Staff at the British Museum are wondering who their next boss will be following the surprise departure of director Hartwig Fischer. An insider tells us his announcement that he will go in 2024 was “very sudden”, and that whoever replaces him faces a difficult job because the museum needs work.
They told us that there is “embarrassment” among staff that the building is “visibly falling down”, with gaffer tape on the carpets and water damage on the walls in galleries. There have been leaks in the wing that houses the Parthenon sculptures — also known as the Elgin Marbles — while areas such as the reading room where Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital are closed to the public because of their condition. There have been hopes for a £1 billion restoration project, but cash is needed.
Professor Mary Beard, a trustee, told us the Museum will be looking for someone to take Fischer’s work forward. He wasn’t keen on the repatriation of artefacts such as the marbles, a thorny issue the next director will have to tackle. Get your applications in now.
Do sweat it: spotlight on Prince Andrew
He may be heading up to Balmoral with The Firm, but there’s no summer respite for Prince Andrew, who is set to be the subject of another exposé. Along with the forthcoming Netflix drama about his car crash Newsnight interview with journalist Emily Maitlis (to be played by Gillian Anderson, pictured right alongside the prince), a new documentary series on him has just been announced. Secrets of Prince Andrew will come out this month on the American network A&E. It features interviews with Maitlis and Sam McAlister, the former BBC staffer who organised the 2019 interview in Buckingham Palace. It follows Prince Andrew: Banished, last year’s series about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. That’s not all. Historian Andrew Lownie is soon due to publish a biography of the prince and his ex-wife, the Duchess of York, where he plans to spill more secrets.
Kensington chaos
An ex-Labour MP who narrowly lost the seat of Kensington in 2019 looks set to run against the party, saying it has lost its Left-wing values. Emma Dent Coad, who was blocked from being the Labour candidate last year, started a crowdfunding site last week saying she would run as an independent if she got £30,000. She has so far raised half. Dent Coad, inset, told us she feels Labour has lost its “compassion” and is not giving a voice to people struggling with the cost of living. The incumbent Tory, Felicity Buchan, may be glad, as she’s likely to split the Labour vote, but Dent Coad says: “Under the current Labour leadership, we are just a shadow of the Tory party. I can’t subscribe to that.”
Celebs on holibobs
As the British summer rain continues, the stars have gone off on their holidays. Following his triumphant Glastonbury set and retirement from touring, Sir Elton John took some well-earned rest in the sun with friend Elizabeth Hurley in the South of France. His husband David Furnish smiled on the beach with Hurley’s son Damian. England captain Harry Kane, who can afford to go anywhere, took his family to Walt Disney World in Florida. He was snapped walking through the Magic Kingdom Park towards the famous castle with his daughters. Elsewhere, Tess Daly shared holiday snaps from a trip to California with her husband, fellow presenter Vernon Kay.
