Star gazing

There's a tradition in celebrity-rich areas like Los Angeles and London for workmates to exchange star sightings. I used to lead the pack in L.A., with my unwanted encyclopedic knowledge of secondary character actors and people who guest-starred on an episode of Star Trek in 1991, but played a different character of an alien race in bumpy-head make-up in 1993.

A few highlights from my time in Los Angeles were Jennifer Lien (Kes from Star Trek: Voyager - see, I told you), Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (pre break-up) at the cinema, Tori Spelling, Neve Campbell at my local Starbucks, Minnie Driver and Liev Shreiber going to see The Sixth Sense, Ed Norton and Salma Hayek (they're small!), Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan (also pre break-up), Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, Calista Flockhart, Christopher Lee, Brian Cox, and Anthony Stuart Head (from Buffy The Vampire Slayer). I had coffee with Paul Verhoeven one morning as we chatted about the difficulty of making Hollowman. I sat next to Guy Richie as he chatted on his mobile to Madonna, before their relationship was known to anyone. To this day my best, and most surreal, celebrity encounter was a dinner with Vinnie Jones, riding high after Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

I've been missing my regular celebrity sighting fix in recent years because although San Francisco has many wonderful things, an abundance of famous people is not one of them. So, since coming to London I've heard a lot of Soho-sightings and was wondering when I would have one of my own. I keep seeing a man whom I would swear is a famous french actor, but his name escapes me so I cannot count him here. However, I had my first bona-fide celebrity sighting recently on Greek St. It's a small one, but you have to start somewhere. Imelda Staunton, having a chat in the street with who I presume was a fellow ac-tor.

Not as good as Keira Knightley, who has been spotted (not by me) wandering past our offices more than once. The sighter reported "She was with her boyfriend. I could've taken him." To which the reply was, "... to the pub?".

One Saturday evening on the tube I saw one of my favourite comedians and actors, Patrick Barlow, a.k.a. Desmond Olivier Dingle of the National Theatre of Brent. The crowd of people stopped me from saying hello, damn them.

More sightings to come as they occur.

London | Soho | England | Celebrity | Los Angeles | Gossip | Star Trek | Patrick Barlow |Imelda Staunton

Ten years on

This BBC story reminded me that I'd intended to write a list of things that had changed in the last ten years in the UK, so here it is

Rich English people used to:
- live in the South East of England
now they:
- live in the South East of France

Students used to:
- complain about the Tories and campaign for a Labour government
now they:
- ignore the Tories and campaign for a Labour government

The BBC used to be:
- One and Two
now it is:
- Three and Four

ASBO used to be:
- a misspelling of ASDA
now it is:
- a teenage badge of honour

Free newspapers used to be:
- what your neighbour on the Tube accidentally left behind
now they:
- are handed out on street corners

Recycling used to be:
- selling your bicycle to a friend
now it is:
- everything that you can't digest

The Northern Line used to be
- crowded
now it is:
- crowded

Starbucks used to be:
- a character on Battlestar Galactica
now it is:
- on every street corner

Poland used to be:
- over there
now it is:
- over here

Oysters used to:
- come by the dozen or half-dozen, and cost a lot
now they:
- come in cards and let you ride the buses cheaply

A mortgage used to be:
- something your parents had for their house
now it is:
- something your parents have for your house

Trains used to get delayed by:
- leaves on the line
now they are delayed by:
- the wrong kind of leaves on the line

London | Soho | England | Travel