Ephraim Hardcastle
FORMER poet laureate Andrew Motion’s new edition of his Philip Larkin biography contains details of an alleged beyond-the-grave conversation recorded on cassette between the poet and a spiritualist – Larkin’s hearing aid specialist Dr Raymond Cass. ‘I heard Dr Cass ask Larkin what he made of my book,’ says Motion in the TLS, ‘and heard a voice, sounding uncannily like Larkin’s own, saying he found it “very satisfactory”.’ At least one positive review! APROPOS Larkin’s deafness, Motion recalls a conversation in an Oxford pub when the poet, who died in 1985 aged 63, lamented: ‘I shudder to think how many women have come up to me and said, “Take me, lover,” only to have me reply, “Yes it is rather warm for the time of year, isn’t it?” ’ PRINCE Charles, at the Old Vic on Wednesday, has been patron of the theatre since just before its former artistic director Kevin Spacey fell from grace in November 2017. Unusually, he privately presented Spacey with two honorary gongs – a CBE and a knighthood – and posed for a picture that Spacey later posted on Facebook and gushed: ‘I may play a President on TV, but in real life I’m now a Sir. Thanks HRH – what a prince of a guy!’ Charles may now regret being caught grinning next to the disgraced thespian. THE friendship between Jacob ReesMogg, 49, and New York-based former Tory MP Louise Mensch, 47, has been fractured after Moggy met Steve Bannon, 64, President Trump’s former strategist. The pair have been chums since Oxford and are godparents to each other’s children. But a friend says: ‘Louise predicted Bannon would be executed for treason, and she reacted with horror when she learned that Jacob had met him. They are no longer on speakers.’ DAME Helen Mirren, 73, pictured, can now be seen advertising a new hair colouring spray for L’Oreal (she’s a brand ambassador for the cosmetics giant). Perhaps this is a safer product for her to promote? She put her foot in it last year after suggesting that using the company’s moisturiser ‘probably does f*** all’. WITH many UK-based Russians edgy after Theresa May’s condemnation of the Kremlin’s activities in Salisbury, Sovietborn writer Gary Shteyngart, 46, notes, in the Spectator, the profusion of wealthy Russians still living in the capital. He adds: ‘I love walking around London because I don’t get to my native Russia much, and it’s fun to hear Russian as the primary language on the streets.’ THE Trump-in-a-nappy balloon that was flown over Parliament Square by protesters during the president’s July visit will take to the sky again when he visits Ireland in November. When it comes to laughs, it will be hard to beat the 2008 over-the-top ditty celebrating a previous US president’s claim of Irish ancestry: the Corrigan Brothers’ There’s No One As Irish As Barack Obama.