Pandora: Cash turns coach: Pat offers Natasha lessons

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As tennis coaches go, they don't come much more prestigious (or, dare we say, photogenic) than Pat Cash.

The former Wimbledon champion has taught such greats as Greg Rusedski and Mark Philippoussis, and currently runs his own academy on Australia's Gold coast.

Now his talents are to be deployed in the direction of the rich and famous.

Cash – who coached Kirsten Dunst before her appearance in the 2004 film Wimbledon – has promised to try and fit Natasha Bedingfield into his schedule over the summer for private lessons.

The pair met for the first time earlier this week, at an Evian-sponsored Wimbledon warm-up. Apparently Cash's teenage sons are big fans of the singer, and had requested he get her autograph. In return, she asked him to provide private lessons.

"Imagine! I'd love it," she told Pandora afterwards. "I could have some girlfriends over and we could do it together."

"My sons keep me so busy, but they are fans," added Cash. "So I'm sure we can get together over the summer and sort something out."

Nancy's not the gambling sort

"I bet on one horse and won, but that was all," purred a fresh-from-Ascot Nancy Dell'Olio at the launch of the Independent cartoonist's Sally Ann Lasson's exhibition. "I don't really do gambling. I just go for the horses. It's very English, that's why I like it."

It seems, however, that she does do irony, picking up one of Lasson's sardonic depictions of domesticity on her way out of the exhibition. Could her wayward former squeeze Sven-Göran Eriksson been in mind? Pandora is far too polite to ask.

At last! Hazel joins the Twitterati

Hazel Blears, welcome to Twitter. The penitent former Cabinet minister – who faces a motion of no-confidence at a meeting in her Salford constituency today – has, following in the technologically advanced footsteps of her colleagues, finally signed up to the social networking site.

Still, if it's voters she's trying to reconnect with, she may have to do a little better. Last night she had but 123 "followers", and was following but nine (notably, that didn't extend to Number 10 Downing Street).

Hats off to Liz for her good taste

Pandora has always imagined Elizabeth Taylor as the sort of gal to relish a good hat. As it turns out, we were right. The kaftan-loving actress recently placed an order for 28 of the very best – by none other than the royal milliner Philip Treacy.

"Her assistant called me up asking for a hair pin and I sent her a message back asking if she wanted a hat to go with it," Treacy tells us. "It turns out that she did – lots. We spent two evenings at her suite at the Dorchester fitting them, looking in the mirror. She even sang a song for us and ordered us cocktails. She doesn't need an excuse to buy that many, she invented celebrity extravagance."

Crow Crag gets a Commons campaign

Last but by no means least, a solution to the pressing problem of Sleddale Hall. The property – Crow Crag, home of Uncle Monty in Withnail and I – fell into a state of disrepair after being left unoccupied for several years. A planned sale to a local landlord collapsed last month, and, despite interest from Kate Moss and Chris Evans, the current owners have been unable to find a buyer. Now local MP Tim Farron is campaigning to get English Heritage involved. "It has huge potential – it could be transformed into a museum," he explains.

pandora@independent.co.uk