✒ Good to learn that positions are still available in the BBC's version of the saltmines, with last week's news that Newsbeat editor Rod McKenzie has accepted a vital new role (after receiving a final written warning over allegations of bullying) as "development editor of BBC local radio". Fears were expressed in the Mark Thompson era that swingeing annual cuts might limit its time-honoured ability to park people somewhere obscure; but, like the switching of hapless Newsnight editor Peter Rippon (made head of Online Archive) and Radio 5 Live controller Adrian Van Klaveren (sent to Flanders for four years' attrition as hopefully not Haig-like general of first world war output), McKenzie's repurposing suggests that's happily unimpaired.
✒ Although the launch of Evgeny Lebedev's local TV channel London Live is still nearly two months away, working patterns at Lebedev's Independent have already been altered by it. Every afternoon, the struggling paper's newsdesk – who are also asked to keep their workstations unnaturally tidy, lest roving cameras pick up scruffy signs of journalistic activity – are required to vacate their seats and relocate 10 feet to provide an exciting if somewhat bogus visual backdrop for the TV station's studio. Mutterings about "Potemkin television", referencing Lebedev's compatriot who created fake villages for Catherine the Great, are inevitably getting louder.
✒ As preparations advance, the wisdom of the station's branding is being questioned, given the fate of an earlier channel that similarly (a) had Live in its monicker, (b) was a press empire's spin-off, (c) trumpeted ultra-cheap, lively programmes by and about young Londoners as its chief selling-point, and (d) had a flamboyant boss who liked to keep his hand in as a columnist and reporter. Yes, the previous venture was Mirror Group's ill-fated L!ve TV, launched by Janet Street-Porter in 1995 but later overseen by Kelvin MacKenzie, who like a wicked panto sorcerer notoriously brought in Topless Darts, the News Bunny and weather forecasts by a trampolining dwarf. A rethink might be for the best, just in case the name does indeed carry a curse.
✒ When Sebastian Shakespeare replaced Richard Kay last week as editor of the Daily Mail diary originally penned by Nigel Dempster (he gets two pages to Kay's one, and far more pictures), the accompanying verbal fanfare was unusually tactless. If Shakespeare is now "our … star diarist", what does that say about Ephraim Hardcastle, aka Peter McKay, compiler of its op-ed page diary (a stonking 20-odd pages earlier in the paper, but allowed only stamp-size pics): perpetual understudy? Stalwart veteran but short of star power? Look out for coded retaliatory barbs in the coming weeks.
✒ Viewers of Simon Heffer's charming turn on Newsnight (including a splendid my-coat-and-voice-are-even-sillier-than-yours contest with Jacob Rees-Mogg) could be forgiven for worrying that the irascible Ginger Whinger may have been tamed. There's no sign of any loss of pepperiness, however, in a sideswipe in his review of a collection of political lectures in the latest Literary Review: "Why Max Hastings's gratifyingly short contribution on the Queen – a collection of statements of the bleeding obvious and much-loved cliches – had to be preserved for posterity will be beyond most who read it," the Heff harrumphs. The fact that Sir Max (under whom he served, albeit restively, as Telegraph deputy editor) is now a valued fellow Daily Mail columnist seems not to have inhibited him at all.
✒ At Channel 5, programme supremo Ben Frow's campaign to differentiate Richard Desmond's up-for-sale station from "downmarket" Channel 4 is going brilliantly. After a Celebrity Big Brother that Desmond's Daily Star rejoiced was the "filthiest ever"– and quoted Linda Nolan as calling "a porn show"– the mission is continuing with Frow's factual fare. Tomorrow at 9pm is She's 78, He's 39: Age Gap Love. Next week it's 200 Nips and Tucks and I Still Want More!, about plastic surgery addicts. Classier and classier.
✒ Chaos is currently the order of the day in radio arts programmes, where eyes appear to be off the ball – what could be distracting them? A fortnight ago, Radio 4's Saturday Review was shambolically pulled at the last moment due to a technical glitch. The following day's classic serial began with a bloated 90-minute episode ending at 4.30pm, cruelly kicking Mariella Frostrup's Open Book out of its main slot – but no one bothered to tell Radio Times, which listed Frostrup as on at 4pm as usual (in fact, only her weekday "repeat" went out). Last week the series of unfortunate events continued, with Saturday Review daftly billed as presented by "Jeremy Paxman", and, over on Radio 3, Free Thinking (10pm) surreally reviewing Christine Lagarde's Dimbleby Lecture that evening on BBC1 (10.35pm) before she'd actually given it.
