A brush with greatness
Remarkable encounters to extraordinary people
The day I caused a soapy Jacuzzi to explode over Robert Evans
In 2003, Jesse Chehak was a photographer’s assistant and was tasked with setting up a shoot location for the Godfather producer
The day Alfred Hitchcock spoke one word to me (and the 40 years it took me to understand it)
It’s summer 1966 in Cambridge, and Christopher Frayling’s Q&A with the great director takes an enigmatic twist
The day I tussled with Pavarotti
At a posh hotel in Italy, photographer Michael Powell gets more than he bargained for when he does a shoot with the tempestuous tenor
The day I listened to Take That chat to adoring fans on the phone
‘You’d better get your smart knickers on to throw at me,’ was just one of the comments Chris Heath overheard
The afternoon I met Diana, Princess of Wales in the ladies’ loo at Le Caprice
It’s 1990, Mayfair, and a starstruck journalist finds herself having a girly chat with the people’s princess
The afternoon Lenny Bruce and I spent cutting out newspaper pin-ups backstage at the Establishment club
It’s 1961 and Roger Law, 20-year-old cartoonist, has an unexpected encounter with America’s most foulmouthed, freethinking comedian
The day Grace Jones told me she 'loved the smell' of my film
It’s 2002, London, the first showing of a film about Grace Jones’s brother, and someone exciting walks in and sits down at the front, recalls Sophie Fiennes
The day I shared a bubble bath with Nina Simone
It’s summer 1999 in London, and Nina Simone’s most devoted fan is about to get a big surprise
The Sunday Jeff Goldblum entertained me in a nail salon
When Bre Graham found herself in a nail salon next to Jeff Goldblum’s wife, she couldn’t have predicted what happened next…
The night I introduced Jean-Michel Basquiat to the world
It’s April 1978, Stan Peskett’s warehouse party in New York, and a street guy wants to do some graffiti
The day I tried to persuade Benazir Bhutto not to return to Pakistan
It’s October 2007, in a cosy flat in Kensington, and the first female prime minister of a Muslim country is determined to return home to fight for democracy
The afternoon I spent with the Goons' inimitable Harry Secombe
It’s 1995, Peter Sellers is dead, Michael Bentine is dying, Spike Milligan says no but one Goon steps into the breach, recalls Roy Bainton
The day I elbowed aside Lou Reed to grab a few words with Nelson Mandela
It’s 1990, the South African icon is free at last, and Michael Odell, an intrepid young journalist buttonholes him backstage at Wembley Stadium
The summer afternoon I shared a dining table with Kraftwerk
It’s September 2009, Bestival on the Isle of Wight, and massive electro fan John Rutledge from Goldie Lookin Chain is joined by some well-mannered men wearing braces…
The day I photographed the Queen and her dogs in the living room at Balmoral
It’s 1967, and David Montgomery, a terrified young American photographer, is commissioned to shoot our monarch at home
The day Van Morrison remembered me – and impressed my girlfriend
A chance encounter in a restaurant in Bath with Van the Man leads to a bizarre series of events for one fan, recalls Jon Bewley
The lunchtime I spent with Michael Foot at Dylan Thomas's house
It’s April 1997, west Wales, and a well-read old man with a shock of white hair wants to tell Steve Dubé about a dear old friend
The evening Jude Law saved my bacon
It’s just before Christmas 2003, Somerset House has installed an ice rink in the courtyard and Peter Stanford is learning his limitations with the silver blades
The morning Hillary Clinton came to Shirley Williams's aid on Woman’s Hour
It’s 2014, there are serious matters to discuss, everything from Monica Lewinsky to Benghazi, but the former presidential candidate has something to say first…
The night Captain Beefheart drove me into the hills in a red Corvette
It’s 1974, and a young Caroline Boucher is in Los Angeles to meet scary legend Don Van Vliet…
About 116 results for A brush with greatness 
