HERE are some more of the famous people Bishops Lydeard author Alan Hammond has bumped into over the years – following on from the galaxy of star photos we published last week.

His meeting with rock star Rod Stewart was a huge coincidence – Alan said: “I’d written to him a couple of months earlier asking him to write a forward to a book on railways as I know he’s an enthusiast. I hadn’t had a reply. Then I bumped into him on the Queen Mary! He apologised for not writing back and said he’d been really busy.”

Sir Richard Branson was really humble when he invited Alan round to his home, which was anything but humble, to discuss contributing towards another book.

Road to Amarillo made a star out of Tony Christie, who wrote some of his memories for one of Alan’s books, while another singer from yesteryear, Dave Berry of ‘Little Things’ fame in the 1960s, also jotted down a few of his stories.

Alan was doing a book signing in a store when he spotted fashion guru Jeff Banks across the shop floor, while comedian Syd Little and Alan had a good old laugh when they got together.

If you’ve got a photo of yourself with someone famous, send it to phil.hill@countygazette.co.uk