Cletus Spuckler arrested on suspicion of Barack Obama murder plot (I think I’ve got that right)

What would Brandine say?

The mugshot of Nathan Johnson, the man claimed by police to have divulged details of a plot to assassinate Barack Obama, leapt out at me this morning. Despite his more casual attire, he is instantly recognisable to fans of The Simpsons as Cletus Delroy Spuckler, Springfield’s resident moonshiner and enthusiast of racoon-based cuisine.

Brandine – his girlfriend, mother, sister and daughter – was not available for comment.

Tsar tsar Channel 4

Orthodox historians frequently spin out the yarn of how Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was killed – at 2.33am on July 17, 1918 – in a basement in Yekaterinburg. The precision of the timing makes it sound authoritative, but consider for a moment this alternative scenario: he escaped Russia with nothing more than the beard on his face, and renamed himself Andrew Veitch. Some 80 years later he went on to become a reporter for for Channel 4 News. Look at the pictures. Who are you going to believe?

Can you tell what it is yet?

It has been more than a year since Rolf Harris tied his metaphorical kangaroo down and unveiled his portrait of the Queen. The monarch, he said, appeared to enjoy the sittings, spending hours at a time completely motionless. It is my duty to reveal that Rolf, who turned up at Buckingham Palace that day without his glasses, did not actually paint the Queen at all, but a small porcelain model of Gnasher from The Beano. It’s obvious now I mention it, isn’t it?

Spot the difference

Warner Bros is preparing to bring out its first feature-length computer-generated animation in Britain under the title The Reef (poster pictured on the left). The film, which is known in the US as Shark Bait, is about an orange-coloured fish who loses his family, finds a companion, and is threatened by a heavy-browed great white shark. I can’t quite put my finger on where I’ve heard this before. Perhaps someone at Disney, which distributed Pixar’s Finding Nemo (pictured, right) in 2003, will be able to help.

Of course, Warner Bros would never want to confuse filmgoers into thinking that its new film has anything to do with Nemo, which made $700 million in cinemas worldwide. Any resemblance, as they are wont to say in Hollywood, is coincidental.