EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: The King is inspired by George VI 

King Charles, feverishly working on his first Christmas broadcast, is seeking guidance not from his mother – the late Queen – but from his grandfather George VI. ‘He has been inspired by the memory of his grandfather,’ royal historian Hugo Vickers tells Radio Times. ‘He cannot do things exactly the same way as Elizabeth II, but George VI was his last male predecessor as king and so a good role model.’ He adds: ‘Let us hope the benign example of his grandfather does indeed inspire him.’

King Charles, feverishly working on his first Christmas broadcast, is seeking guidance not from his mother – the late Queen – but from his grandfather George VI

‘He has been inspired by the memory of his grandfather,’ royal historian Hugo Vickers tells Radio Times. ‘He cannot do things exactly the same way as Elizabeth II, but George VI was his last male predecessor as king and so a good role model’

French actress Mylene Demongeot, who has died aged 87, lunched with an 11-year-old Prince Charles when he visited Pinewood Studios during the shooting of 1959’s Upstairs And Downstairs. ‘I had nothing to say to him and he nothing to me,’ she recalled. ‘But eventually he leaned over and said, ‘What time will you be getting into your bathing costume?’ I was in a black rage!’ She added: ‘C’est un sagouin [what a dirty little pig].’

James Norton, reprising his role as villain Tommy Lee Royce in the latest Happy Valley series, admits being disconcerted at viewers believing he was the terrifying psychopath. ‘I was at a gig and some people saw me and screamed,’ he tells Radio Times. ‘A woman came up to me on the street, grabbed my neck and shouted, ‘You’re a monster!’ She then caught herself and said, ‘I’m so sorry, that was really inappropriate.’ Was James ever bothered when he was the saintly vicar Sidney in Grantchester?

James Norton, reprising his role as villain Tommy Lee Royce in the latest Happy Valley series, admits being disconcerted at viewers believing he was the terrifying psychopath

Recalling her 1994 appearance in her iconic black Versace dress held together by jumbo gold safety pins, Elizabeth Hurley, pictured, claims she and then boyfriend Hugh Grant were surprised by the sensation it caused. ‘We had absolutely no idea,’ she tells the Just For Variety podcast. ‘Hugh and I lived together in a tiny little one-bedroom flat without a full-length mirror. We were completely and utterly clueless.’ Specsavers anyone?

Recalling her 1994 appearance in her iconic black Versace dress held together by jumbo gold safety pins, Elizabeth Hurley, pictured, claims she and then boyfriend Hugh Grant were surprised by the sensation it caused

Funny man John Cleese makes himself available for hire in Qatar, announcing: ‘I am a big fan of the Qataris, and if there’s anything they’d like me to do for them, would they please contact me?’ Envious of David Beckham’s £150million, Cleesy?

Has Stephen Fry suffered his first setback as MCC President? Following outcry from members over the decision to ban the annual Oxford v Cambridge and Eton v Harrow fixtures, the elite cricket club has announced it is to hold a referendum on the matter. An online survey and a road show will ask all 28,000 members for their views. Fry supports the abandonment of the matches and has described them as a ‘turgid image of snobbery and elitism’.

Victor Lewis-Smith, who has died aged 65, famously hoaxed Princess Diana in 1996, pretending to be Stephen Hawking. After saying she’d been at the gym, Victor declared in the astronomer’s computerised voice: ‘I enjoy sport too. I had a go at wheelchair synchronised swimming once… but wheelchairs only float for a second.’