Sailing on the Celebrity Seas

After last week's celeb filled post it won't surprise you to find out that today I'm serving up another portion of my brushes with fame. When I awoke this morning at 7.30 I wasn't aware I would be attempting another challenge but as I lay in bed reading Facebook on my phone (Ah, modern life!) I was excited to discover that the one and only Sir Ben Ainslie (Olympic Sailor, handsome man and number 40 on the challenge list) would be at my place of work in less than an hour. Although I wasn't due to be in for several hours I leapt out of bed (well limped as I often have the morning aches of someone about to turn 40) and as soon as I was showered drove to work. 

After a quick chat with a friend in the know (Thanks Kimberly) I located where in the building he was and headed down to see if I could complete another challenge by meeting Big Ben. I spotted him immediately and positioned myself on a chair near the kitchen where I could spy from afar whilst I built up courage to talk to him.

Now the first thing you need to know about me is that I have a problem with facial recognition. There's a proper name for it - Prosopagnosia. You're probably thinking now, "yeah, yeah, we all have problems with names and faces - you don't have prosopagnosia!" But let me tell you about a few occasions in my past and then you might think differently:

1) I have introduced myself to the same person on 4 separate occasions - It would have been 5 but a friend stepped in and prevented another embarrassing situation.

2) A couple of weeks ago I introduced myself to someone I consider a friend who I see regularly and know reasonably well... just because she was wearing glasses.

3) I taught identical twins for a good 2 months before realising I had identical twins in the class (they only sat one seat away from each other yet I didn't spot any resemblance). 

4) Recently a chap chatted to me and I did my usual covering up pretending I knew who he was. He gave me some odd looks at my banal chit chat. I had no idea who he was. It took nearly 24 hours for me to work out he was a chap I'd had a big crush on only a few months ago. 

I could tell you plenty more of these stories but you're probably getting the picture. So whilst I thought I was looking at Sir Ben I couldn't be entirely sure as he could just have been any handsome man of about the right age. Hence when he walked towards me all I could manage was to stare with a slightly desperate look in my eyes as I tried to get my brain to process whether this really was the man I'd had as my computer wallpaper during the Olympics. As he got closer...he smiled. Whoever this man was he was super gorgeous and all I could do was smile back. "Hi" he said. It was like the first meeting in a Mills and Boons novel. "Hi" I replied, my heart fluttering slightly as I searched for another word. He walked passed. 

I'm lucky in my job that I get to meet some famous folk. I don't normally get star struck, in fact I'm usually happy to insult them like a close friend within minutes of meeting them but suddenly I was gripped with a mix of fame-fear and prosopagnosia. Had I just met (albeit very briefly) my sporting hero? Or have I just had a somewhat awkward encounter with a complete random stranger? Thankfully a kindly looking woman walked past moments later looking friendly and giving me a conspiratorial smile - I took my chance and said "That is Ben Ainslie in the kitchen isn't it?". Happily for once I'd got it right and I had indeed achieved (albeit very briefly) another challenge. 

So with confirmation I tried to steal myself to have a better meeting. As Ben made himself a cuppa I concentrated on building up my courage and thinking of something non-idiotic to say. I thought I'd keep it casual but with flattery perhaps "Hi Ben, just wanted to say huge Congrats for the Americas Cup - that was incredible!". I stood up, walked confidently towards him; engaged eye contact; smiled; he smiled a killer smile back before starting to walk in the other direction! 

I got some water and returned to my chair which just happened to be next to where he was recording another interview. I tried to do a sneaky pic (which I'll add later) but as you'll see it came out rather blurred due to my sudden arm movement and embarrassment as I'd forgotten how loud the camera sound is when I take a pic.

I contemplated waiting and going back for a third attempt but decided that he may issue a restraining order if I did so retreated, smiling, to my desk instead. 

Ok, so as celeb anecdote go this is not going to be up there with when my mate Max met Nicole Kidman in a service station toilet but the point is that I did (albeit very briefly) meet the man. Challenge completed!

If you want to see another challenge completed make sure you're watching CBBC at 0830 this Saturday 26th October. More on that next week. 

Oh, and if I ever look at you weirdly...it might be worth reminding me who you are!

Deadly 40

If you have a nine year old or you're really into nature documentaries you'll know exactly who Steve Backshall is. Otherwise you might be wondering who the Dickens he is. He's best known as the presenter of programmes such as Deadly 60 where he tries to get foolishly close to the world's most deadly animals and explain just why these creatures are so fearsome that no one in their right mind should go as close to them as he currently is. Picture Steve Irwin but British, more muscly and... well, alive. 

If you want to bump into Stevie B. then your best bet is to either hang around near a pit of venomous snakes in a tropical rainforest or work somewhere he might visit when he needs to promote his latest show. I'm not a fan of slithering fanged critters but thankfully I fall into the other camp so today after more than a year of hoping that he'd pop in, my timing was right and I got to pop the question.

No, not that question. Contrary to popular belief whilst I appreciate his manly form he's not really my cup of tea. My question to him was a much more random one. I wanted to know whether he went to Collingwood School.

I grew up in the town of Camberley in Surrey. We have three secondary schools. Clearly I went to the superior one: Tomlinscote. Then there's Collingwood whose alumni includes the 80s boy band Bros. And then there's another school that's not worth mentioning! 

I'm not sure why, but I read somewhere that Steve was another Collingwood alumni and so I wanted to ask him whether he did indeed attend my rival school. As soon as we had finished filming I was ushered in to meet the big guy. So is he in the same category as Matt and Luke Goss (and the other bloke)? You bet your bottle topped shoes he is! Steve confirmed that he did attend there and that he's a year older than I am (I'm happy to say that he thought I was much younger). He made the typical comments about my yellow socks (This was part of my school uniform... I don't wear them now) but I must say that I was just relieved that he did indeed go to the school as the conversation would have been somewhat shorter and more awkward if he'd replied "Collingwhat?". 

So here's the all important pic to show you Steve and myself - lets hope that he hasn't just ticked off another of his Deadly 60 after meeting me!