Thorpe QC’s TV star turn, says ADAM HELLIKER

Renewed public fascination in the Thorpe case, in which the Liberal leader was charged with conspiracy to murder his former lover Norman Scott, has prompted Carman’s son Dominic to start work on updating his now out of print biography, No Ordinary Man.

“Since that book was published in 2002, I have received a lot of new information, including letters and emails from people involved in my father’s various cases,” says Dominic, 56.

“There are also new aspects about Thorpe, such as his hankering for a peerage after his acquittal, right up to lobbying Michael Gove to persuade David Cameron to award him one shortly before Thorpe died four years ago.”

The life of George Carman was often more fascinating than those he represented, with his penchant for escort girls, gambling and claret (he had been charged with drink-driving shortly before he appeared at the Old Bailey to defend Thorpe).

Carman first set up practice in Manchester and was soon acting for football players, including George Best. But he came to national prominence with the Thorpe case, in which he made the bold decision to keep the politician out of the witness box and to concentrate on demolishing the prosecution witnesses.

He made Thorpe’s “homosexual tendencies” a non-issue by alluding to them briefly and then reminding the jury that they were in a court of law, not of morals.

After successfully defending Ken Dodd on charges of tax evasion, he specialised in libel and went on to win a string of high-profile cases, with his clients including Robert Maxwell, Richard Branson, Elton John and Jonathan Aitken.

He acted both for and against newspapers but it was quickly noted that whichever side Carman took tended to win. All this time, the thrice-married barrister was leading a rackety private life that made Rumpole look like a monk.

A heavy smoker, he was addicted to gambling and lost his £35,000 fee for defending Ken Dodd in just two hours at the casino. But although his vices were well known to his colleagues, the real dirty secret was his wife-beating, which Dominic unflinchingly detailed in his book.

He concludes: “If my father’s story were to be televised, it would need to balance the circumstances of his personal life with the professional challenges he faced; that combination made his courtroom achievements that much more extraordinary.”

Although he is best-known as the presenter of the daytime TV favourite Homes Under the Hammer (and for his appearance in the I’m A Celebrity jungle) Martin Roberts is also the writer of a series of children’s books called the Villes.

Each story follows a character called Herman on a magical bus to a different “Ville”. In Tiredsville everyone is always yawning; in Coldsville it’s freezing and in Sadsville, the residents are perpetually melancholy.

Herman uses his problem-solving skills to put things right. Now father-of-two Martin, 54, has created his own charity, backed by the NSPCC and Childline, with the aim of sending a free copy of Sadsville to every primary school pupil in the country.

“With childhood mental health issues so often in the news, the idea is to show children how to get help, no matter how big or small the problem,” he said at a House of Commons party where the Martin Roberts Foundation was launched with the support of such celebrities as Helen Lederer, Calum Best and Dame Esther Rantzen.

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In the absence of a current boyfriend, Eleanor Tomlinson at least has a substitute – a furry creature with liquid eyes who licks her awake in the mornings – to share her bed. And unlike most males, Burt doesn’t hog too much of the duvet.

Burt Bacharach, named after Eleanor’s favourite composer, is her red collie, looked after by her mother in Derbyshire when she is in Cornwall filming Poldark. “He’s a ginger menace!” giggles Miss Tomlinson.

“When I work with Barley, who plays Demelza’s dog, I always ask the trainer to show me tricks I can teach Burt.”

I met Eleanor last Sunday when she judged a dog show in the Cotswolds village of Adlestrop – immortalised in the Edward Thomas poem as the station where nobody got off or on the mysteriously briefly halted express. She sadly failed to give a prize to my cocker spaniel Truffle.

It’s the second year that Eleanor has handed out doggy rosettes, at the invitation of Gloucestershire racehorse trainer Richard Phillips, an old friend of the actress’s father, racing commentator Malcolm Tomlinson.

Incidentally, eagle-eyed fans will be able to tell when Eleanor, 26, is next in love... by looking at her silver Claddagh ring. “My mum bought it for me; it’s an Irish love token – if you wear it pointing towards you, it means your heart is taken.” Not yet it isn’t.

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Usually lured anywhere by the pop of a champagne cork, Jilly Cooper is now in social lockdown for the duration of the World Cup.

“I’m unavailable for a month; I shall be glued to the game,” says Jilly, whose devotion to the progress of England is partly professional, as her next book, Tackle, is about football (Rupert CampbellBlack, the rakish hero of previous novels, will take over a local team).

