22 Daily Express Tuesday, July 30, 2019
DX1STWHILE preparing for her move into 10
Downing Street yesterday, Boris’s girlfriend
Carrie Symonds was excitedly reporting on
her recent first sighting of a puffin,
enthusing on Twitter: “You
can’t miss them with their
amazing rainbow bills.
Just can’t understand why
anyone would want to
shoot them.”
A telling insight into the
new pillow talk over at
Number 10?
FORMER senior Downing Street aide Tom
Swarbrick mischievously notes that
Michael Gove – who memorably sabotaged
Boris’s 2016 leadership bid – has been
tasked with holding gruelling daily
meetings to deal with the prospect of a
no-deal Brexit.
Swarbrick, previously an adviser to
Theresa May, cheekily suggests on LBC:
“A further indicator that Boris hasn’t really
forgiven him...if he has to do this every
single day of the week.”
TORY veteran Lord Patten, who worked for
Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher, has
unflattering memories of the former.
The ex-Hong Kong Governor, employed
by Conservative HQ for 13 years before
entering Parliament in 1979, recalls Heath’s
“big sulk” after losing the leadership,
adding: “He could be extraordinarily
ungallant and uncivil.”
On his early experiences of Maggie,
Patten more affectionately tells Radio 4’s
Reflections: “Unlike Ted she would smother
you with gratitude and hospitality. You
couldn’t possibly spend much time in her
company without being offered sandwiches,
which she would go and cut herself.”
He concludes: “She was only rude to
people who were supposed to be her peers
and colleagues in government.”
OSCAR-winning actor Sir Anthony
Hopkins, a keen pianist, is long
accustomed to having his
talents complimented.
The 81-year-old
Welshman, pictured,
reveals one figure seems
less enthusiastic about
his regular musical
endeavours, however.
Sir Anthony now
admits: “Not sure my cat
likes my piano playing.”
HIGHLIGHTING the fact he’s now entering
his 30th year without drink and drugs,
Sir Elton John emotionally recalls: “I was
a broken man. I finally summoned up the
courage to say three words that would
change my life, ‘I need help’.”
The 72-year-old star, who has long been
open about his hell-raising past, publicly
thanks the “selfless people who have helped
me on my journey”.
NEWS that old-fashioned Tory toff and
Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg
insists staff address non-titled males
“Esq” – short for Esquire – in letters, gets
the thumbs down from professional
grammar obsessive Gyles Brandreth.
“I think Jacob is making a mistake,”
says the broadcaster and former
Conservative MP, 71. “Why cling on to
Esq? It’s outdated. Even when it was used,
it wasn’t applied to every man: it was
simply used for what were perceived to be
‘gentlemen’. I have dropped it, and I
reckon it’s time the Moggster did, too.”
HICKEY
H
E bears more than a passing
resemblance to Prince Charles,
thanks to his distinctive ears, so it’s
no surprise that Josh O’Connor was
cast as the heir to the throne in The
Crown. The actor, who played
Lawrence in The Durrells, is set to appear
alongside Olivia Colman’s Queen in the third
season of the Netflix drama later this year.
And while the role of HRH required exten-
sive research, Josh, 29, has never actually
met him. But if he did, the subject of ears
would be top of his agenda.
“If I met him, I am sure it would be lovely,
although it would be a bit weird,” he says. I
would definitely, almost immediately, com-
pare ears. I think his are definitely bigger.
“I would want to know how that has been
for him. For me, it has been great [although
he was called Dumbo at secondary school].”
Although Josh has spent the past
12 months immersing himself in the role and
perfecting that cut-glass royal accent, he
knew from the outset that it was futile trying
to fully impersonate Charles.
He says: “I realised that there is no point
actually trying to recreate Prince Charles
because I will do it wrong and we also don’t
know who he is.
“Someone kept asking me on set to do the
voice of Prince Charles and I kept saying,
‘I can’t’.” Because Josh felt he was
already doing it.
“I was thinking, ‘Well, if you can’t
see it, you are never going to be
happy and my performance is
seriously flawed’.”W
HILE he was not particu-
larly interested in the
Royal Family or the part
they played in British 20th century
history when he was growing up near
Cheltenham with his English teacher
father, midwife mother and two brothers,
Josh is now an expert on the subject.
He says: “There is so much I didn’t know
and it’s actually weird because with The
Crown, the research has been really helpful.
“Ultimately, everyone can go on to
YouTube and find any interview with Prince
Charles from that period.
“But what is interesting about The Crown
and why I think it touches audiences is that
[writer] Peter Morgan doesn’t just present us
with what we can see on YouTube.
“He goes behind closed doors and shows
the conversations.
“There is a lot about Prince Charles talking
about the environment, which is brilliant, but
I can imagine behind closed doors that him
and Camilla aren’t talking about the environ-
ment all the time.
“It’s more likely they’re having cups of tea
and talking about other stuff.”
Portraying Charles through his 20s and
30s, involved his relationships with Camilla,
who is played by Killing Eve writer Emerald
Fennell, and Princess Diana played by new-comer Emma Corrin. But Josh says that if
The Crown’s viewers are expecting raunchy
sex scenes, they will be left disappointed.
“In my career, I have done a lot of sex
scenes,” he admits. “But it’s not going to get
too raunchy. I think that would be a bit much
for everyone.”
Working on the third series of the Netflix
drama also meant filming some “very tense”
scenes alongside Helena Bonham Carter
(Princess Margaret), Charles Dance (Lord
Mountbatten) and Oscar winner Olivia
Colman, who plays the Queen. And Josh
couldn’t help but be starstruck.
He reveals: “It’s been such a nice job. But
it’s kind of bizarre when you have got all
your idols like Olivia Colman and Charles
Dance and Tobias Menzies [Prince Philip]
working with you. They are all brilliantactors, who I grew up with and idol-
ised, and that is really exciting.
“Helena Bonham Carter is one of
the warmest people you are likely to
meet and I felt this real sense of
guidance from her. She is this incredi-
ble actress but also really wise.”
In his relatively short career as an actor- Josh graduated from the Bristol Old Vic
Theatre School in 2011 – he has already
worked on films such as The Riot Club and
The Program, but his big break came with
God’s Own Country in 2017, a gay love story
set in rural Yorkshire.
Screen roles in Peaky Blinders, Les
Miserables and The Durrells, starring Keeley
Hawes as his character’s mother, followed.
Filming the Durrells in Corfu over the last
few years has meant all of the cast have
forged a close bond and now the series has
come to an end, Josh feels bereft.
He says: “We all hang out anyway but I
miss the times that we’ve had in Corfu. When
I was there, I had my family come and stay
with me. But I am going back this summer
for a holiday. I will keep going back.”
However, there is one “co-star” Josh won’t
be missing – a pelican that was a pet belong-
ing to his onscreen little brother Gerald,
played by Milo Jared F. Parker.
“All the animals were so well trained – and
Keeley would be livid if I shared this, but I
Durrells star Josh
O’Connor on playing
Prince Charles,
telling the Diana
and Camilla story
and the pelican
that upstaged
Keeley Hawes
By Olivia Buxton
o point
Charles
o don’tdo the
ying,
wasty
ar
cher
thers,t know
th The
elpful.
on toaaaa
iisththe
mmee
gguid
bble ac
In his- Josh gr
Theatre S
worked on
The Progr
God’s Ow
LOOKALIKE:
Josh O’Connor
as Prince
Charles, left,
in The Crown