The Sacred Seat Of Alfie Boe

We’re experiencing a few technical issues with the Popbitch site today (ones we’re currently trying to fix) which has kicked a slight hole in some of the stuff we were hoping to include in today’s mailout.

We didn’t want to hold everything else up though, so this will be a slightly truncated edition.

However, we’re currently running a temporary daily newsletter called the Daily Tonic (this is our 50th mailout since lockdown began) so if you feel like you’re still in the mood for a little more Popbitch after this then you can sign up for the daily here.

Otherwise, here’s some stories for today.

OK! has enlisted a group of celebs to clear out their wardrobes on eBay to help raise funds for Refuge. Among them, Katie Price. As it’s all for a good cause, we really hope it goes better than some of Pricey’s previous efforts to auction off her personal items.

In 2004, Katie was invited as a guest of honour to a charity ball in aid of a local hospital, along with then-boyfriend Scott Sullivan and his millionaire father. Things were going well enough until the auction portion of the evening began, which was when Katie’s table started getting a little bit rowdy.

It culminated in Katie demanding to go on stage, interrupting the celebrity auctioneer by grabbing the mic and announcing that she would be auctioning off the knickers she was wearing to the highest bidder. Unfortunately, the item didn’t generate anything like the sort of interest she’d hoped it would and Katie eventually stormed off the stage calling the room a bunch of “tight bastards” after Scott’s dad ended up winning with his bid of £50.

We have no idea if he genuinely wanted a pair of his son’s girlfriend’s keks, or if he was just trying to spare her further embarrassment. All we know is that Katie held up her end of the bargain. As anyone who saw her riding the dodgems later that night found out, she was no longer in possession of any pants.

Which artsy socialite has a famously hard edge in public, but shows a much softer side in the boudoir? His favoured role-play is to have his girlfriends pretend to breastfeed him.

Late April 2020: Harry and Meghan make the worldwide announcement that they will henceforth pursue a policy of “zero engagement” with Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp tabloid The Sun.

Early May 2020: Harry and Meghan are revealed as having co-operated with a new tell-all biography about their recent upheavals, Finding Freedom, published by an imprint of NewsCorp’s book division HarperCollins.

In yesterday’s daily we asked readers for their most egregious stories of celebrities pulling the classic “Don’t You Know Who I Am?” line. This was quite an interesting variation on the theme – a “Don’t You Know Who You Are?” story…

Someone who frequents a fancy Hampstead health club remembers arriving one day for a workout to find Sean Bean at the front desk, arguing with the receptionist about taking out a membership.

Sean was insisting on getting his membership at the special discounted rate for the unemployed, but the receptionist knew who he was, and that he was a well-known, wealthy actor – so didn’t quite understand why he thought he qualified for it.

His justification was that he was ‘between films’.

As part of the daily edition, we’ve been asking to hear your tales of witnessing legendary showbiz caners in action. Today: Shane MacGowan.

PC writes:
“Shane was introduced to me by a mutual friend at a gig venue in North London. He bought me a pint and a double G&T for himself. I said I didn’t drink spirits when out at gigs because I’d drink them too quickly and get pissed before the middle band came on.

“He told me that he ‘paced himself’ and continued, ‘You know how I do that? I just take lots of drugs before I go out. Heh heh heh heh heh!’

“He then scratched himself on the shoulder and poured his bottle of tonic down his back.”

To keep theatre buffs entertained while the West End is dark, a live concert version of Les Miserables filmed last year has been released as a download.

For most of the filming of that particular concert, a lot of the ensemble could be heard talking about themselves rather pretentiously in the third person. Not because the cast was filled with prima donnas, but because of an incident that occurred early in filming.

A camera crew had been trying to manoeuvre its way down a precarious set of stairs, backwards and in the dark, with a young stage manager tasked with clearing their path. This meant they had to politely ask one of the show’s stars if he could vacate the step that he had chosen to sit on.

Which led to the loiterer replying, “ALFIE BOE CAN SIT WHERE ALFIE BOE LIKES!”

C writes:

“Every year on May 4th I always remember when I was working on a play with James Earl Jones. We were at work before him, so got all of our ‘May The 4th’ jokes out of our systems as we weren’t sure how he’d be about them.

“A group of us just happened to milling around in the corridor by the stage door when he came in. We all looked at him, biting our tongues, when he just smiled, doffed his cap and said loudly and proudly ‘May the 4th be with you!’ and started laughing.”

We tested out a live-streaming quiz this week with some of our daily readers and it seemed to work pretty well. So, thanks to our friends at the Port Of Leith Distillery, we’re going to try to run another live-streamed Popquiz next Tuesday for even more of you.

If you’re keen to get involved, send an email to quiz@popbitch.com to register your interest and we’ll let you know the details as and when.

In the meantime, if you want to get a delicious bottle of their Lind & Lime gin in so that you’re good and ready, ALL Popbitch readers get £10 off by using code QUIZBITCH20 at checkout. Plus, any order over £55 gets you free delivery.

[And check out the bottle…]

Lionel Messi’s favourite recipe
[Try on FC Barcelona]

AI is trying to create more Rick Astley
[Hear the results]

Popbitch’s favourite personal concierge and all round life-saver. She can help you with anything
[Find out more here]

Local lockdown news in York is quite something
[Massive Onion edition]
[Goose Eggs edition]

TfL have made some Zoom backgrounds if you want to recreate the thrill of taking the bus or DLR
[Download one here]

Which video games allow you to violate the Geneva Conventions?
[See on Twitter]

Deepfake of the week: Six presidents of the USA sing Fuck Tha Police
[Listen on YouTube]

Tabby the snowboarding cat
[Watch on YouTube]