England is really so very small that, particularly, once you have become part of private school and university world you tend to have a tenuous connection with almost anyone well-known who is ever mentioned. Even if you just regularly pass them in the street or occasionally see them in a bar. When very, very bored I sometimes check the Births, Marriages and Deaths page of the 'semiT', which also includes Birthdays and/or Obituaries of the Famous and bet myself that I am going to either know, or have seen in the flesh, someone described there. Nine times out of ten I do. The sad thing, I find, is that the minute you have seen or, worse, talked to an actor or musician you (or I) can never really take them seriously again. I have NEVER met anyone famous who had any kind of 'magic' in true life.

This came up as I was reading Badger's account of the J.... B..... film and her plans for D... R.... to be her love slave. I used to come across D. R.. quite often under very un-love slavey conditions. Our daughters were in the same class at Prep. School and were friends. This was long past the J.B. period but she was still majorly well-known and the behaviour of other mothers at the school was quite bizarre. They behaved like slavering courtiers and you felt that they would have been thrilled to curtsey as she passed. Under the circumstances I used to avoid her in person but spoke on the phone to arrange children's tea parties etc. She always had a very annoying smug smile but I suppose that was fair enough as she was queen of the school. The Headmistress had once been an actress herself and sycophantically encouraged actors to send their children there even when the school was theoretically full. She was obviously desperate for their children to enjoy themselves and it became a running joke amongst the (not jealous) non-thespian mothers like me that on Speech Day no actor's child would go home without a prize. This joke reached a high point with D...R... The Day was coming to an end with many cups handed out when the Headmistress rose to her feet. 'This year we have decided to present a special award for the first time. The cup for 'Contributing to School Life in General By Being a Really Nice Person' goes to .... Little Miss R... '. Muted clapping and sniggering filled the hall while D.. R.. acted out delighted surprise and modest pride. Or perhaps it was real.
- posted by Iris @ 2/20/2004 01:42:00 PM comment