Thread: One Memorable Person You've Met...

Sitting in a bar in Amsterdam around 1990. had a conversation with an Irisman with cerebal palsey. He gave me his life story, growing up with a house full of siblings in a poor family and being treated like a simpleton. Against the odds, he eventually got an education and graduated university. His story which he told without any hint of playing the victim, was quite inspiring. I admired what he achieved in life with the hand he was dealt.

...^exactly the kind of encounter I'd like to see in this thread...*mwah*...

i did have a drink in a pub in corfu with ALEX HIGGINGS but so did everyone else.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

There's also Jason, the curly haired nutter who used to trawl around CM.

Oh yeah I remember him! He used to go out wearing a dress at times.

Haven't seen or heard of him in since forever though. Is he still around?

I've also just remembered that I've met Prayut though I guess that very fact I had entirely forgotten it means it doesn't count for this thread.

Met an Australian governor-general one day.
Asked him who his boss was.
He smiled and moved on .......

Originally Posted by tomcat

...^exactly the kind of encounter I'd like to see in this thread...*mwah*...

A Malaysian lady who participated in one of my seminars/workshops on Change Management in dealing with Indigenous Communities in Sabah - LLB degree at Sydney Uni, MBA in Switzerland, three children, whitewater rafter . . . no hands. A remarkable woman.

Met and worked with/for many famous people, but the most memorable person I ever met was a giant Lakota Sioux bloke in the Badlands National Park in the US.

Originally Posted by frank barber

the most memorable person I ever met was a giant Lakota Sioux bloke

...^why was he memorable?...

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Oh yeah I remember him! He used to go out wearing a dress at times.

Haven't seen or heard of him in since forever though. Is he still around?

Haven't seen him for years. His brother got married to a farang bird and ended up in hospital after jumping off a first floor balcony on his wedding night.

I suspect they were dropped on their heads as babies.

Thalidomide victim, arms couldn't have been more than 3-4" long and a bit thicker than cigarettes, smoked, played cards and backgammon with his feet, could slice through water like a dolphin, dine at restaurants without a mess, use a phone, assemble Lego-type kits, and no problem shopping or social mixing. Asked about the stares he would say no problem, he enjoys entertaining and inspiring people through a more or less normal life, while gawkers are more uncomfortable than he would ever be.

Originally Posted by jabir

dine at restaurants without a mess

...I wonder how he would eat with his feet...

Originally Posted by tomcat

...I wonder how he would eat with his feet...

His feet were his hands, toes fine tuned as fingers to handle cutlery/phone/cards/money, and he could do just about everything toward a normal life, with little choice since birth but to train his toes to become fingers. Fex, anyone that's played backgammon will know how much manual dexterity is involved, esp at the speed we used to play; he would remove his shoes, lean back on his seat and dazzle us with what his toes could do. For your query, his feet would feed him.

Not sure how he dressed and showered, but clearly somehow he managed.

Would've created interesting situations in LOS because of the Thai sensitivities regarding feet.

William Flood-Murphy, Hong Kong, mid-1970s.

He had some wonderful tales and although some cynics claimed it all to be BS there were so many details that I still believe they were mostly true. Irish landed background, he claimed to be the 'Murphy" mentioned in T E Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", piloting a biplane somewhere. He said he drove an Aston Martin but never washed it, because he could. Not sure if this was pre or post WWII.
I can't remember if he was born in Russia He said his earliest memory was being in a horse-drawn sleigh, wrapped in furs in his mother's arms, in the snow in St. Petersburg.
He had connections, somewhere, senior peple said he was okay. Although he was an alcoholic he did have dry spells. Occasionally.
He claimed that he was at Yalta in WWII and that he could be seen in some of the shots standing close behind Roosevolt, Stalin and Churchill. No Internet back then. He wasn't the kind of chap who people challenged to show the picture. I have looked but can't see him.
He was on his third or fourth wife, a very nice Japanese lady, and they had a daughter, Maeve Flood-Murphy. (You can Google her, if you care.) She used to play under my desk when she was about four years old.
Flood, as he was generally known, was a kind and generous man. Wherever he had been in his life, he had found his way through it. We younger chaps all stood at the bar and tut-tutted because Flood drank so much, but when sober he was less engaging company.
Hadn't thought about him in years, but since you ask.
Ave atque vale, Flood.

Originally Posted by docmartin

Would've created interesting situations in LOS because of the Thai sensitivities regarding feet.

Last I saw him was in the (then) gym by the Jomtien police box, where he used to go for an hour rigorous workout twice daily.

Prince Andrew gave me directions to Lochnagar on an OS 1:50000 map after encountering me trespassing illegally on his mum's estate.

What a pukka prince.

Me and my best friend met Tina the tranny and her friend , a B celebrity actor show girl in Vancouver. Met Seymour street. Had a wild night .

Lunch with Phil Collins in our local, our children went to the same village school.

Chatted to David Gilmour whilst awaiting the 19:15 London train one November evening. West Sussex is full of "celebrities".