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Claim to fame.....................what is yours?

I, along with 110 other writers, broke a Guinness World Record in 2012.
The title was previously held by Berlin Literature Festival.

My wife and I stayed in a Dublin hotel across from the venue so not to be late as my slot was for 4.15am-4.30am. I noticed Seamus Heaney’s slot was around 10am:-) We were in bed, fast asleep by this stage.

The night before the gig we went out on the town, got back to hotel at 12.30am, into bed by 1am and back up into the bathroom to get ready at 3.30am.

After the reading we walked back to the hotel in a daze and slept until 11am before hitting the town for a massive breakfast.

http://www.writerscentre.ie/readfortheworldprogramme.pdf

http://www.writerscentre.ie/html/events/readfortheworld.html
 
I'm mentioned several times in a book about a band called British Sea Power. And my dad's cousin was the guitar player in the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
OMG Zal?? :woot: I love SAHB :D

Greg Hemphill is my step-cousin-in-law (or something like that lol)
 
I got drunk with Mel Smith in Glasgow airport when all the planes were grounded following the no luggage/water on planes thing that happened several years ago. He was really annoyed they had just banned smoking indoors as he was playing Churchill in a play and he wasn't allowed a cigar. I also asked for his autograph and the only bit of paper I had was a copy of viz. prob quite apt :-)


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OMG Zal?? :woot: I love SAHB :D

Me too - respect.

What have I done - I won a Blue Peter badge for a photo competition; at 10 I sat on Patrick Moore's knee during a visit by several of us from school interested in astronomy and his mum served us tea and cakes; in my early 20s I was stood next to George Best having a slash in the gents at Gatwick airport; I showed Simon Callow how to use a fax machine in an airline lounge at Heathrow; I've spoken in Spanish at the equivalent of a parliamentary committee (televised) in Lima, Peru attended by Susana Fujimori, ex wife of the disgraced former president. All fairly trivial things, and no doubt like others there are plenty of "I knew so-and-so's cousin's friend's flatmate" type stories.
 
Dibble1 what happened in Poole hospital? You have really peaked my interest do tell, please? :)
 
A few years ago I was involved in a national gardening project run by the BBC….I appeared (briefly) on Gardeners World with Chris Beardshaw when he came to one of our projects….met Monty Don at Gardeners World Live and had dinner with Joe Swift at their Christmas event…I also featured on their promotional stand at Hampton Court Flower Show and had my photograph in Gardeners World Magazine with Rachel de Thame ….

The best thing that happened was that I got talking to the Head Gardener from Highgrove when working on a stand at Gardeners World Live…and got a personal invitation to go and visit the gardens at Highgrove…I believe that to visit Highgrove there is a long waiting list but my friends and I were there within six weeks…definitely a highlight of my gardening career…
 
I had many conversations with my mate "Frank" when he was writing the Australian classic "Poor Fella My Country" by Xavier Herbert

It is a huge novel and I have never read it but I suspect I am in there in some guise or another.
 
A few years ago I was involved in a national gardening project run by the BBC….I appeared (briefly) on Gardeners World with Chris Beardshaw when he came to one of our projects….met Monty Don at Gardeners World Live and had dinner with Joe Swift at their Christmas event…I also featured on their promotional stand at Hampton Court Flower Show and had my photograph in Gardeners World Magazine with Rachel de Thame ….

The best thing that happened was that I got talking to the Head Gardener from Highgrove when working on a stand at Gardeners World Live…and got a personal invitation to go and visit the gardens at Highgrove…I believe that to visit Highgrove there is a long waiting list but my friends and I were there within six weeks…definitely a highlight of my gardening career…
The wife was part of the organising team at the very first Hampton court international flower show ! .. Small world
 
I also featured on their promotional stand at Hampton Court Flower Show and had my photograph in Gardeners World Magazine with Rachel de Thame ….

Rachel de Thame ... sorry what else were you saying, I kind of drifted off?
 
Lewis Hamilton's sister and her husband used to live next door to my mum and I know them very well. When Lewis was younger and went to his sisters, he used to play football outside with my two brothers and always said "hi" whenever he saw us.
And Jack Wilsheres grandparents live just down the road from my father
 
My mother did a teddy bears picnic once for charity .
We received Linda Bellinghams childhood teddy bear to
display amongst other well known persons teddys .
Included John Majors (sent in by his mother)
They all were personal named bears too .

Up in our loft we have piccys of our daughter posing with
her teddy bear "Molly" amongst them all .
 
Paul Williams (US songwriter) was stranded in a domestic (OZ) airline strike. I rejigged the entire network airline schedule to get him to his concert.

He never forgot it :) Great person too.

Also ran on the torch relay for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Had major offers to sell the torch but never will. Met Chris Cross, Joe Cocker, Moody Blues, Richard Harris, Hall and Oates, John Denver :)
Now you're showing off!! :happy:
 
:hilarious: I'm sure it was in a good way.
They all stayed normal and stayed living in Moseley and Handsworth etc. Which I always thought said a lot about who they were. I still have the first UB40's first off the press of their first album somewhere.
Used to go as guests to a lot of the gigs for all three bands. I think the last one I went to was the one with FYC and David Bowie at Gateshead I think it was.
David Bowie? I'm really jealous.
 
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