THE "ANDREW LINCOLN" FACTOR

A few weeks ago, someone at work mentioned that they'd started watching a show which I've never seen called "The Walking Dead..."

It's a "zombie" thing apparently, which has become quite popular amongst the young people, presumably because it appeals to that demographic where a post-apocalyptic nightmare, like "Mad Max" once did to my generation, looks like it might be kind of fun, especially if you've spent your entire life shooting at monsters on video screens.

Maybe there's more to it than that, I don't really know. What I do know is that, like several other things lately, it really does not sound like my kind of thing at all, but people seem to like it and I've got plenty of other things that I'd rather be doing, so I'm perfectly willing to let them get on and enjoy it, as long as they don't try to persuade me of how "utterly brilliant" it might actually be.

Anyway, as I mentioned, it was being talked about at work and, as is almost inevitable these days, the conversation went something like this:

"It's got that English actor in it…"

"Oh yes? Who's that then...?'

"Oh, you know. He's been in things... Hold on, I'll Google him..."

(Other search engines are available, dear readers... as I'm sure you already know...)

"Andrew Lincoln! That's him...!"

"And who's he...?"

"Oh, you must know him. He's been in lots of things..."

"Nope... The name doesn't ring any bells..."

"Oh you must do..."

"Nope..."

"Oh you must do..."

"Nope..."

And repeat ad nauseum, or until someone decides to make a cup of coffee.

Anyway, the point is that, even when I pulled up a picture of him from the faithful old internet, I still didn't know who he is…

(I mean, I do now, obviously - after all, his picture is at the top of this very page - but you know what I mean...)

Looking at his biography on Wikipedia I realised that apart perhaps from his first TV appearance in "Drop The Dead Donkey" (because I did kind of watch that avidly once upon a time) there's not one of his film or TV appearances that I've actually seen… and, perhaps more to the point, there's certainly not one that I can actually remember seeing

But then again, I do seem to be so far out of the loop when it comes to pop culture these days that rather wonderful people having quite brilliant careers can totally pass me by... And it's not just Mr Lincoln, either (I'm suddenly reminded of that line "But apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, did you enjoy the play...?"). He just happened to be the person who managed to pop up on my personal radar at the time I'd been thinking about this and thus defaulted to the example du jour. Whole rafts of "well-known" faces from the world of music, television and film, people whom almost everyone I meet (Which, I'll grant you, isn't really all that many...), seem to recognise, I am completely oblivious to.

So, I'm terribly sorry Mr Lincoln, I'm sure that you're rather fabulous at what you do, and you have a fan-base who all think that you're jolly smashing and super, but I'm still not sure that I'd recognise you if I fell over you.

I'm sure that it's my loss...

But then very few people seem to catch on to my "pop culture" references any more these days either... and one day all those people whom we all recognise now will become a veritable "Who's that?" of once famous faces...