Sporting Miscellanies

If Graham Taylor's recent nomination as a gay icon for an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (albeit by long-time Watford buddy Sir Elton John) caused some perfectly sculpted eyebrows to arch in Old Compton Street, at least it confirmed sport's curious habit of throwing up unlikely cult followings. Only 12 months ago Andy Murray topped a poll for a male dating website due to his "vulnerability" - and not on his second serve - while Rio Ferdinand's use of the word "faggot" on Radio One a few years back hasn't stopped him attracting admirers among Manchester's pink community, particularly after he was snapped on holiday wearing denim hot pants and a crop top. Most bizarre of all, though, has to be the pin-up of choice for Sydney's gay village - former Australia fast bowler Merv Hughes. Must be the Village People moustache that does it.

Come on Pete, surely that's snot possible?

Any Wimbledon committee men still choking on their G&Ts at the memory of Pete Sampras's late arrival in the Royal Box for the epic men's final should rest assured that the American's bad manners are not simply reserved for the All England Club. We are informed that Pistol Pete's oafish etiquette at the dinner table is notorious on the tennis circuit, with one mole revealing that the former world No1 once blew his nose on a table cloth at a fancy London restaurant. Surely that's a code violation?

Poulter told there will be no pics at the flicks

Ian Poulter's devotion to giving his fans a window into his Pringle-sweatered world via Twitter has generally been deemed a triumph, if his 243,000 followers are anything to go by. But his determination to share has brought problems, not least when his recent decision to snap a few screen shots of film comedy The Hangover' from his cinema seat and post them on his site forced ushers to warn him that he had breached copyright and any future indiscretions would result in ejection. The good people of the Odeon in Ayr — just a stone's throw from this week's Open Championship in Turnberry — have been duly warned.

King of spin Warne is hardly an ace at Poker

It wasn't just Australia's current crop of cricketers who were mourning a near miss last weekend. Shane Warne, competing in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, went out at the third round after his attempt to "flop a flush" (no, us neither) backfired. An early exit denied him a shot at the $10m first prize but at least it means Sky Sports subscribers can look forward to some peroxide-infused banter in the commentary box at Lord's on Thursday.