WTF: Weekly Trivia File

• Courtney Love says she once turned down a night with Russell Brand because she couldn't bear his "musky" stench. On Alan Carr, Chatty Man, the 49-year-old rocker said the comic, who is a pal and sometime yoga partner, hit on her, saying; 'I have had a lot of grand conversations, darling, but none of them have ended in an orgasm. Can we go in a room?’

• It’s been jokingly likened to a cult, but Ruby Wax has joined MPs and peers in Westminster in a session of ‘mindfulness meditation’… which involves closing your eyes, falling silent and straightening the body as voice intones: ‘Connect with the breath, wherever it feels most strong…’ It was part of a session to demonstrate the benefits of a system advocates like Ms Wax want to see in wider society.

• Grainne Maguire was this week asked to describe the strangest thing that happened to you at a gig – and revealed: ‘I once asked a girl in the front row what she did for a living and she replied “Grainne, I used to live with you”.’ Turns out it was her old flatmate I hadn’t seen for a couple of years, whom she hadn’t recognised. ‘That was a bit odd,’ she conceded. ‘A lot of the rest of the gig was me asking if I had any post I needed to collect.’

• The Irish Post asked the same question of Jarlarth Regan. He said about a month ago in Glasgow: ‘I saw a flash of light from a table next to the stage. I turned around this lady’s hair was on fire. She had leaned forward and a tea light had set it off. A man dove across from the table behind and put it out.’

• Alexander Armstrong and his Pointless co-host Richard Osman have made their own Eurovision-style song, Nul Points, which will at the end of Pointless Celebrities Eurovision tomorrow, ahead of the musical extravaganza in Denmark.Here is their effort:

• Wrong Dan Clark, Google:

• Stand-up Lewis Schaffer says his new website ‘looks so good that the mother of my children thought I was doing so well she asked the Child Support Agency to get more money from me.’

• Stephen Mangan has revealed he got tongue-tied when he met an acting hero. ‘A couple of times in my life I have seen people I admire and not said hello so I had to say hello to Robert De Niro,’ he tells Graham Norton on his BBC One show tonight. ‘I had to steal myself because I was really nervous. I walked up to him and said, “Hello, I’m Robert De Niro.” He said, “No, I’m Robert De Niro.’ And I said, ‘Yes, you’re Robert De Niro.” And I left!’

• Like many new comics, when Kurt Braunohler was struggling to get work, he would say yes to anything… even when it was totally inappropriate. Like the time he went for an audition for a role that required a German speaker, even if the best he could do is a ‘comedically bad’ accent… as he reveals here…

• Alan Carr was one of 15 people to help Adele celebrate her birthday with an intimate meal in Chelsea last weekend. Meanwhile, here’s Pappy’s star Tom Parry as the chanteuse herself…

• We owe the BBC an apology. In this column last week we reported how the corporation had splashed out on a new whistle for Just A Minute. But production assistant Trudi Stevens - the woman charged with blowing it to mark the end of the 60 seconds contestants must speak for - didn’t hesitate to get in touch to point out our deviation from the truth, since it didn’t cost a penny of licence-payers’ cash. ‘A mate bought me the new whistle because they were so fed up hearing how bad the old one was!’ she said. So we won’t repeat that slander again…

• Tweets of the week
Tony Cowards(@TonyCowards): Do Wasps have a B team? #Rugby
Robin Flavell(@RobinFlavell): Got an idea for a novel about a falling cat. It rights itself
Ian Power (@IHPower): My Native American puns are going through apache spell at the moment

Published: 9 May 2014