: Overheard ...

Before making his breakthrough as a stand-up comic, Bill Bailey spent quite some time busking on the streets of Europe.

Once, in Italy, he had endured particularly meagre reward for his vocal entertainment.

Then, a man approached and made towards the small amount of loose change that had been collected.

``Ah, wonderful,' I thought to myself, half expecting him to make a hefty donation,'' says Bill.

But he was in for a disappointment. ``Turned out he just wanted some coins for the phone!''

A ctress Una Stubbs admits that she can't bear to watch Summer Holiday, the 1962 film in which she stars with Cliff Richard.

``I hate watching myself in anything I've done, she says. ``And besides, I wore a particularly awful wig in that film.''

With her smart jackets and smooth tones, BBC newsreader and Crimewatch co-presenter Fiona Bruce is the epitome of professionalism and sophistication.

But she hasn't always looked and sounded so businesslike.

During her days as a student, she wore mini-skirts and fronted rock bands.

``I didn't consciously play up to my sex appeal but I liked to look attractive,'' says Fiona, now 37. ``I got asked out quite a lot.''

I s the writer of Paradise Heights a football anorak or just having a laugh? One of the characters in the BBC drama series is called Terry Hennessy - the name of a sporting legend around those parts.

The real Terry Hennessy was a Welsh international who played for Notts Forest in the 70s.

Is this a kind of tribute to the great man?

Back in the 80s, no Saturday night TV show was complete without Bobby Davro and his impressionist sidekick Jessica Martin. She was the Ronnie Ancona of the day.

In Radio 4's Woman's Hour play Stage Mother, Sequinned Daughter on July 29, Jessica plays tragic singer Alma Cogan.

Two faded stars for the price of one.

Michael Aspel, who once hosted the spooky TV series Strange...But True? has himself become the subject of some inexplicable experiences.

The This Is Your Life presenter has been bumping into old friends ever since he started touring the land with The Antiques Roadshow. Nothing remarkable in that, of course.

But his ability to be reunited with old pals has taken a new twist of late.

``Now,'' he tells me, ``I just have to think of someone from my past and lo and behold they turn up.

``It's been happening more and more,'' he says. ``It really makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you come face to face with someone you haven't seen for years but who you'd just been thinking of.''

Happily, his reunions have all been with the living ... so far.