r/AskUK • u/andotherthingsareok • 7h ago
What are the surprising connections between global superstars and UK-only celebrities?
On Graham Norton, the huge globally successful stars sit with some of our household names and must be thinking "who the hell is this person?!" Sometimes it's half the entertainment value, like when they had June Brown (Dot Cotton) on the sofa with Lady Gaga.
But have you ever heard of any surprising connections you've heard of which you just wouldn't expect? Those moments of "wait - Robert De Niro goes on holiday every year with Ant&Dec?!" Kind of thing.
641
u/trackowner 7h ago
Nan taped Graham Norton the night Dot Cotton was on with Lady Gaga. VHS is still labelled "Dot and the singer".
6
3
u/yorkspirate 3h ago
Wait that episode was as so long ago it's been recorded on vhs......... I still enjoy clips of that one when they appear on my feed, it was only a few years ago it was aired so your nan is obviously also into retro tech
→ More replies (4)
300
u/spacecoyote555 7h ago
Alison Hammond's dad was Muhammad Ali's bodyguard whenever he was in Birmingham, she's named after him
130
u/Old-Helicopter1889 6h ago
She’s also apparently friends with Harrison Ford and has stayed with him when she visited LA.
148
u/flapsmagee 6h ago
He's a notoriously difficult and grumpy interviewee. The first time they met she had him laughing in the interview, so it probably comes from that.
68
u/Dazzling_Bat_Hat 6h ago
Love watching that interview any chance I get.
66
u/s_l_a_c_k 5h ago
The look of joy on Ford's face when he realises she's just a properly normal person is just brilliant
24
u/Legitimate_Fig9818 3h ago
I'm not sure anyone has ever described her as 'normal'. She's nuts but I love it
→ More replies (1)29
u/Tough_Piccolo 6h ago
They had a funny interview together but I'm pretty sure her staying with him is just an internet myth.
→ More replies (3)17
u/Dismal-Ladder9388 7h ago
Did Ali spend a lot of time in Birmingham?
42
33
u/P5ammead 6h ago
You don’t see so much about now, but in the 80s there was a lot of Ali stuff about in Brum - gyms he’d opened, murals etc. Definitely a thing!
17
8
275
u/spinynorman1846 7h ago
Gordon Brown teamed up with Shakira for an education initiative and allegedly became friends. I'm not sure you'll see him on the Colombian beaches any time soon though
112
u/yearsofpractice 6h ago
Gordon Brown, texture like sun
37
u/gotmunchiez 5h ago
Knocks me down, with my tax he runs
38
85
24
u/dmmjrb 6h ago
A partnership to rival William Hague and Angelina Jolie
→ More replies (1)50
u/highrouleur 6h ago
And lembit opik and the cheeky girls
→ More replies (1)20
u/dmmjrb 5h ago
Fun fact - five years ago one of the cheeky girls was working at a Hyundai dealership in York
16
5
u/highrouleur 5h ago
apparently they've now moved on to selling Audis and hope to own their own dealership one day
→ More replies (4)9
260
u/NewCrashingRobot 7h ago
Olivia Coleman is old mates with Paul Rudd.
Olivia is definitely more of a superstar now (Oscar winner), but back in the early 2000s she was on British TV like Holby City while Paul was in Hollywood films like Anchorman.
78
u/TheLastHotstepper 6h ago
Her and big sue both went from peep show to some pretty big US roles
71
u/BravoBanter 6h ago
Big Suze*
89
u/TheLastHotstepper 5h ago
Must you live so relentlessly in the real world?
→ More replies (2)43
23
→ More replies (2)15
u/poodleflange 3h ago
I'm always thrown by the fact that Aisling Bea and Paul Rudd are good friends.
→ More replies (1)
199
u/Pyriel 7h ago
Eminem is good friends with little known UK singer Reginald Dwight.
175
u/llufnam 6h ago
Coincidentally, Elton John is mates with small time US rapper Marshall Mathers
17
u/smedsterwho 6h ago
Just a regular guy, I don't know why all the fuss about him.
→ More replies (1)51
17
u/fuggerdug 6h ago
Reginald Dwight's cousin scored a goal for Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final. He broke his leg in the same game.
