Steerpike

Steerpike is back in this week's magazine. As ever, here is your preview: ‘One of Lord Hall’s predecessors, Mark Thompson, is toiling away as chief executive of the New York Times. But he’s devised a brilliant wheeze to give his old chums at Broadcasting House a bit of extra work. Later this month his newspaper will co-host a Social Media Summit at the Times Center in New York. Thompson promises an ‘exciting line-up’ including world-class media luminaries like Matthew Eltringham, ‘Head of Web Site and Events at the BBC Academy College of Journalism’, and Dmitry Shishkin, ‘Digital Development Editor at BBC Global News’.

It was a heavy weekend for actor Richard E Grant. Toasting the life of his old friend and Withnail and I co-star Richard Griffiths, the famed teetotaler found his own way to say goodbye, in character: ‘Here's the plan. Going to fire up a Camberwell firm young carrot in memory of my 'Uncle Monty' and raise a figurative glass of sherry to him’. Fast forward thirty-six hours and it seems that the ‘Camberwell carrot’ took it’s toll on the 55 year old actor: ‘Total sloth. Just got out of the scratcher. Not done this since the last century. Do I feel guilty? Fuck no!! Ha ha’ That’s the spirit.

Baz Lurhmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby (above) may yet enrage purists; but it seems that the Australian director already has his eyes on another product. Speaking exclusively to Spectator Life, Lurhmann reveals that taking on Shakespeare and the 20th Century’s favourite novel are not enough: ‘I have more things in my cupboard I want to make. There’s the Shakespeare canon, there are cinematic musicals, there are edgy psychological works. Sometimes having a brand is a burden because sometimes I’d like to be a shooter and knock off a movie just for the fun of making someone else’s script or a Bond film.’ Steerpike hopes Daniel Craig is getting his singing lessons in early.

Steerpike is back in this week’s magazine. As ever, here is your preview: '"A Cambridge student reports this snippet from a Sainsbury’s checkout. ‘Is that a Lord of the Rings pendant?’ asked a white-haired shopper, pointing to an ornament dangling from the student’s neck. ‘Yes, it’s a replica of the One Ring,’ replied the student. ‘Ah’ said his inquisitor. ‘I thought so. I’m more of a Game of Thrones man myself.’ The white-haired shopper? Rowan Williams." Subscribers, you can read the rest of the column here. Non-subscribers, you can join us today for as little as £1 an issue.

The Ivy may be known for its famous clientèle and terrible food, but are they taking this celebrity thing a bit too far? The club has invited Mark Pinchin, Public Affairs Director of the Church of Scientology, to speak at the end of the month. Scientology boasts more celebrity supporters than Hacked Off, and are always on the look out for new members. Stars and groupies, you have been warned.

What are the Times trying to say about noted Spectator fan and new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby? They have delved into his past. It turns out to have been rather eventful; but they’ve left unexplained the connections between the many interesting dots in Welby’s life. The Thunderer exposé reveals that Welby and his wife ‘volunteered as a young couple to brave the secret police of communist Europe by smuggling Bibles’, adding, intriguingly: ‘The newlyweds were provided with a camper van by the Dutch-based East European Bible Mission for their trips to Czechoslovakia and Romania. Secret compartments and a false floor hid the biblical contraband.