RICHARD EDEN: Bear Grylls to step down as Chief Scout – weeks after helping to baptise Russell Brand in the Thames as the comic converted to Christianity

On the age of fifty he is already notched up a giddying checklist of accomplishments, from changing into one of many youngest individuals to climb Everest — simply 18 months after breaking his again in three locations — to crossing the Atlantic in an inflatable boat and setting a world document for the longest indoor free-fall.

However little, if something — actually not the quite a few acclaimed survival programmes he is offered, nor even his shut friendship with the Prince and Princess of Wales — has given Bear Grylls the identical satisfaction as his position as Chief Scout.

So I am intrigued to listen to that Grylls, who was the youngest ever Chief Scout when appointed in 2009, is to step down imminently.

It is a poignant second for the strong Previous Etonian whose time as Chief Scout has coincided with what’s been described as ‘the most important surge in recognition’ for scouting because the finish of World Warfare II.

That is as a result of his tenure ends simply weeks after he took a number one half within the baptism within the Thames of Russell Model, as soon as described as a comic although now much better identified for messianic utterances in his guise as a ‘thought chief’ — and for being the topic of lurid accusations, which he vehemently denies, of historic sexual misconduct, at the moment being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.

A few of Grylls’s associates are bewildered by his very public embrace of Model — as are some on the Scout Affiliation. ‘There was actual alarm at Bear’s friendship with Model,’ one tells me, earlier than referring to ‘the potential implications’ that relationship might have ‘for the Scouts’ public picture’.

A spokesman for the Scouting Affiliation tells me: ‘We’re extraordinarily proud that Bear Grylls is our Chief Scout. Bear was the UK’s youngest ever Chief Scout when he was appointed in 2009, aged 34.

‘Bear Grylls impressed the motion by a interval of unprecedented development. he is helped 1000’s of younger individuals to achieve new abilities, attempt new issues, and look to the longer term with optimism. Extra info shall be out there later within the 12 months about Bear’s subsequent steps.’

The unlikely friendship seemingly started when Model appeared final 12 months on Working Wild, filmed within the Hebrides.

Grylls, a religious Christian who has three sons together with his spouse, Shara, is now in Costa Rica, filming Bear Hunt, offered by Holly Willoughby, wherein he’ll pursue celebrities by the rainforest.

Who’s to say that, if cleared of all accusations by the Met, Model is not going to in the future be his quarry?

Danielle’s new aria of experience 

Danielle de Niese, who staged a triumphant return to Glyndebourne this week, has set her coronary heart on a brand new problem.

The opera star reveals she is to carry out the main position in Bizet’s Carmen, which she had all the time assumed can be past her.

‘I assumed I might by no means sing it as a result of I am a soprano, and Carmen is principally sung by the lower-voice mezzo-soprano,’ she tells me on the first evening of The Merry Widow at Glyndebourne opera home in East Sussex.

‘Now, I’ll get two improbable photographs at it — one on the opposite aspect of the world and one within the UK, although I can not say but the place.’

She provides: ‘I am so excited to lastly play Carmen as a result of my followers around the globe have been asking me for years to do it.’

De Niese, 45, was as a result of carry out final 12 months at Glyndebourne, of which her husband, Gus Christie, is government director. Nevertheless, she pulled out to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West Finish musical Elements Of Love as an alternative.

Finish of an period as The Woman’s journal matriarch dies 

Julia Budworth, the matriarch who condemned her son Ben as a ‘little monster’ and accused journalist Rachel Johnson of being obsessive about intercourse, has died on the age of 92.

She was appalled when Ben offered the luxurious Covent Backyard HQ of The Woman journal, which had been owned by her household since 1885, for £12.4 million.

‘It is scandalous,’ she advised me in 2019. ‘It is a story ok for Dickens — the very worst sort of household catastrophe.’

Some property brokers declare the constructing might have fetched twice the value.

Julia handed management of the journal, whose illustrious previous contributors included Nancy Mitford and Lewis Carroll, to Ben in 2008. ‘Ben’s three brothers are shattered — disgusted and traumatised,’ mentioned Julia, whose grandfather based the journal. ‘The household has owned the constructing since 1891. It is a horrible factor he is executed. We’re desperately indignant.’

The Woman was the topic of a memorable TV documentary when Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel was editor. It laid naked the strain between her and Mrs Budworth.

Ben was unrepentant, telling me on the time that his household ‘solely have themselves responsible, and that is it’.

He mentioned: ‘The journal has been there for a number of years, however the constructing has by no means been owned by The Woman; it has been owned by relations.’

Konnie: Posh mother and father thought I used to be a nanny  

Identified for her ‘this is one I made earlier’ demonstrations when she was a Blue Peter presenter, Konnie Huq says individuals refused to imagine that she had produced her personal youngsters.

Konnie, 48, whose mother and father emigrated from Pakistan, has two sons with Black Mirror producer Charlie Brooker. 

‘Each mine got here out fully white,’ she says. ‘In Clapham — we lived on this posh space, however we lived behind a store – there can be all these individuals milling these children round, and I’d simply chat to them, however I am certain they thought I used to be the nanny, and typically I’d simply go together with them.’

