No encore for Paul McCartney’s son

Relations between Kate Winslet and Richard Branson’s mother became frosty following conflicting versions of what happened in the fire that wrecked the tycoon’s Caribbean roost four years ago.

After pictures were published of Ms Winslet carrying Eve out of the main house on Necker Island it was assumed she had rescued her.

“But I was NOT saved by Kate!” declared the doughty nonagenarian.

“She just picked me up and carried me down four steps.”

Branson, meanwhile, had fled naked, accidentally running into a cactus bush.

Now the whole clan are returning to the rebuilt house this Christmas, when the Virgin boss will preside over a family get-together, which will include Miss Winslet, who is married to his nephew Ned. Fire drill is now compulsory on the island.

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Who says the Royal Family has airbrushed away the memory of Diana? At Sandringham the Queen likes to keep a jigsaw on a side table in which she slots the odd piece from time to time, and a visitor reports that the current one is a 1000-piece puzzle called Gibsons’ Royal Babies, which contains three charming pictures of the late Princess of Wales with William and Harry as babies.

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A quirky nugget about Noddy Holder, who continues to rake in around £650,000 a year in royalties from Slade’s 1973 hit Merry Christmas Everybody: the old rocker always travels with his very own tool kit.

“Even in the best hotel rooms, there’ll be something broken,” says the Brummie singer.

“A drawer that doesn’t close properly, a shower curtain hanging loose, a lamp that doesn’t work. I can’t be bothered to call housekeeping, I just get out my kit and fix it on the spot.”