My claim to fame...

[the_lone_wolf]

Just found out my mum went to school with a guy called John Zanotti, and also went out on the back of a bike with him several times

that is all...

:D

[tinpants]

er..... and???:confused:

[Wideboy]

i take it hes a old school racer?

[the_lone_wolf]

did i mention this guy had a son called Aaron?

:confused:

[rigor]

Ahh, OK, makes a bit more sense now :)

Anyway, since you started a thread on the subject ....

I sat on Ayrton Senna's shoulders as a kid. :smt045
It was back in the late 70's when he was racing FF2000 over here against my old man.

[tinpants]

No. It may have helped. :rolleyes:

[the_lone_wolf]

i didn't think it was that obscure:rolleyes:

there can't be that many kids named after a washing machine:p

[Wideboy]

hahaha

[Keith1983]

I got pushed over by Nigel Mansel at an airport about 14 years ago. Bully. No wonder the big girl likes 4 wheels.

[the_lone_wolf]

oh yes, my other claims:

i once met boris johnson in roma airport baggage collection, some say i was the one that convinced him to run for mayor (only one of the above is true)

i also met richard attenbourgh (sp?), the actor and brother of david, on an isle of wight ferry

:D

[Wideboy]

i saw martin clunes with a lady friend in Cornwall awhile ago cant remember where i was though

trying to think of more:smt017

[Biker Biggles]

Lloyd George knew my father
Sing along now
Father knew Lloyd George.

:smt034:smt034:smt034

[Wideboy]

wtf? before my time?:D

[Jabba]

I met George Best once :D

I also met Michael Bentine on a train going to Buxton from Manchester Piccadilly.

"It's Potty Time!"

[tigersaw]

My mum used to live next door to highgrove house in Tetbury. I met the princes several times.
Davey Jones (monkees) trod on my foot in Forest Row where he once lived.
I had a pop star as a neighbour. (Nick van Ede)
I've been on the big breakfast. (and you do get a breakfast too)

[Richie]

David Bailey told me to Fook off once... 'cos I was spoiling his shoot as he was taking a photo for the film Revolution back in 1985.
then Just after I had Lunch with
Al Pacino, Nastassja Kinski, Dexter flecture, and Annie Lennox
story was this....
As a little kid fell into The Great River Ouse.. running though King's Lynn.. I just jumped in to get him out, then the next thing it was rush rush rush to hopsital for tetness jabs...
in thanks they let me have evening dinner with the stars...
ps... Dexter was a youngish boy at the time and was a total BRILLL person to know.

my wages were £25 a day dry... £30 a day wet... I was moist most days...better than YTS...

[hovis]

i once shared a lift with Michaela Strachan in the millenium stadium as we left the lift, my mates comment was.....


"oi michaela........ cracking @rse"

[Ol Boc]

I knew a guy, who knew a guy, who knew Peter Henry.

How cool is that?

[tigersaw]

We gave Micheal Elphick (Boon) a lift home from a party, we had to stop so he could be sick.

[northwind]

My grandad was one of the inventers of the jaffa cake, along with the actor Ian Richardson's dad. (my grandma used to babysit him, no doubt where he got the inspiration for Francis Urquhart) Jaffa blood flows in these veins.

Obviously, I've never done anything interesting myself :) Though I once more or less carried Bob Monkhouse up a flight of stairs, and some blame me for the suicide of the drummer from Feeder. That's not entirely true though.

[Razor]

I was on Ch4 and was photographed for Marie Claire magazine, all when I was skinny and looked a lot better than I do now. Sometimes it's cool being a freak...

[Ratty]

I had a pee and a chat with Barry Sheene under the stands (loos were rammed) at Silverstone after Alan Carter had just crashed out of the lead of the 250 GP in the rain on the last lap in 86. Top bloke.

[therealvw]

My mum has apicture of her sat with Carl Fogarty in the early 80's. Some restaurant in Blackburn I think.

