Harrow has a very rich history, famous singers, comedians, sporting heroes, actors and politicians have all grown up in the borough.
The likes of Elton John, Peter Andre, Matt Lucas, Benedict Cumberbatch, Vivienne Westwood, JLS, Dev Patel, Tom Fletcher, Tom Cruise, George Michael, Screaming Lord Sutch, Sir Roger Moore and many others have called Harrow home at one time or another.
Sometimes when our and about, you might be lucky enough to spot someone famous in Harrow Town Centre, Harrow on the Hill or Pinner, some of the more popular locations for shopping and television production. Recently stars from Eastenders were spotted filming a scene near the old post office on College Road.
We recently asked members of the Harrow Online Group to share their celeb-spotting stories from Harrow, here are some of the responses –
One member said: “Keith Hatfield ITN war reporter, Andrew Ridgeley, Angus Fraser all at the Case in Old Redding over the years. Liz Frazer, Barry Cryer, Bernard Cribbins in Hatch End, Roy Castle Hatch End School, Leslie Crowther in Harrow & Actress Jessie Matthews: who led an extremely colourful life in Budgens Hatch End. Chris Barrie of Red Dwarf & Dr Mark Porter who was a feature on various BBC shows in the 90’s in Pinner on a video shoot I was working on.”
Another person said: “Prince William, came to our work place to meet the kids. He was supposed to be there for an hour and he stayed for 4, they loved him!”
Another member of the group commented: “I got David Seaman’s autograph when I saw him coming out of the tile shop on Village Way at the bottom of Rayners Lane. This was before camera phones were any good though.”
Another comment reads: “Dev Patel (from slumdog millionaire) who is from Harrow, did a video for us to encourage people to register as stem cell donors and help my 4 year old boy!”
One member was happy spotting some A-listers: “I did see Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson when they filmed in Harrow, also remember seeing Twiggy at a party in Pinner”
Another person listed quite a few celebs they had seen in Harrow: “Stacey and Lucy from eastenders Poirot, The two ronnies, Donaeo, Damage, Emma Bunton, Yasmin, Michelle Gayle, Alexandra Burke, Debbie McGee, Twiggy, Vinnie Jones, Matt Lucas”.
Another person said: “I was coming out of the petrol station in Bushey and I saw Lacey Turner from EastEnders walking straight towards me, she was very friendly and I said hello to her. I think she just stopped to get some petrol”.
Unfortunately we can now confirm that Jay-Z and Beyoncé didn’t buy a house in Rayners Lane a few years ago, that was an April fool. But there’s plenty of other stars in and around our borough so if you spot someone be sure to get in touch with us!.
