Throwback Thursday: What is the most famous person you have met? #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

In 1983, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was the president of Iceland. She was the world's first woman who was democratically elected as president. I was 13 years old. During the last couple of weeks of school, they didn´t really teach us. It was more like doing projects, going to museums and such. I signed up for this international dance group. We were dressed in their old clothes type of thing.

Well, just a few weeks after that is over and school is out, my home town is celebrating its 75th anniversary and president Vigdís comes to town. Anywho, I was asked to dress up again and bring her flowers as she came to town on her official visit. I could not find a picture of me and her but below is a picture of president Vigdís with prime minister Thatcher that same year.

So, what is the most famous person you have met?

Let’s make it a great Thursday!
KGM

[Peter Van de Voorde]

Great question @Kristján Geir Mathiesen .

For me it would depend on what you mean by famous :)
As a Java Developer I was had the pleasure to meet James Gosling (the Father of Java).

As an Atlassian I had the pleasure to meet with Scott and Mike several times and have conversations with them.

As a community leader I had the astound pleasure to meet @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- several times already.

I have never met a famous politician or musician (yet :) )

Cheers,
Peter

[Dan Breyen]

Dennis DeYoung of Styx.  We ran into them the next morning after a concert at a casino.  Were able to chat with him and his wife, Suzanne for a few minutes.  Great Guy.

Also saw Tiny Tim walking with his wife around NE Mpls, MN back in the early 90's.  Didn't talk w/ him, but I recognized him.

[Joanna Weber]

I was eleven and my best friend's dad was a press secretary at the House of Commons. There was a children's party there and we were invited along. The person hosting the event got me to do an impression of Margaret Thatcher and I turned around to see her standing directly behind me. She was very polite about it.

[sarah_jerkins]

WAAAAAAAY back in the day I used to work as "security" for the eventplace called the CNN Center in Atlanta.  So, with that said, I've met LL Cool J, Deion Sanders and Comedian Chris Spencer.  On a side note - Once on vacation walking down a street in Miami - A young lady appeared out of the side door of a club with a note pad.  She said to us, "Hey, you!  Did you guys wanna see Prince?".  We said HECKY YEAH!!  So, we went in the side door and saw Prince perform for free!!  I love remembering my old life....

[Victoria Vlad]

A few months ago, I was on train from NYC to Philadelphia for work. I was in the 1st class coach. Just before the train arrived in Philadelphia, I decided to use the restroom but unfortunately, it was occupied. As I patiently waited for the person inside the restroom to come out, I looked out the moving train window and thought about an episode of "Breaking Bad" (American TV series) I had just watched the night before in my hotel. That thought got me thinking about another great scene in that show where one of the show's greatest villains, Gus Fring, dies & at that moment, as I am lost in that thought, the restroom door opens and out comes Gus Fring, well, the actor who played Gus Fring-- Giancarlo Esposito! I just stood there stupefied staring at him with mouth agape. Soon as I finished using the restroom, I went over to his seat and told him what a big fan I was of all his work (he really is a wonderful actor). He was very gracious. It was a brief encounter but one I won't forget for a long time :-)

[Tim C]

Hi @Kristján Geir Mathiesen

Your post just reminded me that back then (in 80's) we somehow received a postcard to my parents address apparently from this same lady president of Iceland.  We've got no connections to Iceland and still never understood how or why this came to us.  It had Icelandic stamps & postmarks on it. Weird.

Martin Gore from Depeche Mode probably has to be most famous person I've met - although Clare Grogan (Altered Images) and Tracy Tracy (from the Primitives) are both lovely too.

[Rachel McDonald]

I met Marie Osmond when I worked the front desk at a hotel. She and her assistants were checking in. She was just so sweet. And super gracious when I asked for her autograph. :) 

[Amanda Barber]

I can't remember ever meeting anyone famous aside from some local politicians. Love reading everyone's stories though!

