Donny Tourette (born Patrick Brannon on 4 March 1981) is an English singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the punk rock band Towers of London. He first became famous after appearing in the 2007 edition of Celebrity Big Brother.

Celebrity Big Brother

Tourette was the eighth Celebrity Big Brother 2007 contestant to enter the UK Big Brother House on 3 January 2007. He swore at the crowd and made rude gestures, some crowd members chanted 'Who are ya?'. The host, Davina McCall, said that he "smelled like a brewery".

On his first night in the house, Tourette jumped into the Jacuzzi fully clothed. Later on, Jo O'Meara of S Club 7 pop fame, grabbed the double bed in the bedrooms, stated "I'm not sharing with Donny. I'd rather sleep on the floor. I can't sleep with a guy like that". Leo Sayer offered to swap with O'Meara, but after a while entered the diary room, saying "Donny's all right, but seeing him sprawled stark naked is not appealing". In the end Tourette had the bed to himself.

The house was later divided into "servant" and "master" quarters with Tourette as part of the servant section. Tourette scaled the garden wall to freedom after fewer than 48 hours in the house, stating "I'm not waiting hand on foot, on some fucking moron and her family", in reference to Jade Goody and her mother, as his reason for scaling the wall.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

On 7 February 2007, Tourette appeared as a contestant on pop quiz game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Series 20, Episode 2). During the show, Tourette was lampooned by several of the other panellists. At one point he lit a cigarette, to which the show's host Simon Amstell commented 'Wait a minute! Donny is smoking now! What's he going to do next. A cigarette?! Which you can legally buy in shops?! I'll try to carry on but I am shocked and appalled'. Tourette was continually mocked by Amstell and the nature of his 'Punk' credentials. The show concluded with Bill Bailey claiming that Donny was "about as punk as Enya".

Notes and references

1. " NME: TOWERS COURT DECISION", NME.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
2. " The Towers Of London @ The Oxford Zodiac", BBC, 2005-02-17. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
3. " Celebrity Big Brother: Latest news from the CBB house", The Sun Online. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
4. " Leo saves Jo from Donny's clutches", AOL Entertainment. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
5. " Donny is Gonny", Channel 4, 2007-01-06. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.