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Post by PG on Oct 13, 2021 12:11:03 GMT
The nearest I can remember being to a celeb was having a drink with David Bowie. Well, we were in the same hotel bar in Stratford-upon-Avon about five paces apart. That was until the hotel told all the other guests that the bar had been booked and was private that evening. Oh and we all needed to move to a different hotel and would we pack and be outside for a free taxi in 30 minutes.... and all our rooms and drinks were free. I presume him and his entourage had paid handsomely to book the whole hotel so they needed to throw everyone else out.
I saw Mick Jagger and also Vivienne Westwood at Heathrow (not together). She was very pleasant and was chatting to people as we waited for our luggage. He was being bundled through by his minders.
On the OP, it's a tough one. Celebs from any field are paid handsomely by the public so people do deserve a fair shout for selfies, autographs etc. So on that level the footballist was a rude git, especially to a young fan. However, I think there is a time and place for bothering celebs and maybe when they are in a restaurant at dinner may not be it. If he'd seen him in the lobby or similar, and he had refused I'd definitely mark him down as a rude git. Perhaps I'm just old fashioned?
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 13, 2021 12:51:50 GMT
I do remember, in the early 80s, my dad phoning home from a hotel he was staying in and it sounded like he was in the middle of what could only be described as a riot. "Have you ever heard of a pop group called The Damned?" were his first words (or scruffy anarchic bastards, as he later referred to them as).
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Post by Big Blue on Oct 13, 2021 13:55:00 GMT
Ah, locals that are celebs. Those are the ones that don’t get a second look as they’re just “at home”. Daly Thompson, Engelbert Humperdinck, Stanley Baker, June Whitfield and Ron “Chopper” Harris (who used to serve in his corner shop on Sundays after playing Chelsea matches the day before - imagine that with the current generation!) are the ones I remember from my childhood, along with the Fulham football team from ‘76 with Best, Moore and Rodney Marsh who drank in the Plough with my dad on the way to play! My sister was in the same class at school as Alex Kingston (aka the butcher’s daughter for that is what she was before she was a famous thespian) when she was the bully in Grange Hill (Alex, not my sister who as games captain would’ve decked anyone of any size as a teenager) and I was on the same university course as Lawrence Dallaglio, another local but a couple of years below me. Sadly this was not long after he’d lost his sister on the Marchioness.
In latter times we have Bradley Wiggins who moved round here “between wives” but the biggest local furore I recall was when David Beckham stopped for coffee and cake at our local Costa when his son played against our local academy side. He’s pretty well just a normal bloke when his wife isn’t about.
Our biggest non-celeb name but famous nonetheless is of course John Major, who went to the first and middle schools my daughters currently attend. I suppose Anne Boleyn who had an entire park and palace built for her was pretty famous once upon a time.
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Post by racingteatray on Oct 13, 2021 14:04:50 GMT
For one reason or another, I've met all sorts of famous or eminent people over the years - I'd guess the most famous being Donald Trump. Usually it's very obvious who they are but sometimes you have really no idea.
When I was about 11 or 12, I found some baby tortoises in a garden and had a lovely time showing them to a friendly old lady who wandered by and stopped to ask what I was looking at. Had she been our queen, I'd have recognised her, but...
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Post by garry on Oct 13, 2021 14:07:17 GMT
I lived in Surrey when my eldest was born, I was having a coffee in Oxted town centre when this familiar looking older lady stopped to fuss over George, who was about one month old at the time. It was only as she walked away I realised it was Dame Judi Dench.
In my early twenties I was travelling business class back from Florida when a huge camp orange man sat next to me and said ‘well I’m not going to get much sleep tonight with those legs on show’. Luckily the strange man got bumped up to upper class. Turned out to be Dale Winton.
I’ve met Bradley Wiggins quite a few times. He lived in the next village and he’d often be out on training rides and would have a couple of minutes chat.
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Post by racingteatray on Oct 13, 2021 14:08:43 GMT
Lovely sequitur on queens and large orange men!
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Post by Grampa on Oct 13, 2021 16:30:42 GMT
A friend of mine (an actor) is well known enough to get stopped and asked for selfies - whenever I've been with him, he's always obliged and been very pleasant (very funny being with him, it's like you're invisible) - used to be a lot worse when he was in a soap opera and on TV five times a week (people even used to go into his Dad's shop and ask if they could take a photo) and he was very careful where to go out for a meal and tended to avoid pubs. I've asked if he doesn't get fed up with attention he just says not really, people are generally very friendly. I'm sure the attention he gets is nothing like a famous footballer though (even though I've never heard of the one mentioned in the OP) - but, said footballer could choose to be somewhere less public (and a lot nicer) than Marbella - let's face, celebrities who go to such a place are 99.5% seeking attention.
