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To the surprise of precisely no-one, Paul Burrell – the former butler and confidante to Princess Diana – has come out as gay.

Burrell has claimed that Diana was “the only woman who knew”, which seems somewhat naive. But even if he’s right, there were plenty of men who knew. Not least Michael Barrymore, who is a friend of Burrell’s.

The two of them used to have parties at Burrell’s house where they would both get dressed up in Diana’s clothes.

Back in 2015 we were the first to tell you that XFM was going to become Radio X: a lads-and-bants station, playing all the Kasabian you can handle.

It was a big multi-million pound gamble (the TV launch ads alone cost a couple of million) – so how is it all playing out?

No-one seems to know. Rumours are flying around the Capital building left, right and centre because management is still to give DJs their full schedule for March, saying that they don’t know what they are yet. (Those of you with calendars to hand will note that we are already well into March).

Ricky Wilson’s recent “holiday” appears to have gone on longer than expected, leading people to wonder if he’s being quietly dropped. Vernon Kay’s contract is thought to be up soon too, and word is that renegotiation talks will be short and swift.

So good news all round, really. The only kicker is that Johnny Vaughan and Chris Moyles seem to be signed on slightly longer contracts – but, at the rate things are going, who’s to say?

Which TV and stage drama queen has called in the cops after finding out her showbiz mate has been ripping her off for months to the tune of thousands of pounds? The sneaky fraudster (himself a fellow thesp) nabbed a photo of her bank card and used the details to fund dozens of online purchases before the absent-minded actor finally clocked what was happening.

Vogue Arabia launched this week to much fanfare. The editor is a Saudi princess and her first cover saw the half-Palestinian supermodel Gigi Hadid draped in a jewelled veil. The strapline? “Reorienting Perceptions”.

A bold cover, which attempts to show the changing attitudes to fashion in in the Middle East.

Just one problem: it’s a carbon copy of a spoof cover knocked up seven years ago by an Arabian blogger. He started his blog in response to Conde Nast’s 2007 statement that they weren’t interested in publishing a Middle East edition of Vogue.

Seems like he nailed it…
http://bit.ly/2mmG1w6

Half an hour into a New York to London flight, passengers in business class noticed a woman with a crying baby being brought through the curtains by a flight attendant. They looked on in mild horror as they saw the attendant direct her into an empty seat next to… James Corden.

Expecting a huge celebrity hissy fit to kick off, Corden’s cabin-mates were impressed to see that he didn’t say a word or make any sort of complaint. He simply put on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, pulled an eyemask over his eyes, and turned away from her to sleep.

Pretty decent of him, right?

When the plane landed though, passengers were surprised to see Corden remain seated as the woman with the baby struggled to open the overhead locker.

And even more surprised when she turned to Corden and said “For fuck’s sake can you at least hold the baby while I get the bags down?”

The woman was his wife.

The baby was his baby.

It wasn’t long ago that CAN Associates was the all-powerful purveyor of shit celebrity stories. Boss Claire Powell once had a fearsome reputation in the world of OK!, Hello and Now, but her empire appears to be crumbling as her Z-list clientele are fleeing ship.

What happened? After Katie Price and Peter Andre split (Powell’s two big power clients) the three of them became embroiled in a huge legal tussle. The costs involved have been massive – and may yet prove ruinous for both Powell AND Pricey.

Thankfully for Powell, she has a loyal friend able to step up and invest a bit of cash into her business. A man who made a fair chunk from some good property investments, and has recently married into money. Her close personal friend and star client… Peter Andre!

Sadly, a number of Claire’s clients don’t seem to want Andre as their boss so have already started auditioning new agents and PRs.

There’s a growing trend among young Turkish business people to name their companies by reversing their first name. It looks cool, individual and kinda international.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for everyone.

This is the nameplate on the new Istanbul office of Ms Acikel. Or, as her friends know her… Esra.

See:
http://bit.ly/2moZFJH

When your big source for George Michael stories is someone the singer refused to speak to for 20 years, you’re going to end up running some shaky stories.

That didn’t stop the tabloids splashing Andros Georgiou’s guesses at his cause of death on their front pages though, time and time again. In his inexpert opinion, he thought George “took too much of something, mixed with anti-depressants and other drugs he was on – with alcohol.”

The coroner’s verdict? It was heart failure.

(FYI: George last spoke to Andros as he threw him out of their record company’s office, for ballsing up the release of Waltz Away Dreaming: the memorial single for George’s beloved mum. That was in 1997.)

BetVictor asked punters on social media to suggest a bet for last night’s Barcelona vs PSG match. Someone suggested: “Messi to score a penalty, Cavani to hit the woodwork & Barca to qualify”

BetVictor liked the idea and offered him odds of 125-1.

The match happened – as did those three things – only for BetVictor to declare Cavani’s woodwork-hitting didn’t count because, as they tweeted, “It has to stay in play mate”.

Hours of social media outrage later, they begrudgingly sort of paid up on the bet. But the cost to their reputation?

Priceless.

Never ones to miss a chance to clobber the BBC, the Mail and the Telegraph have been quick to condemn Radio 2 for dropping Brian Matthew from the Sound Of The Sixties – citing it as yet more proof of the Beeb’s endemic ageism.

The truth, however, appears to be slightly more sad. The “ill health” discussed in the BBC’s statement is most likely not a reference to the fall that Matthew suffered last year, but a slightly more discreet way of referring to some of the other difficulties that might start to get in the way of an 88 year-old doing a regular radio show.

Yet, in attempting to quietly protect his dignity, the BBC has left itself open to further thrashing from the right-wing press.

Journalists are aware of this, of course, but the opportunity to land a hit on the BBC was too good to pass up.

Dubstep for birds:
http://bit.ly/2mEUZQD

Dubstep for nerds:
http://bit.ly/2mK0vBJ

Worst films of the year? The critics’ nominations:
http://bit.ly/2mJTW21

Local news of the week:
http://bit.ly/2mmFsTn

Aberystwyth is the UK’s best place for gossip? Aberystwythians, hit us up!
http://bit.ly/2mEPmBN

Want to know more about North Korea? Sunday, Conway Hall:
http://bit.ly/2lHeVCR

Just weird…
http://bit.ly/2mEYBSH

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POPBITCH MAGAZINE: ISSUE 32
On iOS and back in the Android store! David Beckham, Melania Trump, David Tennant, mucky cuddly toys and more! Download it now:
http://bit.ly/2n9Vakm