Heroes

[merylpeep]

it's said that we should never meet our heroes in case we are disappointed - have you, and were you?

[Stephen_G]

A certain Darts player was supposed to be a doing a three-hour meet n' greet locally, but disappeared after just two hours. Stood waiting for an Autograph (I took my own Darts along in case he wanted a warm-up leg - just so I could say I'd played him).

Slightly disappointed.

[campbellking]

Have met my first footballing hero on a couple of occasions, ex Chelsea star and now football pundit, Pat Nevin. In no way disappointed, went on his tour of Stamford Bridge, he was supposed to be there for 2 hours and stayed for nearly 5, chatted to everyone, had lots of pictures taken with everybody. I took my brother with me as his 40th birthday present, got some pictures printed off and sent them to Chelsea asking him to sign them and wish him a happy birthday, they came back with a lovely inscription almost by return of post.

[Zacs-Master]

Meeting Richard Branson was a bit of a let down.

[naomi24]

Zacs, what were you expecting - and what did you get?

[Zacs-Master]

Think about it N.

[naomi24]

Too late in the day to think. I'll pass.

[Zacs-Master]

Balloons? ;-)

[naomi24]

Ohhhhhhhhh...... right. One for 'Only Connect'.

[seadogg]

Met a few heroes but none of them were celebrities. Nearest I ever came was meeting Nye Bevan. John Disley was a well known olympic hurdler in his day and also a good rock climber so might qualify. Most heroes were fellow members of RNLI and Cave Rescue personnel but they couldn't be heroes 'cos most have never heard of them.

[Zacs-Master]

A bit more obvious than Ms Coren's cryptic conundrums but yes it is getting late.

[naomi24]

Cryptic enough for the snoozy. The impossible we do at once. Miracles take a little longer. :o)

[chanel5]

Many years ago my hero was Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans. We had heard such stories of him, he had become almost a mystical figure. Eventually I met him, first at Swanwick, then at York University. I won't criticise the man, he was instrumental in bringing about help to people for whom no help was available. But there were aspects of his character that were surprising and off-putting. No longer a hero.

[andy-hughes]

I have met many musicians as part of my job as a music writer, most of whom were professional and very pleasant.

I met Paul Weller back stage at a TV shoot, and he was brusque to the point of rudeness, and walked away. Shame - I think his work is wonderful, but as is often the case, the art is superior to the artist.

[thesecondlaw]

Ron "Chopper" Harris, captain of Chelsea in the late sixties and seventies owned the local newsagents when I was a young lad. Lovely man, would chat for ages.

[andy-hughes]

chanel5 - //Many years ago my hero was Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans. We had heard such stories of him, he had become almost a mystical figure. Eventually I met him, first at Swanwick, then at York University. I won't criticise the man, he was instrumental in bringing about help to people for whom no help was available. But there were aspects of his character that were surprising and off-putting. No longer a hero. //

I worked as a Samaritan volunteer for three years, and part of the remit of those who could and wanted to do it, was to visit schools and societies to talk about Chad, the history of the organisation, and it's work, and what we experienced on the proverbial 'front line'.

The word around the organisation was that CV was ‘something of a character’ which I think was a polite way of saying he was difficult, although no-one ever went into details, so we glossed over that bit, and carried on talking about the fantastic organisation that he founded.

[chanel5]

That's interesting, andy-hughes. I would never criticise him on a personal level first because of his dedication to setting up the organisation, and secondly because he was an elderly man when I met him and age may have radically changed his character. But all I will say is that was no longer the hero for me.