Gary Barlow’s favourite TV channel is BBC3. “It’s the late night, groundbreaking comedy that keeps me hooked”, said the pop star.
Alan Titchmarsh has a secret vice – Scampi Fries dipped in houmous. “I admit it, I’m hooked! It’s the playful synergy between the creamy taste of the houmous and the fishy tang of the Scampi Fries”, confessed the housewives’ favourite TV presenter.
Jedward used to think that George Michael’s name was Michael George. “I can’t believe I used to think that! I mean what a silly mix-up! I just got the names the wrong way round, I guess”, said the duo.
Steve McFadden has a phobia of bread. “I know it’s silly. Embarrassing even! It’s been a staple food of Western civilisation for millennia, yet I break into a cold sweat at the mere sight of the stuff! It’s something about the spongy, porous interior that gives me the creeps. I prefer to snack on a chocolate bar, or perhaps a piece of fruit”, the rosy-faced Eastenders hardman explained.
Kate Bush’s favourite chocolate bar is Cadbury’s Boost. “I prefer it to the Star Bar – it’s too salty for me”, the eccentric songstress revealed. “I quite like Ritter Sport, too, but it’s rare to find a corner shop that does those these days”, she continued.
Phil Collins has a holiday villa in Turkmenistan. “It’s great because it’s such an out-of-the-way place – unspoiled by the glut of tacky bars, souvenir shops and Western chain stores that blight your usual ‘touristy’ places. An added boon is that nobody knows who I am there, so I can walk the streets with my family in peace”, explained the rocker.
Pat Sharp has never been to Liechtenstein. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against the place – and it’s not like I haven’t heard of it or anything – but I just haven’t had any cause to go there”, maintained the amusingly-quaffed-in-the-eighties children’s telly favourite.
Frankie Boyle has recently overclocked his personal computer. “It’s only supposed to run at 3.2 gHz but I’ve got mine running at 3.6. And with 8 gigabytes of RAM, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s quite the powerhouse”, boasted the bespectacled funnyman, known for his prolific TV panel show appearances and dry, acerbic humour.
Helen Worth isn’t a fan of low fat yoghurt. “It just doesn’t taste as good – something is definitely lost in the fat-reduction process. Besides, yoghurt is quite low in fat anyway, so I question the need for a ‘low-fat’ variety, truth be told”, insisted the actress, better known as Corrie’s Gail Platt.
Guy Ritchie isn’t a fan of Yazoo’s ‘new improved recipe’. “It’s says ‘New Improved Recipe’ on the bottle, but I honestly prefer the older one. Yazoo used to be my favourite milkshake, now it’s Nesquik, which you can’t even buy ready-made – you have to mix it with milk yourself! It’s a farce!” protested the gangster flick director.
Bernie Ecclestone owns several rare breeds of cat. “I have a Lambkin Dwarf Cat, a Kurilian Bobtail, a Sokoke and two Serengetis. They’re my pride and joy”, revealed the F1 supremo.
Jamie Oliver can spell ‘supercalafragilisticexpialadocious’. “It all started when I was about nine and someone came up to me in the playground and said ‘supercalafragilisticexpialadocious – spell it’. After several failed attempts to spell the word, the kid smugly told me it was spelled I-T. The embarrassment made me determined to be able to spell it so I could knock idiots like this down a peg or two”, said the telly chef turned school meals crusader.
Jennifer Lopez once believed herself to be from the future during her nervous breakdown in 2008. “It’s no secret that I had a nervous breakdown, but what I never told anyone until now is that I was convinced I was a time-hopping bounty hunter from the year 2034 – on a mission to apprehend an embezzler”, confessed the pop diva.
Lenny Henry wonders whether the inherent determinism of matter at the atomic level means that choice is an illusion. “I mean just think about it: if all these particles that everything is made of obey relatively simple predictable laws, then could it be that all events have essentially been set in stone since the big bang?” pondered the Dudley-born funnyman.
Angela Rippon insists she can remember her own birth. “I know they say nobody can recall that far back in their lives and I’d say that – in general – my memory was about average, but I have a vivid recollection of the midwife holding me just after I’d come out” maintains the telly veteran.