I recently had the chance to speak to one of my musical heroes Pete Townshend and I bottled it. We were both stood outside a restaurant in Richmond. I had spotted him from a way off, but as we got close, my wife urged me not to speak to him as she thought it would be rude. Usually I would have said hello. But on this occasion I thought better of it. I have heard he is a bit moody, although I have no factual evidence to back this up. Anyway he is one of the biggest names in my little world of music. He was the figurehead of a musical movement in this country and to people like me, who follow the Mod scene, he is an icon.
However his many interviews on behalf of The Who and as a 60s survivor suggest that he can be a bit grumpy, so I thought better of saying a polite hello.
Later my wife changed her stance to say 'I bet he would have loved a chat with you really'. Then I thought if I had said hello and he had told me to "F*ck Off", that would have been a story to dine out on for a while. So next time if I see one of my heroes I'm just going to say hello. Have you ever met your hero?
