Lord Lloyd-Webber, honoured with the Garter by King Charles after reducing him to tears with his coronation anthem, fails to strike a universal chord with his tribute.
Tasked by Charles with creating a piece of music to rival the still-performed works of Walton, Howells and Vaughan Williams from the 1953 crowning, it doesn’t seem to have caught on.
None of Monday’s Coronation Day anniversary musical celebrations at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral or St George’s Chapel will include Andrew’s Make A Joyful Noise.
‘It must be hummable,’ the King told the composer, who revealed that HM had ‘goosebumps and tears’ when he heard it. Is the anthem, like the quiche which replaced Coronation Chicken, to be consigned to royal history?
George Galloway, embarrassed by ITV’s Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley, who asked him about his blatant sycophancy towards Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein, resorts to childish retaliation.
He tweets about Madeley’s 1994 arrest and acquittal for shoplifting: ‘If I believed everything I read on the internet I’d think Richard Madeley stole two bottles of champagne and was a shoplifter,’ mewls George. ‘He isn’t. He just forgot to pay for them.’ Grow up, Galloway!
Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell recalls a boast by Richard Branson in 2012 that he would fly the contestants in his soon-to-be-launched spacecraft. ‘I swear to God he said, ‘We’ll sponsor the show and the first act will appear in space,’ recalls Simon. ‘So I’m thinking, ‘Perfect!’ I kept calling him, saying, ‘When’s the spacecraft ready?’ Never heard another word.’ Grounded Beardie is still staring at the stars.
War correspondent Jeremy Bowen still bristles at the BBC’s censorship of his 15-year-old report from Gaza, when an editor objected to his description of the Israeli military occupation as ‘brutal’.
‘He said he’d rather I didn’t call it brutal,’ recalls Bowen. ‘I said I’m not going to change my script; I thought, ‘Screw him!’ And then it went out and they had snipped the word ‘brutal’ out.’
Why did curmudgeonly Brian Cox, describing the prospect of a knighthood as ‘b******s’, accept a CBE in 2003? ‘I did it out of respect for my late sister who was a royalist. I thought it would be churlish to turn it down.’ You can always send it back, Coxy!
Donny Osmond fan Ed Balls sang Love Me For A Reason when he had the toothy warbler on Good Morning Britain.
‘I waited, thinking Donny was going to sing back [the next line of the song] ‘Let the reason be love,’ recalls Balls. ‘There was a pause and Donny said, ‘Ed, let me do the singing.’