Famous People You've Met

[Eco]

Was having this conversation a little time ago and was curious about you all. 

Doesn't have to be football players, but curious about any famous people that you have come into contact with. 

I don't have a ton, but certainly a few. 

Dalai Lama, Steven Seagal, and Richard Gere - Was invited to a meeting back in 2010 here at Emory, as they were having a Tibetan Buddhist conference and at the time I was a devout Buddhist and held some minor roles in my local temple. So I went to a small meeting, which was really just a 60 minute talk by HH, and in the room with me was about 10 people, 2 of which were Richard Gere and Steven Seagal. Also met Lama Surya Das, but he was a bit disappointing as at the time, I found his books very influential, but he didn't seem to really be authentic. 

Mathew Ricard - Famous scientist and Buddhist monk. Met in at a retreat I did in France, and he's written many books and really has a very incredibly story. 

Josef Martinez, Yamil Asad, Miguel Almiron - Met these 3 just a couple games into Atlanta United first year, as my wife and I went to a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, and saw them sitting there eating food. Wife and I were already die hard United fans so we went up to them, said thanks and welcome to Atlanta, and then welcomed them to Atlanta. 

Jeff Larentowicz - Atlanta United player who will be in the MLS hall of fame. Met him in the airport in Atlanta as we were on the same flight to Detroit (and actually both going to a wedding there, but not the same one). Spoke to him for about 30 minutes and was really a cool guy and outside of being a popular athlete here in Atlanta, acted like a normal guy. 

Frank Thomas - Baseball player who I got to see his second year in the Majors. I was probably 8 or so and absolutely love watching him play, and we built a very small friendship as my Dad and I spent 2 summers traveling with his team, and spent time in Sarasota, Florida, for his spring training. 

Jeff Francouer - Baseball player that is really well known as for having a great first year, and then never reaching that peak again. He's a massive figure here in Atlanta Sports and him and I actually went to High School together. 

John Lewis - Met Mr. Lewis a few years ago randomly in Atlanta. He wasn't surrounded by a ton of people, but I got to meet him, shake his hand, and couldn't really find any words to say other than just 'Thank you, sir'. If you don't know him, look him up as he just passed away and is an absolutely legend. 

Aaron Paul - Was down in New Orleans for a bachelor party, and me and the guys were in this bar that is well known for not having electricity in the drinking room, so there are a ton of candles and just a cool atmosphere. Aaron came in and drank with us for a minute as he was promoting his liquor (maybe it was tequila?). Anyways, I was smashed so I don't remember much of the conversation but he was cool as shit. 

Michael Dell - I was a Cyber Security Engineer at Dell Secureworks, and during our SKO, got to meet Michael and he was a pretty cool guy. 

Ben Finegold - One of the best Chess players in the country during his prime, and actually he lives in my neighborhood, so we've meet from time to time. 

Vladimir Fedossev - Russian chess player, very well known, and got introduced him from a family friend while in Russia and he was actually down for playing a couple of games with me, so that was a great experience and still the top player I've ever played. 

Alonso Zapata - GM in Chess from Cuba, but lives here in Atlanta, I have played him 4 times, and he was the first ever GM that I played in a tournament. 

That's all I can think of at the moment in terms of actually meeting and exchanging words with famous people. 

 

1. 
    

[Cicero]

The only celebrity I've personally met is Gabriel Batistuta . My mother in law was childhood friends with him and we met up with him in Reconquista back in 2013. 

 

[Lucas]

Various 'little' encounters with people connected to football (not just Leeds) through various hospitality I've been invited to but it's nothing to write home about.

Probably my biggest experience is playing poker with Milan Mandaric and having a beer with Simon Grayson at Leicester.

Oh, and randomly meeting Ruud Gullitt at my mate's stag do in Berlin. The bloke is too cool for school.

[Panna King]

Met a few celebs at FAF, cannot name due to Data rules. 

[Panna King]

I met a Footballer called Stan Collymore once, it was a weird encounter as I was parked up at a layby he let himself in the back of my car until he realised I was someone else, very strange. 

