Pandora: New friends at the Fringe for Hurt

(REUTERS)

Fringe theatre isn't known for its glamour (think grimy bathrooms and changing rooms the size of broom cupboards) – which is not to say it doesn't get its share of A-list sparkle every once in a while.

Pandora hears that this year's Edinburgh Festival has been enjoying the attentions of William Hurt, the Oscar-award-winning American actor, who is currently in the UK filming Robin Hood alongside Russell Crowe.

Indeed, so keen is Hurt for the full fringe experience that, after watching one particularly compelling production, Killing Alan at Edinburgh's Underbelly, he decided to head backstage and invite the cast out for a round of drinks.

"It was brilliant," enthuses Phil King, the show's writer. "He waited for us afterwards and we went to the theatre bar. We tried to buy him a drink but he insisted on buying all of ours and then stayed out chatting until midnight."

Apparently, Hurt has been trying to catch the world-famous festival for over 30 years but this is the first year he's been able to. "He is here on his own, just going to shows. We've arranged to go to see a show with him soon. It really is unbelievable."

* Life on the Fringe diary

Shayler goes home-hunting (again)

*Alas! It seems that David Shayler's time squatting on a Surrey farm has come to an end. Despite promising us that he would attend his court hearing ("just for a laugh"), neither the former spook nor his alter-ego Dolores chose to make an appearance. Instead, Shayler stayed away, leaving the judge to rule that he should vacate the National Trust property next week.

Home owners in the area would do well to keep an eye on their land. Last time Shayler et al were evicted they wasted no time in finding a new place to squat.

Deyn takes a back seat at the shows

*Pandora very much hopes that London Fashion Week hasn't seen the last of Agyness Deyn.

The coltish supermodel, whose regular appearances have become one of the event's highlights, appears to be in some doubt as to whether or not to return. "She isn't doing as much stuff anymore," Deyn's fashion designer friend Henry Holland tells us.

"She's trying to concentrate on different things. For me it's all hands on deck and if she wants work, I'll always give it to her. But whatever she does I'll be proud. She could be in a Tesco advert if she wanted!"

Blackburn FC's colourful technique

*Winning methods from Blackburn FC's manager Sam Allardyce. We're told he has hit upon the (no doubt highly scientific) tactic of colour therapy to boost his players' performance this season, deciding to repaint the team's changing room a particularly garish shade of tangerine, complemented by a hardly less subtle turquoise. Apparently the shades are "colour opposites" chosen to "stimulate and promote a feeling of energy". Any wincing side effects aren't, we're assured, a cause for concern. Still, you wouldn't catch Pandora in there.