The Second Serve // President Of The World

It’s been a busy few days here at PBHQ, our weekend getting off to a flying start on Friday morning when Messrs Harbottle & Lewis dropped us a series of progressively punchy letters on behalf of their client – Mr G Osborne.

Then our phones haven’t known peace since the Sun ran with the story that’s been dominating the headlines all weekend about the BBC presenter they allege spent £35,000 on getting sex pics off a teenager. Now this evening there’s been a further twist, with the (former-)teenager at the heart of it rubbishing their mother’s claims and the Sun’s report by saying that nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place.

There’s only so much we can say on either topic, but we’ll tell you what we can.

And for those of you who are already over it, there’s some other stories below too.

The self-styled scourge of the celebrity sex-pest, Mark Williams-Thomas popped up in the press this weekend to give his two cents on the BBC presenter scandal.

He was demanding that the BBC identify the suspect publicly, but he of all people should know why they aren’t. The last time the BBC rushed to name a suspect in a case like this – and the individual in question turned out to be totally innocent – they opened up an absolute world of pain for themselves.

And on whose dogshit information were they acting in the Cliff Richard case? Why, none other than policeman-turned-pundit… Mark Williams-Thomas’s!

Mark Williams-Thomas isn’t the only reason the BBC is being extra cautious about this latest presenter incident of theirs. After all, MWT wasn’t the one who approved the use of helicopters to fly over Cliff Richard’s estate to capture every last detail of the police raid. Nor was he the one who gave the thumbs up to broadcast said raid on TV.

That would be Jonathan Munro, who was the BBC’s head of newsgathering at the time.

Luckily for the Beeb, Jonathan is in an excellent position to offer advice on how to behave this time around. Since overseeing that gargantuan clusterfuck, he’s become the Director of Journalism and Deputy CEO of BBC News.

To put the allegations and the increasingly complicated nature of this BBC presenter story to one side for a minute, there’s always something amusingly absurd that happens whenever the Beeb is called upon to report on itself – and this time has been no different.

News execs were called in this weekend in response to the breaking story. Yet according to sources on the ground, all the execs did was hole up in a conference room for the weekend, taking endless deliveries of lunch, ice-creams and dinners – while completely ignoring the working news staff who were left alone to report on themselves for what must be close to the 100th time already this year.

Then this morning senior figures were seen trying to use the BBC Action door in order to avoid the front of the building where there was a throng of media parked up outside looking for comment.

Most of whom were BBC staff.

By the time Popbitch went out on Thursday, The Email had already become a huge talking point on social media. It took quite a while to get going though. The original email went out on Wednesday lunchtime but didn’t appear to pick up any major traction until a second batch of emails went out on Thursday afternoon – mostly, it seems, to Evening Standard journalists. Only then did it start to go viral.

It’s interesting as journalists at the Evening Standard were always kept firmly in the loop about developments when Osborne’s marriage to Frances was wrapping up. In fact, it became a bit of sport for the writers to leave sly nods and hints in their articles about it for those in the know to enjoy.

Until one day, the entire operation turned 180 degrees. Suddenly word came down from the higher-ups that any covert reference to the boss’s relationship woes were now strictly verboten in their copy – and the kid gloves were duly slipped on.

It caused a lot of puzzlement among staff. Until a few months later, when the new editor was announced.

Today is Neil Tennant’s 69th birthday. Years ago, when Smash Hits was closing, we asked Neil for his memories from that time. This is what he had to say…

* I coined the phrase “Sir William Idol, Our Greatest Living Englishman” (which I nicked from Auberon Waugh).

* We loyally never reported Duran Duran’s coke-taking although it was witnessed on occasions.

* Simon Le Bon was always referred to as “Lardo” (a reference to his weight). Tony Hadley was always called “Foggers” because he had a voice like a fog horn.

* David Bowie was never interviewed by Smash Hits. Neither were U2.

* New Order at one point would only be interviewed by Smash Hits.

* My mind is otherwise blank. I mostly remember playing Bobby ‘O’ 12″ imports, bought on expenses, on the office stereo while phoning Bonnie Tyler to do a Personal File with her (“Does your mother play golf?” etc…)

Aiden Aslin is a Brit who volunteered for the Ukrainian Army and was caught as a prisoner of war by Russia, before being freed in a prisoner exchange. The story he’s been telling in the media is understandably harrowing, but he also chucked in quite a Popbitchy detail for good measure.

Aslin says that, while in the prison, a particularly sadistic guard there would make them play a stupid game of call and response.

Whenever the guard shouted “PUTIN!” the prisoners would all have to shout back “PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD!”

And then when he’d shout “ZELENSKYY!” they’d have to respond “PEDERAST!”

Last week featured audio quizzes on the themes of Independence, Martin Scorsese Soundtracks and – what might be our most difficult, niche round to date – Byker Grove & Friends.

This week, we’ll have another five daily quizzes for you. Each will contain snippets of ten songs, stitched together into one mix. All you have to do is pick the snippets apart and identify each one. A point for the title; a point for the artist.

Monday’s Theme: The Osborne Wedding

[Play it here]

Interesting piece about the lost documentary Wham! made in China
[Read on the Guardian]

2023’s cutest animal is here: the pademelon
[Read on ABC]