Booze, Drugs and Lily Savage

A lot of the tributes to Paul O’Grady this week have made much of his trailblazing work as a drag artist, his dedication to the LGBT community, his love for animals and his intergenerational appeal – but we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t point out that he was also one of the great lash hounds of his era. Possibly of all time.

To give you a top-tier testimonial: Paul was once introduced to Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones (through their mutual friend, Cilla Black). To our knowledge, there is no written record of the carnage that ensued but Paul put the band through their paces to such an extent that Mick Jagger has since said that the Rolling Stones have just three things they need to be kept away from…

“Drugs, booze and Lily Savage.”

After getting ratfucked by Isabel Oakeshott, then hoodwinked by Led By Donkeys all within the space of a month, you’d think Matt Hancock would be keen to keep a bit of a low profile at the moment – but apparently not.

Hancock was spotted striding up to security at KOKO Camden on Tuesday night before a Benny Sings gig, hoping to be ushered in ahead of the rest of the queue.

They directed him around the back of the building, so that he could enter the same way as everyone else.

Lots of the BBC’s on-screen talent are hastily being asked to complete their mandatory anti-bullying and harassment online course – all thanks to which comedian who recently flew into a rage with his driver, angrily snatching their phone and throwing it out of a window?

Reach For The Stars, a new book on pop music from 1996-2006, is out today and we’re excited to get stuck into it as that era created a lot of fabulous story material for Popbitch in the early days.

There was a great excerpt in the Guardian this weekend that shed some light on the fistfights that broke out among Five backstage at SM:TV. Five weren’t the only terrors in that studio though.

Bradley from S Club once got his whole band temporarily sin-binned from SM:TV/CD:UK because of an appearance he made on the pre-SM:TV show Diggit the previous week. He prepared for it the way he always did (by staying out all night and powering on through) and was so fucked when he arrived at the studio that he fell asleep on the sofa live on air.

But it was Jenny Frost of Atomic Kitten who had the worst reputation behind the scenes. Those who witnessed her ripping a poor record plugger a new arsehole the second she stepped off stage – demanding to know why she didn’t get any decent camera close-ups during their performance – say she fully deserved the crown too.

Mert Alas (of Mert & Marcus; the photographer BFFs of Kim Kardashian and Madonna) has been doing a bit of outreach work to help handsome young up-and-coming models get a hand up in the industry. Through his Instagram DMs.

One model who responded to his thirsty messages told Mert that he’d love to shoot with him some day. To which he got a reply along the lines of “Maybe we can help each other out?” With a few winky faces and tongues out emojis for good measure.

If you’re enjoying the ongoing Gwyneth Paltrow court case about an alleged ski’n’run incident that supposedly left a retired optometrist unable to enjoy his wine tastings, here’s a few bits of other Popbitch Paltrow trivia to add some extra seasoning.

* A reader who flew Concorde from London to New York in the 90s was sat across the aisle from Gwyneth, and noted she spent most of the flight reading a magazine article entitled ‘HOW TO GET THE GWYNETH PALTROW LOOK’.

* Even in her pre-Goop days, Gwyneth had odd wellbeing requests. She used to insist that all the fruit in her trailer was washed in Evian.

* Not content with plain old caller ID, Gwyneth used to carry a different mobile phone for every man she was dating (plus a separate one for friends and family) so she knew in advance which one of her boyfriends was calling. At one point in 2000 she had dedicated phones for Ben Affleck, Guy Oseary and (despite his engagement to Jennifer Aniston) Brad Pitt.

* A ski slope hit’n’run isn’t even the most ridiculous injury to be associated with the Paltrow brand. Last summer, two men were hospitalised after trying to toast marshmallows in her Hamptons Goop store using hand-sanitiser and her candles as fuel.

anon writes:
“I worked front of house when Spamalot opened in the West End. One night a man came in with two very drunk ladies who didn’t seem to be the usual types into Monty Python… He’d booked a box for the three of them, which wasn’t cheap. And the thing about boxes in the Victorian theatres is that they were designed for people who wanted to be seen at a production way back in the day.

“About halfway through the show it came through on the radio that someone could see him getting a BJ from one of the ladies while the other one was also getting her wabs out. All of us front of house staff ran in to have a look, naturally. Apparently even some of the cast could see what was going on from the stage.

“My poor supervisor had to go and tell him to zip himself up and clear out. All three exited the building with one of the ladies roaring at my supervisor ‘You’re just jealous!’ as she staggered off down the stairs and into Soho.”

anon writes:
“At one performance of the Tina Turner musical, there was still quite a queue for the ladies’ loo when the bell rang for the start of the second half (overly refreshed punters/old theatre with not enough toilets).

“Rather than wait and miss any of the show, one woman dropped her pants and pissed right there and then on the carpet in the corridor. And of course then missed the whole of the rest of the show as she was thrown out of the theatre…”

Long-time Popbitch readers might remember the wild story of Brendan McMahon, the Australian financier who was arrested in 2005 on multiple charges of “aggravated cruelty to animals” – specifically: kidnapping, killing and allegedly having sex with dozens of rabbits.

We learned this week that there was a part two to his story, though it passed us by at the time. Having been acquitted and released from jail on appeal in 2006, Brendan moved from Sydney to Auckland where he started anew, changing his name to Fergus Rebel McMahon and taking another high-flying job in finance.

Sadly, the fresh start eventually turned sour. In 2016, the Auckland suburbs were hit with an eerily similar spate of bunny burglaries. McMahon was up to his old tricks again: smoking meth and stealing rabbits. Part of the reason it’s taken so long for us to learn about it is that a two-and-a-half-year court order suppressed the allegations to ensure he got a fair trial.

So we’ll keep a better eye out for the next stop on his world tour in 2026.

Cock And Balls: a photo study of rock gods in very tight trousers
[Just about SFW]

Want to buy Mushroom from Massive Attack’s old Betamax?
[You’re in luck!]

Guess the niche dance subgenre
[dancemusic.wtf]

Nick Cave on the fragility of life
[Read in the New Yorker]

Who are the nicest boomer hacks in Fleet Street?
[Read on The Fence]

The Warring Depeche Mode Tribute Bands of LA
[Read on Stereogum]

Afroman is having fun with the police who raided his house recently
[Read on Jezebel]

Will TikTok usher in a new era of One Hit Wonders?
[Read on Billboard]

Still Bored?
A fascinating look at the Peltz-Beckham wedding fall-out from the Tortoise Slow News podcast
[ft. A brief cameo from Popbitch]