Ephraim Hardcastle

DO the hierarchy of Bafta regret appointing Prince William as president? He didn’t attend the recent annual awards ceremony in London. Neither did he send a substitute royal to the shindig. Nor was he able to attend the memorial service for Bafta’s late president Lord Attenborough. His father Charles always seems happier among the luvvies. CHEEKY chappie Channel 4 political correspondent Michael Crick, 56, was taken in by Ukip’s April Fool joke about Nigel Farage visiting Ed Miliband’s home late at night and tweeted excitedly for more details. Farage gloats: ‘It was actually a FIVE hour meeting over bacon sandwiches and fruitcake!’ Adding: ‘April 1st.’ KATHY Lette, 56, doesn’t let marriage to high-flying barrister Geoffrey Robertson, head of the chambers employing Mrs George Clooney, cramp her mischievous public comments, telling Woman and Home magazine: ‘My husband has a friend who went straight from puberty to adultery. His marriage vows clearly read “to love, honour and betray”. Now on his third divorce, he’s taken to dropping round for a nightcap. Being honest about your loathing will only bring out your hubby’s loyalty. Much better you pretend to like his pal a little too much… and let the “little green monster” do the rest.’ Perhaps the story is made up. Then again, maybe not. Robertson’s a dull dog, but Mrs L more than compensates. USUALLY a reliable source of perky comments about life and love, Hollywood star Jane Fonda, 77, pictured, seems a little downbeat in recent musings, ululating: ‘I feel like I’m emptying out, shrinking up, and the problems of the world feel like they will engulf me. I read two newspapers a day and I ache. I think about polar bears and elephants and gorillas and I cry.’ High time there was a new romantic interest to lighten the old gal’s load. RADIO 4 inquisitor John Humphrys, 71, muses in Waitrose Weekend: ‘I once watched a sparrowhawk catch and dismember a robin in my garden, and almost wept. He’d become an old friend. I’d miss him perching on my spade.’ Humphrys deserves a jumbo Waitrose cart of fine groceries for his literary contributions to their mag. AS the son of Prunella Scales and Timothy West, Sam West, 48, star of Mr Selfridge, is the fourth generation of his family to enter showbiz. But his brother, Joe, has opted for making his way in the real world. ‘My brother ran away from the circus to become an accountant,’ says Sam. He’ll likely end up richer than all of them put together. COMEDIENNE June Whitfield, 89, talking in an ITV3 documentary, Carry On Forever, says she was excited when she landed a starring role in Carry on Abroad in 1972, recalling: ‘When I got the part, I thought, “What fun, I wonder where we’ll go and which beach we’ll film on?” But of course we filmed it in the car park at Pinewood Studios.’ A Carry On source says: ‘They were filmed for tuppence. Carry on Up the Khyber was filmed in Snowdonia.’