Back when I was still at school somebody organised a political debate there _ with questions afterwards _ between guest speakers from the three main parties. The Conservative one was the then-chairman of the FCS (whose name I've forgotten), the Liberal one was somebody fairly minor (an advisor to a local councillor?), the Labour one (if memory serves me correctly) was Peter Hain (then chairman of the Young Socialists?)... I asked Mr Hain a question, which he declined to answer at that point; then the person next to me asked Mr Hain a question, which he declined to answer at that point; then the next person in the row actually asked Mr Hain why he wasn't willing to answer our questions, and didn't get much of an answer either...
And the chairman of the FCS branch in my college (UCL), whom I met on a number of occasions, was John Whittingdale who's now an MP.
I doubt whether any of them would remember me, but maybe Hain might remember the session as a whole.

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"This was willed where what is willed... can get rather silly."

Skiffle and I have also met Steven Pacey, but failed to snog him! He's quite charming, and extraordinarily well-educated and literate - much nicer than the character he played. I never liked Tarrant.

I've met several of the stars of B7, in fact. Paul Darrow (Avon) I know quite well, but not as well as I know his wife Janet, who's a long-standing penfriend of mine - I finally met her in person in March. I've met Gareth Thomas (Blake) twice, but he didn't remember me from the first time so I don't suppose he'll remember me from the second time! I've also met Jan Chappell (Cally) very briefly, and had a couple of long conversations with Scott Fredericks, who did a guest appearance as Carnell and is now reprising that in my friend Alan's "Kaldor City" CD series. I think I am a little in love with Scott Fredericks. After Skiffle told him about the nine westerns she had in print, he turned to me and asked, "So what do you write, then?" I was taken aback, and asked how he knew I was a writer, since I hadn't mentioned it. "It's the way you talk," he explained. Then he stole the show at the cabaret by reciting Yeats... ah, delicious memories!

I've actually met all the actors in "Kaldor City", but apart from those already mentioned (Paul and Scott) none of them is particularly famous apart from Russell Hunter, another thoroughly engaging old chap. He's another one I should like for an uncle (I've said that about Paul Darrow since I first met him).

Oh, yes, and my friend Alan isn't famous yet, but he will be. You heard it here first! :-)



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

I once met Margaret Beckett, she was doing one of those 'Visit to a training centre for the unemployed in a deprived urban area' things; I was just trying to get through a graphic design course. She had a very limp handshake btw.

I've also hit Chris Rea with a rucksack, not on purpose! I banged into him while we were queuing up to sign driver release forms at Brands Hatch, (he was there to drive his Caterham, we were there to test drive a bike engined version of said car). He was very nice about it. Gary Numan and his wife were there to do a test drive as well, but he looked a bit grumpy so I didn't say hello or anything.

Sarah - <going green> You've met Paul Darrow! I've admired him for years, and had a crush on him in the Blake's 7 days. I know that he does voiceover work, was most impressed to find his vocal talent on a PS2 game called 'Primal' I've played recently.



Post Edited (06-04-03 19:52)

My friend Chuck was bumped up to first class while coming home from a business trip to California. An attractive blonde sat next to him, and he said hello, asked her if she was going to Detroit for business or pleasure, and what she did for a living (she said she was in entertainment) and so on. He spent most of the trip playing games on his laptop computer, and asked her to watch it for him while he went to the restroom. As they were deplaning, he noticed she had a bit of fluff stuck to her pants, told her so, and removed it, for which she thanked him.

When they got to the gate, a bunch of people crowded around her, including photographers. Chuck, flabbergasted, asked one of the other passengers who she was, and was told that it was Pamela Anderson Lee. He'd had no clue whose bum he was plucking lint off of.

His wife (my best friend) jokes that if he could sit on an airplane for hours obliviously playing video games with Pamela Anderson next to him, she's not to worried about him straying.

(BTW, when his wife and I first met Chuck, he was dating the not yet published Sarah Zettel. In fact, he's a jester in the SCA, and was part of the inspiration for the main character in 'Fool's War'.)

Jon: I'm glad there's someone else with as few famous friends & acquaintances as me!

I got a signature off Neil Hannon (Divine comedy) at a festival once. And I've met Chris Aldridge, who does the news and shipping forecast on Radio 4...

Darius is gonna be at my work on Saturday, though. Maybe I'll meet him and become best buddies, you never know...



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Do something pretty while you can...

Darius? I thought we were talking about *famous* people? Let me know when Deacon Blue drop in, though.



Post Edited (06-04-03 23:19)

- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Deacon Blue? You expect me to recognise Deacon Blue? Ricky Ross, if you're lucky. Probably not, though.



