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Had the pleasure to work closely with Warnie back in 2010 over a number of months.
I met him on a Thursday afternoon in a West London Hotel just before we set off on a 2 week filming job for the 2010 ashes series. Larger than life character just as the stories all tell but also a pretty normal bloke when away from the spotlight.
Just after we met and he had to shoot his Executive producer ( who was effectively a glorified chaperone ) pulled me aside and said that a huge story was going to be published on Sunday and just to be on guard.
Well he didn't lie come Sunday morning the first 7 pages of the 'news of the world' had Warne and Liz Hurley plastered all over it. I even got a mention on page 5 as ' Warne met 2 unidentified men in reception on Friday morning and they went to Lords, Buckingham Palace and the Oval' (we were being followed everywhere could you believe it)......
We rolled up to the front gates of Lords and the security guards piled out to wave me away in my dark blue station wagon before Shane wound down the back window and said ' Hey fellas, is it OK we come in?' Well you have never seen the mood change so quickly and in we went.
After that we met Darren Gough(one of England's best ever bowlers) in front of Buckingham Palace for a quick pretend game of cricket. Royal guards were very confused. Even talked a cop into cuffing Warnie and Gough like they had been arrested for disturbing her Maj. Everyone absolutely loved the guy.
One interesting point was how much **** he got from so many in the street just having a laugh or a dig. While in the UK he had his shutters Well and truly down and just laughed it off.
We went to Italy a few days later to do a shoot with Sting at his sell out concert and the moment we landed he was a different bloke. Open, chatty and friendly because nobody knew who the hell he was.
In closing you can only surmise you either loved or loathed him. I'm sure he had his moments but for me at that very point in time he was a pretty good bloke. A lad that had as much fun as possible in the circumstances he was in.
RIP 🙏 Shane Keith Warne.
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