Everyone's met some "famous" people. I haven't met many properly, but it still hasn't stopped me setting up this page! Please note that not all these people are particularly famous and most I haven't really met but have just seen or walked past.
Wayne Coyne
The Royal Family
Dennis Hopper
Pope Benedict XVI
Elastica guitarist
Euros Childs
Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il
Soulwax
Steve Lamacq
Vladimir Lenin
Roger Moore
Rick Witter
Arctic Monkeys
John Power
Monty Python
England football players
Wimbledon tennis players
Barry Humphries
Jack Straw
Steve Bull
Rik Mayall & Adrian Edmondson
Bill Bailey
Jack Dee
Paul Merton
Frank Skinner
Derren Brown
The Chuckle Brothers
The Krankies
David Baddiel
Noddy Holder
Nick Hancock
Gary Numan
Harry Corbett, Sooty, Sweep & Soo
Button Moon
Fiona Bruce
Chris Akabusi
Dougie Payne
Gary Rhodes
MS Dhoni
Charles Kennedy
Sir Steve Redgrave & Sir Matthew Pinsent,
Michael Fabricant
The Maltese National Football Team
Boris Johnson
Huw Stevens
Clare Balding
London Olympics
Terry Venables
Eddie Izzard
Chesney Hawkes
Brian Poole
Shakespeare's Globe
The Levellers
AC/DC
Reginald D Hunter
City Girls, Avenue and The Saturdays
Fred Durst
Damon Albarn
Guy Garvey from Elbow
Eugene Hütz
Wolverhampton Pantomime - Jack And The Beanstalk
Finch
Brett Anderson
Phil Daniels
Fran Healy
Bobby Gillespie
Peter Kay
Wolverhampton Pantomime - Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
Sue Nicholls
Harry Enfield
The Boy With Tape On His Face
Mary Ann Hobbs
Mark Beaumont
This was absolutely my best ever meeting with anyone remotely famous! Not only are The Flaming Lips the third greatest band on Earth but Wayne was just about the nicest person you could ever meet, talking politely to everyone and making a point of signing whatever we wanted and shaking all our hands. But this has already all been covered in my 2002 Lips gig review so I won't repeat myself any more.
I've always wanted to see The Queen but never really had an opportunity, and I notice she has a tendency to turn up for things without any publicity, which is no good for me as I don't have any psychic powers. Therefore I eagerly headed down to London for the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, capturing ridiculously far-off views of The Queen and Prince Philip as they zoomed off to wave at the other side of the river during the barge pageant, and I learned afterwards that Prince Charles and Camilla were in the same boat too, which my camera has also confirmed. The whole experience was deeply frustrating as all the publicity had clearly stated that the pageant would start at Battersea Bridge, but in reality the Royal Barge was parked further down river near Albert Bridge! My camera also caught a flash of red which I believe to be Princess Kate boarding the barge miles away from us. After being disheartened by this experience I found myself a prime spot near The Cenotaph for the carriage procession on the Tuesday, being rewarded after hours of waiting with outstanding photos of The Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Kate, Prince Harry and Prince William. Sadly Prince Philip had been taken into hospital for a few days, but he did give us a massive wave at the pageant!
He was just standing by The Tower Of London when I was about to enter the queue to see The Good, The Bad And The Queen in 2007. If only I thought of asking for a photo with him which would have been the greatest thing ever! In addition to seeing the band doing their soundcheck, this was a very special night of nice surprises.
When I was in Rome, just after seeing the Sistine Chapel, I noticed there was a huge crowd gathering around St. Peters Square, and a convoy of vehicles were going in. Yes, I'd just seen The Pope coming back from an audience with the Italian Prime Minister. Some of my friends had even seen him get out of the top of his car and wave to the crowds!
A truly memorable meeting! I think I only actually spoke to their new guitarist who was bought in for their second album. I didn't realise it was him on the poster stand and I pestered him enough to be told to piss off - a rare insult from a "star"!
We exchanged a few awkward words about Gruff Rhys and Wayne Coyne when I got him to sign my copy of Bore Da at a gig in Wolverhampton. Strangely enough, he sold me the copy himself, which is a pretty direct way of getting music from artist to consumer! The guy deserves full credit, as another time when I purchased a couple of his albums online he'd enclosed a hand-written note thanking me for my purchase!
