#1-
John Barrowman got a new dog.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article859339.ece
Aside from being the cutest thing ever, this is apparently Newsworthy in the UK. OK, I realize some people don't actually consider the Sun to be news per se, but it is, in fact a Newspaper. There were also stories in some of the Welsh papers the day before.
To me this shows what an incredibly big star John is in the UK and how ubiquitous as well, especially when he's in full-blown media-whore mode as he is right now for the book.
It also led to my wondering how a Jack Russell, which is generally a hyper breed would get along with the spaniels already living in the Barrowman-Gill household, as spaniels strike me as pretty laid back.
michellem68 made the point that John is rather like a Jack Russell where as Scott might be more the spaniel in the family, and they'll find a way to work it out. #2-
I got a call from a rep at one of the hotels my firm uses London, arranging for him to visit my office on his sales trip to the US next month. We did a confirming email in which I asked him, off-handedly if he was a Torchwood fan, to which I imagined the answer would be either, "Yes, I like the show," or "Wouldn't be caught dead watching that rubbish." (Obviously I would have liked to see "ZOMG!!! You like Torchwood, that's so cool. Come to London and have a free hotel room," although I wasn't really expecting it.)
Instead I got this: To be honest - you just made me Google it and I must admit I haven't heard of that series before. Will definitively look out for it, when it comes out in the UK.
Not only does he not watch the show, he's never heard of it and thought it was American.
Is that even possible?
When I explained the whole thing about the Dr. Who spin-off and how it's on BBC1 on Wednesdays, he said: oops - I guess I don't watch too much TV. I actually quite like Damages, which is a US show.
(So much for getting any UK mags with John on the cover from this guy.)
Has living in the part of LJ-land where Barrow-mania is a common malady given me a completely skewed idea of the popularity of the show or at least the extent to which it's part of the Zeitgiest in the UK, along with John's other appearances on the Maria/Joseph stuff and various talk shows?
I really kind of thought it was "water-cooler" talk stuff, where everybody KNOWS about it, even if they don't actually watch. Am I completely wrong about this?
UK-ers, enlighten me.