A sticky wicket for Getty's celebrated cricket pitch

After the death of Sir Paul Getty in 2003, nowhere was his loss felt more strongly than in the world of cricket.

Getty was reported to have donated a sizeable chunk of his vast fortune towards the game throughout his lifetime, including a £2m sum towards the Mound Stand at Lord's.

But following the death of Getty's cricket manager, the former Hampshire captain Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, a fortnight ago, there are now concerns over what will happen to his own cricket ground at Wormsley Park.

Not only does the ground - based inside the 2,500-acre Buckinghamshire estate which Getty left to his third wife, Victoria - annually play host to a number of important first-class fixtures, it is revered by enthusiasts as one of the most beautiful pitches in the world.

"It's a real worry," says one Wormsley regular. "Colin did a magnificent job for Getty. He knew absolutely anyone worth knowing in cricket, so was able to attract all the world's leading players to come and play there.

"Now he's gone, it's all up in the air as to whether cricket there is going to continue."

Getty's passion for the game was said to have been stoked by Mick Jagger, who would visit Getty when the two were neighbours in London and discuss cricket.

Unfortunately, nobody from Wormsley was available for comment.

Floyd back in business (almost)

It's been 10 years since Keith Floyd's name was last above the door of a culinary establishment, and cooking has been all the poorer for it.

The chef's last restaurant venture, the Devon-based Floyd's Inn, sadly ended up going bust back in 1996. So, I'm happy to report then that Floydy is now back in business, and a new eaterie, Floyd's, will be opening its doors on the island of Phuket later this summer.

"We have an opening date for July," his spokesman assures me. "Keith's going to be totally hands-on, and will be visiting there throughout the year."

As is often the case with Floyd, however, things haven't entirely gone to plan. The building of the restaurant, part of the newly opened Burasari Hotel, has been delayed following the damage wreaked by the tsunami in 2004.

With the launch date continually put back ever since, there were worries that the "curse of Floyd" had struck again.

"There have been some problems," admits the spokesman. "But we're keeping our fingers crossed we're right on course."

* Last week, Pandora speculated over the future of The Spectator's irrepressible columnist, Taki Theodoracopulos.

There are often frequent whisperings - his "High Life" column has a habit of landing the magazine in hot water - but the former playboy is showing no signs of reining in his erratic behaviour.

According to a report in the New York Post, Taki has been busy stirring up trouble near his home in Gstaad. After spotting around the resort his long-term bête noire Marc Rich, the pardoned tax evader, he's been distributing bumper stickers declaring: "Gstaad is for the rich ... but not Marc Rich!"

Cheeky, but peanuts compared with what Rich must be used to from the self-styled "poor little Greek boy". It's been open season on Rich as far as Taki is concerned for the past five years. He once labelled him, among other things, "a lifelong dirty dealer".

* It's been nigh on two years since Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik popped the question to his girlfriend, Siân Lloyd.

One might have thought a girl who's had to wait so long for her big day might have changed her mind by now. Not a bit of it.

According to a recent interview with Rosemary Conley Fitness Magazine, the ITV weathergirl says the secret to their longevity is Opik's (wait for it) thigh-slapping wit.

"A shared sense of humour is essential and that's one of the great things I love about Lembit," she says.

"We laugh together so much - he [Lembit] has me literally rolling around on the floor!"

Why, what on earth does he say?

* Raising party funds seems to be a particularly touchy area with Labour loyalists at the moment. And not just because of the scandal surrounding big-money loans.

Pandora learns that a growing number of members are also spitting blood at a recent whopping 50 per cent hike in their membership subsidies. Prices have been raised from £24 to £36, with some long-time members apparently already refusing to cough up.

"It's a pretty scandalous state of affairs," says one. "And some people in the party are now more bitter than ever following the recent revelations about the loans.

"Everybody knows that there has been a serious drop in the party's membership since 1997, and with this sort of money-grabbing going on, there's now a real risk that the numbers could drop even further."