IT’S impeccable Irish family credentials, tirelessly researched, which successive US presidents from Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton have endlessly paraded to their electorate in the past. But US Democratic candidate John Kerry is today being saluted in Britain as the most influential Jew of the 21st century.

Yes, Kerry the practising Roman Catholic with an Irish-sounding name.

Apparently two of Kerry’s grandparents were Jews from a small town in the Czech Republic.

The records show that Kerry’s grandfather Fritz Kohn changed his name to Kerry in 1902 and emigrated to the United States in 1905. Kerry’s brother converted to Judaism. Readers of The Jewish News voted Kerry top of the most influential list with Steven Spielberg, the Schindler’s List director, Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea Football Club owner, and Michael Howard, the Tory leader, close behind in the top 10.

The poll was timed to mark the exhibition of Andy Warhol’s 1980 prints of the most influential Jews of the 20th century at the Coskun Fine Art Gallery in Knightsbridge.

The full set, which included Golda Meir, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, Gertrude Stein and the Marx brothers, is being sold for £85,000.

The ten nominees in the Jewish News poll have been committed to canvas Warhol-style by the young artist Wil Beedle. He said: “It was great updating the Warholian idea of trashy commodity.

“Reducing people to caricatures is playful, but does draw attention to the influence of Jews.”

There is only one woman on the list but it’s not the newly ennobled Rabbi Julia Neuberger, former head of the King’s Fund. It went to Rachel Stevens. Rachel who? You know. Rachel, the singer who was in the pop group S Club 7.

It's the pits for conductor who lost his score

IT’S every conductor’s worst nightmare. They descend into the pit, the lights go down, the orchestra strikes up, but, horror of horrors, there is no score.

There was an embarrassed one-minute silence when Paul Daniel, the musical director of English National Opera, was about to conduct A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this week. He thought “to Hell. It’s a comedy” and he confessed to the audience that the performance could not begin until they located the score.

Barry Griffiths, the orchestra senior, shouted out: “And it’s his birthday.” The orchestra then played a variation on the theme and the audience sang “happy birthday”. Daniel said: “We did find the score.”

Bad luck hit again last night when the ENO was due to perform La Boheme in Trafalgar Square. It was rained off.

Woe for Yeo

JONATHAN YEO is discovering the delights of working with actresses. The artist was commissioned to paint a portrait of Minnie Driver, the actress from Circle of Friends. However, the work remains unfinished owing to Driver missing sittings. “She’s a typical actress, says she’s going to be somewhere then never shows up,” Yeo joked at the launch of Imogen Edward-Jones’s new novel, Hotel Babylon.

Grand to be back

CONTINUING my guide to fading Hollywood stars hoping to revive their career with a West End musical, I bring you news that Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is to star in Grand Hotel at the Donmar Warehouse from December. Since Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991 Mastrantonio, 45, has hardly been seen. The Donmar’s excellent artistic director Michael Grandage is at the helm.

PS . . .

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