The Daily Tonic: Running Interference

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Questions of the day

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Boygav writes: “Favourite celebrity trivia, without doubt, is the fact that Reg Varney out of On the Buses is the first person in history to use a cash machine.”

>> Trivial matters <<

Odd pop culture pieces

MA writes:

“My two favourite bits of celebrity trivia:
“1/ Not only did Viggo Mortensen buy the horse he rode whilst filming Lord of the Rings, he also bought the horse who played Asfaloth and gave it to Liv Tyler’s stunt double on the basis she couldn’t afford to buy him and Viggo thought she’d be better placed to deal with a mad stallion than anyone else.
“2/ The other is that allegedly none of Bill Nighy’s suits in The Boat That Rocked are costume, they’re all his own wardrobe.”

HR writes: “Best celebrity trivia: that an undiscovered Elton John played the piano on The Hollies’ He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”

>> Present problems <<

Weller’s back-up library

MV writes:

“The story about Paul Weller buying five copies of the ‘The Multi-Orgasmic Man’ reminded me that I, too, have served Paul Weller in a bookshop.
“As a Christmas temp in the early 2000s, I was on a late shift when Paul Weller appeared at my elbow and asked for a very specific book on fly-fishing. Apparently it was to be a gift for his father-in-law. As we didn’t have it in stock, I can only assume that he had no alternative but to give him ‘The Multi-Orgasmic Man’.
“I’ve always remembered how soft and shiny his hair was.”
Sold any other celebrities an obscure book? hello@popbitch.com

SH writes: “One of my fave bits of celebrity trivia is that the song Midnight Train to Georgia was inspired by Farrah Fawcett. Just seems so random…”

>> Quizzy rascal <<

Running interference

RL writes:

“I used to go to a great pub quiz in the Queens Arms, Shieldfield, Newcastle. One evening, there was a pissed up bloke in the corner, shouting out answers – right and wrong. The quizmaster gave him a couple of warnings about spoiling the quiz, but he didn’t pay much attention and kept shouting out the answers.
“I turned round and was about to give him a piece of my mind, and then realised it was very drunk Geordie athletics legend, Brendan Foster.”

AM writes: “Best bit of trivia I ever came across was that the main riff in Eminem’s My Name Is is played by Chas & Dave. In the 70s they were session musicians and played guitar and bass on ‘I Got The…’ by Labi Siffre.”

>> Miser Lee <<

Fast cars, cheap wine

AP writes:

“I worked in Oddbins on Gosforth High Street back when Lee Bowyer was playing for Newcastle United. He pulled up in a convertible Porsche, blonde lady in the passenger seat, parked on the double yellows directly outside. He entered the shop, promptly asked me what our cheapest bottle of rosé was, bought it and left. It was under a fiver. He was rumoured to be on about £35,000 a week at the time…”
Know a cheaper celebrity date? hello@popbitch.com

TD writes: “My favourite bit of celeb trivia that even a lot of Canadians don’t know is that Snow of ‘Informer’ fame is the cousin of Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies.”

>> Quarantunes <<

Welcome to the 90s!

Today sees our 90th audio quiz, so the theme for today’s round is 90s based. Specifically: follow-up singles.
Some of them were big hits in their own right (others not so much) but each lives somewhat in the shadow of their more famous predecessor.
You get a point for each song title, and a point for each artist, which means there’s twenty points at stake with all ten songs.
[Play it here]

Don’t forget to fill out our survey if you’ve got a spare few minutes. It says there’s 40+ questions, but there really aren’t. You’ll be done before you know it.

[Complete on SurveyMonkey]

>> Hmmms <<

A couple of quick links

Sasquatch x saxophone equals…

[…Saxsquatch]
Hedgehog bowling

[Watch on YouTube]

Thanks to: boygav, MA, HR, AP, SH, MV, AM, RL, TD, CW

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When the punchline becomes apparent

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