The Second Serve // Family Jewels

Most celebrities use huge sunglasses to disguise themselves from the public and avoid detection. There is one celeb, however, for whom this tactic has the exact opposite effect.

Anna Wintour was grabbing a casual Saturday lunch with two handsome young men at Ottolenghi on Upper Street this weekend. She might have gone completely unnoticed by everyone though because barely anyone recognised her as she ate. It was only when she grabbed her sunglasses and slipped them on to pop to the loo that her fellow diners realised who it was they were sat next to.

As UK prudes get their knickers in a twist over Sam Smith’s latest video, we thought it might be worth revisiting a few tales of other music videos from years gone by. One band that dealt with similar moral outrage about their work was the Prodigy. Behind all the provocation and public outcry though, things were very different.

Someone who worked on the Firestarter video told us that after each shot was set up and ready to be filmed, crew would invariably find that Maxim had gone missing and someone would be sent out to look for him.

Expecting to find him engaged in some hardcore shenanigans, it turned out his nan was ill and he was on the phone between takes to his mum, checking in on her whenever there was any downtime.

Lady Gaga fans marked the 13th anniversary of the Telephone music video shoot this weekend: the collaboration she did with Beyoncé which ended with the promise “To Be Continued” – yet was never followed up.

What happened? Well, it’s been hard to arrange the sequel as Gaga and Beyoncé no longer talk.

The most interesting rumour as to why is that while they were making the video for Telephone, Gaga told Beyoncé of her big idea to make a full visual album for her next release: a project she was calling ArtPop. When she later found out that Beyoncé was working on a similar idea for her self-titled album, Beyoncé, a livid Gaga rush-released ArtPop to beat her to market.

Rubbing further salt in the wound, Beyoncé took the whole idea to a more-perfected level with Lemonade – and Gaga vowed she’d never work with her again.

* Naomi Campbell’s first taste of fame was as a tap dancer in Culture Club’s I’ll Tumble 4 Ya video.

* Jennifer Lopez was one of the dancers in Sam Fox’s (Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But The Pants Stay On.

* Tim Westwood makes a fleeting cameo six seconds into The Police’s Message In A Bottle.

* Martine McCutcheon’s first job in the music business was when she played a flower fairy in Enya’s video for Caribbean Blue.

* Norman Cook appeared in the video for Adam and the Ants’ Goody Two Shoes.

* Sadie Frost is the gold painted woman in Spandau Ballet’s Gold. Future husband Gary Kemp had such a bonk-on for her she ended up in their video for Fight For Ourselves too.

Speaking of Lenny Kravitz, Harry Styles copied his finest moment late last week, splitting his leather keks right up the front during a gig in LA.

Fans in the front rows (including Jennifer Aniston) got a decent bulge shot, but it’s still not a patch on Lenny’s all-time wardrobe malfunction. Lenny gave his fans more of a show, as he was going commando and so flashed his pierced cock and balls at the unsuspecting punters.

The greatest detail of the Kravitz incident: Lenny’s knob piercing isn’t just any old bit of metal. It has great sentimental value. The gold hoop is inset with a diamond – taken from his late mother’s earrings.

J writes:
“Fascinating reading the ever peeled-back layers surrounding past encounters between Tara P-T and Prince William.

“The line in Second Serve last week about her insatiable desire to nosh him off does dovetail with rumours that circulated in the late 90s that her first stint in rehab wasn’t so much a consequence of her car crash Frank Skinner interview but because she’d been caught noshing the heir to the throne off under the table during an otherwise respectable family and friends banquet.”

Last week saw quizzes on the themes of Rick Rubin, Muppets Covers, Bands Who Hate Each Other and more. This week, we have another five in the hopper for you – each compiled from snippets of ten songs connected to some theme or other.

You’re only playing for fun, but give yourself a point for every song you correctly identify and another for every artist. Ten songs, twenty points – simplicity itself…

Monday’s theme: Prince
Tuesday’s theme: January No.1s

Who said it: George Santos or George Costanza?
[Play on New Republic]

Can you guess when the picture was taken?
[Play Chronophoto]

Otters getting tricked
[Watch on TikTok]