Pick of the week’s Gossip

When George Clooney was starting out, he relied on the generosity of his friends. So when his role in 2013’s Gravity earned him a hefty sum, he tried to repay the favour, he told GQ. He hired a van, drove to a vault and filled holdalls with cash. He then invited 14 friends over to dinner, reminded them of their help, “And I said, ‘How do you repay people like that? Well, how about a million bucks?’” He then handed each of them a bag containing $1m in cash – “which isn’t as much as you would think, weight-wise”.

In his new memoir, Barack Obama describes his impressions of his fellow world leaders. Vladimir Putin was like a Chicago boss “except with nukes”; David Cameron had “the easy confidence of someone who’d never been pressed too hard by life”; Angela Merkel was “steady”. Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, was “amusing and exasperating” in conversation, “his hands in perpetual motion, his chest thrust out like a bantam cock’s... as he swooped from flattery to bluster to genuine insight, never straying from his primary, barely disguised interest, which was to be at the centre of the action and take credit for whatever it was that might be worth taking credit for”.

Official regalia is expensive, but it commands respect, says The Times. Neil Marten, the late MP, was once leading a tour of Parliament when the group ran into Lord Hailsham in his full get-up as Lord Chancellor. Spotting his colleague, Hailsham shouted “Neil!” – and the tourists fell to their knees.