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Post by Ben on Oct 15, 2021 15:58:54 GMT
My view is broadly in line with Blarno's. Famous people are people too, and they are entitled to their own private time. But there are ways to reject someone nicely and politely.
I've actually been recognised and approached in public twice (since my mug is on a car magazine that apparently some people read), and TBH I did feel a tad uncomfortable. I forgot how I reacted but it was probably nothing more than a shy nod of acknowledgement.
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Post by Stuntman on Oct 15, 2021 19:56:43 GMT
My most 'niche' moment of being recognised was when someone once came up to me in a pub and said they'd seen me in a poetry slam about a year previously, and they then named the particular poem of mine that they liked the most! I really wasn't expecting that...
Re the OP - yes, Haaland could have played that a lot better. As others have said, politeness costs nothing and it's particularly important to be polite to youngsters and to leave them thinking well of you, even if you aren't really interested.
And I'm another one who can attest to a delightful first-hand encounter with James Hunt. I met him when I was six or seven - before he won the F1 world championship in 1976 - although he was already a big draw. On spotting me, he squatted down to talk to me at my height level, and said "How're you doing down there?" I remember it clearly!
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Post by Martin on Oct 15, 2021 21:22:57 GMT
My most 'niche' moment of being recognised was when someone once came up to me in a pub and said they'd seen me in a poetry slam about a year previously, and they then named the particular poem of mine that they liked the most! I really wasn't expecting that... Re the OP - yes, Haaland could have played that a lot better. As others have said, politeness costs nothing and it's particularly important to be polite to youngsters and to leave them thinking well of you, even if you aren't really interested. And I'm another one who can attest to a delightful first-hand encounter with James Hunt. I met him when I was six or seven - before he won the F1 world championship in 1976 - although he was already a big draw. On spotting me, he squatted down to talk to me at my height level, and said "How're you doing down there?" I remember it clearly! All this talk of pensioners and retirement has reminded me of the Yaris….when are we getting an update, haven’t even had the collection pictures yet!  I’m genuinely interested in how you’re getting on with it. I’ve read that a few people have sold them because they’re only great when you’re driving the wheels off them, but other really like them. What do you think? |
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Post by Stuntman on Oct 16, 2021 18:52:15 GMT
Hehe! I've done about 1200 miles in it now and it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. Did about 55 miles in it today, a mixture of just tootling about in Saturday traffic, and then nailing it down a couple of my favourite driving roads. It's fine at low speeds (I'm nowhere near as much of a sybarite as you, though...) and it's a real giggle at higher speeds, particularly how soon you can get on the power during cornering. I don't fully trust it in the wet yet - the steering doesn't have all that much feel and the car does move around a bit under hard braking and hard cornering - but that's probably just me being a bit cautious and sensibly so. A trackday in it would be interesting. The car is fast enough as standard although a little more power would be better, as would lower and better seats. But I'm very pleased that I have it. It's an excellent contrast to the other two cars that I have and a proper piece of kit. All three of my cars actually have similar cross-country pace, with different roads and conditions playing more to one car's strengths than the others. M3 for effortless ground-covering and ballistic top end, Cayman for searing pace in the dry with poise on corner entry, and the Yaris for sh*ts and giggles  |
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Post by Martin on Oct 16, 2021 19:58:28 GMT
All good then! I had to Google Sybarite as that’s a new one on me. .I’ll go for ‘devoted to luxury and pleasure’ rather than the definition which included the words self indulgent…..  |
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Post by Andy C on Oct 16, 2021 20:25:01 GMT
All good then! I had to Google Sybarite as that’s a new one on me. .I’ll go for ‘devoted to luxury and pleasure’ rather than the definition which included the words self indulgent….. Have you decided if you’re camping at Silverstone next summer yet ? |
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Post by Andy C on Oct 16, 2021 20:28:28 GMT
