IT HAS BEEN A BAD MONTH FOR THE BBC
The BBC’s Director-General, George Entwistle, admitted responsibility for the mistakes, and resigned – causing a further scandal about why he was allowed to resign with a “golden handshake” of a full year’s salary when after serving only 54 days in office, he was technically entitled only to six months’ pay.
WILLIAM’S FRIEND TIES THE KNOT
It will be the society wedding of the year when Prince William’s oldest chum, Thomas van Straubenzee, is to walk up the aisle with the beautiful Lady Melissa Percy. Fittingly, the Royals and their inner circle will play a central role when the couple get married. Prince Harry’s old flame, Chelsy Davy, who is Missy’s best friend, is expected to be chief bridesmaid, and William’s pal, Guy Pelly, is likely to be the best man.
Tom runs VanHan, a successful high-end London property consultancy, which he set up with former Christie’s director, Giles Hannah four months ago.
Thomas proposed to Missy last month while staying at her family’s estate, Alnwick Castle in Northumberland – the castle doubles as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.
“It has been a whirlwind since the proposal but plans are already in motion for a wedding next summer at Alnwick”, said a close friend.
Old Harrovian Thomas – nicknamed Van – made a speech at last year’s Royal Wedding. Missy, 25, is a tennis coach at Queen’s Club in London, and is the younger sister of George Percy, who was a flatmate of Pippa Middleton at Edinburgh University.
McCARTNEYS TWO FEET FROM DISASTER IN HELICOPTER DRAMA
Sir Paul McCartney and his wife were just two feet away from disaster when the pilot of their helicopter became “disorientated” in bad weather and plunged towards trees. They avoided a potentially fatal crash with just a split second to spare when the pilot dramatically lifted the chartered Sikorsky S-76C away from the rain-lashed tree tops.
The drama happened as the aircraft, with the couple on board, attempted to land at night on a helipad at their East Sussex estate. It eventually touched down safely after diverting to a nearby airport.
It is understood that Sir Paul and his wife, Nancy Shevell – who declined to comment on the incident – were unaware how close they came to crashing.
The near miss is being investigated by the Department of Transport. According to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch report, the minimum reading from the helicopter’s altimeter was “two feet”. It is understood the fixed point was the tree tops rather than the ground.
The report also reveals flying conditions that night included “low cloudbase, poor visibility and rain”.
The helicopter was chartered from Air Harrods, which describes itself as the “leading London-based business aviation service provider”.
A spokesman for Air Harrods said: “Harrods Aviation are working in full cooperation with the AAIB which are currently investigating the incident.”
LONG MAY SHE ‘RAIN’!
A new book reveals that the most surprising part of the Queen’s wardrobe is her collection of umbrellas. About 30 bespoke brollies can be seen hanging in the Buckingham Palace cupboards – each one a perfect match for the monarch’s handmade outfits.
They are made for the Queen by Fulton umbrellas, which earned its first royal warrant in 1993 from the Queen Mother. Nigel Fulton, who succeeded his father Arnold as head of the company in 1996, said it was the Queen’s idea to match the trim, handle and tip of each umbrella with her clothes.
He said: “A lot of people view them as a commodity but the Queen has demonstrated they’re not just utility products. They can be beautiful and enhance her outfit and overall look.”
The extent of the collection emerged this week in royal dresser Angela Kelly’s book, Dressing the Queen. Kelly said: “It goes without saying that a good stock of umbrellas is a necessity for the British monarch.”
It takes the firm three months to manufacture a brolly to the colours supplied by Kelly. Only one of each colour is made and firm supplies the monarch with four to six umbrellas a year.
The Department for Transport stressed that the UK is one of the best-connected countries in the world. A spokesman said: “Maintaining that is vital to our economy.”
THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE TERRACE
A Grade One listed mansion overlooking Regent’s Park in central London, One Cornwall Terrace, has gone on sale for £100m – a world record for this type of house.
At that price, the buyer would have to stump up £7m in stamp duty and pay £1,369 a year in council tax to Westminster Council. Estate agent Savills has described it as “one of the most important private residences in London”.
The four-storey home has had a no-expense-spared makeover to be transformed into one of the capital’s premier “trophy homes”. It boasts seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 11 reception rooms spread over 21,500 sq ft. The end-of-terrace mansion also comes with a gym, swimming pool, gates with an automatic number plate recognition system and iPad controlled lighting.
Outside, it has a 120ft-long landscaped garden and a grand double staircase.
Cornwall Terrace was designed and built in the 1820s by renowned architect Decimus Burton with the project overseen by the acclaimed John Nash.
It became the official London residence of the New Zealand High Commissioner from 1955 until the 1970s, with lavish parties frequented by royalty and other members of high society.
HEATHROW’S THIRD RUNWAY?
Dutch aviation chiefs have brazenly launched a fresh campaign to promote Schiphol as a hub airport for Britain, cheekily nicknaming one of the six runways at the Amsterdam airport “Heathrow’s third runway”.
A new advert unveiled last week boasts of more than 100 daily flights from the UK to Schiphol, with connections to more than 275 destinations around the globe.
The Schiphol Group president, Jos Nijhuis, said: “Each year we serve seven million passengers to and from Britain. In September, UK business travellers voted us best European airport for the 23rd time. We are proud to be the UK’s preferred non-British airport.”
The Dutch airport stressed that it serves 23 destinations in Britain, compared with Gatwick’s 12 and Heathrow’s seven. But it strongly denied rumours it plans a seventh runway to become Britain’s top hub airport if no more runways are built here in coming years.
KRAZY FOR THE KARDASHIANS
Hordes of screaming teenage girls turned out for an all-girl group last month – American reality-TV stars, the Kardashians.
Thousands of fans descended on London’s Westfield shopping centre to see sisters Kourtney, Kim and Khloe, launch their clothing range, the Kardashian Kollection, for Dorothy Perkins.
Police and security guards struggled to contain the throng and several fans received medical attention before Sir Philip Green, who owns Dorothy Perkins, spoke to the crowd in a bid to calm the situation.
The stars of Keeping Up With The Kardashians said how much they enjoyed meeting their British fans.
“The response has been amazing”, said Kim, 32, who like her sisters wore an outfit from the clothing range.
Sir Philip said: “You can see how popular the girls are here. The three of them have different looks, so they have a broad appeal.”
The collection includes bodycon dresses, pencil skirts and clutch bags.
FINALLY
As the elephant with a knot in his trunk said: “I can’t remember what it is that I’m never supposed to forget.”