Meeting Johnny Partridge (Or, 'Why Sometimes You Should Definitely Meet Your Heroes')
Okay, let’s see if I can form some coherent sentences to get all of this down for posterity. I’m relying on my mother as well, as bits of it were a bit of a blur for me. And yes, I did do that embarrassing thing that I haven’t done since I was fifteen - and burst into tears after meeting someone that I adore.
The day started quite early, as my mother wanted us to get to Canterbury in time to wander around her old haunts. That was the deal. As well as me stalking Johnny Partridge, it was also about my mother having a look around the city where she went to university. She did rearrange her work schedule for it (best fan-mother ever?) so I thought that seemed fair. We arrived in Canterbury and headed straight for Whitefriars Square just so we knew where it was. There was a van with Johnny’s face plastered on the side (as well as some other people and some words, but Johnny’s face is incredibly distracting at the best of times, especially when I was already shaking at the prospect of meeting said face in the flesh) - for a brief moment I wondered if he was hiding inside, and considered jumping in the back for a peek. But my mother insisted that we needed to go shopping, so off we toddled.
I won’t bore you with the details of my mother’s trip down memory lane, other than the fact that it was filled with the constant repetition of the lines ‘wow…it’s changed so much..’ I was more interested in the prospect of the ever-imminent Johnny-stalking and the fact that I bought some kick-ass denim shorts and some kick ass-boots; oh, and I had a little panicky run around Canterbury when I realised that a normal black pen wouldn’t show up on the thing I wanted signed and nowhere, I repeat, nowhere seemed to sell silver pens. But, eventually, the time came to join the crowd that had gathered in Whitefriars Square and do some expert practising of my ‘yes, I am cool and collected, what of it?’ face - which quickly fell to pieces when Johnny wandered around the crowd with some of the other cast members to set up and a great screaming cheer went up around the gathered throng.
The other cast members were brilliant - the ugly sisters were absolutely hilarious and Stephen Mulhern was as sweet as I expected him to be. I had a great time, but the anticipation of an oncoming Johnny Partridge, especially as he appeared to be hiding away from sight, was almost too much to bear.
But, after my heels had been exhausted though impatient, nervous bouncing, the writer of the pantomime announced him and the crowd went a little bit mad. He was lovfely, gorgeous (even in the goldest of golden and campest of camp prince costumes) and I think I almost went into convulsions when he started singing. It’s very difficult for me to describe to you how great his performance was…but, luckily, I filmed it, so here ya go!
Anyhoo, after that we were told that we had to queue around the back of the van in order to have photos and autographs. Whilst we were waiting, the ugly sisters came around and commented on my tights, which were a bit wacky and decorated with a comic strip. Seeing as the queue was taking ages, I decided to ask for a photograph. Fortunately, my green ‘Defying Gravity’ top was a perfect match for their outfits, as you can see from this picture (laughter coming from the fact that my mother had completely forgotten how to use a camera and had accidentally taken a video of us posing):
Eventually we came to Stephen Mulhern and I got a picture with him and an autograph:
but at this point we were told that the cast would be leaving in five minutes. I had a bit of a panic attack, as there were crowds thronging around Johnny. Whilst we had decided to queue nicely - I go to a lot of sci-fi conventions, and queuing in an orderly fashions is something that is expected and carried out without much difficulty at conventions - other people had skipped Stephen completely pushed ahead to Johnny. I was nearly in tears, as Johnny was the reason I had come. And I had something important that I wanted to tell him. Fortunately, some people around us heard my story, saw how upset I was, and dragged me forward, pushing me straight into the crowds around Johnny and encouraging me to go forwards because ‘I’d queued and I bloody well deserved it’.
Eventually, with one push from my mother - I’m quite shy and my biggest fear is crowding a star; I am determined to always be a ‘good fan’ instead of a needy, pushy fan who doesn’t respect the personal space of the person I’m a fan of - I was in front of Johnny. He was signing for a few teenage girls beside me (who were apparently getting stuff signed for the WHOLE of the rest of their school as well - no joke - and god were they grumpy and annoying), but then he turned to me. I expected to freeze, but I managed to hold out the thing I wanted signed and say ‘do you mind signing something EastEnders related?’. He assured me it was no problem, but needed me to whip out my specially bought silver pen and open it myself before he could sign it.
