Ephraim Hardcastle
WILLIAM and Harry will not welcome new revelations from their late mother’s bodyguard Ken Wharfe about her affair with James Hewitt. In a Channel 5 documentary next week Wharfe, who protected Diana from 1987 to 1993, also claims that on a Majorcan holiday with her boys she revealed her distress at husband Charles’s affair with Camilla. ‘She told me in short about the problems with her marriage with Camilla always being there,’ he tells Secrets of the Royal Palaces, which airs on March 23. ‘Suddenly to hear it in full verse from the Princess of Wales was quite extraordinary. I found I understood this woman much more as a result of this discussion because it did help me for example to police the occasions she met James Hewitt at his mother’s house in Devon.’ Wharf also claims he never divulged the intimate information to his police superiors. Three decades on, is he making up for lost time?
SIR Keir Starmer’s talents as a violinist – he studied at school with classmate Fatboy Slim – contrasts with predecessor Jeremy Corbyn. He made the disastrous mistake at Labour’s 2016 Liverpool party conference of visiting a primary school and taking up the bow. Classic FM opined: ‘The most obvious problem here is the bow hold. We know this was an impromptu lesson, but come on. If Corbyn was planning to join The Pogues, we could understand – but clearly we’re aiming for a classic bow hold here, and frankly he’s holding it like a wooden spoon over a pan of soup. NO, JEREMY.’ Music is clearly not his forte. Corbyn once revealed that he summoned his cat home each night by whistling Tie a Yellow Ribbon. Did the cat require counselling?
DAME Helen Mirren, pictured, takes exception to being told she looks ‘good for her age’, huffing: ‘It’s never a compliment, always a caveat.’ A celebrity ambassador for beauty giant L’Oréal, the Oscar winner, 78, adds: ‘I’ve always hated those words antiageing because it’s anti-human... “pro skin” is great because you’re saying, look after yourself and don’t stop.’ Will it catch on Helen?
REVIEWING the coverage of the ashes scandal embroiling a Hull funeral parlour, Gyles Brandreth tells ITV’s This Morning: ‘Don’t think this is universal. I’ve some experience in this... I’ve hosted the Funeral Directors Awards. I’ve met a lot of these guys from across the UK. They really are good people.’ Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, Gyles!
FRESH from Succession, Brian Cox rejoices in playing a pigeon fancier in Little Wing. ‘I had to interact a fair bit with the pigeons.’ he says. ‘They could be quite boisterous – but once they were in their cages, they were actually rather well-behaved. And I didn’t get s**t on once!’ Pity the pigeon who dared defecate on foul-mouthed Logan Roy!