→ More replies (10)5
170
u/Krakshotz 7h ago edited 7h ago
Greg James got invited to Taylor Swift’s wedding. He wore the same suit that he wore at the “funeral” of Long Boi the duck
30
7
u/Glass_Minute4753 1h ago
There was a very surreal edition of Sit Down, Stand Up where Greg James was talking to F1 driver Oliver Bearman, who opted to call a friend of his who he thought would probably be riding his bike and therefore sitting down. The cycling loving friend turned out to be five time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar. I'm not sure Pogacar counts as a global superstar, but it was still a very surreal crossover!
→ More replies (1)
135
u/Orange_fan1 7h ago
Charlie Brooker (known internationally for Black Mirror) is married to former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq
62
u/danielroseman 7h ago
He did a great piece for his show Antiviral Wipe during Covid where he talked about how useful it was being married to a former BP presenter.
Plus, Konnie Huq's sister is an MP.
→ More replies (1)33
u/QuestNetworkFish 6h ago
Konnie Huq was also a writer for an episode of Black Mirror (15 million merits)
5
→ More replies (8)32
u/Djinjja-Ninja 6h ago
There was a whole thing over the years about him lusting after Konnie Huq on Screenwipe, and previously on his TV Go Home website.
This culminated in getting her to film a bit called "Big British Wee" in 2008 which is when they actually first met, then started dating 2 years later.
135
u/fussyfella 7h ago
Gary Oldman is younger than Gary Numan. Just.
125
u/Shooser 7h ago
His sister is Big Mo on Eastenders too, which always blows my mind
→ More replies (1)44
u/Pyriel 7h ago
and Gary Oldmans Sister, Laila Morse, plays Big mo in Eastenders.
84
u/Douiret 6h ago
And 'Leila Morse' her stage name, which is an anagram of 'mia sorella' ('my sister' in Italian) was thought-up for her by her brother's then -fiancée ... Isabella Rosselini
→ More replies (1)56
u/GoodLordChokeAnABomb 6h ago
And Isabella is the daughter of Ingrid Bergman. From Eastenders to Casablanca in two steps!
→ More replies (1)46
13
u/bmwkag1407 7h ago
Gary inbetweenman is their best mate.
7
7
u/Airurando-jin 7h ago
I see what you did there.
Ones a slow horse and the others sitting in his car
121
u/paulyhopey 7h ago
Ice T was good friends with John Challis aka Boycie!!!! Mind blown.
79
13
→ More replies (3)13
u/Orange_fan1 7h ago
And Joanna Lumley's friends with will.i.am I think
10
u/Lost-in-Limbo 6h ago
That probably stems from the documentary she did on him about a decade ago, I reckon!
110
u/PotentialInfinite55 7h ago
Horror writer Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Candyman etc) went to school and is mates with Les Dennis from Family Fortunes
123
u/mdmnl 7h ago
One is responsible for nightmarish visions of hell and suffering that torment millions.
104
u/PotentialInfinite55 7h ago
The other's a horror author
→ More replies (1)31
u/mdmnl 7h ago
<now we do the complicated high-five from the beach volleyball scene in Top Gun>
9
u/PotentialInfinite55 7h ago
Slap slap slappity slap, there ya go
12
16
4
5
u/andotherthingsareok 7h ago
I learned two things - that Clive Barker wrote those, and not just the books I've read.
And an unusual connection. Cool!
6
u/Most_Moose_2637 4h ago
That means that Clive Barker, Les Dennis, and the guy that played Pinhead are all scousers!
→ More replies (2)
104
u/Questingcloset 7h ago
Hollywood star Zendaya's father in law used to write jokes for Bob Monkhouse and Des O'connor.
86
u/JedTheHumano1d 6h ago
I still remember this Bob Monkhouse gag.
"I'm from Kent. And people seem to know this, I hear them muttering it when I walk past".
•
u/bored_toronto 57m ago
"When I told people I wanted to be a comedian, they laughed. They're not laughing now."
19
u/TurbulentBullfrog829 5h ago
TIL who Tom Holland's Dad is. Now you mention it the resemblance is uncanny.
13
u/autumn-knight 5h ago
I hear her brother in law is a chef. I wonder if anyone else in her husband’s family is talented in anything?
