Well, ego trip time.
I met Ian McKellen and interviewed him for an hour on our gay programme. What a lovely man! Then we went to a gay party when shooting of LotR finished, and Peter J came too. (No, he isn't.) There's a picture of me in a spa pool, with Ian McKellen. Sadly, the comma is meaningful: he wasn't in it. Just before the world premiere of RotK, a week after I met my Tim (our first date), we went to a gay reception for him at Premier House (~The White House) organised by one of our gay MPs.
I met Armistead Maupin in 1988 when I was in SF - just rang him up and said "I'm a fan of yours from New Zealand, I'd like to meet you" and he invited me up. I stayed for more than an hour. So when he came to NZ I gave him the same present Mrs Madrigal gives newcomers, and we got this pic taken at a book launch of "Significant Others" (which I've just noticed is dedicated to Ian McK) on March 15, 1990 (he autographed my copy "with warm regards").
But my favourite "touched by greatness" story is going to hear Alessandra Marc sing the Liebstod from Tristan and the Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung. We were in the second row and when it finished, I called out "Bravi!" and she frowned a little, so I called out "Brava!" and she turned (no small thing, she's a big lady) and gave me a special bow all to myself.