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S6, Ep5 How to Fail: Shirlie Kemp
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
The First Time I Met George Michael
Shirley Met George Michael when she was in her early 20s. The pair met for the first time at a pub after he invited her to see his band. Shirley says they 'just clicked immediately' and had heart-to-heart talks. She never spoke about him to anyone while he was alive, so it's an emotional topic now.
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Speaker 1
Thank
Speaker 2
you so much for coming on. And such a pleasure. Thank you also for saying that you were going to take part and talk a little bit about George Michael, which I know must be such an emotional thing still for you to talk about. Yeah, it really is because obviously,
Speaker 1
as I said, I never spoke about George to anyone when he was alive. It was a private relationship, so obviously he passed away. So it's once again that I don't want to be seen talking about him. But of course, I've got amazing cherished memories.
Speaker 2
Can I ask you about those school days and the first time you met him?
Speaker 1
Well, funny enough, I was here above George and Andrew. So I was always looking at the boys in the year above me. I remember seeing them at school, but my memory of George at school was the boy who used to talk around with the violin case. And I was very punky at school. And George and Andrew looked very normal to me, kind of middle-class boys, but I wasn't. And I was nothing like them. I came from a council, in a state background. They lived on private houses. So I could feel there was a difference between us. I didn't really have a chemistry then. And it wasn't until I left school that I bumped into Andrew again. And we were in a pub in Bushey and he shouted, Shirley, I thought, wow, he's grown up a lot. Because you kind of looked at the young kids and I thought, oh, wow, he looks quite nice now. And he says, oh, I always remembered you at school. You were so punky and you had all those feathery rins in. I honestly didn't really, as I say, take any notice of them. And so we kind of caught up and then he said, oh, you ought to come and see our band because he knew I love music. So I went along. Then there was George. I thought, oh, the boy, you used to hold the bike in case. We didn't really hang out at school. I think George was still at school though, because I'd obviously left. And you know when you meet someone, you just instantly, there's attraction. I don't know how we know this, but you just bond with someone. And I think the key thing that we were both kind of kind and sensitive and we just clicked immediately. And he was the first person I think I'd ever sat down and had a real heart to heart with and him with me. And I'd never had that with anyone else. So we could sit for hours and hours. It was like, Rhaeganyan. And I was like, his Agonyan. So
Speaker 2
was there a violin in the violin case? Was
Speaker 1
it just a show? Yes, he did play violin because my form room was the music room. So they would be standing outside our form room waiting to come and play. And sometimes we would stand by the door and just hear, yeah. So he definitely learned that was his first instrument you like to play.
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