Interviewed for Magic's Sunday night show Indulgence, Michael talked about the hardships he had faced trying to make it to the top, joking that he had had to sleep with radio station managers to get playlisted.
Neil then volunteered: "Andria is quite good", while Michael charmingly agreed: "Oh yes, she is beautiful - that would be a big bonus." Who said chivalry was dead?
Also on beauty, John Lewis is following in the footsteps of skincare brand Dove by initiating a debate on body image and sizing. Next month, Susan Ringwood, of eating disorders association Beat, will address all John Lewis staff involved in the creation of fashion images on "the issues relating to marketing and fashion imagery in relation to vulnerable audiences". MG OMD, as John Lewis' media agency, take note.
But the ugly face of media this week is the spat between London freesheets London Lite and thelondonpaper. London Lite is accusing thelondonpaper of dumping free copies, but a glance at the evidence shows at least some of the surplus copies of thelondonpaper are being recycled - at least it's a bit green.
GN&M'S BIG SPENDERS ARE SUCH A BUBBLY LOT
Bitch has heard of champagne socialism, but this is ridiculous - apparently the Guardian News and Media total audience accounted for 20% of all champagne drunk in the UK over the past 12 months.
According to its research division Total Audience, "our audiences are disproportionately heavy spenders across a range of categories, demonstrating the value we offer in terms of reaching a mass audience of upmarket consumers".
More than 30 million bottles of champagne were consumed in the UK in 2006, meaning that GN&M's upmarket consumers put away approximately six million bottles. But who is swigging down the remaining 24 million bottles?
Bitch is sure that the readers of City AM, the FT's How to Spend It magazine and the Wall Street Journal's Style supplement are keeping their end up. Cheers!
MEDIACOM WELCOMES A VERY SPECIAL GEST
MediaCom had an intriguing visitor to its offices the other day - none other than David Gest, in town to promote his new ITV project, Grease is the Word, and his forthcoming celeb-littered autobiography, This is David Gest.
Gest, former spouse of Liza Minelli who recently resurrected his career on I'm A Celebrity..., happily regaled MediaCom staff with tales from his colourful past. Talking about his childhood, his marriage to Liza and his encounter with a 200lb woman who swore she was Whitney Houston's doppelganger, Mr Gest - David to his new media friends - proved to be "a thoroughly entertaining character".
A MediaCom mole said: "David proved that he is far from a demanding, high-maintenance diva - although he did admit that it was a role he enjoys playing up to, particularly when there are cameras present."
OXFORD STREET SITE IS SNAPPED UP FOR A TENOR
When Einar Bardarson, chief executive of Believer Records and Iceland's answer to Simon Cowell, saw BlowUP's glamorous new giant poster site at the eastern end of Oxford Street, he thought it was too good an opportunity to ignore.
Getting straight on the blower to BlowUP, Bardarson snapped up the prime outdoor site - located directly opposite Virgin Records - to promote his new release from tenor Cortes, twice voted Iceland's sexiest man.
With the Cortes CD now standing at number one in the classical music charts, Bardarson is looking to use the site again to promote his photogenic Icelandic girl group Nylon.
Bitch is sure that media males will be watching that space.
TIME BANDIT - RICHARD BLACKBURN, UK REGIONAL DIRECTOR, KINETIC
25% Responding to e-mails. I abuse the media professional's drug of preference, Crackberry. No time or place is sacred, even late at night. Sad. 20% On the phone. It's the next best thing to speaking to a face. I talk with comms planners, media owners and colleagues in other offices. 20% Answering questions, asking questions. Challenging briefs, challenging media owners. 15% Trains. I spend a disproportionate amount of my life on them. A daily commute into London from Wiltshire and regular trips up North. 10% Meetings. Kinetic is a very external-facing agency so internal meetings are minimal. Most of my meetings are with comms planners and media owners. 5% Talking to colleagues. Chatting about "stuff" is the best way to know what's going on and to get to know people. 3% Sport. I'm currently languishing at 9th in the Kinetic fantasy cricket league. Excuses. To tell my lovely wife why I'm going to be late home again smelling like a pub (roll on the smoking ban). 2% Surfing the net for good restaurants. Kinetic's fabulous offices are based in the culinary tundra of Paddington. This seems to happen at least three nights a week, so she's heard it all before. I've invariably accepted a media owner's offer of a post-work 'catch up'. N.B. The fallback "I had no choice" never works.