Actors' charity Penelope Kieth was ousted from turns new page - but are luvvie wars over?

Having come to the aid of struggling thespians since 1882, the Actors' Benevolent Fund has now been renamed the Actors' Trust following a particularly fraught few years. The London-based charity, which boasts the King as patron, became embroiled in controversy in 2022 when hostilities in the ranks led to then president Dame Penelope Keith, being ousted from the board.

Matters turned more sinister when both Keith and fellow veteran actress Dame Siân Phillips received poisoned pen letters from a mystery foe, warning they were "done" should they dare attend last November's AGM. The revamped Actors' Trust now talks of "modern evolution reflecting the needs of the industry today". But are the "luvvie wars" really at an end?

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Wasting no time talking up his next and officially "final" novel - a story about Churchill and Hitler - Jeffrey Archer boldly predicts it will be "better than Kane and Abel", his famous 1979 bestseller.

"When I told my publishers the idea six years ago, they begged me to stop writing [his recently completed] William Warwick books and do it immediately," boasts Archer, 85. "And I said, 'I'll live to 86. Don't worry!'"

Modesty's never been Jeffrey's forte...

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While "King of the North" Andy Burnham confirms Labour MPs have been urging him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer, he also has plenty of detractors. Noting shifting political allegiances down the years, one popular joke among Labour comrades goes as follows: "A Blairite, a Brownite, a Milibandite and a Corbynite walk into a pub. 'Hello, Mr Burnham!' says the barman."

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Back on the BBC as Alan Partridge next week, Steve Coogan insists on keeping a framed letter of complaint in his downstairs loo, following news the presenter character had landed his debut TV series 30 years ago. Unaware gaffe-prone Partridge, previously heard on Radio 4, was a comic creation, an irate retired colonel wrote: "I was appalled to hear this man was given his own show."

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Legendary cricket umpire Dickie Bird, who's died aged 92, remained loyal to his native Yorkshire when it came to summer holidays. "I always go to Scarborough," Barnsley-born Dickie enthused. "That east coast - I don't think there's anything nicer in the world on a fine day."

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Never shy to show off her enviable figure at 60, Elizabeth Hurley, credits modern-day abstinence, explaining: "I don't drink much alcohol at all...my body processes it less well than it did when I was younger."

Thankfully, Liz's current squeeze, musician Billy Ray Cyrus, has been off the hard stuff for over 30 years.