Ephraim Hardcastle
IS relentless criticism of our honours system now causing the Queen to be more choosy? HM has personal control of the Knights of the Garter, an elite group of 24 members, but it has five vacancies and no appointments have been made since 2019. Likewise the Order of Merit, to which the Queen can also appoint 24 people. Five vacancies there too and no appointments since 2015. ‘The various inquiries into alleged abuse by high-profile figures in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal is one reason cited privately by flunkeys,’ says a source.
A RECENT honours recipient tells me: ‘The worst aspect of the system is that the vast majority of recipients are nominated by those who know how to game the system.’ Some are frank about their bauble dreams. Joanna Lumley, pictured, tipped for a damehood in the latest list, admits in the latest Saga magazine: ‘If the Queen came in and said, “Joanna, I’m going to make you a dame,” I would drop the deepest curtsy you’ve ever seen”.’
VETERAN crooner Engelbert Humperdinck, 85, says that because of Covid he hasn’t received the MBE awarded last June. He adds cheerfully: ‘Having letters after my name means I’m finally able to differentiate myself from the 19th-century German composer of Hansel and Gretel. And Her Majesty the Queen made it possible!’ However, HM has differentiated him from rival Tom Jones, 81, on whom she bestowed a knighthood. Why? Top US business consultant Kevin Wash says: ‘Engelbert was huge back in the day and prefers to keep his style while Tom changed styles and has since been in huge demand.’ He advises companies to follow the Welshman’s example.
HAS the BBC’s racy three-parter about ultra-frisky Margaret, Duchess of Argyll been viewed at Windsor Castle? The story of how the bad egg 12th duke stole letters, diaries and Polaroid pictures showing his wife providing fellatio for a naked admirer might have triggered memories of a mysterious incident involving another Margaret – the Queen’s late sister. The 2008 film The Bank Job suggested that MI5 was involved in a raid of a branch of Lloyds Bank aimed at attaining saucy photos of Margaret with her lover Roddy Llewellyn on the island of Mustique in the early 1970s. Where are they are now?
SEX and violence are the dominant themes of Radio Times annual critics’ poll, with the magazine staff choosing their favourite shows of 2021. It’s A Sin, the C4 drama about the impact of Aids on London’s promiscuous gay scene in the 1980s, is the winner, followed closely by Netflix’s Sex Education and ultra-gory Korean fantasy Squid Game. RT used to be such a genteel publication. Whatever are they putting in the tea there?
BRENDA Blethyn, 75, back on TV tonight as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, wears SIX layers of padding. Presumably it’s to prevent her from becoming a Geordie sex symbol. She says: ‘They also keep me warm filming on these freezing Northumberland moors.’