So, what happened to the Barry Sheene film, so much talk about it, was it made, released or did I miss it?, if I did it couldn't have been much good to have raised so little interest, a bit like the re-make of 'The Dam Busters'!
Barry Sheene would have been 68 years old today. I know this because I will be 68 years old tomorrow - he was always one day older than me and better at riding motorbikes than I ever will be. I know my place!! Just saying! (P.S. I have cake!!).
1976 I was invited upto Heron Suzuki H.Q. to meet Sheene after winning a promo ticket for buying my new Suzuki, Sheene turned up late, reluctantly scrawled 'autographs' and hardly spoke to any of us, turned from hero to zero in minutes! Of course the fact there were no tv camera's or press had nothing to do with it, did it. We were there under Suzuki's hospitality for more than an hour, got posters, even a Match Box 7 bike of Sheene's, which I still have, caps, scarf etc, even a meal, but the day was spoilt by his attitude, too full of himself to mix with us. Nice bird with him though! There was a thread about a year or so back about the film on here, cant find it though.
Thanks for the good wishes! Sorry about accidental the thread hijack. I was really just making the point that it was easy for me to remember his birthday as he was one day older than me. 'Tis a shame that he is not still with us.
I was chatting with a chap called Aaron Douglas a while back (point of reference, the actor who played the ‘Chief’ in the 2004 remake of Battlestar Galactica) and we were talking about Robin Williams. Aaron had bumped into him on the street in Vancouver and ended up having coffee with him to talk about the projects they were working on. What Robin had to say about people asking for autographs was roughly this... “You as an actor are in an incredibly powerful position. It doesn’t matter how tired you are or how bad a day you’re having; giving thirty seconds of your time and a smile to a stranger can make their year. Brushing them off will last their lifetime.” Barry Sheene obviously needed that advice.
On the flip side of the comment about Sheene's attitude, in 1977 I was at the Race of the Year at Mallory, and managed to sneak into the paddock. We were milling around the Suzuki tent, when Barry pulled up in his Rolls Royce, and stopped right by me. As he got out of the car I proffered my programme and asked for his autograph. He said summat and went past me to the front of his car, where he pulled a dead sparrow out of the Rollers grille. I thought my chance was gone as he was immediately engulfed by a crowd of people, but he held up his hands and said " hang on, this lad was first", and came back to sign my programme first. Absolutely made my day. No cameras there, either.
No camera's but a lot of public probably in front of some of his sponsors as well, makes a big difference! Who got the dead sparrow, you? Met others at various events, Mick Grant was always a gent, along with Phil Read and others.
Believe it or not I've had a taste of fame, used to run a wild life hospital in the Peterborough area in the 90's, was often on local BBC radio with Steve Sommers, as well as tv, both ITV & BBC, and toured the area with owls and other birds of prey giving talks to raise funds, often got recognised and even asked for autograph's, worst place seemed to be Stamford, often stopped in the street there. If you dont want fame and what goes with it, dont get famous, with-out the public on your side you dont get fame or fortune, funny I never got the fortune though.
