SURFING, dining, driving, shopping and rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest pop and movie stars from around the world is no big deal for Mansfield resident John Lobbe.

For more than 40 years John has been a 'runner/driver' for some of the biggest names in the entertainment world.

But assisting famous faces is part of a normal day's work for John.

A very quietly spoken man, John is most recognised around Mansfield as always wearing his navy blue hat – the man in the hat.

Meeting at John's home he causally rattles off his tongue names such as Kirk Douglas, Jack Thompson, Sigrid Thornton, Jeremy Clarkson, Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Bon Jovi, Crowded House and Metallica – all of whom he has either driven around or been a runner/personal assistant to.

"It's a lot is driving, but more often than not, what we are called are runners," John explained.

"I take them shopping or go shopping for them or I take them to see things like kangaroos, koalas or penguins.

"It is almost like a personal assistant and it is wide ranging the jobs I get to do," John said.

"Probably more than 50 per cent come from LA – they live there because they are familiar with each other – it's the life they live and others outside of this industry do not understand that way of life," John explains.

John explained there is a 'bank' of drivers who are regularly employed to assist these stars when they arrive in Australia.

"In time you end up in all sorts of different jobs, sometimes you can be a chef's assistant because the star has special food needs and you drive a chef around to different markets to get what is needed.

"Sometimes you actually get the star – I would pick them up from the airport, take them to their hotel, then to the venue and back again, take them shopping, get Chinese take away if that's what they want.

"You just go and get that for them, and it's just me and he/she – you are that familiar face to them and at the end I take them back to the airport and say goodbye.

"We have a saying among these assistants; 'hurry up and wait' or 'stand by your van', so you stay by your vehicle, you are always on call; if you are eating and someone says 'quick we need that' you put down your knife and fork and go – there is no set breaks."

"I had a funny incident with Keith Urban once...

"His father is from Melbourne – and his father and uncle were going to Keith's performance.

"I got them from their suburban house, took them to the show; then after I had the father, uncle and Keith all in the car taking them home.

"It reminded me of when I was young, I would be playing music at home my parents would say 'that's a bit loud'.

"Anyway, Keith had just played to 15,000 people in Rod Laver Arena and his father said, 'that was a bit loud I though; do you need to have it that loud?'

"So, you had the dad telling his son, like a kid in a band, to turn it down.

"That's cute – it just shows how normal everything can be even when you are a big star."

Often the drivers just eat with the stars and eat what they eat.

"One day the guys from One Direction saw me sitting at a table on my own and came and sat with me; I felt special.

"Jeremy Clarkson sat at the drivers table as well.

"Once when I was with Metallica, the lead guitarist Kirk Hammett – he is a surfer, had been in Queensland surfing with professional surfers, and wanted to go to Bell's Beach.

"He and a couple of these surfers drove two little cars down from Queensland prior to the concerts in Melbourne.

"I was his personal driver for the tour and we did four Rod Laver shows.

"After each show we would drive down to Torquay, stay overnight and in the morning go surfing at Bell's – I would watch.

"They surfed and had fun then we would go back to Melbourne do the show and then drive back to Torquay.

"The band members (Metallica) are very nice, they are kind, the security guys would let fans come over to them and get selfie photos and then they would say 'okay you've had your fun, now leave us alone, we need recreation time' and fans would agree.

John also has plenty of local memories.

"I was the runner for Kirk Douglas in the first Man from Snowy River movie made in Mansfield in 1981 – my first film experience.

John also still has a box of 'entry passes' which up until this interview he'd never really looked at.

As he goes through them, passes for Pink, Taylor Swift, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Kylie Minogue's tour all fall out.

Cher, Neil Diamond, Hugh Jackman, Phil Collins, the Wiggles, Mariah Carey, Iron Maiden, Keith Urban, Enrique Iglesias – literally hundreds of passes to stage performances.

"I have them in cupboards all over the place and then there are the ones that are on lanyards – hundreds more, every one of those represents a day's work," John said.

John said it's a funny job.

"Mostly you are on your own – it's very hard to explain, people often think you're a bit up yourself because you know so many famous people.

"I make a joke sometimes saying 'I know him, he asked me to be bridesmaid at his wedding', just making fun of it – but it's hard, no one would understand all of these bands and all these people you work for."

But John never has his photo taken with any of these rock stars or film stars, he says it is his job to keep them safe, driven around, looked after 'minded' and he does not want to jeopardise that in any way.

At times he has taken photos of the airplanes they arrive in – such as Iron Maiden who own their own specially painted and decorated plane (and flown by the lead singer).

But that is as close as he gets with them when it comes to photos.

"I have photos of other things like that."

"Because he is Hugh Jackman, the Ferrari dealership in Richmond gave him a car to drive for two weeks – and Ferrari get to say 'Hugh Jackman drives our Ferrari'.

"So, I took a picture of that Ferrari and next to it was Jeremy Clarkson's Range Rover – because he is who he is, he drives a big Range Rover and Hugh Jackman's Ferrari side–by–side – those types of photos don't hurt anyone," he said.

"A big part of the job is staying inside the compound, so once we are inside we are all equal – if someone starts taking pictures you become a fan."

"So if you work with these guys for 10 years you never ask for an autograph or take a picture.

For the past 13 years John has mostly worked with the Rod Laver Arena.

"We did Mt Duneed with Crowded House most recently (November 2022).

"I got pictures of the flood and the crowd at the winery – 30mm of rain fell during the performance.

"I also work on films, the most recent one was The Dressmaker – with films you are all over the place; I prefer the bands because I understand that side of it.

"The biggest job I did was the Adelaide Grand Prix where Bon Jovi played.

"I was working with the band Yothu Yindi – there were 140,000 people in the audience; a sea of people; that's a big show.

"It's almost like a trophy in our world – you have access all areas, go anywhere and you have 140,000 in the crowd – unbelievable."

"When the grand prix moved to Albert Park (Melbourne) I was working with Miley Cyrus and Robbie Williams."

The next job up for John is Elton John at AAMI Park in a few week's time.

This will be Elton's final concert tour.