Ephraim Hardcastle
PINK Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s stepson Charlie, 26, jailed in 2011 for disrespecting the war dead at the Cenotaph, must wonder why comic Vic Reeves hasn’t been reprimanded for defiling a Mayfair statue of Sir Winston Churchill, dressing it in a reverse baseball cap and sneakers for a BBC 4 arts documentary on Dadaism. Reeves, 57, asks. ‘Is it a student prank? It feels like it!’ The jury will retire and consider its verdict of guilty.
DAVID Cameron’s contentious Honours List prompts Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, 57, chairman of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee, to consider asking Dave to justify the crony list. But is he one to lecture? His dad – Patrick Jenkin – was elevated to the Lords by Mrs Thatcher after she sacked him from her Cabinet. Enthusiastic nudist Bernard’s wife – Anne, 60, a former squeeze of screenwriter Richard Curtis – was promoted to the Lords in 2011 by none other than Mr Cameron. Those in glass houses …
FORMER culture secretary John Whittingdale, 56, never claimed to be an arts aficionado but, compared to his successor, Karen Bradley, pictured, he is a veritable Renaissance man. Karen, 46, confides to the Stoke Sentinel: ‘I have read every Morse, Dalziel and Pascoe, Frost and Rebus that’s been printed, and have mourned the passing of far too many characters over the years – many of whom came to very sticky ends.’ Has she any colouring-in books I wonder?
THE death, at 64, of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, the youngest member of the Knights of the Garter, leaves a gap in the oldest order of chivalry in the world. Air Chief Marshal Lord Stirrup, 66, is now the youngest with Lord Carrington, 97, the oldest. Vacancies are becoming increasingly hard to fill with a dearth of suitable candidates. The remaining 22 Garter Knights have a combined age of 1,775, averaging 81. Steradent anyone?
RE Grosvenor: One of his first acts on succeeding to the family’s 300-acre property empire in Belgravia in 1979 was to advise the NHS that it didn’t own the site of St George’s Hospital on Hyde Park Corner. He did. His distant ancestor Thomas, 5th Baronet had granted a lease in 1733 with the caveat that if it ever ceased to be a hospital his successor could buy it back for the original purchase price: £20,000. Now occupied by the five-star Lanesborough Hotel, the site was worth more than £20million in 1980 when the hospital closed and moved to Tooting, south London. There were no flies on Gerald.
WITH AN estimated fortune in excess of £30million, Bob Geldof, 64, surely doesn’t need the relative small change available for corporate after-dinner speaking. Let’s hope it goes to good causes, but strange that Bob’s agent, which is touting for business for the Live Aid founder – who begged millions for charity, warns: ‘Please note: we are unable to assist with any charitable or personal requests for any of the talent featured on our website.’