Ephraim Hardcastle
JOHN le Carre’s secret acquisition of an Irish passport was not the only surprise planned by the Smiley creator before he died in December. Disillusioned with Brexit Britain, le Carre, real name David Cornwell, was actively planning a permanent move to Ireland. The migration could have saved him millions in revenue. The author of more than 30 bestselling books, John qualified for Ireland’s tax exemption for writers, a lucrative perk enjoyed by Frederick Forsyth, Gerald Seymour, as well as dozens of sculptors, painters and rock musicians. Says Irish author John Banville: ‘David was planning to settle in Cork, where his maternal grandmother came from. He was a dear friend. I shall miss him.’
BBC Radio 4 aficionados tuning in yesterday for some refined listening might consider they were offered instead an example of the Beeb’s increasing vulgarisation. Dedication, a play about William Shakespeare and the Earl of Southampton, had one actor commenting on Queen Elizabeth I: ‘She takes it round the back, up the fundament, so she doesn’t conceive. Ask the Earl of Essex. There’s something about catamites that makes me lose my temper.’ Shipping Forecast, anyone?
DOMINIC West’s wife Catherine FitzGerald, pictured, will have lots to talk about should she encounter the new wife of Aidan ‘ Poldark’ Turner. For Caitlin FitzGerald is a distant cousin of Catherine, whose father was the last Knight of Glin. Dominic and Catherine spend much of their time at the ancestral home Glin Castle on the banks of the Shannon in County Limerick. Caitlin’s aunt Frances spent a summer writing Fire in the Lake, her chronicle of the Vietnam War, at Glin. She must have been inspired by the wonderful setting. She won a Pulitzer Prize.
POLITICIAN-turned-vicar Jonathan Aitken tells The Oldie of his recent encounter with an ex-prisoner he befriended while he was jailed in 2000. ‘At the end of our chat,’ recalls Jonathan, currently recovering from a near-fatal heart attack, ‘he gave me an exceptionally warm handshake. So warm that he removed my wristwatch without me feeling it or knowing it.’ And the old lag’s name? Mr Dipper!
WITH Scotland’s unofficial London embassy Boisdale reopening for terrace dining next week, proprietor Ranald Macdonald throws down the gauntlet to President Joe Biden, demanding a lifting of the US embargo on haggis. ‘Nearly 10 per cent of the US population are of Scottish descent and are being denied their birth right national dish’ says Ranald. ‘It is a travesty and an international disgrace! We should embargo all US imports until Mr Biden sees sense.’ Hibernophile Joe is more a bacon and cabbage man Ranald.
ROBERT Lindsay, introduced to the Queen at Pinewood Studios, told her he was about to play roguish Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis on stage. ‘Oh,’ she replied, ‘Do you have to?’ Is there still time to compile a souvenir volume of the wit and wisdom of HM for her 95th birthday this month?