Bookends
I began my day by being approached in the coffee shop on the way to work by a well-built, smiling Scotsman with very short hair. He asked me if I was Andrew Collins. I told him I was. He very kindly told me he enjoyed my books and said he had read "all three" (which includes the latest, something that particularly pleases me, considering how well hidden it's been from view). He said he got the last one in an offer, and sort of apologised for this but I said it was cool. I hope my pleasure at being told what he told me was apparent from my face and response. He then said he hoped I didn't mind him approaching me. Of course not, I said. As he walked off, still smiling, he said he doesn't do this sort of thing normally, and he hoped I didn't think he was a stalker. I said I didn't. It was, I admit, a happy start to my working day.
At the end of the working day, as I passed through the train station nearest to my office I caught the eye of another man, who removed one of his earpieces and made noises that suggested he, too, recognised me. What a good day I was having! He asked me if I was ... Mark Steel. I laughed and said that I wasn't, but that I am aware I do look like him. He looked embarrassed and I was keen for him not to be, having crossed the line and asked me if I was him. I told the man that I sometimes thought Mark Steel was me, which must have been a strange thing for him to hear, unless he knew that I sometimes appear on the television, which he may not have done. We agreed between us, as we both walked up the steps, that Mark Steel is very good. The man really liked his lectures. I told the man that I knew Mark Steel, which I kind of do, in that we would stop and say hello if we passed. I hoped this made him feel better - at least he recognised someone who knew the person he thought he was speaking to. (I have never discussed the fact that I look like Mark Steel with Mark Steel, or that I genuinely do sometimes see him on telly and think, in that split second, that I'm on.)
So, a very neat day. At one end I was me, at the other I was somebody else famous.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 6:16 PM
14 Comments
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14 Comments:
Just googled Mark Steel - the first pick was the independent journalist (don't see a resemblance). You're more famous than him Andrew!
I hope you gave the well-built Scotsman your blog address so he can see he's famous too now. Us non-famous people like that kind of thing.
If I ever see you in the street I will come up to you and tell you that I liked your books. However the fact that I have told you in a blog maybe means that I now don't need to - oh well.......
Found out that Mark Steel the journalist is the same guy as the stand up comedian. Forgive my ignorance. Curiously, I asked some of my friends if they'd heard of Andrew and they said no alas - but they all knew who Stuart Maconie was! Weird.
Andrew
Yes, you do look a bit like Mark Steel (or is it that he looks like you ?) Perhaps it’s the abundant dark hair & rather swarthy looks ? And the fact that you both are lefty, thoughtful, humourous writers. I have seen you both perform so I can confirm the passing similarity. You at a “Banter” recording, Mark Steel performing in Maidstone. I had to leave the MS gig before the end to catch the last bus home & had to endure barbed comments from the man himself as I reluctantly scuttled out of the venue with what dignity I could muster. Er, none. Oh, the mortification.
oh, shit. I've been writing the occasional comment on here under the assumption that this was Mark Steel's blog. Now I feel so stooooopid.
AnonoNick
Who you really look like, Andrew, is the young Fred Trueman.
Whoaa! - Edgy, man!!
http://www.answers.com/topic/mark-steel-jpg
I've often thought Mark Steel was you.
Someone once asked me if I was Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones. Twelve year old boys don't want to hear that kind of thing.
You do look like Mark Steel, but you ain't got the Swanley twang. You could have voice coaching for that, though.
Five-centres' comment above is the funniest thing I have read all week. I can't stop laughing...
Has anyone ever seen them in the same room?
Hey, Chris Burgess, this is exactly what I said when Ingmar Bergman and Mike Reid died at the same time.
This is all getting confusing - firstly I was thinking that AC looked nothing like Mark Thomas until I realised that everyone was in fact talking about Mark Steel! In my defence I have recently read books by both these coves - "Its Not A Runner Bean" and "As Used on Nelson Mandela" respectively - so they've all kinda blurred into one giant seethe of leftist writers.
Then I gets to thinking that there is a marked similarity twixt AC and MS in the fizzog department, so much so that when the train picture appears I'm actually puzzled as to who it is in the picture! Its Mark Steel isn't it? Isn't it?
Incidentally there's this character on the Guardian's science podcast who sounds just like AC. He has both a lookalikee and a soundalikee! Or is it just a standard-but-not-readily-identifiable Northants accent, if there is such a thing. Not that I'm taking the piss or ought - I'm from Leicester, and with this twang have nothing to crow about in the linguistic superiority stakes ...... me duck.
BR
Mick S.
As the "well built Scotsman with short hair" - what a kind description, the usual adjectives applied to me are fat and bald - I'd like to say that meeting on Wednesday also made a pleasant start to my day.
I've noticed you in there before but won't divulge the location of the coffee shop in case there are any real Andrew Collins stalkers out there.
Not that I'm too bothered about saving you from obsessive fans but I don't want the place to get so busy that I can't get my coffee as quickly as I'm used.
Oh and by the way, I'm a bit Everything but the Girl fan as well.
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