Ephraim Hardcastle
LORD Bramall’s death deprives the Order of the Garter of its longestserving member. Finding suitable candidates for HM’s highest order of chivalry was marred by Operation Midland wreaking havoc with innocent lives. But the Queen had no doubts about Bramall’s innocence. At the height of the spurious abuse claims that were made about him, she pointedly installed him in the seat of honour on Garter Day. Unlike chancers like Tom Watson, she was ultimately vindicated.
THE Crown departs from reality with the Queen discovering in 1964 that her Surveyor of Pictures Anthony Blunt was a Russian spy, rather than her new PM Harold Wilson. In fact her father King George VI knew he was a traitor and likely shared the information with his heir. His private secretary Tommy Lascelles routinely referred to Blunt as ‘our Russian spy’.
JACOB rees-Mogg owes much to Nigel Farage. In the 2015 General election, he quoted Farage in his leaflet, saying: ‘Jacob is one of the most decent, honest and honourable people we have in Parliament. he is a straightforward good bloke.’ And in 2017, Ukip didn’t field a candidate against him, giving Moggy a 10,000 majority. Now Farage has done him another favour by not contesting Somerset.
ACADEMICS convene tomorrow at County Kildare’s Maynooth University to critically examine the position of Kylie Minogue, 51, pictured, as a cultural icon. Maynooth’s Dr Stephen O’Neill says of what is being billed as the Kylie Convention: ‘We will also look at Kylie’s status as an older pop star and what it means to negotiate age and femaleness in the pop industry.’ Not a lot going on in Irish academia in November.
TONIGHT BBC1 continues its six-part plug for Sainsbury’s, Inside The Supermarket, the sort of coverage that money can’t buy at the ad-free corporation. Over on BBC2, MasterChef staff will be applying black tape on all product labels. Strange world.
RICHARD Branson warns Australians about their use of coal, urging a revolution in clean energy. Pity the occasion for this earnest lecture was his launch of a jumbo maritime carbon footprint in the shape of a new Virgin cruise line.
BEN Daniels, Lord Snowdon in The Crown, asked by radio Times if he’s ever met royalty, replies: ‘Princess Margaret, actually [at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art]. I had pink hair at the time and she just pointed and went, “You’re bright,” meaning my hair. That was the entire conversation but it was enough to carry me through the years.’
AFTER 15 years poking his You’re Fired finger at chinless boobies in BBC’s The Apprentice, Lord Sugar vows to persist, saying: ‘I think I would max out at 20 years.’ Hasn’t he entertained us long enough?