As he was signing, I managed to gather the courage to pipe up that I was the official representative from Chryedville (trying and failing, a la Syed, to be funny) and he seemed genuinely pleased to see me, saying ‘ah, I see’, giving a big grin and generally paying a closer interest from that point on (the teenage girls barged in asking for another photograph, and he said ‘no, I’m talking to this girl’ - made me feel all gooey inside!). With that established, I bit the bullet at said to him:
‘I just thought you should know: I’m bisexual and the Chryed storyline was what encouraged me to come out properly to my grandparents. I couldn’t have done it without it.’
Before I could even finish getting the words out he’d gone ‘oh, thank you for telling me’ and pulled me into the hugest, squishy hug that I’d ever received in my life, saying how glad he was that the storyline had helped me like that and congratulating me on being ‘so brave’ and not hiding. I think I’d almost lost it by this point, and all I could say was ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’. Eventually he let me go and gave me a huge kiss on the cheek, at which my mum piped up and asked if I could have a photograph with him. He said of course, and pulled me in again, even though at that point I realised that he’d never actually taken his arm away from around me in the first place! All I could think whilst my mum was taking the picture was that he was holding me really tightly and rubbing my back reassuringly, obviously as I was getting a little bit emotional at this point.
Me Getting A Special Johnny Hug And Kiss!
My Photo With Johnny
Eventually, the picture was taken and he signed something for my mum (made out to my friend who couldn’t be there), but not before realising that she was my mother and leaning forward to kiss her as well. (my mother has admitted that that was worth the drive and that she owes me big time). Just as we were about to leave, he put his arm around me again, grinned at me, kissed me on the cheek, wished me ‘good luck with everything’ and winked. Again, all I could say was ‘thank you so much’ before I was swept away from the crowd who were, by now, a little bit disgruntled at the fact that his attention had been focused almost entirely on me.
But that was me gone. I had to go away and have a sit down. I was shaking so hard and I even started to cry. It feels so good to tell him what I wanted to tell him, that the storyline he was a part of did have a huge impact on me, but I wasn’t expecting the affection and the sheer joy and love that came from him after I’d told him. The most I’d expected was a slightly piqued interest or a brief ‘well, I’m glad we could help.’ I managed, somehow, to gain my composure enough to drive back from Canterbury to Essex, but I’m still a little emotional over the whole thing now.
It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Seriously. And Johnny Partridge is now officially my favourite person in the history of the world. Ever. They say meeting your heroes is something you should never do - well, I did, and it was amazing. These guys deserve our love.
Best. Fandom. Ever.
The day started quite early, as my mother wanted us to get to Canterbury in time to wander around her old haunts. That was the deal. As well as me stalking Johnny Partridge, it was also about my mother having a look around the city where she went to university. She did rearrange her work schedule for it (best fan-mother ever?) so I thought that seemed fair. We arrived in Canterbury and headed straight for Whitefriars Square just so we knew where it was. There was a van with Johnny’s face plastered on the side (as well as some other people and some words, but Johnny’s face is incredibly distracting at the best of times, especially when I was already shaking at the prospect of meeting said face in the flesh) - for a brief moment I wondered if he was hiding inside, and considered jumping in the back for a peek. But my mother insisted that we needed to go shopping, so off we toddled.
I won’t bore you with the details of my mother’s trip down memory lane, other than the fact that it was filled with the constant repetition of the lines ‘wow…it’s changed so much..’ I was more interested in the prospect of the ever-imminent Johnny-stalking and the fact that I bought some kick-ass denim shorts and some kick ass-boots; oh, and I had a little panicky run around Canterbury when I realised that a normal black pen wouldn’t show up on the thing I wanted signed and nowhere, I repeat, nowhere seemed to sell silver pens. But, eventually, the time came to join the crowd that had gathered in Whitefriars Square and do some expert practising of my ‘yes, I am cool and collected, what of it?’ face - which quickly fell to pieces when Johnny wandered around the crowd with some of the other cast members to set up and a great screaming cheer went up around the gathered throng.
The other cast members were brilliant - the ugly sisters were absolutely hilarious and Stephen Mulhern was as sweet as I expected him to be. I had a great time, but the anticipation of an oncoming Johnny Partridge, especially as he appeared to be hiding away from sight, was almost too much to bear.
But, after my heels had been exhausted though impatient, nervous bouncing, the writer of the pantomime announced him and the crowd went a little bit mad. He was lovfely, gorgeous (even in the goldest of golden and campest of camp prince costumes) and I think I almost went into convulsions when he started singing. It’s very difficult for me to describe to you how great his performance was…but, luckily, I filmed it, so here ya go!