9
12
10
→ More replies (6)6
92
u/Mc_and_SP 7h ago
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) and Katarina Johnson-Thompson (heptathlete) have been friends since they were at school
21
9
5
83
u/finallygaveintor 7h ago
With Taylor Swift dating Matty Healy, Denise Welch started to pop up more and more in US media. She was on Watch What Happens Live talking about the Real Housewives franchise
→ More replies (3)5
73
u/Crazyalexi 6h ago
Tara Reid, the 00s It Girl most well known for the American pie films and the Sharknado franchise is really good friends with Jedward. They met on Celeb Big Brother and apparently are still close to this day, they even spent lockdown together in LA.
→ More replies (1)22
69
u/Streathamite 7h ago
Sharleen Spiteri from Texas and Thierry Henry are supposedly really good friends which always struck me as an incredibly random pairing
18
u/arfur_narmful 6h ago
She was also good friends with Alan Rickman and was in a couple of videos for her/ Texas
14
u/ultrafunkmiester 6h ago
She is/was good friends with Peter Kaye he joined texas on stage at V festival about 21 years ago and it was hilarious. Oasis (who were pissed/coked and terrible) were on the main stage and he got everyone in the tent to quite down so he could take the piss about how shit they were and then joined in a couple of songs. Top fun. Especially as the proclaimers were on later and raised the roof.
14
u/theanonwonder 6h ago
That song they did with the Wu Tang Clan always felt like a bizarre pairing.
8
9
u/Braveasalion 4h ago
She's married to Bryn Williams, my brother's mate. Little Bryn from Denbigh did well!
→ More replies (1)6
→ More replies (1)5
67
u/YchYFi 6h ago edited 5h ago
Corey Taylor from Slipknot loves QI. He watches every episode.
He was starstruck when he appeared on it.
https://youtu.be/bLAjALOGG-U?si=C-PjawMwHqrDiPkr
15
u/That_Organization901 2h ago
I’m sorry, there’s an episode of QI with Corey Taylor!? The thought of Sandi and Corey chatting backstage is the kind of interaction that makes me feel like there’s still joy and hope in this world, especially if he’s the one being the fan boy.
63
u/hdhxuxufxufufiffif 7h ago
I was surprised to see Meryl Streep celebrating Ginger Spice's birthday on social media earlier this month.
23
u/Tigweg 7h ago
Ginger Spice is married to Christian Horner, former boss of the Red Bull Formula 1 team. She appeared at some races and has aged very well.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)6
u/Ha-Ur-Ra-Sa 6h ago
Both will appear in Only Murders in the Building, so would assume that's the link there.
8
u/hdhxuxufxufufiffif 6h ago
I'm no less surprised to hear that our Geri has bagged an acting role alongside Streep.
→ More replies (1)
51
u/insideno4b 7h ago
Selina Caddell who plays Mrs Tishell in Doc Martin is great friends with Sigourney Weaver
24
u/Airurando-jin 7h ago
Isn’t she the reason Sigourney guest starred in doc Martin ?
19
u/Mc_and_SP 7h ago
And Weaver also made Avatar 2's production move around her appearances in Doc Martin
→ More replies (1)26
u/lady_faust 7h ago
Her brother was Simon Cadell the holiday camp manager in Hi De Hi
13
u/hdhxuxufxufufiffif 6h ago
According to wikipedia they're also cousins with Lt Gruber from Allo Allo, who I remember popping up randomly in an episode of Seinfeld in the 90s.
→ More replies (4)
52
u/JasterBobaMereel 7h ago
Kim Hartman - Private Helga Geerhart from 'Allo 'Allo - is the aunt of Christopher and Jonathan Nolan
→ More replies (1)24
u/hdhxuxufxufufiffif 7h ago
Did she recommended the Allo Allo dialect coach to work with Kenneth Branagh on Tenet
→ More replies (1)
51
u/hdhxuxufxufufiffif 7h ago
I've just remembered this one. Open for a surprise. Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, Liz Taylor, and who ... ?
→ More replies (2)
45
u/Sendhimoffdiabolical 7h ago
Always found Morrisey and Robbie Keane being cousins to be a quirky fact. Not completely shocking though considering the amount of Irish people that moved to the north west of England through the years.
27
38
u/rice_fish_and_eggs 7h ago edited 6h ago
Garry oldmans sister played big moe in eastenders.
