Annie Mole's, webmaster of Going Underground, daily web log (blog).
If you like this you'll LURVE One Stop Short of Barking, THE fun and informative BOOK about travelling on the London Underground.
He had a little WHSmith notepad which he was scribbling into. Nosy bleeder that I am, I looked to see what he was writing. The notepad had the names of lots of people on each page with a town at the top. I thought it was an address book, so went back to staring at the ads.
But something wasn't quite right. There were just names and no addresses or phone numbers and some of the names sounded familiar. And why was he shuffling through glossy brochures on his lap at the same time? What were the little ticks against the names for?
Suddenly the penny dropped when some of the more familiar names were just a bit too familiar:
Steve McFadden
Lesley Joseph
Lucy Benjamin
Julian Clary
Bonnie Langford
OH MI GAWD - he was a pantomime celeb spotter. The pad was full of celebrities who were starring in pantomimes and the glossy leaflets on his lap were flyers advertising the pantos.
"The magic, mystery & sometimes maddening shortcomings of London's Tube are documented with love, enthusiasm & sometimes despair by its unofficial social historian." The Guardian