Starring roles on the Rio red carpet

WE WErE on holiday in rio de Janeiro and decided to have a g&T at the Copacabana Hotel where the rich and famous stay. as we approached, we saw a long, red carpet with noisy, excited crowds behind crush barriers. Just then, a security guard shoved some people aside and, to our surprise, ushered us onto the carpet. at the other end was a TV cameraman and a lady in a long black dress holding a clipboard and microphone. she grew increasingly worried as she looked at us, her clipboard and back to us. With a smile and hello to the camera and her, we stepped inside the hotel. Keen to find out what the event was, we followed people dressed to the nines into a huge function room, declining the proffered glass of champagne. a member of the hotel staff was sitting at a table with a large pile of glossy programmes for the night’s event, so I asked if I could have one. ‘sorry,’ she said. ‘These are just for the stars.’ Coming over all understanding and modest I said she was, of course, too young to know who I was. she blushed and quickly gave me a copy. TV soaps are huge in Brazil and it turned out that we had inadvertently gate-crashed the 40th annual TV awards ceremony. The programme was full of storylines and photos of stars and characters from those 40 years. We had hired a tour guide, Eduardo, for our stay and the next day we told him all about our TV appearance. He said that his 70-year-old mother, Maria, was a soap addict, so I wrote ‘To Maria with love and best wishes from Michael and Brenda’ across the front of the programme and gave it to him. ‘she will think she has died and gone to heaven,’ he said. fleeting ‘fame’, but a great holiday memory. Michael and Brenda Crosby,

Colchester, Essex.