Is the whole world turning Jewish? Here's Peaches Geldof (right) sporting a kippah at a pre-Yom Kippur meal with of-the-faith boyfriend, film director Eli Roth, in a picture posted on Twitter. (Or else she was indulging in a little papal emulation).

Another celebrity faster was actress and Kabbalah student Demi Moore who joined Jewish husband Ashton Kutcher in a day of abstinence before they ended their fast in Applebees Grill Bar.

And also getting in on the festive spirit, if you can call it that, was Boy George who tweeted that he had observed the fast even though not Jewish. It was " a starting point to get even more brutal with my current diet", he said. Although I doubt his chosen fast-breaker would find many takers in Hendon: cherry tomatoes – even if he did find them "orgasmic".