Colin Firth – or as a large number of his adoring female admirers like to call him, ‘Mr Darcy’ – is always accommodating with the public, myself included.

At this week’s GQ Men of the Year 2014 Awards (where he picked up the Best Leading Man gong), he ‘walked the line’ signing autographs, shaking hands and posing for pics with all who had gathered outside the Royal Opera House in London.

Colin actually played a Mr Darcy on three occasions; once in Pride and Prejudice (1995), then in Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001) and again in the sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004). But both of his Oscar nominated roles came from playing a character named ‘George’. He was George Falconer in  A Single Man in 2009, and King George VI in The King’s Speech the following year for which he won the award. He often jokes about his first name “It doesn’t exactly have a ring to hit… it’s more the sort of name you’d give your goldfish for a joke.”

The ‘Mr Darcy’ label has stuck since 1995. Colin says, “he is a figure that won’t die. I can’t control him”. There was even a woman in hospital, diagnosed with high blood pressure, who was told not to watch any more Pride and Prejudice. She was 103.

I drew this sketch a couple years ago and never really intended to get it signed. I had planned to draw him on stage, but haven’t gotten around to it. As it happened, I didn’t have a Samuel L. Jackson, a Gerard Butler, a Lewis Hamilton, a Nicole Scherzinger, a Kim Kardashian or a Kanye West or a Ringo Starr (not that he’s signing these days) or an Iggy Pop drawing on me, who all passed by on their way in at the Opera House. For some reason Colin’s sketch was in my folder in my bag and it was soon in front of him. He gave a complimentary nod and signed it… Colin Firth, not ‘Mr Darcy’