Ephraim Hardcastle
Suspended HMs Queen Elizabeth captain Nick Cooke-Priest might wish he were royal after his harsh reprimand for official car misuse. in 2008, Prince William flew a Chinook helicopter to pick up brother Harry at Woolwich barracks before flying to Peter Phillips’s three-day stag on the isle of Wight, costing the taxpayer £8,716. He also helicoptered to see Kate at her parents’ Berkshire home and to a wedding in Hexham. All were declared ‘legitimate training’ flights by the MoD. IVANKA Trump tweets her sympathy to Theresa May but fails to send a congratulatory tweet to Meghan Markle after Archie’s arrival, suggesting a cooling of their friendship. Ivanka accompanies dad Donald to London next week, but as Meghan isn’t attending any official events they won’t meet. And Ivanka’s timetable won’t allow for a jaunt to Frogmore to coo over the bambino. PriNCE William’s Aston Villa loyalty stems from childhood, as he explains: ‘i didn’t want to follow the [most popular] teams. i wanted to have a team that was more mid-table that could give me more emotional rollercoaster moments.’ Gooner Harry is missing out. CLASSICS graduate Rachel Johnson, pictured, pledging her return to Sky News after a failed flirtation with politics, explains: ‘ Sine
die, that’s Latin for without delay.’ No it isn’t. It translates as ‘without a day’, describing events postponed until an undetermined date. Meliusdebetfacere (must do better), Rachel. CAMBriDGE spy Anthony Blunt’s 1794 copy of Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses will sell tomorrow at forum Auctions in London for an estimated £400. in the same sale is a 1942 biography of Napoleon signed by Nazi Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Holocaust. At £800, it’s twice the price of traitor Blunt’s volume, confirming that the more monstrous you are, the more collectable. BLACKADDER star Sir Tony Robinson, who quit Labour this month, tweets: ‘Blimey! Labour, struggling for years to take disciplinary action against members accused of anti-Semitism, manage to expel Alastair Campbell over the course of one bank holiday weekend. Amazing new efficiency!’ YEs Minister’s Derek fowlds recalls an awkward moment with Gina Lollobrigida on the set of the 1966 film Hotel Paradiso, saying: ‘i told her, “you have the most beautiful eyes i’ve ever seen”. she looked me up and down, walked off the set, sent in her stand-in – and never talked to me again.’ Derek’s book How to Chat Up Diva Movie stars never did find a publisher. GOOD and bad news for Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. The bad? Enduring actress Diane Keaton fancies him, gushing: ‘He’s gorgeous, that face gets better with time.’ And the glad tidings? She has vowed never to marry.