Louise Levene loves the old television shows - for their interesting period costume, of course

Main Claim: Joan Collins. Tara is the offspring of the nation's favourite vamping sexagenarian and Anthony Newley, some Sixties crooner chappie shortly to bob up in EastEnders. Beaming for Hello!, Tara is this week posing with an empty pink cradle to celebrate the arrival of a yet unborn child. Said pregnancy is named Miel Celeste. "I feel our baby's spirit has been around, following us, and that soon she will materialise," explains Tara's husband, Michael. Tamara Beckwith turned up for the baby shower in a delightful leopard-skin print. Joan Collins was kitted out for the event in soft baby pink. A thoughtful touch, that.

RIVIERA restaurant owners fear a spate of terrorist-type attacks after an armed robbery at one of the favourite eateries of the rich and famous near Cannes.

Obsession, voyeurism and fetishism - the staple diet of novelist Geoff Nicholson. Marianne Brace looks through his scrapbook

The musician Brix Smith (far right), 35, grew up in Chicago. She moved to Britain in 1983, when she joined seminal Manchester punk band The Fall, and married its frontman Mark E Smith. As well as playing on and off with The Fall for 13 years, she also had her own band, The Adult Net. After her marriage split up, she had a relationship with violinist Nigel Kennedy; she now lives in London with her current partner, Philip Start. The presenter Katie Puckrik, 35, was born in Virginia. In 1984 she moved to Britain, and worked as a dancer and stand-up comic until 1991, when she became a presenter on Channel 4's `The Word'. Since then she has co-presented several TV shows, and has a regular programme on GLR. She lives alone in London

Whitesnake

Newspaper headlines announcing the execution of King Charles:

The right not to be known

It takes finesse to carry off the season's pant suits

get the look ... and get it right

Richard Lugner,the Austrian construction tycoon, famous for reportedly paying pounds 50,000 to dance with the Duchess of York at the glitzy Vienna Opera Ball on New Year's Eve, has announced that he intends to stand for president.

Thought for the day: inside every heterosexual male there's an evil, hair-pulling, face-scratching, rumour-mongering, name-calling, six-teated cow scheming to get out.

The BBC has been secretly schooling the Duchess of York as a chat show host and will shortly announce that she is to have her own radio series.

THEATRE Lady Windermere's Fan Theatre Royal, London