Last week the authoress invited a selection of footballers to a party at her Gloucestershire home, where I teased her about how flirtatious she was being towards the handsome players.

“They’re adorable,” she enthused.

“They’re very good-natured and very sweet to an 81-year-old lady.”

Any amorous potential? I ventured cheekily.

“Why not?” she giggled, patting the pert posterior of a passing striker.

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Most of the couplings in Love Island are, by their very nature, transitory affairs. But as the nation (well, some of it) leers lasciviously at this prurient production, one of the brighter participants from the first series is in a relationship that has managed to last more than a year.

A romantic record! Camilla Thurlow, 28, is still entwined with Jamie Jewitt, the model into whose muscular arms she fell after fending off the amorous advances of the tattooed oafs in ITV2’s tawdry rutting-fest.

The pair still seem smitten, with Dumfries-born Camilla treating her fans to regular pictures of their travels together, and she describes their relationship as “easy, happy, balanced”.

Miss Thurlow stood out from the rest of last year’s strutting poseurs, thanks to her education – she went to the Edinburgh public school Fettes and Loughborough University.

Plus she had a proper job, working for the mine clearance charity Halo.

“My proudest achievement was playing lacrosse for Scotland in the junior world championships,” she admitted.

Actually, in tabloid terms, her biggest claim to fame was a date with Prince Harry.

Three years before Harry became enthralled by Meghan Markle, one red-top reported that he had hooked up for a “cheeky snog” with Camilla after the pair were introduced by Princess Beatrice. Nothing more happened, insists Miss Thurlow demurely.

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Sir Elton John is an acquisitive chap, having amassed a huge collection of paintings and rare photographs. It all began with collecting picture cards when he was a teenager.

“When you bought a packet of PG Tips, you used to get a picture of an animal or a bird,” recalls Elton, 71, fondly.

“And you’d buy a book to stick them in – although you always seemed to get the same bird out of the packet.”

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A spot of sunshine and it’s time for a barbecue; just don’t invite Gordon Ramsay.

The sweary chef, 51, says he assumes the role of “grill referee” whenever he’s at a barbie.

“Everyone’s so scared of eating raw chicken, they’ll come up to me asking if their food’s cooked properly.

I end up standing to the side, declaring what food is done and what isn’t. “I just think, ‘Move over and I’ll show you how to do it’.”

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Andy Murray’s mum Judy shares a skill with Meghan Markle: calligraphy.

In between auditions before she became a star in Suits, Meghan hosted calligraphy and gift wrapping sessions at a stationery store in Beverly Hills, while Judy taught herself when she was a teenager in Scotland.

Says Mrs Murray: “I ended up getting little jobs writing place-cards for weddings and events.”

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Nigel Havers will be making sure all is in order in his garden in Wiltshire this summer but he won’t be too ruthless with nettles.

“I’m quite an over-tidy person but I’m keen on nettles,” declares the green-fingered smoothie, 66.

“They provide sanctuary for lots of insects and they’re the sign of a healthy garden. Besides, the occasional sting is good for your circulation.”

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That sparkling ray of sunshine Morrissey is deeply offended by shows such as Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor.

“I object to the dumbshow comic-strip of, say, the ‘X-factory’ which simply humiliates people and doesn’t actually create any stars,” declares the Mancunian moaner, 59.

“Young people who are serious about singing wouldn’t ever appear on the X-factory because it has entered the language as an institution for sugar-capped-teeth victims whose fame fades at the end of its first month.”

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A doleful observation from Jeffrey Archer: “My closest friend at Oxford, who was a great athlete, has dementia. He was my best man and he doesn’t know who I am.”

The news has made Lord Archer sanguine about his own fate.

“I’m very aware of how lucky I’ve been. I’ve had an amazingly privileged life.”

Incidentally, the 78-year-old author now wears a hearing aid on certain occasions.

“I can hear men,” he explains, “I just can’t hear women.”

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A titter from Tim Vine: “Somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen. It said ‘Parking Fine’. So that was nice.”

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Fancy a job looking through the Queen’s private photographs?

HM is looking for an archivist to sort through the thousands of snaps in the royal library at Windsor Castle.

“It’s a ‘living’ collection of photographs from the 1840s to the present – there are fascinating stories here that have lain untold for decades and you might uncover a unique snapshot of history,” gushes an advertisement for the £25,000-a-year post.

Discretion, of course, will be crucial. The collection may contain some pictures the royals would prefer to remain under wraps.

Such as those of Edward VIII shaking hands with Hitler.