I have been, some may say, lucky enough to meet a selection of celebrities over the years and have, for some reason been thinking about those I have met today, so I thought I would share my stories. After all, I have written two quite opinionated blogs so thought a light hearted one would be a welcome relief.
I started work in my first job at Leyton Orient FC and of course, not many Orient players are big super stars but over the years we had a few celebs grace the corridors of old Orient. One of my friends at Leyton Orient was Chris Bart Williams. He was a youth player at the time and full of mischief. He was always stealing my purse and running into the changing rooms with it, which was out of bounds to the likes of sixteen year old me!!!! I was really sad to see him go when he left for Sheffield Wednesday.
Being a West Ham fan, I was ecstatic to see Orient play them and was even happier that I got to meet some of my heros. I spent some time talking to Tim Breaker who was really friendly and polite and then I got to meet my all time hero (of the time) Julian Dicks. He was very much a typical premiership footballer and I was in awe. My future feelings on him, well thats a another story which I may or may not publish at a later date!
Whilst at Leyton Orient, I also got to meet Geroge Best who came in looking a little wobbly! And Rod Stewart also came to a game and was rather worse for wear when he arrived! The nicest of all the football related people I got to meet was by far George Graham who was the then Arsenal manager, he was very chatty and friendly and certainly not above himself! Oh and Glenn Hoddle was told of my little crush on him and when I had to speak to him on the phone, he was very nice to me!!!!
I also worked for The Daily Mirror newspaper for just over a year and in that time, I met quite a few people. I worked briefly with Kate Thornton, who, despite her reputation, was actually always very nice to me. I also worked with Matthew Wright who went on to host his own morning show. Matthew was a really nice guy and was always taking the pee out of me for my taste in music, namely boybands and pop singers. But if it wasn't for Matthew, I would never have got the chance to meet Boyzone! Yes sad but true!
I went along with his assistant Thomas to one of the Boyzone gigs at the Docklands Arena. Before the show, we went backstage and waited to meet and interview the guys. I was there purely in the capacity of 'watcher'. I had no need to be there but I was lucky enough to have nice colleagues who pitied the poor pop star lover!!!!
I enjoyed meeting Boyzone. I found Ronan a very nice guy who I scolded about grinding his teeth. Stephen was rather aloof but it wasn't long after that he 'came out' and my comment to him about him not liking women much probably didn't help the anxiety. Shane was, at that time, in his dark place but he was absolutely stunning and friendly, although he did hit me over the head with a cuddly snake! Keith was hilarious, a real funny man who took great delight in teasing me about my sudden and instant crush on Mikey. A crush that lasted about 15 years!!!!! Mikey was very friendly and we hit if off with a lot of fun banter. Oh and he did make me give him a hug which was awesome!!!! I never forgot that night and often wonder as I sit in the crowd at concerts and he looks out at the thousands of girls, whether he remembers that night too!!!!!
Before my obsession with Boyzone took hold, I was totally and utterly in adoration of Peter Andre. I bought every magazine he was in, kept every cut out of him and had nice photographers from The Daily Mirror donate photos. I really think for a time that I was his number one fan! On one occasion I was offered the chance to go and meet him after work. I didn't go! Most people would have snapped up the chance but I had worn a really awful un-trendy outfit to work that day and I had the mother of all cold sores on my lip so there was no way I was going to meet my number one idol looking like that. No one could believe it!
Luckily I had the chance to meet him again. I booked the day off work and met up with a colleague who was going to meet him at a hotel in London. The paper had run a competition for someone to meet him and this was the meet. I wasn't the winner but I begged and pleaded and was finally allowed to go along! We met Peter at the hotel and he was just as gorgeous in real life. I am very calm and collected when faced with a celebrity so I didn't show myself up. I just chatted to him and showed him my collection of memorabilia on him which he was really impressed with. He wanted to have it so he could give it to his Mum but I wasn't parting with it. I was somewhat embarrassed when he came across a picture of him with a lady that someone had given to me, as underneath it I had written 'Peters Girlfriend :-(' he did have a giggle at that!!
We then went to Planet Hollywoods and had lunch. I was mortified to be sat opposite him whilst we ate. I hate eating in front of people I don't know at the best of times but to have to eat in front of him was hell on earth. We chatted through lunch and I told him how I drove everyone mad because I was always playing his music, over and over.
When it was time to go, he gave me a hug and a peck and I was on another planet. I went home, got into bed and fell into a dreamland!!!! I would love to say I was just a kid but I was realistically twenty years old! Oh well. One thing I would say about Peter Andre is that he is such a lovely man. What you see is what you get with him and he is genuine and very humble. It saddens me that he has been through so much with Katie Price. There may be two sides to every story but I am pretty good at judging people and he is definitely one of the good guys. It is good to see him looking happy again of late.
So I have been lucky to meet some of my idols/heros. There aren't many more people, I would really like to meet, although I certainly wouldn't turn down lunch, dinner or breakfast with (in no particular order) Amauary Nolasco, Mark Wahlberg, Eminem or Josh Holloway. So if ever they pop to Canvey, I hope they look me up!!!!
Until next time, stay safe.
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