The last 12 months have been a whirlwind for the Leeds outfit with gigs in Canada, America and Japan, but building an international fan base has its drawbacks for Dave Best. "I hate flying," he admitted recently. "I come through the door and I tap the outside of the plane three times for luck."


Much has been written and said about Hull City's chances of surviving in the Premiership, but the two pundits we'd really like to see on Match of the Day are Alan Plater and Tom Courtenay.

Speaking to Radio 5, Plater, who grew up in Hull, admitted he and Courtenay, who was born in the city, speak regularly about the fortunes of the club, dissecting the minutiae of each match and musing on the philosophical consequences of a win, lose or draw. Now that has to be more interesting than Alan Shearer's words of wisdom.


Jarvis Cocker seems determined to grow old disgracefully. While music is generally considered to be a young man's game, the former Pulp frontman is resigned to never being able to walk away from the recording studio.

"When I was about to hit 40, I considered walking away from music," he said.

"I just thought, 'You're too old to be in a band'.

"Now I'm 45, I still feel the same, but I don't care. I am too old, but I haveresigned myself to the humiliation that goes with it now. I have to, because I realise it's the only thing I was born to do."


If there's one person no one wants to get on the wrong side of it's Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, when Manchester United defender Jonny Evans came within an inch of receiving a blast of the infamous "hairdryer treatment", he was quick to blame the Arctic Monkeys.

Evans was listening to the Sheffield band when Sir Alex came up to him on the team bus to tell him he was in the starting line-up
against Stoke.

"I had my iPod on at the time when the boss came up to me and told me I was starting. I had the Arctic Monkeys on and it was on pretty loud
as well, so the boss had to nudge me."


Sometimes journalists can be very cruel. Early this month, Guardian columnist John Crace cast his literary eye over the new novel by Alan Titchmarsh.

The gardener-turned-author has being doing the rounds promoting Folly, but Crace wasn't sold on the take of intrigue, rivalry and romance.

In a scathing summary of the novel, which included the line "The real miracle is that Alan Titchmarsh has written a book that makes Jeffrey Archer look talented", he ended with the three little words no author wants to hear. Just plain stupid.

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