[Danno]

I would think Paul Newman might count. When he was still enjoying his hobby racing he was invited by the Panoz Team to drive at the Daytona 24 hr. race.

[Laurie Sciutti]

Met Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) on an elevator in Vegas a few years back... Also stood next to James Hetfield (Metallica) in a buffet line once but was too star-struck to speak.  LOL  I was a big Metallica fan...  🤘🏻🤘🏻

[Trudy Claspill]

Back in the 70's at some event (fair or tradeshow) where a famous person might sign autographs I got an autograph from Lou Ferrigno. That was my only time that I know of that I've "met" somebody famous from the entertainment industry.

[Ram Kumar Aravindakshan _Adaptavist_]

In the IT sector, I met James Gosling when they had a Java summit in Malaysia.

In the entertainment sector, I've met a couple of actors and actresses.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Thank you all for your fun comments!

How strange was that, @Victoria Vlad !!!!!

Weird that you would get that postcard from Vigdís, Tim C!

[Dave Mathijs]

That would be Max Verstappen, meeting him at the international karting circuit in Genk, Belgium in 2015. At that time he had just entered his first year in F1 and was driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso as a team mate of Carlos Sainz.

Max being born in Hasselt (today 26 years ago), living in Maaseik (where I live) before moving to Monaco, it was only by coincidence that I bumped into him at the circuit - where he grew up and obliterated the competition - that he was driving some laps for fun at the pro circuit and my son was driving in a rental kart on the fun circuit next to it.

I got a picture of my son alongside Max, but he didn't have a clue who Max was at the time.

I told my son: That's a future world champion F1.

And well, standing in the queue at the bakery's alongside Max's mom, Sophie Kumpen (who also had a successful career in karting racing against Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella), does that also count?

[Benjamin]

I don't think I meet anyone famous. The closest I have gotten to meet someone famous was attending concerts or improvs.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

For me, the events are all a bit tenuous because "met" is mostly a strong word.  If it's okay to claim "met" means "spent 30 seconds talking to them", then I've got quite a few I could claim, although I'm probably not the right person to judge who might be "most famous".

I will have to go with Elizabeth II as she's probably at the top of the "most" list, and I've met her twice - once at my school's 500th anniversary of its re-founding, and then for dinner while at university.

But I've spent longer with other famous people. My places of work have meant I've run into many premier league managers, politicians, and a lot more film and TV actors, as well as presenters, but again, the definition of "met" is weak - at most a 10-minute chat while waiting for something.

I think the only screen celebrity I've spent more than a few minutes with was Sandie Shaw, when she was working with my mother.

So, there's a handful of famous people I have spent more time with, and I consider these people to be far more noteworthy than the people on screen.  Mainly I'm thinking of our Community leaders and Atlassians or partners, so... many... I don't want to start a list, because my memory is so bad and I'm certainly going to miss some.  Heck, I've been on holiday with some of you! 

(And on the not-directly-Atlassian-but-still-horribly-geeky side, I've worked with three of the authors of the Agile manifesto, one just before it was published, one shortly after, and the third is now a fellow Adaptavist)

I think my favourite "meeting celebrities" story is from Summit 2013, where I headed off to the toilet after the opening keynote, and while I was washing my paws, Scott came to the sink next to me, glanced at my badge and then dragged me across the hall to meet the people who were running Community at the time.  

[Monique vdB]

I mostly just see celebrities on TV and movie sets and try to play it cool, but I did converse with Robin Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger while working on a show, so I will say them! What a fun question. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Oh, thanks crummy memory, for mentioning this days after the post.

Didn't a load of us meet the B52s at Summit 2019?  

[Legally Scented]

I have met some of the coolest athletes but I think my all time favorite was when I was living in Costa Rica and I had the opportunity to referee a scrimmage and Walter Centeno was there for the pick up game. It was one of the best feelings ever to be able to watch him play "for fun"

[Markku Miettunen]

I met (or rather, saw) Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh when she was visiting a church. Very impressing indeed :)