Ephraim Hardcastle
ALTHOUGH Princes William and Harry’s BBC and ITV interviews were recorded close to each other in the spring, there is a marked difference in tone. On ITV there was no mention of Prince Charles. The BBC production mentions him – favourably, but only for a few seconds. The Corporation wants to do a major documentary marking Charles’s 70th birthday next year. It’s keen on obtaining his co-operation.
SOME Like It Hot is named the greatest film comedy of all time in a poll. Jerry Lewis, who died on Sunday aged 91, was haunted by the fact that he turned down one of its lead roles, as cross-dressing double bass player Jerry/Daphne, saying he didn’t want to appear dressed as a woman. Jack Lemmon was nominated for an Oscar in the role. Lewis recalled: ‘He sent me a box of chocolates every year until he died.’
BRILLIANT US actor James Cromwell, 77, who portrayed Prince Philip, pictured, in the 2006 film The Queen, has a long record of protest on issues including fracking, animal cruelty and, more recently, Donald Trump. He has been arrested for his pains. Isn’t it appropriate that the best portrayal of Philip is by an actor who shares some of the latter’s crusty, uncompromising views? Filming the new Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom recently, 6ft 7in Cromwell was rebuked for sneaking a criticism of the fossil-fuel industry into the script.
MANY a politician has come unstuck trying to wing it on the BBC’s Sunday Politics thanks to the razor-sharp mind of Paisley’s Andrew Neil. The SNP’s Tasmina AhmedSheikh and Stewart Hosie were notable scalps. So is Sarah Smith, grandly titled Scotland Editor, the right person to replace him? Her rise has been unaffected by the unlamented Scotland 2014 current affairs show. And she tweeted yesterday: ‘I’m exited...’ Surely Neil would have been more focused?
APROPOS the French, First Lady (unofficial) Brigitte Macron, 64, charms many with her remark to Paris Match that she sat down at breakfast every day ‘with my wrinkles’ alongside her 39-year-old husband Emmanuel ‘with his freshness’. My Gallic source says: ‘One reason she’s so popular is that she has none of the haughtiness of the wives of (presidential predecessors) Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Chirac and Valery Giscard d’Estaing.’
STILL in France, the documentary on TV there tonight – Lady Diana, la femme qui s’était trompée de vie (the woman who chose the wrong life) – has French psychoanalysts brooding over her life. Their conclusions included: ‘Diana is Cinderella, minus the shoe but with added neurosis.’ And: ‘She was the victim of her own ambitions and threw herself deliberately into the wolf’s lair.’ Mon dieu!
FINALLY, on Diana, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond, 67, says she ‘knew the princess better than any other member of the royal family’ – any other member? – and scoffs at suggestions that Diana needed ‘psychiatric help’. She says the princess told her: ‘I was too sane for my environment.’ It’ll all be over next Thursday, the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death. Roll on the 25th anniversary in 2022.