Everybody say: "Uh, oh!"
Teletubbies icon Tinky Winky has become the co-proprietor of a London café - or rather, the man inside the padded purple suit has. Choreographer and dancer Simon Shelton has now swapped his costume for an apron at the open-air café at Avenue House in Finchley.
Friend Lacey Bond, a former member of girl band Toto Coelo, who had a 1982 hit with the rather inappropriate song I Eat Cannibals, is his partner in the venture.
Keen-eyed customers may recognise Shelton as the leading dancer in some prominent pop videos, including those for Wild Boys by Duran Duran, and Chain Reaction by Diana Ross.
Someone to watch over me - a little too closely
A night porter won a case for unfair dismissal last week after suffering constant Big Brother-style surveillance at work. Jane Simpson, owner of the Gibbon Bridge hotel in Preston, had taken to watching porter John Parker from her home through 12 CCTV cameras set up around the building.
If this wasn't creepy enough, the tribunal heard that, if Parker disappeared from view, Simpson would fly into a rage and phone as often as six times a night.
Parker decided that enough was enough when Simpson turned up at the hotel in the middle of the night.
However, despite finding in his favour, the tribunal awarded Parker just £332 because "he contributed to his dismissal by storming out".
This time, you've really had your chips
A warning to chefs trying to be too outré reaches us from the Derbyshire village of Hathersage.
A menu at the George Hotel offered a wide range of vegetables and carbohydrate, but no potatoes. One customer was so annoyed that he took the hotel to the Small Claims Court, arguing that the absence of potatoes amounted to a breach of contract.
While the court rejected his claim, because the hotel had not advertised that potatoes were on offer, the hotel has now put them back on the menu.
High tea, high decibels
Taking tea at London's Christopher's Bar and Grill at Victoria last week was a unique experience.
The restaurant, despite being open to punters, had decided to carry out noisy maintenance work before the evening rush. Gantries were wheeled around to clean chandeliers and a machine polished the floors. All of which meant conversation was a tad troublesome.
A complaint to a waitress, however, only made the afternoon more surreal. "Yes," she said, "it's crap. You're not the first to complain. But the manager won't listen to us."
But she then refused to bring said manager over. Hmmm...
Not to be roused when aroused
Law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner pulled off a cunning PR stunt at the International Hotel Investment Forum, held this month at the InterContinental Hotel in Berlin. The lawyers distributed fake "do not disturb" signs for delegates to hang on their bedroom doors.
Their checklist of reasons for not wishing to be roused read: "I am sleeping; I am on the phone to my lawyer; I am plotting my next hotel acquisition; I am watching the pay-TV channel; I am drinking my way through the minibar; I am stealing the towels; I am seeing more of another delegate."
No doubt it came in useful.