Hard times

The Insider is, as regular readers will know, a jewel in the social crown of London’s elite, which is another way of saying that my day job is based around the corner from RADA and I bump into all sorts of celebrities and wannabees on my way to and fro. Most of them look less impressive off screen, although whether this is because they are not dressed up as the Sherriff of Nottingham or because I clearly have neither money nor a role on Broadway up my sleeve and therefore warrant at best the sort of look you might give to a stray dog that has rolled in something biodegradable, I know not.

The other day I met Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE, who is apparently in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s greatest living explorer and (joy of joys) he was lost! I have the feeling that the directions I gave him will only have made matters worse; he might find Annapurna before he