The Daily Tonic: Lap Soup

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* Confiscating Izzard’s booze!

* The legacy of Cilla Black!

* PLUS: A mile high audio round

>> Set Pieces II: TV <<

Question of the day

On Monday we asked for your film set stories; today we want to hear your stories from the sets of TV shows. We’re happy to run the gamut, so whether you’ve got a story from a soap, a quiz show, a reality docu-drama, news, sport, a pilot that never saw the light of day or anything else – we’re curious to hear it all.
Today’s Question: What’s your best anecdote from the set of a TV show?
Send your on-set stories to hello@popbitch.com and we’ll dole out some digital goody bundles to the best ones.

Nominative Determinism of the Day: Congratulations to the newly-appointed Managing Director for Local Pubs at Greene King… Clair Preston-Beer!

>> High times <<

Mashed celebrity passengers

K writes:

“I was cabin crew for fifteen years. Celebs behaving badly happened a LOT. Standout memories were Liam Gallagher and Beady Eye loudly snorting gak in the toilets and drinking us dry in Upper Class on the way to Narita for a gig in Yokohama.
“Tori Amos’s drummer got downgraded to economy and got so pissed he threw up on my shoes as he was disembarking. Paolo Nutini called me a cunt for refusing to serve him any more alcohol because he was so drunk he fell off his bar stool.
“Kelly Osbourne got so high from mixing some downers with champagne on a flight to LAX that she kept missing her mouth whilst eating her soup starter. She ended up with most of it in her lap while Sharon just ignored her and carried on watching her in-flight movie.”

JD writes: “A friend of mine is an air hostess for a fairly major airline and she says that the code for a pain-in-the-arse passenger is, to this day, ‘a proper CB’. Nice to know Our Cilla’s left a legacy…”

>> The Wright stuff <<

Who dazzles the cabin crew?

S writes:

“I’m cabin crew. Most of the A-listers we have are quite easy – they just have some water and sleep the entire journey. The Beckhams fly with us all the time and are charming. James Corden is a prick, just like everyone says. He’s so rude and dismissive. Gordon Ramsay is lovely and brings his own food. His kids are in Club while he’s in First and says ‘If they’re rude, send them to me.’
“Mel B pays for premium economy but expects to get upgraded to Club. Same for Mark Wright from TOWIE. Strangely, he’s the one person who senior cabin crew get a bit star struck by.”

A writes: “The Dames: Shirley Bassey and Joan Collins, charming – but Dame Julie Andrews was the most delightful person to ever step in a plane. Dua Lipa – lovely. Lulu – pissed off when not upgraded, after she asked. Suggs – drank like a fish.”

>> Russian discussion <<

Cold War v Cole War

JS writes:

“In 2003 I was on a flight from St Petersburg to London and found myself sitting next to former BBC Westminster correspondent and Spitting Image favourite John Cole. I’m a Cold War/politics nerd, so he was fascinating company with a lifetime’s worth of anecdotes from the top table of world affairs. I think he’s the only person I’ll ever meet who could begin a sentence ‘Kruschev said to me…’
“But once it had come up in conversation that we were both West Ham fans, he was very keen to talk about how he didn’t think Chelsea were getting the best out of Joe Cole following his move there that summer.”

KR writes: “On an EasyJet flight back from Nice in 2004, Eddie Izzard was sat a few rows behind me. The stewardess told him off twice while we were still on the runway that he couldn’t drink his own booze. The third time, she confiscated it.”

>> Manic queue jumpers <<

If you tolerate this…

AB writes:

“I was about to fly long haul out of Heathrow on a work trip and my colleague and I went to WHSmith to stock up on goodies. As we approached the front of the queue she suddenly realised she needed her boarding pass and paused to find it in her bag. As she hesitated James Dean Bradfield nipped in front and headed for the next available self checkout.
“I felt the need to defend my colleague’s honour. ‘Oi!’ I shouted. ‘Don’t push in just cos you’re a pop star!’
“As we exited the checkout, JDB was full of apologies and we had a laugh. After we left the shop he came back and said in that magnificent Welsh accent, ‘Anyway, I’m not a pop star. I’m a musician.'”

CB writes: “I was on a flight from London to LA, sharing the journey with John Lydon and Shola Ama (not together, you understand). Lydon was a few rows behind me and was the epitome of politeness for the whole flight whenever he spoke to the cabin crew. Not very punk at all.”

>> Quarantunes <<

#173: Flight Club

Today’s ten tracks are all about taking to the skies – with either the song title or the artist having some connection to flight of some variety.
You get a point for every song title you can correctly name, plus a further point for every artist you identify – for a grand total of 20 points in all.
[Play it here]

POPBITCH POPQUIZ – The Autumn Bundle: Each Play-At-Home Popbitch Popquiz is designed to be played in quarantine and you can now get our three most recent quizzes (Gold, Halloween, Election) as a bundle for just £8.

[Get them here]

>> Hmmms <<

A couple of quick things

How did an obscure Pavement B-side become their most streamed song on Spotify?

[Interesting algorithm story]
Four Seasons Total Landscaping is a virtual hangout for furries now

[Read on The Stranger]
Otter v shark

[A rare collab]

Thanks to: EH, K, JD, S, AB, KR, JS, A, CB

Old Jokes Home

Q/ How many clickbait journalists does it take to change a lightbulb?

A/ The answer will shock you…

Fancy Another?