The cult of the celebrity

Celebrities strive to get public attention in the media whereas famous people are famous because of the work they are known for, like Sir David Attenborough. Could you imagine him being after public attention in the media, he was the media when he was controller of BBC2. Could you imagine any of the Kardashian girls doing this job?

I refuse to call them celebrities. They are famous people. I have been influenced in all of my 21 years on this planet by various famous people. Sir David Attenborough gave me the gift of loving wildlife and animals in general. Karen Carpenter gave me the love of music and taught me about emotions. Mr. Eric Morecambe gave me the gift of laughing at silly things. But I was also influenced by non famous people too. Mrs. Haydock, my teacher in top class at primary school gave me the most beautiful gift of reading and books, I will be eternally grateful to her.

I completely agree feetle. But it's what they call themselves nowadays. Makes no sense to me.

@jigleb...s - 'Bands' my fat round bot! I reckon for a band you need more than ten, all of whom can play their instruments. Anything else is a 'group'... (said in a Stephen Potter 'plonking' tone, as described in 'One-Upmanship').

Maybe that's a bit unfair. I think many of the WAGS probably have interesting personalities. I don't they'd last, either in the public eye or in their marriages, if they hadn't. The same probably goes for a lot of celebs.

True Soutra.

Big b**bs seem to go a long way too! I still think being a WAG which doesn't seem to necessarily require intelligence/talent/personality but fake tan, big b**bs, killer heels and (usually) a pregnancy bump seems to be enough to qualify you to be a " sleb". Why else would anyone want to feature these women over several pages of a brainless magazine? I mean, who has actually heard of them? They certainly don't come from wealthy backgrounds apart from the likes of Paris Hilton, or Tara Palmer-wotsit !

A lot of them get on the reality circuit through the reality show route. The ones that "make it" are the ones generally that are voted to be kept in because they are interesting in some way to the general public. A lot of them do not come initially from wealthy backgrounds.

Good PR alone wont get them through.
Dont know a thing about Kim K though.

I totally disagree! "Characters"? Kim Kardashian(she of the big bum)? Cheryl Cole( once married to a footballer)? Just about anybody featuring in mags like Hello! and the like which I fend off at the hairdresser, protesting usually in vain, that I would like one "with words" in it!
The point is these people are not characters, they just have good PR.

I think that some people who are famous, for no apparent good reason, are actually famous becuase they are "characters".
I should imagine that we all know some people in real life like that.
But in the celebrities' case, they have made it onto television.

Lonnie donegan changed my life as a youngster in the 50's.and now 60 years later my wife,Pam and 3 other close friends are playing skiffle again and raising money for charity at the same time.

tegan!

I had a friend back then who used to introduce me as 'and this is Tegan; she's in the Desert Orchid Fan Club y'know'. [I wore a Dessie badge to prove it]. I was in my late thirties . I even went to his 'funeral' ....

Well Jingle and Tegan have cheered this thread up imo. Remember the old Bob Dylan song, the times they are a changing. We may not like it and we may grumble and feel things have gone to hell in a hand basket but surely we all remember grumpy older folks saying exactly that about, well Mr Dylan and the Beatles for sure.

I know that horse racing is a somewhat contenious issue on here sometimes, but, when he was an equine superstar I joined the Desert Orchid Fan Club; I rediscovered the love of racing that I'd had as a child and it is now a huge part of my life and the racing club I later joined has enabled me to meet so many racing folk [two and four legged ones] and make great friendships. I laughed at one time about people being in fan clubs and then it dawned on me that I was in one...only, it wasn't a group, it was a horse. I even bought a pony after meeting Dessie so, in retrospect he did completely change my life. And I'm as besotted with him and his memory now as I was back then .

Do you know, I think one or two pop groups, or 'bands' as we have to call 'em now did change my DD's life, because she joined their online forums, and made several like minded friends around the world who she has visited and met up with several times. One fan, from the U.S. Has daughters the same age as her nephews, and they have become great friends. They all met up in London and went to the Harry Potter exhibition.

Joining the fan site forums has definitely widened her world.

There is a difference between those who become celebrities because of their talent; and those who for some unknown reason become so because they happened to appear on a reality TV show, but have no talent whatsoever; or happen to be rich.

Thank you Gill - no it doesn't sound patronising at all. Those Beatles times were lovely and I now have something to look back on that was nice amid all the not so nice. I agree there are a lot of 'wannabes' around now.

Yes absent there is a big difference between those people who may have greatly changed people's lives through their music, their acting talent, their writing, and I thought that your story katyk was lovely, how wonderful to have been part of that time and to have found some escape from other horrid aspects of your childhood ( hope I dont sound patronising, I dont mean to!). But, and it is a big but, there are people who are just famous for being famous, and those who cannot tell the difference between being famous and infamous, as long as they are on the pages of tabloid publications.

Falconbird/feetlebaum......that's given me a good start to my day!! Perfumo the clown!!

Sorry yes - Profumo - up early bit dazed. Profumo became a changed character after that and did lots of good work for charities.

'Perfumo'? Sounds like a continental clown... it was Jack Profumo who was involved in that (regrettably enjoyable) mess...

In a weird way the Perfumo affair changed my life. I was about 17 at the time and bore a passing resemblance to Christine Keeler who was a few years older.

My parents were treating me as if I was a kid and the photographs of Christine Keeler made them look at me in a different way.

Of course The Beatles, The Stones and The Kinks changed my life forever.

A star of reality TV - Kim Kardashian, she of the big a**e. Why on earth should the young look up to someone who is famous for being famous? But they do!