I was fortunate enough to travel to North Korea in 2014 and to see the Eternal President Kim Il-sung and Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il lying in state in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun near Pyongyang. It put Lenin's tomb into perspective, not only being far larger and grander but even featuring Kim Jong-Il's actual personal yacht inside, as part of an experience that has to be seen to be believed. Also in North Korea we were introduced to one of the daughters from local film Oh Youth!, who attended a private screening with us and signed copies of the DVD afterwards, and to an artist who we were informed had painted the first ever official portrait of Kim Il-sung.
I met most of the band after a gig. I got them (or three of them anyway) to sign the base of a McDonald's cup since it was all I had on me. I still have it today.
Whenever SFA play on the radio I always used to send him an email to try and make him play The Man Don't Give A Fuck as, back in the days before the live version was released, fans would have killed for a good quality recording! The only reply I got was when my TV guide had made a mistake and in fact SFA weren't playing live. I had begged him to make sure they play The Man Don't Give A Fuck and said I'd have to cancel the Elastica gig I was going to and stay in to hear the session. I'm fairly sure it was a personal reply although you can never be sure. However a slightly more concrete sighting was me seeing him as compere for the Nine Black Alps with Arctic Monkeys live on Radio 1: what a memorable show!
I went to see him lying "in state" in his mausoleum in Moscow which was a pretty momentous part of my amazing trip to Russia. We were only down there for a few seconds and he looked quite waxy, but still recognisable!
I was fortunate enough to see my all-time hero Roger Moore doing a live audience at Birmingham Alexandra Theatre in November 2013. His most amusing comment was towards the start, when he pointed out that he hadn't started out as an actor, but as a baby! What a legend!
Amazingly I've got to duet with him on two separate occasions during the bit of the gig where he gets down with the front row to sing "it's getting better." On the second time he actually gave me the mic for an entire verse although, foolishly, I didn't know the words. D'oh!
Before watching them play their incredible Manchester University show of 2005 we were drinking in Big Hands and the entire band came in for a drink! In fact I had to push my way past Alex Turner to get out of the bar so that I would be early to see them play live!
Never actually met him, but still a good case of indie star interaction. I was doing my job, brilliantly as usual, then suddenly found myself dealing with his insurance claim. Seemed a bit harsh that it got declined, but I can understand a lot of people out there must still hate those Liverpudlians Cast, even though I'd rate them the greatest awful band ever!
I was fortunate enough to see the five remaining Pythons playing their penultimate show at The Millennium Dome. It was a near-definitive set, although for £80ish the seats were rather far away!
In 2004 I missed my chance to get the autographs of Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand as I simply wasn't particularly bothered! Also saw Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and several other lesser names I can't remember now, although they were too rude to come over to us. That's the last time I help stalk England players outside their hotel, but it was one good day for big names if nothing else!
I've been to Wimbledon for five years in a row and in 2007 and 2009 encountered no queues whatsoever! Annoyingly in 2008/2010 there were random ten-hour queues but that's another story, and I'd still argue that I went there! In 2007 I saw Jelena Jankoviã and Jamie Murray winning the mixed doubles quarter finals on court 3 plus saw chunks of Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan winning the men's doubles semi final on court 2. In 2009 I saw a veterans doubles match involving Vijay Amritraj from Octopussy fame plus Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs winning the ladies doubles semi finals, both on court 3. Amazingly Murray/Jankoviã went onto win the whole thing, making a rare British success story! In 2011 I finally applied via the ballot and got tickets for Monday 27th June on Court 1. It was the middle Monday and the fourth round and I got to see some amazing stuff - Marion Bartoli knocking out Serena Williams in straight sets, the eventual champion Novak Djokovic storming past Michaël Llodra, and the legendary Roger Federer struggling to beat the awesome Mikhail Youzhny over four sets. While everyone else was watching Andy Murray go on to his inevitable defeat, I got to see the best tennis of the day!
I saw the great man/woman - also known as Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson - on his/her final UK tour, and possibly final tour ever, at Manchester Opera House in March 2014. For convenience we saw the matinee show, allowing us to do it as a day trip. The evening performance was touted as the last of the tour, so perhaps we saw Dame Edna on her last day of public appearances ever?
I happened to see him standing on his soap box in Wolverhampton telling us about all the great things Labour have done since 1997 and why they should be re-elected in 2010. As I had to dash and catch a train I couldn't stay too long, but every word he said rung true!
