Rod Stewart along with his rock ’n’ roll friends were regulars at Langan’s Brasserie in Mayfair back in the day — so you can imagine how delighted I was to see the 76-year-old star sailing into an emotional reunion with a long-lost pal at the reopening on Thursday night.
He and his glamorous wife Penny Lancaster, 50, ran into their old friend Jo Wood — ex-wife of Rolling Stones’ Ronnie, Sir Rod’s bandmate in the 1970s rock group Faces.
‘I last saw them in 2009 when I did Strictly Come Dancing. It’s been too long,’ Jo, 66, (below with Penny) tells me.
‘They were living in LA, and then the pandemic happened. I’ve just invited them to my new house in the countryside.’
Penny Lancaster (left), and Sir Rod Stewart (right), attend Langan’s Launch Night, October 28, 2021 in London.
He and his glamorous wife ran into their old friend Jo Wood (right) — ex-wife of Rolling Stones’ Ronnie, Sir Rod’s bandmate in the 1970s rock group Faces
The mother-of-three, who split from Ronnie in 2011, adds: ‘Funnily enough I was in The Dorchester last month and Rod walked in.
I went to say hello but all these fans gathered and I couldn’t get to him! I told him that tonight and he gave me a big hug.’
Tuna playing
Princess Olympia of Greece could have held the birthday bash for her boyfriend in a palace — but instead chose to rent a fishmonger’s!
Peregrine Pearson, who is due to inherit the Cowdray fortune, turned 27 in Notting Hill Fish Shop surrounded by close friends including George Blandford, the Duke of Marlborough’s heir.
The guest of honour, however, was a massive bluefin tuna, which cost, I am told, a whopping £10,000!
It was specially ordered and carved into sushi and sashimi throughout the evening. The van delivered the headless beast to a waiting crowd.
If you spend your life in palaces and country manors, I suppose a fishmonger’s is an exotic place to hold a soiree!
Princess Maria-Olympia of Denmark and Greece (right) leaves Hotel Grande Brettagne, Athens, for the Pre-wedding Party of her Brothers, Prince Philippos, with Mrs Nina Flor
It’s back to Black! Look who’s setting society alight again
Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel, a socialite, were once the toasts of London’s social scene. They were famous for throwing wild parties at their Kensington pad.
They left a gaping wound in highsociety after the media mogul was forced to sell the mansion in 2007 during his U.S. court case, which ended in him spending just under three years in prison for fraud.
But I can tell you that the pair are returning with a bang! Lord Black, who has always maintained that he did nothing wrong, was pardoned by the former President Donald Trump and is looking to purchase a new home in the capital.
The 77-year-old, who once owned the Spectator and the Telegraph, is delighted to tell me: ‘We’re moving back to London!’
He said that he hopes to shake-up British politics through regular appearances at the Lords.
The Kensington estate agents will be grumbling that the couple plan to return to the area.
Conrad Black (left) was once the toast of London’s social scene. He and his wife, Barbara Amiel, were well-known for throwing wild parties from their Kensington pad.
He tells me: ‘We haven’t decided yet where to live but thinking of heading West.’
Of his old home he says: ‘Ah, the parties we threw. We had a particularly boozy one every year for Telegraph staff.’
Lady Black, 80, who grew up in Watford, adds: ‘We’ve missed London and are looking forward to finally coming home, we haven’t found a place yet.
‘We will likely be throwing parties, but I don’t drink as I find I am allergic to it. I sometimes have one shot of vodka, that’s it.
‘But I still love dressing up and seeing people!’
The glamorous author of Friends and Enemies will no doubt be invited at many royal parties.
She and her husband, dressed as Marie Antoinette & Cardinal Richelieu, were famously seen at a Kensington Palace costume party.
She showed off a deep curtsey for me in preparation, and her husband was amazed at her nimbleness — especially considering she was wearing a skin-tight pair of leather trousers.
‘Can you believe she’s 80?’ Lord Black gushed before Barbara explained: ‘I’ve had these Chanel trousers since the 1980s.’
