Ephraim Hardcastle
SIR Cliff Richard’s victory against the BBC continues an ill-fated reign for the corporation’s current news boss Fran Unsworth. Having begun her job as director of news and current affairs in January, Ms Unsworth, 60, was also responsible for tackling the BBC’s recent gender pay row, when she was criticised for a ‘robotic’ performance. Yesterday she had the thankless task of addressing the media following the Sir Cliff verdict. Her predecessor James Harding avoided this by quitting the Beeb to set up his own broadcasting company, Tortoise Media. Pop Bitch website reported: ‘He’s been holed up in a Scandinavian-themed cafe near New Broadcasting House, trying to poach his former news colleagues.’ What a mess.
APROPOS the BBC, it’s now three years since scandal-hit charity Kids’ Company was forced to close amid allegations that it misspent much of the £50 million of public funds it received. The Charity Commission has yet to publish its report into the affair. The Official Receiver hasn’t disclosed what penalty its trustees and chief executive, Camila Batmanghelidjh, will face. Chairman of the trustees, Alan Yentob, remains at the BBC on a publicly-funded salary of £250,000 plus expenses. Is there official foot-dragging over this inquiry?
PRINCE Charles took part in Radio 4’s Gardeners’ World from Highgrove House yesterday. His biographer Tom Bower said gardeners there lie face down in the back of a moving Land Rover to remove weeds by hand while servants with torches patrol the herbaceous borders by night to remove slugs. Prince Philip, who redesigned much of the Windsor Castle gardens, was unimpressed when shown his son’s attempts at creating a stumpery – a rockery made from dead trees. He shouted to Charles, pictured, ‘When are you going to set fire to all this?’
SOOTY the glove puppet celebrates his 70th birthday today with ursine pals, Sweep and Soo. They’ll appear with Bee Gee Sir Barry Gibb at Blackpool’s North Pier on Saturday. Sooty drenched Prince Philip with a water pistol when they first met at the BBC in 1955.
LABOUR MP Dennis Skinner, 86, who enjoys making rude remarks to ministers, got a small dose of his own medicine. Business minister Claire Perry, 54, snapped at him in the Commons: ‘Blimey, you must be hell to live with.’ Ms Perry once wondered aloud if she needed to give Speaker John Bercow ‘a b***job’ to get called to speak.
JONATHAN Agnew, the BBC’s cricket correspondent, is trimming his hair with a set of electric clippers he bought – part of a costcutting exercise, I hear, to save him a monthly £10 barber bill. Agnew earns between £180,000 and £189,999 at the BBC.
WHILE Sir Cliff Richard won his high court privacy case against the BBC, whither journalist Dan Johnson, 33, who arranged and fronted the controversial coverage of the 2014 police raid on the pop veteran’s Berkshire home. He has recently landed temporary assignments in India and Thailand, humbly announcing on Twitter: ‘I’ve had to deal with people in the toughest conditions. It’s about being nice to people and an awful lot more.’ What a shame such generosity didn’t extend to Sir Cliff.