[Stan]

Bruce Willis 
We stayed at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas several years ago and they'd just undergone a name change from Aladdin Hotel. We went in the week that the hotel officially changed its name and Stomp: The Musical was opening there that night too. Ryan Seagrave was there presenting the whole show for TV networks throughout the day. Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone all had shares in the Planet Hollywood name and it was rumoured in the 1-2 days leading up to the big event that one of them would also be there on the night. We didn't really know much about all of it to be honest apart from the name-change of the Hotel.
We walked out of our hotel room and saw several guests all dressed up very smartly and some commotion from the ground floor/lobby area of the hotel. Parents found out what it was and so thought we'd hang around the area just to see who we might see or celeb-spot...
Then we saw Bruce Willis being interviewed in that kind of 'mixed zone press area' with Stomp advertising background etc. My dad had his video camcorder so started filming him along with all the other journos with their expensive tech cameras and equipment etc. Weirdly I think Willis cottoned on to it and asked one of his entourage to check it out and promptly asked my dad to stop filming. So he did for fear of whatever could happen next if he didn't  

It gets a bit weirder though - the cameraman one of the actual journos said to my dad that his battery had run out on his camera (!) and asked my dad if he could borrow the camcorder and he would return the film when they're done. Dad thought it was a bit suspect and, typical of him, asked what do we get in return (!). The journo said he'll see what he can do but may be able to get him in to the after-party following the show. Dad then goes to him and says he won't go by himself and wants his family in. So a few minutes later he comes back to my dad and says I've got 4 tickets for you and your family and come back at this time to be allowed in . So we return a few hours later and are allowed in to this after party. We didn't recognise anyone else but I think we were so fixated on seeing Bruce Willis I don't think we all cared for anyone else (we all love Die Hard obvs). Literally the only bit of that after-party I remember is being at the bar with my brother and parents talking to him for about 2 minutes and that was it .

 

Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal

Stars of the India Cricket team these days. When India played England in an Test Match a couple of years ago in Nottingham we went to a restaurant after the game. Turns out the team were staying at a hotel barely a few minutes away. We were having dinner and they all come in and sit down for food. It wasn't until later in the night at the restaurant we realised it was them at the other end of the room as we saw a few people asking for photos. We finished our food and they had just finished too. Caught up with them outside the restaurant, had a quick chat about the game and they said they were going to the Casino down the road, oddly enough where we were heading too. Before we know it we're sitting with them at the same Blackjack table. We got talking about Leicester winning the league and Iyer ended up asking us if we could buy a Leicester top for him and in return he gave us access to Trent Bridge VIP area the next morning. So surreal especially after you've drank all day you wake up the next day thinking it was just a dream.

Leicester footballers
Lloyd Dyer, Muzzy Izzet, Steve Walsh, Darren Eadie, Gerry Taggart, Matt Elliott.

Also seen John Hartson and Manish Bhasin around the ground too.

 

Met several athletes when I did London 2012 Olympics. Best of all was Kobe Bryant and a couple of us getting our access passes signed . Saw Steve Redgrave around Eton Dorney too. 

Met Jeff Stelling and David 'Bumble' Lloyd and, best of all, Rachel Riley when I went on Countdown. I lost but I put that down to being distracted by her...

 

 

EDIT: Totti as well in Mykonos cos it wasn't obvious enough for @Cicero . 

[Dr. Gonzo]

I met Ozzy. No cool story or anything, I just went to a book signing event.

[Cicero]

7 minutes ago, Stan said:

Bruce Willis 
We stayed at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas several years ago and they'd just undergone a name change from Aladdin Hotel. We went in the week that the hotel officially changed its name and Stomp: The Musical was opening there that night too. Ryan Seagrave was there presenting the whole show for TV networks throughout the day. Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone all had shares in the Planet Hollywood name and it was rumoured in the 1-2 days leading up to the big event that one of them would also be there on the night. We didn't really know much about all of it to be honest apart from the name-change of the Hotel.
We walked out of our hotel room and saw several guests all dressed up very smartly and some commotion from the ground floor/lobby area of the hotel. Parents found out what it was and so thought we'd hang around the area just to see who we might see or celeb-spot...
Then we saw Bruce Willis being interviewed in that kind of 'mixed zone press area' with Stomp advertising background etc. My dad had his video camcorder so started filming him along with all the other journos with their expensive tech cameras and equipment etc. Weirdly I think Willis cottoned on to it and asked one of his entourage to check it out and promptly asked my dad to stop filming. So he did for fear of whatever could happen next if he didn't  

