WAS GREAT TO MEET

I met one of my tv heroes last night.  He may not be familiar to many of you, but to those who enjoyed Would Like To Meet back in the early 00's, get ready to squeal like a piggy.  Jeremy Milnes hosted the NHS Health & Social Care Awards last night, at which I was a (VIP) guest.  My lovely friend organised the whole amazing bash and I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the lovely Jeremy.  

Now for me, celebrities no matter how Z list evoke a horrible memory.  Back when I was a student, round about 1992-ish, I met Glenda Jackson.  Well, I say met, it was more like stared. She was attending a student rally about loans ("we won't pay our loans back".... but actually did in the end) and I was determined to meet her.  As an 18 year old ex-pat from Aberdeen I had never had so much as a sniff of celebrity.  The march ended, the rally began and there she was.  Glenda in all her splenda.  Fiercly intelligent.  Strikingly beautiful.  I had to meet her.  So I sidled over the the group of people she was talking to and managed to infiltrate the little circle.  I had some kind of rucksacky messenger bag thing with me, and suddenly it was my only comfort.  Glenda looked at me, I smiled.... and smiled. And smiled.  There I was, standing staring at her, smiling smiling smiling like some loon at high tide.  Clutching the strap of my rucksack with white knuckles of fear.  I totally lost my nerve and ran off into the crowd.  Luckily a friend captured the moment on camera and it still haunts me to this day.

Flash forward 16 or so years.  Would Like To Meet, for those who don't know, was one of the pioneer shows which would now fall under the banner of 'reality tv'.  It and Changing Rooms were probably the only ones around at the time which made them especially fascinating to watch.  I think it was shown on BBC2 because obviously BBC1 would never have anything so dumb as reality tv, and BBC3 hadn't been invented at that time.  The premise of WLTM was to take a desperately single person who couldn't attract a mate.  Divorcees, men who lived with their mothers, single parents.... they were a total dating disaster.  Researchers would ask the singletons all about their ideal partners, and then set them up with a 'fake date' which was filmed by hidden cameras, usually in a really nice restaurant.  As the singletons were having dinner with someone who was pretty much out of their league, it was car crash.  Not only that, but the fakedater was also being given instructions from a team of experts to do things that would make the singleton feel even worse.  

After they left the date, having confirmed they would be single forever, the singleton went home miserable.  But wait... who is that at the door?  It's the WLTM coaching team!  Three angels from heaven sent to help the singleton.  Pre-Trinny & Susannah, this was proper coaching not just ripping them apart.  The singleton was given help with personal style and grooming, flirting and confidence.

The confidence coach was Jeremy Milnes.  I learned SO MUCH from watching this man!  I used to hate making small talk. I would write it off as 'irrelevant' or 'beneath me' when actually I found it terrifying to talk to people about nothing.  This was one of Jeremy's best tricks.  He would coach the singleton into making small talk with people - in bookshops, bars, pavements... wherever.  It taught me that if you just take the first step, pretty much everyone will have a conversation with you.  Usually they are waiting for someone to talk to them too. Anyway, I'm not a tv critic so if you want to find out more I'm sure you could google it or YouTube it or whatever you young people do.  The episodes usually ended with fantastically confident, sexy singletons having amazing dates with people.

So, meeting Jeremy last night was a real honour.  I tried to rid myself of the memory of Glenda, particularly bearing in mind the fact I was meeting a man who teaches people to come across confidently and make good small talk.  I think I was probably a bit too much on the stalky side of firm hand shake and manly back slapping, but overall I was really chuffed with my little conversation.  I told him how much I loved WLTM and he was so pleased that someone remembered it.  And.... EXCLUSIVE SCOOP.... I can reveal that today, as we speak, he is in London filming Would Like To Meet Again!  A one off special looking at what happened to the singletons.  I am so excited!!  

Usually we are told not to meet our heroes because they will only disappoint us.  I disagree.  Meeting Jeremy was like a dream come true, and it made me realise how much this man had influenced me over the years without him ever knowing.  I was very proud to have the opportunity to thank him in person.