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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to wonder if MN can actually agree on there being a person in the public eye who we all admire?

486 replies

ChaosTrulyReigns · 24/03/2011 19:42

Is there any celebrity well known person that is admired/deemed acceptable by the whole of MN?

I doubt it.

Grin

I'll start by throwing Lauren Laverne and Timmy Mallet into the mix.

OP posts:
freshmint · 24/03/2011 22:08

yes yes yes to Camila Batmanghelidjh
I was at school with her
she was just exactly as identical then as she is now
fabulous artist and hilariously funny
I've had a direct debit going to kids company since 1997

Now surely EVERYONE must admire her?

fruitshootsandheaves · 24/03/2011 22:10

I don't know half the people mentioned on here so I'm going for:

Anthony Hopkins

because I like his voice

BelligerentGhoul · 24/03/2011 22:11

I have never heard of Nick Knowles or Camilla thingie.

freshmint · 24/03/2011 22:12

OK my list

Bill Gates
Camila Batmanghelidjh
Baroness Hale
Lucien Freud
George Clooney. Oh yes, I admire George.

NotaMopsa · 24/03/2011 22:12

Anthony Hopkins disappeared miles up his own Jacksie over ten years ago

Thingumy · 24/03/2011 22:12

I can't stand Mirren.I don't get the hype.

I'd rather vote Sue Johnston.I think she's a marvellous actor.

freshmint · 24/03/2011 22:13

here you go belligerentghoul excellent article

Merrylegs · 24/03/2011 22:15

I think we can only have women. And they have to be called Mary.
No reason. It's just that time of night.
So.
Mary Beard
Mary Portas.

NotaMopsa · 24/03/2011 22:17

Whitehouse?

icapturethecastle · 24/03/2011 22:17

Sarah Beeny (I know she has messy hair sometimes but I do love her - doesn't everyone!!)

Merrylegs · 24/03/2011 22:18

Yep. She'll do. Grin

BelligerentGhoul · 24/03/2011 22:19

Thank you Freshmint. I have seen her before, now I've seen that - didn't know her name though.

Feelingthepressure · 24/03/2011 22:21

Dead people I admire: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Socrates, Plato, John Lennon, Jane Tomlinson
People alive I admire: A C Grayling, Paul McCartney, Aung San Suu Kyi and all the people in those countries who are brave enough to rise up against their autocratic, totalitarian, Governments and Dictators. Smile

FellatioNelson · 24/03/2011 22:22

bibbity Tim Minchin for you:

here

Yeah, yeah
If I didn't have you

If I didn't have you to hold me tight
(If I didn't have you)
If I didn't have you to lie with at night
(When I'm feeling blue)
If I didn't have you to share my sights
(Share my sights)
And to kiss me and dry my tears when I cry

Well I really think that I would...
Have somebody else

(If I didn't have you)
If I didn't have you, someone else would do

Your love is one in a million
(One in a million)
You couldn't buy it at any price
(Can't buy love)
But of the 9.999 hundred thousand other loves
Statistically, some of them would be equally nice
(Equally nice)
Or maybe not as nice but, say, smarter than you
Or dumber but better at sport or tracing
I'm just saying
(I really think that I would)
Probably
(Have somebody else)

Yeah

(If I didn't have you)
If I didn't have you someone else would do
(Someone else would surely do)

If I were a rich man
Diddle-diddle-diddle-diddle-diddle-diddle-diddle-ee
I guess I would be with a surgeon or a model
Or a rellie of the Royals or a Kennedy
Or a nymphomonical exhibitionist heiress to a large chain of hotels
If I were a rich man, maybe I would fiddle
Fiddle-diddle-diddle with the rich man girls

I'm not saying that I'd not love you if I was wealthy or handsome
But realistically there's lots of fish in the sea
And if I had a different rod I would concievably land some
Even though I am fiscally consistantly pitiable
And considerably less Brad Pitt than Brad Pitiful
Am I really so poor and ugly that you reckon only you could possibly love me?
And I
(Really think that I would)
Probably
(Have somebody else)

(If I didn't have you)
If I didn't have you, someone else would do
(Someone else would surely do)

