The feral beast: Damazer's metropolitan sign-off

Sunday 13 June 2010 00:00 BST
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Radio 4 has been accused of pandering too much to the metropolitan middle classes, so how is the station's outgoing controller Mark Damazer marking his departure?

With a two-week series dedicated to London, of course! Damazer has left his mark with several big projects, including the seemingly never-ending A History of the World in 100 Objects. But his swan-song is next month's London bonanza, including a head-to-head between south Londoner Arthur Smith and north Londoner Suggs, on which side of the river is best. Can't wait.

Loyal to the 'Mirror'

Much talk of Mirror 3am girl Clemmie Moodie being poached by The Mail on Sunday, which is said to have waved its cheque book to lure her over as showbiz ed. But I can confirm Clemmie is staying put. This may seem a brave decision in the week the Mirror Group announced it was looking to lose of 200 its 554 staff.

One, two, three?

When Ruth Sunderland left as the Daily Mail's business desk as number two to become business ed at The Observer, she created a vacancy, quickly filled by the then number three, Lucy Farndon. Now Sunderland is rejoining the Mail's City desk, but at what rank? An announcement on the PR email service Gorkana delicately reveals Sunderland returns as number three, and points out that Farndon, who goes on maternity leave this week, remains deputy City editor. Lest there is any doubt about the pecking order, Farndon's mobile number is supplied – that way everyone knows she is very definitely coming back.

'Telegraph' lands Britney scoop

"BP oil spill overtakes Britney Spears on Google," bleated a lead story in The Daily Telegraph. Twenty times more people are searching for the latest on the spill than they are for Britney or Paris Hilton, we learn. And how did the reporter land his sizzling scoop? Could it be anything to do with the Telegraph's policy of driving up hits on its website by informing reporters of the most searched for Google terms in regular bulletins throughout the day?

Next stop the world

So why did ITV let Channel 4 snap up the British Comedy Awards? There's talk that ITV has a plan – the rumour is director of programmes Peter Fincham and pop Svengali 'Simon Cowell are hatching plans for a World Comedy Awards. C4 can have Britain. ITV wants the world.

Kelvin back on air, where else?

Kelvin MacKenzie found himself in hot water with Sky after making rude comments about Gordon Brown during his regular Wednesday-night review of the papers. A producer gave him a dressing down, as the Murdoch-owned channel is paranoid about seeming too partial to the Tories, apparently, like the rest of the empire. Happily, MacKenzie and Sky have kissed and made up, and he is back on air. What would he do without the blessed oxygen of publicity?

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