Two Black Country blokes meet in a cafe in Auckland New Zealand…..(what we were doing there is a story for another day!) I was a bit startsruck with meeting Sir Lenny Henry….when I saw him I went up to him and said ‘Yowm from Dudley aye ya!? He was startled by it and so I introduced myself and when I told him I was from Wolverhampton he enquired ‘What are you doing here!?’ So I told him and that started a conversation oddly enough me telling him my wife had bought me a copy of his new book (Who am I Again?|) for Christmas which I had started reading and immediately followed up with watching the Alan Yentob Arena documentary which focused on Lenny early life. So it was a surreal experience to meet the man himself and in New Zealand! He was interested in knowing what I thought about his book to which I said I loved looking at the archive images and had found the his story on his early life in Dudley which particularly centred around his mum really fascinating, as the story resonates and reminds me of my own experience of parents who had migrated to the Black Country at the same time. Sir Lenny is a true gentleman and took time to speak and take a selfie…..made up!
