This BBC story shows that if it can happen to Stephen King, it can – and does – happen to anyone. It turns out King was mistaken for a vandal when he started signing books during an unannounced visit to a shop in Australia. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said staff at the Alice Springs book store did not initially realise the writer was autographing his own novels.

Bookshop manager Bev Ellis said: “When you see someone writing in one of your books you get a bit toey [nervous]. We immediately ran to the books and lo and behold, there was the signature.” Ellis later approached the author at a nearby supermarket and said he was “very nice, charming”. Though the part where she claims to tell King “if I knew you were coming we would have baked you a cake” seems more like a song plug than real quote, so make of it what you will….