The Adventure of the Accidental Gift
I'm a big fan of lateral thinking BBC quiz show Only Connect. Contestants on the show get the most bizarre introductions along the lines of "Bob, a fitness instructor from Manchester who once nearly ran over Noel Gallagher". Often an unusual encounter with a celebrity is a key part of the statement. This got me wondering about what my introduction might be were I to ever appear on the show and one possibility would be "Dan, a teaching assistant from Hampshire who once accidentally gave Alan Titchmarsh a pen".
On the show these snippets are rarely explained further but I cannot resist sharing my Titchmarsh tale. Like many British teenagers, I did the Duke of Edinburgh award. In my case this involving learning Japanese, doing conservation work and trekking through the forest with a group of people I mostly did not like. Apart from the odd sticky moment like failing to identify a medical acronym put to me by the assessor or getting told we were trespassing by an unhappy farmer it went well and the Duke decided I had done enough to pass.
Our awards ceremony was at a local private school and whilst some people are presented their award by a member of royalty, we had the next best thing which is apparently TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh. Our first brief meeting went perfectly well. My name was read out as well as my vaguely witty comment about how wet the New Forest is and as Alan shook my hand we shared a chuckle about the weather in a way only the British can do.
The pen incident occurred after the ceremony. It transpired Mr. Titchmarsh was signing things in the car park (the glamour of being famous in the UK). My mother produced a promotional pen for the accountancy firm I worked for and off I went to join the throng of teenagers who inexplicably wanted an autograph. I waited patiently and eventually Alan came to me. He took my pen and signed the presentation programme and after a quick thank you I slipped out of the little crowd.
As I met my parents I heard Alan addressing the general area with "whose pen is this?" With horror I realised it was the pen I had given him. "Are you going to go and get it?" my mother asked and very quickly I answered "no" and started walking towards the car. As dysfunctional and awkward as I can be as a adult is nothing to the way I was as a sixteen year old and there was no way I was going to have an awkward encounter with someone off the telly. We later joked that I may have done my Mum's accountancy film a favor as he may decide to use them in future but as far as I know he never became a client.
I do have another unusual celebrity encounter story which would be introduced something along the lines of "who once literally bumped into the Archbishop of Canterbury at a former concentration camp". Now I've written seriously before about my visit to Auschwitz, most recently here. Amongst the dark experience there was one moment of light which I shall now recall.
The trip to Auschwitz was a big event with various seventeen year olds from across the country attending as well as a number of MPs and several major religious leaders like the Chief Rabbi and the Archbishop of Canterbury. At one point we were in a small museum section which had lots of photographs and letters of victims. It was a small room and there was a bottleneck of people which included the archbishop, dressed in his full regalia.
I was keen to avoid this crowd and tried to squeeze through the edge. As I attempted this manoeuvre the archbishop suddenly turned round arm first and I clattered into the protruding arm. A word of apology came from the bearded figure and I quickly reciprocated before continuing on my way. I distinctly remember walking away realising I had just collided with the actual Archbishop of Canterbury.
This post didn't really have a point but I enjoyed writing it and I hoped you enjoyed reading it. More nonsense soon.
On the show these snippets are rarely explained further but I cannot resist sharing my Titchmarsh tale. Like many British teenagers, I did the Duke of Edinburgh award. In my case this involving learning Japanese, doing conservation work and trekking through the forest with a group of people I mostly did not like. Apart from the odd sticky moment like failing to identify a medical acronym put to me by the assessor or getting told we were trespassing by an unhappy farmer it went well and the Duke decided I had done enough to pass.
Our awards ceremony was at a local private school and whilst some people are presented their award by a member of royalty, we had the next best thing which is apparently TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh. Our first brief meeting went perfectly well. My name was read out as well as my vaguely witty comment about how wet the New Forest is and as Alan shook my hand we shared a chuckle about the weather in a way only the British can do.
The pen incident occurred after the ceremony. It transpired Mr. Titchmarsh was signing things in the car park (the glamour of being famous in the UK). My mother produced a promotional pen for the accountancy firm I worked for and off I went to join the throng of teenagers who inexplicably wanted an autograph. I waited patiently and eventually Alan came to me. He took my pen and signed the presentation programme and after a quick thank you I slipped out of the little crowd.
As I met my parents I heard Alan addressing the general area with "whose pen is this?" With horror I realised it was the pen I had given him. "Are you going to go and get it?" my mother asked and very quickly I answered "no" and started walking towards the car. As dysfunctional and awkward as I can be as a adult is nothing to the way I was as a sixteen year old and there was no way I was going to have an awkward encounter with someone off the telly. We later joked that I may have done my Mum's accountancy film a favor as he may decide to use them in future but as far as I know he never became a client.
I do have another unusual celebrity encounter story which would be introduced something along the lines of "who once literally bumped into the Archbishop of Canterbury at a former concentration camp". Now I've written seriously before about my visit to Auschwitz, most recently here. Amongst the dark experience there was one moment of light which I shall now recall.
The trip to Auschwitz was a big event with various seventeen year olds from across the country attending as well as a number of MPs and several major religious leaders like the Chief Rabbi and the Archbishop of Canterbury. At one point we were in a small museum section which had lots of photographs and letters of victims. It was a small room and there was a bottleneck of people which included the archbishop, dressed in his full regalia.
I was keen to avoid this crowd and tried to squeeze through the edge. As I attempted this manoeuvre the archbishop suddenly turned round arm first and I clattered into the protruding arm. A word of apology came from the bearded figure and I quickly reciprocated before continuing on my way. I distinctly remember walking away realising I had just collided with the actual Archbishop of Canterbury.
This post didn't really have a point but I enjoyed writing it and I hoped you enjoyed reading it. More nonsense soon.
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