Ephraim Hardcastle
HAS Harry’s pledge to stop writing tell-all memoirs, declaring: ‘There is nothing left to say,’ jeopardised his £33million publishing contract? Part of the deal promised a second memoir after Spare, which distressed the Royal Family and deepened the rift between the Prince and his brother William. With he and Meghan confirming that the public catcalling will cease, isn’t publisher Penguin entitled to a downward re-negotiation?
AS THE first royal to give evidence in court since 1891, Harry should have a less stressful experience than his ancestor Edward VII. During cross-examination, his face was ‘observed to flush considerably, and then pale again, showing the state of nervousness in which he found himself.’ At least Harry won’t have to contend with the Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, who was prone to falling asleep and had a pet ferret hidden in his ‘voluminous robes’.
WE Will Rock You co-author Ben Elton, appearing as the Rebel Leader in a new production of the Queen musical, recalls the critical panning it received after the 2002 premiere. ‘I sat next to one of the producers, Robert de Niro,’ he recalls of the opening night when the audience ‘loved it’. ‘He turned to me and said, “Well, it looks like we got our hit.” The next day he was devastated and sent me a note: “You British people eat your own.”’
DOUR Sadiq Khan seems to fancy himself as a comedian, declaring on a podcast: ‘I’m the king of the dad jokes,’ and revealing that before meeting Leonardo di Caprio, pictured, he prepared a gag about his Titanic character Jack’s farewell chat with Kate Winslet as the ship floundered. ‘You formulate a joke in your head and you think it’s really funny,’ says the London mayor with a straight face. ‘So I say, “You know what, Jack, I’d have made space on my raft for you.”’ The Khan sense of humour is clearly no laughing matter.
SHOULDN’T Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, recuse herself from today’s interrogation of ITV executives, where they are likely to be grilled over the Phillip Schofield revelations? Her father Fred was an ITV Meridian news anchor for 38 years, only recently retiring. And what about Konnie Huq’s sister Rupa? Konnie replaced Holly Willoughby as presenter of The Xtra Factor.
POLLY Toynbee, feverishly promoting her memoir in which she describes peering at Boris Johnson as a naked baby, reveals she mentioned her alarming encounter to Boris before writing about it. His reaction? ‘We probably have the same view of each other, which is equal distaste.’ Polly speaks truth to power, methinks.
CHARLES Moore, visiting Ukraine, receives firearms instruction with an AR15 rifle. ‘The paper target was Putin’s head,’ he tells The Spectator. ‘I got him in the end, though the first shot merely hit his shoulder.’ Press gang his lordship to the front line, pronto!