Ephraim Hardcastle
HAVING spent his entire working life at the BBC, how will Alan Yentob mark his 70th birthday on March 11? My source says: ‘Very discreetly, I’d say,’ adding: ‘Alan is still powerful, presenting the Imagine arts show and chairman of BBC Films, but he’s worried about people knowing he’s entering his eighth decade.’ Yentob, who is known in-house as Noddy for including shots of himself nodding when interviewing celebrities, has kept his head down since the controversial charity of which he was chairman, Kids Company, collapsed in 2015.
WITH President Donald Trump’s forthcoming visit in the news, here’s ex-royal butler Paul Burrell describing President Ronald Reagan’s visit in June, 1982, in a forthcoming Channel 5 documentary: ‘The Queen said to me, “He is coming for four days and look at them, look at all those cars outside!” As we peeked out of the Oak Room window [in Windsor] she said, “They have come to check out my castle to make sure it’s safe for the President. Can you believe the cheek!? It’s safe enough for me, why isn’t it safe enough for him?” ’ Let’s hope that Trump’s goons are more discreet.
DAME Joan Collins, 83, complains that it’s ‘subservient’ of her daughter Tara, 53, to take the surname of her second husband, publisher Nick Arkle, pointing out she’s always remained a Collins, despite five husbands, four of whom she calls ‘convincing liars.’ Would it kill Joan to take the name of her final, favourite spouse, well-liked Percy Gibson, 51, both pictured?
JEREMY Corbyn paid graceful tribute in the Commons to late Labour politician Sir Gerald Kaufman, calling him an iconic figure and a champion for peace. Sir Gerald, who died on Sunday aged 86, was less enthusiastic about Corbyn. Labour peer Lord Hattersley, 84, a friend, says that Sir Gerald no longer thought about Labour’s future, only its past, adding that to Kaufman, ‘the future was unthinkable’.
PRESIDENT Trump’s private club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, briefly added the number 45 to its official tennis shirts, which cost $85 (£68). Then they thought better of it, removing them from their shelves. Trump – America’s 45th president, hence the new logo – is concerned about being seen to be profiting from the presidency. He has been criticised for celebrating New Year’s Eve with a Mar-a-Lago dinner costing $500 (£406) a ticket – and, for doubling the club’s $100,000 (£80,000) membership fee.
SOME Labour MPs have taken against Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, who was ennobled by Jeremy Corbyn after holding an inquiry which conveniently cleared his party of anti-Semitism. She missed a meeting with Labour MPs this week, preferring to have Westminster drinks with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott in the nearby Pugin Room. Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP Neil Coyle says: ‘There’s a degree of frustration because she’s not elected and she speaks like someone who is elected.’ He’s right, isn’t he?