Dennis Stone, Heathrow's longest-serving resident photographer, published a book of photographs of celebrities, politicians, and world leaders taken at the airport over a 64-year period.
Stone began his tenure at 14 as a messenger boy at British Overseas Airways Corporation (an early version of British Airways--check out their old uniforms here).
As a thank you to Stone, Heathrow published 5,000 copies of his book, "A Life At The Airport: A Heathrow Photographer."
Now 78, Stone said of his time at the airport, "I feel very fortunate to have worked at Heathrow for the past 64 years carrying out a job I see less as work and more as a passion. I have made many good friends here and been privy to a world that has allowed me to capture unique moments and events. "
Below, check out a slideshow of some of Stone's favorite pictures, captured over the years, along with his comments on each shot.
Dennis Stone, Photographer(01 of20)
Diana Ross(02 of20)
"Diana dressed like this as a reaction to being arrested for abusing security staff the previous time she flew. I remember it well as she came through security and told me she had had an altercation with security. She was later arrested her and taken to the airport police station. So on this occasion Diana flew out in a full-body leotard, to make the point that she had nothing to declare."
Sir Anthony Hopkins & Emma Thompson(03 of20)
"Emma and Anthony were flying out to America together to promote the film 'Shadowlands'. She's very down to earth; I've photographed her several times coming in and out of Heathrow, once even with an Academy Award. But he generally doesn't like having his picture taken so it was great to get this shot. They were laughing and joking around and Anthony grabbed Emma and said 'Give us a smile!'"
Joan Collins(04 of20)
"Joan used this picture of her with her luggage in her book. She has JC on her luggage of course, which I think is great! A lot of celebrities have designer luggage. Joan always looks very smart and fashionable. In the old days it would be fur and everything. One time she turned up at Terminal 3 in a taxi and her nipple jumped out all of a sudden, so we took a picture. In those days it was a sensation."
Clint Eastwood(05 of20)
"This has to be about 20 years old. I tried to photograph Clint about five years ago, and he was walking around with someone who was the spit of him. I went to shoot the other bloke and someone said, 'No that's not him! There he is!' But by that time he'd gone in to the lounge. I don't know if it was intentional. Some stars have friends who will come out and say they're coming out in 10 minutes when really they've gone already. We have very few back doors though, so it's pretty hard to get past us."
Goldie Hawn(06 of20)
"Goldie's plane came in to a gate out in the sticks so we waited for her outside customs. She came over and said 'Why weren't you there to meet me?' We told her why and she said 'What the mountain had to come to Mohamed did it?!' She took her coat off her shoulders and posed for a photo. I didn't know it at the time, but the dress was see-through! Of course the newspaper loved it! She dressed very conservatively the next time I saw her!"
Elizabeth Taylor(07 of20)
"Liz is just wonderful. I've photographed her so many times that I promised to take her out for her favourite meal of sausage and mash, then take her on an open-top bus round London because she'd never done that. It's our joke. Liz would always do a great model pose for me, looking very glamorous. Those violet eyes are amazing. I have some pictures of her daughter who has her eyes too. Liz always turns up with a lot of luggage and has quite a few people travelling with her. I have a good photo of her all made up when she came over to be made a Dame. I thought that was wonderful. Liz, Joan Collins and I are all war children. She was evacuated to America though and I went to Chertsey. She's the eldest, then me and then Joan. That's what Joan likes to say anyway."
Jack Nicholson(08 of20)
"I like this picture. That's Ken from Special Services on the right looking after Jack, who was flying out of Heathrow. Jack just smiles all the time and says things like, 'Is this alright? Is here ok for you?' He gets it out of the way I think. I've just noticed his shoes for the first time, they're great! I always do full profile shots so they can be cropped. A full length means you can check out what they're wearing at a later date as I often don't notice at the time."
