Celebrity Sightings II

Dave and I were touched by greatness last Wednesday night. Having spent the summer following beautiful folkie Seth Lakeman at various gigs around the capital, we had tickets to see Franz Ferdinand again, this time playing the Forum in Kentish Town. Another stonking gig. However, Dave and I dined in a nearby Ethiopian restaurant beforehand, and to our amazement, Alex Kapranos, Robert Hardy and Paul Thomson walked in halfway through our main course and sat two tables away from us. Actually, to be honest, we didn’t think it was really them at first, as it seemed too improbable. A band due on stage in less than an hour casually popping out to dine rather than choosing to take three lines of coke in their dressing rooms? Plus, for such giant icons of post-punk, they seemed rather small and ordinary-looking. But our assumption that they were just lookalike fans quickly dissipated when a couple of people went up for autographs and took pictures on their mobile phones. I nearly choked on my injera and started trembling as I texted another friend of mine who was going to join us at the gig. Of course I didn’t go up and say anything. Though they were being perfectly charming to anyone who approached, at the time I couldn’t think of anything to say that didn’t sound totally trite or moronic, like, “I think you’re really good” or “I’m coming to your concert tonight.”

I suppose I should have asked Alex K if the restaurant was going to be featured in his Soundbites column in the Guardian, which charts the eateries Franz Ferdinand frequent as they tour the globe. I really hoped it would since that way I could show the article to my friends and say “Look, I was there!” However, on Friday, the last ever Soundbites column appeared which was about rude tourists in Prague, where the band had played two weeks earlier.

It’s been a good season for celebrity spotting in our own locality too, which means I can update our list as follows:

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) (in Florian’s, the Vietnamese Café and outside what used to be The Creamery; 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 (buying a paper from the stand outside KFC, with his family in the kindergarten zoo that is Monkey Nuts on a Saturday lunchtime and most recently in the gym)
Eve Matheson (walking along Weston Park)
Iain Lee (walking along Weston Park and in the gym), who claims Banners to be his favourite café in the whole world.
One of the McGann brothers, 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 played 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. 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.
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) (in the gym, several times).
Dan Stevens, who played Nick Guest in The Line of Beauty, at the W7 bus stop.
Carolyn Pickles, actress (in Highgate Woods).
Peter Capaldi (the mad spin doctor in The Thick Of It) crossing the road between Woolworth’s and the Clocktower.
Paul O’Grady (or his twin) on Inderwick Road.