So yeah I was there, beside the red carpet. I got to walk up it for a little bit too.
I tried and tried and bribed and hinted but nobody bought me a ticket *pouts* and I didn’t have the £1500 to buy one.
Actually being a fan on the outside we got a much better deal than those going inside as they weren’t allowed to hassle the stars. They did of course and got in our way a lot.
I would normally arrive at a premiere the night before or very early in the morning. Yesterday though I didn’t get there til noon. Just wasn’t feeling up to an early start. I met my friend Gabriella at Victoria and headed over to the Albert Hall. When we got there from Kensington High St we found no fans but loads of crew setting up so we got to walk around a bit. Stupidly I didn’t take any pictures Doh.
We thought we would go and eat in the cafe as there were no queues. Glad we didn’t.
We found the man in charge and asked him where we should go where we wouldn’t get in the way. He said we should walk down there, get a wrist band and join the rest of the 700 fans queuing down the road. Heart sinking we headed in the direction he pointed. It wasn’t as bad as we thought as there were only about 300. We were about ten after the last wrist band so we were hope full.
Making friends with fans around us we got stuck into waiting. Finally we were let into pens 20 at a time, and were directed up to the steps I saw some below where they wanted us where we would be second row so we nipped in there. The pens were only 2 people deep so there was plenty of room to move around. We ended up opposite the press at the top which looked good. Sky 007, Daybreak, Sony and C5 were dead infront of us. We thought we’d be in the press pictures. I’ll have a look at their coverage sometime. There was a long long wait watching all the crew set up and teasing the hardworking presenters. Alex Zane was lovely and a sweet French guy from AFP talked to us, Tim from Blue Peter ignored us. We quizzed the leader of the Marine drums who let us know what was happening and when.
The smell of the food from the Cafe was torture.
Finally the drums announced Bond’s arrival.
I caught him on the big screen getting out of his Land Rover. The slow wait for him to get to us wasn’t too bad but the public arrived and continued to flood the carpet all evening. He nearly reached us but then got pulled over to the opposite side to the press, as all the later actors did. This was very distressing as they were within ten people from us ;( When over there our excitement about watching them being interviewed was shot down by the streams of public flooding the carpet all gawping taking pics and blocking our view. Thankfully Daniel came back over and we got ours autographs. We were unprepared though and my camera wasn’t ready ;( I did manage to get him on video later though by holding the camera up. A frustrating task trying to dodge hands and a big camera.
Javier, Dame Judi, the Bond Girls… we watched them all go over to the press and not return.
When we saw other stars in the flood we managed to coax them to come to us instead of going to the press. Clarkson saw us requesting but chose to blank us. As did Rowan Atkinson. Family time I suppose.
Stephen Fry, Parky and Minnie Driver all came over and were lovely
. I got the original Golden Girl Shirley Eaton’s autograph. I saw the XFactor Kids. One of the boybands had his hands all over Ella’s back
. I shouted to Rylan as he went past. He stuck is hand in the air and turned screaming back excitedly lol. Apparently Jordan was there, an aged blonde in a red dress called Tara something was there. Boris Becker. We were told Benedict Cumberpatch was coming but we never saw him. The Harrods guy.
My biggest regret was missing out on meeting Dame Judi Dench. She’s reminds me of my mother now lost, pf an era fast disappearing. I would have loved to have got Sam Mendes and Ralph Fiennes but we never saw them except on the big screens. It was an amazing night and Daniel was just as stunning of screen as on, and worth going for
. Our eyes met for a little bit. I think he must have been looking at the flag I’d stuck in my hair to keep my hands free and still wave it.
When all was past we had to wait for the royals to arrive. Yawn. I caught them on camera Camilla had a pretty coloured purple velvet dress on. At that point we were faint from lack of nourishment – it was nearly 8 and I hadn’t eaten all day. A hungry Amanda is a bitchy one.
I wanted a board but they were all gone ;( We were being waved down the carpet. I was told there were loads more down there – of course there weren’t any, they’d all been ripped off. I saw a Board man carrying two away ;( Still I only have so much wall space and I already have a SpiderMan and Kingdom of Heaven one.
Anyone want to come to the Hobbit premiere with me?
My pics and video clips if you want to see what all the fun was about
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hedgewytch/sets/72157631839299989/