4. Patrick Stewart
This was one of the big ones. So many people wanted to see Stewart, the show started half an hour late as they tried to get everyone in the hall. The German couple next to me could hardly contain themselves as they set up their cameras for lots of long distance pictures of the actor on stage. Once the talk got underway, Stewart talked a bit about the bridge of the Enterprise being very similar to an Elizabethan stage. How he lived out of a suitcase for the first season of The Next Generation and how much of a great time he was having (they all say that). He also told us that he celebrated his son Daniel's birthday the night before with some other Star Trek actors in his flat in Bermondsey. Then the talk went quickly downhill. Promoted by a dull question from the audience, Stewart started talking about Huddersfield University, a university he happens to be the Chancellor of. He told us about how fantastic it's doing and how Huddersfield is a great place to study. At the time if felt I had accidentally walked into a Huddersfield University conference. He told us about how he applied for a grant when he was learning to act and at this point the man next to me was surfing the internet on his Ipad and the excited German couple next to me were more interested in adjusting the settings on their camera. I decided to update my Facebook status. He did tell an interesting story about working with Rod Steiger in the 1975 thriller, Hennessy. It was Stewart's first feature film and he hero worshiped Steiger. So on set, he said he was intimidated and star struck when sharing a scene with the 'On The Waterfront' actor. Apparently when the director told Steiger to go to lunch so they could film Stewart's close-ups with a stand in who would read Steiger's lines, Steiger lost it big time at the suggestion that he was being asked to go to lunch when the scene wasn't finished. That was probably the highlight anecdote of an otherwise dull and sombre talk. No one can deny that Stewart is a gentlemen and a classically trained actor but as with Avery Brooks, you are at a Star Trek event, a few more stories about The Next Generation might have made the 45 minutes go quicker.