5 minute read

Hearsay & 20 Questions

I love Keith Urban. I’ve always thought that he was one of the most talented and cutest guys in the world – I’m not trying to hit on him, cos he’s got Nicole [Kidman] and who could beat that, she’s Jolene.

Country superstar Dolly Parton on why she’d like to bake a cake (no, not a euphemism) for Keith Urban.

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GOOD MORNING AMERICA I US

“As I’ve said to a lot of the guys I’ve been talking to over the last couple of days, just how much I love him. I didn’t say that, but I wish I did.” Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting on what he would say to his good mate and champion spin bowler legend Shane Warne, who died this month, aged 52.

FOX SPORTS I AU

“It’s getting dark. You’re getting desperate, there’s nowhere to go. We hear a motor coming up the road. There’s two blokes in this little tinnie. They went from house to house. They were picking up and taking people to safety.” Murwillumbah man Brett Bugg relied on the bravery of strangers to save his family when their home was flooded: “We were all waiting for choppers. Where was the army?”

“The Baby Boomers were the first parents who wanted to be cool, and who wanted their children to be cool as well.” Pamela Redmon, author of Beyond Jennifer & Jason, on the global surge of uncommon baby names, even in more traditional societies, as parents are increasingly determined to make their kids’ names “unique”.

BBC I UK

“I’ve only just started having flat whites; I usually have a cappuccino, but I feel like a flat white has that extra kick up the bum. It makes you feel like a grown-up.” Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer espressos herself.

PORTER I US

“Listen, if we were growing up in the Bronx right now, and one of my kids came to me and said, ‘This is what I want to do’, I’d be like, ‘Okaaaay’. You’d just think to yourself, Oh, really? How are you going to pull that off? You’re going to call a rich Hollywood producer and they’re going to put you in a movie? You’re going to get discovered? Like, get real.” Jennifer Lopez on how she’s had to fight every step of the way, from the Bronx to the Hollywood A-list.

ROLLING STONE I US

“Garage doors are a nightmare. Garage doors are the worst right now.” Rick Palacios Jnr, from John Burns Real Estate Consulting, on the great supply-chain shortage that’s holding up home building in the US.

THE NEW YORK TIMES I US

“Sinking into this nice, warm bath, versus being lit in flames, is easier to wrap your head around.” Caitlyn Hauke, president of the Green Burial Council International, on the new eco-friendly funeral trend of aquamation, or alkaline hydrolysis, in which a body is soaked in a solution that dissolves practically everything but the bones.

TIME I US

“My sister was much better than me. I was not very good growing up. And so, everyone was focused on Venus… That was devastating for me...but helpful. Because if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have had the career that I have because I felt like I just had to prove and just had to win.” Tennis ace Serena Williams on channelling sibling rivalry into 23 grand slam wins.

CNN I US

“Cultivating mindfulness can distract people from their own transgressions and interpersonal obligations, occasionally relaxing one’s moral compass.” Andrew Hafenbrack, from the

EAR2GROUND University of “Time to get off the hamster wheel of life.” Washington, on findings that while living in the moment might Overheard by Loz at a yoga be good for stress studio in Heidelberg, Vic. levels, it can also increase people’s selfish tendencies, proving it’s a downward dog eat dog kinda world.

BBC I UK

“It’s very hard to have your husband stay home. You have to choose. Save the kids or stay with him.” Ukrainian Nelya Tkachenko, who fled to Poland with her children while her husband remains in Kyiv. “Half my heart I left behind, half I brought with me.”

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC I US

“In the 1970s, what used to be a once-in-a-100-year event happened once in 100 years, but what we are seeing when climate hazards are amplified...is that a one-in-a-100year event might be happening once in 10 years going forward.” Nicholas Simpson, of the African Climate and Development Initiative, on the surge of extreme weather events due to climate change.

CNN I US

“From the first time Nirvana came down, since then it’s always been this magical refuge, a place we’ve always looked forward to coming. We’ve never had a bad tour – we haven’t really had bad tours anywhere.” Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on never putting a foo wrong on tour in Australia, or elsewhere.

THE AGE I AU

“Overall, dogs were reported to play and eat less, sleep more and seek more for owners’ attention.” Dr Federica Pirrone of the University of Milan, on findings that dogs experience a form of mourning when another household pet dies. Some other animals that experience grief include great apes, dolphins, elephants and birds.

THE GUARDIAN I AU

by Rachael Wallace

01 Who was the first Australian to appear on the cover of Time? 02 In which Scottish city did the Tay

Bridge collapse in 1879? 03 Which flowering plant is the plumeria better known as? 04 Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee share what unusual cricketing statistic? 05 What is the prize for winning the annual Wife-Carrying World

Championships in Finland: a) €100,000, b) A new car, c) The wife’s weight in beer or d) A trophy? 06 True or false? Adult cats only meow at humans and not other cats. 07 In 2017, who did Jodie Whittaker replace to become the first female

Doctor Who? 08 On which day did entertainers

Eartha Kitt, George Michael and

Dean Martin all die? 09 What was the Macquarie Dictionary

Word of the Year for 2021? 10 In 1961, the Museum of Modern Art in New York hung which artwork by whom upside down for 47 days before anyone noticed? 11 How many one-eyed Jacks are there in a deck of cards? 12 What does LPG stand for? 13 Two married couples have been nominated for acting Academy

Awards this year. Who are they? 14 How many segments does an orange usually have? 15 Mary Phelps Jacobs is famous for inventing what garment? 16 What was the name of Andy

Warhol’s New York studio? 17 In rhyming slang, if you “had a

David Gower”, what were you doing? 18 “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen” is the opening line from which famous novel? 19 Where is the easternmost point of mainland Australia? 20 Who was the original narrator in

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends?