In the news

The press are recognising Famous Friends as a unique gift that appeals to everyone. Take a look at recent articles below.

THE WEEKLY NEWS

February 16, 2008.

Put Mum in the frame for fantasy fancy-man

This year, doting sons and daughters can make Mother´s Day extra special by using digital camera trickery to put her in the frame with her favourite fantasy man, writes Bill McBride.

Famous Friends are offering hundreds of hunky celebrities to choose from – with a special discount for Weekly News readers!

"Just visit our website at www.famousfriends.co.uk to choose Mum´s idol like Russell Crowe or Daniel &lsquot;James Bond&rsquot; Craig for the lucky lady to appear alongside," said managing director Stephen Hyde.

"In the picture you can see, we´ve replaced Sadie Frost with my wife Brigitte alongside Jude Law as an illustration of what we are offering.

"Mother´s Day is on March 2nd, but our deadline is February 22nd.

"To order an image, Weekly News readers should e-mail their request plus a digital photograph of their mother to helpdesk@famousfriends.co.uk or post a print of her to Famous Friends, P.O.Box 353, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 7ZP.

"Our 16x12-inch photos are specially framed and boxed to customers´ requirements, and cost £59 each, including postage in the UK. Unframed images cost £39 each.

"Weekly News readers can receive a 10 per cent discount by including our exclusive voucher code FFWN-RGKE-5019 with their order.

"Last year, our top-three Mother´s Day favourites were George Clooney, Tom Cruise and Pierce Brosnan - but in 2008, we expect some younger eye candy to emerge!"

See the original article.

Now Magazine

9th March 2005

Letters Page Feature

How can I match my mum with a celeb?

My mum's a big fan of Richard Gere and John Travolta, but has never been lucky enough to meet either of them. She'd love a photo of herself with one of her heroes for her birthday and I know it can be done on a computer, but I'm not up to the job. Can you help?

Lindsay Michael, Sanderstead Browse through the wide selection of celeb photos at www.famousfriends.co.uk, then send them a photo of your mum and it'll be professionally merged to look like she's best mates with the chosen star. Now's Kerry Harden, below, picked David Beckham.

Order your morphed image online or call 0870 2409000 with the reference number of the celebrity photo. Prices start from £54.95 for a boxed A4 size photo in a 16in x 12in frame of your choice.

See the original article.

The Weekly News

19th February 2005

Win your picture with the stars!

FAMOUS FRIENDS is a website-based service, which uses computer wizardry to put people in the same photos as their idols.

They were featured in the Weekly News on January 8, and our article aroused such interest, Famous Friends is now offering two of our readers the chance to appear alongside the hero or heroes of their choice free of charge, instead of the normal £54.90 fee.

"It could be a pop idol like Kylie, a Hollywood hunk like Brad Pitt, or a football star like David Beckham - we have hundreds to choose from," said Famous Friends founder, Stephen Hyde.

"All our readers have to do is answer this simple question. Who is the most popular Famous Friend our customers want to appear alongside?

Is it a) Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses, b) George Clooney, or c) Kylie Minogue?

When we receive the winners' details, we'll ask them to pick a star picture from our vast selection, and e-mail or post us the photograph of them they want us to use.

We'll do the rest and send out a framed portrait of them alongside the star of their choice."

To enter this fun contest, write the answer to Stephen's question and your name and address (plus a contact telephone number or e-mail address) on a postcard, and send it to Famous Friends Contest, The Weekly News, P.O. Box 380, London NW1 1TZ.

There must reach us by Thursday, February 24, when the two winners will be drawn.
This is a joint promotion with Famous Friends who are supplying the prizes.

See the original article.

Welwyn & Hatfield Times

26th January 2005

Stephen's work pictured on TV

A NEW soap opera character, caught up in an illicit affair, has had some help in his status from a "famous friend".

And the picture that Coronation Street character Ian Davenport proudly displays on his wall of him with George Best was actually created by WGC man Stephen Hyde.

Stephen set up the company Famous Friends Ltd on Ridgeway in May and has been featured in the WHT.

The business takes pictures of friends or family and merges them alongside their favourite stars.

The finished product is sold in a boxed frame.

Stephen said friends and business colleagues have been contacting him, having spotted the picture in the love cheat's office.

Stephen said none of the characters had yet referred to the picture, but it has been moved several times so it is in the shot.

"It's brilliant, particularly since it's on one of the most viewed programmes.
I'm not a regular watcher but I have become one in the last couple of weeks!"

"Ian Davenport runs a Porsche showroom so this is maybe trying to show he has got some famous friends, literally!"

For more examples of their work see their website: www.famousfriends.co.uk or call 0870 240 9000.

See the original article.

The Weekly News

8th January 2005

Putting you in the picture

An ingenious new Internet service is supplying photographs of people with their personal heroes - even though they've never met.

Famous Friends is already proving a big hit with customers eager to mark special anniversaries, like one father's 50th birthday, by replacing one the mop-top era Beatles with a photo of him when he was a hirsute teenager.

"Even more popular is Only Fools and Horses, where we can substitute spouses, relatives or friends for any member of the cast," said Famous Friends founder and managing director Stephen Hyde.

"I came up with the idea after realising the latest technology allows photographs to be 'invisibly' altered.

We've only been in business since June, but have already built up a library of over 600 images of famous people.

We get them from photo libraries, which takes care of any copyright problems, and pay a licence fee whenever we use one.

All our customers have to do is send us an image of the person they want to be superimposed - ideally a digital image, though we can scan prints as well - and we do the rest.

The end product is a high-quality, framed A4 print.

Each gift costs £49.95 plus £4.95 p&p, and customers can also buy prints of the unaltered photographs for £9.95.

The vast majority of our clients to date have been women buying images for the men in their lives, often posing them with sporting heroes like Muhammad Ali or the England football team.

We seem to have struck a chord and are pleasing a lot of people by putting them in the company of the great and the - mostly - good!"

The site can be found at www.famousfriends.co.uk

See the original article.

Welwyn & Hatfield Times

23rd June 2004

Who's Your Friend?

Ever fancied upgrading your pals?

A new business is offering a service that puts you in the picture with a new celebrity best friend of your choice.

Stephen Hyde has launched Famous Friends, a business on Ridgeway, WGC, which can produce prints of your dad as part of the England line-up or your best friend playing golf with WGC's own star Nick Faldo.

The service, which currently has 12 different categories of sport and more than 120 photographs to choose from, will soon expand to include showbiz and TV celebs and may even cast their net to include famous historical figures in the near future.

WGC man Stephen, 47, hit on the idea after searching for a unique gift for a friend's 40th birthday.

He said: "My wife and my friend decided that this waiter looked like Will Young."

"We took a picture and I thought I would make him Will Young. I did that and found a few others. We had my friends my friend in a picture with the cast of Friends, with George Clooney, and just printed it off at home and she loved it.

"That led me to think of doing this commercially."

Chartered Accountant Stephen held a senior financial role at Tesco for years then worked for a small technology start-up business before starting Famous Friends, gaining copyright permission from two leading photo libraries.

The father-of-two has received support from wife Brigitte and friends, who have watched the business take its first orders.

He added: "Feedback has been very positive so far. People like the images."

Buyers select their favourite online picture on the web then upload their own digital picture for the company to create the finished image, frame and box it.

See the site yourself at www.famousfriends.co.uk or call on 0870 240 9000.

See the original article.