The downside of "Celebrity"

Having now appeared as an “expert” in THE national daily newspaper in the UK, there appears little left for me to achieve.

Additionally, whereas I could previously stand unnoticed on the station platform, today was noticeably different. All around me I could sense Telegraph readers nudging their travelling companions as they looked in my direction. What started as a single, whispered question from one commuter to another of “...is it HIM?”, soon became a near intolerable caucophony of sound....as the train arrived and everyone (in a vain attempt to show respect to my new celebrity status by treating me as a "normal" commuter) pushed me aside to get one of the few remaining seats on the train.

OK, so no-one actually noticed the article or commented on it!

Apparently anyone quizzing a child today is more likely to hear, “I want to be famous!” as being famous now counts as a career ambition all on its own, partly because as children grow up in a celebrity culture, on first name terms with those who only use one name — Kylie, Posh, Jordan, Madonna, Beckham, Beyoncé — their own aspiration to celebrity increases.

They should however beware, for to misquote a "misquote" in my article, celebrity isn't "...all it's cracked up to be!".

I am pleased to report however that not all schoolchildren have identical ambitions. In conversation with two young, newly graduated teachers on Sunday, one (who to protect her identity shall simply be known as Rachel) recounted a story about an exercise in a primary school in which she was working recently, where pupils were asked to think about what they wanted to be when they grew up.

On asking one young girl what she wanted to be, she replied "...a tooth fairy!". Cute or what?