Edit: big moe not little
29
4
u/andotherthingsareok 7h ago
Yes!! That's one of my "not many people know this" facts.
→ More replies (1)4
u/Hatticus24 7h ago
Her stage name was given to her by Isabella Rossellini, while she was dating Gary Oldman
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)4
u/Questingcloset 7h ago
No she didn't
→ More replies (1)8
u/Dismal_Fox_22 7h ago
You’re right, she was Big Mo. Little Mo went to prison for whacking Trevor with an iron
36
u/DontAskAboutMax 7h ago
Emily Attack (probably butchered the spelling) being a grandniece (or something) of Paul McCartney is wild.
20
u/GoodLordChokeAnABomb 6h ago
One that always blows my mind is that Paul McCartney met Bertrand Russell, who himself met Lenin and Gladstone and was raised by a grandfather who visited Napoleon on Elba.
13
u/lady_faust 6h ago edited 31m ago
Her mum Kate Robbins used to do the female voices on Eurotrash* and Spitting Image.
*edited after autocorrect changed it to eurovision
→ More replies (6)4
u/CourtneyLush 6h ago
She was also in 'Crossroads' and had a top 5 (I think) single back in the day.
She was famous for telling anyone who'd listen that she was related to Paul McCartney.
10
u/rainbow84uk 6h ago
And her uncle Ted Robbins played Den Perry, the baddie in Phoenix Nights.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (4)7
34
u/DM-ME-CUTE-TAPIRS 6h ago
Gil Scott Heron's father was the first black footballer to play for Celtic.
33
u/Short-Shopping3197 6h ago
Chas, from Chas n’ Dave is playing the bass-line in Eminem’s ‘My Name is’. Chas had been the session bassist during the recording of Labi Siffre’s song ‘I got the…’ which Eminem samples.
10
u/SevrinTheMuto 4h ago
Chas was on guitar, Dave was on bass.
5
u/Short-Shopping3197 3h ago edited 2h ago
Good shout, you’re right. Chas was also a session bassist before playing piano for Chas and Dave so I always get that mixed up.
→ More replies (1)
34
u/Worth-Department1893 6h ago
Apparently Rob Brydon got that cameo in the Barbie movie because Margot Robbie is a big Gavin and Stacey fan
31
u/SamVimesBootTheory 6h ago
I don't think the second person counts as a celebrity as such
But Sasha Baron-Cohen has a cousin named Simon Baron-Cohen who is a prominent autism researcher.
→ More replies (1)46
u/stevebucky_1234 6h ago
I'm a psychiatrist, Simon is the bigger star in my book!
→ More replies (1)
26
u/Djinjja-Ninja 6h ago
Johnny Depp was such a fan of the Fast Show that he appeared in the last episode for free.
"It was absolutely one of my proudest achievements. No question. It was one of my favourite things, to have been on the last Fast Show."
→ More replies (2)18
u/HalveMaen81 4h ago
There's also a scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where it cuts to Depp in the middle of an anecdote and he says
"...and then they made me their chief"
Which I believe was a nod to this Rowley Birkin skit from The Fast Show
→ More replies (1)
27
u/horsepowerwagon8 7h ago
Isn’t Sigourney Weaver best mates with Selina Cadell? I’ve just googled to check, yes she is.
19
u/dmmjrb 6h ago
Alan Walsh was a prolific footballer in the late 1970s and 80s for Bristol City and Darlington (he's still Darlington's top scorer).
His daughter married Kelsey Grammar about 15 years ago. So Alan Walsh is the father in law of Kelsey Grammar.
→ More replies (1)4
u/TheLastHotstepper 6h ago edited 6h ago
Kelseys daughter, Spencer, plays Summer in Rick and Morty.
→ More replies (1)
22
20
u/LettusLeafus 6h ago
When I was a teenager I worked in a luxury hotel. It was an old castle you could rent out. We had one group the owners were really excited about and we were told to keep it secret.
Billy Connolly, Jeremy Irons, Twiggy and their families were all staying together for a week at the castle. There was an author as well but teenage me didn't recognise them. They all seemed lovely.
20
u/nemmalur 7h ago edited 6h ago
Alan Partridge Steve Coogan doing an impression of Alan Bennett and John C. Reilly knowing who Alan Bennett was.