My parents met him and got an autograph from him to me - although it got a bit smudged! In 2014 though he visited my place of work and I get to tell the man himself the same anecdote and got a new (unsmudged) signed picture!
I had the fortune to witness Bottom Live 4 in Birmingham. It was a good show although I was slightly disappointed since it was very short and it finished early (i.e. before 10pm whereas I was expecting it to finish at 11 like at a gig). Perhaps not quite worth the astronomical ticket price!
On 30th December 2010 I was fortunate enough to see Bill Bailey playing live during his lengthy residency at Wyndham's Theatre in London. It was a memorable experience although his relentless stream of hilarity made the whole thing a bit overwhelming, meaning we forgot a lot of the jokes the second the show finished. Bill did a brilliant impression of Akon and was talking about his local record shop called The Vinyl Solution, amongst many other things! Buying the DVD helped to refresh my memory, but sadly the Akon bits weren't included and I can't seem to find any online footage of it! In June 2013 we repeated the trick for an equally excellent show with fantastic seats at Wolves Civic, but again forgot practically all the gags the second it finished thanks to the avalanche of hilarity!
My Dad impressively managed to get tickets for Jack Dee at a small theatre in Stafford for a warm up show prior to his bigger dates of 2012. He was as cynical as you'd expect and hilarious as well! And speaking of bigger dates, my brother and I came back for more in December of the same year to watch him play the slightly larger Civic Hall in Wolves. He was still funny but unsurprisingly many of the jokes were duplicated.
In May 2012, just two days after watching Derren Brown, I got to see Paul Merton on his first stand-up tour since 1998! In fact the show was more of a variety performance and was almost impossible to describe, but I hope very much to buy it on DVD eventually to relive the experience!
I saw him performing live in Wolverhampton in 1998 - a particularly interesting show since he supports a certain scummy football team down the road. He's still very funny though and you can't argue with that! Then a full 16 years later - no doubt a record gap between shows for me - I saw him return to the Civic for a slightly more mature but equally funny set. After making a dig at Wolves he had to perform in front of gold and black lighting for the rest of the evening!
Heaven knows how Derren Brown does the things he does, but he's unarguably an incredible showman, and I was delighted to see him perform live in Birmingham in June 2010, in Wolverhampton in May 2012 then again in Birmingham in May 2013. The first time was probably better but he's in no danger of jumping a shark anytime soon, unless of course it's part of the act!
I was fortunate enough to see the legends live at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre in 2014. The guys were playing a space themed show which was basically an out of season pantomime, even featuring a slightly adjusted version of The Twelve Days Of Christmas!
I watched them do a pantomime when I was very young. It was definitely funny and it was possibly Aladdin.
I saw him playing Stafford Gatehouse solo in April 2014, with a show themed on the topic of fame. This was an interesting choice as there were a couple of celebs in his audience. Read on!
The legendary Noddy Holder was sitting one row back to our left for David Baddiel's 2014 show in Stafford. Amazing!! We only realised as the half-time tweets mentioned that he was there, and he made himself known to the audience.
Former They Think It's All Over presenter Nick Hancock was also in the audience for David Baddiel. Baddiel stated on stage that he was here and we were excited to spot him with his shock of grey hair. Also as far as I could tell he was all alone. Awww!
After coming out of Jack Dee's show at Wolves Civic in 2012, we decided to head towards the Wulfrun Hall in the wild hope that we may get to hear Gary Numan playing his only hit. And amazingly enough he did. We may only have been outside and it was fairly quiet to hear, but the only thing that undermined the moment was the noise of all the people going past. In cars. I shot a little video too to prove I could hear it!
This would be the proudest moment of all, but I have no memory of being taken to see this! But I have been assured it happened, so that's good enough for me.
When I was young I was taken to see a theatre (presumably pantomime) performance of the classic show. My only memory now is the sound of the spaceship flying over our heads!
While I was waiting for The Queen's carriage procession in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations a lady passed by in front of the barriers, flanked by several guys. We were shocked to notice that it was Fiona Bruce herself and gave her a little cheer, although I didn't think to heckle God Save Fiona Bruce until it was too late!
He came to our school for some charity thing and everyone had their photo taken with him, myself included.
I saw him wandering around Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 while I was on my way to Moscow. A nice random sighting, but as I had nothing to say except to praise work he did ten years ago, I didn't try to speak to him!
