I’ve been compiling this list for a while. I am amazed by the number of famous (and not-so famous) people I have met – mainly in a very small way.
Jonathan Aitken – when he came to preach at St Nicolas Church, Newbury
Sue Lawley – when she opened a fete at Ebbingford Manor, Bude in the 1970s.
Harold Wilson – when I sat next to him at a concert in the Isles of Scilly
King Charles – when he talked to me on “walkabout” in the Isles of Scilly (he was Prince Charles at the time)
Margaret Thatcher – I shoke hands with her and talked with her when she visited a printing plant opposite where I worked in Reading (during a general election campaign).
George Harrison (?) by phone. I think it was him. I worked with his nephew at a Reading brewery and someone with a Liverpudlian accent phoned and asked me to get the nephew to call a number which turned out not to be the normal number of the nephew’s home in the lodge gates. At the very least I talked to George Harrison’s brother!
Denis Thatcher – shook hands and spoke to him after I spoke to Margaret Thatcher
Sir Keith Joseph – He smiled and said hello to me when I was working at an office in Arlington Street, London.
Jacqueline Bisset (via phone) – I was deejaying on Radio 210 in Reading and she phoned to ask for a request for her father, Dr Bisset, who lived in Tilehurst locally.
Alan Freeman at Quiz Kid ’75 in Taunton when I was a contestant.
Arthur Edward (Royal photographer for The Sun) – he was follwoing Price Charles in teh Isles of Scilly ( above) and I chatted with him.
Gok Wan – I briefly chatted with him when he filmed part of “How to look naked” in Newbury.
Bob Harris – I worked at the same radio station as him in the 1980s.
Steve Wright – I talked to him at the Radio One Roadshow in Bude.
Richard Briers – I said “hello” to him in the Radio 210 bathroom – he was very cheerful.
Diana Dors – I interviewed her at Reading bingo hall for Radio 210.
Joe Brown – I briefly talked with him at Radio 210
Charles Kennedy – I talked to him about David Bowie when he visited Newbury
Paddy Ashdown- He stayed with us overnight three times in 1993 for the Newbury by-election. My hero!
Meg Whitman (via question) – I asked her a question at a HP staff talk in London.
Carly Fiorina (via question) – I asked her a question at Bracknell ice rink – another HP staff talk.
Menzies Campbell – I interviewed him with three other bloggers in a Brighton hotel when he was leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Nick Clegg – I interviewed with four other bloggers when he was campaigning to be Liberal Democrat party leader at Portcullis House in Westminster, London.
Tim Farron – I spoke to him when he sat next to me at a by-election campaign for Oldham East. Also, I had a cup of tea and a chat with him at Portcullis House.
Maddy Prior – I chatted with her after a concert at the Corn Exchange Newbury.
Tim Vine – I chatted with him after a concert at the Corn Exchange Newbury.
Ian Hislop – I spoke to him after a TV recording at Southern Television.
Les Gray (fleetingly) – I spoke to him during a concert at Reading University.
Toyah Wilcox – I spoke with her in the corridors of Radio 210.
June Brown – She spoke to us in Brighton and complimented us on our little daughter! She was so sweet!
Kenneth Macleod – I interview him about his days as a broadcaster at Westward Television in Plymouth. Lovely man.
Kenneth Baker – I chatted to him in the street in Lewes, Sussex.
Shirley Williams – As a conference steward, I showed her to the room she needed at a Liberal Democrat fringe.
Jeremy Thorpe – In Harrogate at a Lib Dem conference I helped him downstairs and to where he needed to go.
Paul Ross – he made a joke about me at a HP works staff meeting.
Jenni Eclair – we chatted with her at a cafe at Paddington Station before she left for a gig near Saltash, Cornwall. Lovely lady.
Neil Oliver – I chatted with him after a Corn Exchange Newbury performance.
Judith Chaplain – She asked me for directions in Newbury.
Michael McNair Wilson – I went to see him when he was my MP, to complain about the poll tax.
David Rendel – I was a friend and campaigner for the great man.
Richard Benyon – I have had the pleasure of chatting with Richard on many occasions. He treated me to tea in one of the plush tea rooms of the House of Parliament once. He is a lovely man.
Lord John Gummer – Richard Benyon introduced me to him when I had tea at the House of Parliament.
Lord Nigel Jones – I chatted with him at a Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool. A really lovely and brave man.
Norman Lamb – in Prague for a friend’s brithday, we talked with him and his wife quite a lot at breakfast, lunch etc. He is a really lovely chap.
Malcolm Bruce – I chatted to him at a Liberal Democrat conference.
Robert Maclennan – at a Lib Dem conference in Glasgow he had just given an exhibitor a bottle of champagne but I told him that the party had voted to boycott French goods just half an hour precisely.
Lord David Trimble (via question) – I asked him a question at a Liberal Democrat conference. He was a great and brave man who played a pivotal role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
Fiona Armstrong, newsreader. I worked with her on Radio 210 and introduced her several times on air.
Matt Allwright – I held a door open for him at Bracknell Ice Rink and he said “thank you”.
Pattie Coldwell, TV pioneer. I was one of her local councillors and I worked with her to attempt to get speed restrictions in her road. A very admirable woman.
Updates January 2023:
I interviewed Chris Tarrant for Kennet Radio at the Speen Community Cafe, when he came to judge the Great Speen Bake-off. He was the perfect gentleman and extremely generous with his time and bonhomie.
In December 2019, during the election campaign in Westminster, I interview Hugh Grant for Liberal Democrat Voice.
I had a lovely chat with retired Archbishop Douglas Carey in Staples, Newbury. He really was exceedingly gracious.
Liberal Burblings 