The Second Serve // The Self-Confessed Nudist

Operation Save Big Dog. Operation Red Meat. From the coverage in the weekend’s papers, it sounds as if the kitchen sink is being thrown at trying to keep Boris Johnson in No.10 – but it appears there might be a contingency plan of sorts in place too.

Word reaches us from Camberwell that there’s been a little bit of activity over at Boris and Carrie’s gaff there. After having sat dormant for months, locals noticed there were decorators in on Friday.

In response to Thursday’s story about Henry Cavill’s generous wrap gifts of signed photos of himself, someone else who worked with him recalls a very memorable shoot with the man.

Cavill and an actress were filming a scene in bed together, a shot for which he was required to be naked to the waist. In order to present the most ripped physique for the cameras, Cavill had starved himself for days ahead of filming and also cut down on fluids on the day (the same way that bodybuilders and underwear models do).

Unfortunately the poor lamb became so weak and tired from the dehydration that he could only lie motionless in bed while things worked around him and he had to be helped out of it once the director yelled cut.

(He did look good though.)

Robbie Williams told the Mirror in an interview this weekend that a hitman had once been hired to take him out back in the day, saying: “I’ve never, ever said this, but I had a contract put on me to kill me. I’ve never said that publicly before. It went away. I have friends. That stuff is the unseen stuff that happens when you become famous.”

This story has since gone absolutely everywhere, picked up by every outlet going.

Presumably he’s talking about a different contract to the one he spoke about a couple of years ago, when he went on Fearne Cotton’s “Happy Place” podcast and told her “There was a contract out on me to kill me at one point, which I have never talked about…”

Popbitch would like to wish a fond farewell to the World Entertainment News Network. The showbiz newswire has decided to call it day after 33 years, saying that they just can’t turn a profit in today’s social media world. It’s a shame as we always admired their appreciation of the weirder side of celebrity – and their in-house style never failed to make us laugh.

One of the first stories we ever got sent of theirs was titled “SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR SPEAKS OUT FOR NATURISTS” where “pop princess Sophie [spoke out] in defence of naturists after working with the self-confessed nudist MOBY”.

Other headlines from the same round-up? MARILYN MANSON RUBS CROTCH ON MAN’S HEAD and PAVAROTTI TO BE DISSECTED IN COURT.

S writes:
“I worked at a news and picture agency on and off in the 2000s. When I first met Amy Winehouse she was a tiny, long-haired skater girl who could talk til the cows came home and then keep them up all night. We sometimes smoked fags together in the depressing business park car park in between writing celebrity news feeds. Had no idea Amy would be filling those very feeds just a few years later.

“One day I bought the Observer and there she was on the cover of Music Monthly. Turns out her debut album was all about a mutual colleague who was a celebrity features editor.

“I ended up freelancing back at the same company just as Rehab was getting massive radio play. One day Rehab comes on. A second later the office door opens and Amy walks in unexpectedly with her beehive and a bag of chips. She looked a bit mind blown to walk into her own tune playing randomly at her old place of toil.

“Pretty surreal. Never saw her again after that day.”

Kiefer Sutherland is out on the publicity trail, plugging his latest country album. Seeing him in the papers again reminded us of a weird little nugget of information we were once told that we never really knew what to do with.

Someone who worked on the film Monuments Men was looking to rent out their house in the Hollywood Hills while they were away in Europe on the shoot. The person who ended up renting it off them was Kiefer Sutherland.

Kiefer was a very quiet house guest and didn’t cause any trouble during his stay. When they returned, they were relieved to find the house mercifully untrashed. The only trace he left of himself? Weirdly, every single lightbulb in the place had been burned out and hadn’t been replaced.

Our daily audio quizzes have started up again, with last week’s themes including Downing Street Parties, Prince Andrew and Sounds Of The Underground.

This week, we have five more for you – each compiled of ten recognisable nuggets plucked from hit songs and squidged back together into a two-and-a-half-minute mix.

Today’s theme: Mercury Prize Winners. Can you name the ten songs all lifted from Mercury Prize winning albums?

[Play the latest quiz here]

What is it with sexy actors wearing suits in swimming pools?
[Read on The Face]

The Siegfried And Roy podcast sounds enjoyably bonkers
[Read on The Guardian]

The rise and fall of Politics For All
[Read on Vice]

“What If Prince Andrew Were Innocent?” by, erm… Alan Dershowitz
[Bizarrely, not a joke]