John Cleese spotted
buying Mustard magazine

John Cleese, Mustard magazine

In a mind-boggling coincidence, Mustard's Editor was in exactly the right place at the right time to see John Cleese buying Mustard magazine. As he explains:

"I was in Borders on Charing Cross Road, with Tom from Laughter in Odd Places, grabbing a coffee on the third floor cafe. Tom looks up and says, 'Hey, that's John Cleese over there'. Sure enough, I look over and there he is, standing at the till.

And... hang on.... the cashier is holding issue #02 of Mustard (with Michael Palin on the cover)! Is John Cleese really buying Mustard magazine? Or is that mag for someone else in the queue? Then the cashier walks away with the Mustard and Mr Cleese moves away to the side and starts looking at stuff on a shelf. So maybe it wasn't for him. Damn.

'You should give him a copy of Mustard,' says Tom. And yeah, I should. But I don't want to pester him. Maybe I should just say hi, give him the mag, then sod off.

So I walk over: "Um, hello Mr Cleese. I do this comedy magazine..." I say, holding it out. He looks down at me (I'm six foot five but he's taller - or seems it, at least) "Oh yes, I'm just buying a copy" he says. Sure enough, at that moment the cashier returns and starts bagging his stuff up. "Oh, okay!" I say, and unsure of what to do now, leave him to it and walk back to Tom, where, as discretely as I can, I snap a quick photo on my mobile (see above).

Hmm. Maybe I should have said something other than, 'Oh, okay'. It occurs to me that I've got some of the new Mustard postcards in my bag, so as he walks past I offer him a couple.

'Oh, thanks' he says, taking them. Then he gathers all the stuff he's carrying into one arm, freeing the other to give me a firm handshake and making full eye contact: 'It looks lovely, good luck with it, good luck with it!' he says, before smiling politely and ambling off.

Brilliant! John Cleese! The guy who did Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and A Fish Called Wanda! Buying my magazine! Wow".