Celebmatch/celeb spotting/weekends

[GulPlum]

The results Celebmatch came up with for me were ... interesting.

Gina Gerson (99%), I like (apart from other things, she's one day younger 
than myself), although what she sees is Owen Wilson is beyond me. However, 
Lorraine Kelly (98%) (non-Brits, don't ask) - yeuch!

Looking at HP-related folk, a 94% average compatibility with Emma Thompson 
pleases me, especially the 100% "physical"....

I'm not sure how to take a 99% "intellectual" match with young Master 
Radcliffe (although the other indicators were very low)!

As for celeb spotting/name dropping... Starting with the HP world, I've met 
John Cleese on several occasions (enough to have interesting in-depth 
conversations); I've encountered Richard Harris a couple of times (though 
not to speak to) and I've seen Michael Gambon on stage (and outside stage 
doors afterwards).

My main HP cast claim to fame, though, is that I lived on the same street 
as the Radcliffes for about 7 months in 1998. I must've seen young Dan in 
the street several times over that period (although of course I didn't know 
it at the time). I discovered this fact when visiting a friend who still 
lives there in the summer of 2000, and he described the media kerfuffle 
when the HP casting was announced...

Other than the HP world, I used to see John Simpson (BBC journalist) on the 
tube almost every day; the late Willie Rushton used to buy his cigarettes 
from the same shop I did in the Earls Court Road (some dreadful, smelly, 
yellow brand, I recall). I could also mention the current Pope, I suppose 
(private half-hour audience for group of eight); I also met him about 5 
years before he took up the position (he was visiting our school) and there 
was a photo in the school album of him patting me on the head.

Oh, and talking of neighbours, I lived next door to Charles Gray (famous, 
depending on one's interests, as Blofeld in "Diamonds Are Forever", or as 
The Narrator in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" movie) back in the early 
nineties. He was a raging queen and would regularly have huge arguments in 
the middle of the night with the toy boys he'd picked up (and thrown out), 
standing on his first-floor street-facing balcony and throwing the 
unfortunate youth his clothes one by one...

As for choosing house guests for a weekend, I love a good argument, so for 
my dead guests, I'd like to invite two pairs of adversaries: Hitler and 
Churchill (AFAIK, they never actually met), and for some intellectual 
debate, Samuel Johnson (he of the English Dictionary) and Noah Webster (he 
of the American). They had very different views about language and the 
divergence of our common yet separate languages is largely traceable to 
those ideas. Churchill would also have a lot to say to both of them, though 
I'm not sure how Herr Hitler would fit in.

As for those still alive, I'd like to get JKR and Philip Pullman to knock 
heads and ideas (and I think they'd fit in rather nicely with the rest of 
the crowd). I'd invite Robin Day (British journalist, now retired) to tell 
some of his stories (he's an incredible raconteur) and to keep order 
(nobody could chair a discussion the way he did).

Of course, I'd need a bit of eye candy, but I wouldn't like her (them) to 
be out of her (their) depth intellectually,  so I'm not quite sure. I'd 
have to think about that one for a bit longer...