New Hall fights on, despite Paxo

Your starter for ten. Which Cambridge college has provoked outrage after competing in University Challenge when technically said college doesn’t exist?

Campaigners are furious that Jeremy Paxman introduced their alma mater as “Murray Edwards College”, Cambridge, in last night’s contest on BBC Two.

In July the all-girl New Hall, which opened its doors in 1954, announced that it would be renamed Murray Edwards College. The new name comes from its founder, Dame Rosemary Murray, and after a £30 million donation from Ros Edwards, a former student, and her husband, Steve, a software entrepreneur. Angry former students, including Tilda Swinton, a graduate of 1983, have criticised the decision. Isabel Raphael, of the Save New Hall campaign, says the BBC got it wrong. “The college is still in legal terms New Hall. The Privy Council has yet to approve the change and we are petitioning them not to do so,” she says.

New Hall had the lowest University Challenge score ever, in 1997 (35 points). A good reason for a spot of rebranding.

So much to talk about for Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci, front-row guests at the DKNY Spring 2009 Collection in New York. Ryder played the nine-year-old Ricci’s elder sister in the 1990 film Mermaids. The child star Ricci suffered anorexia and went into therapy. Winona had her shoplifting malfunction. It looks like Ryder, soon to play Spock’s mother in a new Star Trek film, is having the last laugh

Heartening news for children of the 1970s: the cult BBC series Rentaghost, the adventures of a group of failed phantoms, is set for a reincarnation. The series, which ran for eight years from 1976, will be remade as a “21st-century global franchise” by RDF Media. No worries about spooky special effects. RDF is the company that doctored footage of the Queen “storming out” of a photoshoot.

Organisers of Bestival were no doubt pleased to hear that the Isle of Wight music festival was to be written into the plot of The Archers - until they listened to Friday’s episode. Alice Aldridge’s tent and belongings were stolen. “I’ll have to see security,” she told Chris Carter. “I don’t think they’ll be any use,” he replied. Not the best advert.

Sir Cliff Richard has explained the economics behind his aversion to the altar. “I asked my then manager Peter Gormley’s advice when I was considering my future with Jackie [Irving],” he tells Hello! “I asked if marriage would lose me my fan base. Only by 10 per cent, he reckoned, and nothing to worry about.” Irving married Adam Faith, who later went bankrupt.

Gangster maestro beats time

The Face: Goldie

An unlikely advocate for classical music, Goldie will put his flailing baton technique to the public vote tonight when BBC Two viewers choose a Maestro to conduct at the Proms in the Park.

The drum-and-bass star doesn’t read music but relies on an innate ability to juggle shifting instrumental components when facing an orchestra.

The possibilities of electronic dance music offered Goldie, born Clifford Price, an escape from the criminal gangs of his West Midlands youth.

Flirtations with Naomi Campbell and Björk followed his breakthrough album Timeless (1995), while the trademark gold-toothed image was put to use as an EastEnders gangster. He is now living the quiet life in a Hertfordshire country house with his pet python.

A Górecki-inspired conversion prompted a desire to introduce clubbers to classical. “Yeah, I’d like to win,” he admits. “It would be an irony for someone from my background, wouldn’t it?”

Postscript

— David Bailey was fascinated by Liam Gallagher’s hair after a photoshoot for Q magazine. “He looks a bit like a religious fanatic from the 15th century. I would prefer it if he changed his hair, but if he likes that . . . ”

— “It’s nice that they cast a working-class girl to play the part,” Gemma Arterton, from Gravesend, tells Radio Times of her lead role in Tess of the d’Urbervilles.

— Usain Bolt slowed down long enough to watch Guava Jelly at the Hackney Empire - not a cooking demonstration but a bittersweet Jamaican comedy. The fastest man alive sped off before delivering his verdict.

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