Recently by Steve Wollaston

Should I have laughed? I did sorry...

The sight of the kids toy stumbling over the fake bridge looked daft...

IAN Hislop is best known as the editor of Private Eye and razor-tongued panellist on the long-running topical quiz show Have I Got News For You. In Ian Hislop's Age of the Do-Gooders at 9pm on Monday on BBC2, he'll be looking at some of history's greatest reformers and philanthropists.

1 In this three-part series, Ian reveals who his heroes are. They include Dr Thomas Barnardo (1845-1905) who was a 'missionary turned children's home founder with a controversial genius for publicity'. Another is campaigning journalist WT Stead (1849-1912) who died during the sinking of the Titanic after 'buying a 13-year-old girl for £5' to highlight the scandal of child prostitution.

2 Viewers on Monday will also see Ian in Birmingham's Shakespeare Memorial Room and on the towpath beneath Water Street. His Midland heroes include London-born George Dawson (1821-1876), who moved to Birmingham's Mount Zion Baptist Chapel in 1844 and advocated political service as a civic duty.

3 Ian was born on July 13, 1960 in Mumbles, Swansea. His engineer father David, who died when his son was just 12, was Scottish and his late mother Helen was from Jersey. He grew up in Nigeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong.

4 Ian is a man of many talents including broadcaster, author and after dinner speaker. Last May, his Radio 4 play Greed All About It, about the Wapping dispute, starred Sally Hawkins.

5 After losing a legal battle with the late Robert Maxwell, Hislop quipped: "I've just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech."

6 Ian is the only person to have appeared in every Have I Got News For You episode - and more than once on Room 101 after he was invited to turn the tables on Paul Merton, his fellow star on HIGNFY.

7 The father of two is an ambassador for the Scout Association.

Stupid, pointless, but brilliant...

Sky 1's An Idiot Abroad restored my faith in television, one of the funniest programmes aired for ages and if it didn't make you laugh then you are clearly dead.

Karl Pilkington worked on radio shows with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant before appearing on the show and became a cult figure on Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's radio show.

Here's Karl talking about the show and lots of other stuff as you would expect...

On Travel

"I don't understand that saying 'travel broadens the mind' - The mind cannot be broadened after the head has stopped growing. My mind was full before I did all these trips. All that has happened is that some of my older memories have been replaced with some new ones, which is annoying as the old ones were better memories than the new ones I've put in there. Well, I think they were."

On Fame

"I wouldn't say I'm famous. I'm not driven about, or have people doing errands for me. That bloke who stands at Oxford Circus preaching 'are you a sinner or a winner' is known more than me. Life hasn't changed that much other than my car insurance has gone through the roof. It's a right rip-off."

On being an 'idiot'

"It's only ever Ricky who calls me an idiot. It did annoy me when he called me on my last trip in Peru. I'd just come out of the jungle and he called to tell me the series name had changed from Karl Pilkington's Seven Wonders Of The World to An Idiot Abroad. The good thing is, most people who stop me in the street say they agree with most of what I say."

The future...

"I've no idea. Other than whose mam and dad is coming round to dinner each year I don't do planning. Who knows what I'll be doing. When Coolio was at number one with Gangsta's Paradise, I doubt he had Celebrity Big Brother on his plan list."

On eating dog

"We stopped off to get something to eat at a cafe in the middle of nowhere when I was in China. The woman brought loads of plates to the table. There was pork, beef, chicken, prawns, rice, noodles, and I tucked into what I thought was beef but it turned out to be dog. It tasted like cheap meat and smelt odd."

The future

"Suzanne (Karl's partner) is jealous from all my travelling. She said she wants to see a giraffe so it's either a safari or London Zoo. It won't be for a while though as I'm sick of travelling.

"I'm doing up the kitchen. I've tiled it, changed the hood above the hob and painted. Just one more wall left to do and then the floor needs sorting.

"I've never really been one for making long-term plans. I think they get in the way. That's what was good about doing An Idiot Abroad, everything was a surprise to me: Even the title."

I genuinely think that we should just stick these TV gems back on television. It's not like there is anything better on is it!

Actually, no I'm not sure what my point is here either....

Get it back on the box!!

My good lady and my eldest daughter are watching I'm A Celebrity so I have absolutely no choice but to watch it either.

What a load of old rot it is this time around.

Not only are the celebs (?) non-descript, annoying and boring but the whole show just reeks of cliche.

1 I hate Ant and Decs fake concern at the contestants plight
2 I hate the overuse of their 'Get Me Outta Hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee holler
3 Where else can they go with the nasty eating - as soon as we had Kangaroo's testicles there was nowhere else to go.
4 It's obvious the British public will keep voting for Gillian McKeith

There are load more but I can't be bothered, it is a tired format though and what was once an innovative and entertaining show is now in danger of becoming the new Big Brother.

I hope it gets better, sadly I think even Shaun Ryder can't even save it.

Jedward are planning to battle this year's X Factor winner for Christmas number one.
John and Edward Grimes - who failed to win last year's ITV talent show, but have gone on to become stars in their own way - want to release a single at the same time as the winner to rival them in the carts.

John said: "Me and Edward are going to go for Christmas number one this year. We're going to do it and sell thousands of copies and out sell the X factor. Millions! It's going to be huge. it's going to be going Christmas number one."

Michelle Keegan has revealed her girl crush is curvaceous star Jennifer Lopez.

The Coronation Street actress, who regularly bags awards for her own sexiness, joked that the US singer is her "ideal woman".

She said: "I've got a bit of a girl crush on J-Lo. She's turned 40 and looks so good for her age - she's definitely my ideal woman."

Michelle confessed that she feels at her most attractive when she's looking natural: "I think I'm most sexy when I'm not glammed up."