Tim and an Amazing Technicolor censor

OSCAR-WINNING lyricist Sir Tim Rice has received an apology after the word ‘Israel’ was dropped from a production of the musical he wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The phrase ‘Children of Israel’ was changed to ‘Children of Kindness’ at Wellington’s annual children’s festival, Artsplash, in New Zealand. Coordinator Mary Prichard said the change was made to ‘ keep life simple’. After complaints about the alterations, organisers decided to remove the song entirely, rather than swap them back.

Wellington City Council said sorry to Sir Tim, who described the change as ‘a terribly drippy and meaningless alteration’.

BEST- SELLING crime author Ian Rankin is planning to ‘name and shame’ the publishers who rejected his first Inspector Rebus novel.

The Scot, 57, who has sold 30 million books about the Edinburgh detective, will be exhibiting the rejection letters at the city’s Writers’ Museum later this month.

He observes wryly: ‘If it wasn’t for publisher Number Six, I’d probably still be writing for a South London hi-fi mag and struggling to make ends meet.’