Ephraim Hardcastle
FORMER Tory deputy premier Michael Heseltine, 83, whose nickname is Tarzan, tells the attractive interviewer Charlotte Edwardes that he strangled his mother’s pet Alsatian, Kim. ‘I went to stroke him and he started biting me,’ he explains in Tatler magazine. ‘If you have a dog that turns, you just cannot risk it. So I took Kim’s collar – a short of choker chain – and pulled it tight. Suddenly he went limp. I was devoted to Kim, but he’d obviously had some sort of mental breakdown.’ What does the RSPCA think? ‘We are considering our response,’ says a spokesman.
LABOUR’S new life peeress, Shami Chakrabarti, 47, has escaped the controversy over her title by flying to Brisbane, Australia, to give a speech and a lecture. ‘A fee, and all travel costs, accommodation and some hospitality were paid by Griffith University,’ she says in the Lords register of interests. Lady Chakrabarti charged from £2,500 to £ 5,000 for speeches prior to her ennoblement. A modest rise in her rates is in order.
THE Prince of Wales welcomes the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos de Calderon, 65, and his wife, Maria, known as Tutina, who arrive on a state visit today. When Charles and Camilla visited Bogota in 2014, President Santos presented them with sombreros, pictured. Why not reciprocate with Prince of Wales Highgrove-check caps?
SIR Mick Jagger, 73, is now obsessed with ‘antigravity aerial yoga’ to preserve his bony frame – he’s regularly ‘strung up in a hammock suspended 6ft in the air’ – and eschews the drink and drugs lifestyle. ‘I use other relaxation techniques,’ he says. Speaking of which, the frisky father of seven has recently impregnated ballerina Melanie Hamrick, 29.
MAYOR of London Sadiq Khan’s latest report on social integration contains 33 photographs of himself in a 47-page document. ‘This might be a new record,’ says Estates Gazette magazine, adding mischievously, ‘but with 13 of the snaps on the front page, including Khan in obligatory hard hat, that still leaves 27 pages with no visual trace of the man – or 27 missed opportunities…’
PRINCE Andrew’s battle to enhance the royal status of his daughters, Beatrice, 28, and Eugenie, 26, raises interest in other parts of the family. Prince Edward’s wife Sophie, 51, is keen to secure a royal future for her children, Louise, 12 and James, eight. With Harry likely to bring another princess onto the payroll, it’s possible the Royal Family will balloon to a size that would have met with the approval of Queen Victoria. Only Princess Anne, who at 66 is ten years Andrew’s senior, stands aloof from this debate, having seen her untitled children, Peter, 38, and Zara, 35, make their own way in the world.