Amstell thinking about it…

It was a pleasant surprise when I received a text message from the v good looking Actor, Christian Cooke who is currently starring in Primeval. He was telling me he was coming along with Simon Amstell to my Bar Fibre and they needed a secure area to stop him getting hassled by people.

At the time I thought it was a bit pretentious as we get lots of celebrities in Fibre and they usually just mingle. I’ve never been a big fan of Simon Amstell when I’ve seen him on TV, especially when he used to present a Saturday morning pop programme on Channel 4, I found him a little irritating, however I thought I’d be polite with him and buy him a couple of drinks. He was in Leeds to kick off his UK tour at the Carriage Works, and his sister is also studying at Leeds University.

After chatting with him I skirted round the issue about him being gay as I’d heard rumours but to my surprise he was so far out of the closet it was untrue. He was very open about his sexuality and the fact he didn’t have a boyfriend. He told me the story about him coming out to his parents. Being Jewish he thought it would be difficult but both parents accepted it. His Auntie on the other hand didn’t stop crying for days afterwards. Unfortunately, I never got to see his show but he told me it was more about life experiences and he covers every subject from food to sex… I’m not sure if at any point those two subjects come together! Simon was a very sweet and interesting guy but extremely shy, which surprised me immensely as he comes across as being quite the opposite.

Neither of them got recognised but perhaps if Christian had shown his bottom he’d be more recognisable as it’s become his most famous part of late. I didn’t manage to get any pictures of it either but there are plenty on Google if you type in Christian Cooke’s bum!

It’s been a really difficult month for me personally, as my dear Mum sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago. She was my biggest supporter and it was a massive comfort with the amount of flowers and cards I received, and messages of support from friends. You realise who your friends are at times like this. I made a slideshow of pictures and videos for her funeral to celebrate her life and lots of people said to me afterward that they didn’t feel like they’d been to a funeral and they’d felt quite uplifted, could this be the way forward?

It’s very tragic news to hear of Stephen Gately’s passing. The fact he came out as one of the only gay member of a boy band is groundbreaking. I met him on a few occasions, at Party In The Park, Leeds where he kindly did a video vox pop for me as a New Year’s message to all our clubbers.