Have you ever had a celebrity encounter or near miss?

[BiscoffCheesecakeAndCream]

Have you ever had any celebrity encounters or near misses? There's a radio DJ who I snogged years ago and shouldn't have. He was far too principled to take it further and I really admired that, funnily enough though I was upset. He's still on the radio now and I think about it a fair bit if I hear him.

I sat next to Margi Clarke in a cafe in Soho.

Not sure if this counts, but Charlotte Church is my neighbour!

I was reading that much too fast and my brain processed it as “I got my jumper stuck in a revolving door”
😂😂😂

I once saw the actor who plays Ray from Minder on Richmond Green. He was with his young family and it was about 7 years since the show stopped. I had a huge crush on him as a kid and had to tell him so. I think he was actually kinda impressed I recognized who he was! He seemed a nice chap for the two minutes I interacted with him.

I'd not really say that was a close encounter though!

Once went to a funeral with an older female actress from a soap, turned out it's DHs great aunt, she's been an actress for years and well known for the long running soap role, we'd been together at least a decade at that point and he just had never mentioned it because in his words he doesn't watch soaps so doesn't think about it.
We've since been to some lovely parties she's hosted with other soap actors!

Yes, if that! Ive met him, he's certainly not tall.

Who is she?

Once spoke long-distance on the phone to Tom Lehrer.

The single most impressive anecdote on the thread! What was he like?

Decades ago when we were students my husband and I rented the top floor of a house in Tufnell Park. When we moved in we noticed that the man who lived in the house opposite used the equivalent to our front room as a study. He was in there several hours a day typing. We thought he might be a journalist. Then one day we got a Sunday paper, opened up the literary supplement and there was a huge feature on the writer who'd just won the Booker Prize with a big picture. It was our neighbour - Salman Rushdie. That was indeed a near miss as we never spoke to him and not long after that he and his wife and son moved away. I'm sorry to say I've never got round to reading Midnight's Children, although I did buy a copy out of neighbourly solidarity. Sorry, Salman.

Me too! I've no idea who Teddy Sherringham is, but he's a very patient man!

Given she only has one great nephew it's not something I'm going to share!

Oh my god, that's where I lived! We must have been neighbours!

I met the Backstreet Boys and when I was stood next to AJ he said "wow, I feel really small". They were all absolutely lovely. I was also walking in Liverpool City Centre, not 100% watching where I was going. I bumped into someone, fell backwards and the person caught me and pulled me into him to steady me - it was Ricky Whittle and I was so embarrassed - actually felt more weak at the knees then 😂. My daughter also played football with Virgil van Dijk and he smelled amazing. Not many people are taller than me but he towered over me. Again, another really lovely man.

Why not? Do a name change for other threads. We won't find you and harrass you!

Shane Warne was on our flight one time.
Saw him at the baggage carousel, on his phone.

I have a terrible memory for names and most celebs pass me by, so I would genuinely struggle with this. I could be mingling with any number of them and wouldn't have a clue. On the strength of this thread and the dozens of others I've seen here over the years that would seriously damage some celebs' fragile egos!

Fortunately he could sprint quickly

I saw Richard and Judy in the Old Bull and Bush in Hampstead. He was surprisingly blond.

Over twenty years ago I was in Kingston at traffic lights with my parents in the car when a guy in the lane next to us asked us which direction Wimbledon was in. We told him then as we both drove off, my dad was like that was Boris Becker!! So random.

Flew back to Heathrow from Malaga and encountered Rod Stewart at the baggage carousel with his then-girlfriend Kelly Emberg. My mother, being my mother, marched up to him and asked why he had cancelled his concert in Marbella (which we had been going to see). I was so embarrassed I looked the other way so have no idea what he said!

Also at Malaga airport, Bruce Forsyth sat down next to us and asked us to look after his luggage while he went to Duty Free - he was very friendly and chatty.

Barry Chuckle sat next to me and my little boy (3 at the time) in M&S food hall cafe, Great Yarmouth. Oh the glamour. Hugely starstruck as a child of the 80s 🤣 RIP Barry. I had to be internally restrained from saying 'to me to you' when he passed his wife some sugar. Bet he would've punched me if I had, it must've got too much hearing that all the time from randoms 🤣

I think that one will be difficult to top! Still the most famous person in the world even though it's three years since she died. I do a double take when 'the Queen' is mentioned on the news and Camilla appears. Probably always will (and I like Camilla). RIP.

At the same time? Wow! We were next door to Tessa Jowell. That was another near miss as when her husband was in the news decades later we kept seeing glimpses of our old home in the background as the journalists tried to doorstep her. The area has gone up in the world since we left (coincidentally or otherwise).

I originally trained as a makeup artist so I've met a lot of celebrities. I also lived in the Cotswolds.

I was driving down the Kings Road when Felicity Kendell J walked in front of my car. I got a sorry.
I chased Anne Robinson around a Cirencester dress shop as I swore I'd swished my brush over her ( my friend was hissing to leave the poor woman alone).
I made up Pam Ayres and Joan Collins. Also Barbara Cartland.
My favourite Revlon model was Claudia Shefer who brought Q-cards to her speech (I'm blonde and she gave me the tip of being extra prepared as everyone thinks you're thick. We had both read Law).
I had a near brush with Gary Glitter and Mohammed Fayed. I was too old and married for the latter.
I have met many royals but not Princess Diana or the late Queen.
However the funniest one was serving Kiera Knightly in a shop in Marlborough and offering her a slightly damaged gift set at a discount. I hadn't a clue!

A friend once told me about being at a party where there were lots of naval officers and she had tried to engage one in conversation but he was very hard to talk to. Years later I got a call from her Have you seen the news??? Apparently her 'hard to talk to' naval officer was now having an affair with Princess Anne and they did marry eventually!

I used to see Sarah Lancashire regularly at our local supermarket at weekends. I assume she's moved away now or changed her shopping habits.

In the 70s, there was a family group having lunch at a pub I visited. The parents were Timothy West and Prunella Scales, and I assume one of the little boys with them must have been Sam West.

Also in the 70s, I was standing in a queue for sandwiches in central London. The person in front of me was sort of jigging around and singing to himself, and the man behind me started talking to himself. I was wondering what on earth I had wandered into when the person in front turned round and I realised it was Bernard Cribbins. When I turned round, the person behind turned out to be Leo McKern. I suspect they may both have been filming or rehearsing nearby.

My daughter had this very tall teacher at her school. They used to laugh at him because he had ambitions to be a stand-up comedian, but admitted he was actually quite funny. Turns out he was Greg Davies and his ambitions weren't so stupid after all.