It gets a bit weirder though - the cameraman one of the actual journos said to my dad that his battery had run out on his camera (!) and asked my dad if he could borrow the camcorder and he would return the film when they're done. Dad thought it was a bit suspect and, typical of him, asked what do we get in return (!). The journo said he'll see what he can do but may be able to get him in to the after-party following the show. Dad then goes to him and says he won't go by himself and wants his family in. So a few minutes later he comes back to my dad and says I've got 4 tickets for you and your family and come back at this time to be allowed in . So we return a few hours later and are allowed in to this after party. We didn't recognise anyone else but I think we were so fixated on seeing Bruce Willis I don't think we all cared for anyone else (we all love Die Hard obvs). Literally the only bit of that after-party I remember is being at the bar with my brother and parents talking to him for about 2 minutes and that was it .

 

Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal

Stars of the India Cricket team these days. When India played England in an Test Match a couple of years ago in Nottingham we went to a restaurant after the game. Turns out the team were staying at a hotel barely a few minutes away. We were having dinner and they all come in and sit down for food. It wasn't until later in the night at the restaurant we realised it was them at the other end of the room as we saw a few people asking for photos. We finished our food and they had just finished too. Caught up with them outside the restaurant, had a quick chat about the game and they said they were going to the Casino down the road, oddly enough where we were heading too. Before we know it we're sitting with them at the same Blackjack table. We got talking about Leicester winning the league and Iyer ended up asking us if we could buy a Leicester top for him and in return he gave us access to Trent Bridge VIP area the next morning. So surreal especially after you've drank all day you wake up the next day thinking it was just a dream.

Leicester footballers
Lloyd Dyer, Muzzy Izzet, Steve Walsh, Darren Eadie, Gerry Taggart, Matt Elliott.

Also seen John Hartson and Manish Bhasin around the ground too.

 

Met several athletes when I did London 2012 Olympics. Best of all was Kobe Bryant and a couple of us getting our access passes signed . Saw Steve Redgrave around Eton Dorney too. 

Met Jeff Stelling and David 'Bumble' Lloyd and, best of all, Rachel Riley when I went on Countdown. I lost but I put that down to being distracted by her...

How could you leave out Totti?

[Stan]

2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

How could you leave out Totti?

I thought it was so obvious. 

[CaaC (John)+]

All when I was working as part of a management team in my building before I retired.

Gorden Brown when he was Chancellor and then Primeminister when he visited a bank in the building, the most stuck up person I have ever met and never said a word or thank you to me and our team arranging security procedure with the Special Branch allocated to Brown, they thanked me and the team but he said nowt.

Sir David Murray the then owner of Glasgow Rangers when he visited with Brown to the bank, Murray was so down to earth and a pleasure to meet as he arrived with no security in a battered old car, made his own way to the lift on walking sticks as he had 2 artificial legs, had a good old natter with him in the lift going to the bank about Rangers as I told him I support them here in Scotland. 

Sir Bill Gammell, ex Scotland rugby union player as he owned a company in the building, another down to earth guy and a pleasure to meet and talk to, he liked people to just call him Bill but I always called him Sir Bill.

John Parrot Scotland snooker player would always call into the building on occasions to visit his solicitor.

Steve Cram, athletics, a lovely guy but a pain in the arse when he would arrive in his car at short notice to visit the bank and never arranged a parking space beforehand.

John Lesley entertainer when he visited his solicitor.

That's about all that springs to mind.  

 

[Carnivore Chris]

All the Man United players and Liverpool players from 1997 at Manchester airport. Schmeichel, Andy Cole, a young Beckham, a young Owen, Fowler, all were there on their way to a pre season tour.

