How Others See You

There is often a chasm between self perception and how others " see " you. 
That is a fact of life. 
Once I was " recovering" a patient who had been through an incredibly long and difficult liver transplant. He opened his eyes briefly then again and groaned " Fuck me it's Jeremy Speight" he croaked
At the time Jeremy Speight was a camp, fat Half Russian minor celebrity flight supervisor on the tv documentary Airport .
I wasn't best pleased

Yesterday, I got a facebook message from a colleague, she had been watching The Great British Bake Off 
This was the message
 Today
    • Sandra Griffiths Evans
      17:08
      Sandra G
      Whilst watching bake off it occurred to me Rav could be your love child. He looks like you only a Sikh


      Who do you look like in reality?
      Who would you like to look like

101 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:30 am

    It could hit you worse, your "Sikh child" is quite handsome. Take Sandra's choise as a compliment. My fav for me would be Emma Thompson!

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  2. I liked Jeremy Speight and Rav is quite a looker! In reality I am a plain Jane, grey mouse. I would like to look like Gemma Arterton, Geena Davis or Jaimie Alexader (from Blindspot series).

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  3. I'd like to look like my mum, she was gorgeous! In reality I look just like my dad, who bore a very close resemblance to Captain Birdseye! His beard was far more impressive than mine, but I've started cultivating a moustache!
    I've spent my whole life listening to "Isn't your mum beautiful? Are you like your dad?"

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  4. LOL -- it IS funny how people see us. I used to be told that I looked like Michael Stipe from REM, but I haven't heard that in a while. (I think he has facial hair now, which may be why!) Then again, you think Albert looks like a Pixar dragon, so what goes around comes around. :)

    (For the record, he DOES look like a Pixar dragon.)

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  5. Anonymous10:50 am

    Huh, your love child embraced Sikhism. Rav is ok, but I saw the hottest looking Sikh guy today. Ah, the mystery of the east.

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  6. I am dumpy and mousey. I would like to look like Gemma Arterton.
    We had an anaesthetist who had black hair and a very neat trimmed beard and tash. A patient woke up and thought he'd died and gone to hell!! The Devil himself! LOL

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    Replies
    1. That is brilliant hehehe x

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    2. I have a friend whose husband used to have long hair and a beard in his younger days. He went to see his grandmother who was on her deathbed and she thought he was Jesus coming to take her heaven.

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  7. I look like Miss Piggy after a rough night with Kermit. I am actually quite happy (after 50 years) with how I look, but a gene or two from Helena Bonham Carter would be nice x

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  8. I think Rav is very good looking! I don't see the resemblance though.

    In my fantasies, I look like Grace Kelly. In reality, I'm probably closer to Kelly Osbourne ...

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    Replies
    1. Oops, just re-read that and it sounds a bit insulting! I think you are good looking, John - just you don't look much like Rav!

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  9. I look like my abusive disgusting sperm donor. I would rather look like grace kelly.

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  10. At least he is good looking.
    I used to live in Hollywood, Ca ... I used to look like Jane Fonda in her "Klute" days. I was chased through an airport once by men yelling Jane ! Jane !

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  11. The older I get, the more I look like my mother. Not horrible, that, but I'd rather look like Dame Judy Dench, thankyouverymuch.

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  12. Jeremy and Rav both have engaging open faces with lovely smiles, not dissimilar to you in the wedding photo on your sidebar. Back in the day, I was told I looked like the American actress Lea Thompson, and although happy with that comparison, I didn't see more than subtle similarity. Older and entirely grey now, I am happy with looking like myself - at least when the lights are low ...

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    Replies
    1. to me it means not hooded, sulky, or plotting. It's a good thing!

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  13. Years ago, there was a programme on TV called "Shoestring" starring Trevor Eve. Kids in my school thought I looked like him and nicknamed me Bootlace. Nowadays, I would like to look like my old self at the age of twenty eight - when I got married.

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    Replies
    1. They were actually calling you " bootface" xx

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  14. My family think I look like June Whitfield, both when I was younger and now I am older. However, I should like to look like either Marian Coulthard (sigh!!) or Claudia Schiffer. Not to be. Love Andie xxx

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  15. Depending on what day I look in the mirror I see my mother, my dad, my grandparents.....what would I like to look like........better than I do lol.

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  16. When I was young and a lot thinner, a few people thought I was like Olive Oyl.

    For the record, I dont think you are like Rav in the slightest!

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  17. I had someone tell me once I reminded her of Georgia O' Keefe but I think that was because I was thin and had my hair pulled back in a bun. My husband however, used to get mistaken for some Mexican television star every time we went to Cozumel. been a while since we've been and he's gotten fatter and older so that's probably a thing of the past.

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  18. I used to remind people of Madonna. Now I just look like a grandmother.
    Sigh.

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  19. I look like my great-great-great grandfather, after years of self image issues, I am happy being who I am.

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  20. I've been told more than once that I resemble Meryl Streep which is fab and in which I take solace on the days I think I look like Roald Dahl's Mrs Twit.

