Ephraim Hardcastle
FIVE years after the death of Harold Wilson’s political secretary Marcia Williams (later Baroness Falkender) Bernard Donoghue claims he persuaded the Labour PM’s doctor not to kill Marcia for her constant ‘nagging and shouting’ at him. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Donoghue, then head of the Downing Street Policy Unit, recalls Dr Joe Stone suggesting he prescribe a lethal ‘bad pill’ among the hundreds of uppers and downers Williams took weekly. ‘He raised his professional concern that Marcia’s constant attacking of Harold Wilson might lead to his death. He thought disposing of Marcia was in the national interest.’ I’m sure Harold’s sainted wife Mary felt the same.
THE palatial Foreign Office building in Whitehall, threatened with redundancy as being old fashioned and elitist, has never had a name. Now mandarins are backing a proposal that it be named after Queen Elizabeth II, certainly the most globetrotting of monarchs and greatest diplomat. But the plan is on ice because the Government doesn’t want to hinder the committee it established to come up with a memorial for the late monarch. It is not due to report until 2026. Will it be Keir Starmer, who once was all in favour of abolishing the monarchy, who rubber stamps the final decision?
SPORTS presenter Gabby Logan discreetly declines to name the female TV newcasters whose dishevelled hair infuriates her. ‘It’s so distracting when somebody’s hair is a mess on telly, especially when a newsreader has a hair out of place,’ Gabby, pictured, tells Top Sante magazine. ‘It really bothers me – because it is distracting, and that means the message isn’t being heard. My hair is my coat of confidence. I feel I can take on the world when my hair looks good.’
IMELDA Staunton’s husband Jim Carter, alias obsequious butler Carson in Downton Abbey, complains about her bagging the role of a posh aristo in the 2019 film version of the show. ‘I was furious when I found out she got the part of Lady Maud Bagshaw,’ he wails. ‘I thought, “I’m not serving her wine at home.”’ Pipes up Mrs Carter: ‘And I was The Queen!’
TROUSER-SPLITTInG aficionado PJ Proby tells retro magazine The Beat about his early hedonistic Hollywood lifestyle with orgies and nude swimming, which attracted local complaints. ‘One day one of my neighbours came to the door and said, “I’m speaking on behalf of everybody in the community who wants to have you thrown out of the street. I don’t mind any of that. I wouldn’t mind coming to some of the parties myself.” She added, “Are you PJ Proby?”, and I said, “Yes – and you’re Katharine Hepburn.”’
THE Mick Jagger-associated online store Granny Takes a Trip is charging very un60’s prices, with the monthly rental of a retro skirt at £465 and a vintage bomber jacket £235. Even a lace T-shirt is £75, a sum that would surely have hired all the Rolling Stones when they lived in Edith Grove in 1962.