He may be one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood with a paycheque to match his fame. But movie star George Clooney looked genuinely delighted to be handed Scotland football strips for his family during a trip north of the Border.
Edinburgh mother Claire Phale won a prize to meet the Oscar-winning actor for an exclusive lunch for the charity Social Bite at the Gleneagles Hotel. The 35-year-old surprised the Ocean's Eleven star with her thoughtful gesture and quipped it might even bring the Steve Clarke's team extra luck at the World Cup this summer.
Claire Phale gifted George Clooney and his family Scotland football strips. She presented the actor with a strip emblazoned ‘Clooney 1’ while his wife Amal was gifted the captain’s strip inspired by Andy Robertson with No 3 on the back and the iconic numbers of midfield favourites John McGinn and Scott McTominay featured on shirts for the couple’s eight-year-old twins Alexander and Ella.
Ms Phale had entered the deal site itison’s charity prize draw in support of Social Bite and landed the lunch date with Clooney. She said: ‘This has been an absolute dream - I was so nervous when I found out, but it’s been even better than I could have ever imagined. My mum is a huge Clooney fan and when I told him - he immediately said, “Where is she? Go bring her in” and got a picture with us both. They say never meet your heroes, but he was honestly fantastic.’
Itison CEO Oli Norman added: ‘Our George Clooney fundraiser for Social Bite has been incredible raising over £50,000 with thousands entering.’ Before addressing the charity’s 4th annual gala dinner at Gleneagles, Clooney checked out one of the prototype homes from the new Social Bite Village with founder Josh Littlejohn and Sir Bob Geldof.
