Ephraim Hardcastle
WHO will replace Radio 4’s departing PM presenter Eddie Mair? Paddy O’Connell is suggested. He currently presents Radio 4’s Sunday morning news show, Broadcasting House. O’Connell, 52, like Mair, also has a relaxed style. But will he tick the BBC’s absurd diversity and gender balance boxes? No such worry for Mair now. Generally, LBC presenters tend to be white men.
THE Queen won’t be happy with stories saying her 92-year-old knees are giving her jip. She won’t have an operation because it would cause her to miss engagements, some think. But HM will disappear from public view for three months next week for her annual summer sojourn at Balmoral. And her winter break at Sandringham virtually extends to two months – so, plenty of opportunities to rest and recuperate after an op. ‘A more likely explanation is that the Queen doesn’t like hospitals,’ suggests my source.
CHRIS Evert, 63, pictured, wants Wimbledon’s women’s final to be held on Sunday, and the men’s on Saturday, reversing current practice. Will Wimbledon bigwigs capitulate? The club’s colours are white, green and purple – same as the suffragettes. In the 1970s, when she was the world’s top woman player – and wife of low-ranking tennis pro John Lloyd – Ms Evert appeared on scoreboards as Mrs J M Lloyd.
TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh, 69, appears to have replaced Michael Parkinson, 83, in ghastly Sun Life funeral payment ads. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? star Chris Tarrant jeered about Parky: ‘He’s doing this insurance ad to pay for your funeral and you get a free pen! You’re dead, so who are you going to write to?’
BREXIT-supporting Tory MP John Redwood rages at Channel 4’s Leftie anchor Jon Snow for suggesting the Cabinet is riven by ‘civil war’, telling him: ‘This isn’t the interview I agreed to give.’ Redwood also snapped at Jo Coburn of BBC2’s Daily Politics for switching from the agreed topic. Redwood should study Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg’s urbane unflappability.
CHANCELLOR Philip Hammond’s guidance notes on royal finances included a note saying: ‘HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, receives a parliamentary annuity of £359,000 to meet the expenses of carrying out his public duties in support of the Queen.’ Philip retired a year ago, but it was said he’d continue to appear occasionally. Surely at 97 he doesn’t have to justify his royal pension?
FORMER prisons minister Crispin Blunt, 57, supports a ban on ‘gay conversion therapies’, telling the BBC: ‘It’s wrong. You can’t convert people from something they inherently are.’ Ex-army officer and father-of-two Blunt split from wife Victoria prior to their 20th anniversary and now leads an active gay social life, admitting he takes recreational sex drugs known as poppers, described by fans as ‘something a number of us use to get a little head rush’. Look out!