FAMOUs FACES
Celebrities take centre stage on open-top busses to celebrate Queen’s Jubilee
TWO hundred famous faces took Britain on a trip down memory lane yesterday in a cavalcade spanning the eight decades of the Queen’s reign.
Models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell joined actress on an open-top bus that took us back to the Nineties.
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They were joined on the upper deck by cosmetics guru Charlotte Tilbury, Idris Elba, Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor, pop stars Neneh Cherry and Nile Rodgers and violinist Vanessa Mae. On the side of the double-decker were pictures of the Spice Girls.
Naomi, 52, said: “It has been an incredible day and I’m honoured to be here to salute the Queen. Our bus was iconic but we were starstruck by the 80s bus.”
Kate, 48, was wearing a Vivienne Westwood Union Jack waistcoat.
Each bus was decorated with pictures of stars, news stories and fads of their designated decade.
Big names from the 1950s got a great cheer from Prince Charles and Camilla. Film favourite Hayley Mills, singer Sir Cliff Richard, actresses Anita Harris and Bonnie Langford, boxer Chris Eubank, TV presenter Gloria Hunniford, opera singers Katherine Jenkins and Lesley Garrett, DJ Paul Gambaccini and ballet star Wayne Sleep all made the Fifties come alive.
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Sir Cliff, 81, said: “It was the greatest of honours. Even though we were all singing together, it felt individual — just for Her Majesty.”
DJ Tony Blackburn was MC on the 1960s double-decker with former Blue Peter presenters Anthea Turner, Valerie Singleton, Peter Purves and Peter Duncan, along with kids’ TV favourite Basil Brush.
Corrie veteran Bill Roache, telly gardener Alan Titchmarsh, actress Caroline Quentin, and presenter Kate Garraway were on deck too.
The 1970s were represented by Noddy Holder, Angela Rippon, Chris Tarrant, Debbie McGee, Craig Charles, John Craven, Johnny Ball, actor Patrick Mower, chef Rick Stein, Strictly judge Shirley Ballas and actress Stephanie Beacham.
The biggest cheer of the day was for the float carrying the singing cast of West End show Mamma Mia!.
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Lead singer Mazz Murray, 48, revealed: “Twenty years ago I was a young singer on the Palace roof with Brian May. To be here today is a dream come true.”
Mazz got up on stage after the Queen’s balcony appearance yesterday to sing Abba hits to the crowd.
A 1980s bus carried Olympic ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. They were joined by Games greats Daley Thompson, Duncan Goodhew, Sharron Davies and Tessa Sanderson.
Also on board were TV and theatre stars Anthony Head, Letitia Dean, Simon Callow and Nigel Planer, presenters Eamonn Holmes, Ruth Langsford, Timmy Mallet and Gary Lineker, music mogul Pete Waterman and singer Tony Hadley.
BBC Children in Need mascot Pudsey was also on the top deck.
Hairy biker Si King, Gok Wan, comedian Chris McCausland, and Olympic heroes Sir Mo Farah, Dame Kelly Holmes and Sally Gunnell hitched a ride on the 2000s bus bearing a giant picture of late singer Amy Winehouse.
AJ Odudu, Holly Willoughby, Rylan Clark, Joe Wicks and Nicole Scherzinger were on the 2010s bus.
Stars in cars and on bikes also joined the phenomenal Platinum Jubilee pageant. Olympic gold-winning cycle aces Sir Jason and Dame Laura Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy led 300 bikes down the Mall.
Half a dozen dames were also driven round in Jaguars, including film icon Joan Collins and 60s model Twiggy.
They completed the 1½-mile route near Buckingham Palace but Bake Off judge Prue Leith’s car broke down. Earlier, a parade of 1,800 servicemen and women — along with 200 horses — took 19 minutes and 30 seconds to pass the Queen Victoria Memorial.
The extravaganza was the brainchild of Pageant Master Adrian Evans, 64 — the man behind the ill-fated Diamond Jubilee river procession marred by rain.
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He spent 18 months planning the cavalcade of nostalgia and said: “After the pomp of Thursday and Friday, we wanted to show quirkiness of Britain over the last 70 years. We won a World Cup, there was the first foot on the Moon.
“The world has changed but the Queen was a constant presence throughout it all.”
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