Ephraim Hardcastle
THE Queen confirmed she’s no sentimentalist when her horse Forth Bridge won at Kempton on Saturday. Sharing the code name of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral plans, the 7/1 winner’s unlikely link to Philip is appropriate. After two and a half miles in the Kempton mud, the horse showed that, just like the Duke, he’s a stayer.
PETER O’Toole’s daughter Kate raised a glass or three on Sunday at Albert Finney’s wake, recalling his lifelong friendship with her dad. Coincidentally, both were sons of bookmakers, O’Toole’s penniless, Finney’s wealthy. Says Kate: ‘The night before they auditioned for Rada on the same day, Dad slept in the back of a truck while Albie slept at the Dorchester.’ Aptly Albert, vetoing a formal funeral, chose a jazz-infused hooley at the Dorchester for his farewell.
FRANCE’S combative Europe minister Nathalie Loiseau, no doubt fancying herself as a wag, has named her new cat Brexit. ‘He wakes me up miaowing like mad because he wants to be let out,’ says Ms Loiseau, 54. ‘As soon as I open the door, he stands in the middle, unsure about whether he wants to go out or not. When I put him out, he gives me an evil look.’ Stick to the day job Nathalie.
THE christening of Zara, pictured, and Mike Tindall’s daughter Lena was not recorded in the Court Circular; nor was her sister Mia’s five years ago. Similarly, Lena’s cousins Savannah and Isla, daughters of Peter Phillips, weren’t noted for posterity. Why? They are descended from Princess Anne and, under rules laid down by George V in 1917, children of the monarch’s daughters hold no royal rank. Because Harry’s dad is a son of the monarch, the baptism of Meghan’s imminent baby will be in the Court Circular.
BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, 57, showing off his £3,000 Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox wristwatch in the Financial Times How to Spend it supplement, reveals he didn’t want to take the newsreading role when offered it by then DG John Birt in 1993. ‘I’d rather stay at Westminster,’ he told Birt, who replied: ‘You start on May 10.’
THE late Harry Worth’s comedy show once had a storyline where he gathered his friends around the TV to watch him in the crime series Z Cars. He was bumped off just after the opening credits. Daniel Mays suffered a similar fate in series three of the BBC’s Line of Duty, albeit surviving until the end of the first episode. Was he annoyed with writer Jed Mercurio? ‘I remember being a bit p***** off,’ he says sweetly.
ECCENTRIC explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, sleeping in his Ford Mondeo to avoid exorbitant London hotel rates, has been endorsed by his film star cousin Ralph, who says: ‘If he can get a good night’s sleep in his Mondeo, why waste £300, £500, on an expensive hotel?’