Ephraim Hardcastle
THE BBC’s political editor, Nick Robinson, 49, was a university contemporary of London mayor Boris Johnson, eerily cheered by the Olympic crowd yesterday. Robinson says: ‘The history of Boris is that he has been underestimated, not least by me. I dismissed the talk of him one day leading his party as fanciful. Well, not any more.’ OSCAR-winning actor Russell Crowe gave up personal hygiene for his lead role in Darren Aronofky’s new film, Noah, about the Biblical character’s life and Ark. ‘You don’t want to be inhaling when he walks past – everyone is counting down the days until the project is done!’ says a colleague. The New Zealand Herald announces: ‘“Foul’’ Russell Crowe refuses to wash for Noah role.’ Dirty beast! RETIRED ballet star and beauty Darcey Bussell, a judge on the new Strictly Come Dancing, demonstrates (for Radio Times) how to summon a London cab: ‘Balancing on one foot on the edge of the kerb she gracefully extends a slender, perfectly toned, bright pink denim-clad leg high into the air. “Works every time,” she smiles cheekily, as the taxi screeches to a halt in front of us.’ The late Jimmy Goldsmith’s taxi-attracting ploy as a young man-about-town was simpler. He’d shout: ‘Big tips!’ SUNDAY night’s ITV dramatisation of The Scapegoat angers friends of its author, the late Dame Daphne du Maurier. Michael Thornton, a chum for over 30 years, says: ‘Daphne’s name on the credits was in a tiny line in dim red lettering that vanished in less than a second and was virtually illegible. One of the most celebrated storytellers of the past hundred years was accorded less prominence than the credit for “Make-Up Trainee”. Whoever was responsible deserves to be fired!’ EMERGING from his bunker after the biggest embarrassment of his life – a widely- ridiculed ‘ speech’ at the Republican National Convention – actor Clint Eastwood says: ‘They’ve got this crazy actor who’s 82 years old up there in a suit. They’re probably thinking I know how to give a speech, but even when I was a mayor I never gave speeches. I gave talks.’ All is explained! WHO will derail the Boris bandwagon? The London Mayor effortlessly outshone David Cameron at the Olympic parade, even persuading the crowd to cheer bungling security company G4S. ‘[Defence Secretary] Philip Hammond is the one to watch – and he wants the job,’ says a Tory source. Adding: ‘He is increasingly seen as a latter-day John Major figure.’ What’ll Edwina Currie say?
E-mail: ephraim.hardcastle@dailymail.co.uk