Londoner's Diary: Fly on the wall doc swatted by Viv Westwood

LAST year it was announced that Dame Vivienne Westwood, below left, would be getting the film treatment, with director Lorna Tucker, below right, following her around for a fly-on-the-wall documentary. But the anarchic fashion designer has now decided that Tucker didn’t get her best side.

The British fashion house posted a statement on Twitter over the weekend. “The Vivienne Westwood documentary set for release this year, Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, has been made and produced by a third party and as it stands is not endorsed by Vivienne Westwood,” it reads. “Lorna Tucker asked to film Vivienne’s activism and followed her around for a couple of years but there’s not even five minutes of activism in the film. Instead there’s lots of old fashion footage, which is free and available to view online. It’s a shame because the film is mediocre, and Vivienne and Andreas [Westwood’s partner] are not.”

Westwood is particularly proud of her activism — she is an outspoken voice on climate change and fracking. But Tucker evidently was going for a wider scope: “With exclusive, unprecedented access,” the film’s official synopsis reads, “Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist is the first film to encompass the remarkable story of Vivienne’s life, her fashion, her personality, her activism and her cultural importance.”

Tucker has worked with the brand, among others, on short films after seeing the industry first-hand as a model: she was scouted while a homeless teenager. The Londoner tried to contact a representative of Tucker this morning but has yet to hear back.

The Westwood film is on the official selection for the Sundance Film Festival. We’ll see if audiences agree with Dame Viv’s opinion.

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A social media blip from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which is so looking forward to Davos 2018 that it’s looking back at last year’s highlights. Yesterday it tweeted a throwback: “As the Prime Minister and shadow chancellor jet off to Davos, let’s hope they can pick up some pearls of wisdom like this one,” read the post, above a photograph of Kevin Spacey and an extract from his speech last year in which he said: “Acting is a human profession; I’m forced, by the nature of my job, to be somebody else.”

The TPA must not have picked up a newspaper in the past 12 months.

Curtain up for a new Theatre Royal

WE HEAR that one of London’s most iconic buildings is going up for sale. The Theatre Royal Haymarket, Grade I-listed and the third oldest theatre in London, has been the setting for plays starring everyone from Henry Fielding to Judi Dench. The Londoner was particularly taken with Pixie Lott’s turn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the theatre last year.

The lease from the Crown Estate is owned by a company set up in the name of long-time Theatre Royal impresario Louis Michaels. Given the length of time left on it, it’s likely to fetch millions.

Watch this space.

Quote of the day

“In a single phrase, it is time to drain the swamp.” Henry Bolton, the Ukip leader who announced yesterday that he won’t resign, borrows one of Donald Trump’s key lines. That bodes well.

Pammy puts up a fight for the fourth estate

THE Londoner was at the Frontline Club for the event Women, Whistleblowing, WikiLeaks compered by actress-turned-activist Pamela Anderson. The former Baywatch star chaired a discussion with WikiLeaks’ Sarah Harrison, Guatemalan human rights lawyer Renata Avila and German theatre director Angela Richter. The fourth estate didn’t get a ringing endorsement from many of the panellists but we were pleased to hear Anderson fight our corner. “I love the Evening Standard,” she told The Londoner at the club’s bar afterwards. The feeling is mutual.

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RICHARD Curtis has long made west London look luminous in his films, which include Notting Hill and Love Actually. Now he’s continuing the job off camera. A planning application has been posted in a well-heeled part of Ladbroke Grove with a “Mr Curtis” listed as the applicant. It is thought to be the writer.

The application proposes a set of new windows and doors, plus a new conservatory. Presumably he’s hoping for a bit more light, actually.

Farron: the lads’ pin-up

EVER since resigning as Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron has struggled with his public profile. He has reneged on statements he made about gay sex, for one, but now it seems his career might have taken him to a stranger place still: Australia.

His image was used on news website LADbible Australia to illustrate an item about the dangers of energy drinks for young people. In the picture Farron was sipping a Red Bull while looking particularly youthful.

The unexpected star was spotted by Lib Dem member Brian Stokes on Twitter, but it came as a relief for Farron.

“To be honest it’s just nice to have a picture of me on social media with a drink that isn’t milk,” he tweeted. Perhaps he can use his newfound energy for another U-turn. Farron the Brexiteer, anyone?

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Rivalry of the day: Cambridge alumnus Stephen Fry has tweeted that he was pleased to meet Oxford undergrad Malala Yousafzai. “Shame about her choice of university,” he wrote, “but every diamond has one small flaw.”

Tweet of the day

FT's Leo Lewis explains the WEF to the unititiated

Gavin and his new furry friends

THE world of politics is rarely black and white. So it was a nice change for Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, who paid a visit to South Staffordshire College in his constituency this week and met a pair of ring-tailed lemurs.