Ephraim Hardcastle
WHEN Meghan visited Malta in 2015 she explored the haunts of her great-great-grandmother Mary who was born on the island before moving to the US. She was even photographed in a ghonella, a traditional hooded shawl which her buzbuznanna Mary probably wore. She declared: ‘This feels like home.’ Exploring her heritage, she described it as ‘magical’, adding: ‘I’m fitting in a piece of the puzzle.’ Proud of being 43 per cent Nigerian, isn’t it grand that Meghan is also part Maltese?
DAME Joan Collins made a splendid speech at the Carlton Club’s sardinepacked Churchill Room to launch my colleague Andrew Pierce’s memoir, Finding Margaret. Dame Joan – cheered by the likes of Norman Lamont, Nigel Farage, Jeffrey Archer and Feargal Sharkey – spoke for just slightly shorter than the six minutes ‘blink and you’ll miss her’ ex-PM Liz Truss stayed at the do.
BROOKLYN star Saoirse Ronan, pictured, has been presented with a copy of writer Colm Toibin’s new sequel to the novel, the adaptation of which was nominated for three Oscars. But Toibin would prefer to forget his experience of the Academy Awards. ‘Generally, I think it’s really important for novelists to go to those awards to realise you’re nobody and you’re nothing,’ he explains. ‘And if you said to anyone, “I’m the guy that wrote that”, they would say, “Are you famous? No, you’re not famous. You are some bald guy from Ireland”.’
LOOKING back on meeting the late Queen after hosting one of his many London Palladium shows, Jimmy Tarbuck recalls: ‘She asked me, “How many of these have you done now?” I said, “Four more than you!” The Queen smiled and said, “It certainly seemed like it tonight”.’ Proud royalist Tarby fondly adds: ‘ That’s your hand smacked!’
WHEN Frank Ifield, who has died at the age of 86, was a bigger star than The Beatles, he shared a teenage girlfriend Iris Caldwell with Paul McCartney. She played him the band’s Please Please Me and reported back to McCartney. ‘Frank just burst out laughing,’ she said. Macca was devastated.
STEPHEN Merchant’s crime series The Outlaws does not, alas, feature his childhood acquaintance described as the world’s laziest burglar. Having broken into a house he lingered until the owner returned. Merchant tells Radio Times: ‘Dave, what are you doing?’ said the homeowner. ‘I’m not called Dave,’ said Dave. ‘I know who you are, Dave,’ said the homeowner. ‘You live next door.’