“Fame itself … doesn’t really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant.”
– David Bowie

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
– Henry David Thoreau

“I’m shy, paranoid, whatever word you want to use. I hate fame. I’ve done everything I can to avoid it.”
Johnny Depp

“If I became a philosopher, if I have so keenly sought this fame for which I’m still waiting, it’s all been to seduce women basically.”
– Jean-Paul Sartre

“There’s no difference between fame and infamy now. There’s a new school of professional famous people that don’t do anything. They don’t create anything.”
– Ricky Gervais

“Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.”
– Marilyn Monroe

“The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Fame hit me like a ton of bricks.”
– Eminem

“If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.”
– Oprah Winfrey

“I think I understand what military fame is – to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.”
– William Tecumseh Sherman

“Fame was thrilling only until it became gruelling. Money was fun only until you ran out of things to buy.”
– Gloria Swanson

“What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.”
– Lord Byron

“A life without fame can be a good life, but fame without a life is no life at all.”
– Clive James

“Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, and now that, and changes name as it changes direction.”
– Dante Alighieri

Thoughts on fame

Abigail is still partying!

IT seems hard to believe that it’s nearly 50 years since Mike Leigh skewered the aspirational brutality of suburban life in Abigail’s Party. Premiered in 1977, the year of the Queen’s silver jubilee, the play still hits the spot, as audiences will discover when London Classic Theatre brings its new production of this 20th century classic to Bath Theatre Royal from 17th to 19th July.

Directed by Michael Cabot, the company’s founder and artistic director, this blackest of comedies stars Rebecca Birch as Beverly, Jo Castleton as Susan, Alice DeWarrenne as Angela, George Readshaw as Tony and Tom Richardson as Laurence.

In her suburban living room, Beverly prepares for the arrival of her guests. She and husband Laurence are playing host to their neighbours Angela, Tony and Susan. As the alcohol flows and the ‘nibbles’ are handed around, Mike Leigh’s ruthless and achingly funny excoriation of social mores takes the audience into the dark heart of isolation and empty lives.

Photographs by Sheila Burnett.