The Daily Tonic: Various Pressures

After we tailored yesterday’s issue towards the citizens of Leicester, who find themselves back under lockdown, a reader from Wales got in touch to ask if we could tell some Welsh stories – seeing as they’re yet to emerge from their first round.

It would be our pleasure…

Underscore writes:
“I was working in a very dodgy nightclub and one night we had Shakin’ Stevens in. He was only in the club for ten minutes before he was mobbed by a crowd of women. So he chose a couple of them and nipped off to his dressing room.

“An hour later, I’m told to hurry him up. So I gave a knock on the door and said ‘Mr Stevens, you’re due on stage in ten minutes’. To which he replied in his broad Welsh accent, ‘No worries boy, she’s only giving me a blowjob. I’ll be out of here in five.’

“And, sure enough, he was.”

Thanks for all your stories of celebrities’ academic credentials. They’re a little light on scandal though so we’re going to course correct with something a bit more prurient today.

Today’s Question: Have you ever been naked around a star?

Tell us your tales of being in the nip with the rich and famous and we’ll send some digital goody bags to our favourites: hello@popbitch.com

J writes:
“Growing up in the 90s, I was a big fan of The Offspring. As was widely reported back then, the band’s singer, Dexter Holland, was also pursuing an advanced degree in molecular biology. He eventually had to drop out because of the heavy touring schedule.

“What most people don’t know is that Dexter finally went back to school and finished his PhD in 2017, publishing a 175-page dissertation on the molecular dynamics of HIV.”

HM writes:
“Niall O’Flaherty, lead singer of The Sultans Of Ping FC (‘Where’s Me Jumper’ etc) is now a Senior Lecturer in intellectual history at KCL. I did my MA there, he is extremely serious and does NOT like people bringing up his musical past. Anyone who whispers ‘Where’s Me Jumper’ is glared at and then ignored.”

* Like Dexter Holland, Brian May also had to postpone his PhD because of his music career. Or, as he phrased it: “The writing of my thesis was virtually complete in 1974, but the submission was deferred due to various pressures…”

* The late actor Robert Vaughan had a PhD. His thesis was about the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee, entitled “Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting”.

* Mayim Bialik (Blossom; later Amy in the Big Bang Theory) has a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. Her dissertation was an investigation of hypothalamic activity in patients with Prader–Willi syndrome.

To usher in the new month, today’s audio round is compiled of songs that were number one on the UK Top 40 in July at some point over the last 50 years.

You get a point for every song you name and a point for every artist you identify. Ten songs, twenty points.

[Audio Round #99]

Local News of The Day: Geordie Shore Bin Day Edition
[Read on Yorkshire Evening Post]

Very sweet story about Carl Reiner and beef stroganoff
[Read on Twitter]

The inside story of pop music’s most famous all-nighter
[Read on Esquire]