Have you ever had a meal or drink when a personality is also in the building

Paul Young the singer lives round the corner from us and is often in the same aisle as me in our local Sainsbury’s. Everyone round here is used to him and just concentrate on their shopping.

We travelled to Tenerife on the same flight as Ludovic Kennedy and happened to be staying at the same small hotel. He sat on his balcony in the mornings writing his latest book, tap tapping away on his old typewriter and joined us in the afternoons by the pool and most evenings we met up for dinner. He was quite elderly and a bit infirm and glad of some company and we enjoyed hearing about his life as a broadcaster, journalist & campaigner. He only mentioned his wife (Moira Shearer) a couple of times; she was in a nursing home by then
Sat next to Andrew Marr & his wife at a restaurant in Edinburgh during the Festival. He’s much smaller than I’d imagined.

We went to a Chinese restaurant in ponteland and Declan Donnelly walked in he was ushered to a table in the corner with family and he wasn’t disturbed at all.

Robert Graves in the Lamb and Flag when he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford; Richard Harris at the Cartwright Arms, Aynho, near Banbury, one Boxing Day; Judi Dench and daughter Finty Williams in a shop in Highgate; Juliet Bravo star Stephanie Turner in a shop in Mortlake; former England scrum-half Nigel Starmer-Smith next to me at a urinal in Twickenham; Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson in a similar situation at Lord’s.

b1zzle

Many years ago (c1971) on my honeymoon in a hotel in Parracombe, North Devon we dined with Cliff Michelmore and his wife and Dave Allen and his wife!

I was watching Cliff Michelmore on that programme about the big freeze and I couldn’t take my eyes off his comb over. Of course, more men had comb overs back then. I wondered what happened when he was out in the wind.

My godfather had taken me to dinner at a Berni Inn just off Victoria St as a treat when I was visiting London, aged perhaps 17 or 18
Suddenly he leaned across and in a stage whisper said “Don’t turn round but that man who has just come in, is on Crackerjack !”
I was much too sophisticated (?) to have no idea what or who he was talking about.

Oh and not quite the same thing , Katie Boyle complimented me on my highlights in a “posh” Mayfair hairdresser.
I had saved for months to afford to go there and it occurred to me that the likes of Katie Boyle was probably in there three times a week.

It sounded a bit niche, eating, drinking or at a hotel, but it sparked off some memories. Jason Donovan in a coffee shop when he was appearing in Leeds. Charlie from Casualty in a cafe in Haworth. Hulk Hogan filming with a group of children on the beach in Clearwater while we ate on our hotel terrace - he asked our children to join them, but they wouldn’t be persuaded. Footballer Gary McAllister at a Leeds restaurant - DSIL got chatting to him at the urinal. Gary Lineker walked past us while we had our breakfast in Belfast - he was smiling politely but didn’t speak to anyone. I had the next room to Justin Timberlake’s suite at the Lowry in Manchester - he had bodyguards by his door and patrolling the wharf outside. A member of Whitesnake who I told off for pushing in front of me at a Nottingham bar - he apologised very politely (I’d no idea who he was till afterwards). And lovely Marc Bolan who bought me a cider and Cherry B during the interval of a Tyrannosaurus Rex gig fifty years ago.

Rowan Atkinson sitting at the same long table in a Greek restaurant in Camden (1970s)

Andrew Lloyd Webber at a wine bar in Woodbridge on the evening of his marriage with his new wife and his children from an earlier marriage. The couple were married in a church in a nearby village where her parents lived. They flew by helicopter to somewhere else for the reception and then came back. I was miffed because the wine bar didn't usually take children and I'd wanted to take some friends with their children. But, I wasn't famous.

Tea with John Paul Getty 11 at his house on Chelsea Embankment.

Vladek Sheybal staying at the same hotel as near Viareggio. Small with bulging eyes, played villains in several spy dramas.

Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull arriving at a cinema where I worked just after the house lights had gone down.

Ray Cooper (percussionist to Elton John, Clapton, George Harrison and others at a party)

Mick and Bianca sitting behind us watching London Contemporary Dance Theatre at The Place.

Billy Connolly and Pamela Stephenson in a pub in Putney. She was still married to Nicholas Ball at the time.

Kathleen Byron sitting in the same row as us at the NFT watching Black Narcissus (she was the baddy)

My OH was late for lunch with friends at La Gioconda in Soho and had to share a table with 2 girls - Jackie de Shannon and Dionne Warwick

Evening dinner with Sir Patrick Moore. More than once!

Latched on to wrap up party with Robert Powell in Oxford (Jude) as was friendly with set designer. The actors themselves not letting their hair down, still talking shop?. Coffee with Ian McKellen in my teens as going out with stage manager.
Drinks with flirty Prince Andrew at husband’s club. Also drinks and meal (I sat next to his secretary) with Prince Edward (lovely string quartet no one took any notice of) Regimental tea with the Queen (at the other end of the marquee) in Edinburgh. Presented to Princess Anne after singing in Proms night. She threw her bouquet on stage to me!