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Do something pretty while you can...

'Course you should recognise Deacon Blue ... Dougie Vipond does the Holiday show, and Lorraine was in Taggart ..... and you'd always know Ricky. He'd be the one with his eyes fixed to the mirror.



- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Ooh, forgot that Dougie Vipond used to be in Deacon Blue. He wandered through the tea bar the other week when I was there. Unfortunately I had my back to him - by the time I turned round I just saw *his* back disappearing through the door.



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Do something pretty while you can...

Belochka - Paul did some ridiculous number of different voices (about 50, I think) for a computer game called "The Eye" (he also wrote the companion book, of which I have a signed copy - considering Paul is such a cheerful chap, the book is quite startlingly depressing!). However, he confesses himself unable to do a Geordie accent, so I feel ridiculously pleased with myself because I can! The fact that I can't do the rest of his huge vocal repertoire is neither here nor there... ;-)

If you're interested in keeping up with what he's doing these days, you can find his fan club at www.avon-paul-darrow.co.uk. It's got some quite spiffy pictures, too. You may also be interested in checking out his performance as the enigmatic Kaston Iago in my friend Alan's "Kaldor City" series (which is quite startlingly good, and I'm not just saying that because Alan's a good friend!) - find it at www.kaldorcity.com.



..........................................................................................

That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Magda,

Does your friend Chuck know Don Woods? (Another SCA jester, and the co-author with Will Crowther of the original Adventure program that was the inspiration for Zork.)

[www.uwec.edu]
[www.gamespy.com]
[www.wikipedia.org]

I know Silicon Valley is a long way from Michigan, but you did mention Chuck taking a business trip to California, so I figured maybe he attended some Bay Area SCA gatherings too. (I'm not in SCA, just have some friends who are, including Don and his wife Sheryl.)

Don was also the dungeon master of a play-by-mail AD&D game that ran for about 3 years when we were both working at Xerox back in the mid-eighties. My character was a half-elf druid named Calendwen. (Non-humans can't ordinarily be druids, but she had a back story to explain it.)

I've been to a White House Christmas Party...very lovely it was! I've been in the Oval Office and into the Old Executive Office building a few times. My cab cut off George Senior's motorcade...that was cool...and I've met a lot of the Washington muckety mucks...

I even got to sit in the President's box at the Kennedy Center and sat in his chair, complete with panic button by my foot. Cool...the Presidential champagne sucked though...too bitter.

(the perks of being friends and roomies with a White House intern and the teleprompter operator from the communications office at the White House LOL)

Plus, Tim Curry sat in my lap...well fell into it really and kissed me on the cheek.

I showed Brenda Vaccaro around the Corcoran Gallery of Art...and I've met many others too...

I'm not terribly star struck by anyone generally, but I have to admit, I was nervous to meet Jasper...

Wow, kissed by Tim Curry. I'm impressed. What year was that?

Back in the late seventies I was a regular Frankie fan. I sewed myself a Columbia costume, and I still have every word from the beginning of the floor show to the end of the movie memorized. And in 1979 I put together a lyrics collection (now you can buy them, but you couldn't then) in the format of a technical report, labelled "Voyeuristic Programming Project Memo-VPP-79-1" (a takeoff on Stanford's Heuristic Programming Project), with a blurb at the bottom of the title page "This research was supported by the Altered Research Projects Agency of the Department of Decadence, under ARPA Order No. 1183. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of any agency of the Transylvanian Government."

I stopped going when the crowds got younger and rowdier and just randomly loud and crude instead of creative.

No idea if Chuck knows Don Woods or not. And he does know him, it's probably by a different name (such is the SCA). If Don knows Chuck, it would likely be by the name "Midair". (FWIW, Midair is pretty well known in the SCA, being a member of the Order of the Pelican, having been nominated for the BOD, and currently serving as Kingdom Exchequer for the Midrealm).

I met the Bishop of Norwich (or at least the one at the time) when he came to open the new block of our junior school in 1978. He balanced his crook on his nose.

In the music world, I've met Iron Maiden (c 1983-7) and was backstage at one of their gigs. Met Marillion 1983 and also 10cc. Last year I got the autographs of Paul Jones, Mike d'Abo, Tom McGuinness, Colin Blunstone. Long John Baldry and Chris Farlowe (members of Manfred Man, Mcguinness Flint, the Zombies and other great 60's R&B acts). It was one of the best gigs I've ever been to.

I've also met William G Stewart (host of 15-1) and Bob Monkhouse.