Blog Layout
MEETING MY IDOL IN THE FOREST
Have you ever met someone famous? How about bumping into a celebrity when you least expect it? Helen Munro
did (you can hear her on air every Sunday). In fact she was in the middle of Epping Forest when it happened.
Read about her chance encounter below and let us know who you've bumped into and what they were doing at the time.
Was that who I thought it was?
It’s not often you bump into a pop icon in an everyday situation, let alone someone who is among your all-time favourites. But that’s what happened to me and my partner in the middle of Epping Forest. You never know when you're going to bump into one of your idols. I need to be more prepared next time.
Back in the 90's I was a keen long-distance cross country runner and Epping Forest was a regular favourite. It was a Sunday morning in April and I was out on a run with my partner. We were on a different route than usual which took in the Copped Hall estate near Epping. Copped Hall is an 18th century house that can be seen from the M25 between junctions 24 and 25. It was there that King Henry VIII supposedly waited in the garden for canon fire from the Tower of London which marked the beheading of his unfortunate second wife, Anne Boleyn.
However, I digress. We were both of us ‘in the zone’ and not disposed to stop for anyone when we saw a line of about 6 or 7 men strolling up the path towards us. As we drew level, one of the men in the middle of the line eyeballed my partner and said, “Any shops up there, mate?”
Somewhat puzzled, my partner nevertheless answered, “No, no shops up there.” We ran on for about fifty yards and suddenly turned to each other and said, “That was Rod Stewart!” So we immediately turned round for a second look – only to see that the star and his entourage were also all looking round – to see how long it would take us to realise! And would you believe, we didn’t even run back to speak to him (such was our running fervour in those days)! We later found out that (until spring of last year), ‘Rodders’, as we refer to him, had a house in Epping, near Copped Hall.
But hang on ... there's more
Fast forward to the following weekend, when we had a couple of friends over for dinner. Of course, our previous weekend’s encounter was prime dinner party conversation fodder, and we opened up with, “Guess who we ran into (pun intended) on Sunday on the Copped Hall estate?” Having established it was Rod Stewart, the next question was, “And what do you think he said to us?” Imagine our astonishment when the husband came straight back with, “Any shops up there, mate?” To say we were gobsmacked would be an understatement. “How on earth did you know?” It transpired that Rod’s publicist had been in the group accompanying him on the walk and a short column filler paragraph had appeared in The Evening Standard one evening that week, relating the story, with a comment that Rod had obviously not lost his sense of humour.
I’ve seen him twice live on stage – once at the Hollywood Bowl in the late 80s and once, more recently, at the O2, when he and wife Penny travelled there incognito on the tube (I was cursing myself when I found out, for not having taken the Central line!). He doesn’t disappoint.
About Helen
You can hear Helen's show every Sunday afternoon from 6 with the best of good time oldies (of course) and loads of music trivia.
If you've been listening to Classic Hits Forest Radio for a while you'll know we LOVE Christmas. This year we'd like you to choose how we start our celebrations on air and you could even win an Alexa smart speaker!
9th June 2024 Here's this week's playlist from our Sunday request show. Many of our listeners have been asking if they can get a list of all the songs we play, so here it is. Chris Taylor was in charge this Sunday with producer Lucy. This weeks theme was songs with a vowel at the start. If you haven't heard of us before make sure you join us every Sunday 10am.
Here on Forest Radio, we love to celebrate peoples birthdays. So here are 5 birthdays in September from musicians that have had a major influence in the music industry. You may even share a birthday with one of these legends.
There's one big thing that sets us apart from our competition. We do it all for free. From the very beginning our aim was to create a radio station we would want to listen to. Twenty two years later and Forest Radio is the fastest growing internet radio stations in Essex. But in order for us to continue playing the good time oldies we need your help.
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 500 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Duran Duran. But don't get too comfy, it is only 500 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 250 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Jerry Lee Lewis. But don't get too comfy, it is only 250 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 400 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Chas & Dave. But don't get too comfy, it is only 250 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a musical genre we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 600 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about classical music. But don't get too comfy, it is only 600 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 400 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Phil Collins. But don't get too comfy, it is only 400 words (ish).
Here's one of our potted histories. Everything you need to know about a band or artist we play on Classic Hits Forest Radio all squeezed into 400 words (ish) (just in case you were going to count). So pull up a chair and find out everything you need to know about Meat Loaf. But don't get too comfy, it is only 400 words (ish).
Classic Hits Forest Radio
Classic Hits Forest Radio is a service of Radio Forest (CIO), a registered UK charity and a not for profit voluntary organisation. We are not
associated or affiliated to any other media group.
Our local news is provided by
Everything Epping Forest.
Contact us
Radio Forest
The Plain Epping Essex CM16 6TN
Classic Hits Forest Radio and Forest Radio are registered trademarks of Radio Forest CIO.