Mercury falling

That Freddie Mercury film? The one with Sacha Baron Cohen/hold on no it's Ben Whishaw as Fred?
Starting to look increasingly like it's never going to happen. The Telegraph's Mandrake column brings the news:

So when will Whishaw actually set about the business of rocking us? “Actually, I don’t know what’s happening, it seems to be on the back-burner,” the Paddington star now admits in an interview with Time Out London. “It was going, then there were problems getting the script working.”

I'm taking this to mean the studio are going "he's being gay on too many pages", but it could simply be they're asking if Brian May wouldn't mind if his character became a wisecracking CGI badger. (I suspect Brian May wouldn't mind.)

Noel Gallagher: I am STRONG but Winehouse is weak

Having spent his time yesterday telling Radio Times about the X Factor, Noel Gallagher has now given the benefit of his wisdom to Time Out magazine. In this exclusive insight into his brainy-workings, Noel mused on how fame costs:

"I'm not embarrassed by wealth or fame or stardom," he said. "It's what I was born to do.

"For some people that level of fame can hit you really fuckin' hard. I'm not having a go at her, but the likes of Amy Winehouse have been wiped out by that.

"Whether people would care to admit it or not, that's fame that's done that. Sometimes people think they're not worthy of it, so they build a shell around themselves which cannot be penetrated."

Not embarrassed, huh? Not even a little, when Meg Matthews was busily detailing your life on the chi-chi party scene for the benefit of Sunday Times readers and the wider amusement of the world?

So, Noel, you think Amy Winehouse thinks herself unworthy of fame and has withdrawn into herself as a result? You don't think it's more that her success has allowed her to rise to a level where she is able to indulge her weaknesses and feed addictions without having to worry about the costs in a way that the non-over-wealthy are unable to enjoy, and that it's not the fame but the cash and the stream of people willing to make excuses for her which is doing her in? Substances are hard to turn down, aren't they... remember... to say no...
...make a mental note to yourself... no, no, NO... going... gone...

Promoterobit: Jeremy Beadle

As we're reminded by TJ Worthington's appreciation of Jeremy Beadle for Talk About The Passion, although he will be remembered as a prankster, Beadle's first forays into the entertainment world were as a promoter of festivals and gigs: indeed, he brought Captain Beefheart to play in the UK, a move which surely will offest giving Sarah Kennedy a national platform.

He also edited Time Out for a spell - although there seems some confusion if he took the role at the Northern edition, the London edition, or both, depending on what obituary you believe - and, besides presenting in his own right on LBC, TalkRadio, and Radios 2, 3 and 4, wrote for some of the radio legends, including Kenny Everett.

Jeremy Beadle died yesterday of pneumonia after a long bout of repeated illnesses. He was 59.