Ephraim Hardcastle
ARE the £75 tours of Buckingham Palace’s balcony room a dry run for when the Palace becomes a fully-fledged cash-cow? With Charles basing himself at Clarence House and in effect downgrading the Palace, couldn’t he raise millions making it available to film crews and organisations for functions? The annual £12million income from the summer openings could be quadrupled if the Palace tills worked all year. The balcony, I’m told, was in the original tour proposal, with paying visitors photographed at the iconic site but it was ultimately rejected. Alas turning Buck House into a museum offers no discount for taxpayers. They’ve had to fund the £369million refurbishment.
SUSPICIOUS that she was about to be axed from her show That’s Life, Esther Rantzen tells Radio 4’s The Reunion that she had an ‘inkling’ after spotting future director general Mark Thompson lunching with Anne Robinson at a swanky restaurant near BBC HQ. ‘So I ate lunch watching their expressions and I thought, “Right, something’s up”.’ Soon Esther had her BBC sandwiches wrapped in a road map and was replaced with Anne and her new show Watchdog.
SCREENWRITER Daisy Goodwin, pictured, recalling the moment former Tory mayoral candidate Daniel Korski ‘fondled her breast – an allegation he denies – says ‘He puts his hand on my breast. I’m thinking, “Oh my God!” I did my best Hattie Jacques and said, “Could you take your hand off my breast, young man!”’
IAN Hislop, recalling his feud with then Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, asked a photographer from the paper why he turned up every day at his country mansion. He replied: ‘I want a picture of you looking really happy so we can put it in the paper with some disaster that’s happened, so it looks like you’re immensely callous.’ At least Hislop was amused when his vicar told him he’d had Morgan’s paper on the phone asking if the Private Eye editor had confessed anything juicy adding: ‘I had to point out it’s Church of England – we do a general confession – we don’t do individual confession.’
IS Roedean-educated Marisa Abela too posh to play Amy Winehouse in biopic Back to Black, which premiered in London last night? Amy’s dad Mitch apparently had reservations, saying: ‘Afterwards I just thought she could go to Cockney elocution classes.’
CHIEF Womble Mike Batt solves the mystery of why ABBA’S Agnetha was wearing a Wombles badge singing Waterloo at 1974’s Eurovision Song Contest. ‘I was the interval act and chatted to Agnetha and Frida backstage,’ he tells Radio Times. ‘I had badges for our new song, Remember You’re a Womble, so I gave one each to Agnetha and Frida. I didn’t know that Agnetha would pin it to her blue velvet jumpsuit, and so the Wombles had their place in history!’