Thursday, September 4, 2008

Meeting Celebrities

Have you ever met a celebrity? If so, did they live up to your expectations of them? It's funny how people think so high of celebrities, only to meet them and find they aren't what they expect. I haven't met many celebrities, but I have met a few. Some friends & I saw Paul McCartney in a train station in London once. We stopped to say hi and he seemed nice enough. Then one of my friends asked for his autograph and he turned her down. Good thing I wasn't a big fan of his or I would have been crushed. He said he didn't want to cause a scene, but geez, it was London, not Los Angeles. I've heard Johnny Depp is the most willing and friendly when it comes to doing autographs. Good for him, though I'm not real big on autographs.

My one biggest brush with a famous person was with Roger Daltrey of The Who. The picture above was taken in 1984 at Roger's house in England. I spent the whole month of May in England with some friends who loved The Who like I did. We went around seeing the English sights, as well as visiting various places The Who were famous for. We went to Hammersmith, where Roger was born and also where The Who used to play. We went to Brighton where Quadrophenia was filmed. We went to the nightclub The Who played at for the first time. We had friends in England and we made arrangements with Roger's wife Heather to meet him. So, it's not like we crashed his house unexpectedly. He was a gentlemen and showed us around his home, yard and property. I know some little known facts about Roger Daltrey that he was kind enough to share with us. He collects music boxes and used to buy them all over the world when he toured. They're gorgeous pieces with big glass domes over them. He kept them in his billiard room, which is the room behind us in the picture above. He has a small train that runs around the outskirts of his yard that's big enough to ride on. At the time, he had three small lakes that he dug himself and kept stocked with trout. He did have a very expensive car when we were there, but it was parked by his Range Rover. His wife drove a green VW Bug at the time. He was kind to show us around, as well as invite us into his home for tea. It was getting late and he even went to the trouble of driving us to the train station so we wouldn't have to walk in the dark.

I've heard Roger is a grandfather now, or soon will be. He's definitely getting up there in age, but with the recent Who tour, he doesn't seem to be slowing down much. He's also done some work with children's shows recently. I guess he's probably glad he didn't live up to the lyrics when he sang, "hope I die before I get old". I'd love to see The Who in concert one more time, but they aren't touring anywhere near me, nor can I afford the outrageous cost of their tickets. I still love the band and my Who-related trips to England in 1984 and 1985 are wonderful memories for me. Meeting Roger Daltrey as well as Pete Townshend was a fun experience. That was a long time ago and I'm not sure if I'd get as excited about meeting a celebrity now that I'm older. However, I wouldn't mind running into Roger again, just to ask him if he remembers the crazy group of girls who came by his house and had tea with him a few times. Who knows, maybe he's gotten so old he's forgotten us, which might not be such a bad thing either. ;)

9 comments:

  1. Great story, Rena! My family went to a White House barbeque right after Jimmy Carter was elected. He was a great host, and somewhere I have pictures of me with he & his wife. That's the only famous-person story that comes to mind!

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  2. Cool story too, Adrienne. I can't remember if my husband met any presidents, though I know they often did escorts and such with his department. He did talk to some of the SS men for awhile, which was pretty interesting.

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  3. Hi Rena! It was great reading about your adventures in England! The only famous people I have met are Greg and Steve (childrens singers, they were popular in the 90's) and The Wiggles.
    Erin

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  4. Hey Rena!
    I was hoping to see this on your blog sometime. I love this story, and love that picture of you and Roger Daltry! Silly question....how tall are you? It looks like you have a few inches on Roger! I think its so cool that you had tea with him at his house. Definitely a story to tell the grandkids someday!

    Jeannine

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  5. LOL @ you to notice my height, Neen! I'm 5'8" and Roger is only 5'4". Funny story about that, but don't ask all those loonie ladies I went with because they'll tell you a different story. When we stood to take our picture, Roger looks at me and commented how tall I was. I sarcastically said I could scoot down a little so our heads would be closer for the pic. I did that and all my friend started snapping pics, so there are a bunch of other pictures of me that look like I'm sliding down his leg. ARGH! It's amazing how many pictures can be taken when there are 5 or 6 ladies with cameras. BTW, Roger's wife is WAY taller than me, so he should be used to that. She's an ex-model from CT and I think she's nearly 6' or so.

    Hey Erin -- Cool about meeting Greg & Steve. Funny how I don't know who they are. Are they Americans? And oh yes, who can forget The Wiggles. Sigh! :)

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  6. Too. COOL. 8) Thanks for sharing your celeb story, Rena. :)

    As for myself...can't really say I've encountered any in person, unless you count getting autographs from a few Star Trek actors (Next Generation, Deep Space Nine & Voyager) while attending Star Trek conventions in my youth.

    Gale

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  7. Wonderful story. I knew Scott McKenzie (of "If You're Going to San Fancisco fame) well enough that he came to my 19 birthday and sang a song to me as a birthday present. Sigh....

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  8. Gale -- I'd never have guessed you used to attend Star Trek conventions. That's cool. :)

    Bish -- Very cool about being sung to on your birthday by Scott McKenzie. I'm not sure if I have any of his songs. I thought I did, but not positive. Cool, all the same.

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  9. Super cool story, Rena! You know how I love music...you were at Roger Daltry's home!!omg!
    What an awesome trip with your friends!

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