• Question: have you talked to anyone really famous??

    Asked by rebecca to Andrew, Emma, Marianne on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by buzzers.
    • Photo: Andrew Maynard

      Andrew Maynard answered on 12 Jun 2010:

      Hi Rebecca,

      I’ve spoken to/bumped into a few famous people, but I don’t think they’ve really noticed me – and I never seem to meet the people I would really like to meet! I gave a mining lamp to Prince Philip years ago – the event organizers forgot that I was supposed to do this, so I had to chase after him waving the lamp in front of me. And when I was at the University of Cambridge, we used to have Nobel Prize winners like Sir Neville Mott and Professor Brian Josephson wander past us in the corridors.

      But of course, most people are only famous within a small circle – so mentioning the names of people I’ve talked with that I was excited about probably won’t mean that much! (I did have lunch with the Vice President of Zimbabwe recently though, which was rather cool).

    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Weird, I’m sure I answered this somewhere else but I can’t find it!

      Well, people who are famous to *me*…

      Had a good chat with Prof Brian Cox (who presented Wonders of the Solar System and works at the Hadron collider at CERN) – friendliest and probably coolest of the science nerds right now!

      I met a couple of my favourite comedians, Tim Minchin and Dara O’Briain – who were both very nice and also really clever. Had some nice conversations with them. Met Dave Gorman a couple of times too (watch Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure – it’s really funny, and it has science!)

      I’ve also met Simon Singh, a science author whose books I recommend! Also a really nice guy.

      I met AC Grayling at parliament, he writes for the Guardian, very interesting philosopher, kindly wished me luck with my PhD.

      Hmm who else can I throw in here 😉
      I think that’s it for now!!

      Ah that’s why I couldn’t find it, I posted it as a comment instead. How silly. Now I can’t delete it…

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      I spoke to Brett the Hitman Hart once when I was in Canada. He was decent but seemed absolutely broken-down tired like Mickey Rourke in ‘The Wrestler’

      I met Ronnie Corbett on a golf course he was not a tall man.

      I met the scientist Andrew Wyllie who co-discovered the cell death process (apoptosis). He was an extremely decent chap.

      That’s all i got to say about that…..Have you met anyone famous?

Comments

  • Photo: Marianne

    Marianne commented on :

    Hi Rebecca!
    *Really* famous, probably not… I saw Vic Reeves at the zoo where my sister worked once!

    For me, the real celebrities are musicians, comedians and brilliant scientists.

    I adore live comedy. So I really enjoyed meeting Tim Minchin (one of my heroes), Dara O’Briain (who is very tall and a really clever guy!), Ed Byrne and Brian Cox. I’ve also met Dave Gorman a couple of times. Ah, and Dr Ben Goldacre, whose book “Bad Science” I can highly recommend.

    I shook hands with A.C. Grayling (a philosopher; http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/acgrayling) at the houses of parliament, that was rather good. He wished me good luck for my PhD.

    I’m not a fan of soaps or sport particularly so the nerdy/musical/hilarious celebrities are much more my cup of tea.

  • Photo: Emma

    Emma commented on :

    Hi Rebecca

    I spoke to David Bellamy once as at the time I worked for Plantlife. a charity dedicated to saving wild plants, and he was their president. The person I would love to meet is my all time hero David Attenborough!