EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Ex-royal butler Paul Burrell rages at Disney plans to air taped Princess Diana conversation
Ubiquitous ex-royal butler Paul Burrell rages at Disney’s forthcoming broadcast of Princess Diana’s 1991 taped conversations with pal Dr James Colthurst.
‘I’m very upset,’ he mewls. ‘These tapes were made originally not to published.’ Burrell kept copies of the tapes in his Cheshire loft, which were taken during a police raid in 2001 (he was later cleared of stealing the princess’s possessions).
‘Diana gave them to me for safekeeping,’ he insists. ‘I told the Queen what I had for safekeeping. They left my presence, my home, and now we’re seeing what happens when things are not kept safe.’
As the late filmmaker Michael Winner advised: ‘Calm down, dear!’
Ubiquitous ex-royal butler Paul Burrell (pictured) rages at Disney’s forthcoming broadcast of Princess Diana’s 1991 taped conversations with pal Dr James Colthurst
With more than 100 schools and other buildings found to be unsafe, what about the modernist National Theatre.
Its concrete architecture was attacked by the then Prince of Wales, now King, as resembling a nuclear power station.
If the theatre had to be knocked down because of safety concerns, would Charles dance a private jig at Buckingham Palace?
One cherished possession of the late Freddie Mercury not coming under the hammer in Sotheby’s sale was his collection of rare koi carp.
The Queen frontman adored the 89 fish, costing about £10,000 each, which were kept in a specially designed pond at his Kensington home where he died from Aids in 1991.
Eleven years later, a gardener cleaning the pond accidentally starved the fish of oxygen and they went to join Freddie in the great celestial arena in the sky.
One cherished possession of the late Freddie Mercury (pictured) not coming under the hammer in Sotheby’s sale was his collection of rare koi carp
Michael Cockerell, introducing his BBC Four political documentary series – which starts on Monday with a profile of Ted Heath – recalls crusty Tory backbencher Sir Tufton Beamish approaching concert pianist Dame Moura Lympany.
‘Ted needs a wife,’ he declared. ‘Why don’t you marry him?’ She replied: ‘I’m honoured. But I love someone else.’
Clive Myrie, feverishly promoting his memoir, Everything Is Everything, pays tribute to wife Catherine, who followed him around the world on his BBC assignments including to Washington.
Swimming in the pool at the US capital’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, she mistook Barack Obama for Clive. Specsavers, Mrs Myrie!
Evergreen Lady Antonia Fraser recalls winning a bet with the Duke of Devonshire that she could dance with then US vice- president Lyndon Johnson at a Jamaican Independence party.
Johnson took the floor with Antonia on condition that she remained silent. ‘After a bit I gasped: ‘I think Mrs Lady Bird Johnson looks wonderful tonight,’ she tells The Spectator.
‘The vice-president looked at me with disgust, ‘Yah do, do yah?’ he replied, dropping his arms and striding off the floor.’
Recalling Keith Richards’ appearance on his US chat show, Jimmy Fallon – in London to help launch The Rolling Stones’ new album – said the guitarist was told off by a fire marshal for smoking backstage.
‘You can’t smoke,’ the official said. ‘I know, it’s bad for my health,’ Richards replied.
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