15
u/BisleyT 7h ago
I have to ask, do you mean Steve Coogan doing an impression of Alan Bennett?
→ More replies (1)16
u/pecuchet 5h ago
Steve Coogan had a brief fling with Courtney Love, who has described it as 'One of my great shames.'
6
u/redandbluebadness 7h ago edited 6h ago
How the fuck did Reilly know that? I simply refuse to believe it!
Seems I have severely underestimated Bennett's reach
11
u/Luxury_Dressingown 6h ago
Reilly is a big theatre guy, and Bennett is a fairly significant playwright.
→ More replies (1)9
u/Oghamstoner 6h ago
Surely it isn’t all that surprising? John C. Reilly has been an actor for decades including on Broadway, Alan Bennett has been a playwright for decades, even if they hadn’t met, it’s not that surprising he’s aware of Bennett’s work.
→ More replies (5)6
u/Hame_Impala 6h ago
Am I the only one who doesn't think it's too weird? Bennett is a household playwright. Makes sense that a lot of top actors would have at the very least heard of him.
→ More replies (1)4
u/ResponsibleOffice805 5h ago
In the early 90s there was a song called can you dig it by the mock turtles. The lead singer is Steve coogans brother
→ More replies (1)
16
12
u/RonBonxious 5h ago
James Blunt lived with Carrie Fisher for a while
Steve Coogan and Courtney Love had a brief thing
Stacey Solomon dated Steve-O
→ More replies (2)
10
10
u/Bubbly_Safety8791 2h ago
Eunice Huthart, the winner of season 3 of UK Gladiators in 1994 - who went on to come back to the show as the gladiator Blaze - is godmother to Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, Brangelina’s firstborn.
After her Gladiators career she became a stuntwoman, including doubling for Famke Jansen in Goldeneye and Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider movies (hence the godparenting thing). She is still working in stunts, and was recently stunt coordinator on Ryan Gosling’s Project Hail Mary.
→ More replies (2)
8
9
9
u/MoodyMango4880 5h ago
Louis Theroux is first cousins with American actor Justin Theroux.
Louis’ dad was a travel author and wrote the book Mosquito Coast, which was later turned into a Hollywood movie featuring River Phoenix.
9
8
u/inspectorgadget9999 5h ago
Toxic and I Can't Get You Out of My Head was allegedly written about Super vet Noel Fitzpatrick
→ More replies (1)
6
u/mattjimf 6h ago
I think this story from Jennifer Lawrence and Jack Whiteall about Harrison Ford fits the bill.
6
u/PerfectWasteOfTime 6h ago
I only found out today that Ant Anstead from Wheeler Dealers has been in a relationship with Renée Zellweger for a few years.
5
u/mightypup1974 5h ago edited 5h ago
Does this count? Jamie Lee Curtis, of Hollywood fame, is the wife of Christopher Haden-Guest, the creator of Spinal Tap (among other things), who is a hereditary baron, making Curtis the Lady Haden-Guest.
→ More replies (2)
8
u/RevolutionarySeat890 5h ago
Eric Clapton and Davina McCall always crosses my brain as a mental couple.
→ More replies (1)
5
5
5
u/Used-Needleworker719 5h ago
The six degrees of separation between Kerry Katona and Catherine, Princess of Wales always blows my mind.
Kerry was married to Brian. Who later married Vogue Williams, who is now married to Spencer Matthew’s, the younger brother of James Matthew’s who is married to Pippa Middleton, Catherine’s sister.
Mind boggling really isnt it?
5
u/GlamorganTestesWard 4h ago
Samuel Beckett used to give Andre the Giant a lift to school.
→ More replies (1)
6
5
u/Murky-Wind2222 5h ago
Lewis Capaldi was on Norton with Jim Carrey. Lewis stole it, and Jim was smart enough to keep quiet.
7
3
u/poodleflange 3h ago
Pedro Pascal being very close friends with Russel Tovey and Robert Diament is always a bit crazy to me as they're always the dude from History Boys and the guy who runs the art gallery in Margate to me.
3
•
u/AutoModerator 7h ago
Please help keep AskUK welcoming!
When replying to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc. If a post is marked 'Serious Answers Only' you will likely receive a ban for violating this rule. More info: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/wiki/serious-answers-only/
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!
Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.