What was your “15 minutes of fame”?

Always interested to hear what makes members of the forum famous (or infamous), even if just for 15 minutes.

Personally I’m always proud of the fact that having set up a website in 1994/95, I was interviewed about it on BBC Radio in 1995, as the web was beginning to take off. Back in those days mobile phone coverage wasn’t so good (I had only had mine for a couple of months), so on my way between Edinburgh and Cambridge I had to stop at Peterborough to pre-record the interview from a public phone!

Obviously this thread is just an excuse to boast about my part in web history but I am fascinated to find out about the hidden talents and fame of others on the forum.

Is there something you should be telling us?

Miss World taught me to ice skate.

I’m keen to know more - is it still up? Could you post a link?

I was once in a an advert for BUPA - full page spread in the Times/Torygraph and massive billboards all around Sarf London. Proper full day photo shoot with a stylist and make up lady!

Here is my wife looking at me adoringly at Honor Oak station - and yes we did get out the train specifically to take pics.

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Context

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Did you get free health insurance at least?

I don’t think you would approve - it was a bit religious
It isn’t up any more but parts of my work still live in the Internet Archive (which only started recording sites in 1997). I also have copies of some of the websites on floppy disk.

Sadly it was a condition of the shoot that I was already a BUPA member - which I am on my wife’s work account.

I’m amazed you still have floppy disks!

I was in a ‘band’ at primary school (playing the tambourine for a single assembly). Sadly that was about the height of my music career but my band mate went on to play in front of thousands as the bass guitarist for Robbie Williams!

I once featured in the Economist magazine (back in 2005)

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All I need now is a floppy disk drive to read them.

LOL. A former Miss Canada and 1st runner up to Miss Universe used to be my babysitter.

Sadly I think we were most likely of an age not to appreciate our teacher and babysitter.

I once picked up the Lord Chancellor’s pen for him, when he’d dropped it on the floor.

Beautiful cabbages. Yours?

And as I grew into adulthood I found I didn’t then either.

I used to live next door to a Page 3 model who dated DeNero, also used to spend lots of weekends with another.
Ran a forum which got about 2-3,000 posts a day. Worked with car magazines, arranged a car meet which goes down in police history. Played a part in arranging a dying wish car meet for a brave young lad who was fighting cancer. He never did find out it was all for him. Helped put together a couple of TV documentaries, the back of my head starred in one. Participated in a film shoot on the hallowed Top Gear track aka Dunsfold.

Nothing much else I can think of springs to mind.

Oh, started a very brief website to destroy an online scammed. Hightee Butzlaff. Google her, lol. It temporarily broke my server and went global lol

Ha ha. genuine Lol on that Starman.

Sainsbury’s I never did manage to convince the stylist that buying fresh cabbages and plonking them down looked natural but it was the middle of Feb and there was nothing growing (that looked neat)

Which one are you?

I had resisted Michael. Thank you

I thought it was ZZ Top.

I hope you, Michael and I never go on a beer drinking session. Great minds and all that

Makes hanging out with Sean Paul for the afternoon seem lame now lol
Super cool pic there.

I knocked Richard E. Grant over whilst leaving Browns. He was very nice about it.

I declared rather loudly that Willem de Foe is much shorter than you’d expect send has an extraordinarily large head.

He was standing right behind me.

I think that counts as 15 seconds of infamy.

I asked Mike Tyson to hurry up on the phone (pre mobile phone days in one of the swanky Park Lane hotels). He was quite short but was very polite. I realised my error when his minders smiled at me. He shook my hand though.

You remember how TV chat show host Michael Parkinson got assaulted by Rod Hull and Emu? The same thing happened to me.

Back in the late-1990s, before the launch of the euro, I was chairing a conference on ‘Economic & Monetary Union’ - EMU - and one of the sponsors paid for Rod Hull and his puppet Emu to go around causing mayhem. I got attacked, Parkinson-style, over-acted [not over-reacted - just over-acted] then he went on his merry way and we resumed the conference. Silly, but 5 minutes of fun if not 15 minutes of fame.