And look, I'm not undervaluing what we've got when I say
That given the role chaos inevitably plays in the inherently flawed notion of "fate"
It's obtuse to deduce that I've found my soulmate at the age of seventeen
It's just mathematically unlikely that at a university in Perth
I happened to stumble on the one girl on Earth specifically designed for me
[ Lyrics from: www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/tim_minchin/if_i_didnt_have_you.html ]
And if I may conjecture a further objection, love is nothing to do with destined perfection
The connection is strengthened, the affection simply grows over time
Like a flower
Or a mushroom
Or a guinea pig
Or a vine
Or a sponge
Or bigotry
... or a banana

And love is made more powerful by the ongoing drama of shared experience
And the synergy of a kind of symbiotic empathy or... something

So I trust it would go without saying
That I would feel really very sad
If tomorrow you were to fall off something high
Or catch something bad
But I'm just saying
I don't think you're special
I-I mean, I think your special
But you fall within a bell curve
I mean, I'm just saying I
(Really think that I would)
Probably
(Have somebody else)

I think you are unique and beautiful
(Unique and beaut)
You make me happy just by being around
(Being around)
But objectively, you would have to agree that baby when I found you
Options were relatively thin on the ground
(Thin on the ground)
You're lovely but there must be girls as lovely as you
And maybe more open to spanking or table tennis
I'm just saying
(Really think that I would)
Probably
(Have somebody else)

I mean I reckon it's pretty likely that if, for example
My first girlfriend, Jackie, hadn't dumped me
After I kissed Winston's ex-girlfriend Neah at Steph's party back in 1993
And our variables would probably have been altered by the absence of that event
To have meant the advent of a tangential narrative in which we don't meet
Which is to say there exists a theoretical hypothetical parallel life
Where what is is not as it is and I am not your husband and you are not my wife

And I am a stuntman living in LA
Married to a small, blonde Portuguese skier
Who, when she's not training
Does abstract painting
Practices yoga
And brews her own beer
And really like making home movies
And suffers neck down alopecia

But with all my heart and all my mind, I know one thing is true
I have just one life and just one love and, my love, that love is you
And if it wasn't for you, darling you

(Really think that I would)
Probably
(Have somebody else)

(If I didn't have you)
If I didn't have you someone else would surely do

Mumofaflump · 24/03/2011 22:23

Joanna Lumley. I want to be her when I am older.

fruitshootsandheaves · 24/03/2011 22:23

Well if we are only allowed Women I'll have to change Anthony to Mary Hopkins

wasn't/isn't she a singer?

I'm sure she's lovely

pgpg · 24/03/2011 22:26

For anyone who doesn't know Tim Minchin - I'd recommend a spot of googling, if you need cheering up (and if you're not easily offended...)

I might even forgo David Attenborough.

No, no I wouldn't. I admire David Attenborough more but Tim Minchin does make me laugh out loud. Try "Lullaby" that would be a good theme song for Mumsnetters.

bees474 · 24/03/2011 22:26

Yes to Vivienne Westwood and probably even Janet Street Porter

Carol Ann Duffy is wondrous.

I also quite like- because they are either principled or talented or a bit of both, and they add(ed) to the sum of human happiness:
Chris Packham
Jamie Oliver
Annie Lennox
Julie Walters
Tony Benn
Mo Mowlam and Robin Cook (very sad losses)
Jarvis Cocker
Damon Albarn
maybe even
Cerys Matthews???

I used to love Steve Ovett too.
And Chas and Dave- surely we can all agree on Chas and Dave?!

NotaMopsa · 24/03/2011 22:27

Laaaa laa laa laa la -la , la la la laa la-la

(those were the days my friend)

BelligerentGhoul · 24/03/2011 22:27

Mo Mowlam and Tony Benn - ye to both of those.

Absolutely no to Paul McCartney though.

bees474 · 24/03/2011 22:27

Alison Steadman

fishtankneedscleaning · 24/03/2011 22:29

Bob Geldof

Merrylegs · 24/03/2011 22:29

Actually, forget the Marys. Aung San Suu Kyi is indeed the one.

bees474 · 24/03/2011 22:31

Caroline Lucas

Bob Geldof, hmm a bit but (shudder) what about peaches?

Thingumy · 24/03/2011 22:32

I'll second Chris Packham due to a teenage crush.

He is a bit boring though now that I'm a adult.

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