Salvador Dali... in 1972 having lunch in a small restaurant in Cadaques in walked SD - he sat at the next table to us and was friendly and signed a postcard for our son. Stood behind Dennis Thatcher in Bahrain Airport waiting for a flight to Qatar- he was on a Trade mission to Qatar. I was in a group of 20 ladies and we had been Christmas shopping in Bahrain and we were all 'smuggling' pork joints for our Christmas dinners. Had afternoon tea with Sh.Hamad of Bahrain on his beach.
Sat behind Cherie Blair on a flight.
Stood next to Mick Jagger in the Marriot Hotel in Grosvenor Sqare. Had breakfast with Prince Andrew (along with 20 odd other folk - I should add!!).) at the Ritz Hotel in Bahrain when I was working there and belonged to the British /Bahrain Trade Association. He was very knowledgable and picked up a lot of trade for the UK. Was waved at by Prince Charles and Diana. Sat opposite Jasper Carrot on a flight out of Dubai. Stayed at the same hotel in Sydney as Matt Damon and saw him in the restaurant - I had no idea who he was at the time.
Saw Cliff Richard in a Hotel in Bahrain.

My mum and sisters, by virtue of their jobs (mum - waitress, sisters - air crew) have met so many famous people that I can't even begin to compete with their tales, but I have a few of my own.

In my thirties I often did weekend/evening waitressing jobs with my mum and if there was a job I thought might be interesting I sometimes used to take a day's leave from work; so yes, I've been in a banqueting suite/marquee/football stadium/grand house etc. and mixed with a few famous people. At one event I served Alan Whittaker and Barbara Cartland; it was a Moët & Chandon Champagne reception at Knebworth. Although it was a lunch Barbara Cartland swept in wearing a full length cerise pink chiffon ball gown. It was about 1988/9 so she was in her late eighties and to say she was imperious would be an understatement. She was obviously used to having lackeys to do her bidding. At the same event I also served one of the senior (fringe) royals and I've never forgotten how thoughtful and kind she was to me.

Was at a cocktail reception in London in 2012, where there were quite unexpectedly a lot of famous faces. Gok Wan, Miranda Hart, Ian Hislop, Caitlin Moran, Clare Balding. Gok was the only friendly one.

Other celeb shoulder rubbing:

*I was nanny to Sienna Miller. Her last name had never occurred to me, until I saw something in the media about her and her sister Savanagh in the noughties and the penny dropped that I had been her nanny in the 1980s. She was a sweet toddler.

*I was once in a nightclub where Sandi Tosvig was present.

*But the funniest was when I was an administrator in a private hospital where Lemmy from Motörhead was staying/detoxing. He would wander round in baggy, dirty grey underpants, had a locked box of 'private' drugs and never washed. When he had to go to the local NHS hospital for scans, he was greeted by gasps of wonder by fans of death metal.

Oh yes, forgot! At a wedding reception with Mick Jaggar and Koo Stark.

Taught the granddaughter of Joan Miro.

I stood next to Sandie Toksvig in a queue in a wine shop near Leicester Square.
I sat back to back with Frank Bough in a central London restaurant and could hear everything he was saying.
Remember Ross King? He was a guest at a hotel on the Isles of Scilly where I was working - in the bar-, in the nineties.
He was very pleasant.
I watched Anne Widdicombe browsing curtains at a local shop near where I live in Devon. She lives not far from me.

Jamie Oliver and his family at his Dad's pub in Clavering (what a lovely family) Terry Waite in the supermarket (a gentle giant of a man) Eric Bibb R&B singer at the theatre (a charming man) Ruby Turner having a meal in a pub (down to earth definitely not a Diva)

I’ve eaten at the next table to both Lionel Blair and Jimmy Osmond (on different occasions).

We once met snooker referee, Len Ganley in a Thai restaurant; my then boyfriend recognised him and said hello. He (Len) asked whether our tables could be pushed together and we had a great evening chatting with him and his partner. At the end of the night, as we discussed which direction we were all going in, we realised we lived on the same street!

No - but many moons ago, I used to live next door to Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five!

Van Morrison in a cafe in Holywood NI. I would love to have said hello but I don't think he would appreciate it.

I like the Tom Jones story. They sound like a lovely family.

I must be very old as I don't recognise the names of many of the 'famous' folk mentioned in this thread!

I'll have to change my name.

We were once eating in Joe Allen’s in Covent Garden and Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) was at the next table. He smiled at me.

We were in the queue in Gare du Nord, waiting to get on the Eurostar and Leonardo Di Caprio was in front of me, with his children (they were youngish, then). I wouldn’t have noticed him except that he had beautiful Louis Vuitton luggage!
We were travelling in Premier class and he went into Business Class, where the seats cost about 4 times more than Premiere.
His luggage was stunning !