Well I saw him walking down a street in Whitby. Everyone was stopping him and we just had to rub our eyes in disbelief.
The best cricket player in the world, or so I'm told. I saw him watching Iron Man in Mayajaal multiplex, Chennai, India. Everyone knew who he was except for me, but apparently he's India's version of David Beckham.
Wearing sunglasses, walking past The Houses Of Parliament in 2007. Although he was in a mighty hurry and didn't even stop to beg us for some change, I have very little doubt it was him.
They were the lead rowers on Gloriana during the 2012 barge pageant, which was especially nice seeing as it was Olympics year and all.
I saw the MP for Lichfield representing his city at an event at the cathedral in June 2014, marking Armed Forces Day and the disbanding of the local regiment. Although hugely frustrating to find that the tower tours had been cancelled for the occasion, at least it was a unique thing to see!
I stayed in the same hotel as them when I went to Malta. It seems a safe bet that they lost the match badly!
The Mayor Of London waved a Union Jack at us during the 2012 Diamond Jubilee barge pageant, providing small consolation for missing out on the Royal Barge as only our side of the river could see him! I then caught another glimpse of him emerging from City Hall a couple of months later, where he was due to welcome the Olympic torch on the final leg of the torch relay.
He replied to my email asking who had released the classic Iranian Anthem of Reading 2006. For more info see the festival review pages. I'd also seen him DJing at Field Day 2012 in London, as well as Reading 2006, although I didn't realise it was even him then until after the event.
It was only by watching the 2012 Diamond Jubilee barge pageant TV footage that I realised that Clare Balding was the lady in the green coat on the lead hip Gloriana who I'd unwittingly taken several photos of.
For the London Olympics I was incredibly persistent in trying to get tickets, eventually getting to watch four events - Archery, Handball, Boxing and Taekwondo, as well as catching a glimpse of the Men's Marathon. Archery hardly has any big stars, but I saw British females Alison Williamson and Naomi Folkard being eliminated, along with women's number two Lee Sung-Jin from South Korea going through. She ultimately got a silver medal. Also I saw the preliminaries of the women's Handball, with Brazil beating Montenegro and Norway narrowly beating Sweden. Much like with the Archery, we got to see far more Boxing bouts in a row than we would have liked, but the crowd perked up for the final fight of Damien Hooper from Australia versus Marcus Browne from America. There were no British stars here, but any British officials were cheered loudly! Our first three events had been during the opening days but we returned to London for the Closing Ceremony weekend, revisiting the Excel Arena for some more Taekwondo. The highlight here was watching Anthony Obame on his way to winning a silver medal for Gabon - their only one of the games - but there were so many (non-British) competitors on display I couldn't possibly list them all. Finally - on the day of the closing ceremony - we saw the Men's Marathon going past, which presumably included the eventual winner Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda.
I may never know if it was Terry Venables I spotted at Wolverhampton train station. He certainly looked scarily similar, if maybe a bit trimmer and younger than I expected. And why would he be travelling to the same place as me?
Eddie Izzard was the surprise guest who was reeled out with a bag on his head for the Monty Python live show I saw. A nice bonus celebrity sighting!
I saw him play his one and only hit in Manchester as part of a club night. It was pretty entertaining stuff as he also threw in three top cover versions - American Pie, Imagine and Alright (by Supergrass)! But I've decided to put him here rather than on the gig pages. He just wasn't important enough to count as a gig.
He's the guy who sung Do You Love Me and also is the father of Alisha's Attic! With that kind of pedigree it seems a shame I'm only able to remember I saw him playing a Butlinsesque venue somewhere when I was little! I've since seen him play live properly with The Tremeloes.
In July 2012 I went to The Globe Theatre in London to see Richard III, paying just £5 for a standing ticket. Although I didn't understand every word the performance reeked of quality, and featured famous Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance in the title role along with Roger Lloyd Pack - or Trigger from Only Fools And Horses - unexpectedly appearing too. I enjoyed it so much I returned less than 12 months later to watch The Tempest, which was absolutely bizarre, with Colin Morgan playing Ariel: apparently he played Merlin in the BBC TV series.
I saw them playing Birmingham Centenary Square for free on Sunday 14th September 2008. They played Beautiful Day and strangely enough sounded slightly like Gogol Bordello. I also saw the full set by Envy And Other Sins and possibly a bit of The Metros. However I don't feel this occasion was important enough to warrant a full review!
