Celebrity Spotting
A call came in late this morning from a posh hotel in Central London.
“It’s one of our guests,” explained the receptionist. “He was shaving and dropped something on to a glass shelf. It broke and the shards hit him on his arm… it’s absolutely pouring with blood, we just can’t get it under control…”
A fairly routine call so far. I moved on to take the rest of the details.
“How old is he?” I asked.
“Well, actually, erm, I wouldn’t like to say…” said the receptionist. “You see, it’s…”
He whispered the name of a very famous male actor, whom I shall henceforth refer to as Actor X.
I tried to think how old the actor in question was, but my knowledge of the celebrity world is entirely gleaned from copies of Heat and Closer left lying around the control room, so had to enter a wild guess. Glancing across the room, I saw that my colleagues on the Central Desk were a bit snowed under, and had sent the call to an ambulance before I’d had time to enter the patient’s name on the ticket. As soon as I’ve finished the call, I ran up to them and pointed it out.
“Actor X? The Actor X?” asked the Sector Controller.
“Yes,” I said proudly.
It was all pandemonium from then on, with all the female staff crowding around the Central Desk, demanding to know how poor Actor X was doing. I was informed that I had underestimated his age by ten years, which I hope brightened his day. The press office was notified and we waited with baited breath. I chuckled to think of the crew receiving this job, thinking “oh, a boring old cut arm” and then seeing the patient’s name.
You’ll be glad to know that the cuts were nasty but not serious and he was stitched up by the local hospital and discharged.
This is the second call I’ve taken about a celebrity: a year or two ago I arranged a blue light transfer all the way across London for East 17 singer Brian Harvey after he was (somewhat bizarrely) run over by the car he was driving. I also took a call for one Harry Potter the other day, but I’m assured it wasn’t the real one.
on June 29th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
I wonder if he had a shaving KIT
on June 29th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Luckily he had a Knight to Ride to his assistance…
on June 29th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Damn I read way too many blogs/gossip columns, thought it was him. By the time I got to line 4 I was sure!
on June 29th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Damn I read way too many blogs/gossip columns, thought it was him. By the time I got to line 4 I was sure!
on June 29th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
It confused me no end as to how you can be run over by a car you are driving.
I also appear to have no gossip sense.
on June 29th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
I guess that brushes with celebrity come from working in a “hot shot city” (which is particularly good).
on June 29th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Okay, you lot… how the hell do you know who it was? It only happened a few hours ago and I didn’t think “famous actor cuts arm in shaving accident” was going to make front page news!
on June 29th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
That was in today’s popbitch:
“Hoffwatch: Dave is today receiving treatment at St Txxxxx’ Hospital, after leaving the Sxxxxxxxx Hotel in an ambulance. He “cut himself shaving”, apparently.”
on June 29th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
Heh, that would give it away a bit! Well, I did *try* to preserve his confidentiality there! Never mind!
on June 30th, 2006 at 12:11 am
[…] Nee Naw […]
on June 30th, 2006 at 8:28 am
Cuts to the arm, eh? That’s definitely self-harm. Shaving accident my ar$e. The pressure just got too much for The Hoff…
(this am joke)
on June 30th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Regarding running oneself over with the car one is driving, my father did that once. His car was stuck between the kerb and a concrete barrier that was designed to prevent people from parking where he was parked — it hadn’t stopped him getting into the space, but it was doing a pretty good job of stopping him from getting back out. In an an attempt to lever the car out, he unwisely put one leg on the ground outside the car. He succeeded a little too well, and ended up under the wheels when the car jerked forward and he lost his balance. Nasty abrasions and bruising all over one side of his body, although he made a full recovery.
Apparently it happens more often than you’d think: the doctor, after pausing to have a little chuckle at Dad’s expense, mentioned he’d heard of two similar cases, one of which was fatal.
on June 30th, 2006 at 10:40 am
Ouch! Glad your dad wasn’t too badly hurt. His accident makes more sense than Brian Harvey’s. Apparently he had a “dodgy stomach” and leaned out of the car to be sick, forgetting to put the handbrake on, and he fell out and then ended up under the wheels. I still can’t quite get my head around it! Poor bloke nearly died.
on June 30th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
I was slightly disturbed by this entry. All interest in one actor, our world has gone completely crazy… A doubt a child run over by a car would generate the same amount of interest though I am probably just being overly cynical - feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
on June 30th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
I don’t see anything wrong with it myself - it’s human nature to have idols and take interest in the lives of famous strangers. It’s not like he had preferential treatment or anything (it was still only an amber call, and we didn’t get there any faster!) If you worked in McDonald’s and had a famous client as a customer, you’d be excited and tell people about it, wouldn’t you? Same if you work for the ambulance service.
I *am* surprised that such a mundane injury made it into gossip columns mere hours after the incident, though. Obviously a shortage of gossip yesterday!
on June 30th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5135030.stm
on June 30th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Wow, that’s certainly changed a bit in translation, hasn’t it? I guess a chandelier sounds a lot more glamorous than a glass shelf…
on July 1st, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Hmmm, us ordinary folk have to contend with glass shelves while celebs’ stories are sexed up into glamourous chandelier accidents. It reminds me of the time I heard that Boy George was nearly killed by a giant disco ball.
on July 1st, 2006 at 4:51 pm
of course. Celebrities can’t be clumsy and drop things while doing something as human as shaving. He has to be so AMAZINGLY TALL and MANLY that he hit his head on a LIGHT FITTING, oops sorry I mean CHANDELIER, after coming out from the GYM, all full of TESTOSTERONE and WONDERFULNESS.
Yay PR.
on July 1st, 2006 at 8:53 pm
We had a famous country singer with an obstructed bowel here once. Does that count?
on July 3rd, 2006 at 11:50 pm
Running yourself over is obvioulsy not as odd as our family thought after all.
My uncle did it, opening a farm gate and driving his pick up through using a hand throttle. He slipped in the mud, casum him to fall, the engine to rev and the truck to run over his leg - fortunately squashing it into the mud. It took about 3 days for the tire track bruises to appear apparently.
on July 5th, 2006 at 11:55 am
How ironic. I was working in St Txxxxxx A&E watching bays when that ambulance carrying actor x arrived.
on July 5th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
A busy time for your man: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5149782.stm
on July 10th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Sorry Mark I came accross as grumpy in my last comment. I didn’t mean my comment in the way it came accross, I’m just one of the few people in this country who wouldn’t recognise a cellebrity if they punched me (let alone came into work - heaven forbid they’d do that without notice I’m a youth worker). On a related note a certain cellebrity is a regular in one of the cinemas in Cardiff where a friend of mine works, my friend failed spectacularly to recognise said cellebrity and asked her for ID before letting her into an 18…
on August 11th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
well, arent you the professional. the actors name wasnt important for the CAD, the crew didnt need to be told it before they arrived and you certainly didnt need to tell anyone else in control.
maybe it made you feel big
on August 11th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Actually, the dispatch desk needed to know in order to notify the press office, and anyway, I always put the patient’s name on the ticket if I’m told it. What exactly is your problem?
on September 7th, 2006 at 12:03 am
Quote: Actually, the dispatch desk needed to know in order to notify the press office, and anyway, I always put the patient’s name on the ticket if I’m told it. What exactly is your problem? Unquote
Jealousy, mate.
For what it’s worth, I met more celebrities when I worked in my local supermarket than any of my friends in their “high powered” jobs do now. Everyone has to eat, I guess!
on September 13th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
My tech colleague took a celeb’s mate into A & E the other day. Then the celeb turned up to visit!
Does that count?
Nice blog son
Tommy