[gettin2dizzy]

I helped Dot Cotton to the toilet because she was trashed! (in the reform club - oh yes ;) )

[Pedro68]

I've appeared on the Granada Weather with Fred.
I met Steve Heighway when he came to our school to give out some tickets to his testimonial match.
I've served Jan Molby (white wine & soda), and "Mick from Brookside" when I used to work in a pub.
But probably the best (in a sad, computer geeky sort of way) is that Matthew Smith went to my school. For those that don't know ... Matthew Smith was the creator of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. Anyone remember Manic Miner? and the cavern called "Doc Jones' Math Room"? With a big fat, orange, bespectacled "monster" bouncing up and down the screen? That was my maths teacher! A lot of the in-game characters were based on teachers at the school at the time.
Also, Mike Singleton (and some of his programmer mates) used to regularly drink in the pub I worked in too. Mike was responsible for Spectrum titles such as "Lords of Midnight" and "Doomsdark's Revenge".
And finally, a guy (Clem Pryke) in my class at school wrote and had published a Spectrum game called Quackshot.
Not exactly famous, but these people were "gaming Gods" back in the Spectrum era of computing :)

[MiniMatt]

Seeing as we have something of an F1 theme going on, I'll share mine. I warn you, it's a bit naff :D

:drumroll:
I once got mistaken for Jacques Villeneuve :D I was in a coffeshop. In Amsterdam. The person who mistook me (and the small crowd that gathered asking for autographs) were a little bit worse for wear :D

Non F1 related claim to almost fame: My mum's friend got Grotbags the witch (off the Rod Hull Pink Windmill Show) to say to the camera (on live TV) "I hate kids, especially you Gareth" (Gareth being my little brother - he fell off his seat with terror and had nightmares for, oooh, about three years following).

EDIT: Oooh, thought of another one. I went to school (and played football with) - Vance Warner. Now Vance Warner was the best footballer in our school by far, by miles. He got into Nottm Forest reserves briefly then had a largely undistinguished career with footballing giants such as Grimsby and Rotherham. Goes to show just how good the top flight players are really as he was godlike at our school, yet professionally that was only league two level.

EDIT 2: Pedro's winning in my book :D Bow down to Manic Miner & Lords of Midnight :D

[hovis]

i have meet stretchie:smt103

[Pedro68]

I once got mistaken for Jacques Villeneuve :D

A mate of mine when I was at uni in Liverpool (well it was actually Liverpool Polytechnic back then :oops:) got mistaken for John Barnes, whilst we were at Anfield queueing for tickets, when we should have been in a lecture :D

EDIT 2: Pedro's winning in my book :D Bow down to Manic Miner & Lords of Midnight :D
The penguins in Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy were a direct skit at our deputy headmaster ... one Mr Scudamore ... who walked with a very pronounced limp and whose nickname (obviously not uttered out loud) was "Penguin" (interesting/useless speccy gaming fact of the day! LOL)

EDIT: Oh, and one of my best mates back in those days was a guy called Mike Best, who was "on the books" at Crewe, but had his footballing career sadly cut short by a double leg break :( but when he WAS fit, I remember having a "kick around" in the local park with him and Derek Mountfield (ex-Everton player).

EDIT2: John Weller (Paul Wellers dad) squeezed between me and my mates girlfriend at a Style Council gig at The Royal Court. She didn't have a clue who he was and said, rather indignantly, "who the hell does he think he is?" ... my mate just rolled his eyes and said, "that's Paul Weller's dad". "Paul who?" she said PMSL ... me and my mate just looked at her in disbelief and both turned to her and said, "that guy up on stage now?!". All of a sudden she was "thrilled" LOL

Ahhh, those were the days :cool:

[Swiss]

I met and got Eddy Grants sig on the ferry from Dover to Calais.
I have met several of the Bond actors including Sean Connery, Rodger Moore and Pierce Brosnan, I almost most called Sean Mr Bond by mistake!

Trecale once dared me to ask James Toseland to "Sign my tits" but I wimped out.

There are many more but I would feel that it be wrong of me to continue. ;)

[plowsie]

i have meet stretchie:smt103
+1

My gramps has met Frankie Chilli

I've met the wolf off gladiators :D

[Jester666]

My Great Aunts Uncle was a certain Mr P Shaw who invented an idea that has helped millions of road users.

