Dave Grohl

To some rock is all about the moody stare, the cool pose and the diva theatrics. To those I give you... Foo Fighters main man Dave Grohl. You just know that if you approach Dave in a airport, tell him he's great and ask for a photo that you're not going to be on the receiving end of a cocaine-fuelled rant- you're simply going to get the lovely Dave toothy smile, and there's a realistic chance of a friendly arm round your shoulder. In various musical collaborations Dave has worked with 70% of the world's musicians. Why do so many want to work with him? Is it his formidable drumming? His ability to write enjoyable, sometimes throwaway rock-pop? Nope. It's just cos they want to hang out with the Grohlster. They don't call "The Nicest Man in Rock" for no reason. They call him that because he is (a) a man (b) in rock (c) the nicest in the combined categories of (a) and (b). The core of his loveliness comes from his lack of arrogance or ego. Before I wrote this I looked on the web for any decent quotes from the man- essentially they all say the same thing "I'm a just a regular guy". Unfortunately this makes them desperately uninteresting to actually repeat here, but you get the idea.

The best Grohl story was from May 2006 one of two trapped miners in Tasmania had requested that an iPod containing a Foo Fighters album be lowered down a hole to them. Dave using his lovely super-powers sensed a fan in mortal danger and sent this message to the miners "Though I'm halfway around the world right now, my heart is with you both, and I want you to know that when you come home, there's two tickets to any Foos show, anywhere, and two cold beers waiting for yous. Deal?". One of the miners did indeed take up the offer and had a few brewskis with Dave (who had, naturally, written a song for them).

When the only person in the world with a bad word to say about you is Courtney Love, you know you've earned your place in the pantheon of loveliness. Right I'm off to get my myself trapped in a well and wait for Dave.

Nelson Mandela

Some of you may not believe this, but there's more to Nelson than simply being rhyming slang for the UK's best-selling lager. David Attenborough's lovely, as we have already discussed, but even Fred West would have been lovely if you gave him a job hanging out with animals all over the world for decades on end. Imprison someone for 27 years and then see how lovely they are. It hasn't made Charles Bronson* any lovelier has it? Even before he went to prison he put the 'lovely' into terrorism, making bombing campaigns designed to not cause human injuries.

Now look at him! He is professionally lovely, zipping round the globe blessing people with his sweet amiable smile, silvery hair and funny voice and then leaving little traces of loveliness where he's been.

Here's some quotes from the man himself (who incidentally celebrates his 167th birthday this year).
"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination" (this is clearly a reference to his lovely hair)
"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb." (the geezer loves a ramble)
"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." (although this quote is in English, as he doesn't like foreigners)
"In my country we go to prison first and then become President." (Nelson summarises South Africa's unorthodox but strangely succesful electoral process)
"Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all." (the wheat intolerant properly piss Nelson off)
"When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat." (when Nelson makes a brew, don't bring up energy efficiency. Or decline toast.)

*=note to Americans- not the dead movie actor, the idiotic, sadistic and kinda cuddly prisoner. With great moustache.

Cate Blanchett

Let's face it, we're jealous. We wish Cate was British don't we? So much so that we're prepared to let her play Queen Elizabeth and any number of English parts. When Zellweger does an English accent we marvel at how good it is. When Cate Blanchett does one, we just pretend she's not Australian and hope she'll eventually forget too. Has Cate Blanchett ever played a baddie? No, cos if she did she'd be Tilda Swinton, who just isn't in the same league of lovliness.

Even when she got all cross and evil as the Elf queen, mouthing about how 'terrible' she'd be if she had the ring, she made power-crazed sadistic evil sound rather inviting. Yes good idea, let's not bother with two films of Frodo making progressively silly faces, let's just let you have the ring,and we can gaze at you whilst you have your reign of terror.