Ephraim Hardcastle
WITH a question mark over the £4billion rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, what of the £369million refurbishment of Buckingham Palace? The ten-year project had already commenced before the pandemic and was designed to take place while the Queen was in residence. She only spent around 80 nights there last year and is known to dislike living there. Major restoration work has now been paused. And with HM’s open-ended isolation in Windsor there is no indication when, or if, she will return to her official home atop the Mall.
GLORIOUS Goodwood owner the Duke of Richmond has sent emails to members of his motor and horseracing clubs. With all events cancelled, the members hoped for refunds of annual subscriptions (£384 for horse and £235 for motor racing). Instead, His Grace invites them to buy £10-£25 raffle tickets in aid of NHS charities. Clearly, charity begins from his home.
BRAVEHEART star Mel Gibson, pictured, refuses to apologise to the Scots for the inaccurate face paint in his William Wallace epic, explaining: ‘I’m in the business of cinema. I’m not a f***ing historian.’ How does he explain the wearing of yet-tobe invented spectacles by two soldier extras at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298?
ACTRESS Michelle Collins tweets Jeremy Vine, blaming the pandemic for the cancellation of a three-and-a-half-month national tour of The Birthday Party, prompting one viewer to respond: ‘People pay you to attend their birthday party?? Wow.’ At least Harold Pinter couldn’t react with an explosive tweet. He’s dead.
TIGHT-FISTED millionaire Steve Coogan, obliging the taxpayer to pay his housekeeper and gardener, famously helped himself to the hotel buffet using an oversized plate he carried about in his briefcase as moronic TV presenter Alan Partridge. Art imitating life?
HARRY’S Bar co-founder and Orient Express entrepreneur Jim Sherwood departs to join ex-partner Mark Birley in the celestial VIP banquette. Lots to talk about in the afterlife, particularly Jim’s bitter dispute with Mark’s son Robin over ownership of Harry’s after Mark’s death. The row split London’s high society, with Sir Evelyn de Rothschild attempting to mediate and Spectator columnist Taki furiously defending Robin. At least Birley junior paid Sherwood £10million for his share before he joined the heavenly brotherhood.
ANNA Wintour’s betrayal by Vogue sidekick Leon Talley would have saddened my late colleague Nigel Dempster, who courted her in the 1960s and always remained loyal. He recalled that her father, Charles Wintour, then editor of London’s Evening Standard, eavesdropped on their drawing room courting rituals. ‘I heard a slight noise once and noticed his suede-clad feet projecting from under the curtains, which as you can imagine put a damper on proceedings.’