I told Gordon Ramsey, to his face, that the meat in his Irish stew was “really fatty and I wouldn’t expect that from a professional chef.”

He responded “it’s NECK OF LAMB. And you don’t know the first thing about meat, you little prick!”

I’d signed up to be in the restaurant audience of the “F-Word” TV show and then got selected as one of five to be on the “tasting panel.” Dermot O’Leary had prepared one dish, and Ramsey the other. We did a blind taste test and gave our feedback. When we all voted for O’Leary’s stew, Ramsey stormed out the kitchen to demand an explanation. I thought “this is my one chance” and gave him the blunt feedback - sadly my comment didn’t make the final cut.

What did make the cut is my dull comment “I like the mint actually” (which friends continue to rib me about years later).

Mrsldrz used to deal with Ramsay quite a bit. He rang her one day, didn’t say who is was and was miffed when she didn’t recognise him and hung up on her. He then rang her back, so she hung up on him. They got on well after that

I once called Boy George “Julian Clarry” at “The Big Breakfast (TV Programme)” first Birthday Party - If looks could kill I would have died on the spot

Many moons ago I used to work in musical theatre but I won’t bore you all - couple of things I done which I took some stick for was dancing in an Always Ultra (sanitary towels) advert but thankfully you didn’t see my face just my body dancing in a leotard & tights & playing a prostitute in Eastenders

I also was on BBC News live being interviewed about sweets, I gave the presenters mega sour sweets at the end & when I got home my Twitter notifications were crazy - I remember FHSoc tweeted Sugar Mountain had brought the BBC News to a halt as the presenters were coughing & choking & I was laughing my head off!

My best friend in the late 80’s early 90’s was Nicola Stapleton who played Mandy in Eastenders at the time so I used to hang out with all that lot then - My best friend now is Donald Waugh who played Snake Eyes in the original Alan Parker film Bugsy Malone.

Back in the day I was also friends with Gary Shail who played Spider in the film Quadrophenia & he was also Metal Micky in the TV series - he was a record producer in the 90’s so we used to hang out at recording studios a lot which was fun & crazy!!!

Go on Ramsey

Oh the stories I could tell

What time do you open tomorrow Pauline? I can introduce you to Charlotte, get my Salted Caramel Ice Cream AND hear your stories!!

I’m open 10 till 6 tomorrow - I’ve not got salted caramel in at the moment so you might have to put up with honeycomb instead - and it’s on me because of the computers you donated for the library

I’m looking forward to meeting Charlotte properly, the shop is pretty busy after School on Fridays, the queue was out the door today so tell her I’m sorry if she had to wait today

I have several A list celebrity stories but I am too much of a gentleman to discuss these in a public forum. I however am willing to open the book (and photo album) for beer. And pizza.

I’ll share some stories too at the next meet up if you can make it Jason, sure I can dig up a few pics too & can’t wait to hear yours - I’ll be interrogating you when you next pop in

I had no idea SE23 was so full of stories! Puts my skirmishes with minor indie bands and comedians to shame.

Please come and share at our next SE23.Life meet up - This should be a fun and interesting night if all can make it

ETA - I may share the most bizarre conversation I probably ever had in the early 90’s on a train journey back to London with Nick Haywood of Haircut 100 & Richard O’Brian of The Rocky Horror Show & The Crystal Maze after doing a kids Saturday morning programme!

I was a bit of a wild child back then but even to me it was very surreal at the time

@anon5422159 can you remind us of the date for the next meet-up x

Sneak peek of a a few holiday pics with mates at the time in Puerto Banus (early 90’s) when I had just finished doing a job abroad.

In the seperate pic I’m the one on the left iwhen I was in my early 20’s

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Please note I didn’t have parental responsibilities at this time

Pauline 18-30s Wright! Brilliant

Looking like Thursday. I’ll put out an announcement soon. Will be the last meetup before I’m off for three months (if there are any burglars watching, I’m afraid we have a friend house sitting, sorry!). So, SE23.life social secretary required!

