FEARS OF FAMOUS FOLK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 550, 31 December 1928, Page 10

FEARS OF FAMOUS FOLK

CATS, SNAKES, POSTMEN AND REPORTERS Five famous people made a confession of their pet fears. Obviously even the great have their obsessions. Some of them seem extremely small things, but one man’s terror will mean nothing to another; and it is instructive in these days of progress to compare the idiosyncrasies of totally different people. When .a London “Daily Express” representative called on five celebrities with the question, “What is your pet fear?” the following answers were obtained: Princess Bibesco: “I have two .great fears, snakes and the morning’s postal delivery. Anything of an unpleasant nature is brought, as far as I am concerned, by the morning visit of the postman." Mark Hambourg: “I loathe cats. I can detect the presence of a cat in the room before seeing it. and am a most unhappy man until it has been removed firmly and kindly by someone else.” Captain Malcolm Campbell: “I do not suffer greatly, from a ‘pet fear,’ but snakes and sharks are perhaps the things that scare me most. People and animals who dash in front of cars are certainly a ‘pet fear’ from a motoring point of view.” Claude Grahame-White: “Being interviewed by newspaper representatives is an ordeal as far as I am concerned. Women reporters on the telephone scare me stiff.” Lady Cobham: “I have no fear of insects or animals since my African trip, but the very sight of a revolver fills me with terror. I seized one on an occasion when alone in the house and thought I heard burglars. It proved to be a false alarm, but in any case I was more scared of the weapon 1 held than any burglar.”