Extra Care And Attention

1/ Preet Bharara: fired by Trump and banned by Putin, the former NYC prosecutor talks about crime in America [More info here]

2/ Dr Jennifer Eberhardt: offering a fascinating insight into the new science of race and inequality, explaining how you don’t have to be racist to have racial bias [More info here]

Special Offer: get 20% off any ticket with code POPBITCH

Now Magazine printed its final edition this week. It may not have been able to cut through in the modern celebrity market, but it did have an impressively international reach.

One of the skippers who ran cruises around the Whitsunday Islands in Australia used to like telling British tourists who boarded his ship about the time he once shagged an English girl who’d been over filming I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

Sadly, he couldn’t remember her name (he could only remember that her favourite position was doggy and that she was very “down to earth”). We might never have known who this mystery woman was had it not been for one passenger who had brought a copy of Now Magazine on board with them. As they were leafing through it, the skipper saw the lady in question and pointed her out to everyone as the one he’d been talking about.

It was Danniella Westbrook.

After the death of former Love Islander Mike Thalassitis, there have been widespread calls for TV production companies to ensure that extra care and attention is given to contestants who appear on these types of reality shows.

Someone may want to have a quiet word in the ear of one of the execs of Channel 5’s Celebs On The Ranch though. The type of “extra care and attention” he’s been giving the female celebs and crew on set of the latest series has meant he can’t be left unsupervised.

It’s been more than 20 years now and still the mystery of Jill Dando remains unsolved: did she and Jeremy Paxman really get it together?

That clip of Robert Smith’s deadpan response to a wildly enthusiastic TV host became a viral sensation this week – but Robert is no stranger to a bit of that sort of behaviour himself.

Those who have had cause to email him over the years note that he likes to type his messages in all caps, WHICH RATHER GIVES THE IMPRESSION THAT HE IS EXCITEDLY SHOUTING THINGS AT THE PEOPLE HE IS WRITING TO.

The new White Hart Lane stadium was unveiled last night and Tottenham clearly spared no expense with the grand opening. As Chas from Chas and Dave is no longer around to lead the crowd in song, they had to rope in the next most prominent Spurs fan instead – famed operatic tenor, Gio Compario.

a.k.a. Wynne Evans, the guy from the Go Compare adverts.

Max Clifford’s nonce credentials were reaffirmed this week after a posthumous appeal to clear his name was tossed out by a judge. If you’ve never read it, we wrote a three-part story about how Clifford tried so hard to cover his tracks that he accidentally ended up manoeuvring himself right into the sights of Operation Yewtree.

The whole thing is a twisting tale of celebrity backstabbing, deceit, narcissism and ice-cold revenge between himself, Simon Cowell, Jonathan King and the former policeman Mark Williams-Thomas – and we highly recommend that you read the full three parts.

If you want the short version though: Max Clifford went to such great lengths to help Surrey Police secure an arrest and conviction for Jonathan King that the chief of police wrote Clifford a personal letter of thanks – which Clifford hung proudly in his office.

The unfortunate side effect of this however was that as soon as King got out of prison he began his own counter-efforts, encouraging someone he knew that Clifford had assaulted to go to the police – thereby helping secure a reciprocal conviction for Clifford.

As far as we’re aware, King is still waiting on a personal letter of thanks from Operation Yewtree.

[Read ‘Syco Paths’ on Popbitch]

Lorraine Kelly recently wormed her way out of a £1.2m tax bill by insisting that the nice, cuddly, friendly presenter she plays on TV is just a persona – and not what she’s like in real life at all. But someone who accompanied her to a big awards dinner begs to differ.

They say she was extremely nice to everyone who approached her at the event and at the end of the evening, just as she was about to leave, someone from a big charity came over to ask if she would think about providing a prize for a forthcoming auction they were doing. Quick as lightning, Lorraine took off her brand new designer shoes and handed them over – leaving her to walk out of the building and down the street to a waiting car in just her stockinged feet.

Sounds like the taxman might have grounds for appeal.

With panic rising among Tories that their Brexit bluster may now inadvertently install a Corbyn government, maybe we can offer some soothing words? The Labour hard left aren’t nearly as reckless with their spending as you might fear.

When Ken Livingstone was tasked with arranging an end-of-summer party for the Greater London Council back in the 80s, he asked Grace Jones to come and play. However, when Ms Jones responded with a request for almost ten grand’s worth of cocaine on her rider, Ken very frugally decided to go in a different direction – sounding out Amazulu instead.

Michael Gove is still a hot favourite to become Prime Minister if the Tories manage to hold on to power, which would put him in charge of negotiating our future trade terms with Europe. And how might that work exactly?

A few years ago, while holidaying in the south of France, Gove had a cleaner come in to spruce up the luxury villa that he and his party were staying in. Over the course of six hours, while she scrubbed away in the baking heat, not only did Gove not offer her so much as a glass of water, once she’d finished he began quibbling with her over the price she’d quoted – saying that it was far too much and that he paid his cleaner in London less.

The amount he was haggling over? €15 an hour.

A TV extra has compiled an incredible showreel of all his appearances in the background of shows and films
[See on Vimeo]

Elon Musk’s Harambe Rap
[Listen on Soundcloud]

A 12 year old Lily Allen introducing Channel 4’s Light Lunch
[See on YouTube]

Phil Spector’s mansion is for sale
[Take a look on Curbed]

David Lee Roth and Armin van Buuren are like a 21st century Black Lace
[Watch on Facebook]

David Blaine is having a #MeToo moment
[Read on Daily Beast]

Monster Jam’s first ever monster truck front flip
[Watch on YouTube]

Which Eurovision star do you look like?
[See on My Heritage]

Still Bored?
Take a listen to this week’s Media Masters podcast, with Lydia Polgreen: the Global Editor-in-Chief of HuffPost. After 15 years at the New York Times, and living through a coup in her childhood in Kenya, Lydia has lots of good stuff to talk about.
[Listen/Download on Media Masters]