Mend it like Beckham: how I survived being a lookalike

Andy Harmer tells Charlotte Cripps how he spiralled into alcoholism when work dried up and his youthful looks faded after years of slavishly mimicking the superstar footballer

- By Charlotte Cripps

People started telling me I looked like the Manchester United and England midfielder when I was 18 years old and cleaning cars at a car wash in Eastbourne.

People started telling me I looked like the Manchester United and England midfielder when I was 18 years old and cleaning cars at a car wash in Eastbourne. A hairdresser friend, who loved him, told me excitedly that David Beckham had dyed his hair blonde and she dyed mine. When I looked in the mirror, I could see I looked like him. I had the same smile, even his mannerisms. But it was more than just looking like him; I even had his traits. I had played football in the same position as Beckham for Eastbourne United.

So I sent my photos to a well-known lookalike agency - and started getting bookings to parties and events, even kids' parties. I became a full-time David Beckham lookalike in 1988 and it was all-consuming for 20 years.

Early on, I met a girl called Camila who'd come to a local fashion show that I was modelling in, and she came up to me and said: “Quite a few people say I look like Victoria.” I didn’t see it straight away because her hair was long, but when we met again a few days later, and started dating, I noticed her resemblance was striking.

When a lookalikes agency asked if I knew of a “Victoria” as they didn’t have one, Camila joined it - and cut her hair. We went to open a nightclub in Glasgow and ended up on the front page of the Daily Star as “Posh and Becks” - then everybody booked us. It took over our personal life; when we weren’t working, she wore a blonde wig to disguise herself so we could avoid attention. We split up a year later, but carried on working together.

When Beckham got sent off following a red card in the 1998 World Cup match against Argentina, and he faced an intense public backlash, including the burning of effigies in his likeness, we got death threats and flak from people.