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

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!

Evening dinner with Sir Patrick Moore. More than once!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bill Roach (Ken Barlow) and his family used to dine at the same restaurant as us. Their children were "lively"!

Janet Ellis lived down the road from us so presumably Sophie Ellis Bextor did too but I can't remember them at all.

Not on this thread although it may have won a prize on the other thread!

In the 1960s during the pantomime season, Ken Dodd lived in the flat above ours. Visitors first words at the door were generally “You will never guess who was in the lift with me!” During that time we didn’t see him once. Does not seeing someone count?

Fern Brittan- many times in a little village near Padstow during summer holidays. She used to ride her bike everywhere.

I have seen several personalities over the years.

But the only ones I remember with any clarity are David Dimbleby (eating his lunch) and Frank Gardner (at Heathrow Airport and not a happy chap at that time - for good reason!).

Oh, and Kate Humble dog walking.
Or should I say Teg? She had her own programme on TV.

We saw Brendan O'Carroll (Mrs Brown) having a cuppa at a service station. We parked next to his tour minibus.

I would never even notice.?
Also, there are so many look alikes out there it’s impossible to really know ( without any other evidence).
Our DS used to be stopped many times because ( in his 20’s)he looked like an actor in a popular ‘soap’.

We walked into a local pub many years ago and Michael Bentine was in there having a good laugh with the bar staff. Also seen James Grout locally ( Insp. Morse superior officer).
In a cafe in Bath I saw the Norwegian girl vet who was famous for not being able to inject a kitten ( forgotten her name) with a group of friends.
More recently saw Frances de la Tour at an Italian airport getting very impatient with security.

Oh, I forgot some famous folk on our flights to/from Aberdeen. One time, a familiar face was on the same flight as us, a couple of rows in front. I thought it was someone who worked at the local surgery or chemist shop. It was only when we disembarked and I saw her again, carrying some flowers, that I realised it was the Camilla.

We were also seated two or three rows behind Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie, and their children on another flight. They were very well behaved for young children, as they then were.

Sat in a cafe at Liverpool airport years ago, with jockey Ruby Walsh and his family at the next table. Various other racing celebrities wandering around too. It was the evening after the Grand National. My then boyfriend and l were having a huge row about something trivial!

A long time ago we were on holiday in Ibiza with our 2 sons. We had heard about a little cove that took some finding. It was gorgeous with a little beach shack selling food and drinks. A big private yacht came into the bay. A dingy with 4 men aboard came onto the beach, did a sweep of the bar and beach, spoke into walkie talkies and went back to the yacht. We were agog wondering who was coming to the beach. Would it be a famous rock star or an actor? Same 4 men + 2 others landed and headed to the bar. Sorry to disappoint but we were miffed to find that we didn't have a clue who they were!

A couple of years ago, daughter 3 and I had been to the last show of the Strictly tour, at the O2 arena. We were staying at the O2 International next door to the O2. When we arrived back at the hotel after the show, a gaggle of girls rushed past us and up the stairs, they were some of the professional dancers. Later, in the bar, my daughter said "don`t look now, but Craig Revel Horwood is 2 tables away", of course, I looked! Then as we were leaving the bar, Aljas Skorjanek and his wife Janette Manrara were just arriving, along with a few others from the Strictly crowd. Apparently, they were all staying in the hotel.

We were once sat next to Alan Davies, the comedian, in The Grand Hotel in Brighton and I wanted to say how much I enjoyed his work and how much he made me laugh but he was obviously relaxing after a performance so I resisted. Unfortunately someone who had had a bit too much to drink made a beeline for him, Alan was very gracious and fortunately the chaps other half made apologies and pulled him away.