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He’s more used to singing into his hairbrush than a microphone. But an estate agent is in the running to win £25,000 worth of prizes including a recording contract.

Lee Cooper, a sales negotiator for Tingleys Hove, has made it through to the regional final of Idol 2008. On 27 September he will compete in front of an audience of 1,000 at the Hove Centre for a place in the national final of the music and dance competition.

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Katie is getting drawn into a night-time cult via an addiction to YouTube

I am just going to watch just one last YouTube video of Chris Fountain in Dancing on Ice, and then I’ll go to sleep.

‘Time Warp‘ it is. “It’s astounding, time is fleeting/madness takes its toll.“

Chris curves his body into a ‘Time Warp‘ boogie, his shiny polyester shirt glinting as he shimmys his hips across the frozen lake.

“Johnny Depp’s saying he met him once, as he smoked a roll-up from his kitchen window”

As my watch glides towards 4am he lifts his partner off the ice, her legs split open, his head between them. I would love to meet that boy.

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Katie gets down with the literary luvvies and finds it all rather smug

Martin Amis - photo by Justin Williams

Another wet weekend in the Welsh Valleys and my pink wellies are ankle deep in mud. It starts to rain again, and I make my way across a field in search of Martin Amis.

“I got Naomi Campbell to ghostwrite the end of it for me after she’d finished punching policemen”

Amis is pretty funny. At a few events in London he’s previously cold-shouldered me and as a result I’ve written a few small bits commenting on how rude he can be, but today, I’m hoping, in a field far removed from the city, he’ll be more approachable.

He is. In fact he’s on form, peppering his reading with jibes aimed at Tony Blair.

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Amidst all the club and bar nights in the city that will be celebrating the run up to Pride, why not take time out and discover some LGBT musical heritage

As part of the Pride in Brighton and Hove celebrations Queerbaroque will play a concert of 17th and 18th century music by LGBT composers using period instruments.

The evening is entitled. ‘Amor, Dicea…Love Songs and Other Stories’, and the ensemble of professional and singers and musicians dedicated to the exploration of LGBT music between the 17th–18th century.

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