I heard AC/DC playing Adelaide in 2010. However as I was sitting outside the stadium having a picnic and couldn't see the stage at all it certainly didn't count as an "official" gig... Plus the only song I really know is Highway To Hell and we left before they played that anyway!
I saw Reginald D Hunter in May 2013 playing the Regent Theatre in Stoke-On-Trent. Although reasonably funny, I was disappointed that he was instantly forgettable, and amazingly he was over-shadowed by his support act Pete Johansson who came up with some memorable jokes about bears!
A day trip to Coventry in November 2008 mainly featured a second look at the DeLorean in the Motor Museum and a visit to the two cathedrals. However when hanging around the centre waiting to be picked up I also saw three bands playing a free street concert. City Girls were an unspectacular girl band, Avenue were X-Factor boy band rejects and The Saturdays an up and coming girl group. It looks like only The Saturdays made it to the big time then!
I was incredibly close to him for the bit of his Leeds 2000 festival show where he jumped into the crowd. Shame then I didn't realise what a talentless gimp he is as I wouldn't have been at all excited if I'd had known.
I managed to grab his arm when he played Girls & Boys on the Think Tank tour in Manchester 2003!
Why does everyone like this band? Alongside Radiohead, Muse and suchlike, they are at the forefront of depressing/whiny music that has little place in what should be an ENTERTAINMENT industry but are liked by otherwise musically sound types. But anyway, I saw Guy walking down a street in Chorlton. I didn't say anything as it was very much a case of if you've got nothing nice to say...
When seeing Gogol Bordello playing Nottingham in November 2008 I was fortunate enough to give him a nice pat on the shoulder to thank him for putting on such an excellent show!
The 2011/12 pantomime of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs - which we won tickets for - proved so enjoyable that we were keen to go back for more in December 2012. The main motivation was to see Keith with Orville - and yes, they did play the song - but it also featured Niki Evans (again), Ken Morley from Corrie, Sherrie Hewson from Loose Women and Nigel Ellacott as The Dame. Our seats were a bit poor but it was worth it simply for the honour of being in the same room as Orville!
After a particularly energised night (and day) of drinking I somehow ended up seeing Finch at Manchester Academy for just £1! I have no recollection of their songs, just that I moshed to them and sadly got knocked off my feet and had my favourite Flaming Lips T-shirt damaged forever thanks to the grime on the floor of the venue!
One of the stars I touched, as he got down from the stage and shook the hands of those in the front row (including me).
I saw Phil Daniels appearing onstage thrice with Blur during Parklife at their Hyde Park shows in 2009, 2012 and 2015.
I managed to shake his hand as he came down the front during a gig before they were super-famous (and mediocre).
I actually managed to reach over and get a slight touch on his arm after he came down from the stage after some idiotic crowdsurfer had injured themselves. Oh, the excitement.
The overrated and Amarillo-obsessed comedian turned up to introduce Paul McCartney at Anfield in 2008. He made a few obvious jokes about Rupert The Bear yet I still found him infuriatingly likeable!
We had the fortune to win tickets for the panto at the Grand Theatre in Jan 2012, despite the fact there wasn't anyone particularly famous in it and it was most notable for the dwarfs being played by children performing to a pre-recorded script. Nevertheless, it was better than it had any right to be and starred Linda Lusardi, Sam Kane, The Grumbleweeds and Niki Evans, whoever they may all be, plus Eloise Irving as Snow White!
Also known as Audrey from Coronation Street. Spotted her walking into a Sainsbury's in Manchester. Too shocked to say anything, also I didn't know her real name or was even positive about who she played until researching it to put up here!
He compered The Good, The Bad & The Queen show at The Tower Of London in 2007. I've never much liked him but he was quite amusing despite (or because of) jokes about Princess Di! A stonking five years later he then randomly appeared as a dinner lady for Blur at Hyde Park during Parklife. It was nice to see the band connecting with their more playful side again.
He was one of the comedians I saw at Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2010, but I've now added him to this list as he appears to be slightly famous! It was a rather good show too.
This page tries to fill in the gaps on my gig pages. Obviously I've seen all the bands listed, but I'm listing comedy shows and such here which doesn't fit anywhere else. Mary Ann Hobbs appears here because she was the compere at Leeds.
I'm pretty sure I saw the NME journalist hanging around outside SFA's gig at Somerset House in 2009.