EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Police find Jeffrey Archer’s stolen bronze sculptures at travellers’ site

Considering that three out of four burglaries in England and Wales last year went unsolved, you could describe this as something of a Christmas miracle.

I can reveal that four priceless bronze sculptures stolen from Jeffrey Archer’s historic home in Cambridgeshire have been recovered.

“It’s such a relief,” said the bestselling author’s wife, Dame Mary Archer, 80. “We are very happy.”

Last week I revealed that the works of art, worth tens of thousands of pounds, had been taken from the back garden of The Old Vicarage in Grantchester overnight while Lord and Lady Archer were sleeping.

They are said to have been found during a police investigation at a traveler site in neighboring Bedfordshire.

“We are very grateful for the hard work of the police,” said Dame Mary. ‘They did a brilliant job.’

The couple’s 17th-century home, which they have owned since 1979, was once occupied by poet Rupert Brooke, who was inspired to compose his ode The Old Vicarage, Grantchester in tribute to ‘peace and holy silence’.

Lord Archer, whose novels include Honor Among Thieves, did not expect to see his beloved sculptures again. “The saddest thing is that, according to police, the thieves will almost certainly melt down the statues and the bronze will only be worth a few hundred pounds,” he told me last week.

However, the works appear to be largely intact. One of these is Oceanides, by Maurice Lambert, which Lord Archer left to the Tate Gallery in his will. “We’re thinking of talking to the Tate to see if they like it now,” he tells me. “I’m 84, so why wait until after I die?”

The Old Vicarage was visited every summer for eleven years by Lord Archer’s late friend Margaret Thatcher after she left 10 Downing Street.

In 2006, the Archers commissioned a sculpture of Brooke by Paul Day, which was unveiled by Baroness Thatcher. It is located at the front of the Old Rectory.

The smart set is talking about… Aristocrat Clemmie’s racy baby bump photos

Clemmie Dugdale shocked her wedding guests this summer when she stripped down to her lingerie at the reception and crushed the cake with her bare hands.

Now the actress has delighted friends with a more conventional surprise. She is expecting her first child with husband Orson Oblowitz, an American filmmaker.

Clemmie, the daughter of Sir William Dugdale, 3rd Baronet, shows off her baby bump in photos too racy for a family newspaper. It is believed the photos were taken at the family seat, Merevale Hall in Warwickshire.

The actress, 33, who starred in her husband’s film Showdown At The Grand, is the granddaughter of Sir William Dugdale, 2nd Baronet. The late jockey and racing driver, whose cousin was David Cameron, won the Military Cross for bravery under fire during the Second World War.

Danielle shares the secret of the boy band

She’s an opera star and the chatelaine of Glyndebourne, but Danielle de Niese could have been a member of Justin Timberlake’s pop group.

The 45-year-old soprano, who appeared in BBC Four’s The Merry Widow on Christmas Day, reveals: ‘I turned down the offer to join NSYNC. They wanted a girl in the band. Who knows what it could have been?’

The group, made up of men including Timberlake, 43, was formed in 1995 and went on to sell more than 70 million records.

De Niese, who has just celebrated the 15th anniversary of her marriage to Gus Christie, executive chairman of the Glyndebourne opera house in East Sussex, moved to LA from Australia in 1990.

“I met the producers of a band when I was 14 and they said, ‘We’re making this band and it’s going to be called NSYNC,’” she tells me. Pop’s loss is Opera’s gain.

Could Kate’s jewel twins be Britain’s newest royal?

Sandringham’s much-discussed Christmas guest appears to be taking a leaf out of the Princess of Wales’s style book.

Yesterday I reported that Eleanor Ekserdjian was allowed to join her boyfriend, Samuel Chatto, 28, at the Royal Family’s celebratory gathering in Norfolk, sparking rumors that an engagement announcement may be imminent.

Now, Eleanor’s shared taste in jewelry with Catherine has sparked more talk. The London-based artist, 28, was seen in diamond pendant earrings that looked remarkably similar to those previously worn by our future queen.

Although Catherine’s earrings belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth, it is unclear whether Eleanor’s were a gift from Sam, a grandson of Princess Margaret.

Eleanor’s Sandringham invite was thanks to a rule change introduced by the late Queen for Meghan Markle. Meghan was the first person to spend Christmas at Sandringham before marrying into the royal family.

Elton is a fan of Potter’s runner-up

Daniel Radcliffe has amassed a fortune of almost £100 million, and sometimes gives the impression that he is now defined by having mocked JK Rowling for her emphasis on identifying the genders in a conventional way.

But the man he pipped to play Harry Potter has rather different priorities.

Jonny Taylor – who came second out of 17,000 applicants to become the young wizard – appears as a guest vocalist on Easy City, ‘a song of hope for Ukraine’ from an artist known only as Huella.

“All proceeds go to the Ukrainian Red Cross,” said Taylor, 38, who lives in a one-bedroom apartment in east London.

When he was in his twenties, a motorcycle accident left him unable to walk for eighteen months. But during lockdown, one of his songs was praised by none other than Sir Elton John, and last year he played to 3,300 people at London’s Roundhouse – not a Muggle among them.

(Very) modern manners

Shoppers who call the London number of royal grocer Fortnum & Mason are surprised to always be greeted by someone with a South African accent.

It turns out their calls are being diverted 8,000 miles away to the store in London where Queen Camilla was spotted doing her Christmas shopping.

A spokesperson said: ‘We have had teams in the UK and South Africa for many years as our focus is on delivering a brilliant service to our customers.’

At least they’re keeping it in the Commonwealth, I guess.

The National Theater’s Christmas hit is Ballet Shoes. In the audience this week was Timothy Combe, 88, the director of the Bafta-winning 1975 BBC dramatization of Noel Streatfeild’s children’s novel.

He revealed he was all set to cast Bonnie Langford, 60, in the lead role but decided against it because of her mother, Babette, now 94. ‘Bonnie was extremely talented, but her mother was too pushy and didn’t good to have. on set [during] rehearsals,” Combe says.

“I ended up casting [Sarah Prince]. Not a brilliant dancer, but we could work with that.’

Good evening everyone, enjoy these two hours,” Sir Rod Stewart told fans at the start of a Christmas greatest hits show in Galicia, Spain.

The show actually lasted an hour and 45 minutes, and local reviewers complained that the star left the stage several times.

Perhaps Sir Rod, who turns 80 next month, simply couldn’t wait to return to his world-class model railway?

Pat Cash, the first Wimbledon champion to celebrate victory by climbing into the stands at the All England Club, still knows how to wow a crowd.

I hear Cash, 59, played guitar with two bands, the Rolling Stoics and Chocolate Charlie, at the Putney Lawn Tennis Club Christmas party in London. “He’s a very talented musician,” one guest tells me.

Prince Andrew is so embarrassed that he was encouraged not to spend Christmas at Sandringham. But could his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, have found a way back into the public’s affections?

I heard she could compete on Strictly. “I spoke to her about six weeks ago, and [the royals] watch it all,” says former contestant and newscaster Dan Walker.

“Fergie’s probably the one [who would do it]or maybe one of her daughters, but it takes so much time.”