Voices: The Top 10 members of the public famous for 15 minutes
I cannot remember who it was who prompted me with the idea for this list: whoever it was had their moment of fame and then receded into the crowd of history.
1. David Corbett. His dog Pickles found the stolen Jules Rimet trophy in March 1966. Corbett was invited to the celebrations after England won the World Cup, and he received a £5,000 reward, with Pickles receiving the silver medal from the National Canine Defence League. Nominated by Robert Boston.
2. Jackie and Paddy Randall. Their skateboarding duck Herbie featured on BBC Nationwide in 1978. Another from Robert Boston.
3. Diana Gould. Teacher who appeared on a Nationwide election special, 1983. She asked Margaret Thatcher why the Belgrano was sunk when it was sailing away. Thatcher uncharacteristically slipped up in protesting that “it was not sailing away from the Falklands”, which was untrue, and fuelled conspiracy theories – although the sinking was justified, as the Belgrano’s commander later accepted. Thanks to John Peters, David Twizell and Ipsedixitissimus.
4. John Carpenter. First winner of $1m on the US Who Wants to be a Millionaire, in 1999. He made it to the final question without using any of his three lifelines, and used Phone-a-Friend to call his dad to let him know he knew the right answer (“Which of these US presidents appeared on the television series Laugh-In?”). “Jaw-dropping chutzpah,” said James Dinsdale.
5. Sharon Storer. Ambushed Tony Blair on the only day of the 2001 election campaign when anything happened, complaining that there was no bed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, for her partner, a cancer patient.
6. Craig Evans. Hit John Prescott with an egg on the same day in 2001, and got a left hook in response. Two entries from Ed Lennox.
7. John Smeaton. Glasgow airport bomber puncher, in 2007. Thanks to Exexpat19.
8. Gillian Duffy. Haranguer of Gordon Brown in 2010, asking a self-answering question: “All these eastern Europeans what are coming in, where are they flocking from?” Popular nomination from Gillian McClure, John Peters, David Sutherland, Bobby Friedman, Akikur, Alan Pack, James Dinsdale, Paul Athans, Chris Smith and Tom Kiehl.
9. Brenda from Bristol. “Not another one!” About the 2017 election. Thanks to Jo-Anne Burrow, John Peters, Richard Morris, Richard Tolbart, Aletheia, FurtherOr, Chris Smith and Nick Dean.
10. Margaret Keenan. The first person in the world to receive a coronavirus vaccine outside clinical trials, in December 2020. Thanks to Nick Clayton and Sean Rogers.
There is always one, and this week there are three: Aletheia, Matt Kelcher and John Fuchs, who nominated Liz Truss.
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Of course, everyone on this list is by definition disqualified, as their fame has lasted. Last word, then, to Andrew Graystone, who nominated himself. He was photographed outside his local mosque in Manchester on the morning of the attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. The picture of him and his sign, “You are my friends; I will keep watch while you pray,” went around the world.
He was captioned “Really Nice Guy” in an interview on Australian TV. “Within 48 hours I was the subject of sermons, school assemblies and radio phone-ins. I was interviewed by scores of TV and radio stations. People wrote to me from Hollywood to Hyderabad. I was mentioned in a speech by the secretary general of the UN, and Jacinda Ardern wrote to thank me. It was wonderful madness. For 15 minutes.”
Next week: Algernons, such as Biggles’s trusty sidekick (after the Top 10 extinct boys’ names).
Coming soon: Rhyming hometown-based nicknames, such as The Jester from Leicester.
Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk
