I was looking at this picture of a famous person and I remember when she was famous for singing and then she was famous for being thin and now she’s famous because she looks after abandoned puppies. What is the biggest change that has ever come over a celebrity? (Bobby, Spring 2008)

Famous people usually follow a fairly predictable path. When someone is suddenly overtaken by illness or a bad habit or impending mortality, we might say,‘Goodness, have you seen what he looks like?’ but rarely otherwise. Personality-wise, major alteration is even less common than it is looks-wise. Generally, someone becomes famous as a particular personality-type and stays that way, getting older. Your singer who got thin and now looks after puppies hasn’t really changed at all. Sometimes, radical re-assessment is required. Paul Gadd (real name: Gary Glitter) is a case in point but a case one wouldn’t wish to go into. But in a case like that (the completest fall from grace by any British celebrity ever, so complete that his songs, which everybody really liked I think, are effectively unplayable), in a case like that, the famous person hasn’t actually changed - his real nature has been uncovered. That’s different. There has, however, been one striking instance of a public figure presenting himself to the world in one incarnation, disappearing into his cave, as it were, and returning to the public realm as someone else altogether. There has been no transformation like that of George Foreman. Heavyweight champion of the world in 1973-74 and then, after a ridiculously long gap, at the ridiculous age of 45, after that transformation, again champion in 1994-95, George Foreman has offered two entirely different, even contrary, personas to the world. As is clearly shown in the film `When We Were Kings` (the best sporting film ever, you’re getting more than one record here, Bobby) about his fight in Zaire against Muhammad Ali, when he lost the title for the first time, Foreman (no.1) was an utter brute - surly, sour, boorish, hating and hateful, snarling, the very image of brutishness. He also punched harder than anyone else on the planet. It is terrifying to see him punch, even when he’s only punching the heavy bag, and then Ali, well, you have to see the film, it’s a classic. Anyway, he lost the title but kept on fighting, looking for another crack at the championship, still this sullen ogre. Then, in Puerto Rico in 1977, after losing a 12-round decision to Jimmy Young, George Foreman (no.1) sat in his dressing-room, exhausted and suffering from heat-stroke. He had what he later came to believe was a near-death experience and found himself in a place of nothingness and despair. In his state of utter wretchedness he called out to God to help him. He sensed God’s reply - a call to him to change his life, his ways, his attitude. Out of that dressing-room walked George Foreman (no.2). George Foreman (no.2) is a shiny, jolly personage, always ready with a smile and a kind word. He retired at that point from boxing, dedicated the next decade to Christianity and became an ordained minister in a church in Texas. He also expanded his business interests. In 1987, still smiling, George Foreman made a come-back as a boxer and did not disgrace himself, losing a good fight in 1991 to the champion Evander Holyfield. In 1994 he had another shot at the big prize, against Michael Moorer. Losing all the way, Foreman found one last sledge-hammer blow in the 10th round and knocked Moorer out cold. Champion at 45! He smiled on. He didn’t last long as champion but there will surely never be another champ older. Well, perhaps there will but there will surely never be as long a gap between one man winning the World Heavyweight Title for the first time and the second - 21 years! Funnily enough, since then, Foreman has made more money selling his George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine than he ever did as a boxer. He has sold 55 million of these grills and thereby made $150 million. Which just goes to show...what? Well, the career of George Foreman (no.1 & no.2) must go to show something, but what is that something?

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