ShopBrush with fame
July 1, 2009 by Editor - Ivan Blake
Filed under Magazine News
Christine’s brush with fame…
In the early 90s, James and I were in an airport queue in LA, with our three young children, at some ungodly hour when we recognised Billy Connolly and his wife Pamela in front of us, with their young daughters. We tried but failed to think of something witty to say, so we said nothing. Billy turned around and spoke to Kitty, who was about 3, same age as one of theirs. He said ‘Look at that little girl behind you, she’s sitting quietly on the trolley, she’s a good girl.’ It was rare for Kitty to be quiet, (although she was a good little traveller) but she was probably half asleep.
Years later, my son Dom and I recognised Billy Connolly in a hotel lounge in Melbourne. We urged each other to go and say hello, but we were too chicken. Later, his companion told us Billy would have loved to talk to us…
I went to school with Greta Scacchi who made it big in Hollywood and Europe. She was in our school musical - absolute natural born actress! I am from Perth Western Australia, and ironically the school we went to was in a suburb called Hollywood — Hollywood Senior High School! Kim Beazley went there too, a few years earlier than us.
G’day Maxwell
Cheers, Steve
Thanks for getting in touch and sorry for the delay getting back to you. Thing is, I’ve been tippy-toeing around the subject of asking you for an invite to any forthcoming school reunions, but didn’t know how to raise the subject without coming across as a celebrity groupie - which I’ll deny, of course. But I am impressed and unable to compete. Although I did go to the same school as Craig McLachlan, if that counts? But as you indicated, whether it’s Greta or another celebrity, it’s easy to predict, even from an early age, that they’re destined for bigger things. BTW Maxwell, your resemblance to The Skipper is uncanny!
While working as a nurse at the Fitzroy Nuffield Hospital in London in 1989, the King of Jordan, King Hussein, came to officially “open” the hospital after bequesting a large x-ray machine, worth several million dollars worth. There was a huge marquee erected in the park over the road from the hospital where the King and Queen Noir had morning tea with the staff. We all individually met the King and Queen. He was very chatty to all. There didn’t appear to be hundreds of security staff around either. It was very nice and quite informal as well.