No prize is offered but what was his invention?

[Pedro68]

Another one ... a guy I used to work with "appeared" in First Knight (Sean Connery & Richard Gere). His father ran stables in North Wales (where filming took place), and was asked to provide as many horses and riders as possible for one of the scenes. His appearance was a fleeting one, and you can only just make him out, if you pause the movie and look closely LOL

Funniest part about the film is that in one scene a horse is galloping across a field and you can clearly see a telegraph pole on the horizon!

[thor]

I sat next to Michael Palin whilst watching my sister graduate.

[Pedro68]

My Great Aunts Uncle was a certain Mr P Shaw who invented an idea that has helped millions of road users.

No prize is offered but what was his invention?
Mr Percy Shaw? Inventor of the Cat's Eye (and obviously not a biker!) :D

[the_lone_wolf]

My Great Aunts Uncle was a certain Mr P Shaw who invented an idea that has helped millions of road users.

No prize is offered but what was his invention?
i've an inckling it's the cats eye - but i haven't looked it up to confirm...

edit: it's a photo finish;)

[Jester666]

:winner: is Pedro68!!

[sinbad]

Ahh, OK, makes a bit more sense now :)

Anyway, since you started a thread on the subject ....

I sat on Ayrton Senna's shoulders as a kid. :smt045
It was back in the late 70's when he was racing FF2000 over here against my old man.

That's a good one.

[the_lone_wolf]

:winner: is Pedro68!!
nice edit;):p

[SoulKiss]

Johnny "Think of a Number" Ball bought me a pint.

Have drunk fine Single Malt whisky with Michael "Mr Bronson/Admiral Ozzel" Sheard, and appear in his Autobiography, he also introduced Kenny "R2D2" Baker and Peter "Chewbacca" Mayhew to me, and Vixis had a few drinks with Jeremy "The original Boba Fett" Bullock.

My Brother-in-Laws brother did the Intro Font for the Amiga game "Powermonger", and his cousin, Gary Erskine did the cover art for the comic book adaptation of the remake of Lost In Space, as well as a number of covers for Dark Horse comics, including some of the Rogue Squadron one.

#1 claim to fame - Being ME!!!

[SV225]

I met the Castrol Honda riders Aaron Slight etc. whilst wearing my Foggy-Ducati T-shirt :p Got a signed picture of me and my brother with them somewhere.

I also had my name read out and written on screen on TV after winning a CITV competition :cool:

When I was at primary school a rumour started that Oasis were visiting the school in assembly. They did, Oasis is also bible group :(

[Viper]

My Great Aunts Uncle was a certain Mr P Shaw who invented an idea that has helped millions of road users.

No prize is offered but what was his invention?

Mr Percy Shaw? Inventor of the Cat's Eye (and obviously not a biker!) :D

Story goes he saw a cats eyes reflect and thought i know lets ..... bla bla bla....

What if the cat was facing the other way, would he have invented the pencil sharpner !!! :D

[keithd]

bill clinton has met me

[Kinvig]

Story goes he saw a cats eyes reflect and thought i know lets ..... bla bla bla....

What if the cat was facing the other way, would he have invented the pencil sharpner !!! :D

pencil sharpener?

Now that hog roast on Saturday....let me guess, you were using the pig to sharpen your poles?????

[Viper]

pencil sharpener?


Yes... see below

Cats ****
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1958/475051kr3.th.jpg (http://img215.imageshack.us/my.php?image=475051kr3.jpg)

Pencil Sharpner
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4655/cqcaz2wqcgcawgqy61ca6y7si6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

See my point !!

[Jabba]

See my point !!