Click to viewAnyhoo, after that we were told that we had to queue around the back of the van in order to have photos and autographs. Whilst we were waiting, the ugly sisters came around and commented on my tights, which were a bit wacky and decorated with a comic strip. Seeing as the queue was taking ages, I decided to ask for a photograph. Fortunately, my green ‘Defying Gravity’ top was a perfect match for their outfits, as you can see from this picture (laughter coming from the fact that my mother had completely forgotten how to use a camera and had accidentally taken a video of us posing):
Eventually we came to Stephen Mulhern and I got a picture with him and an autograph:
but at this point we were told that the cast would be leaving in five minutes. I had a bit of a panic attack, as there were crowds thronging around Johnny. Whilst we had decided to queue nicely - I go to a lot of sci-fi conventions, and queuing in an orderly fashions is something that is expected and carried out without much difficulty at conventions - other people had skipped Stephen completely pushed ahead to Johnny. I was nearly in tears, as Johnny was the reason I had come. And I had something important that I wanted to tell him. Fortunately, some people around us heard my story, saw how upset I was, and dragged me forward, pushing me straight into the crowds around Johnny and encouraging me to go forwards because ‘I’d queued and I bloody well deserved it’.
Eventually, with one push from my mother - I’m quite shy and my biggest fear is crowding a star; I am determined to always be a ‘good fan’ instead of a needy, pushy fan who doesn’t respect the personal space of the person I’m a fan of - I was in front of Johnny. He was signing for a few teenage girls beside me (who were apparently getting stuff signed for the WHOLE of the rest of their school as well - no joke - and god were they grumpy and annoying), but then he turned to me. I expected to freeze, but I managed to hold out the thing I wanted signed and say ‘do you mind signing something EastEnders related?’. He assured me it was no problem, but needed me to whip out my specially bought silver pen and open it myself before he could sign it.
As he was signing, I managed to gather the courage to pipe up that I was the official representative from Chryedville (trying and failing, a la Syed, to be funny) and he seemed genuinely pleased to see me, saying ‘ah, I see’, giving a big grin and generally paying a closer interest from that point on (the teenage girls barged in asking for another photograph, and he said ‘no, I’m talking to this girl’ - made me feel all gooey inside!). With that established, I bit the bullet at said to him:
‘I just thought you should know: I’m bisexual and the Chryed storyline was what encouraged me to come out properly to my grandparents. I couldn’t have done it without it.’
Before I could even finish getting the words out he’d gone ‘oh, thank you for telling me’ and pulled me into the hugest, squishy hug that I’d ever received in my life, saying how glad he was that the storyline had helped me like that and congratulating me on being ‘so brave’ and not hiding. I think I’d almost lost it by this point, and all I could say was ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’. Eventually he let me go and gave me a huge kiss on the cheek, at which my mum piped up and asked if I could have a photograph with him. He said of course, and pulled me in again, even though at that point I realised that he’d never actually taken his arm away from around me in the first place! All I could think whilst my mum was taking the picture was that he was holding me really tightly and rubbing my back reassuringly, obviously as I was getting a little bit emotional at this point.
Me Getting A Special Johnny Hug And Kiss!
My Photo With Johnny
Eventually, the picture was taken and he signed something for my mum (made out to my friend who couldn’t be there), but not before realising that she was my mother and leaning forward to kiss her as well. (my mother has admitted that that was worth the drive and that she owes me big time). Just as we were about to leave, he put his arm around me again, grinned at me, kissed me on the cheek, wished me ‘good luck with everything’ and winked. Again, all I could say was ‘thank you so much’ before I was swept away from the crowd who were, by now, a little bit disgruntled at the fact that his attention had been focused almost entirely on me.
But that was me gone. I had to go away and have a sit down. I was shaking so hard and I even started to cry. It feels so good to tell him what I wanted to tell him, that the storyline he was a part of did have a huge impact on me, but I wasn’t expecting the affection and the sheer joy and love that came from him after I’d told him. The most I’d expected was a slightly piqued interest or a brief ‘well, I’m glad we could help.’ I managed, somehow, to gain my composure enough to drive back from Canterbury to Essex, but I’m still a little emotional over the whole thing now.
It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Seriously. And Johnny Partridge is now officially my favourite person in the history of the world. Ever. They say meeting your heroes is something you should never do - well, I did, and it was amazing. These guys deserve our love.
Best. Fandom. Ever.