"Can I buy you a drink?"
A friend of mine has a story about meeting Richard Harris in a pub and buying him a drink. It's a funny story and it's not mine to tell, but the thing I learned most from it is that rather than going up and gushing and being generally fanboyish to your heroes, if you want to say hallo then offering to buy them a drink by way of quiet thanks for their work/entertainment/heroism etc is usually appreciated.
Living as I do in central London, I sometimes run into famous people whilst out and about. Most are, of course, twats, but some are people whom I like and respect and who have entertained me enough over the years that I reckon I owe them a drink in return. So it is that several celebs including Dave Stewart, Ian Hislop, Dwight Schulz (another story I may tell, as it's one of my favourites) and John Cleese have had an unexpected drink bought for them by a cheerful stranger who didn't hang about. I reckon it's what I'd want people to do if I was famous.

Anyway.

He was standing outside the convention hall. He'd been surrounded all day by unwashed geeks who all wanted a piece of him and I figured that he probably didn't want disturbing. He was having a few quiet minutes and a cig to mellow out before going back in and so I hung back in a frenzy of indecision. I wanted to say hallo and offer him a drink, but he appeared so happy to be on his own for a bit.
This was someone whose work I'd been introduced to when I was seven years old. It was, at the time, a revelation and astonishingly his own work kept me entertained for the better part of twenty years until it was finally superceded. He'd been responsible for more late nights, more jokes, more laughter and probably more arguments than any other single influence in my entire life (Including booze. Maybe.). When I was small or even a teenager, every new product I saw with his name on it was a guaranteed doorway into other worlds.
In the end, I thought that the worse that could happen was that he'd say no, so I wandered nonchalantly over.
"'Scuse me?" I said. "Can I buy you a drink?"
This was plainly a line he hadn't heard yet and he looked at me, a little nonplussed.
"Why?", he asked.
"Because you've been entertaining me ever since I was seven, and I reckon I probably owe you one by way of a thank you."
He looked at me over his glasses. "No, you can't", he said. I started to turn away. "But I'll buy you one."

He was lovely. Friendly, avuncular, and obviously only too used to dealing with people like me who had a story or two to tell and a joke or an experience to share. He told me a few himself. It was great, and somewhere inside, my inner seven year old was dancing about with glee.

He died a couple of years later, which made me sad. But at least I got to say thank you and, in return, Gary Gygax bought me a pint.
(davywavy, Tue 21 Apr 2009, 9:45, 6 replies)

I'll remember this if I ever get to meet anyone famous in a pub.
If I like them of course.
( girlinthehole, Tue 21 Apr 2009, 9:56, closed)

*Click!!!!*
Gary Gygax though... Gary Gygax!!

Well done for keeping it together..
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Tue 21 Apr 2009, 11:11, closed)

I know!
Of all the people I've met he was the one I was most in awe of. The seven year old part of me wanted to grab him and shout "Thank you for Keep on the Borderlands!"
(davywavy, Tue 21 Apr 2009, 11:20, closed)

He bought me one too
but it was cursed.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Tue 21 Apr 2009, 18:00, closed)

The pint of femininity/ masculinity?
Yeah, I've seen that in operation often.
(davywavy, Wed 22 Apr 2009, 10:36, closed)

Bloody hell
I am impressed! I'd have been a stuttering mess, myself.

Although it stands to reason that a man who has helped start millions of stories would be so easy to talk to.
(TheManWhoWas SlightlyKnackered, Tue 21 Apr 2009, 15:31, closed)