Despite appearing practically petrified when approached by the Press, Bryan Adams must be a friendly fellow because his celebrity friends turned out en masse to support the opening of his new exhibition.

All of Bryan's photographs feature celebrity ambassadors of the Hear The World initiative, cupping their hands behind their ears to highlight the problems faced by more than 16% of the world's population with hearing loss.

The initiative was developed by Phonak, which manufactures hearing systems - and you'd need one to hear anything poor Bryan had to say on the matter because he was almost dumbstruck when asked to comment, telling me his "head was all over the place" being the centre of attention and he wanted to look after his mother, who had accompanied him to the launch party and is currently living with Bryan in London, which is now his home.

Fortunately, Bryan's celebrity fans were more than happy to make up for the musician-turned-photographer's chronic shyness. A bronzed Gareth Gates, who claims Bryan as a good friend, has just come back from holiday in Spain with his 14-week-old daughter and is looking forward to starring in Les Miserables in London's West End. Talking of his decision to put his recording career on hold, he said: "It was my decision not to record another album - yet. The industry's in a really funny place at the moment and the last thing I want to do is record an album that, because of the market, is not accepted. But I'm really happy now, in musical theatre.'

Fresh from her role as Ken Barlow's maybe-mistress, Martha, in Coronation Street, Stephanie Beacham appeared wearing her own Phonak hearing system - she told us she's 40 per cent deaf. Stephanie is appearing in a new BBC/NBC show called Fashion in the autumn, playing "a bitch as always. But I played a nice woman in Coronation Street and look what happened to her - she got nothing!" 

Stephanie reckons the secret to her success is "because I'm not chasing after younger roles. I'm not trying to look 40 or think 40; I'd rather be a fabulous 60-year-old". But she's peeved at the loss of Arlene Philips on Strictly Come Dancing, on which Stephanie appeared two years ago. "As a middle-aged woman - or whatever I am - I've got to say I disapprove," she said.

Martine McCutcheon sighed and coo-ed about her love life - "I'm very in love, very happy, very content," with musician boyfriend of the past two years Jack McManus, she said - before explaining that her next project is a novel about mistresses, based on three of her friends.

And chatting to Gail Porter on the way out, she told me she was out on the pull, looking for a "wee snog". Let's hope someone was listening...

The Hear The World exhibition is at the London Saatchi Gallery from July 22-26; visit www.hear-the-world.com/exhibition for information.