British Bulldog

Hawk from Legion of doom

Lennox Lewis

Fred the weather man

Mr Blobby and Noel Edmonds.

 

Also John Wilson and Matt Hayes. I say them as they are famous Anglers and I met them at a show, along with loads of others,

but they are the most famous 2.

I always remember waiting in the cold outside Blackburn ice hockey arena as a kid hoping to get Shawn Michaels, Macho Man and a few other wrestlers autographs and when they came out, they just blanked all the kids outside. What a bunch of cunts.

 

Also met Mike Bisping actually, quite a few times in fact, but it was before he was famous. He used to DJ at a club I went to and is also a good mate of mine's half brother.

Said alright to Tyson Fury in a carvery aswell. 

[Stan]

Forgot to say Shannon Leto (drummer from 30 Seconds to Mars) backstage after a gig in Nottingham as well.  

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

 

Mr Blobby and Noel Edmonds.

 

Close thread. 

[Carnivore Chris]

Just now, Stan said:

Close thread. 

It could have been anyone dressed up 

[Pyfish+]

Most of mine come from working in radio and doing student radio.

Jo, Paul and Bradley from S Club 7 - Did a Freshers gig at the Uni and I met them for an interview after. Lovely guys.

Peter Dickson - Voiceover man for The X Factor, BGT and quite a lot of ads. Again, interviewed him. Gave me some radio tips and was genuinely a really nice guy who was happy to chat for as long as we wanted.

Cannon & Ball  - Filmed them for a TV interview, a laugh a minute

Louis from One Direction - Girls in the office were obsessing over him, I said hello. He nodded. Not much to write about there.

Greg James, Scott Mills, Comedy Dave - Had a chat with the three of them at a student radio event. Great guys who had time for everyone.

Interviewed loads of other people from X Factor and some other singers etc too but nobody to really scream about.
 

[Panna King]

7 hours ago, Carnivore Chris said:

All the Man United players and Liverpool players from 1997 at Manchester airport. Schmeichel, Andy Cole, a young Beckham, a young Owen, Fowler, all were there on their way to a pre season tour.

British Bulldog

Hawk from Legion of doom

Lennox Lewis

Fred the weather man

Mr Blobby and Noel Edmonds.

 

Also John Wilson and Matt Hayes. I say them as they are famous Anglers and I met them at a show, along with loads of others,

but they are the most famous 2.

I always remember waiting in the cold outside Blackburn ice hockey arena as a kid hoping to get Shawn Michaels, Macho Man and a few other wrestlers autographs and when they came out, they just blanked all the kids outside. What a bunch of cunts.

 

Also met Mike Bisping actually, quite a few times in fact, but it was before he was famous. He used to DJ at a club I went to and is also a good mate of mine's half brother.

Said alright to Tyson Fury in a carvery aswell. 

You met Davey Boy Smith??????? and you didn't wank him off!!!! 

[Carnivore Chris]

8 hours ago, SirBalon 69 said:

You met Davey Boy Smith??????? and you didn't wank him off!!!! 

I've actually got a picture of that somewhere. Also met Hawk aswell. They were at a small wrestling event at the local town hall, both on 2 separate occasions. All the other wrestlers there were unknowns and then Davey Boy made an appearance one time and Hawk the other.

Both are no longer with us now. Sad!

[Dr. Gonzo]

I like how @Eco said he hadn't met a lot of famous people and he's got one of the longer lists on here.

Meanwhile mine's just a list of 1.

[Danny]

Ran into Rosie Jones at a gig she was on that I was doing, was only a hello/good set pleasantries mind. Had an open spot on a pro gig another time and met Andrew Bird and Paul McCaffrey. Was pretty cool, easily both up there as some of the best comedians in the country.

Met one of the “bad guys” from Hunt For The Wilder People doing a gig in Wellington. Was at the same awards ceremony (ceremony being the operative word ) as Rhys Darby but never met him.

You meet a fair few people thatve been on Tele doing stand up even at a low level, and if you don’t meet them you’ll still end up on the same lineup.