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  21. When I was young people always said I looked like Jean Simmonds - now I suppose that maybe I look like a wizened version of the same.

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    Replies
    1. Now, she was a real beauty....i adored her in THE BIG COUNTRY

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    2. Jean Simmons was as my husband would say ..."a Great Beauty ".

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  22. Oh Lord, I don't think I'd want to know what others think I look like. Invisible I hope.

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  23. When I was young, people frequently told me I look like Meryl Streep. Now I look like my grandmother....sigh

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  24. Before growing a beard in my early 20s it was being said that I looked like Cliff Richard. (That MAY not necessarily have been the reason for my growing it!)
    Now, for the last couple of years, I've been wishing I looked like (with a bit of backwards time travel) Bradley Cooper as he was in 'American Hustle'. Trouble is, my entire day would then be spent preening myself before the mirror.

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    Replies
    1. 'Cos life, or what remains of it for me, is much too short, J.G. (I assume.)

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  25. Oh I definitely look like Cathrine Deneuve but when I look in the mirror all resemblances disappear! ;)
    Greetings Maria x

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    Replies
    1. Funny how walking by a mirror can be shocking at times. Once in awhile, I will notice an decently dressed older gal and realize it is me.

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    2. I see shelley winters

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    3. LOL ... not the hair, please ... lol ... in curlers ..

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  26. I probably look like my mother and wish i looked like Lara Croft TombRaider........lol Hugs! deb

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  27. In my far-off youth I was from time to time compared to Robert Downey, Jr., but I think in retrospect that it wasn't so much a real resemblance as that we both had Regrettable Eighties Hair. We certainly don't look much alike today - although his working out and having lived hard factor in that more than any contemporary hair issues.

    The nicest thing anyone ever said to me about a resemblance came during a visit to the (American) National Portrait Gallery. Ethel Merman had just died, and in tribute the Gallery had hung a painting of her in the lobby. I was looking up at the old girl (all done up in her Annie Get Your Gun costume) when a lovely older lady came up, looking both at her and me. After a time, she leaned over and said, "You know, you have her eyes..."

    One could do a great deal worse.

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  28. I was once told I look like Princess Diana! I don't flatter myself at all - I mean Diana in her mousey, don't know how to apply make-up, no stylist days. I think so many young English women of my era just had somewhat generic faces. Back in the 60s my mom and dad was sitting on a wall in Swanage when a lady walked up to my dad and asked if he was Richard Burton. He just pointed to my mom and said "does that look like Elizabeth Taylor"? Anna

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    Replies
    1. Oh, my - did your mother give him a good clout? :)

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  29. About 15 years ago,I was in a bar during an '80s night, and some of the patrons were dressed as celebrities from the 1980s, but I wasn't. Some guy thought I was supposed to be Austen Powers. I wear glasses and needed a haircut, so it might have been understandable, except he was from the 1990s!

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  30. I've been told I look like Annette Bening and Melissa Gilbert (pre all the plastic surgery, thank you very much). I don't see it.

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    Replies
    1. I love annette benning, one of my heros

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    2. For me too. That Mr Beatty sure has taste.

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  31. My husband's cousin works as a furniture restorer for the royal palaces. Many years ago when I was in my late 20s, he bounced into a family Christmas gathering clutching a card with a picture from Buckingham Palace (think 18th century ladies with high wigs and large, silk dresses). He gave it to me saying, "I've been telling all my friends that this could be a portrait of you!" I looked and all I could see was a profile view of my 90 year old great aunt on my mother's side who had a particularly prominent nose. It was a profound shock to think he considered the painting to resemble me, when I didn't think I looked like that at all. Now I'm just short and fat and people of all ages like to hug me. I know I resemble a great aunt on my father's side and as long as I keep smiling, it doesn't really matter what I look like.

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    Replies
    1. At least you resembl ed another woman!

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  32. I look like a tall, thin, reserved but watchful oldie. And I have no desire to look like anyone else, I'm happy just as I am. I've hardly ever been likened to anyone else, but in the sixties I looked very John Lennon-ish.

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  33. Most mornings I resemble Medusa. I look like my mother, most of the time. I only thought the other day, OMG those are Mums hands. When I was younger I was told by a friends Mum that every time she saw me she thought she must read Anne Franks Diary again. (I can see it when I am tired around my eyes and nose)

    I would also like to look like Marion Cottilard.

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    Replies
    1. If i was a woman i would like tolook like audrey tatou

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  34. When I lived in Texas a lot of people said I looked like Alan Jackson.

    Well, hell... it's better than looking like Michael Jackson.....

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    Replies
    1. Wh is alan jackson?

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    2. Alan Jackson is (or at least was) an immensely popular country singer here in the U.S.

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    3. Just googled him..pretty

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  35. When I was in high school in the '60s, I was told I looked like Shirley MacClaine (short hair, slightly Asian eyes). Now, I think I look like one of her past lives.

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    Replies
    1. Terms of endearment.?

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    2. I used to look like Fran Kubelik in "The Apartment." Now it's more like Martha Levinson in "Downton Abbey."

