CABARET - MINNELLI'S A SMOKING DIVA

CABARET legend LIZA MINNELLI's once insisted on smoking in her dressing room before a TV interview - and had to be shadowed by firefighters in case she started a blaze.

The singer's antics were revealed on a tour of the BBC's TELEVISION CENTRE in London, where anecdotes about a series of stars were passed on to members of the public.

A source says, "Apparently Liza Minnelli insisted on smoking, so she had to agree to be shadowed at all times by a fire warden carrying a bucket of sand."

And the wife of svengali DAVID GEST wasn't the only celebrity whose diva-like antics formed part of the tour.

The source adds, "When MADONNA came here during her LIKE A PRAYER phase, she demanded to be given a full-size effigy of the POPE."