Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo consisting of Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly from Newcastle upon Tyne. After meeting as child actors on CBBC's drama Byker Grove, they performed together as pop musicians PJ & Duncan, the names of their characters from the series.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts. It was recorded in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in November 1984.
PJ & Duncan, who were later rebranded as Ant & Dec, began their musical career in 1993 with the release of the single "Tonight I'm Free". This was followed in 1994 by their successful debut album Psyche, which included the single "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble". Their second album Top Katz (1995) was less commercially successful than Psyche although all its singles reached the UK Top 20. PJ & Duncan were rebranded as Ant & Dec after they first started moving into TV in 1996, resulting in 1997's The Cult of Ant & Dec, their final album, which reached 15 in the UK charts. Their label, Telstar Records, decided not to renew their recording contract in 1997, and their career in music ended there. They reunited for live performances in 2000 and 2013 and for a single, "We're on the Ball", in 2002.
"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is a rock song written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker and first recorded by the Arrows, a British rock band, in 1975. A 1981 cover version by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, released as the first single from her album of the same name, became Jett's highest-charting hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the No. 3 song for 1982. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing two million units shipped to stores. Jett's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016.
"Let's Get Ready to Rhumble" is a 1994 song by PJ & Duncan AKA, the performing name used by British duo Ant & Dec at the time. The song was released in the United Kingdom on 11 July 1994 as the third single from their debut studio album Psyche. The song was written by Nicky Graham, Deni Lew and Mike Olton, and produced by Nicky Graham. It peaked at number 9 in the UK Singles Chart in 1994, and was later #1 almost two decades after its original chart appearance. The song includes a repeatedly-used sample of boxing and wrestling announcer Michael Buffer saying his trademark catchphrase. “Rumble” was deliberately spelled as "rhumble" to avoid copyright problems, since Buffer had trademarked the phrase, and the chosen additional “h” was a homage to the rhumba dance.
RuPaul's Drag Race UK is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. The show is the fourth installment of the Drag Race franchise, and the second fronted by RuPaul. The show documents RuPaul and a panel of judges' search for "the United Kingdom's next drag superstar", the first series title dubbed "UK's First Drag Superstar". RuPaul plays several roles on the show including host, mentor and head judge for the series, as the contestants are given different challenges to participate in each week. The show also employs a panel of judges: RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Alan Carr, and Graham Norton.
Mark Ian Hoyle, known professionally as LadBaby, is an English YouTuber, musician, and blogger. His content focuses on his experiences as a father and is usually filmed in collaboration with his wife, Roxanne. The couple garnered the Christmas Number One on the UK Singles Chart for five years from 2018 to 2022, the most consecutive and overall for any artist, with the sausage roll-themed novelty songs "We Built This City", "I Love Sausage Rolls", "Don't Stop Me Eatin'", "Sausage Rolls for Everyone" and "Food Aid". This made them the first musical act in British history to secure five Christmas No. 1 hits, surpassing the record set by the Beatles, who had four Christmas No. 1 songs in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967.
James Lee Williams, known professionally as The Vivienne, was a Welsh drag queen known for winning the first series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK in 2019. They later competed in the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars in 2022 and became the first drag performer to compete on Dancing on Ice, placing third in the fifteenth series in 2023. In 2015, before the release of Drag Race UK, they were the UK drag ambassador for the American series RuPaul's Drag Race.
The first series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK began airing on 3 October 2019 on the BBC Three section of BBC iPlayer and WOW Presents Plus's WOW Presents Plus streaming service. It ran for eight episodes.
The Frock Destroyers are a musical group with RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestants Baga Chipz, Blu Hydrangea, and Divina de Campo. They made the UK Top 40 in 2019 with "Break Up Bye Bye", which charted at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. There was a campaign to have the Frock Destroyers represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The group's name is a pun on the pornographic double act, the Cock Destroyers.
Lawrence Chaney is a Scottish Glasgow-based drag queen. They are best known for winning the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, becoming the first Scottish drag queen and the second Plus Size contestant to win across the franchise. Their role on the series later earned them the 2021 BAFTA Scotland Audience Award. As part of their Drag Race victory, Chaney was awarded their own online television series, later titled Tartan Around, which premiered in 2022.
"UK Hun?" is a song recorded by British drag girl group United Kingdolls for The RuRuvision Song Contest challenge during their stint on the second series of reality television competition, RuPaul's Drag Race UK. The episode has contestants participate in a Eurovision-style performance. The song was released on February 11, 2021. It was primarily written by Leland, with Lawrence Chaney, Bimini Bon-Boulash, A'Whora and Tayce writing the lyrics for their individual verses.
"The RuRuvision Song Contest" is the fifth episode of the second series of the UK version of the American reality competition television series RuPaul's Drag Race, which aired on BBC Three, on 11 February 2021. This is the first episode filmed after the production of RuPaul's Drag Race UK was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seven months after the previous episode. Veronica Green was forced to withdraw from the competition due to testing positive for COVID-19. As a result, the first three contestants eliminated, Joe Black, Cherry Valentine and Asttina Mandella, were brought back and the remaining contestants voted on whom they wanted to return to the competition. Joe Black was voted to return to the competition. Ginny Lemon was not included due to having eliminated themself from the competition.
Luke Fenn, professionally known as Krystal Versace, is an English drag queen best known for winning the third series of the reality show RuPaul's Drag Race UK. Crowned at the age of 19, Krystal is the youngest ever Drag Race winner. She is from Tunbridge Wells in Kent and has Greek Cypriot heritage via her maternal grandmother, being the first descendant of Cypriots to compete in the franchise.
Victoria Scone is the stage name of Emily Diapre, a British drag queen and cabaret performer based in Cardiff, Wales. She is best known for competing on the third series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK in 2021, where she was the first cisgender female contestant on any series of the Drag Race franchise. She returned to compete in the first season of Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World in 2022.
"Sausage Rolls for Everyone" is a song by British blogger couple LadBaby, featuring vocals from British musicians Ed Sheeran and Elton John. It was released through Frtyfve as a single on 17 December 2021. "Sausage Rolls for Everyone" is a remix and comedy version of Sheeran and John's single "Merry Christmas", which was released exactly two weeks earlier. It has a sausage roll theme as a charity single with the proceeds going to The Trussell Trust.
