Ephraim Hardcastle

PROFITABLE times for Annabel Elliot, interior designer sister of the Duchess of Cornwall. A client she can always rely on is her brother-in-law, Prince Charles. His Duchy of Cornwall estate paid her £32,920 in ‘fees and commission’ plus £30,373 for ‘furniture, furnishings and retail stock’ last year, according to its official report.

THE heatwave is noticed by HM. During a visit to a hospice she dispensed with three of her daytime essentials – hat, coat and gloves. Almost unprecedented.

WITH her muchplugged TV show, Challenge Anneka, due to return, Miss Rice, 63, recalls how she bought huge volumes of condoms when she worked on a previous programme, Treasure Hunt. The presenter, pictured, explains: ‘We needed a lot of them because, at any moment, I could jump off a cliff into the sea so I had to wrap the mic in layers and layers of condoms.’ I wonder if the story would be judged true or false if she told it on TV’s often amusing Would I Lie To You?

DAME Maureen Lipman is irked by snobbish comments about her current role in Coronation Street, telling Reader’s Digest: ‘When taxi drivers ask me what I’m doing and I tell them I’m in Coronation Street, they tend to go: “Ah, something will come up. I never watch it,” and I mutter, “Well, I never drive a cab”.’ Mustn’t be so touchy, Maureen.

COOKING expert Delia Smith recalls being commissioned by a photographer to make a ‘gaudy cake’. She used mauve icing and red cherries, the result being ‘as gaudy as I could’. When she delivered it to the studio, she discovered it would be photographed for the cover of the Rolling Stones 1969 classic LP, Let It Bleed.

ASKED if he regrets not swapping his strong northern accent for Received Pronunciation or a regionally neutral accent like fellow octogenarian northerner Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Tom Courtenay responds: ‘Ian McKellen? I don’t think I want to give him any publicity, thank you very much!’ No love lost between the luvvies?

BROADCASTER Andrew Neil says his lawyers have now tracked down Boris Johnson’s pole-dancing ex-squeeze, Jennifer Arcuri, who falsely associated the former Sunday Times editor with the late paedophile billionaire, Jeffrey Epstein. ‘My legal agents managed to serve official documents on Jennifer Arcuri,’ he says. ‘She was holed up in her place in Panama City, Florida but they staked it out. She has two months to serve defence.’ Hey ho!

DIARY-WRITING Tory wife Sasha Swire comments on the leadership battle: ‘I have been through five of these Hunger Games-style contests now and they all follow a similar pattern, with everyone firing off accusations and unsubstantiated innuendos about the other... “Tax dodger!” “Treacherous snake!” “Boris in a dress!” “Cosmic c***!” “Spad s***ger!”’ If only it had been that interesting.

Email: peter.mckay@dailymail.co.uk