MISSING LINKS

HOW two seemingly unrelated figures in the news are joined by a series of unexpected connections.

PAUL MESCAL

THE Normal People star has snared his first Oscar nomination, for Aftersun, while he’s currently on stage in A Streetcar Named Desire in North London. It’s quite the rise for the actor, whose first TV appearance was in an Irish advert for Denny sausages in 2018. In that, he follows in the bootsteps of…

GEORGE BEST

…who advertised Cookstown bangers in the late 1960s. Before making it in football, Best appeared on Top Of The Pops – in the audience, dancing to The Rolling Stones. His own attempts at pop fame failed, having recorded a version of It Takes Two with his girlfriend, former Miss World Mary Stavin, which did not trouble the charts. Others who recorded the hit, first made famous by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston, include Marie and…

DONNY OSMOND

THE Mormon teen idol turned TV presenter once revealed himself to be a surprising fan of Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, saying he ‘absolutely loved’ the show. But not as unlikely as …

SNOOP DOGG

THE pimp-turned-rapper who once smoked weed at the White House (marijuana is legal in Washington DC) called for a BBC boycott after the Corporation fired Clarkson from Top Gear. Mr Dogg is also a fan of Ian Neale, a Newport farmer he dubbed ‘my homeboy’ after being impressed with his six-stone swede. In 2011, the rapper invited the 71-year-old to a gig and to go backstage to share the secret of his giant veg. It may have been to help his cannabis crop, but Dogg is a keen gardener in general. As is…

KELLY BROOK

THE model once told Hello! magazine: ‘I’ve been pigeonholed as this silly, giggly glamour girl who dates bad boys, but that’s never been the real me. The true me is in her element in her potting shed and digging around in her vegetable patch.’ Brook last week pleaded with ITV bosses to let her host its middle-aged Love Island spin-off, The Romance Retreat, having hosted the original Celebrity Love Island in 2005.