Yesterday I managed to order a very cute dress/romper suit - in the latest GAP/famous designer collaboration, this time with Diane Von Furstenberg. Tatoum will surely look divine in it - it resembles an elegant classic wrap dress at the front (but concealing shorts underneath), whilst at the back the shorts are on display. It made me wonder why so many people are obsessed with celebrities and celebrity gossip - I don't believe I am obsessed, but I do like flicking through HELLO! magazine and occasionally watching E! to get my celebrity fix. Celebrity worship can sometimes become obsessive; we see injunctions being issued against people in extreme cases, and many people receive therapy as their obsession becomes so intense it takes over their lives. But I, thankfully, am not in that category. Am I?
One of my first encounters of celebrity was meeting Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce (of George and Mildred sitcom fame) at Poole Park's Summer Fete - I was thrilled they signed my autograph book, and yes I still have it somewhere. How great it would be to watch that series now! Then I remember caddying at my then Golf Club, Parkstone Golf Club, for Gareth Hunt (born Alan Leonard Hunt, according to Wikipedia), he "starred" in the Nescafe ads with that whole shaking of the hand action to smell the aroma of the beans - too funny. Probably my most awesome caddy experience was for Telly Savalas of Kojak fame - yet he was in demand, so I only caddied 9 holes for him! and no he didn't give me a lollypop.
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| George and Mildred |
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| Ruth Madoc in her glory |
Whilst away for a weekend in Weston-Super-Mare with my parents we were staying in the same hotel as Ruth Madoc from the 1980s comedy Hi-di-Hi! in which her character, Gladys’ catchphrase was “Hi-di-Hi Campers wakey-wakey”, but in the flesh she wore a fur coat and was draped in costume jewellry, and I seem to recall she was exceptionally rude to the reception staff. The only other celeb I can recall seeing as a child was Faroukh Engineer, the former Indian cricketer who was playing in a Dorset Police ProAm cricket match – my dad introduced me and I have his autograph somewhere also. Recently I saw him being interviewed on DSTV here in Kenya - wow so he was/is famous!
Back when I was living in London I managed to spot quite a few - I remember seeing a white Rolls Royce pull up outside of John Lewis on the Kings Road one afternoon and out stepped Matt and Luke Goss of Bros fame - I thought at the time it was a funny store for them to shop at. After taking my parents to see Mama Mia in the West End we sat at a table next to Simon Callow in a coffee shop in Soho - but we were cool and didn't run over asking for his autograph. Boy George used to live in Hampstead, a big house not too far from the house belonging to the dad of my girlfriend G - we often walked past just to see how many groupies were hanging around and one day he was out front signing peoples arms. Another Hampstead sighting was very memorable - one day I had run downstairs to answer the door as they lived on the top two floors of a four-storey enormous house, when I found Glenda Jackson on the doorstep campaigining for the Labour Party, I asked her to wait a moment, shut the door on her! and ran upstairs to get G's dad. One night out with JW and others from the office we went to 70s night in a gay club and saw Marilyn (the male D-lister pop singer, who was born Peter Anthony Robinson - but hey, he WAS famous!). One day on Putney High Street, Johnnie discreetly nudged me as Simon and Jasmine Le Bon passed us walking down the Hill - and she is still incredibly beautiful.
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| Rupert Everett with his crooked smile |
New York is THE place for prime pickings so far as celebs are concerned. And am pleased to say I have spotted some stonkers - One night went with some friends to see Faith Healer starring Ralph Fiennes and whilst waiting for another friend to arrive we waited outside when right next to us a group of friends were also waiting for someone – they were Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson and Michael Broderick and yes… their late arrival was none less than the fabulous Sarah Jessica Parker. We could not believe our luck with the night’s sightings – really quite amazing. On another occasion, I was walking down Fifth Avenue pushing T in his stroller through oodles of people, when the handsome Rupert Everett was walking towards us and he even looked at T and gave that lovely crooked smile he does. He looked so cool in vintage Adidas tracksuit bottoms, white T shirt, an old lived-in denim jacket and converse. Ahhh. Running crosstown one day I passed Keanu Reeves sneaking into the side entrance of Cartier, poor guy had such dreadful acne I wanted to stop and tell him about the Clarins range for problem skin. After work one day we saw Carson Kressley of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame, he was wearing the Ralph Lauren US Open jacket which John has – what good taste I have. After googling him I was shocked that I am a year older than him. Really? He looks much older than me doesn’t he???! Talking of the US Open, we once were seated behind Anna Wintour, a huge tennis fan apparently.
Working at the UN offers many opportunities to see and sometimes to meet celebrities. I had photo ops with Don Cheadle, Ronaldo de Assis, commonly known as Ronaldinho and twice with my BFF the incredible George Clooney.
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| I turned around and told Hariet not to stand on tiptoes - she was blocking the A-lister |
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| And this is the photo which was shown in the press! |
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| On a later occasion, to my amazement he said "Oh I remember you!" |
Not forgetting all the Heads of State, and government and other politicians. It was one of my responsibilities to coordinate the regular Quartet (of Middle East Peace Mediators) Meetings, which was always pretty awesome. The current Special Envoy of the Quartet is Tony Blair, who I saw on many occasions, the US rep is presently Hillary Clinton, who I also saw on a couple of occasions (she has the most translucent skin), Foreign Minister Lavrov representing Russia, SG Ban Ki moon (my old boss) and Baroness Ashton for the EU. Of course Hillary’s predecessor was Condoleezza Rice, and at one of these meetings she was wearing gorgeous skyscraper heels which I guess were new as she couldn’t walk in them and her ankles were bleeding. Unfortunately, she had seen me looking at her feet and I guess I had a strange expression on my face because they looked so painful, I then smiled at her as I stood on the sidelines as someone pulled her chair back from the table and she stepped back whispered to me “Any chance you could find me some band-aids please?” How cool was that?
I think this post must stop now as I perhaps I am obsessed, judging by the number of sightings I recount and I haven't even finished... But enough already. To be continued.
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