 

[DeadLinesman]

Worked security at Old Trafford between 2001-2004 so met most of the players and did some house sitting for a few. Was a great life for a few years. 
 

Met Beyoncé in New York in 2005. Literally bumped into her and her security in a department store.

Shared a lift with Hugo Lloris in Harrods a couple of years back. He agreed to call and speak to my best mate who is a Spurs fan. He didn’t pick up his phone 

Sat next to Robert De Niro in a restaurant is San Francisco, but I was only about 11 and my mum remembered it far more than I did. 
 

Shared a first class 4 seat with Alan Hansen back in the early 00’s on the way back up from London. 
 

 

[Mel81x+]

14 minutes ago, DeadLinesman said:

Shared a lift with Hugo Lloris in Harrods a couple of years back. He agreed to call and speak to my best mate who is a Spurs fan. He didn’t pick up his phone 

Talk about shit luck for your mate.

[DeadLinesman]

16 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Talk about shit luck for your mate.

He’s never forgiven himself 

[Mel81x+]

I wouldn't call these super famous folks.

Robbie Bach - XBox Chief - Early 2001

I remember this very well because I was interning at MS and a friend of mine said I should come see what they were doing with video games. I wasn't really interested because I thought Microsoft was a nobody at the time in the space but I went along and saw this gigantic box and got to talk to the guy about what they wanted to do with it. The best part of the meeting was he actually proudly said that they only wanted to 'try' and get into gaming. Years later and what a ride they've had. They were so eager to get everyone to see it and play with it to get feedback, so much so that when it did launch Microsoft almost mandated that every MS office worldwide have one in their offices so that employees could hang out and play a few games during their breaks. 

Sanath Jayasuriya 

One of my best friends is Sri Lankan and when we visited him in the summer of '04 he took us to a dinner sponsored by ODEL where there were a lot of celebrities. I remember talking to Sanath and he was a nice down-to-earth guy as well. 

Some Others

• Lucky Ali - Famous musician here
• Yoko Shinomura - You'd have to check the catalog list but this lady is a music composer for video-games and some pretty popular ones too
• Nancy Ajram - Lebanese pop musician
• Guthrie Govan - Did a workshop here some time back and tried to teach everyone things that started easy and flew over their heads at the end haha.
• Diana Krall - Jazz musician

[Toinho]

A few.

Danny Green - Aussie boxer. Met him when I was working on a holiday island off the coast of Perth. Had a chat and a photo. 

Nemanja Matic - in a lift last year. Got a selfie lol 

Lots of Perth Glory and Brisbane players.

But the big one, and the one I wish we got a photo with but it was 1999...

Sir Bobby Charlton. He stopped to have a chat. Legend. Got an autograph but really not sure where it is now.

[Spike]

I went out drinking with the guitarist for a reasonably popular Australian rock band but not famous at all really. I think I saw Lil Jon at a TGIFs in Atlanta once. The big nosed lead singer of the Plain White Ts (hey there delialah) comes to my work all the time, never spoken to him, don't care to. Another older bloke that comes to work all the time is the uncle of the Bosa NFL players for the 49ers and Chargers (two of the highest paid defenders), and another on the Packers whom I can't remember, his son-in-law plays ice hockey in the Washington dev system, and either he or is wife is the child of famous Chicago gangster Tony The Tuna Accardo, bodyguard of Al Capone. My mrs' boss was attacked by John Wayne Gacy in the 70s and even testified at his trial. Peter Murphy of Bauhaus tried to slow dance with my sister-in-law at a night club during a high BPM song. My maths teacher from high school dumped a drink on Craig David in a nightclub in Bournemouth or somewhere. My mate from LA knows Serj Tankian from System of a Down because they are all Armenian. My grandad knew Chris Close, a famous rugby league player, repped QLD in the first State of Origin and first QLDer to have MOTM.

I don't count events or places that are expected to meet famous people, but I know dozens of stories from people I know that have met famous people. But I suppose then it would be Eddie Olcyzk hockey Hall of Famer, we talked about horse racing, particularly the Melbourne Cup.