Pop Shots: Monday

It's double the celebration for mini Mark Owen this week - not only has the Take That cutie seen his band's single and album soar to the top of the charts, he's also just got engaged.

Bless...

"I can't believe it. I'm so lucky," he frothed of his forthcoming nuptials to his lady Emma Ferguson. "We plan to get married in the summer."

Wonder if as many people will turn out to see him tie the knot as they did to watch Take That's Audience With... show on ITV 1 on Saturday night - word has it a whopping 5.6m viewers tuned in.

Meanwhile one woman whose marriage has just come to an untimely end, Alesha Dixon, seems to be er, back in the driving seat again, after discovering her hubby MC Harvey and good mate Javine Hylton were more of a Solid Crew than she'd realised.

"I'm not going to waste any more time on Harvey and that Skoda he went with," she told the Daily Mirror over the weekend. Yikes.

Elsewhere, the big news is all about pants. Britney Spears's to be specific. After giving her parts a good airing last the week, the 'Oops I did It Again' (again and again) songstress, covered up her lady bits for her 25th birthday party.

Let's hope this is a sign of things to come and not just a favour to her NBF Paris Hilton who, according to the Daily Star, splashed out 4000 quid on knickers for Brit's bday prezzie.

Finally, fresh from her appearance at the VH1 Awards in the States last night (December 3), Ms Hilton has announced she will not, as reported, host tonight's Billboard Awards.

And could we be seeing a new philanthropic side to the heiress? Her spokesman Elliot Mintz said she pulled out after seeing the script which was written for her.

"It's my understanding that some satirical references ridiculed some of her peers (and) Paris did not want to say anything that could appear hurtful or embarrassing about people she knows," he said.

Our money's on jokes about Britney's bits - who said Paris was a bad influence on Spears?

SLJ