I've been within feet of two US Presidents, but didn't actually speak.

Among the celebs I have talked to at any length:

Morgan Fairchild, actress. Used to be big on series like, Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest and was in some movies. She was my mother's 11th Grade Honors English student but we didn't meet until sitting next to one another's tables in a restaurant. Then, we talked for maybe an hour about shared interests, inc. paleontology.

Dr. Donald Johanson, the celebrated paleoanthropologist whose expeditions discovered the fossil Australopithecus popularly named Lucy. My daughter and I attended a guest lecture he gave at SMU and he signed his books for me in the lobby. He seemed nervous and I asked a cop why there was so much security. She replied that some people who don't believe in evolution had threatened to kill him!

Jane Goodall. Not impressed. I'm sure her chimpanzees love her, but I found her aloof and a bit condescending toward Dallas. I had the impression that if she had to visit the US, she'd have preferred to be in NYC or Los Angeles.

I've also met several famous authors and many of the gun writers, like Elmer Keith, Charles Askins, Rex Applegate, Jon Sundra, Massad Ayoob, Jeff Cooper, Skeeter Skelton, John Wootters, Craig Boddington, Peter H. Capstick, etc. I corresponded with Geoffrey Boothroyd and Jack O'Connor, but never met. Because I was a gun and knife writer myself, I ran into these guys at PR functions and in the press room at the SHOT show as well as at NRA conventions.

And I profiled some famous custom knifemakers. Two of the most famed were very talented craftsmen but no one I wanted to know socially. Both reminded me of the southern end of a northbound horse.

One of the most charming I've met was Jo Anne Hall, with whom I spent some time in her home while profiling her for, The Colt Handgunning Annual. She was both a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and World Champion Ladies IPSC shooter. She has a degree in Journalism and wrote briefly for, Guns & Ammo.