News from the Castle - I
have a doppelganger!
By Geoff Boot
We’ve all heard the saying that everyone has a
doppelganger somewhere in the world.
I haven’t got one myself, I’ve got several,
what’s more it would appear that Suzie has too. Before we go into mine as
compared to Suzie’s they are somewhat mundane. Suzie seems to have a
distinct advantage over me, as where ever we go people point out that she
looks remarkably like a young Elizabeth Taylor, and I stress the word
“young”, not bad, it certainly massages my ego.
Anyway back to me. When I was a youngster running
around with long hair I apparently looked like a monkey, no that is not the
hairy variety that is one of the Monkees, Dave Dee to be precise. All right
he was the shortest, probably the ugliest, and goodness knows what happened
to him, but at the time it was a tenuous claim to fame, although I have to
say no one ever came up to me and asked for his autograph. I hadn’t
practised anyway.
As I grew older I’m not sure whether things took a
turn for the better or worse, all I can say is that some said it was “in
the best possible taste”. You guessed it I bore an uncanny resemblance to
Kenny Everett. Well that didn’t last long as he sadly died of Aids. I
never did get into the cross-dressing in any case.
Noel Edmonds then appeared on the scene, and yes it’s
true viewed in isolation I did bear a striking resemblance to him, in fact
so much so that several people did mistake me for him. I started to practise
the autograph but sadly he soon fell from fame. In close proximity however,
and I did work with him for a short while on his Airborne charity and had
several pictures taken together, the resemblance was profound.
The doppelganging that really sits in my mind is
shortly after the boxer Barry McGuigen won one of his prestigious titles in
his all too short career. Whilst passing through an airport terminal someone
asked me if I was he, I smiled hoping this wasn’t a precursor for a left
jab or sharp right hook, and quickly explained that I wasn’t. I needn’t
have worried he just thought he’d got lucky with his autograph book.
In retrospect however I liked that, being associated
with an athlete wielding a knock out punch it would’ve come in handy on
many occasion.
One final thought with Elizabeth Taylor running round
the Castle one is minded of Richard Burton, but when I suggested this to
Suzie her words were “dream on, the only thing you seem to have in common
with him is a proclivity for fine wine”.
Cheers!
| Produced for the Sandgate News - December 2005 |