Pick of the week’s Gossip

Freddie Flintoff no longer believes the Earth is round. The former England cricketer has become obsessed with a podcast that argues that Disney invented the idea of a round Earth. “If you’re in a helicopter and you hover why does the Earth not come to you if it’s round?” said Flintoff on his own Radio 5 podcast. “Why, if we’re hurtling through space, would water stay still? Why is it not wobbling?” In reality, he said, the world is “bulbous, like a turnip”. “The middle is the North Pole, around the outside is the South Pole which is like a big wall of ice. This is why all governments now have bases on the South Pole,” Flintoff added. Keith Chegwin (pictured) who died this week aged 60, was never less than enthusiastic – even when he wasn’t sure what he was enthusing about. DJ Mike Read, his co-host on Saturday Superstore, recalls a typical “Cheggers” segment: “He was interviewing an athlete and he said: ‘I see you’ve won medals in the LOOM hurdles... I’ve never heard of that!’ The guy replied: ‘It’s the 100m hurdles.’”

Alan Johnson, the Labour Mp-turned-author, likes to connect with fans. At the Parliamentary Book Awards last week, Johnson recalled how the novelist Joseph Connolly was so busy at one book signing that he failed to look up from the table. “Do you have one ‘I’ or two?” Connolly asked after being handed a book. When this was met with silence, he looked up – into the face of a man with an eyepatch.