Random visits

[MungoChutney]

Carol Smilie came to my old nursery to open the summer fair when she was on Wheel of Fortune. Although I was about 7 my mum still worked there so I was at the fair too.

Then about 18 months ago I went to the funeral of my old boss and Carol Smilie was the Humanist celebrant giving the eulogy. 

[Just Some Guy]

Prime Minister of the day, John Major turned up at my 6th form. I decided to take the afternoon off.

[air_raid]

Michael Elphick turned up to my primary school summer fate at the peak of Boon.

[Vamp]

We never had anyone half way famous turn up to my school.

We had the army that everyone gets. We had an assembly beforehand where they told everyone "they're here to teach you lot discipline and not to promote the army." Then they let soldiers take us off in groups to do stupid physical tasks where the soldiers swore at each other, nearly got into fights and told us that they were better than us because they'd been in the army.

Had Daniel Radcliffe and the other one show up in the audience of a theatre I was an usher for. They were "incognito" which was weird as it was a fundraiser for a stunt man who'd got injured filming the movies and most of the audience were either crew or friends and family. The Derren Brown type they had on stage did a joke about how the other one was ginger and so couldn't possibly have a girlfriend which led to the extremely attractive girl sitting with him pointing at him and laughing. 

I've met Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson more times than I'd like through my job. I'll never stop telling the story of him meeting a dementia group and one woman pretending to strangle him so a friend could take a picture and his security guards looking like they couldn't care less. What could have been. 

[Joe Blog]

They filmed some scenes for wire in the blood at my school. Robson had gone Hollywood though and didn't speak to any of us. 

[DCW]

My late (conman) uncle was promoting a 'Great Irish Famine' remembrance concert in the mid 90's and our Taoiseach/PM at the time Bertie Ahern and Prince Charles did a photo op at his offices. My ma worked there and as it was the summer and I was off school, I was knocking about annoying everyone too. I didn't know who Prince Charles was and remember being unimpressed by his mumbled greetings to everyone. His security lads were good craic though and chatted away to me about football while they were hanging around. Wouldn't answer my question if they had and if I could see their guns though. I think The Corrs were there too as the uncle had managed to rope them in as well somehow.

[Panhead]

My Grandma was Italian and that cunt Benito Mussolini visited her school when she was a kid. Sadly, she's no longer with us. She was a bit of a dick to my Mum and anyone else that married in, but we didn't hang her from an Esso garage when she died. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Not so much for a talk or anything but the Bradford squad, when they had that 2 season stint in the Premier League, did a light training session on our school field hours before they lost at Liverpool for no reason other than then manager Paul Jewell was a former pupil at the school

[AshC]

We always had the Welsh Brass Trio. But I was always convinced, when the headmaster or whoever said we had a special visitor, that it could be Hogan. Or at least Jake.

[simonworden]

Had Natalie Imbruglia open my primary school's 100th year celebration (which was just a gussied up summer fete). This was in 1995 so she was just that girl of Neighbors then. I remember her flapping about on the field and a couple of teachers flirting with her but that's about it.

We also had to take part in those sponsored fitness things every year where your class gets sponsored to do x amount of sit ups, push ups and other stuff in a kind of circuit. The first year they had Kriss Akabusi in one of the early rounds of promotional assemblies.

Finally I vaguely remember during one set of world book day talks we had one year where about 5 or 6 different authors showed up we had Jaqueline Wilson come and do a talk and I remember about 50 girls rushing the "stage" at the end of assembly which was about the most disorder our school ever recorded.

We seemed to do well with people coming to visit but I think it was probably as there's always been a fantastic pub opposite, strangely these talks/ opening ceremonies etc always happened right before lunch

 

 

[Cod Eye]

We had a bunch of England international Ruby Union players visit the school to do a Rugby coaching session. Only name I remember for some reason is Jeremy Guscott(who is now listed on Google/Wiki as a "British bricklayer"). 

It was an attempt to convert a load of prepubescent northern kids into egg-chasing players and fans. It didn't work though(it was even the wrong code for us, as our headmaster was a big League fan, and used to spend hours telling us how Union was the inferior code!). They looked a bit pissed off when only 3 or 4 of the class asked them for autographs after the lesson! 

Then, a few years after I left and went to secondary school, my old Junior school had former Spurs' and England 'keeper, Ian Walker in for P.E. lesson. Word had gotten out a week before he was due, and my mates and I wagged school for the day to watch the P.E. lesson from the bushes(it was before pedophiles existed(!), but I'd hate to see what people would think if kids did that today!). It wasn't worth it. He stood, showed them the "M" and "W" hand positions for catching the ball then stood drinking a tea or a coffee for the remaining hour. And we got a weeks detention, calls to our parents and put on report for wagging it. I now hate Ian Walker... 

[Statto]

Paul Kossoff's dad came to give an anti-drugs talk at my small (500ish kids in the whole school) rural Norfolk high school. Bear in mind this was 1997/98ish and virtually no-one in the school had the first clue who Free were (I did, but I was a rock kid). I suppose it wasn't necessary to have heard of the band to get the anti-drugs message, but it probably would have helped. Also, I've literally only just found out in googling him this minute that David Kossoff was a reasonably well known actor himself.

A new building at my (even smaller, like 80 kids in the whole school) primary school was supposed to be opened by Bryan Gunn when he was Norwich's #1, but they ended up sending Duncan Forbes instead who at the time was our head scout. Presumably they had a "Big Scotsman" substitution clause. I was gutted at the time but as I've come to learn what a proper club legend Big Dunc is I'm happy I got to get an autograph from him.

[Max Power]

Peter Andre came to my school with his rapper mate Bubbla Ranx - they mimed Mysterious Girl and he did some press ups.

 

[Surf Digby]

Christ, I went to some shit schools, as the only visitors I can remember were the police every couple of years telling us to stay out of trouble, and later not to get involved with drugs.

When I was about 4, David Prowse arrived by helicopter to cut the ribbon (or some similar gesture) on the Barrett Homes housing estate being built at the bottom of my street. I don't think I even knew who Darth Vader was at that time, because they were making more of a fuss over him being the Green Cross Code man.

[stumobir]

2 hours ago, Nostalgia Nonce said:

Christ, I went to some shit schools, as the only visitors I can remember were the police every couple of years telling us to stay out of trouble, and later not to get involved with drugs.

When I was about 4, David Prowse arrived by helicopter to cut the ribbon (or some similar gesture) on the Barrett Homes housing estate being built at the bottom of my street. I don't think I even knew who Darth Vader was at that time, because they were making more of a fuss over him being the Green Cross Code man.

“Luke.... and listen”