✒ Was it the finest hour to date of John Witherow, totty-hunter? Thursday's Times carried an underwater photo of Kanako Kito, "displaying the grace and elegance", not to mention legs and cleavage, "that helped her to win silver in the Japanese synchonised swimming team at the 2004 [!] Olympics". Q. Was it somehow illustrating a news story? A. It was not. Q. Was there a Sochi link? A. Not possible: for obvious reasons, her sport has never featured in a Winter Olympics. Q. Was she at least performing it? No. Solo synchronised swimming is a contradiction in terms … In short, a triumph of girls-do-brighten-a-page gratuitousness.
✒ Congratulations to the Times's business editor Ian King, whose appointment as the successor to Jeff Randall (who made his name on the Sunday Times) at Sky News confirmed that the traditional connection between the Murdoch empire's press and telly wings has not been weakened by their separation last year. Sky, though, will have to make sure King's default expression on air is not the "dumb and glum" look of his Times picture byline, which the paper has curiously and cruelly left unaltered. Meanwhile, Paddy Power's new 5/2 favourite for the news channel's remaining job vacancy, the political editor post, is Adam Boulton's non-posh deputy, Joey Jones. If as reported Boulton did recommend instead well-spoken, well-educated chaps who have as much "bottom" as him (well, almost as much) such as Old Etonian James Landale (6/1) and Old Harrovian Gary Gibbon (5/1), the move may have backfired.
Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.
Celebrity Big Brother star strips half-naked as she poses poolside while holidaying with a friend
Reported by OK! 3 days ago.
SHE may not have come first in Celebrity Big Brother, but Luisa Zissman may as well have.
Reported by Daily Star 3 days ago.
CELEBRITY Big Brother runner up Dappy insists that he doesn't like marijuana, the only herbs he likes are oregano, thyme and parsley – apparently!
Reported by Daily Star 8 hours ago.
Celebrity Big Brother finalist defeats former Apprentice star with comical tweets
Reported by OK! 3 days ago.
CELEBRITY Big Brother star Luisa Zissman was stopped from buying booze at a supermarket because she looked under age.
Reported by Daily Star 3 days ago.
Blue singer reveals just how much reality show experience messed with his mind
Reported by OK! 14 hours ago.
LEE Ryan today reveals Celebrity Big Brother left him addicted to sleeping pills and fearing a breakdown.
Reported by Daily Star 1 day ago.
Celebrity Big Brother runner-up hoping to win BRIT Award with former bandmates, we unearth three-piece's first foray into the music biz - WATCH VIDEO
Reported by OK! 13 hours ago.
Celebrity Big Brother runner-up hoping to win BRIT Award with former bandmates, we unearth three-piece's first foray into the music biz - WATCH VIDEO
Reported by OK! 13 hours ago.
JASMINE WALTZ was the scarlet woman of Celebrity Big Brother… but Casey Batchelor pinched the title from her reality star rival last night.
Reported by Daily Star 11 hours ago.
Celebrity Big Brother winner Jim Davidson has taken to British television to muse over his dramatic year in showbusiness, which saw his career flatline - then thrive.
Reported by MailOnline 9 hours ago.
This is Scunthorpe -- A PROFILE of Celebrity Big Brother winner Jim Davidson will be screened on Channel 5 tonight (Monday, February 10). The documentary, Jim Davidson: At Least I'm Not Boring, includes an interview featuring Jim's time in the Big Brother house and his career highlights, with input from his family and friends. The comic found fame on talent show New Faces, before going on to host BBC game shows Big Break and The Generation Game. The documentary also includes other aspects of the comedian's life, from his five marriages to why he was sidelined as a BBC presenter. It will be broadcast at 9pm. *Follow us on Facebook and Twitter*
Reported by This is 8 hours ago.
SINCE the end of Celebrity Big Brother, we have seen Luisa and Jasmine locking lips in the back of a taxi, Sam rushing in and out of hospital, and Casey flaunting her unparalleled curves in minuscule frocks.
Reported by Daily Star 8 hours ago.
Celebrity Big Brother couple confirm relationship as Blue singer reveals 'neither of us have felt this way before'
Reported by OK! 15 hours ago.