c4countdown

Celebrities whose names are quite similar and people who don't know them might think they're just one person if they never hear both names too close together. E.g.

Rod Hull/Roy Hudd
Leonard Nimoy/Derek Nimmo
Bernard Matthews/Bernard Manning

I'll think of some more later.

I'm not sure that "celebrity" is entirely the right word, but it would be easy to mistake famous criminals/prisoners Charles Bronson and Charles Manson. The fact that the former shares his name with a famous actor merely adds to the confusion.

Yes yes yes Matt! I do that one. Thanks.

I often confuse Harper Lee and Ken Kesey. That is to say that if asked to name the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest my brain always thinks "Harper Lee, wait no shit it's the other one". I also used to think Harper Lee was a man for quite a while.

I used to be surprsied that Gwyneth Paltrow didn't look like Phoebe from Friends (Lisa Kudrow) when she appeared in films and stuff.

Ryan Taylor wrote:I also used to think Harper Lee was a man for quite a while.

I also assumed same with George Eliot.

EDIT: There's another one for you Phil.

Tommy Lee and Tommy Lee Jones.

I always thought the Olsen twins were one person when I used to watch Full House.

I regularly get confused between all the various ex-members of bubblegum pop bands who have "Lee" in their names: Jon Lee, Lee Latchford-Evans, Lisa Scott-Lee etc.

Shaun Wallace (ex-Mastermind champ and one of the Chasers in The Chase) and Shaun Williamson (Barry off of Eastenders). At least, I've got their surnames the wrong way round more than once when talking about them recently (I don't think it helped that Shaun Williamson also won Celebrity Mastermind when he was on a few years back).

My Dad gets confused between Michael Essien and Man City sponsors Etihad Airways. He calls him Michael Etien. He also calls Patrice Evra Everett which makes me think of Kenny Everett. And he thinks Aiden McGeady is Aiden McGreedy. And not in a comedy way of suggesting he's a selfish player, just in a can't be arsed to learn how to pronounce peoples names way.

Emma Thompson and Emma Watson. This troubles me to the extent that I've been trying to think of Emma Thompson's name since the OP was posted.

The Chaser, Anne Hegarty and apteforumite Shaun Hegarty.

Just realised that What a Wonderful World and We Have All the Time in the World by Louis Armstrong are two songs. This thread will do.

Not so much celebrities as groups thereof, but U2 and The Who have similar names, and I sometimes embarrass myself by referring to one when I mean the other (especially after hearing one of their songs and saying "Hey, that's by _______!"). Same with Bon Jovi and Billy Joel.

This thread and the apterite lookalikes thread.

When I was a young, idiotic boy, I was convinced that the BBC Six o Clock News reader Nicholas Witchell was actually the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong, and that the actor Peter Sellars was actually Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, based solely off of this stamp. (Collected stamps as a boy and remember how happy I was to have my first ever Iraqi stamp. I distinctly remember my dad doggedly trying to break the news to me, then giving up and backing down. A young, idiotic, stubborn boy.)

Ryan Taylor wrote:I often confuse Harper Lee and Ken Kesey. That is to say that if asked to name the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest my brain always thinks "Harper Lee, wait no shit it's the other one". I also used to think Harper Lee was a man for quite a while.

Relatedly, I can never remember which is which out of To Kill A Mocking Bird and The Catcher in the Rye. Even when one of them is rubbish.

Gevin Chapwell wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:52 pm Just realised that What a Wonderful World and We Have All the Time in the World by Louis Armstrong are two songs. This thread will do.

On a similar note to this, Wild Thing by The Troggs and Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf are very easily mixed up. I don't think it helps that both these bands aren't really known for anything else and are essentially one-hit wonders. A lot of people won't know what band did either song.

Mark Deeks wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:13 am When I was a young, idiotic boy, I was convinced that the BBC Six o Clock News reader Nicholas Witchell was actually the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong, and that the actor Peter Sellars was actually Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, based solely off of this stamp. (Collected stamps as a boy and remember how happy I was to have my first ever Iraqi stamp. I distinctly remember my dad doggedly trying to break the news to me, then giving up and backing down. A young, idiotic, stubborn boy.)

Well Neil Armstrong and Louis Armstrong are an obvious one. The Dalai Lama and Salvador Dali.

Does anyone remember those two guys that used to get on the bus going to school? In hindsight I think they actually got on at adjacent stops rather than the same one, but they must have had some agreement never to be on the bus at the same time.

Gevin Chapwell wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2026 7:20 pm

Gevin Chapwell wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:52 pm Just realised that What a Wonderful World and We Have All the Time in the World by Louis Armstrong are two songs. This thread will do.

On a similar note to this, Wild Thing by The Troggs and Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf are very easily mixed up. I don't think it helps that both these bands aren't really known for anything else and are essentially one-hit wonders. A lot of people won't know what band did either song.

The Troggs had several hits tbh

Weezer and Wheetus are ones I often confuse

Also when I heard Locked out of heaven by Brono Mars I thought it was a Police track.
Lo and behold at an awards ceremony Sting actually sung on it with Bruno.

Margate Robbie and Emma Mackey
Both were in Barbie btw. .