Ephraim Hardcastle
WHEN then PM Theresa May agreed to a £369million refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, the intention was to maintain it as a royal residence. Since then it has been thought that Prince Charles as king would have an office there, but would sleep elsewhere. The palace might become a moneyspinning museum. The short summer openings brought in around £12million a year in pre-pandemic times. Open all year, the revenue might rise to £70million and beyond. However if the palace is to become a commercial concern, isn’t the taxpayer (i.e. the Treasury) due a rebate on our £369million investment and a slice of the annual revenue? ‘Charles has decided he will sleep at the palace from time to time and it’s hoped the Treasury will lose interest,’ suggests my source.
STILL rockin’ as he turns 83 on Friday, Marty Wilde admits: ‘I wanted to be Elvis. Everybody did – myself, Cliff [Richard], Billy Fury. Eight or nine people were potential clones. After a short time, though, you realise you’re not Elvis. I had to be Marty Wilde.’ And before that, Reg Smith.
FRANCE’S most famous animal rights defender, actress Brigitte Bardot, has attacked president Emmanuel Macron – calling him ‘the Putin of the natural and animal world’ and a ‘bloodstained destroyer, both contemptuous and contemptible’. (She was at her best in the 1963 film Contempt, pictured.) Macron pleased the hunting lobby by halving their licence fees and refused to impose further restrictions. In return, the head of the million-strong Hunters’ Federation endorsed him in what BB, 87, calls ‘a sordid accord’ born out of Macron’s ‘cowardice and indignity’. Music to the ears of his electoral opponent, Marine Le Pen.
WRITER Harriet Sergeant reports: ‘I’m on holiday in Sharm El Sheikh [in Egypt]. Our hotel is deserted and peaceful on this normally-packed Easter week. What’s happened?’ She is told by the hotel manager: ‘The Russians aren’t here.’
CHRIS Tarrant, due to reunite with Sally James for Tiswas: The Reunion as part of the Slapstick Festival in Bristol on Saturday, recalls: ‘When we started we had the field clear. And Noel [Edmonds] came whimpering in after a couple of years with his lacklustre Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and his fourth division footballer’s haircut, and he did a sort of copy of Tiswas without water, without custard, without kids, and actually, without any fun.’ No doubt Edmonds has a different perspective.
PROMOTING his new TV series, Chivalry, comedian Steve (Alan Partridge) Coogan reflects on his less-than-chivalrous past: ‘As a man, you rewind and look at your behaviour.’ Quite so. Model Nancy Sorrell, the wife of fellow comedian Vic Reeves, claimed that he caddishly made love to her on a bed strewn with £5,000 in £10 notes.
ORGANISERS of the London Film & Comic Con fan convention, which runs from July 8-10, have taken out ads detailing many of the stars expected to attend. Their vintage photos are captioned with stills from the films in which they appeared. Among them is ‘Henry Thomas of ET’. Will Henry be recognised? He starred in ET, released in 1982, when he was 11.