The 9 0'Clock News – Thu 9 Oct

Posted by heatworld on Thursday 09 Oct 2008

Filed under: Austin Drage, Ed Simons, Helen Mirren, Lily Allen, Madonna, Russell Brand, The X Factor

Helen Mirren and Russell Brand fancy each other!
She may be a Dame and 63 years old, but that hasn't stopped actress Helen Mirren from being a huge hit with the boys. As well as sharing a glass of champagne and a cosy chat with footballer Sol Campbell and ex-Blue singer Simon Webbe at an awards do this week, Helen has also attracted the roving eye of one of the most notorious lotharios in England – Mr Russell Brand. The wild-haired comedian admitted he had the hots for Dame Mirren last week, and it would seem the feeling's mutual. "I heard he fancies me," giggled the actress, "I fancy Russell, too. I mean, who can resist a man that looks so good in tight trousers? He's absolutely lovely." Wow – now that's a celebrity pairing we'd love to see. However, despite her admission, Helen claims she's already got another young man in her sights. "I have an admirer," she whispered, "There's a young man in the offing." Blimey, we hope we've got lines of young men queuing up for us when we're 63. What's your secret, Mirren?!

X Factor hunk was bullied for being nerdy
He's been hailed as one of the hunks from this year's X Factor – and he does look hot in the guyliner – but Austin Drage wasn't always so easy on the eye. The poor little thing was bullied at school for being, well, a bit of a nerd. Suffering from jeers about his "curtain" hairstyle and his over-sized specs, Austin was a bit of a loner at school and kept himself to himself. One former classmate said, "He was a bit of a geek. He didn't have many friends." The bullying got so bad at one stage that Austin actually left the secondary school he was attending to go to another. Still, as he got older, Austin refused to let the bullies drag him down too much. One of his close friends revealed, "He was very naughty and used to wind up the teachers, but he had a big talent for singing and was always the lead in the school plays." We bet all those bullies are laughing on the other side of their faces now...

Fan leaves Madonna with "bruised ego"
Poor Madonna. Ignoring the financial hardships caused by the credit crunch, she charged fans lots and lots of their hard-earned cash for the privilege of seeing Her Madgesty on her Sticky And Sweet tour. But some gig-goers (presumably ones who got given a free ticket…) decided to avoid getting too overexcited about seeing her live – much to Madonna’s annoyance. She was rather miffed when a male fan remained seated throughout her New York gig. Heckling him from the stage, she yelled, “Are you f**king bored, sir? Why are you sitting? I’m busting my arse up here,” before telling fans, “Clap for me! My ego is bruised right now.” Oh dear.
 
Lily takes dig at ex with new album
We’ve been waiting a rather long time for Lily Allen’s follow up to Alright Still, but come early 2009, the wait will be over. Despite rumours the album was called Stuck On The Naughty Step (We’d LOVE to see Supernanny vs Lily), the title’s something a bit more personal – It’s Not Me, It’s You. Oo-er. Will former flame Ed Simons be quaking behind his decks at the prospect of a tell-all through the medium of song? We don’t have all the answers here at heatworld, but it sure seems as if Lily’s delighted with the final result. She says, “I took my time with it so I didn’t have to do loads of songs and cut it all down. I can’t work on something I didn’t think was good enough.”