Never Meet Your Heroes... They Say
It can at times disappoint, but sometimes you get the whole package. To me Steve Buscemi and Hugh Grant are in the Venn diagram of ‘famous movie star’, ‘all round ruddy marvellous bloke’ and ‘hero’. And if you’re not sure why…look ‘em up, you won’t be disappointed. The latest and best hero of all is Marcus Rashford. A dedicated sportsman, a good team player, he uses his platform brilliantly to highlight racism, homelessness and child hunger among other things. His outspokenness is seen as a risk and many have tried to shut him down. “It’s not his job” or “he should stick to football” but he grew up knowing what it is to be skint and he is speaking out and acting up for a young generation let down by Tory cuts and dismissive attitudes. His Mum, Melanie, is also a hero. A lone parent; she worked several jobs to make sure there was food on the table for him and his four siblings, she often went without. He’s a brilliant example of someone who has achieved great things even though life was tough. In many ways just an ordinary bloke, but a really extraordinary one. Bravo Marcus!
One of my first big heroes was John Peel, his radio show was a huge influence on me in that weird middle bit of the teens, a sort of nowhere land where a lot can happen...and indeed does! I would listen late into the night in my bedroom; crackling, tinny radio under the duvet. Peel introduced me to so much incredible stuff and shaped me musically. I once responded to a characteristically self deprecating blurb on his part by ringing the studio during his show. He suggested nobody would take him up on a guest list for Reading Festival these days, mumbling something about his shoes not being cool enough. As the phone rang I thought about what I might say...and HE picked up the receiver! I said something stumbling like “oh, it’s actually a hotline to God!” which he refuted in his usual manner of course. But we had a quick chat and he said “I like the cut of your jib, I’ll see what I can do”! He took my number and that was that. I didn’t think he’d call back…
…but he only bloody did! One sunny afternoon I heard the phone ring from the garden and my brother answered. He came out and said “um, it’s John Peel for you sis” with a look of total disbelief and a little bit of admiration in his eyes. We had a few phone calls between then and the event and good to his word he got me and a friend on his list for the festival. When we turned up at the appropriate gate we spied him in a little tent at a little table being gently mobbed by a young band, cassette in hand. When he saw us he said to the boys to give him a minute and he greeted us warmly, sorted out our passes (backstage if you please, see above) and hoped we enjoyed the weekend. We saw him a few times over the weekend and each time he nodded or said hello, asking us if we were enjoying ourselves. We were in heaven, I never felt so cool in my whole life! I met my hero…and it was good.
I was spoiled that day for ever more. I really only ever wanted to be backstage after that, so after years of blagging and an accidental slide into photography, that’s where I’ve been a lot of the time. In no small part thanks to John Peel who gave me a lifelong passion for music that’s a little off the beaten track. (pun absolutely intended)
NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES…OR GET AWARDS!
Not all famous people are heroes. Not all heroes are famous people. There’s the unsung, unknown and personal hero.
Sammy with her tutor on graduation day at Plymouth Hoe
From Sammy:
“My first hero is my dad, a firefighter for 25 years, he showed me in essence what hard work looks like from a young age and I have so much respect for the job he did. My second hero was my personal tutor for 3 years and also my dissertation project leader, Dr Andy Foey, who inspired me to follow down the path of immunology. He supported me through some difficult personal times whilst completing my degree, and assured me that I can achieve anything because I have the will. I felt like an imposter and that I wasn’t good enough. Andy turned that around and helped me believe in myself, so much so that I’m now doing an MSc in infection and immunity.”
From Ely:
“My Nan and my parents were big heroes for me. My Nan (Gwen Bell) was a dedicated activist. There were accounts of her kicking the shins of Moseley’s fascists at the battle of Cable street, she set up the UK’s first tenant’s association, she sat with the women at Greenham common, and was one of the spokespeople for the campaign to save Oxleys wood. She campaigned on everything from hospital closures to fighting racism right up until she died. My Dad went to South Africa for the ANC and set off leaflet bombs around Cape Town as part of the London Recruits anti apartheid campaign. My Mum could stand and give an off the cuff talk about politics, feminism and all sorts of topics and wow everyone in the room. I feel very privileged to have known and loved them.”
Ely’s Nan, Gwen, who was an active “agitator” until her death at 81 years old.
Sometimes meeting your heroes can be a crashing disappointment. If you catch them on a bad day or they just turn out to be not very nice it can really hurt. We’ve all invested our love and admiration in people who have gone on to screw up in some major or minor way. May I refer you to Twitter…
I don’t have many heroes, it takes a lot to be up there, but David Bowie was definitely one of them. I never got to see him. Other people I’ve spoken to have met him and they all say what a funny and sweet man he was. I’d have loved to meet Bowie and Mick Ronson, in the early 70’s at that Ziggy phase. I’d have been one of those mildly hysterical sparkly girls outside the Hammersmith Odeon saying things like “oh, I think he’s smashing” and “HE TOUCHED MY HAND”!
Neil Gaiman speaks to Hayley Campbell for The Guardian in 2017 about meeting Lou Reed.
“Ever since I had dinner with Lou Reed I’ve tried to avoid meeting the people who would make me feel starstruck. It was a great dinner but by the end of it Lou Reed was no longer my hero, and I don’t have many heroes. I resolutely avoided meeting David Bowie, which became harder when I became friends with Duncan Jones, his son, and then got even harder when I moved to Woodstock and he lived around the corner. But I love the fact that the Bowie that I have is the Bowie in my head: a strange, evolving, absolutely fictional Bowie who became my hero when I was 11.”
In an earlier interview when Reed died in 2013 Gaiman put it rather poetically, unsurprisingly.
“A year or so later, I had dinner with him and my publisher at DC Comics. Lou wanted to make Berlin into a graphic novel. He was hard work: prickly, funny, opinionated, smart and combative: you had to prove yourself...
…I passed the exam, but wasn't interested in taking it twice. I'd been around long enough to know that the person isn't the art. Lou Reed, Lou told me, was a persona he used to keep people at a distance. I was happy to keep my distance. I went back to being a fan, happy to celebrate the magic without the magician.”
I like this version. Sometimes you do have to separate the art from the artist.
When you see people being mere mortals I guess it can break the spell a bit, after all, everybody poops! But we WANT and NEED heroes, so we create them. I believe for many it’s something to do with the absence of God and religion. I mean, Jesus may well have been the first reality star! Church and state is now media and state, and everybody worships the media. We all need people to look up to. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to stick to some of them. Those once heralded heroes often fall off the pedestal after saying and doing some awful, stupid things. Examine your hero worship occasionally…just to make sure.
For me Heroism is in the deeds, the things people do or say, speaking up for others, empowering them. This can happen in a million different ways; if you have a platform and the power to create change or generate good then you should use it.
We can be heroes…
Written by Vonalina Cake
My name is Von, I’ve lived in Bristol since 1992 and I’ve lived a lot of lives since then
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