1. Alan Cumming: ‘I never thought about my foreskin until I came to America’
“The constant question I used to get was: ‘Do you think that coming out is bad for your career in Hollywood?’ It’s such a ridiculous question. I don’t think people in Basingstoke or Idaho are not going to go and see a movie because someone in it is gay. I really don’t think they care.”
2. Carrie Symonds: a media-savvy history-maker in No 10
‘The former Conservative HQ press officer, who rose to become communications chief, is seen as an incredible asset to Johnson. She is recognisable to young voters and her relationship with Johnson helps validate him among Tory millennials “hugely, absolutely” according to Sonia Purnell, the author of Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition.’
3. My favourite game: geek in golf cap stuns world at 1972 Olympics
‘It’s easy to spot him and not just because he’s detached from the field. Wottle is running in a golf cap, originally to keep his ginger curls in check but worn now out of superstition. This is Napoleon Dynamite, not your typical American track hunk.’
4. Obama White House team watched Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech when annoyed at Tony Abbott
‘“What was frustrating with Abbott, you know, is he was kind of very sure of himself without really knowing what he was talking about,” Rhodes told the podcast hosts, Dan Ilic and Lewis Hobba.’
5. The VE Day commemorations have been scaled down. That’s a good thing
‘In Britain we have come to view the war as a simplistic battle between absolute good and absolute evil. We have lost all appreciation of the hard moral choices we had to make along the way – particularly when it comes to the bombing war, or our abandonment of eastern Europe in 1945.’
6. Turkish students increasingly resisting religion, study suggests
‘Despite more than a decade of efforts by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) to mould a generation of pious Turks, the country’s youth appears to be turning away from religion.’
7. The curse of Mr Darcy: did Colin Firth’s beloved performance really damage his career?
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman, married woman, man, anyone really, in possession of a pulse, must be in want of Colin Firth in a lake. He was 35 when he played him in that BBC adaptation, 25 years ago.’
8. ‘Sorry we didn’t leave the cot!’: politicians cheer PM and Symonds
‘Johnson is also keen to preserve privacy around the birth of his son. He has four children with his estranged second wife, Marina Wheeler – Lara Lettice, 26, Milo Arthur, 24, Cassia Peaches, 22, and Theodore Apollo, 20 – as well as another child with the art consultant Helen Macintyre. Beyond that, he has always declined to say how many sons and daughters he has overall.’
9. Stunt star turned Extraction director Sam Hargrave: ‘Charlize Theron is the bravest actor I know’
‘Immediacy and physicality is one of the reasons he believes digital effects will never replace stunts. “That’s been a discussion for a few years now. Nothing beats knowing that the body you’re watching has been through that experience. ‘Oh man, another human being did that?’ It’s so much more impactful.”’
10. The ugly truth behind the rise of Kim Yo-jong
‘It has long been rumoured that Yo-jong, who is sometimes described as the Ivanka Trump of North Korea, is the brains behind her brother’s brawn. Little is known about Yo-jong; even her age is unclear, although she is believed to be in her early 30s.’
