Now Ferry faces snub over bloodsports row

Bryan Ferry found himself cold-shouldered by fans last week after he made some ill-advised comments about Nazi imagery. Now, he's about to face an embarrassing snub over his views on the British countryside.

Next month, Ferry was due to perform at the Countryside Alliance's glitzy fundraiser, Countryside Rocks, alongside the world famous Swedish composer and pianist Robert Wells.

Wells, who has been invited to compose and perform the music for the opening ceremonies to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was expected to appear on stage with Ferry and other famous rockers, including Eric Clapton and Gary Brooker.

But that was until news filtered back to Wells, via animal the rights group Animal Aid, that the Alliance was a pro-bloodsports organisation. Wells, unlike Ferry et al, turns out to be a rabid "anti".

"I felt that they were keeping something from me when they denied the Countryside Alliance had anything to do with foxhunting," he says. "I warned them not to mess with me, or I'd get really pissed off."

A furious Wells, who insists his decision to withdraw is final, claims he was led to believe the whole evening was about wildlife preservation. " As far as I knew, this concert was in support of nature and the countryside and then this crap shows up. That's when I said that it is against my beliefs, and I cancelled."

Frankly, Sheen's not really the star...

The West End smash Frost/Nixon received its Broadway premiere on Sunday night, with the audience humbled by the presence of Sir David Frost.

Frost, who is portrayed in the show by the British actor Michael Sheen, was, I'm told, in fine fettle.

At one point, he apparently rose from his seat just a few moments before curtain-up to exchange a batch of airkisses and compliments with his fellow veteran interviewer Barbara Walters, who was seated three rows in front.

Quipped one audience member: "It was a bit over the top -a far more outlandish display of luvviedom than anything that was witnessed at the afterparty."

The bash, which was held at a nearby watering hole, was attended by both of the show's stars. The American actor Frank Langella, far left, who plays Nixon, received a round of applause on his entrance.

Unfortunately Sheen, perhaps not so well known Stateside, didn't get one.

Farah fuels her feud

Farah Damji's feud with the travel writer William Dalrymple continues to rage, four years after she spilt the beans on their affair to the Daily Mail.

Damji, a colourful former Asian magazine editor, has penned a piece about the tryst- subject of much media tittle-tattle at the time - called " Why I Kissed and Told", for a prominent Indian newspaper which she's posted on her online blog.

"It wasn't so much a case of kiss-and-tell [with Dalrymple]; it was more like scratch and smell," she says. "He is very white, very flabby, almost bald; something of a Great White Whale in the Delhi waters and speaks Hinglish with a lisping Oxbridge affectation."

Worryingly for Dalrymple, his blushes are unlikely to end there. Damji is now threatening to write an autobiography.

Ticket touts

Tony Blair managed to avoid any awkward questions over "cash-for-honours " during a visit to the Long Acre branch of Marks & Spencer yesterday morning. But his trip was not devoid of other irritants.

Apparently, an ambitious traffic warden from Westminster borough, which is among the ticketing-trade's most zealous operators, thought he'd try his luck on the PM's illegally parked motorcade, only to be bluntly told to scram by a member of Special Branch.

When the PM emerged, finally, from the store (he'd been there discussing its new low carbon emission initiative) he encountered another of Covent Garden's great pests. A cocky young man distributing flyers for the musical Spamalot also fancied his chances, but received a similar rebuff.

Activists put bee in Pope's bonnet

Pope Benedict is the latest public figure to have his collar felt by the bossy arm of the animal rights lobby.

A group calling themselves the Anti-Fur Society have launched a petition protesting against the use of his papal hat, known as a "camauro" - a bonnet made of white ermine fur.

"The Pope may not be aware that fur-bearing animals are skinned alive for fur," it reads. "Surely he will agree that animals are all God's creatures and deserve to be treated with compassion."

I fear the protests are likely to fall on stony ground, since his holiness is usually a stickler when it comes to his wardrobe. He sports designer sunglasses in clement weather, and likes to furnish his feet in raffish scarlet Prada loafers.