So far, Viper is winning the "Pun of the Week" competition :rolleyes:

[Viper]

So far, Viper is winning the "Pun of the Week" competition :rolleyes:

I'm Glad you noticed :smt041

[northwind]

Have drunk fine Single Malt whisky with Michael "Mr Bronson/Admiral Ozzel" Sheard,

The hard part's usually getting Michael Sheard to go away though :) They invited him once to Conpulsion in Edinburgh as a guest, he just keeps on turning up and causing trouble ever since :D

[SoulKiss]

The hard part's usually getting Michael Sheard to go away though :) They invited him once to Conpulsion in Edinburgh as a guest, he just keeps on turning up and causing trouble ever since :D

I think that he had a lot of fun in the Con circuit, certainly seemed to be there for the party more than the money - and he never was the worlds greatest actor so........

Shame he dies a few years back, which is, the only thing that I that stopped his attendance

[Viper]

I am Kaiser Soze :D

[northwind]

Shame he dies a few years back, which is, the only thing that I that stopped his attendance

I never knew that :( I stopped going to the cons, it warmed my heart to think that he was off annoying someone else. RIP

[SoulKiss]

I never knew that :( I stopped going to the cons, it warmed my heart to think that he was off annoying someone else. RIP

August 2005 was when he died of cancer.

He once shared a house with Donald Sutherland, and was in just about every British TV series EVER - and had a habit of turning up as Hitler

http://imdb.com/name/nm0790410/

[Razor]

bill clinton has met me

Did he give you one?

[neilfab]

Once shared a packet of toffees with Feargal Sharkey when watching Stiff Little Fingers.

[hovis]

My Great Aunts Uncle was a certain Mr P Shaw who invented an idea that has helped millions of road users.

No prize is offered but what was his invention?

Mr Percy Shaw? Inventor of the Cat's Eye (and obviously not a biker!) :D

yup.......... he was from halifax

[TheDangerousQuietOne]

My parents bought a kitten from John Cleese!

I've met Prince Andrew about 3 times, he's the patron of my old school, RHS. Have also paraded in front of several other members of royalty including Princess Anne, Duke of York and a couple of other random royals that no-one can ever remember!

[Vickster]

oh I love these.

I bumped into Richard Bacon (from Big Breakfast Fame, oh and I think that he got sacked from Blue peter for doing coke!) at Faro Airport in Portugal on Sunday.

I saw Jo Whiley learning to surf down in Watergate bay, finally I saw "Ugly Bloke" from TFI Friday on the tube on New Years Eve......

[embee]

In 1983 I went to the Salzburgring for a meeting to celebrate 60yrs of the BMW Boxer engine.

I raced a Norton International and "beat" John Surtees.

OK, he lapped me about 3 times but it was "consistency" event so the most consistent lap times got points, I was consistently a lot slower than he was! :smt041

[therealvw]

i have meet stretchie:smt103

As long as you havent MEAT stretchie!!

LOL

ALSO, another Famous one from the 70's.

Remember the series The Comedians. There was a coloured chap on there called Charlie Williams. I was staying at a Scarborough hotel with my parents, I was about 11. We met him in the carpark. He said to me, OOh, you've got freckles. Better be careful they don't spread or you'll end up like me!

LOL

[Captain Nemo]

I shook Ricky Hattons hand in Blackpool last week, he looks much bigger on telly, resisted the urge to crush his fingers.....lol

met Tony Christie ( pre Peter Kay) whilst working at his sisters pub in Doncaster, he was a to55er..

saw Mick Hucknall playing up at manchester aiport because he had to stand in the que with normal people to check his cases in.

Commedian Billy Pearce lives in my Vilage, as does the bald one from the grumbleweeds. both are as unfunny in reall life as on stage.

and Chris Kimara lives here too, but amazingley house prices havent suffered.

[Bluewolf]

Sat on Steve Harleys knee in my neighbours house while he played "Come Up And See Me" (I was four btw ;) :lol: )

Got drunk with various bands at european festivals (Dark Funeral, Thyrfyng, Mystic Circle, Marduk, Gorgoroth, Primordial etc, etc). Funnily enough we had Bruce Dickinson dedicate "The Clansman" to us at one of them since we were all down the front waving a Saltire about like mad things.:drink:

Resisted the temptation nearly every day to stick my foot out and trip Scott Harrison up when he jogged past the house.

