EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Downton Abbey star Jim Carter in bitter battle with girls’ school
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His wife, Imelda Staunton, has been showered with praise for her impeccable portrayal of the Queen in the latest series of The Crown.
But never assume that Jim Carter – better known as Carson the butler in Downton Abbey – is content to remain meek, even less stupid, when he and Staunton (pictured) share the £3.25 million mansion in the posh North West London.
Indeed, I can reveal that Carter, 74, has just launched an extraordinary strike against a proposal to allow what he demonizes as ‘an aggressive game with associated aggressive noise levels from players and equipment’ on a small plot of land at nearby Hampstead Cricket. Club.
His wife, Imelda Staunton, has been showered with praise for her impeccable portrayal of the Queen in the latest series of The Crown. But never assume that Jim Carter – best known as Carson the butler in Downton Abbey – is content to remain meek
So what caused the eruption? A proposal to build a boxing ring, or a gym for a rugby club?
No, it’s a plea for the Girls’ Day School Trust council to give students at privately owned South Hampstead High School the opportunity to play padel – a mix of tennis and squash – on a new, purpose-built court .
“Sound level ratings for tennis bear little relation to the explosive noise associated with padel,” Carter cries in an anguished letter to the council.
‘A short visit to the public padel courts in Regent’s Park or Hyde Park reveals that the heavy sound of a padel ball on bat and ball on side panels drowns out the sounds of tennis.’
Perhaps Carter is as hostile to change as Carson is to Downton? Or maybe he has a particularly keen sense of hearing? The proposed court is a hundred yards from his and Staunton’s home – and is screened off from it by the clubhouse and changing rooms of Hampstead Cricket Club.
So what caused the eruption? A proposal to build a boxing ring, or a gym for a rugby club? No, it’s a plea for the Girls’ Day School Trust council to give students at privately owned South Hampstead High School the opportunity to play padel – a mix of tennis and squash – on a new, purpose-built court
Has David Walliams been ‘canceled’ by the BBC? TV executive Charlotte Moore spoke at the Christmas launch of Beeb’s Somerset House with a list of festive highlights, from Mrs Brown’s Boys to the Strictly Christmas special. Sadly, Moore took Gangsta Granny Strikes Again! Not on, the new adaptation of Walliams’ book, starring the comedian who was forced to apologize for making derogatory remarks about Britain’s Got Talent contestants. Maybe Gangsta Granny has struck her last blow for the BBC?
Is that what you shouldn’t wear, Trinny?
While some of us are putting up Christmas decorations, Trinny Woodall seems to have used most of the glitter on her coat.
The beauty entrepreneur, 58, one half of the bitingly chic couple who advised ‘fashion disasters’ on the BBC makeover show What Not To Wear, caught the attention of passersby in Chelsea, west London, when she wore this £2,085 hologram trench coat. by the Belgian designer Dries van Noten wore. She paired the jacket with a £740 metallic polyester top from the same designer, an oversized gray suit and Russell & Bromley platform sneakers.
“The jacket looks like one of those foil blankets thrown over exhausted marathon runners,” notes one observer.
While some of us are putting up Christmas decorations, Trinny Woodall seems to have used most of the glitter on her coat
How George saved Brian’s life
Monty Python’s Life Of Brian was a blockbuster that was voted the greatest comedy film of all time in several polls, but would never be made in today’s culture of taking offense, says one of its stars, Eric Idle.
“You don’t laugh at religion, you shouldn’t,” says Idle, 76. “That’s why comedy is very healthy for us, because it says what’s really there.”
The 1979 movie was only made because The Beatles star George Harrison re-mortgaged his London home and injected about $4 million [£3.3m] of his own money.
“Without George Harrison, we still wouldn’t have made it,” confirms Idle. “We couldn’t sell it for love or money.”
Lady Vic wants Trump the Charmer elected
Socialite Lady Victoria Hervey appears to have landed a major international first.
The sister of the Marquess of Bristol met Donald Trump at his Florida golf club this week and told me the former president would turn American politics upside down by taking an independent stand if the Republicans did not re-elect him as their nominee.
“He’s a man who really wants the best for his country,” Lady Victoria, 46, tells me. “He has a great sense of humor and is intelligent, funny and charming. Trump doesn’t like to lose, so if he doesn’t get the Republican nomination, he’ll run as an independent, but the other side will only win.”
Controversial rapper Kanye West, who has also spoken about running for president, met Trump for dinner last week, after which Trump called him a “seriously deranged man.” Lady Victoria says, “Kanye would split the votes, that’s why they were fighting.”
The sister of the Marquess of Bristol met Donald Trump at his Florida golf club this week and told me the former president would turn American politics upside down by running as an independent if the Republicans didn’t re-elect him as their nominee
Dawn French is determined to keep people laughing until the end – and beyond. “I’d like to emphasize that it’s just white roses on the sides of the see-through hearse,” she says of her latest trip.
“In white rose heads, things need to be spelled out. One side just says “Help” and the other side just says “Not Dead.” When the hearse goes by, people see it.’
The daughters of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, Lady Alice, Lady Eliza and Lady Violet Manners, were delighted when David and Victoria ‘Posh Spice’ Beckham came to visit their childhood home, Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire.
In fact, the sisters were so excited that they decided to perform a Spice Girls dance routine. The Duchess recalls, “I don’t think Victoria was very impressed.”
It has always been a point of contention that the monarch is exempt from taxes, although they pay some voluntarily.
Now the king has discovered that he is not exempt from another.
For it may be revealed that he will have to pay an £8,000 bill if he is to go ahead with plans to make the visitor shop at his Gloucestershire retreat permanent.
The King has been given permission to replace a temporary marquee with a brick building to sell souvenirs to visitors to Highgrove’s gardens. But the Cotswold District Council said it would have to pay a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) of £8,032 once work begins.
The levy that municipalities can levy on new developments is used to pay for the infrastructure in the area.
His Newmarket council voted this week to step down as MP, but Matt Hancock should be lauded by the Tories as a charismatic star, Boris Johnson’s father claims.
“Anyone who does I’m A Celebrity is a celebrity by definition,” Stanley Johnson tells me at the Foreign Press Association Media Awards at the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane.
“The Conservative Party cannot afford to be without a man of such charisma and such absolute determination.”
The MP for West Suffolk had the whip suspended after he entered the jungle, but Stanley adds: ‘He will absolutely get back on track in Parliament – there’s no doubt about that.’