He spent 20 years meticulously preparing and planning for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, thereby ensuring it brimmed with solemn splendour. But it’s not just when orchestrating state occasions that the Duke of Norfolk scrutinises every last detail with a gimlet eye.
Indeed, I can disclose that his attention is currently focused on unblemished North Yorkshire moorland some 260 miles from Westminster. To his disgust, this is imperilled by an allegedly ‘green’ development which would bolt 20 wind turbines – each more than 650ft high – on to the landscape.
Ridiculing the proposals as ‘a blot’ on ‘one of the most beautiful and cherished parts of England’, the duke, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 69, points out that if it went ahead the Hope Moor development would sit ‘right on the edge of the Dales National Park and be visible for miles around, both from within the park and alongside’.
Contrary to the impression given by his title, the duke has more than a passing familiarity with the area, being the owner of the 8,000-acre West Arkengarthdale Estate, which lies at the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
So he speaks with authority when pointing out that the mammoth turbines would ‘threaten many red-listed bird species of national concern’. But it’s for the proposal’s supposedly green credentials that he reserves his greatest scorn.
Sir Edward Milbank with his wife, Natalie. Much of the development would be built on his estate
The Duke of Norfolk currently has his eye on the unblemished North Yorkshire moorland
The turbines, he explains, would be drilled into ‘peat moorland, releasing large amounts of carbon which has been stored in the ground for thousands of years’ – with the prospect that it could ‘release more carbon into the atmosphere than it will save’.
His broadside will prove particularly bracing for his fellow landowner, baronet Sir Edward Milbank, on whose 7,000-acre Barningham Estate much of the development would be built – but only, of course, after Sir Edward received what locals are convinced would be mouthwatering financial rewards.
The ducal dressing-down is more embarrassing still for Sir Edward’s wife, the former Natalie Hicks-Lobbecke who, as a willowy blonde 20-something, caught the eye of the young Prince William. As I disclosed in February, Natalie was once an impassioned opponent of wind turbines, decrying plans for one 120ft high – less than a quarter of the height of the 20 monsters she and Sir Edward are now so keen on – as ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘unfathomable’. But that was in 2015 – long before Norwegian company Fred Olsen dreamed up its current plans.
Thirty-year age gap no issue for Duncan
Duncan Bannatyne, 77, and his wife of a decade, Nigora Whitehorn – who is 31 years his junior
Were the much-missed comedienne Caroline Aherne still alive, she would, as TV’s Mrs Merton, no doubt ask Nigora Whitehorn: ‘So, what first attracted you to the multi-millionaire Duncan Bannatyne?’
After all, at the age of 77, the sports club tycoon seems an unlikely match for the Uzbek beauty 31 years his junior. But Bannatyne, whose fortune is said to be more than £400million, boasts that their marriage is still going strong a decade later.
‘[It is] the ninth anniversary of our marriage,’ says the Clydebank foundry worker’s son.
‘I am blessed to be with this wonderful woman for 11 years now. And people said it would not last…’
The former Dragons’ Den star met Nigora when he was a patient at the Harley Street dental surgery where she worked as a hygienist.
Giorgio’s cheeky time with Kate
Kate Winslet recalls how her neighbour, Giorgio Locatelli, would help her scale a 9ft garden wall
Dismissed from MasterChef for ‘inappropriate’ language and making unsolicited physical contact, Gregg Wallace may howl in disbelief when he learns that Giorgio Locatelli, the 63-year-old chosen to replace him, once regularly plumped his hands on the posterior of a luscious blonde 13 years his junior.
Don’t believe me? Ask Kate Winslet. Recalling how her London flat would be surrounded by snappers after her performance in Titanic, the actress said her neighbour – Giorgio – would help her scale a 9ft garden wall.
‘With both of his capable hands planted firmly on my bum cheeks I went over and off into freedom…’
Osman makes a killing
Richard Osman at the Bafta Television Awards at London’s Royal Festival Hall on May 10
Who says crime doesn’t pay? Ex-Pointless presenter Richard Osman is reaping the rewards from turning to writing crime novels.
The Thursday Murder Club author has reported a £2.6million profit for the year to March at Six Seven Entertainment, the artistic creation company into which he channels his earnings.
His takings work out at £50,000 per week, increasing his company’s bottom line from £3.7million to £6.3million.
Osman holds £5.4million in cash at the business which he set up in 2022.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
John Bentley has spent much of his life causing commotion both in the boardroom and bedroom. And it seems there’s little chance of the father of Lord [Zac] Goldsmith’s first wife Sheherazade pootling along in his 80s. Shortly after publishing his memoir, Mr Internet TV, the financier has once again come to the attention of Lord Antony Rufus Isaacs – some 50-odd years after he dated his sister Jacquie.
‘It’s just got to be made into a mini-series,’ Rufus Isaacs, producer of 9½ Weeks, the 1986 erotic film starring Kim Basinger, tells me. ‘You’ve got the inter-generational cascade of secrets and lies.’
Bentley’s father – 40 years older than Bentley’s mother – had daughters by two other women.
Mike Batt, who wrote the 1970s pop classic Bright Eyes and lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera, is haunted by his rejection from a London private members’ club.
‘I was refused entry to The Groucho Club, [and] if not refused entry, refused membership,’ wails The Wombles creator, 77.
‘It was when… I most needed friendship… when my [musical] Hunting Of The Snark had crashed and burned.’ He adds: ‘Important people like the head of Sony and a famous actor put me up for [membership], and they refused me.’
