Ephraim Hardcastle
ALTHOUGH Eton Provost William Waldegrave seems content to remain in post, might Boris Johnson consider this plum sinecure after No 10? A handy salary of £133,000 plus a desirable house – far more spacious than his current flat – would allow him to write columns and books free from the stress of running the country. And Waldegrave could nominate him as successor. The post is in the Queen’s gift and Waldegrave has HM’s ear. His sister Lady Susan Hussey is the senior lady-in-waiting.
TEST Match Special returns this week as the England team take on New Zealand at Lord’s, but some old soaks think TMS hasn’t been as good since the BBC banned booze from the commentary box. Says one: ‘John Arlott would arrive each day with a small case laden with the finest wines and the first cork was pulled, live on air, around midday.’ Wasn’t life grand?
ANDREW Neil pokes fun at Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries’s TikTok video – she performed a rap to highlight internet safety plans – by performing a spoof one of his own on his latest Channel 4 show. Nadine, pictured, responds: ‘[Top rapper] Nicki Minaj won’t be losing any sleep.’
ONCE devoted to the late Princess of Wales, Arthur Edwards MBE, 81, the eminent royal photographer, remarks in an interview: ‘You know what? Camilla is nicer than Diana. Easier to get on with. Diana used to have her moods, and when she died she wasn’t talking to her mother or Sarah Ferguson because of silly rows. You don’t get that with the Duchess of Cornwall.’
FORMER amateur rider Sir Rupert Mackeson, a friend of the late Lester Piggott for more than 60 years, recalls their first encounter: ‘I was spending my summer holidays from Harrow working as an unpaid stable lad at the yard of Bryan Marshall. I was in the area meant for luggage at the back of Marshall’s sports car ready to be taken to Windsor races, when Bryan said to Lester, “Get in there with Rupert.” Lester said, “There’s not much room.” Bryan replied, “Put your legs round each other like a pair of puppies.” Lester complied but one wouldn’t get away with treating a Derbywinning jockey like that now.’
CAUGHT in the football crowd chaos before Saturday’s Champions League final in Paris, ex-Tory leader and Liverpool fan Michael Howard, 80, tells Radio 4: ‘The crush grew worse and worse. I was separated from my wife at times. The Liverpool fans were great. They said, “Don’t worry, we’ll look after her”.’ Lady Howard, 82, said: ‘We were stuck at Gate C, near suffocating, all waving valid tickets that had been checked twice and still refused entry, gates kept locked.’ Shouldn’t the PM summon the French ambassador for an explanation? Unless that would upset his father, Stanley Johnson, who has become a French citizen?
WHAT’S left in HM’s bauble box? Next month Camilla will be Gartered and we will find out if Kate will succeed Andrew as colonel of the Grenadier Guards. And what about Andrew? Wouldn’t he be an admiral by now if he hadn’t had that TV chat with Emily Maitlis?