EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Bond bigwig Broccoli joins flight from Sir Keir’s socialist utopia

He’s as British as the Crown Jewels – and some would say more splendid, which is why he continues to dazzle people all over the globe.

But that, alas, hasn’t dissuaded his custodian for the past 30 years from becoming the latest to bid farewell to a nation now being pummelled into submission by Sir Keir Starmer.

That, I can disclose, is the decision taken by Barbara Broccoli, into whose care her late, great father, Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, entrusted the cinematic fate of James Bond, when his health began to falter the year before his death, aged 87, in 1996.

Last year, Barbara established a new performing arts company, Sing Street UK, recording England as her country of residence. But, days ago, on Christmas Eve, she amended that detail to the USA.

It’s a landmark change, given Barbara’s intense personal and professional relationship with Britain.

Though born in Los Angeles in 1960, she grew up in London, thanks to her father’s decision to make films here from the 1950s onwards.

As a child, she had what she agrees was ‘a very British accent’ – courtesy of her attendance at Lady Eden’s School, in London’s Kensington. Set up by the sister-in-law of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, the school’s teachers included the future Duchess of Kent and any number of well-bred young women.

Barbara’s bond – no pun intended – has, until now, remained unbroken. Long a resident in one of London’s stucco-fronted garden squares, she met Daniel Craig for the first time at a funeral in the capital in 2004, asked him to visit her at her office in Piccadilly and offered him the 007 role.

Unlike Bond, she has been honoured with an OBE and a CBE, for her philanthropy and services to film and drama.

Barbara, in tandem with her half-brother Michael Wilson, recently sold ‘creative control’ of the Bond franchise to Amazon in a reported $1billion deal which apparently leaves them as ‘co-owners’. Her representatives were unable to respond to requests for comment.

But has Barbara, 65 – who has a daughter, Angelica, by ex-husband Frederick Zollo – perhaps concluded that her fortune is safer if she keeps her distance from Two-Tier Keir and his ham-fisted Chancellor, Rachel Reeves?

 I’m a celebrity, get me in there, says Olympian Gail

As a silver medal-winning Olympian who starred on shows such as A Question Of Sport, Gail Emms should be in demand for ‘reality’ television.

There is, however, one big problem: the badminton star’s personal life is not sufficiently racy. 

‘I would love to, because obviously they pay well and it’d be great. But, the thing is, I’m too normal,’ she tells me. 

‘They like people that have got some crazy love triangle story, have slept with this person…’

Gail, 48, adds: ‘My name has been put forward for a couple, but they were, like: “Is she single? Has she slept with a footballer?”’

Jamie Oliver’s naked truth about hitting the big five-oh 

Jamie Oliver admits that he suffered a midlife crisis when he hit 40 but now can’t wait to become a grandfather.

The television chef, 50, whose eldest child Poppy is 23, says: ‘I remember that my 40th birthday really annoyed me. Now I feel much more relaxed and ready for anything.

‘And, even though I would never tell my wife this, I’m really looking forward to grandchildren.’

Jamie, who has five children with wife, Jools, 51, says the mental impact of hitting 40 made him rethink his life. ‘That was quite a turning point, but also wonderful,’ he says. ‘I’m just glad to be alive at all. We shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. We’re always changing and growing. Personally, over the last ten years, I’ve repeatedly tried things I’m not so good at, just to challenge myself.

‘And that’s why I’d say I feel better now at 50 than at 40.’

Life’s getting gritty for Barclay heiress… 

The Barclay family’s business empire continued to unravel this year, but at least things are looking up for a member of the next generation.

Sofia Barclay, whose late grandfather Sir David owned The Daily Telegraph newspaper and other businesses with his billionaire twin brother Sir Frederick, has landed a leading role in a new television adaptation of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

The actress, 37, plays ‘working-class’ cop DS Barbara Havers alongside Leo Suter’s DI Thomas Lynley in the drama, which begins on BBC One next month.

‘I have not played a detective before – there’s a lot of lines to learn. I didn’t have the time to go back and read the [Elizabeth George] books or see the show [that ran on TV from 2001-2008 starring Sharon Small and Nathaniel Parker],’ Sofia says of her role, ‘because once we got up and running, it was non-stop.’

Sofia, whose parents are Aidan and Ferzana (Fizzy) Barclay, is an alumna of £46,000-per-year Westminster School in London and later trained at New York’s Circle in the Square Theatre School, which includes Kevin Bacon and Lady Gaga among its graduates.

She also appeared in the football sitcom Ted Lasso and 2023 romcom Love Again.

Hell, yes! Why Beverley believes women should make first move 

Women should not wait for men to make the first move, says Olivier Award winner

Beverley Knight, who speaks from experience.

The actress and soul singer, 52, recalls how she met her husband, James O’Keefe.

‘He was a gaffer – the person who does lighting on pop videos and commercials – and it happened because one of the people at our record label put us in touch,’ she says. ‘I kept going on about how gorgeous I thought he was, so I got his number. It was me who texted him and that’s how it started.’

Asked if she thinks it’s a good idea for women to make the first move?, Beverley responds: ‘Hell, yes!’

As Sir Anthony Hopkins marks 50 years of sobriety next week, friend and fellow actor Martin Shaw recalls being led astray by the Welshman’s boozing when the pair shared an east London house as jobbing actors in 1965.

 ‘He had the posh flat downstairs and I had the bedsit upstairs,’ Judge John Deed star Martin remembers. ‘He was a great influence on me. He was 28 at the time and his power was extraordinary. 

‘But, fatally, his alcoholism at the time was very attractive… the glamour of it, seeing him in [Hornchurch pub] the White Hart with ten glasses around him, studying his script. I thought: “I want to be like that,” ’ Shaw, 80, adds: ‘But, ironically, he’s been teetotal for the last 50 years and I’ve been teetotal for the last 53 years. I beat him to it.’ 

A right royal Christmas night out

Before she set off for Sandringham, where she’s spending Christmas with her father, the Earl of Snowdon, Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones took the time to have some fun with fellow royals who aren’t at the Norfolk gathering.

Jewellery designer and Tatler cover girl, Lady Margarita, 23, who was a bridesmaid at Prince William and Catherine’s wedding, went for a drink at The Cow pub in Notting Hill, west London, with her cousin, the ceramicist Samuel Chatto, 29, (to the right) a fellow grandchild of Princess Margaret.

They were joined by Lord Downpatrick, 37, a travel consultant who’s the grandson of the Duke and late Duchess of Kent.

Other grandchildren of the Kents at the get-together of young royals were Eloise, 22, and Estella Taylor, 21 – daughters of former Armani muse Lady Helen – and Lady Marina Windsor, 33, who’s due to be married to IT specialist Nico Macauley next year.

(Very) modern manners 

He turns 83 next year, but Sir Vince Cable still seems to see himself as middle-aged.

‘I try to sustain a lifestyle appropriate to continuing middle age by going cycling, hiking and dancing,’ says the former Liberal Democrat leader, whose latest book, Eclipsing The West: China, India And The Forging Of A New World, is just out.

‘Keeping minds as well as bodies going is the biggest challenge at my age.’