Can We Meet Heroes?

Photo by Jonathan West

It's good to have heroes. They're the people you admire, who inspire and influence you and who ensure that your screen saver is different from everyone else's. If this is the case, it also makes sense to assume that they are the people you'd most like to meet. While this is fine and there are lots of things you can do to help this along (which we’ll get to in a second) probably the main thing to keep in mind is that it’s going to help if you are the king of Interesting-Land and the prime minister of Fun-Town — exactly the kind of character that the person you want to meet wants to meet. No point in meeting your hero if, at the moment of impact, you turn into the CEO of Dull-Ville. That just defeats the purpose. Given the existence of the six degrees phenomenon, you should, theoretically, be able to meet anyone you like, given the right attitude plus sufficient time and funds. So, here we go… 1 CONFIDENCE IS KING
There is every chance that in your quest to meet your hero, you're going to find yourself in out-of-your-depth situations. In fact, the more out-of-your-depth you are, the closer you probably are to meeting your guy. The most important rule in these situations is that if you act like you're meant to be there, people will think you're meant to be there. It’s actually as simple as that. However, it is a fine line and if you are a dick, no one is going to want you around no matter how much you act like you’re meant to be there. Once you meet your hero, the idea is to be the Fonz of the situation who adds funny, witty comments at appropriate moments and zips it when silence is required. See more about the Dos and Don’ts of holding a decent conversation with your hero on page 24.

Photo by Benjamin Thomson

2 OWN AN IMPRESSIVE LOOKING CAMERA
An expensive camera plus the ability to use it is essentially your passport to off-limits areas everywhere, which is obviously going to be very handy in your quest to meet your guy. You'll learn fairly quickly that most people enjoy being the centre of your attention and with a camera you have a reason to make them that. A camera is also a good prop that you can hide behind if you run out of conversation.

Photo by Mark Hunter

3 THE HOME ADVANTAGE
Unless you have the advantages of the winners of the 6 Beers competition, you’re probably going to find that it's a hell of a lot easier to meet famous people when they're out of their own environment and, ideally, in yours. It might seem like a good idea to head to the UK to meet Jarvis Cocker but what with his bevy of fascinating friends and secret local hideouts, you have a much more difficult time of it than when he's on tour in your city. In your city, with the help of rules 1 an 2, you're as good as Jarvis's best friend. 4 BEER AND CONVERSATIONS
Much of the process of meeting your hero will involve fact-finding, or out of the blue coincidence as the case may be, and neither of these things are going to happen while you’re sitting at home eating chocolate biscuits. Substitute “home” with “a bar” and “biscuits” with “beer” and watch your chances skyrocket. Now get out there and good luck.