John Gibson: Get into the groove for Madonna

By John Gibson
Published on 11/07/2012 12:00

Be sharp and you can have Madonna all to yourself, just hours before her Murrayfield gig a week on Saturday. Or even earlier. She’ll be at the Art Et Facts shop in Roseburn Terrace, near the stadium.

Shop owner George Rendall explains: “From Monday, ahead of the concert, we’ll stage a week-long exhibition here exclusively of Madonna paintings, all for sale.

“I’ve commissioned six artists, mainly Scottish-based, to provide the paintings and, in total, we’ll have ten original impressions of the superstar on view.

“And on Saturday, day of the gig, Madonna will be here all day, from ten to six. I’m hastening to add, the karaoke version of her hits. This will be a first for Art Et Facts, a first for Roseburn.”

Smile, Gyles

Posing for the camera in the book room of his South London home, Gyles Brandreth flaunts a poster from the Manchester Evening News.

It reminds him of his first job, writing a column for the paper when he was 20. The poster, too, reminds him to be young at heart because today, at 64, “I hear too many grumpy old men.”

Afterwords . .

. . . actress Greta Scacchi, never to be forgotten for the film White Mischief, is owning up: “What’s great now is that my body isn’t so beautiful. When I posed naked with a dead cod for the oceans campaign in 2009 to promote sustainable fishing, I think the fish had more shape than I did. I’m nice and droopy in that picture, let’s face it. But I’ve always been thick-waisted. I’ve managed to hide a thick waist and thick ankles for a whole career.”