From nappy changes in the cinema to being vomited on at gigs, Telegraph writers recall when their cultural pleasure was ruined by a stranger
Picture a fairly empty multiplex screen outside Anchorage, Alaska, a week or two into the release of M Night Shyamalan’s SIGNS. My two brothers and I settled in near the back. In came a family with a squalling baby, who proceeded to drape themselves across the row right in front of us, with many empty seats between them. The phones were soon out and stayed out well into the film.
But it was when they started changing a nappy halfway through, in plain sight, that we really lost it, and moved as far away as possible. I’m slightly scarred by the memory of them sliding the dirty one under a seat and leaving it there, before they gave up on the film and trundled off. Everything started to go downhill for Shyamalan at that exact point, I feel. Tim Robey
At a Prom in 2018, I was spellbound by Andras Schiff’s extraordinary performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5, except my reverie was interrupted by my neighbour who was trying to book flights to Kuala Lumpur on his phone. Not content with the BA site, he moved on to Expedia, SkyScanner and lastminute.com, each one buffering for what seemed like hours.
In the end, I snatched the phone from his grasp, and he gave me a look as if I had just stolen one of his children and was about to sell them into slavery. “At the interval!”, I said in a stage whisper which was probably more annoying to everyone else, than my silent neighbour. Later, I duly handed it back, and the man gave me another filthy look. He didn’t come back for Beethoven’s 7th. Ben Lawrence