RICHARD EDEN’S DIARY: Vandals wreck panto cherished by stars after ‘scary’ assault

Dreamed up by pop star Lily Allen‘s uncle Kevin and actress Anna Chancellor, who played ‘Duckface’ in Four Weddings And A Funeral, the Portobello Panto has become a beloved annual event in the fashionable Notting Hill area of west London.

I hear that this year’s production has, however, been put in serious jeopardy by vandals who destroyed the show’s sets which were being stored in an indoor children’s playground.

‘This is a scary and horrible attack on our beautiful community show,’ says prop and set designer Lily Smith.

‘Bramley’s, where we’ve been making our beautiful set, was broken into and our entire set was destroyed. Smashed to pieces, paint over everything.’

This year’s pantomime, which is due to begin tomorrow at The Tabernacle in the heart of Notting Hill, is The Lion, The Witch And The Westway, a parody of C.S. Lewis’s classic story The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

Photographs posted online show the broken makeshift throne for the White Witch, and the cardboard cut-out wardrobe to Narnia splattered with green paint.

Lily Smith has launched a last-minute appeal for locals to help, saying: ‘While we find out who did this, we’re calling on all people who know the panto to lend us a hand… we need materials, a van, person power, lots of love and creative power.’

Comedian Harry Enfield appeared in the panto in 2007 alongside TV presenter Anneka Rice and Lily Allen. In 2022, The Clash guitarist Mick Jones performed in the show produced by comic Ruby Wax.

A Portobello Panto spokesman tells me that people have ‘pulled together’ and the show will go ahead as planned on Wednesday. 

Royal DJ Cassius shows off his treasure chest 

With his shirt opened to the fourth button, revealing a gold medallion resting on his hirsute chest, Cassius Taylor sported a look unlikely to be imitated by his grandfather, the Duke of Kent, at a wedding in Tuscany at the weekend.

DJ Cassius, 28 – the son of the duke’s daughter, Lady Helen Taylor, and art dealer Timothy – partied with 27-year-old Cora Corre, granddaughter of Dame Vivienne Westwood, and another pal.

They were celebrating the wedding of Fiat heiress Azzi Agnelli, 28, and Frankie Lagrange, son of hedge fund boss Pierre Lagrange. It was held on the 28th anniversary of the death of Azzi’s father, Giovanni Agnelli, aged 33.

Frankie’s father is a member of that exclusive circle who have married both women and men. Appropriately, the couple were driven from the reception in a vintage convertible Fiat Cinquecento.

Hair dye ad star Helen Mirren too lazy to… dye hair 

She’s paid a fortune by beauty giant L’Oreal to promote its Age Perfect hair dye, but Dame Helen Mirren prefers the natural look.

‘I don’t colour my hair at all because I can’t be bothered,’ declares the Oscar-winning actress, 80. ‘It’s not being brave or anything. I just can’t be fussed with it. I always had blonde hair and my hair would go this sort of colour in the sun anyway – it would go sort of white. So I just slowly went whiter and whiter.’

Dame Helen has previously voiced suspicions about beauty products such as moisturisers. ‘When I put my moisturiser on it probably does f*** all, but it makes me feel better.’

Christmas for actress Suranne Jones sounds like that festive episode of The Vicar Of Dibley, with no fewer than three dinners. ‘We sit down with my husband’s family, then my own,’ she explains. ‘Then it’s just the three of us eating a Christmas meal – me, my husband and our son. It’s a brilliant way to see everybody, although it does involve eating a lot of food.’ 

I’m A Celeb grub no sweat: Palin  

While confirming he has no interest in appearing in the celebrity jungle Down Under, television globetrotter Sir Michael Palin points out he’s no stranger to eating creepy-crawlies. 

‘In I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! they do awful things,’ Palin remarks. ‘But when I was in Venezuela I ate worms, I ate ants’ bottoms. So I’m doing it while also understanding something about the country itself.’

Hoping to get another travel show for Channel 5 in 2026, Sir Michael, 82, also chuckles: ‘I’ve got a clear sense of what I can do and what I can’t do – so I won’t go on Strictly.’

Dame Judi’s Jagger dream comes true 

During her career she’s worked with the great and the good of stage and film, but Dame Judi Dench was finally star-struck when she met Sir Mick Jagger, 82.

The Oscar winner, 91, was speaking to Gyles Brandreth at the Sondheim Theatre in London. ‘I invited Jagger on to the stage at the end of our show,’ Brandreth says. ‘Dame Judi told me it was her dream to meet him.’

Thrilled when she gave birth to a ‘miracle baby’ last month, Victoria Aspinall has been back to hospital after her son caught a respiratory virus. 

The former Burberry executive, 39, whose struggle to conceive ended her marriage to casino and wildlife park heir Damian Aspinall, posted photographs online of her and her baby at St Mary’s Hospital in London. 

She explained: ‘RSV virus you are highly irritating for my little man.’

Anita Dobson: Strictly needs real stars again 

Strictly Come Dancing doesn’t just need two new presenters, it needs bigger stars to sign up. 

That’s the implication of comments by Anita Dobson, the former EastEnders actress who competed for the glitterball trophy in 2011. ‘In the old days, you kind of knew everyone,’ says the actress, 76, who’s married to Queen guitarist Sir Brian May. 

‘It will be good to get a couple of big shots in because that always makes people excited to see someone they know.’