WHY was Daniel Craig, star of Layer Cake and Enduring Love, inquiring about a first edition of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale in a rare book shop in Cecil Court, London? Any ideas? That’s Daniel Craig, of course, who has been widely tipped — but never confirmed — as the man to whom Pierce Brosnan will be handing his Walther PPK-shaped baton. Any ideas now?

Although Craig’s agents remain infuriatingly coy, his competitors appear to be out of the running. Clive Owen is thought to have turned down the role, and a leaked studio memo described Ewan McGregor as “too short” and Colin Farrell as “too sleazy”. There was no mention of Craig being marginally “too bald”, which must have come as a relief.

“He came in here, certainly,” confirms Peter Ellis, of Peter Ellis books. “I told him that he should expect to pay about £20,000. He didn’t seem particularly surprised at the price, but then he didn’t ask me to get him a copy either.”

Winston's wedding secret

IN 1908 Sir Winston and Lady Churchill held their wedding reception in 52 Portland Place, London. On Monday, exactly 97 years later, the International Churchill Society commemorated the union with a dinner on the same spot — now the offices of Davis Coffer Lyons Leisure. In front of Lady Soames (Churchill’s daughter), and the actor Robert Hardy (who played Churchill many times), Nicholas Soames (Churchill’s grandson) introduced Michael Howard, who used the words of Roy Jenkins to pay tribute to “the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street”. In an evening so flush with Tory aristocracy, it was surely churlish of the historian Andrew Roberts to point out in his speech – albeit obliquely – that at the time of his wedding, Churchill was actually a Liberal.

Griffin's gorillas go touchy-feely

EARLIER this week, you may have read, the BNP had the entire print run of their September newsletter confiscated by Special Branch. Apparently, there was concern that one article could be incitement to racial hatred. From our own careful scrutiny, however, we think Nick Griffin’s gorillas are in the clear. “Fifty-six innocent people...are no longer with us,” their article shrieked, “because of bombs planted by the followers of a dangerous, archaic creed that wants to take civilisation back to the Middle Ages.” Most tallies put the “innocent” victims of the London bombings at 52, the other four being...well, not entirely “innocent”. Some might blame gibbering incompetence, but we’re content to assume that the party is moving in a new inclusive, touchy-feely direction. Good old them.

Time to sort it out

The Times may have been The Times for well over 200 years, but according to the accreditation on passes for this month’s Labour Party conference, a sizeable chunk of this office seems to be moonlighting for TIME magazine. “The conference system is quite unstable at the moment for organisation code,” says a conference spokesman. Meaning? “A new organisation has clearly over-ridden the original one.” Back when you ditched Clause Four. But what has that got to do with the badges?

Ps

We always thought Stephen Fry was perfect casting but according to Dee Simpson, her BBC veteran husband John is a devotee of P.G. Wodehouse books, and would make the perfect foil to Bertie Wooster. “He always has one in his bag and reads it aloud to me. He’d make the perfect Jeeves.”

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