Shared the plane home from Cape Town with Suzi Perry a few years back (didn't want to bother her for an autograph; jetlag and all that)

Refused to let Wet Wet Wet backstage since they weren't wearing their passes and I had no idea who they were. :oops:

Got loads of autographs at gigs including Carcass, Clawfinger, Entombed, Sick Of It All, Pitchshifter, etc, etc, boring details.....:smt015

Bumped into Sepultura in the street and took them on a guided tour of Glasgow. Max Cavalera even bought a biker jacket! \\:D/

My wee auntie in Larne used to have Fyfe Ewing from Therapy? do her shopping for her ("he's such a lovely boy...") and also knows Jonathan Rea (also a "lovely boy" apparently :lol:)

[cuffy]

Whilst in my yoof, there was a bloke who used to be a roadie for various groups, one night there was a knock on my door and a group of unsavoury looking charchters were stood there asking where Ian Smith lived, i showed them and went back in doors.
Half hour later this Ian fella knocked on my door and said "Do you know who that was knocking on your door"
"Not a clue" was my reply,

As it happened it was The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwall and cronies, i was then invited to go round whilst they had a jamming session, they played, Heroes, Peaches, Golden Brown...was top dollar :cool:

[skint]

I slept with a very famous person, but I won't mention name - I was only about 4 years old mind you :D (they was about same age at the time)

[Ceri JC]

I slept with a very famous person, but I won't mention name - I was only about 4 years old mind you :D

Michael Jackson? (allegedly)

[gettin2dizzy]

I am a desendant of Geroge Stevenson...











...sadly not THE George Stevenson...

[neilfab]

I slept with a very famous person, but I won't mention name - I was only about 4 years old mind you :D (they was about same age at the time)

In the immortal words of Hovis...was it George Best:p:p:p?

[skint]

Michael Jackson? (allegedly)

he he he he he he he he he... Nope! Close, the 'guy' is bent (NO - I'M NOT) but to qualify, it was also with his brother and sister and my sister in total innocence - in Scotland He is Scottish born but most would think he's American. But no more clues!

[keithd]

In the imortal words of Hovis...


:eek:

[the_lone_wolf]

...in Scotland...
that explains it then;):p

[Mogs]

he he he he he he he he he... Nope! Close, the 'guy' is bent (NO - I'M NOT) but to qualify, it was also with his brother and sister and my sister in total innocence - in Scotland He is Scottish born but most would think he's American. But no more clues!

John Barrowman?

[skint]

John Barrowman?
:-#

[Mike2165]

I once put an alarm system in Mark Knopflers garage, didn't meet him though. Met The Human League recording an album, don't know which one. Used to do the security for Natasha (she sang Iko Iko in the 80's but the Belle Stars had the hit!). Also put a security system in the Knave and Fiesta photo studio's, yes the girls were 'working' and yes it took a week longer than it should have!

[neilfab]

Just thought of a couple of others;

Met Robbie Williams in a bar - now theres a surprise - in KAL KAN, Turkey just after he had split up from Take That... he was with his mother??

Accidently sent Ian McCollough flying down a flight of stairs before their gig at Bradford Uni

[rpwoodman]

But probably the best (in a sad, computer geeky sort of way) is that Matthew Smith went to my school.

6031769

[eano2]

so its a bragging contest is it hey ;) I just copied and pasted this off my facebook profile !!
dated miss world Roseanna Davidson, bungee jumped in ayia napa, discovered a massive WWII mine scubadiving in crete, swam wit man-eating sharks, survived two thailand fullmoon parties, downed a whole bottle of quantro without pukin, ate 50 harboiled eggs in one sittin (with pukin!), converted a hot lesbian for the good of mankind, I can understand Russian writing can u? Full spread photo of me in the Irish Independent and Irish Star wit Ms.Cork sexy!, ate crickets and cockroaches in Bangkok!

Most recently and probably the only feat that applies to this thread in any way shape or form is I chatted away to Frank Carson the Northern Irish comedian who was staying in the cabin next to mine when I was on my way back from england on the ferry after picking up my SV. Top bloke ridiculously funny, "It's the way I tell them, it's a cracker!"

