Simon Le Bon was a HP

 

Readers much younger than me may not know what I'm talking about, but for 80's kids Duran Duran was a name on everybody's lips. For me it brings up memories of school discos, mullet hairstyles and girls in leg-warmers squealing with excitement. Duran Duran was probably the leading act in the New Romantic musical scene of the early 1980's and were renowned for their stunning videos, abstract lyrics and for the band members' status as sex symbols. They were formed by four young men from Birmingham in 1978 and quickly became enormously successful. Some music journalists were even predicting that they could be the new Beatles. As the lead vocalist, Le Bon was the focus of Duran Duran's fame. When he married a girl from Oxford called Yasmin, she received death threats from Simon's jealous female fans. Simon joined the band in 1980 just before they reached the hit parade. Before that he had sung in a punk band called Dog Days and had a go at being an actor. However, most importantly of all, he was a hospital porter. He joined the crew at Northwick Park Hospital in the London Borough of Brent and served as a theatre porter as well as an A&E porter during the 70's before taking up singing fulltime. There is an interesting article about this by another HP, Rupert Loydell. Rupert and Simon were never friends, but they were sometimes shift partners. Rupert left portering in 1980 to teach sailing and art in Michigan USA. He returned to Britain and signed on for a second period at the hospital. When he asked the other porters where Simon was they just pointed at the TV set. There was their brother porter Simon Le Bon singing to a crowd of thousands. Of course, the majority of people will describe this transformation as something along the lines of: "he started from humble beginnings and went up in the world." Rupert himself describes his feelings thus: "Anyone who works in the arts and lives long enough, comes across others who become famous, make it big, appear on the TV or have successful exhibitions. It helps make one feel you stand a chance." I, as you know, regard the situation very differently. Source: https://internationaltimes.it/duran-duran/. I salute MEP&DBP Simon. He kept me entertained as a child, but little did I know I would soon follow in his illustrious footsteps.