5 minute read
Hearsay & 20 Questions
For a long time, it felt like the only thing that was mine was my sex life.
Singer Harry Styles on the life of a boy band member being something of a Ken Doll existence.
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS I US
“We saw the fries and were like, ‘This is unreal. How on Earth are these fries still in this bag and how are they preserved so well?’ It was wild.” Home renovators Rob and Gracie Jones on finding a half-eaten order of McDonald’s fries in the wall of their 1959 Illinois home – still crispy, brown and intact some decades later. But no, they weren’t tempted to pop them in the microwave.
CNN I US
“It would have been a lot easier if Herschel had his way and it was called George.” Jonti Horner, from University of Southern Queensland, on the oft-mispronounced planet Uranus, which astronomer William Herschel wanted to name Georgian Sidus, or George’s Star, after King George III, when it was discovered in 1781.
“I played cricket in the backyard with Shane Warne, I danced in the garage with Kylie Minogue, I sat and had dinner with Barry Humphries dressed up as a monk.” Actor Pete Rowsthorn, aka Brett Craig, on news that the four-bedroom Melbourne home used to film Kath & Kim was being demolished. It’s O-V-A-H!
ABC I AU
“Ozzy’s very well known in Ukraine, I think they’d be happy.” Sharon Osbourne on how she and rocker husband Ozzy came to be hosting two families of Ukrainian refugees on their country estate.
NME I UK
“In the modern day, we might think of art as being created on a blank canvas in daylight or with a fixed light source; but we now know that people 15,000 years ago were creating art around a fire at night, with flickering shapes and shadows.” Dr Andy Needham, from the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, on findings that cave art was often created at night, deduced from heat damage to the painted stones.
SCIENCE DAILY I US
“Getting a mullet was a necessary step to becoming the person I’m proud to be today. I don’t see it as a haircut, but a true personification of my essence.” Mattia, a model, on his new 80s-inspired ’do. His hot tip for mullet maintenance: sea salt spray after washing creates volume.
GQ I UK
“If you can’t shave your hair off while we’re living through what we’ve lived through, when are you going to do it?” Hair historian Rachael Gibson on the way many women appear to have embraced the buzz cut during the pandemic as a way to take ownership of their identities.
THE NEW YORK TIMES I US
“Ultimately, sleep-deprived magpies were slower to attempt the reversal learning task, less likely to perform and complete the task, and those that did the test performed worse than better-rested birds.” John Lesku, from La Trobe University, on new research that sleepy magpies don’t get the worm.
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD I AU
“There’s not a ton of us out there who have publicly lost our freedom, had breakdowns in front of everyone, become punchlines and fought our way back.” Actor Drew Barrymore on why she’d be uniquely placed to interview pop star Britney Spears on her talk show.
EAR2GROUND “(My skin colour) “I reckon raspberry is something I pancakes will taste thought of every much nicer than day when I woke blueberry pancakes, up. I thought: Iggy – after all they’re ‘What trouble is in season!” my skin going A harried grandma trying to to get me into convince a toddler to eat their today?’” brunch – as overheard by Lorraine in Heidelberg, Vic. Queer Eye star Tan France on bleaching his skin when he was nine, saying he wanted to appear as “non-Asian as possible”.
CNN I US
“Either way I’m rooted.” Matthew Isabella, general manager of Darwin’s Char Restaurant, apologises in advance for lopping one of the city’s landmark trees, as its roots are interfering with the building’s plumbing and cracking the floor.
NT NEWS I AU
“Can you imagine six years of your life with a penis swinging on your arm? It’s been a nightmare, but it’s gone now – the little bugger.” Malcolm MacDonald, who was left with a replacement penis, made out of his own skin, grafted to his arm for six years after his original “fell off” due to a blood infection.
THE SUN I UK
“Nowadays everyone wears sheer dresses, but back then that was not the case. In a sense, it’s the original naked dress. That’s why it was so shocking.” Kim Kardashian on the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress that the reality star wore to the Met Gala, 60 years after the Hollywood siren wore it to famously serenade JFK.
VOGUE I US
“Something that people forget all the time is, people don’t really want to leave their country unless they really have to. It’s really out of necessity.” Singer Dua Lipa on why her parents fled Kosovo for London as refugees from the Bosnian war – returning to Kosovo when she was 11.
NPR I US
by Rachael Wallace
01 In which US state would you find the Ozarks? 02 What is software engineer Josh
Wardle famous for inventing? 03 What European capital has the same name as the horse ridden by the Duke of Wellington in the Battle of Waterloo? 04 What does NFT stand for? 05 Which nation has the only twosided flag, with a different emblem on each side? 06 In which year was the arcade game
Donkey Kong released? 07 In which city did Banksy’s street art first appear? 08 What does Wee Willie Winkie wear when he runs through the town? 09 Which airline has the slogan
“A great way to fly”? 10 True or false? Cleopatra lived closer in time to the building of the first
Pizza Hut than to the building of the
Great Pyramids. 11 What is the most common Spanish surname: a) Garcia b) Gomez c) Diaz or d) Lopez? 12 What word was invented by
Australian scientists to describe the distinct earthy scent of rain in the air? 13 Where is the 2022 FIFA World Cup set to be held? 14 Pears, raspberries and apples are part of which botanical family? 15 In M*A*S*H, what was the name of
Hawkeye and Trapper John’s tent? 16 Manasseh Sogavare is the prime minister of which country? 17 On the London Underground map, what colour is the Bakerloo line? 18 Is water more dense as a liquid than as a solid? 19 At the official opening ceremony of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, who rode in on horseback and cut the ribbon before Premier Jack Lang? 20 Which singer is also the founder of cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty?
