People have been sharing their ‘low impact celebrity encounters’ and these 17 are an absolute treat

It all started when the estimable scientist and all round good egg Adam Rutherford shared their tale of meeting Bob Mortimer.

One of my academic colleagues looks a bit like Bob Mortimer. One time near our labs I saw him walking towards me and I warmly said Hey Kevin. It was Bob Mortimer.

Please share your very low impact celebrity encounters here.

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— Adam Rutherford (@adamrutherford.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 08:27

And it prompted no end of people to get in touch and these 17 are an absolute treat.

1.

Shared this before but I once fingerpicked Radiohead’s “Street Spirit” on an acoustic guitar I was considering buying, in a music shop in Oxford, unaware that Thom Yorke was standing directly behind me. My wife observed the sad affair but only informed me later, after we’d exited said establishment.

— Simon Fisher (@profsimonfisher.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 08:42

2.

I once saw Bill Nighy coming out of a house in South Ken and said to my friend ‘Look, it’s Bill Nighy’, she said ‘He looks nothing like him’ only for an entire camera crew to immediately follow him out of the house and say ‘Goodnight, Bill’.

— Dr Dave Hone (@davehone.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 08:34

3.

I saw Susan Tully sitting in our student common room many years ago and said “Hiya” thinking we knew each other; not realising that I only knew her from Grange Hill and Eastenders, so it was a bit one-sided.

— Jon Butterworth (@jonbutterworth.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 22:24

4.

Was on a cross-channel ferry on a school trip and U2 were on a mini European tour to promote the newly recorded Boy. Bono told me off for swearing; I told him to fuck off. Like to believe I was ahead of the curve on this one.

— Joël Lacey (@hohojoellacey.bsky.social) 5 February 2026 at 12:27

5.

In the late 90’s/early 2000s, I managed to somehow waltz past a police cordon and physically bump into Salman Rushdie – I was preoccupied and didn’t see them, or him coming the other way. Cue profuse apologies on my part and lots of shouty policemen

— Jake Stacey (@shakyjakester.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 08:32

6.

Martin from Homes Under the Hammer asked me to help find his lost phone that he had dropped in his campervan.

— fremsley68.bsky.social (@fremsley68.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 08:32

7.

When running on the South Downs, 2 dogs came running up to me barking and growling. I shouted to the owner ‘for fuck’s sake mate’.
Dog owner was David Dimbleby.

— paulharris13.bsky.social (@paulharris13.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 10:42

8.

We were staying on the same campsite as Prof. Alice Roberts. I held open a gate for her and she said thank you.
Told my daughter I’d just seen the professor off the telly. She was gutted when she found out it wasn’t Hannah Fry.

— Gregor Clark (@gregorjclark.bsky.social) 4 February 2026 at 09:09