Ephraim Hardcastle
PRINCE Andrew, his reputation sullied by the Epstein scandal, might ruefully recall better times like 1992’s Windsor Castle fire when he was hailed a hero for alerting the Queen and organising the swift rescue of irreplaceable treasures. Now even that noble feat is to be downgraded. A forthcoming episode of The Crown features the fire and focuses on the distress of the Queen, played by Imelda Staunton, rather than Andrew’s crucial role in saving all but two paintings from the conflagration. With the factual depiction of Andrew as saviour diminished, has his fall from grace turned into a plummet?
THE Crown, oft criticised for getting its royal history in a muddle, omitted Jimmy Savile from the latest season. Says a source: ‘The creators felt it would be insensitive for such a sadistic predator to have even a second of airtime.’ Unlike the BBC, which will have Steve Coogan playing the paedophile in mini-series The Reckoning.
WHAT is it with Dame Eileen Atkins and Hollywood heartthrobs? Famously turning down a tryst with Colin Farrell, she now discloses a curious encounter with Jack Nicholson on the set of Wolf, telling Radio Times: ‘We’d barely been introduced and were about to do a shot when I noticed his flies were undone, so I told him. Jack couldn’t have cared less, said thank you and zipped himself up. But for everyone else, you’d have thought I’d lifted the Pope’s gowns and shown his knickers. Ridiculous!’
BARRY Humphries’ enthusiasm for ITV’s The Professionals, particularly the girls who took part, is explained. His wife Lizzie Spender, pictured, daughter of poet Sir Stephen Spender, appeared in a 1980 episode driving a TR7 sports car. Her role was cut because she was taller than both Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins.
AS Ed Miliband left the stage at the Henley Literary Festival on Sunday, he was replaced by Ruby Wax. ‘I’ve warmed the crowd up for you,’ ventured Red Ed cheerily. ‘Hey Ed, you’re my fluffer!’ replied Ruby. A ‘fluffer’ is the term for individuals used on porn film sets to keep male actors, ahem, primed for action when the cameras roll. The title of Ed’s new book on solving the world’s problems? ‘Go Big’.
BOOKER-WINNING author Dame Penelope Lively, who insists her new short stories will be her last, adds of her advancing years on Radio 4’s Today: ‘Rather mercifully, what comes with it is no longer wanting lots of things you wanted before. One of the joys of old age from my point of view is the thought I shall never see Heathrow again.’
OLD Fleet Street bade farewell to Paul Callan yesterday at St Bride’s Church and his friend Jeremy Deedes recalled the journalist’s accidental killing of Doris Day’s dog. He was with a photographer when he lobbed a ball through the open window of her 25th-floor Hollywood apartment – and the pooch followed it out. Arriving the next day to collect promised photos of her pet, a forgiving Doris asked Callan how much he wanted for the snaps. ‘Nothing,’ he replied. ‘Just sing Que Sera Sera.’ She did, accompanied by an out of tune Callan.