Ephraim Hardcastle

THOUGHT for the Day has been a fixture on BBC Radio 4’s Today show since 1970. Even Pope Benedict XVI has contributed to the daily two minute, 45 second faith slot. Now presenter John Humphrys, 73, wants incoming editor Sarah Sands to ditch it. He tells the Oldie magazine: ‘This morning, we had a Thought for the Day that was a feminist diatribe. I suspect an awful lot of people turn over.’ SNIGGER at French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron’s ‘granny’ wife Brigitte Trogneux, 64, at your peril. For the key moment that prompted Macron, 25 years younger than Brigitte, to break with mentor Francois Hollande was when his beloved grandmother died. Macron took the morning off work as economics minister for the funeral and, despite knowing full well why he’d been absent, Hollande rather coldly remarked later that day upon Macron’s absence. Macron was furious and hurt. My Elysee Palace mole says: ‘Hollande knew Macron’s granny was his biggest influence, bar Brigitte. That was the day he decided to go it alone.’ THE Duchess of Cambridge thought her new status as patron of the All England lawn Tennis Club would give her the perfect excuse to spend more time at Wimbledon this summer. But pesky politicians have queered the court. Not only is Kate in Germany and Poland flying the Brexit flag during the championships – she is pictured at Wimbledon last year – but the revised dates of the Spanish state visit fall during Wimbledon’s second week. Fortunately, King Felipe and Queen letizia fly home on the eve of finals’ weekend so tennis fan Kate can cheer Andy Murray (hopefully). GEOFFREY Rush and Johnny Flynn, who play the older and younger Albert Einstein in TV series Genius, took part in a pub quiz during filming. Recalls Lovesick star Flynn, 34: ‘We thought, “Do we tell them we’re playing Einstein? It’s just as well we kept it under our hats – we came fifth.”’ STRIKING former Conservative MP and TV presenter Esther McVey, 49, who is shortlisted for George Osborne’s now vacant seat of Tatton in Cheshire, has long boasted many admirers in the Tory ranks. Among the most lovestruck was former culture minister Ed Vaizey, 48. Esther claimed that Vaizey – who later married wife Alex in 2005 – proposed to her ‘every two weeks’ without success. McVey, who lost her Wirral West seat in 2015, adds that she has never had children because ‘no one ever wound up her biological clock’. Not for want of trying! PERKY broadcaster and former Tory MP Gyles Brandreth, 69, recalls how he told BBC2’s Newsnight of his devotion to his local constituency football club Chester City. ‘“Oh, let’s go to the football club!” I said. Then I realised I didn’t know where the football ground was. I had the Newsnight team following me as I went down one street after another, pathetically looking for my own football club, having boasted how well I supported the team.’