Whitty a wanted man ...for Bake Off special
Prof and PM are Paul’s top picks
Chris Whitty has barely been off our screens since the pandemic started.
And now he could be getting even more air time – if Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood get their way.
They want the Covid crusader to star on the next series of Celeb Bake Off, along with his boss Boris Johnson. The PM and the prof are two of their top choices for the Stand Up To Cancer spin-off.
Paul admits he’d like to turn up the heat on them, saying: “Professor Whitty, I’d like him. And Boris Johnson. Get them in the tent and put a bit of pressure on them!”
This week’s opening episode features Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley, 28, pop star Alexandra Burke, 32, and comics Rob Beckett, 35, and Tom Allen, 37. They are put through their paces with Paul, 55, and Prue, 81, setting them a showstopper cake task themed on their biggest bugbear.
Alexandra, they reveal, made a cake about her footballer ex-boyfriend Angus MacDonald. “I loved her showstopper,” says Prue.
“She didn’t like the fact her footballer boyfriend got into bed with all his kit on and muddy shoes.”
Reflecting on how Bake Off has become a big hit around the world, Paul admits he couldn’t believe it when film star Blake Lively asked if she could have one of his famous handshakes after posting a photo of her unicorn cake on Instagram.
He says: “I commented on it and said, ‘Well done’ and gave a handshake emoji, and she said, ‘I can’t believe it! Paul Hollywood’s seen it!’ I didn’t realise she’s a big fan.”
He added of her husband: “Ryan [Reynolds] likes pies apparently, more than cakes.” ■■The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer, Channel 4,
Tuesday, 8pm
Following Dermot O’Leary’s revelation that he was ditched from Who Do You Think You Are? because his family was deemed too dull, Stacey Dooley says she suffered the same fate.
The presenter, who’s fronting DNA Stories for the BBC, has revealed her history wasn’t juicy enough for the show.
“They traced my family back hundreds of years and they only found links to Liverpool and Ireland,” she says. “There was probably only enough content to fill the opening credits.”
love me do (1962)
The Beatles’ first hit was jotted down in a school notebook by Macca in 1958 when he was just 15. It’s simple and repetitive in nature and has been criticised in the past for being childish.
Beatles producer George
Martin did not like the lyrics at all and thought John
Lennon’s harmonica solo halfway through was the best part.
The song crept up the charts to No17 after manager Brian
Epstein apparently bought 10,000 copies for his Liverpool record shop to help boost sales. The B-side was
P.S. I Love You, which was supposedly addressed to Macca’s then-girlfriend, Dot Rhone.
MORE than 60 years after his first chart hit, Paul McCartney remains one of the most iconic names in world music.
And the Beatles legend looks set to have another hit on his hands when he releases new book, Lyrics.
The 900-page tome, which is due to be released in two volumes, will chart Macca’s incredible career using his lyrics as a guide.
It will focus on more than 150 of his most famous songs and examine “the people and places that inspired them”.
The book, which is said to be “as close to an autobiography as Sir Paul may ever come”, is due out in November. Here, we look at some of the musician’s classic hits and the stories behind them.