Mike Richards
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Famous for ten minutes
posted Friday, 24 July 2009
I was at the gym earlier to negate the Twix diet I have been on for the past 30-odd years and was watching a programme with Angela Rippon in. I was reminded of the time I once met her. During the progressive birth of many digital channels and a time before stock market crashes there were two channels devoted to finance. I appeared on one once with Ms Rippon as the host (I wasn’t her dance stunt double during Morecombe & Wise). I had never been on TV before – unless you count the time in 1968 when I was eleven and was shown on “Sportsnight with Coleman” watching the touring Australians preparing at Lord’s (I’d just finished cleaning chimneys) – and was understandably nervous. My task was to read the papers and talk about a few stories, pertinent to personal finance. The interview was in two parts and in the ad break she didn’t speak to me. Didn’t ask me how I was (the bottle of kaolin & morphine had calmed some nerves!); didn’t ask anything about me (not good if you’re an only child) and in my opinion, distinctly unfriendly. I am glad the paper review only lasted ten minutes – any longer and it would have been quite tortuous and because I didn’t take my little green frog I have when it thunders may well have broken down, like Gazza, in tears on live TV. Thinking of this meeting of “famous people” I was reminded of the handful I have met in my life. Most have been sportsmen, few from the whacky world of show biz. I think they can be put in two distinct categories – nice or Angela Ripponesque. In the former category I would put cricketers Derek Pringle (top bloke); Sir Richard Hadlee (charming); John Emburey (normal); Graham Gooch (normal); Mark Benson (sat in my car once at Canterbury while playing for Kent in the mid-80s – they operated a car-share system there if was raining and I had a big boot) (Mark was quite shy but nice bloke – sister is mad! – funny seeing him in test matches and often say “he’s been in the back of my car – not in THAT way though”); Graham Cowdrey (again, youngest of the Cowdrey children, charming). I met Owen Hargreaves at Berlin Airport once (Bayern had just beaten Kaiserslautern 3-1 in the cup final (which is held in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium). I asked if he was going to visit his mum (who lived in Bolton, I think) and he replied he was off to join the England squad. Oops. One of the drawbacks of knowing what Oliver Kahn’s footballing movements were but not anyone from Eng-er-land. (Really nice bloke, though). The only other footballer I’ve met was Les Berry, the centre half for Charlton in the late 70s. He was the neighbour of my then boss and we would make a team up to play snooker in an advertising agency league. Because Les wasn’t a household name we blagged him into the team telling him to tell anyone who asked what he did in the agency that he was in despatch and drove the van. Good snooker player and all round good bloke. We played a at time when football violence was on the rise again. He said he could get me into any ground and be perfectly safe. Except Millwall. He said you get abuse everywhere you play. At Millwall you believe it! Alongside the erstwhile dancer-cum-newsreader-cum- personal finance show host I would put Bruce Forsyth. Not met that many famous people but he was very rude. I have heard I am not alone with my Brucie experience. I met him playing golf. I’ve been lucky to play in a few charity days when you get put with a “celebrity” – fortuitously a mate organises it and usually swings it so I play with someone likeminded. Actually, it’s the same mate who out me up for the Angela Rippon gig so he’s not a perfect mate. Played with Tim Brooke-Taylor (talked comedy the entire time – brilliant!); Kevin Whately (a more normal bloke you couldn’t wish to meet); Ray Clemence (he was a footballer and not big fat cuddly Pat in EastEnders – really nice bloke) and Liam Brady (twice) – he is normal too. Played with him one year and the following year saw me, pointed and said “Bayern Munich!” – I said to my playing partners how impressed he’d remembered that to which they replied “how many Bayern Munich season ticket holders is he likely to meet in his life?” Good point. A curious thing about Brady is that he said Karlheinz Rummenigge was the best player he’d played with (at Inter Milan). Probably trying to humour me. Chris Broad wasn’t very nice and nor was Phil Edmonds. Oh, and Alex Stewart (whom I hated because he played for Surrey) is a really nice, normal bloke. Again quite shy, but he gave me a lift home after a dinner once, so I love him. But Ms Rippon is there as the celebrity I would voted to do a bush tucker trial the most.
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