Ephraim Hardcastle
AS the gold medalwinning skeleton racer Lizzy Yarnold, 29, returns home from the Winter Olympics with Team GB and its record haul of five medals, there has been a deafening silence from the Royal Family. Not a single congratulatory tweet has been dispatched. This is in contrast to the summer Games in Brazil two years ago when a profusion of royal tweets praised medal winners. And it compares unfavourably with foreign royals: Dutch king WillemAlexander plans a day of celebrations for medalists, Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria is officially meeting Olympians and Belgium’s King Philippe tweets ‘wonderful result’ after the country’s first medal since 1998.
BBC Breakfast presenter Steph McGovern’s bleat about being paid less because she isn’t posh preceded a display of apparent pro-Jeremy Corbyn bias last week. Steph chaired his address to the Engineering Employers’ Federation conference and when the Labour leader appeared thrown by a question from Channel 4’s Siobhan Kennedy, who responded: ‘Does that mean I can’t ask a question?’, McGovern, 35, snapped: ‘I’m afraid not, sorry.’
FEMINIST actress Margot Robbie, 27, pictured, nominated for an Oscar for her role in I, Tonya as the controversial ice skater Tonya Harding, says that in the 2016 film The Legend of Tarzan, she tried to make Jane more assertive when she played her, adding: ‘I also said to the director, “Because I’m being held down by lots of men, can I at least be fighting back, problem-solving, and not waiting for Tarzan to come and rescue me?” I’m glad I did. But I get it, though – it’s not called “Jane of the Jungle”.’
CORONATION Street stalwart Samia Longchambon, 35, tweets about her ‘best’ dream – sharing a Kentucky Fried Chicken meal with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, adding: ‘She was spilling her chicken wings everywhere!’ Off with her head!
SIR Michael Caine, 84, who is promoting the 1960s documentary My Generation, fondly remembers sharing a Notting Hill flat with Terence Stamp, 79, saying: ‘I had to look after his girlfriends when he was away. Jean Shrimpton, Julie Christie – I had to keep them company. Terrible job, but someone had to do it.’ Sadly, he and Stamp have reportedly not spoken for more than 40 years.
DAME Joan Collins, 84, reveals fifth husband Percy Gibson is ordered to the guest room when his snoring becomes too loud. Would Percy, 52 – married to Joanie for 16 years – ever dare ask the old girl to do the same? He once cheekily told her during a joint TV interview: ‘Tchaikovsky could write a symphony with your snoring. They go from contralto to basso soprano, they go the whole way… I should record it sometime and we’ll make a hit single.’