Highlighting the breakdown in relations with one-time friend and Monty Python comrade John Cleese, Eric Idle now confirms: “I haven’t seen him for 10 years.” They last toured together as a duo in 2016, but have since bitterly fallen out over the management of Python’s finances. After Idle publicly blamed the comedy troupe’s modern-day manager Holly Gilliam (daughter of fellow Python Terry Gilliam) for “income streams tailing off disastrously”, Cleese came to her defence. Praising "efficient, clear-minded and hard-working" Holly, he added of Eric: "He has bullied her for several years, and we all think it's shameful.”
While Brian Cox’s acclaimed portrayal of ruthless media mogul Logan Roy in Succession was famously based on Rupert Murdoch, his actor son Alan Cox is about to portray the man himself. Cox junior, 55, stars as Murdoch in upcoming play In The Print at London’s King’s Head Theatre. Rupert, who turned 95 this week, could be forgiven for thinking there’s a Cox family vendetta!
Footage of Miriam Margolyes’s cringeworthy encounter with Queen Camilla this week - she urged Her Majesty to tell the King to “take no notice of anyone who criticises him, because he's just wonderful” - reminded me that our late monarch had less patience with the attention-seeking actress. While Camilla awkwardly acknowledged Miriam’s latest attempt to hog the spotlight, Queen Elizabeth once bluntly ordered the star to “be quiet!”
Long-accustomed to being recognised since his breakthrough role as “King of the North” Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, Kit Harington dutifully agreed to pose with foreign tourists when approached for a picture in Westminster.
After Kit took centre stage with the assembled group, it was awkwardly pointed out by bemused visitors that this unknown Englishman was only required to take their photograph by Big Ben.
Forty-five years since he memorably starred in Oscar-winning movie classic Chariots of Fire, Nigel Havers now refuses to visit the cinema.
The snooty star says the final straw was a dispiriting evening in London’s Leicester Square, when he and wife Georgiana found themselves seated next to a couple tucking into a pungent curry. “I thought, ‘Bugger this, I’m not hanging around!’” Nigel huffs. "That was the last time I went to the cinema."
Flogging her official “Mother’s Day Bouquet”, canny Dame Joan Collins mischievously announces: “If you want to spoil the woman who raised you...or put up with you.”
Thankfully relations with her artist offspring Alexander Newley are again harmonious: son of the late Anthony Newley, he made headlines a decade ago after unflatteringly labelling mother Joan a “narcissist”.
Spare a thought for leading London showbiz agents, battling of late to secure spots on the next series of The Celebrity Traitors for high-profile clients. With so many publicity-hungry stars desperate to ride the wave of the show’s success, there'll be some disappointed folk out there...