[therealvw]

Allright, then.
I showed Ted Robbins around my sisters house when it was up for sale last year!


TED WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

[hovis]

right then................ we bought the house i now live in from martin thomas about 25 years ago

anybody know who he is?

[tigersaw]

My previous house lay exactly on the meridian.

[Pedro68]

6031769
eh?! wassat then? :confused:

p.s. there are 10 types of people in this world - those that understand binary, and those that don't ;-)

[plowsie]

Hovis's avatar reminded me i served Jade Goody but better i served her bf with her Ryan Amoo, cobblers legend :D

[the_lone_wolf]

Hovis's avatar reminded me i served Jade Goody...
did she dance back?

http://www.roflcat.com/images/cats/served.jpg

[rpwoodman]

eh?! wassat then? :confused:

p.s. there are 10 types of people in this world - those that understand binary, and those that don't ;-)

It was the code you could enter into Manic Miner to allow you to go to any screen/level you wanted. 61 was the first screen I think, can't remember the other 19.
I know, I know, I should have cleared up the clutter in my brain for more useful things... :-)

[Pedro68]

It was the code you could enter into Manic Miner to allow you to go to any screen/level you wanted. 61 was the first screen I think, can't remember the other 19.
I know, I know, I should have cleared up the clutter in my brain for more useful things... :-)
Aha!! I never used that one ... although I did have a "poke" for infinite lives ;-)
At the risk of opening myself up for ridicule ... without cheating, I managed to complete 52 caverns (looped the whole game 2.5 times) of Manic Miner before I had to die (cos my mum called me for tea! PMSL).

I also taught myself ZX Basic, BBC Basic, Z80 machine language, and actually managed to discover a 'poke' for infinite lives on a game called "Chronos", but somebody beat me to it (found it in that month's Crash magazine). I wrote a program (on an Acorn Electron) to calculate pricing for a "picture framing" shop (ran by my mates dad, who seemed to spend more time lauding the "computer pricing system" than he did trying to sell his framing services!), and was asked by EuroMouldings (who supplied framing wood across Europe) to convert the program to several other home computer formats and they would "publish" the software for other picture framing stores. I declined their offer.

Oh and I also used to rewrite the loading programs for a few games to get them to load at speeds of upto 5 times quicker than the usual loading programs ;-) It was dead-easy actually ... just disassemble the code, find the bit that sets the baud-rate to load from tape, increase it, reassemble the code, save it. Job done ;-)

Happy memories :) Jet Set Willy's colour-code sheet and Elite's "Lenslock" - both poor attempts at trying to prevent software piracy :rolleyes:

Colour-clash, and having to write software that would fit into ~48K of memory :smt045 Me and a m8 started to write a game about racing around the streets in a sports car dealing with drug dealings (in a vigilante kind of way) and then up cropped Lotus Esprit (b*gger! had to scrap that idea, and we never came up with another one after that).

Using all manner of implements to try and improve laptimes on DT's Decathlon (golf-balls, batterys) ... caused many a keyboard to malfunction (so I learnt to replace the keyboard membrane myself ;-) LOL

Oops, I appear to have "lost the thread" being that I have been meandering down the road that represented my yoof :D

[rpwoodman]

I met the guy (Bill Witt) who wrote Battlezone for the Speccy. Really nice chap. He was challenged to write Battlezone in Java within 24 hours, which he did, tho (I think) took about 30 hours. It's on the web somewhere.
And I met Steve Vickers at a computer show at the NEC. I think he was promoting the Jupiter Ace at the time. I doubt he remembers me... :-)

My dad was thanked in a Nobel prize acceptance speech. But that's probably one step removed from all the other claims here. :D

[Pedro68]

I met the guy (Bill Witt) who wrote Battlezone for the Speccy. Really nice chap. He was challenged to write Battlezone in Java within 24 hours, which he did, tho (I think) took about 30 hours. It's on the web somewhere.
Just found it ;-)
http://www.cyberdyne-systems.co.uk/bz/bzsplash.html