Ephraim Hardcastle
BEFORE applying for a licence allowing weddings in the chapel he’s building at his Suffolk retreat, newly-engaged warbler Ed Sheeran, 27, should seek the advice of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. When they married in 2005 they planned a private civil ceremony in Windsor Castle. But the licence application was scrapped when a flunkey read the small print and realised that once the castle had been licensed for civil ceremonies anyone could marry there. Ed and childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn should follow Charles and Camilla’s example and nip down to the local register office instead.
THE late Sir Roger Bannister’s knighthood in 1975, 21 years after his sub-four-minute mile, is in stark contrast to shamed cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins. He was hastily handed his gong months after his Olympics success in 2012. Back in gentlemanly Sir Roger’s day, the powers-that-be didn’t feel the need to prematurely lavish sports stars with honours.
APROPOS Bannister, former BBC sports executive Paul Fox recalls how Roger – en route to the London studios for an interview after the historic run – diverted the BBC car to his home in Harrow, declaring: ‘I can’t appear on television in my tracksuit.’ Collar and tie were in place as he faced Peter Dimmock in the studio.
WITH tickets for the hit musical Hamilton reportedly fetching £6,000 each, former Home Secretary Michael Howard took advantage of last week’s Beast from the East to benefit his fragrant wife Sandra, pictured. ‘ Great excitement!’ she says on Facebook. ‘Off to see Hamilton this evening. Husband popped into the box office this week and with the snow and people’s transport problems, there are returns to be had...’
MARGARET Thatcher was surprised when Mikhail Gorbachev raised the plight of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four at a meeting. What prompted the then Soviet president to raise the subject of the prisoners (subsequently released)? Former Labour MP Chris Mullin confesses: ‘I wrote to Gorbachev suggesting that the next time he found himself being lectured by Thatcher on human rights in the Soviet Union he might like to inquire about the innocent people in British prisons.’
DAVID Dimbleby’s son Fred, 20, continues to do him proud. Now studying at Oxford, he tweets: ‘Really excited to be Editor of Cherwell_Online for next term.’ In 2016 Fred, Dimbleby’s only child with second wife Belinda, chaired a student Question Time at his £30,000-a year-school, Brighton College, eliciting praise from Matthew Parris and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Perhaps Dad, 80 in October, might keep the chair warm at Question Time until Fred is ready to take the helm.
BATMAN actor Adam West – who died last year aged 88 – was excluded from the Oscars ‘in memoriam’ section on Sunday. Could it be because of his radically un MeToo enthusiasm for groupies and multiple orgies? He explained: ‘Because of the physical limitations of the [Batman] costume, you gotta have quickies.’