Hardcastle
THE BBC is ‘considering’ a Westminster Abbey memorial service for the late Sir Bruce Forsyth, meaning he might join a pantheon including Sir Terry Wogan, Sir Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker, Sir David Frost and cricket broadcaster Brian Johnson. Recently-deceased BBC luminaries who failed to make the Westminster Abbey cut include Sir Jimmy Young, All Creatures Great and Small star Robert Hardy, Blue Peter’s John Noakes, Last of the Summer Wine’s Peter Sallis and movie-show legend Barry Norman.
RE Sir Bruce, his catchphrase, ‘Nice to See You, To See You Nice’, didn’t work at Annabel’s nightclub one night after he turned up there in yellow golf trousers and an ‘eyeball-searing’ striped jacket. He was told to sling his hook. Later, its then owner, Mark Birley, apologised, flamboyantly getting down on his knees at a champagne luncheon, pledging that Sir Bruce and his gracious wife, Wilnelia, were ‘more than welcome’ there in future.
PINK Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s recent return to Pompeii, Italy, 45 years after the band performed there, was attended by TV’s outspoken, muchtrolled Professor Mary Beard, 62, pictured, a specialist in Roman history and, evidently, highbrow rock music. Prof Beard’s first sighting of Pompeii was at the original Pink Floyd concert – later the subject of a film documentary – when she was 17. She’ll be in Gilmour’s new film, released on September 13.
RETIRED cricket star Geoffrey Boycott’s incendiary claim, that he might need to ‘black me face’ to get a knighthood – he has now apologised – is awkward for the PM, Theresa May, who has said of the bluntspoken Yorkshireman: ‘I have been a Geoff Boycott fan all my life.’ She is said to have suggested him for a knighthood in 2014 but it was blocked because of his criminal conviction for assaulting a former lover.
LORD Prescott, 79, endorses a ‘day of moaning’ across the North of England in which commuters are encouraged to vent their fury over the area’s rail network. ‘Great idea,’ enthuses the portly, Hullbased elder statesman. As ‘Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions,’ how did he do? A Labour-dominated Commons committee said he’d achieved ‘few tangible improvements.’
HOW are Charles and Camilla likely to spend this weekend, as BBC TV airs a documentary in praise of Diana with William and Harry once again leading the ‘talking heads’ and a special Songs of Praise devoted to her memory? ‘Possibly by picking mushrooms alongside Loch Muick, near Ballater on Deeside, one of their favourite pursuits,’ says a source.
PRINCE William’s decision to give an exclusive Channel 4 interview to former ITV news anchor Mark Austin about his mother’s bulimia might have vexed the latter’s former broadcasting colleague, Tom Bradby. He is said to enjoy a cosy relationship with Princes William and Harry. Austin, 58, quit ITV’s News at Ten after three decades in 2016 after Bradby was anointed its star presenter.