Hardcastle
HAS Dame esther Rantzen sent a shiver of career apprehension down the spines of mature female newscasters like Kay Burley, Mary nightingale and Fiona Bruce? Decrying ageist broadcasters, esther fumes: ‘You won’t find a woman over the age of 65 reading the news. So that’s still a barrier to cross.’ While Sky’s Kay, 60, ITV’s Mary, 58, and the BBC’s Fiona, 57, remain at the top of their game, esther, in her forthcoming RTS lecture, offers a novel solution to sexist retirement. ‘Maybe we should invent a new camera filter to eradicate wrinkles. That way older female newsreaders will continue to be employed for their talent.’
LIKE the Ghost of Christmas Past, former Boris spokeswoman Allegra Stratton appears at a first-floor Downing Street window in a caricature on the front cover of the festive edition of The Spectator. Cruelly, she is depicted with a tray of cheese and wine in a reference to her disastrous mock press conference. At least she isn’t weeping. But couldn’t husband James Forsyth, political editor of the Speccie, have the cartoonist pull the window curtains?
POIROT actor David Suchet should have been queueing for his gong with lewis Hamilton yesterday after excitedly tweeting: ‘Well! I have just picked up my morning suit for my knighthood investiture at Windsor Castle tomorrow! I still think I am dreaming!’ Alas he was, tweeting later: ‘I have sad news. I have tested positive for Covid via a lateral flow test this evening. So no investiture for me.’
A WORD to the wise on encountering Benedict Cumberbatch: Don’t tell him you fancy his mother Wanda Ventham, pictured in her prime. She played Cassandra Trotter’s mother Pamela in the sitcom Only Fools and Horses as well as starring in a groundbreaking frozen pea advert. ‘She is beautiful and was a bit of a pin-up,’ says Benedict. ‘It is very odd when you get into an elevator with a man and he says to you, “Oh yeah, your mum. I like your mum” and you are like, “Oh Christ, get me out of here”. It is a compliment to her beauty but I really don’t need to hear it. It’s a bit creepy.’
SUPeRAnnUATeD disc jockey Pete Murray returns to the Boxing Day airwaves on Boom Radio 38 years after his BBC career ended when he endorsed Margaret Thatcher on air during the 1983 general election campaign. If he wasn’t four years shy of a centenary birthday greeting from the Queen he could be dubbed The Comeback Kid.
CHRISTOPHER Biggins, playing Dame Trot in Jack and the Beanstalk at Dartford, isn’t doing much trotting. He arrives on stage driving a mobility scooter. ‘I think it’ll be very amusing because everybody knows I recently had a knee operation,’ he says. All together children: ‘Look out Christopher – the physiotherapist is behind you!’