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I can do that Chris while you are away, just send me links to everyone I need to pass things by & a link where I shoot it out, or pop in to show me how to do this xx

I’m kid free this weekend as they are at Dads which is rare so I can hook up if you want me to help with this anytime before Sunday at 4pm

Oh I’m sure they’re good. My stories tend to centre on 80s popstars and few minor royals.

Very interested in the 80s popstars @starman!

I can’t wait for this xx

Deal. One pop star = one beer each. We’ll be wasted.

Brilliant. I’m still slightly starstruck since I found out Japan used to rehearse in my street (back in the day!)

Done - my uncle George Henry (Mum’s brother) also bought the Hippodrome from Peter Stringfellow & also bought Camden Palace a long time ago & turned into a nightclub - Steve Strange was a bit involved - hence I got VIP treatment too at Limelight on Shaftbury Avenue years later as he had that roo.

I remember an evening when his business partner tried to rip him off & because I was in London I went to check it out with his accountant BOY I walked in told the staff to leave the tills & walk so I could check it for him, my uncle was well and truly ripped off

#AnotherStory

I once followed my hubby to https://thegoldstonewrap.com/tag/fans-united/ and ended up being interviewed for local TV. The funny thing is my aunt who lived in Hastings recognised my voice and then saw me on TV.

Kudos to anyone who can spot the spelling mistake of my maiden name in the article.

Think I might find that Maja xx

Hubby’s 5 min of fame was at the time he was driving programmes on BBC
London 94.9

When his mum visited, I showed her where her son worked, by tuning into lunchtime local news and saying that back of the head with receding hair is your son.

You are not allowed to ask hubby. And kids won’t know!

Cool, that’s fine Maja xx

Once in HS I was on the local news in Maryland for restoration work to the Chesapeake Bay. Made the news again in 2014 when my office building exploded around me.

A couple of years ago I was featured in The Times in an article about lawyers working in the public sector. They chose my photo and story for the main part of it. What made it even better was that it was published on the day my mum was having a major surgery and it really cheered her up before her op!

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Very minor fame but I was quoted in the Times spouting off about allotment waiting lists…

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Last year I won an award in the ReLeaf London Tree Awards, for ‘trees and technology’ - I created an app for measuring tree canopy coverage. Met the deputy mayor of London in City Hall.
Many years ago I met John Prescott in a restaurant in Whitehall, less said about that incident the better really…

I’m in a George Michael video. He was playing a venue in Chicago and Elton John came to sing ‘Don’t let the sun go down on me’ with him. It was filmed for the video. My friend and I were front row center so when the camera pans the audience there we are.

Can’t beat that

I was on prime time BBC1 TV show back in 2005 when I bought a house with a stranger , funnily enough called “Would you Buy a House With a Stranger”

How did it turn out (the buying of the house)?

Unfortunately my two “claims to fame” are now rather taboo. Both centre on my formative years as a choirboy at St Paul’s Cathedral. First, we appeared on Jim’ll Fix It when a kid wrote in asking to sing with the St Paul’s Choir (quite why that would be any child’s ultimate dream I have no idea?!). Second, I sang as the soloist on a (frankly terrible) Children In Need charity single called Ego Sum Pauper by none other than Rolf Harris. I still have the signed copy of the single that he sent to me complete with my own personal Rolf-a-roo.

Obviously what were once claims to fame are now rather depressing anecdotes that I don’t take any great pride in.

Hi, Really good thanks. I bought the other person out after a year and it’s been rented out ever since. Best thing I ever did., was a really affordable way to get onto the property ladder.

I always wanted to go on Jim will fix it!

Check out #FHFW for Donald Waugh!

Snake Eyes in the original Bugsy Malone film by Alan Parker

Invite him to the forum and he can tell us all about it himself, P!

Sure will after #FHFW we are busy bees right now xx

Oh he was also Hughsy in the original “Grange Hill” TV show & in the original cast of “Cats” by Andrew Lloyd Webber

I’ll get him to post when he comes for dinner on Monday

@Anotherjohn knows him aswell

@Anotherjohn your pic is cracking me up Mr are you the Forest Hill Gorilla xxx