The good set’s speaking about…Dame Emma and Tilda’s nepo infants  

If the faces of those two girls-about-town look vaguely acquainted, there is a motive why.

They’re the daughters of Oscar winners Dame Emma Thompson and Tilda Swinton — they usually’re making a splash on the London social scene. 

Gaia Sensible, 24, daughter of Dame Emma and Greg Sensible, joined her good friend and fellow actress Honor Swinton Byrne, 26, whose father is the late playwright John Byrne, at a celebration at Flannels LDN.

Neither is worried concerning the row over so-called ‘nepo infants’ — youngsters of celebrities deemed to have used their household connections to reach careers much like these of their mother and father. 

‘I really feel prefer it’s essential to personal it [nepotism],’ Honor has mentioned. ‘However on the identical time, I proceed to behave and get jobs as a result of I’ve talent. I am nonetheless doing it.’

Jilly Cooper’s very revealing plot twist  

Famend for her raunchy novels, Dame Jilly Cooper likes to jot down whereas starkers. ‘For years, in summer season I appreciated to sort bare on the terrace of my house within the Cotswolds,’ says the creator, 87.

‘I keep in mind there was a really candy man who had a stroke that stopped him speaking. He got here to borrow a few of my husband’s books. When there was no reply, he wandered on to the terrace and found me starkers. “Good God!” he shouted.

‘At the very least it obtained him speaking.’

Who rocker Pete speaks volumes 

Pete Townshend has swapped The Who’s guitar-smashing antics for a background position with The Bookshop Band, a Scottish people duo who tour bookstores, performing songs impressed by well-known authors. ‘I play a little bit of guitar, a little bit of bass. It is one of the vital enjoyable occasions I’ve had,’ says Townshend, who produced the band’s new album.

The duo cheekily requested if they may keep at Townshend’s countryside studio.

Slightly than emulate The Who drummer Keith Moon’s infamous room-trashing behaviour, the musicians lived as much as their bookish title.

‘It was pretty to have the band in among the many household,’ Townshend advised the pair at Mr B’s Emporium of Studying Delights in Bathtub. ‘You might be very tidy friends.’

King Charles wants any person with driving ambition.

He is promoting for a head chauffeur on an annual wage of as much as £45,000 per 12 months.

‘As head chauffeur, you may lead an distinctive workforce {of professional} chauffeurs and oversee automobile operations in help of occasions and day-to-day operations,’ explains the advert on the royal web site.

‘With distinctive customer support and interpersonal abilities, you’ll present an unparalleled chauffeur expertise tailor-made to the wants of your friends.’

And the prospect to listen to some attention-grabbing gossip!

It is the trendy non-public members’ membership the place Prince Harry courted Meghan Markle, however Soho Farmhouse seems to have misplaced a royal visitor.

I hear that Princess Beatrice has as an alternative been seen at a rival Oxfordshire venue: Estelle Manor, a rustic home lodge and spa.

Described because the Cotswolds ‘hippest new hangout’, it is set in 85 acres close to Witney and lodging can price as much as £2,200 per evening. Bea was noticed along with her two-year-old daughter, Sienna.

A fellow visitor notes: ‘Inside 5 minutes of arriving I used to be exchanging pleasantries with a pleasant, very fashionable and vaguely acquainted younger mom carrying her exhausted little one.

‘She turned out to be Princess Beatrice.

‘After all she did — it is that form of place.’

Newsnight’s former presenter Peter Snow is unimpressed by the reduced-length model, shorn of its reporting workforce, now on BBC 2. 

‘What’s occurring to Newsnight is extraordinary,’ he tells the Beeb Watch podcast. ‘It is a shame for the BBC, as a result of we launched it so as to give a day’s information in-depth. The BBC reduces that nice information in-depth programme from 45 minutes to 30. It is an absolute tragedy. I do know the BBC is pushed for money, however it’s a shame.’ 

When she married Damian Aspinall in 2016, Burberry government Victoria Fisher acquired one of the vital well-known names in society.

Now estranged from the on line casino and wildlife park inheritor, she is to maintain utilizing the Aspinall title.

‘I like my id,’ she tells me on the Daring Lady Award by Veuve Clicquot ceremony on the Royal Opera Home. ‘I’ve earned the whole lot I’ve labored very arduous for in my life.’

She provides: ‘I’ve had many great chapters. There’s all the time struggles, however you retain going and you must preserve optimistic.’

Victoria, 37, who married Aspinall, 64, has now moved into the wellness business.

‘I’ve had a few profession modifications, and now’s an excellent time to reset,’ she says. ‘When the occasions get powerful, it is a possibility to develop.’

The Savile Membership, the august Mayfair establishment whose members embrace Stephen Fry and Andrew Lloyd Webber, nonetheless bars girls from changing into members.

But it allowed a member to remain after present process a intercourse change.

And socialite Amanda Eliasch shouldn’t be glad.

‘We’re slowly infiltrating, however then it activates us as a result of the ladies are solely getting right here if they’re transgender girls,’ she tells me on the Mumble Charity lunch in support of Teenagers Unite on the Savile, the place her late grandfather was a member.

‘I do not thoughts what individuals do, however I do not need to be usurped.’

Earlier this 12 months the membership started a tentative session amongst members over the opportunity of opening up the membership to girls.