Who's the most famous person you've met, and what were they like?

I was about 10 years old when Our Queen Elizabeth not only visited my school in the 1960's, but visited my classroom too.
My Teacher bowed to her, and we the children, bowed and curtsied to her. I remember thinking that she was a lot shorter than I expected her to be. I thought that the Queen was a lot taller. We were so proud though and felt so privileged to be chosen for this very special visit.

Bellanonna , you must live near me. A good friend of mine lives next door to Brian Murphy and she would agree he is a charming, unassuming man and also a good neighbour.

I lived in Sale. Is that the shop you remember? I bunked off school to go to the shop the day it opened.

Yes, Granmags!

George often used to hang around the outside of the shop, hoping to attract the girls, I think, as the shop was on the main road, a bit away from the other shops.

Nina the nana, I have met Kriss Akabussi many times. He's been to our house ( when I still lived with my ex) and we've been to his. This is because my ex did a lot of work for Kriss' charity in Nigeria. He is a nice chap but very loud!
My ex still sees him.

Met Rudolf Nureyev twice but that was just stage door autograph stuff.

I grew up in central London and Danny La Rue lived in our area. I used to see him when shopping, when he had dark hair, very handsome. My mother knew him and took me to see him in pantomime. We went backstage afterwards and he took falsies out of his costume (he was playing an ugly sister) and said "what would I do without dunlop") because they were rubber. Also she knew Robert Beatty, film actor, in the fifties, sixties. She took me to see him in a play in Streatham and took me backstage. Cliff Richard came to my youth club when I was fourteen. We all stood at end of ping pong table and he had a bat with each of us, then Group leader asked who was a fan of his. I was jumping up and down, so he chose me and a boy to say "thank you for coming here and we hope to see you again". I was mad on Cliff at that time. Georgie Best came into a club in London I was in with friends in the eighties, I spoke to him. He was being hounded by the press at the time! Have seen many well known people in the West End when I was working there, but didnt speak to them.

I shook hands with Charles and Camila at a Garden Party

I always thought her smile was fake when she did Masterchef.

My mum was Martin Clunes' cleaner.
She said he was a lovely man: humble, quite shy, and very kind.
Neil Morrissey, on the other hand, she dismissed as "full of himself".

I was on a fairly small voluntary committee with Carol Vorderman. Just a friendly straightforward person who listened to other people and applied herself to the task in hand. Attractive and charming but not in the least starry or precious. Unlike a computer inventor I met about the same time!

PS reminded by outher posters. Met tony Been, charming, winked at me. Brian rix lived locally saw him in local shops he chatted. Also saw David Essex coming out of my newsagent with his leg in plaster. In the sixties frequented a club The whisky ago go in Wardour Street, Frankie Vaughan would come with his wife and do a turn. Also (famous??) Jimmy Saville lived around the corner in a b and B from my place of residence in the early sixties, and I saw him with his hair half black and half white running up the road when he was late for his stint as a DJ. He also had a motor home parked in the square I lived in and used the red telephone box next door as his phone. He would come into the local cafe "the Green Cafe" which my friends and I would frequent and talk to all of us (teenagers)!!! he had a wallet full of notes and of course we were transfixed!! he would say "good morning" in the evening and "good evening" in the morning" eccentric to say the least. I do know of stuff I have been told by a friend which links in to recent news of his behaviour, but I knew nothing of it at the time.

Declan McManus aka Elvis Costello was in my class at school. He was always nice and polite and perhaps acted more mature than the average boy in my class. I remember him wearing a bow tie to the school dance and said I was wearing too much makeup once.

DH was working as a minicab driver in the early 70's. Peter Cook, Lulu and Olivia Newton John were regular passengers. He wasn't very taken with Lulu but adored Olivia. She used to send him out to get her fish and chips. He got on well with Peter Cook who wrote him into a sketch he did on Behind The Fridge.He also took Jane Seymour to her audition for James Bond.

I forgot to mention earlier that I was at Art School with Ian Maclagan of the Small Faces. Unfortunately I was besotted with one of his friends at the time so I hardly noticed him.

I met Mike Reid when I worked (very briefly!) as a wine waitress
I had to go backstage to his dressing room, dressed in my short skirt and frilly apron and ask if there was anything I could get for him.
He was quite cheeky, made me a bit uncomfortable, but friendly enough.

Holidaying in Portugal, in the early 80s, with three young children, we met Eamonn Andrews (remember him?) and his wife in a restaurant in Carvoiero(?). We had a conversation about the area and the weather and he spoke to each of the children, individually. Lovely, charming, pleasant man
Then about ten years ago, waiting to go through security at LAX airport, my friend and I found ourselves chatting to Amanda Holden. She wore no makeup, was dressed in a plain shift dress and said she was just as frustrated by the queues as everyone else - but accepted it all as a necessary inconvenience. When we boarded the plane, we turned right and she turned left.

Second hand famous. Richard Burton's brother Graham Jenkins. It was about 1967 when I was working down there with some children in care who were on holiday in Port Talbot.
The council or whatever hosted a tea for them. He was very friendly. He looks/looked? very like his brother but rather less ravaged.

I am finding the "histories" of what the posters have done in their lives to come to encounter these "famous" people is almost as interesting as who they have met.

I sat next to Denise Black (she was Ken Barlow Hairdresser girl friend) she told me That Rita was almost completely bald with wispy hair.We also discussed a famous red haired singer who's statue was recently erected, she was not a very nice person.

Sorry meant to say on a plane from Manchester to London.

Oh, just remembered, I met "sporty spice" when I worked with adults with learning disabilities
She was lovely, actually. Tiny, and very friendly.

Elenkalubleton
You're quite obviously referring to Cilla Black, and I have to tell you that Denise Black's opinion of her could not be more wrong!
Cilla was a truly lovely woman, kind, loyal, considerate, naturally funny, generous to a fault, and had been a friend of my family since the 'Cavern' days.
You quite obviously never met Cilla, or you would have known that Denise Black is way off the mark with her bitchy comment!

I don't suppose knowing Lynda Snell aka actress Carole Boyd when I was at university counts?
No?
Thought not

I can't picture her

DH has a famous relative but we've never met him
I suppose that doesn't count either.

I saw David Dimbleby once and he smiled (kind of)
The Duke of Edinburgh stopped for a chat on a walkabout too
I met Hayley Mills because our sons knew each other.

Tall, auburn hair, stunning when she was young and still vey striking!