EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Why did BBC not give Clare Balding Sue Barker role

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Why did the BBC not give Clare Balding the traditional Sue Barker role of interviewing Carlos Alcaraz on Centre Court after his Wimbledon final win?

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Having anointed Clare Balding as chief Wimbledon presenter, why did the BBC not grant her the traditional Sue Barker role of interviewing the new champ Carlos Alcaraz on the post-final Centre Court? Bafflingly, superannuated tennis player Annabel Croft was centre stage on what should have been the crowning glory of Clare’s inaugural Wimbledon. And with social media wailing about match commentator Andrew Castle’s inane prattling, Clare didn’t even have the assistance of former champ John McEnroe, paid £210,000 by the BBC for his Wimbledon appearances last year – £30,000 more than the departing Sue. He was unable to offer Clare his post-match analysis due to US media obligations. Will the cash-strapped Beeb be asking him to return a portion of this year’s jumbo fee?

Having anointed Clare Balding (pictured) as chief Wimbledon presenter, why did the BBC not grant her the traditional Sue Barker role of interviewing the new champ Carlos Alcaraz on the post-final Centre Court?  

Carlos Alcaraz, 20, (pictured) beat Novak Djokovic in the Centre Court  game which lasted nearly five hours on Sunday

As a child, Jane Birkin had to watch her furious actress mother Judy Campbell pour milk on her naval officer father David’s head as he massaged butter into hers during a blazing row after he had vetoed her starring role at the Royal Court. The reason? ‘Because it involved her saying ‘f***’,’ recalled Jane, who has died aged 76. ‘It would have disgraced my father’s family.’ What did Lt-Cdr Birkin make of Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus?

Archbishop Justin Welby is supporting a bid to raise £4.5million to buy a tapestry. Saint Paul Directing The Burning Of The Heathen Books was commissioned by Henry VIII but ended up in Spain, where it’s now up for sale. ‘It’s an extraordinary and rare piece of art. It’s only right that it should come home,’ says Welby. With the latest Church Commissioners’ figures showing assets of £10.3billion, surely Justin could find the necessary funds close to home?

Former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham takes issue with a claim that he once described Mick Jagger’s then girlfriend Marianne Faithfull, pictured in 1967, as ‘this fabulous girl with big t**s’. ‘I did not say that. Someone called Philip Norman [the rock biographer] put that statement in my mouth. I wouldn’t speak about her like that!’ Andrew snaps, clarifying: ‘I first saw her sitting on a radiator in Marylebone… and I wanted to be the radiator.’

Former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham takes issue with a claim that he once described Mick Jagger’s then girlfriend Marianne Faithfull, pictured in 1967

Lady Williams of Elvel, Justin Welby’s mother who has died aged 93, was prayed for on a daily basis when her only son was a ten year old. Working as a production secretary on the 1965 Rod Taylor film Young Cassidy, she had to drive co-star Dame Edith Evans to the seaside for her daily swim. On each occasion Evans, a Christian Scientist, recited a Psalm for her.

Brazen Maureen Lipman, invested with a damehood by King Charles, asked: ‘Sir, when you woke up this morning, did you think to yourself: Whoopee, an investiture! ‘It comes with the job,’ [he explained]. He had the good grace to laugh.’

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