The feral beast: Changing faces of 'Apollo'

Sunday 14 February 2010 01:00 GMT
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More changes at the court of Andrew Neil as popular Apollo editor Michael Hall is toppled by Oscar Humphries.

The Spectator-owned art mag, revered by collectors, can expect the son of Dame Edna star Barry to shake things up. Humphries Jr, 29, has written extensively about his battles with drink and drugs and the joy of pugs; Hall is better known as an intellectual and expert on Victorian architecture. He is off to finish a book about G F Bodley.

Arts editor heads for the Big Apple

Times arts editor Tim Teeman is to become its New York correspondent. Once a contributor to this parish, Teeman has made his name as a writer on gay culture and, of late, TV. We annoyed him recently by suggesting he didn't know Jeff Buckley was dead after he referred to the singer in the present tense, but we wish him well.

BBC not so sweet on Burchill

Sugar Rush, the lesbian drama from the pen of Julie Burchill, won an Emmy, so why has the BBC turned down her new script? The columnist has co-written, with the Daily Mail's Katie Glass, a film about lesbian incest called Anne and Eve (geddit?). An exclusive sneak peek reveals it's about a West Country teenager who falls for an alcoholic, once-famous music journalist in her late 40s. It's only once they, ahem, get off that she finds out she's her mother. Happily, I can confirm Glass and Burchill, although close, are not related.

Prezza's tweet topples Walker

It's a victory for John Prescott, who seems to have single-handedly scuppered the TV career of Telegraph boulevardier Tim Walker. The Mandrake editor was once a regular pundit on Sky News, but has not been seen since Prezza tweeted that he was "embarassingly poor" [sic] declaring him "appointment-to-miss television". But Walker is sanguine when I call: "One goes in and out of fashion in this business," he sniffs. "Still, I have been getting more beauty sleep."

Oh, to be in England. Not Brown

Tina Brown merrily plunders British culture for her own gain – she wrote a book about Diana and nicked an Evelyn Waugh joke when setting up the Daily Beast – but claims no affection for Blighty. "Being an immigrant myself, I only see how wonderful America is compared to the UK," she told a US radio station last week. "When I call up, I always hear the rain in their voices: 'Hello-o-o-o-o,' they say. And I think to myself, 'I am so happy that I left.' I don't have to hear 'Hello-o-o-o-o.'" We're happy too, Tina.

Can't take 'Times' out of the man

Hats off to former Indy man Ben Preston, who has taken readership of the Radio Times to over a million. Preston, once deputy editor at The Times, mischievously allowed this question to run in a Q&A with Sky director Stuart Murphy this week: "Many people don't want to pay for Sky on principle, because of who owns it. Does this concern you?". The answer? "The Murdochs built the world's biggest business from nothing – surely that's something to admire?" Surely.

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