Holy Moly

Infobox Website
name = Holy Moly



caption =None
url =http://www.holymoly.co.uk
http://www.goalymoly.co.uk/
commercial =yes
type =Entertainment News website
language =English
registration =Optional
owner =Holy Moly Entertainment Ltd
author =various
launch date =2002
current status =Active
revenue =Unknown

"Holy Moly" originated as a well-known exclamation by the Captain Marvel Comic-Book characters created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker. Those characters (and the expression "Holy Moly") first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940) and Fawcett Comics (1939–1953); for details see Captain Marvel (DC Comics).

Holy Moly, often known as "HM", is an entertainment website and weekly email based in the UK, with similarities to Popbitch and B3ta. It publishes (often scathing) gossip items related to celebrities, notably Amy Winehouse, Kerry Katona, Tom Cruise and Paris Hilton. The website's scoops often appear shortly after publication in the gossip pages of British tabloids such as The Sun the Daily Mirror and the Daily Star. Due to the nature of the content Holy Moly has occasionally been threatened with legal action, for example from ex-Eastenders actor Chris Parker [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jul/25/newmedia.broadcasting Holy Moly pays damages to former EastEnder | Media | MediaGuardian ] ] .

The MediaGuardian website claims that the gossip is "supplied by an army of around 100 industry insiders". [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jul/18/mediatop100200588 99. Holy Moly | Media | MediaGuardian ] ] In November 2007, Sky News' James Silver interviewed Mr. Holy Moly [ [http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-1292541,00.html Holy Moly! Celebrity Website Boss 'Exposed' |Sky News|Business ] ] - the interview revealed that he had started the website on a secret laptop whilst working at Sky News. Recently, he has appeared frequently on BBC Radio Five Live's Richard Bacon show as the presenter's friend and has maintained his personal anonymity, albeit revealing a distinctly Derbyshire accent. February 2008, he appeared on Channel 4's chat show The Richard & Judy Show, attacking photos of celebrities [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/holy-moly-even-a-celebrity-website-takes-pity-on-britney-781522.html Even a celebrity website takes pity on Britney] ] like Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse and Heather Mills-McCartney and declaring that these paparazzi are damaging the business [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/12/digitalmedia.pressandpublishing?gusrc=rss&feed=media Holy Moly vows not to use paparazzi pics of celebs in distress] ] .

Other sections

As well as the main section, there are other sections of the website, including:
*The Corner [ [http://www.holymoly.co.uk/g/corner/ The Corner] ] (previously known as "Cunt's Corner") - users complain with a short comment about anything which they dislike or annoyed by. Originally just for celebrities (example: "Gordon Ramsey - for having a head like a cauliflower") but now features more varied entries such as "Perfume adverts on TV","Heat magazine";"It was offically merked of on youtube by bodrochowski".
*The Heroes [ [http://www.holymoly.co.uk/g/sacred-cow/ The Heroes] ] , previously "Sacred Cows" - added more recently; opposite to the Corner in that users talk positive, again about celebrities and other things.
*Rules of Modern Life [ [http://www.holymoly.co.uk/g/rules-of-modern-life/ The Rules] ] - users contribute non-serious "rules" which tend to be statements or irreverent advice to groups of people. For example: "Nobody in London listens to Radio 1" and "Right now there is a bloke in Essex on the phone to his supplier in China trying to cancel his order of 10,000 st George flags for cars" (sic). The latter is a reference to the England football team failing to qualify for Euro 2008.
*HM Approved [ [http://www.holymoly.co.uk/hm-approved/hm-approved/ HM Approved] ] - launched to display a "nice" side to Holy Moly, HM Approved is a collection of products, films, songs etc that Holy Moly thinks is users will like (example: Guinness Marmite, Lost, Lupe Fiasco).
*Back On The Druggs Agaone! [ [http://www.holymoly.co.uk/news/cat/43/pete.html Back On The Druggs Agaone!] ] - A parody of the Molesworth books written from the perspective of Pete Doherty.
*HM.TV [ [http://www.holymoly.co.uk/news/cat/44/video.html HolyMoly-TV] ] - An Internet TV Channel encompassing all off the video-content created by HolyMoly, mainly irreverent interviews conducted by Matt Edmondson.

Goaly Moly

This is a spin-off website [ [http://www.goalymoly.co.uk/ Goaly Moly! - HOME ] ] from the same team, focusing on football. This has similar features to the main site, namely Kuntz Korner, Rules of Sporting Life and Sacred Cows. It is currently dormant but is said to be relaunching later on in 2008.

References