Ephraim Hardcastle
The obituaries of Morse creator Colin Dexter suggest that he and the late John Thaw, who played TV’s famous Oxford detective, were friends. But a Dexter chum, Private eye co-founder Richard Ingrams, says this might not always have been the case. Dexter was a regular at the magazine’s Soho lunches and, says Ingrams, once pointed at a fellow guest, house Of Cards actor Ian Richardson, and remarked: ‘he would make a better Morse. Thaw isn’t right.’ It is to be hoped after 33 episodes and eight series he realised that he was wrong. Thaw was perfect as Morse.
WHY is the Queen’s message to Martin McGuinness’s widow, Bernadette, deemed private? ‘Perhaps to prevent any embarrassment to the Queen, given McGuinness’s reputation,’ says my source. ‘Her message congratulating Donald Trump on his controversial election success was also private, although the palace later acknowledged that it had been sent.’
TAUNTeD by Jeremy Corbyn over education funding, the Prime Minister pointed out that the Labour leader’s own son was sent to a grammar school – an ultra-sensitive subject for the much criticised Corbyn. his second wife Claudia Bracchitta’s decision to send their son, Benjamin, to a grammar school helped end their marriage, she has said. Corbyn subsequently married wife number three, Laura Alvarez, in 2013.
THERESA May’s decision to welcome French presidential contender Emmanuel Macron to No10 last month annoyed his chief rival, the National Front’s Marine Le Pen. She told Nigel Farage in an LBC interview that Mrs May’s judgment was ‘not very good’. But if Madame Le Pen wins, won’t she rate a state visit to the UK? Yes, but not in the same week as Donald Trump, it is to be hoped.
The BBC promotes its Farming Today interview with Princess Anne, pictured, pointing out in a newsworthy way that she’s at odds with Prince Charles over GM crops by asserting that she’s ‘a working farmer’ at 730-acre Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire. What, with 500-plus royal engagements annually? If they say so!
KEEN-to-shock author Kathy Lette, 58, offers lifestyle advice to Twitter followers: ‘Remember that the best things in life are free – dancing, flirting, singing, laughing, talking, walking and orgasms.’ No doubt her husband of 27 years, ultra-serious human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC, 70, agrees wholeheartedly!?
TORY MP Nigel evans reassured friends on Facebook during the Westminster emergency: ‘We are currently on lockdown but safe.’ A friend responds: ‘Is the bar open?’ When staff in the bar of frequently bombed europa hotel in Belfast announced that the IRA had planted a device timed to explode in five minutes, a regular customer, the Press Association’s now retired Chris Moncrieff, informed his companions: ‘Time for another half, I think.’