Ephraim Hardcastle
ALARM bells resonate in the corridors of Buckingham Palace at the Duchess of Sussex’s latest revelation about keeping personal diaries. Speaking to activist Malala Yousafzai, Meghan said keeping a diary kept her ‘anchored’, adding: ‘i think journalling is a really powerful thing. it allows me to reflect on where i’ve come from and with that comes a lot of perspective.’ Will these intimate jottings fetch up in a netflix production? Despite denials that their £100million deal with the online TV firm will include reality shows, there are fears that Harry and Meghan’s future productions might plunder their preCalifornian royal lives. What Windsor secrets Meghan might reveal keeps some courtiers awake at night.
DESPITE the murder of his great-grandfather Ali Kemal in 1922 as a result of the Turkish genocide of Armenians during the First World War, Boris Johnson remains mute on the latest Caucasus conflict. He was more outspoken in 2016 when he won £1,000 in The Spectator with a limerick about Turkey’s President Erdogan having sex with a goat and calling him ‘the w***erer’ from Ankara. Now they are chums, is he afraid to speak out?
BO Derek, pictured, has been outed as a member of a rare species – a fan of Donald trump. recalling his cameo in a panned 1989 comedy, the 63-yearold tells ITV’s this Morning: ‘He was great,’ before adding: ‘the one thing i’ll say about Donald trump is i was glad an outsider won [the presidency].’ no need to mention the Golden raspberry Award he got for worst supporting actor in Ghosts Can’t Do it.
SEAN Connery remains sore with playwright Tom Stoppard for costing him nearly £500,000 in compensation when a throat ailment forced him to cancel his starring role in his 1990 film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Later Connery refused to speak to Stoppard when discussing his script for Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. ‘I think,’ mused Stoppard, ‘I shall have to find a new typeface for irony.’
APROPOS of Stoppard. His biographer Hermione Lee reveals the power of exmistress Sinead Cusack. When he asked if he could go out with Sabrina Guinness, Cusack said no. He made Sabrina Lady Stoppard in 2014.
ROYAL factotums were not forgotten in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, with lower variations of her Royal Victorian Order dished out to the yeoman of the plate pantry, a pony stud manager, a couple of gardeners, a tractor driver, the royal travel co-ordinator, a saddler and harness-maker and a couple of Charles’s chauffeurs.
HALF a century after John Lennon returned his MBe, son Sean, 45, would like it back. noting that his mum Yoko ono declined a Buckingham Palace offer of its return, he adds: ‘i would have been like, “Sure! thank you! i’m sorry we were a bit rude, but you know my dad!”’