Ephraim Hardcastle
WITH Theresa May about to invite Donald Trump to make a state visit to Britain, she might also suggest something the President could do for the Queen – offer HM the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is garlanded with foreign honours, but this isn’t one of them. The medal is awarded for ‘an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours’. Tony Blair got one!
THE choice of David Beckham, 41, as castaway for the 75th anniversary edition of Desert Island Discs is intriguing. Is it an indication that his long-awaited knighthood is imminent? The 1,000th edition featured Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. Former PM John Major starred in its golden jubilee edition. For the 70th anniversary they chose Sir David Attenborough, who shares his record of four appearances with the late comic Arthur Askey.
THE Duchess of Cornwall, pictured, who is partial to a stiff gin, or a decent glass of white wine, hosts a reception for the UK Vineyard Association at Clarence House today. Later, Camilla is installed as an honorary liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Vintners. Bottoms up!
ITV News anchor Tom Bradby, a friend of Princes William and Harry, lends gravitas and sophistication to ITV’s late-night bulletin, say chums. So they’re disappointed to learn that News at Ten is being bumped off its famous slot by a vulgar-sounding, US-style entertainment called The Nightly Show, which, enthuses ITV, will feature ‘hilarious pranks’ and ‘celebrities’.
HUMAN rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, 65 today, says: ‘I’ve protested against Henry Kissinger, Pope Benedict, Nick Griffin, Augusto Pinochet, PW Botha, Mike Tyson, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Benjamin Netanyahu, Tony Blair and Presidents Brezhnev, Mugabe, Ahmadinejad, Bush, Suharto and Musharraf. I’ve been violently assaulted 300 times including three arson attacks on my flat, a bullet through the letter box and more than 50 bottles and bricks through the windows. Retirement hasn’t entered my head. I carry on.’ Look out, President Trump!
PRIVATE Eye founder Richard Ingrams, 79, says he has been interviewed over the phone by Wiltshire police about the magazine’s coverage of then PM Edward Heath in the early 1970s. ‘They had obviously looked through old copies of the Eye where we described Ted as Sailor Heath. They asked me if I had any evidence he was a paedophile! What a waste of time and public money.’
RE Private Eye, Left-wing heiress Emma Tennant, who has died aged 79, was described by the magazine in the 1960s as ‘the girl who put the Che in Cheyne Walk’. When she and Eye co-founder Christopher Booker married, Richard Ingrams seized the editorship during their honeymoon. Forgiving Booker, 79, still writes jokes for the magazine.