WTF: Weekly Trivia File

• ‘My act has basically become “being slightly pathetic” over recent years.’ Jon Richardson.

• True or spin? Alan Carr reportedly got so drunk during the filming of tonight’s Chatty Man that recording had to be stopped. He downed four double shots of Aftershock in half an hour while interviewing Westlife. He slurred his words, complained he felt sick, spilled drink down himself and introduced The Saturdays as ‘The Sundays’, before turning to the studio audience and told them: “This interview has gone to shit. I think we should leave it.’ Decide if it was real or just acting on Channel 4 at 10pm.

• It’s a nice idea, though nothing will come of it. Linda Smith has been put forward as a possible face to be on a future banknote, according to an official list of suggestions published by the Bank of England. John Cleese was also on the list.

• Stephen Fry has not has a good day, after his flight back from Australia, where he had been touring with QI, was forced to make an unscheduled landing. The Qantas Airbus A380, carrying more than 250 passengers from Singapore to London, was forced to stop in Dubai, after one of the four engines developed trouble. And to make matters worse, when he got off the stricken plane – he realised he’d lost his wallet. ‘Oh Jesus arsemothering fuck,’ he tweeted. ‘I've left my wallet on the sodding plane. Hell's teeth this really isn't my day. Will not leave without it. That's it. I'm fucked. Seriously fucked.’ A couple of hours later, all was well, however, as he got a place on an Emirates flight back to London, and shared with fans the news: ‘Reunited with wallet & cards so v relieved ! Hurrah.’

• When Stephen Merchant went to his first Bafta awards bash, he was so worried that he wouldn't have anything to eat during the ceremony, that he persuaded his girlfriend of the time to smuggle a pork pie in her handbag.

• A bunch of circuit comedians, led by Carl Donnelly and including Chris Martin,John Robins and CBBC’s Iain Stirling are growing moustaches for Movember, the prostate cancer fundraising drive, as a team called Comedians With Cookie Dusters. Robins said comedians have it particularly hard when it comes to face furniture, saying: ‘It entails far more embarrassment and explaining for us comics as we have to parade our growth in front of crowds across the country.’ Here’s their fundraising page.

• A heckler really does become part of the show at a Katt Williams gig in Shreveport, Louisiana:
  

• Tom Hollander has become a churchgoer since starring in the BBC sitcom Rev. He said he initially stated going to ‘check if I was getting it right’ – but added: ‘Since we stopped shooting I look forward to poking my nose in without it being work.’

• How strapped are local newspapers becoming? A title in Barnsley conducted a Q&A with musical comedian James Sherwood, and not only asked him to supply the answers – but also asked him to come up with the questions, too. He asked himself a couple of obvious ones, such as ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ (Answer: Radio 2) and ‘What is your favourite colour?’ But our favourite is: ‘The point A has coordinates (7,4). The straight lines with equations x + 3y + 1 = 0 and  2x + 5y = 0 intersect at the point B.  Show that one of these two lines is perpendicular to AB.’ Here’s the full Q&A.

• Nigerian comedian Baba Suwe has been freed on £2,000 bail, three weeks after being arrested at Lagos airport on suspicion of having swallowed drugs to smuggle out of the country. Customs officers have spent all that time sifting through his, erm, output – but to no avail.

• Prince Charles has hands that are of a ‘rough hue, like a farmer’s’ – according to Jimmy Carr.

• Tweets of the week:
  Stephen Grant (@ stephencgrant ): Moses was the first person to use "Control-C" as a shortcut.
  Michael Spicer (@ MrMichaelSpicer ): For my generation, getting old will be scrolling to the top of a page and forgetting why we went up there.
  Daniel Maier (@ danielmaier ):If life gives you water, sugar, lemon juice from concentrate (2%), E331,E202, ascorbic acid, a carbonator and bottling plant, make lemonade.

SOURCES: Digital Spy, Daily Star, Bank Of England, Twitter, ES Magazine, Chortle, YouTube, Radio Times, Facebook, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Twitter

Published: 4 Nov 2011