Ephraim Hardcastle
RADIO 4’s PM presenter Evan Davis boasts on air that he took out a free trial subscription to Now TV and watched the miniseries Chernobyl. Then he cancelled before handing over a penny. Clever chap! Shouldn’t we all binge on BBC goodies, then cancel, when the Corporation launches its BritBox streaming service with a free trial period?
BUSINESS Secretary Andrea Leadsom was derided when she said Boris Johnson would send more than one letter to the EU if MPs thwarted his Brexit deal. She was proven right. Canny Ms Leadsom thinks there will be a general election on January 10. If so, the Queen’s Christmas break at Sandringham will be disrupted, like her summer sojourn at Balmoral.
AL Pacino is grateful to his co-star Robert de Niro for allowing him to ‘improvise’ some of their eagerly-anticipated scenes together in new gangster movie The Irishman. De Niro points out that he appeared in 2001’s The Score with Marlon Brando, a famous ad-libber. Empire magazine said at the time: ‘It’s never entirely clear what he’s up to – you get the impression this flagging dandy routine was designed purely to p**s off his director.’
TURNING 14 on 31 October, Princess Leonor, pictured, who’ll succeed her father to become Queen of Spain, says in a public speech: ‘I promise to serve Spain and all Spaniards with dedication and effort...’ And whither other Euro royals? Princess Elisabeth, 17, will one day become Queen of the Belgians while Princess Catharina-Amalia, 15, will succeed her father to the Dutch throne. Here we’re set to be ruled by pension-age male monarchs. If Charles lives as long as his mother and grandmother, William will be 65 when he takes the throne – as might his heir, Prince george.
WHY do Harry and Meghan seem to find life harder than William and Kate? William has the advantage of a very long courtship and supportive input from Kate’s parents. The Middletons, aware of the dangers surrounding their daughter marrying a future king, agreed a set of ‘conditions’ protecting their daughter. Meghan had no Michael Middleton to protect her.
EX-butler Paul Burrell sympathises with Prince Harry, saying: ‘Losing his mother at such an early age had such an impact on him. To walk behind his mother’s coffin in front of the world has an amazing impact.’ Will Harry appreciate Burrell’s solicitude? Along with Prince William, he issued a statement saying Burrell’s cashing in on their late mother’s name was a ‘cold and overt betrayal’.
HAVING scrutinised prospective parliamentary candidates, terrier-like political reporter Michael Crick says: ‘Class of 2019/20 looks very poor. Far too many councillors among the candidates. Councillors rarely make successful big beast politicians.’ Can they be worse than our existing MPs? Help!