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  36. I look like my dog... shaggy fading red / blonde hair !

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  37. John - I wrote about our new toilet (composting!) in my blog today (http://southenglishtown.blogspot.com/2016/09/of-storms-and-zinc-and-fallen-trees-of.html) and just had to put in a link to Going Gently. Hope you don't mind.

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    Replies
    1. A toiet makes you think of me! Charming xxxx

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  38. Rav should be flattered to be called your love child. I used to look like young Bridget Bardot. (does anyone remember her?)

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    Replies
    1. She has a face like a bag of soanners now x

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  39. I was told often I looked like Cher...pre-surgical procedures.
    Slim, long black hair, but blue eyes, not brown.
    Nowadays, I have none of those features left, except the blue eyes :)
    ~Jo

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    Replies
    1. And Cher has brown eyes. So you can tell people that Cher looks like you but her eyes are brown :)

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  40. My husband was stopped in the street once in the Midnight Cowboy days by some lady who insisted that he was Dustin Hoffman.
    He kept saying He was not. She kept saying he was, so finally he said, You got me, I am. And she said , no, you aren't are you . lol

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  41. In the morning I look like the wrath of god. Later in the day invisibilty is what I aim for.
    I am so jealous that you are getting Bake Off again.

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    Replies
    1. Its our last one by the look of it x

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    2. I always wondered what the Wrath of God actually looked like :)

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  42. When I was younger than I am now it was Billie Whitelaw I was told I looked like. If anyone remembers her!

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    Replies
    1. Hope it wasnt from her mad nanny from The Omen time

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    2. LOL ... I loved her in every film she made. She was brilliant.

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    3. One of the 'greats', and sadly so underused. Only wish more of her Beckett renditions had been captured on camera or audiotape.

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  43. Well it depends on if I'm sober or not. =)
    It also depends on if I have my contacts in as well. =)
    I was told I resemble Martin Short, which I'm not sure how to take that but it's better than Freddy Krueger.
    Right now I feel like sleep-deprived father of two. Here's what Google says I look like: Mr. Shife

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  44. Sweet. The link worked. Yay!! Have a good weekend.

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  45. My dad could be the love child of Alan Whicker and Foggy Dewhurst and has been mistaken for both. When he was walking to the local shops one day a motorist pulled over, asked for directions and then said to him in an awestruck voice 'Do I have the honour of addressing the great Mr Alan Whicker?'

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  46. One of my principals in the school I taught used to call me Gina Lollobrigida, not so much because I looked like her but by the clothes I wore and the whole Italian thing. Now a days I'd love to look like another great Italian beauty, Sophia?

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  47. My 6'7" son who is of European ancestry looks like a paler version of Dev Patel - so funny - even his mates remark on it.

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  48. Many years ago a woman who knew my family looked me over... told me I had my father's teeth. I knew damned well I didn't because he had false teeth long before he and my mom were married. Furthermore, he often lost his false teeth... misplacing them when he'd come home inebriated. My mom told me that the woman knew my dad when he still had his real teeth and that was what she was referring to. Really though, as time goes on, I know I really resemble my mom... clear down to her crooked smile... and think my sister got all of Daddy's quirky genes.

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  49. I look a bit like an egg with legs, but I'm trying to walk off the rounded part :) I don't think I look like anyone famous, but I did see a woman who was very close to being my twin in the local mall. It explained why strangers occasionally came up to me and greeted me with another name.

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  50. I did a local TV commercial back in the 90's, it aired quite a bit and I got to do a print ad for a magazine (nothing fancy just me sitting behind a desk in an office). Anyway, I took the ad to work last year to show my coworkers and they all said I looked kind of like young Justin Timberlake. I didn't see it but they all agreed. I will take that as a compliment. Of course, while JT has aged quite nicely, I would have to quote "old Rose" from Titanic..."THE REFLECTION HAS CHANGED A BIT". :-P

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    Replies
    1. That should have been that while JT has aged quite nicely, AS FOR ME, I would have to quote "old Rose".....

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  51. I don't think I resemble anyone but my Dad, which is ok I guess.. at least I know my parentage. But when I was a youngster I used to be very athletic and I played football.. which was unusual then for a girl. After beating a boy to the ball in a tackle he insulted me...by telling me I had thighs like Johan Cruyff (R.I.P)
    I was chuffed ... hahaha.

    Jo in Auckland, NZ

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  52. Yes! Rav actually really does remind me of you! I was thinking that the other day, meant to message you lol x

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  53. Rav is a cutie. The other dude not so much. So whenever I read your blog it's Rav's sexy face I'll be seeing. Now for me when I was in my young twenties people would say I looked like Merle Oberon. I had no idea who they were talking about until one day my brother and I happened on the Wuthering Heights movie. Lo and behold there was the exact image of our Mother in black and white and on TV!!!. It was kinda thrilling really.

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  54. I look like a miserable cow half the time ... I've always wanted a 'smiley' mouth instead of my slightly down turned one. If I don't make an effort to smile all the time I just look like a manic depressive ... when I do make the effort to smile I look like the village idiot ... oh well :-(

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