Irascible motormouth Jeremy Clarkson, who was involved in a long-running dispute with officials over his farm in the Cotswolds, has come up with a cunning ruse to avoid a row at the pub he’s bought.
Instead of Clarkson’s name being above the door of the boozer near Burford in Oxfordshire, he has asked one of the Duke of Sussex’s old friends to handle the application.
I can disclose that the licence to serve alcohol was transferred to a company called Baobab Operations Ltd last month.
The firm is run by Johnny Hornby, the advertising king who was chairman of Prince Harry’s African charity Sentebale.
Hornby’s business partner, Mark Devereux, also has his name on the application.
They have already got the go-ahead to serve booze at what was the failing Windmill ale house, which Clarkson bought for £1 million. His team of builders is currently at work in the premises, but he has admitted it might not be ready to open until next year.
Former Top Gear host Clarkson has been involved in a long-running row with bosses at West Oxfordshire District Council over parking issues at his Diddly Squat Farm Shop.
Last summer, I disclosed that Hornby, 57, had stood down as a trustee of Sentebale, the charity Harry co-founded in 2006 to tackle HIV and help vulnerable children in Africa. He had been a trustee for 11 years, five of which he spent as chairman.
Clarkson, who was already involved in a brewing operation with Hornby, wrote a notorious article for The Sun (for which he later apologised) in 2022, saying he hated Harry’s wife, Meghan, on ‘a cellular level’.
Punk violinist Nigel Kennedy strikes a discordant note about Gareth Southgate. Witheringly, he says of the England manager’s style of play: ‘If you can call it football.’ Aston Villa fan Kennedy, 67, is upset the club’s former star Jack Grealish was omitted from his squad. ‘Jack’s a wonderful player,’ he tells me at the Henley Festival. ‘He’s faced a lot of hard things, and he’s treated like s*** by Southgate, who only worries about what people think of what he says.’ He adds: ‘Southgate out!’
Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, who gave a spine-tingling performance of the national anthem at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last week, has something to sing about when it comes to her finances.
The actress, who turns 50 this month, made a £1.2 million profit at H K Waddingham, the artistic creation company into which she channels her earnings.
New figures also reveal that she had amassed £1.5 million worth of assets as of last October, including £1.2 million in cash.
Does Prince William jinx teams he turns up to support? The question’s prompted by the contrasting performances of two of his sides on Sunday. The heir to the throne was, of course, in Berlin to see England slip to another defeat in a final. Meanwhile, at home, another of his sides was cantering to victory in his absence — the polo team of the Welsh Guards, the regiment of which William is Colonel. They defeated the Household Cavalry in the final of the Inter Regimental Cup, helped by a star player from Chelsea. Viscount Chelsea, in fact.
Emily Thornberry, snubbed by Sir Keir Starmer for the role of Attorney General, was behind bars yesterday — alongside John Bercow, disgraced former Commons Speaker, and Noel ‘Razor’ Smith. It was, I can disclose, thanks to their part in a £300,000 job.
But before there’s a chorus of ‘throw away the key’, I should point out that they were at a ‘Special Event’ at HMP Pentonville, orchestrated by inmate-turned-chaplain, Jonathan Aitken, who’s also a trustee of the Friends of Pentonville charity, which pulled in that £300,000 in its first year, in an entirely legitimate manner. ‘John Bercow was my personal adviser when I was in the Cabinet,’ Aitken tells me, explaining that he’d lured him inside to initiate a programme about public speaking — ‘interviewing skills, job interviews, voice projection’. Just about in order, then.
Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth’s ex-wife, Livia, has revealed that she’s recovering from breast-cancer surgery.
The film maker and eco-campaigner, 54, says early diagnosis of her condition has probably saved her life. ‘A few weeks ago, thanks to regular yearly mammogram, my doctor made an early diagnosis,’ Livia says. ‘The beginning of a cancer which would have turned real bad in few months and which I promptly removed and now it’s gone.
‘I am so grateful as I have the privilege of access to great medical care, so aware that there are millions who do not and I am not taking any of it for granted.’
Some stylish women would look good even in a bin bag.
Hollywood star Sienna Miller, for her part, has proved that she can wear a tablecloth to a wedding and still appear chic.
Designer Matthew Williamson has revealed that he used a tablecloth to create the dress Sienna wore to the wedding of socialite Poppy Delevingne back in 2014.
‘When Sienna asked me to make her a white dress for a wedding in Marrakesh, I used a French vintage lace tablecloth and we patchworked it together in the hallway of my London home,’ he says online about this photograph.
The dress lasted longer than Poppy’s marriage to James Cook, which ended in 2022.