Isaac Bickerstaffe

AT the grand old age of 66, veteran music business figure BP Fallon, whose CV includes stints as a publicist for T. Rex and Led Zeppelin, has formed his own group. But the Dubliner believes his destiny was sealed as a toddler when he witnessed scenes of destruction in post-war Germany, where his father was posted with the British army. He says: ‘At that point I realised that not all was perfect and, without realising it, I was probably doomed from then on to end up as the singer in a rock’n’roll band.’ Pretentious, non? APROPOS the changing social habits among the glitteratti, TV3’s Aisling O’Loughlin observes: ‘I never lived the Celtic Tiger lifestyle, but I was a witness as a presenter for Xposé. The Champagne isn’t flowing as easily – it’s prosecco now.’ Quelle horreur! DURING the funeral earlier this month of Lee Rigby, the British soldier hacked to death on a London street in May, there were a number of references to his affection for a wellknown Irish boyband. The references didn’t go unnoticed in the north-west. In what must the worst example in living memory of parochialism in the provincial media, the account of the service on the Sligo Today website began as follows: ‘A Westlife fan was buried with full military ceremony yesterday.’ HAVING backed Barack Obama instead of family friend Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, JFK’s daughter Caroline, 55, pictured, is rewarded with a plum ambassadorial post – Japan. This comes despite some early speculation that she might follow her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith’s path to the embassy here. Friends say the Tokyo posting provides an opportunity for being out of America on November 22 – the 50th anniversary of her father’s assassination. She has spent a lifetime receiving public commiserations over Kennedy family tragedies. AFTER winning the latest F1 grand prix, Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes AMG team posts on Twitter a photograph of himself, adorned with a Shakespearian caption: ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.’ And some are twerps. NEW York-based British ex-pat Tina Brown, pictured, former editor of The New Yorker and now boss of online news magazine The Daily Beast, uses the birth of Prince George to write a less than deferential article about the royals entitled ‘Malice in the Palace: Prince George’s Treacherous New Dig.’ She remarks, inter alia, that Diana referred to Austrian-born Princess Michael of Kent as ‘the Führer’. Elsewhere on the website, journalist Tom Sykes speculates on whether the royal tradition of circumcision will continue with the wee prince. We don’t really need to know, do we? RESPONDING to stories saying his Top Gear van-hovercraft was a stunt involving actors, sensitive-flower Jeremy Clarkson responds sarcastically: ‘Oh no. I’ve just heard that the scene when Basil Fawlty beat his car with twigs was faked. It hadn’t broken down at all.’ Should have kept his trap shut.

isaac@dailymail.ie