Elle Macpherson(09 of20)
"This is when Elle and Arpad Busson were flying out of Terminal 3 to Greece or Turkey where they needed a passport photo for a visa once they got there. Elle didn't have one so Arpad asked if I could take her picture. I said I could but I couldn't develop it. So I pointed them to a photo booth and we followed them and got a picture of her in it. I thought it was so funny that she charges a fortune to be photographed but she was paying to have her passport photo taken!"
Elton John(10 of20)
"You'd always look at what Elton was wearing and think wow, that's great! It's so good for pictures. He was a person who would dress for the occasion. On his world tour he carried a bag with a world on it. He likes to tell the story with what he's wearing."
Kylie Minogue(11 of20)
"I've known Kylie since she first arrived in England, when she came over with bodyguards. She's matured in to a beautiful friendly person and is always quite happy to pose wherever she's going. The first time I saw her after she'd been battling cancer, I told her that I was also fighting it and she said, 'Good luck' and gave me a kiss."
Naomi Campbell(12 of20)
"This was soon after Naomi had been arrested for getting violent at Heathrow about three years ago. Her baggage got lost and she started swearing at all the BA staff so she's banned from flying with them. I heard she was flying out on this occasion and these police girls were standing there waiting for her. She appeared and I took a couple of pictures of her walking towards me and then she looked over and saw the women and went straight over to apologise for causing all the upset. Then she went through to the lounge and I got a nice picture of her apologising to the police again."
Mick Jagger(13 of20)
"Mick's always been fun and doesn't mind me taking his picture - he even said that on film on the BBC Airport series. In those days the VIP Concorde lounge was next to the TWA and Pan Am VIP lounges so you could sit in one spot and watch all the celebrities turn up. Mick was at the height of his fame here although he's still very famous. I never got a picture of him and his ex-wife Bianca. They would go out at different times to split the press up. Celebrities all have their own games they play with us. That's part of the fun!"
Richard Branson & Pamela Anderson(14 of20)
"This was a promotional trip to New York to celebrate Virgin's 20th birthday. The photographers disembarked first so we could take shots of Richard with the celebrity he'd recruited for the occasion. Pamela walked the wing in this outfit and her boob fell out, which I didn't get a shot of unfortunately. I liked the fact she put Richard's hat on as it's all co-ordinated. I've taken pictures of Richard in so many uniforms now; he's a great dresser upper."
Sean Connery(15 of20)
"Sean can be a bit grumpy but he's alright there. I think he'd recently punched someone's lights out at a party and I was agreeing with him so he was happy with me. No matter what you might really think of people, you should always show respect as a photographer. You should be pleasant and say, 'Please, do you mind?' Some of them might give you a mouthful but there we go. It's nice to get one of Sean smiling. He's 007ish and will usually say 'Get it over with'. He knows what he wants. I reckon he'd be pleased with that one if I showed it to him."
The Spice Girls(16 of20)
"This was in the early days of the Spice Girls. They were travelling round the world all the time but on this occasion they were flying to Miami for a concert via Concorde to New York. They were on their rise to fame so they were happy to pose. They said they'd get together for a shot outside the lounge to save us from having to walk miles, so we waited for them there and they kept to their word."
Ozzy Osbourne(17 of20)
"Ozzy had just flown in from New York in to Terminal 3 and was as happy as anything to be photographed. He loves the publicity. His daughter Kelly comes through a lot now too and always gives me a quick pose."
Robert Duvall(18 of20)
"I think it must have been Christmas and Robert was wishing the press a Merry Christmas. It was one of those things. Sometimes they like having their picture taken and sometimes they didn't. On this occasion, he wasn't in the mood."
Robert Redford(19 of20)
"This is a good shot of the other photographers as well as Robert Redford. He'd just come off a flight and they went one side to take a picture and I went the other. My wife adored Robert but when she saw him she was disappointed he wasn't taller. Normally she'd not bothered about the people I meet but she loved Robert."
Sylvester Stallone(20 of20)
Sylvester likes to look rough and tough. I remember when he was doing the boxing films and he would come in wearing a suit and he'd stand there flexing his muscles. I am not sure you can pretend to be Rocky boxing when you're in a suit! When he came in like this though, it was perfect."
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