EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Jeremy Irons takes pop at his ‘local’ college

Movie’s most villainous actor, Jeremy Irons, isn’t worried about turning against the university he was president of.

We’re hearing that the Oscar winner has launched a stunning attack on the University of Bath Spa, blaming it for a “provincial” attitude and a “appalling” failure to celebrate student accomplishments.

He was recently a guest at the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival in the Southeast. France, organized by the Savannah College of Art and Design, a US university with an outpost in Gallia. Irons, 74, made a direct comparison between SCAD’s artistic challenge and Bath Her Spa’s artistic challenge.

“SCAD seems like a powerful institution that creates energy for the people involved in it, which is great.

“At my first film festival, I saw this town that I had been to 20 years ago. .

“Then I became Chancellor of a British university and tried to bring them together, but England is very rural.”

The Reversal Of Fortune and Brideshead Revisited star added:

“When I went to the art club in college, there was nothing on the walls. I said: ‘Where’s the art?’ Anything.” I said: “It’s appalling.” But can I encourage them? No. ‘

Irons was appointed the first Prime Minister or Honorary Chairman of Bath Spa in 2016. A spokesman for Bath declined to comment, pointing out that Irons is no longer prime minister. A successor has not yet been decided.

Cain and the Ghost of Friendship’s Past

Dame Joanna Lumley was one of the stars who paid tribute to Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Leslie Bricusse. He died a year before he was 90 years old.

At a London memorial service at St James’s Piccadilly, Sir Michael Caine, a friend of 60 years, admitted he was still struggling to cope with his absence.

“I chat with him every day,” says Kane, 89. . . I refuse to let him go. I loved Leslie.

Bricusse wrote the music and lyrics for movies like Scrooge and Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, and songs like Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.

Barry Humphries, 88, his wife of 70, Lizzie and Nigel Havers, and wife Georgiana also joined Bricusse’s widow Evie.

Glenda Jackson, now 86 and filming The Great Escaper, lived in a basement apartment with an old-fashioned dish bowl and formica kitchen and cared about stardom. Never. But do you regret destroying letters sent to you by Tony Blair in 2002, when he was a Labor MP and Prime Minister in Hampstead? It has just arrived and retails for a respectable £3,750. In her three-page typed letter, Blair seeks to assuage Jackson’s concerns about possible war in Iraq, assuring her that “no one wants military conflict.” . Harrington asked Jackson if he wanted the letter back. “Just a minute,” she replied. Of course, she’s already won a Tony Award, an Emmy Award for her three times, an Academy Award for her twice, a Golden Globe Award for her once, and an Oscar for her twice. .

Anton: Strictly awake? No, in time

Strictly Come Dancing has been criticized for being a politically correct “box tick” with this year’s line-up including two same-sex couples, mixed ages and body types, and former Paralympic athlete Ellie Simmons with dwarfism.

But judge Anton du Beque argues that the BBC’s hit shows are simply keeping up with the times.

“It’s not exactly eye-opening. It’s modern,” he told me at a red carpet event. It is inclusive and everyone participates.

Not even the allure of Glastonbury’s headline slots can convince legendary rockers Slade to reunite. “When bands break up, it’s usually due to egos, money, booze and drugs, women, differences in music,” says frontman Noddy Holder. “For Slade, it was all of the above.” But with Merry Xmas Everyday set to top up her pension soon, Noddy, 76, will never have to strap on a guitar again.

What is Bill Nighy’s secret to eternal youth? A private disco dance by the 72-year-old star of Love Actually.

“Dance to social death disco at least once a day,” he says. in the air, people would shy away from me if they knew what I did.

Mrs. Joan Collins’ daughter Tara Newley refuses to listen to advice from “so-called experts.”

The 59-year-old author explains why: Thankfully she refused. Thalidomide, a drug that was thought to help pregnant women suffering from morning sickness, was found to cause developmental problems in the limbs and internal organs of babies. I will never speak the words of those I suspect to be involved in it again.It is better to listen to an old woman who is drunk and screaming in the streets at night.”