Celebrity Sightings

Celebrities spotted in Crouch End since we have lived here:
Sean Hughes (in O’s Thai Café)
Juliet Stevenson (crossing the road near the Clocktower)
Cliff Parisi (Minty from EastEnders) (always in Florian’s; alas (?) we missed him opening the Hornsey Vale Community Centre Christmas fair)
Nigel Harman (in the gym)
Stephen Merchant (on a W3 bus)
Dermot Murnaghan (in the gym, buying a paper from the stand outside KFC and most recently with his family in the kindergarten zoo that is Monkey Nuts on a Saturday lunchtime)
Eve Matheson (walking along Weston Park)
Iain Lee (walking along Weston Park), who claims Banners to be his favourite café in the whole world.
One of the McGann brothers, the middle one on the poster for Tom, Dick and Harry, possibly Joe (at the Nationwide cashpoint on the Broadway and outside the Fairwind Trading Company).
Steve McFadden (on Priory Gardens near Highgate tube)
The guy who plays Danny Moon in EastEnders (pissed up outside the pub on Crouch End Hill)
Bob Dylan (headlining at the Fleadh festival in Finsbury Park June 2004).Though all we saw was a crumbly old bloke in a hat and shades hiding at the back of the stage behind a keyboard, croaking out songs and refusing to acknowledge his audience. It could have been anyone really. According to Crouch End legend, Bob once ended up sitting drinking coffee in the lounge at a plumber called Dave’s house, thinking he was actually visiting Dave Stewart (see below). However, Time Out claimed this week that he was put off buying a house in the area after being snubbed by waiting staff at an Indian restaurant and Banners.

Crouch End celebrities whom we haven’t seen:
Fran Healy from Travis, who once brought the band along to play at the Stationers Park summer fête to an audience of around 100 people. It must have been a welcome break from the usual fête fodder of dreadful teenage grunge bands. The other week Mr Healy was also reported to have given a further impromptu performance on the stage in Viva Viva in Hornsey.
Simon Pegg, who filmed much of SHAUN OF THE DEAD in a house on Nelson Road and in our local corner shop on Weston Park (hereafter known as the Zombie Shop).
Bindi Harris, daughter of Rolf Harris. Rolf Harris has used the Hearts & Flowers florist’s on Weston Park at some point, because they have a thank you letter from him pinned to the wall.
Madness, who used to rehearse in a house on Park Road South before anyone had heard of them.
Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, probably the most famous of all Crouch End’s residents - though if it counts, our mate Tony used to play jazz with their flatmate, and a woman who painted our windows this summer (coincidentally another Annie with her own rock’n’roll aspirations) used to hang out with Stewart and Lennox before they became the Tourists. Apparently, in their kitchen, the drugs were plentiful and free-flowing, which Annie the painter thought was a good thing.