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Bill Nighy thanks cyclist for stopping at red traffic light

"I couldn't put a name to the face initially, but I did recognise him..."...

A London cyclist captured the moment they were thanked for stopping at a red traffic light, the polite pedestrian none other than Bill Nighy.

CycleGaz, a familiar name to many in the cycling community who uploads videos of his cycling travels to YouTube and other social media platforms, posted the video of the interaction on Vauxhall Bridge Road near Victoria.

As the cyclist came to a stop at the red traffic light, the Love Actually and Hot Fuzz actor crossed the road and waved a hand in thanks to Gaz for stopping and shouted a "thank you".

"I needed the rest," Gaz joked back before wishing Nighy a great day.

"I couldn't put a name to the face initially, but I did recognise him," Gaz told road.cc of the interaction. "The taxi driver beside me spoke to me at the next set of lights about who it was."

> Cycling celebrities — famous folk who love to ride their bikes

Despite the thousands of miles cycled through London over the years, Gaz did not recall ever having bumped into anyone else famous during his travels, not even a Jeremy Vine sighting.

"It's always lovely to see an actor you admire being the gent you always thought he was," Robert Bobby replied to Gaz's video which has nearly been viewed 100,000 times on X/Twitter since last night.

Others speculated about Nighy's destination...

"Fame at last. Save this one for all the driverists who say cyclists don't stop at red lights," another reply said.

Perhaps Nighy will have a word with fellow West End actor Patricia Hodge, who last week claimed that "cyclists see themselves as the centre of the universe" and asked: "Have you ever seen a policeman pulling a cyclist over because they don't have any lights or because they've jumped the traffic lights?" 

> "Cyclists see themselves as the centre of the universe," says actress Patricia Hodge in rant questioning why police "never" stop red light-jumping cyclists

"I was crossing Portland Place in London recently, waiting on the central reservation for the lights to turn green," she said. "As I stepped off, a cyclist, a man in his 30s, went through the red lights and almost collided with me. But instead of apologising, he flicked me a rude sign. I just pointed at the green light for pedestrians and he called me the worst word in the English language. And when you get older, I think you have an obligation to speak out when things aren't right. I won't let anything go anymore. It worries me that manners are going out the window."

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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11 comments

Avatar
Shake | 6 months ago
5 likes

I never know what to say when people say thanks for doing something you should do like that. I'll use Gaz's line from now on

Avatar
slc replied to Shake | 6 months ago
4 likes

I have been thanked for stopping at a red light precisely once. By a pedestrian keen to point out that they had never previously seen a cyclist stop. Sadly I had left my bingo card at home.

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I love my bike replied to Shake | 6 months ago
3 likes

Once a pedestrian complained that I stopped at the lights, as they were cutting the corner at the crossing!

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notMyRealName replied to Shake | 6 months ago
3 likes

I've had it a handful of times. I find it incredibly condescending and obnoxious but usually I just smile and nod.

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Steve K | 6 months ago
7 likes

I've met Bill a few times (he's a Crystal Palace fan and patron of the Crystal Palace Supporters Children's Charity which I help out with a bit) and he's an absolutely lovely bloke.

Avatar
MattKelland replied to Steve K | 6 months ago
7 likes

From Popbitch:
We particularly enjoyed the story where Bill told someone to f**k off when he thought they were taking pictures of him. When they showed him that they were just checking Google Maps on their phone, he apologised profusely and blamed his outburst on the fact he hadn't washed his hair.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Steve K | 6 months ago
0 likes
Steve K wrote:

I've met Bill a few times (he's a Crystal Palace fan and patron of the Crystal Palace Supporters Children's Charity which I help out with a bit) and he's an absolutely lovely bloke.

I think my favourite performance of his is as the photographer in People Like Us TV series.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0672701/

Avatar
Steve K replied to hawkinspeter | 6 months ago
2 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

I think my favourite performance of his is as the photographer in People Like Us TV series.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0672701/

My son was particularly pleased to meet him because of his performance in Detective Pikachu.

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 6 months ago
1 like

I liked him as Shaun's stepdad in "Shaun of the Dead", and as the washed-up rock star in "Love, Actually".

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wtjs replied to hawkinspeter | 6 months ago
0 likes

I think my favourite performance of his is as the photographer in People Like Us TV series

I didn't realise it had gone onto TV, but I can hear his performance on the preceding radio series from my memory. The whole seies was really good, but they don't play it on R4 Extra, presumably because of Langham's downfall- this persistent censorship is rather unreasonable! 

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to wtjs | 6 months ago
0 likes
wtjs wrote:

I think my favourite performance of his is as the photographer in People Like Us TV series

I didn't realise it had gone onto TV, but I can hear his performance on the preceding radio series from my memory. The whole seies was really good, but they don't play it on R4 Extra, presumably because of Langham's downfall- this persistent censorship is rather unreasonable! 

It's not censored if you just pirate it

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