Eddie Izzard meets ICIS reporter

ICIS reporter Mark Victory's tale of meeting Eddie Izzard this week fits nicely into the Blog's long-running series on chemical folk meeting the stars. He writes ...

It's Monday lunchtime in deepest darkest Dagenham, in Essex, UK, and I am shaking the hand of comedy legend Eddie Izzard.  The sun is shining and a crowd has gathered. It's a welcome relief from an hour earlier, when four of my friends and I were braving the hailstorms to exercise our democratic right to stick shiny paraffin-wax coated leaflets through people's letter boxes.

Ahead of the UK elections on 6 May, we, along with Eddie, Billy Bragg and scores of other people from all ages and backgrounds are giving up our bank holiday Monday for the " Hope Not Hate" campaign, urging people not to vote for the BNP, for which Dagenham is a stronghold. My four friends and I get to meet Eddie because my friend works for one of the sponsors of the campaign.

The media, though, is out in force, and with cameras and flashbulbs filling the air around us there is little time for more than a handshake with Eddie and a quick photo. We're then whisked away to put more leaflets through more doors so that the television cameras can get shots of the world-class funnyman on the campaign trail.

As we post the leaflets through the letterboxes, we entertain notions of instant fame on the BBC's Six O'clock news bulletin that night.

Our delusions are quickly shattered by one of the throng of photographers. "Sorry," he begins, "but can you just move off to the side, I can't get a clear shot."

Click here for Chemicals folk meet the Stars

(photo: Izzard left, Mark centre)