Famous People You've Met In Bookshops

[Satchmo Distel]

Dickie Bird, Barnsley W.H. Smith, cricket books section, 1980. We were both too shy to do more than nod.

[Sits]

As mentioned on the other thread, Diana Rigg, charging out of a lift in Foyles.

[elguapo4]

If you're counting seen as met, then Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin is near the Irish parliament building, and I've seen plenty of politicians in there, including two leaders of Fianna Fail and one of Fine Gael, Michael Martin, Brian Cowen and John Bruton. I also saw Gerry Adams trying to save his soul in the religious section, he's much smaller than he looks on TV and was wearing a pretty manky looking suit.

[Nocturnal Submission]

When I lived in Wimbledon I saw Annette Crosbie in the local branch of either Waterstones or Books Etc. The weird thing was that, knowing she lived in the town and actually quite near me, I'd been musing very shortly beforehand about why I'd never bumped into her and then, suddenly, there she was. Maybe I was subconsciously being more alert for her potential presence.

I also saw John McEnroe, who was doing a book signing in one of the aforementioned outlets. He was sitting totally alone at a desk with absolutely no-one in attendance or queuing. I tried to avoid meeting his disgruntled gaze.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Oh, and not quite the same thing, but I did assist Jeffrey Archer at a book-signing session on one occasion. He was actually a lot more pleasant than I'd been expecting him to be.

[Jah Womble]

The expression 'met' is doing a fair old chunk of heavy lifting on this thread.

[Toby Gymshorts]

I genuinely did meet Geddy Lee off of Rush in Waterstones Piccadilly.

The fact that I'd paid to do so (via pre-ordering his book) is neither here nor there. We exchanged a few words, he signed my book, and I left feeling pretty good about the entire thing.

[Amor de Cosmos]

When I lived in Wimbledon I saw Annette Crosbie in the local branch or either Waterstones or Books Etc.

As an aside, in the brief period I had a studio in London I did her promo pictures.

[WOM]

I genuinely did meet Geddy Lee off of Rush in Waterstones Piccadilly.

As previously recounted, Alex Lifeson held the door for me at a funeral home, and we exchanged small-talk / pleasantries while waiting to sign the guest book.

Many years later, we locked eyes in the lobby of a theatre, waiting to watch the execrable Sherlock Holmes featuring David Arquette. I'm sure he was thinking 'hey, there's that guy from the funeral home' but I can't confirm that. Dee Snider walked in about ten minutes later, but we have no shared history.

[Nefertiti2]

A funeral home is not a bookshop (even if the ability to maintain a quiet decorum is a quality valued in both locations)

[Jah Womble]

Well, a ‘book’ was about to be signed, so we can possibly let that one go on a technicality.

[Nefertiti2]

Well, a ‘book’ was about to be signed, so we can possibly let that one go on a technicality.

No money changed hands, so not a shop

[elguapo4]

Believe me, a LOT of money changes hands in a funeral home.

[caja-dglh]

I think Nef's point should be upheld. This is not a "places you have met members of Rush" thread. Given this thread kind of exists to avoid diverting another thread, diverting this thread seems to be a violation.

[Hot Pepsi]

Pushing the definition of "met...."

I got some stuff signed by Denny O'Neil in a comic shop about 30 years ago. State College used to have two comic shops. He was doing a signing in the one that's not there any more. I had thought that only a few people would show up and that I could talk to him about his work, because I didn't understand how popular comics really were in 1989. But there was a huge line that moved quickly. He didn't talk to anyone in line, including me. He was just talking to the store owner about where Klaus Janson* lived in Greenwich Village.

I left thinking that was kinda rude. And I lost interest in comics (for the first time) soon thereafter. A few years ago, I ended up just giving away what he signed, along with most of my comics, to the AAUW book sale. They weren't really worth a lot. One of them was a The Shadow hardback graphic novel (DC tried to make The Shadow a thing in the late 80s). I noticed somebody posted on Facebook or Instagram "Hey check out this cool Shadow book I got at the AAUW sale!" I replied to them "Check inside. It's signed." They were happy about that. So I'm glad it found a happy home.


Maria Von Trapp, the real one, was signing books in the Von Trapp lodge in Vermont the day we visited there when I was a kid.


In a related note...
A guy in my brother's fraternity at W&M once sold some books to Michael Jackson in a shop in SoCal. He was known around campus as "that guy who once sorta met Michael Jackson" until he was known as "the guy who was allergic to everything." I think he transferred and moved back to California.



*If you don't already know who those people are, you won't care.

[Nurse Duckett]

Is WH Smith a bookshop? If so, "met" Suzie Dent ("Countdown" Dictionary Corner) in Oxford WHS a couple of years ago. She's smaller than she appears on TV.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I did chat briefly to ex-Canadian PM Joe Clark in Duthie's Books many years ago. My main impression was that he was much taller than I'd imagined.

[colchestersid]

Jeremy Spake (who was the Aeroflot representative in the 1990s reality TV show "Airport") in WH Smiths in Colchester

I'm not sure if I've met the brief here as (1) he isn't really famous and (2) WH Smiths isn't really a bookshop

I can't really comment on his height

[Nocturnal Submission]

Jeremy Spake pretty much defines the term ephemeral fame.

[treibeis]

(Right, I'll set my stall out now and take whatever punishment is meted out to me afterwards.)

- It wasn't a "bookshop", but it was a "newsagent's that had a revolving stand with a few paperbacks in it".

- I didn't "meet" her, but I did "step aside to let her get past".

Alison Holloway, a former HTV presenter and one of Jim Davidson's ex-wives.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Michael Palin in Foyle's, late 80s

[ad hoc]

I worked for a while in a new age bookstore in California. We'd regularly have authors come and do a talk in the hall next door followed by meet&greet/book-signing/money-making (sorry I mean, "manifesting abundance") in the shop. In this way I met a number of the b-list of woo (we didn't get any of the huge names - your Marianne Williamsons or your Louise Hays). I can't remember most of their names now. Dan Millman, he was one. Wayne Dyer, another.

[Nefertiti2]

“The b list of woo” is quite a phrase.

i guess you end up on the B list of woo because you didn’t want it enough.

[Jah Womble]

I think Nef's point should be upheld. This is not a "places you have met members of Rush" thread. Given this thread kind of exists to avoid diverting another thread, diverting this thread seems to be a violation.

But we're okay with 'seeing someone vaguely famous from a distance' as 'meeting' said person?

Also - since when isn't W H Smith a bookshop? They sell books and plenty of them.

Before yer Waterstones (sic) and what have you, it was pretty much the only place one could buy/order books when I were a lad.

[Tony C]

Jenny Murray, writer and broadcaster in Waterstones Manchester many years ago. She had just written a book on the menopause called ‘Is It Me Or Is It Hot In Here?’ which she was promoting. I talked to her briefly in the cafe beforehand. Pity it wasn’t longer as she was great company,