Canterbury and members of the royal family. My Aunt Doris made false teeth - Rod Hull swore by her though she said fitting Emu was a real challenge.

My colleague's mum was in the WRAF and was Guy Gibson's driver in WW2. She drove him out to his plane when he set off on the Dambuster's raid . . .

My grandmother once had lunch with Evelyn Waugh and was not impressed. His wife, confusingly, was called Evelyn.

Surely this was the inspiration for Boy?!