Golly, what’s that in Camilla’s car?

Nosing around the boot of the Duchess of Cornwall’s car during her visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show, photographers caught sight of an unfashionable item, dangling from her Burberry bag.

Perhaps ashamed to face the cameras, Camilla’s friend appears to be an example of the kind of gollywog keyring that has become a collector’s item on eBay.

Since the Prince of Wales has protested against the “truly absurd degree of politically correct interference” that governs our lives, it’s possible that the golly is from his collection. Or perhaps the Duchess has childhood memories of the rag doll character, which was created by the children’s author Florence Upton in 1895 and later excised from the novels of Enid Blyton.

Clarence House said that the gollywog had been given to Camilla and “no offence was intended”.

It could be a valuable item, should a future Backstairs Billy send Camilla’s collection to auction.

— Sunday Rose Kidman Urban — not a firm of solicitors, but the name of the baby girl born to Nicole Kidman, 41, and her husband, Keith Urban. The child, weighing 6lb 7½oz (2.93kg) was born in Nashville, Tennessee, increasing her chances of growing up to sing hard-bitten songs about love, marriage and divorce from the bottom of a whiskey bottle.

Urban, a country singer and guitarist raised in Australia, recently dedicated a song to his then “very, very, very, very, very pregnant wife”. Wisely, it was called Better Half.

— Where is the Home Secretary when you want her? “In Cannes,” her office says. It’s not holiday time yet, though. Jacqui Smith is attending a very important two-day “informal” EU home affairs beano on La Croisette. What about Meg Hillier, her Under-Secretary of State? “She’s in South Africa.” Who is running the show then? Tony McNulty? No. “The Home Secretary is always in charge.”

— Could Jason Donovan be a scandal-free deputy mayor for Boris? Sadly not. The actor has been criticised for telling listeners to Invicta FM: “It’s definitely time for a change. Boris Johnson. I have to say it.” A “clear and unambiguous breach of due impartiality requirements”, thunders Ofcom.

— A new playmate for Robbie Williams, whose recording “strike” has yet to trouble Acas. Darts champ Phil “The Power” Taylor, says: “Robbie invited me to stay with him in Los Angeles and I’m heading over to see him. Robbie’s got a dartboard up at home . . . I’ll be practising while I’m there.”

Having a laugh with science

The Face: Chris Addison

His is the face of frazzled bewilderment as a tense situation spirals into black farce. Now Chris Addison is in control as the writer and star of Lab Rats, a sitcom beginning on BBC Two on Thursday.

The Cardiff-born actor is best known as the put-upon political adviser “Olly” Reeder in The Thick of It, the Whitehall satire.

Addison has sought to make science, geography and evolution the stuff of comedy, winning a Sony Radio award for his lecture series, The Ape that Got Lucky.

In Lab Rats, Addison’s research scientist, Dr Alex Beenyman, is an idiot surrounded by even greater fools. He could join David Brent in the pantheon of comic antiheroes.

Postscript

Wacky Nigel Kennedy takes time out to show Radio Times his wisteria plants. “You get lovely purple flowers on it. I tried to smoke it once,” he blathers. “It didn’t do much good, but it made the joint look nice.” Oh dear.

— Headlining the Cornbury Festival at the weekend (also attended by Dave Cameron) was Paul Simon, who refused his two specially designed dressing rooms on site, demanding relocation to the production office’s HQ. They buckled under pressure.

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