Hehe! I've done about 1200 miles in it now and it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. Did about 55 miles in it today, a mixture of just tootling about in Saturday traffic, and then nailing it down a couple of my favourite driving roads. It's fine at low speeds (I'm nowhere near as much of a sybarite as you, though...) and it's a real giggle at higher speeds, particularly how soon you can get on the power during cornering. I don't fully trust it in the wet yet - the steering doesn't have all that much feel and the car does move around a bit under hard braking and hard cornering - but that's probably just me being a bit cautious and sensibly so. A trackday in it would be interesting. The car is fast enough as standard although a little more power would be better, as would lower and better seats. But I'm very pleased that I have it. It's an excellent contrast to the other two cars that I have and a proper piece of kit. All three of my cars actually have similar cross-country pace, with different roads and conditions playing more to one car's strengths than the others. M3 for effortless ground-covering and ballistic top end, Cayman for searing pace in the dry with poise on corner entry, and the Yaris for sh*ts and giggles Do the different modes make much of a difference On the road ? |
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Post by Martin on Oct 16, 2021 20:38:08 GMT
All good then! I had to Google Sybarite as that’s a new one on me. .I’ll go for ‘devoted to luxury and pleasure’ rather than the definition which included the words self indulgent….. Have you decided if you’re camping at Silverstone next summer yet ? Still thinking about it |
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Post by Stuntman on Oct 16, 2021 21:09:04 GMT
Do the different modes make much of a difference On the road ? Not all that much of a difference unless you are fairly well on it. In Sport (30/70 torque split front to rear) the car does feel a little more RWD in its behaviour and in Track (50/50) it feels a little more planted and lets you get on the power a bit sooner with maximum traction. I rarely leave it in Normal (60/40) but still feels very decent in Normal. In the dry it tends to get put in Sport because this feels a little more like my other cars, but in the wet and/or when I'm properly going for it, the car goes into Track. The more knowledgeable people on the GR Yaris forum say that the electronics interfere less in Track than they do in Sport. The interference is more again in Normal, but to be honest I haven't really noticed any significant reining-in on the road. I tend to drive with smooth and progressive inputs so I only tend to get reined in when I'm being hamfisted with the throttle. This happens occasionally in the M3 and rarely in the Cayman but I haven't noticed it in the Yaris yet. You can feel the car's diffs moving it around on the way into, and through, medium-fast corners and I haven't fully got used to that yet. So it's an interesting voyage of discovery. I even think the artificial engine noise is fine too, which surprised me! |
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Post by Stuntman on Oct 16, 2021 21:24:19 GMT
Compared to the M3 and the Cayman, the Yaris feels punchy in the mid range - which is why it's probably just as fast in the real world as the other two cars. Its power delivery is pretty elastic, with serious urge between about 3500 up to 6000 and little lag even at relatively low revs. It needs about 3500 on the dial to properly get going but it's happy enough in the lower rev ranges although you do get vibrations under full throttle loads around 3000 rpm. So change down!
On that topic, the gearbox is a little notchy and I do occasionally mess up the gearchange from 2nd to 3rd. But this is user error rather than the car. The gear ratios themselves are really good and pretty short, so you are busy in the car going up and down the box. The IMT (Intelligent Manual Transmission, aka auto-blip) button works fairly well so I deploy that most of the time too. I do the same in the Cayman (the Porsche system is even better), it does the blipping better than I do and I don't mind!
Ride is a little bouncy but better than I was expecting and it's certainly not firm or harsh. The ride also gets better with speed...
All in all - the car is not without its foibles but has lots of character and it's a really interesting and distinctive driving experience.
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Post by humphreythepug on Oct 17, 2021 12:02:38 GMT
Working in Weybridge and opposite the local petrol station I see many famous people and footballers, I leave them alone as I don't get star struck, but used to have friendly banter and chats with Max Clifford!!
Peter Crouch used to be seen fairly regularly filling up his car, one day one of the mechanics saw him, went over and asked for a selfie, he obliged but was struggling to get a decent shot, my colleague spotted Abbey Clancy in the passenger seat so motioned for her to get out and to take the photo, she did and both were perfectly pleasant, a friend of the wifes is a nanny and the kids she looks after go to/went to the same school as the Crouch kids, she said Abbey is lovely, will chat to anyone and is totally normal.
When Peter came out of the garage after paying, my colleague was back over the road at the dealership, he shouted out to him, he turned round and my colleague did that robot dance thing that Peter was famous for, he thought it was hilarious.
Petr Cech bought a car from us a few years back, he was one of the nicest people and more than happy to sign stuff and have photos take.
One of our customers is Andy Beckwith (Errol in Lock Stock, he's also been in Pirates of the Caribbean and done other films and TV work)he's a nice guy, he's very good friends with my salesmen colleague.
I get that it must be annoying though to be constantly bothered by people when you are famous, however the other side of the coin is, you wouldn't be in that position with all the trappings that being famous brings, if it wasn't for us normo's!
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