Ephraim Hardcastle
NORWAY’s Nobel Peace Prize committee is under pressure to reward President Donald Trump for his efforts to unite South Korea and Kim Jong-un’s Communist North Korea. Why shouldn’t he become a Nobel Laureate? Ex-US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger did in 1973 for negotiating the face-saving Vietnam Peace accords, having masterminded the bombing of neutral Cambodia. Barack Obama won in 2009, shortly after his inauguration, for ‘strengthening international diplomacy’. The EU, don’t laugh, got one in 2012 for ‘peace and reconciliation in Europe’ – the Brexitbound UK not included, obviously.
BREAKFAST TV host John Stapleton, 72, says he was sacked from the BBC because the editor concerned – Bob Wheaton, 70, now retired – didn’t care for his Mancunian accent. ‘I don’t care any more, I’ll dance on the bastard’s grave,’ says Stapleton, adding: ‘I worked nonstop for 25 years and then went to ITV. Why would I give a s***?’ Personally, I haven’t noticed that the BBC discriminates against Mancunian accents. On the other hand, Birmingham intonations seem to be avoided by nationally broadcast news correspondents.
DAME Shirley Bassey, 81, pictured, crowns a lifetime of honours on May 17 with the ultimate accolade – a railway carriage is to be named after her. Not on the Orient Express, the Eurostar or even the old Flying Scotsman, alas, but on the Snowdon Mountain Railway in her native Wales. ‘I always look forward to going back to Wales and to be honoured by Snowdon Mountain Railway makes this visit extra special,’ says the makingthe-most-of-it singer, an old hot love of the late acting giant Peter Finch, Oscar-winning star of Network.
PRUE Leith, 78, Mary Berry’s replacement on Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off, is now muzzled by the management after inadvertently revealing the winner of the first series whilst holidaying abroad. She admits: ‘The Bake Off public relations team now control my tweeting.’ Perhaps for his peace of mind, husband John Playfair, 71, whom she refers to as ‘my toyboy’, might ask them to continue with this arrangement.
PRINCESS Eugenie, 28, is to become royal patron of The Tate Young Patrons, purportedly to encourage the love of paintings. It’s not a cheap deal: membership is £1,200 a year. By contrast, the British Museum offers a Young Friends scheme at a trifling £25 a year, the National Theatre’s Young Patrons can belong for £8.33 a month and at the English National Opera it’s £5 a month. The Tate’s £1,200 membership might discourage ‘unsuitable’ types, I suppose.
MOVIE star Hugh Grant, 57, who plays the late Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe in the BBC’s new three-part series, A Very English Scandal, later this month – brilliantly, I am told – says: ‘I found lowering myself to television again after 30-odd years surprisingly painless.’ Good for him! Might a cameo appearance on Coronation Street beckon for fancypants Hugh?