Watch out London — Lord and Lady Black are coming back!
Modfather Weller’s son tying the knot with long-term love
Paul Weller, the Modfather, has an exciting date in his diary. It has nothing to do w/his music tour.
I am happy to inform you that Nathaniel Weller (the eldest of his eight children) has been engaged to his long-term boyfriend.
The Dolce & Gabbana model, 33 — whose mother is Style Council singer Dee C Lee — is to tie the knot with Ukrainian fashion film director Martin Kovalenko, 25.
‘I hope we can get married next year. It would be better when everybody’s families can travel more freely,’ Nathaniel, pictured left, tells me from his home in LA.
Nathaniel Weller (left), 33, has got engaged to his long-term boyfriend Ukrainian fashion film director Martin Kovalenko (right), 25
‘He’s met my family. My mum and my dad really like him.’
So much so that last year, Martin directed Weller’s music video for his new single, On Sunset.
Nathaniel has praised The Jam frontman for being ‘hugely supportive’ when he came out as bisexual, and describes his union with Martin as ‘the right marriage in every sense of the word’ — referring to their new project.
‘We’ve made a horror movie called Bin Bag Man,’ he adds. ‘I wrote it, acted in it, and he directed it.
‘It’s a short but we’re hoping to get a budget to do a big feature next year.’
Judge Rinder is hot stuff
I bumped into Robert ‘Judge’ Rinder looking very red-faced at an Arts Club party at the Cliveden House Literary Festival this week.
It turns out that he was involved in a very unfortunate accident with a sunbed.
‘I was at a loose end in London and wanted a nap. I couldn’t go to Soho House in the middle of the day and sleep — how would that look?’ the TV star, 43, explains.
I bumped into Robert ‘Judge’ Rinder looking very red-faced at an Arts Club party at the Cliveden House Literary Festival this week
‘I have a friend who runs a beauty salon and he said I could use one of his sunbeds — he said press the button to turn it off. I thought I had it, so I went to sleep. I woke up and it had been on the whole time — my ENTIRE body is burned to a crisp!’
It’s usually his victims in the dock who are left red-faced — it seems the barrister has had a taste of his own medicine!
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall’s first husband Andrew Parker Bowles is the latest to raise an issue with TV show The Crown — as he is portrayed as a philanderer who has a dalliance with Princess Anne!
He tells me at the launch of Algy Cluff’s book Off The Cluff: ‘It’s meant to be me, but it’s not me with all that Princess Anne guff!’
But one rumour he doesn’t deny is that he and bonkbuster Jilly Cooper slept with one another back in the day.
‘She says we did — I’m meant to be that Campbell-Black in her book,’ he says, referring to the brutish cad who first appeared in Jilly’s best selling book Riders.
‘I’d rather be remembered as a Brigadier’ he sniffs.
Undie pressure! Gizzi finds cafe hard going
Saucy television chef Gizzi Erskine appears to live a charmed life — boasting an Agent Provocateur underwear range and a pizzeria she runs with rapper Professor Green.
Together with Carl Barat, a former Libertines musician, she has opened an achingly trendy restaurant.
The Margate cafe was created by the daughter of the late Lord Erskine, of Rerrick.
Saucy television chef Gizzi Erskine appears to live a charmed life — boasting an Agent Provocateur underwear range and a pizzeria she runs with rapper Professor Green
The 42-year-old wails: ‘I feel really s***,’ adding she can’t find a place to rent in the trendy Kent seaside town, home of artist Tracey Emin.
‘The joy of gentrification, eh?’ she quips, adding: ‘I can’t complain, I’m part of the problem.’
She seems to be regretting her decision just over a week ago, when the cafe opened.
Gizzi says she is ‘wondering why [she] gave up Instagramming as an influencer and making buckets of cash for this stress and heartache’.
Well, it’s lucky she has taking selfies to fall back on if selling sandwiches proves too difficult!
Spicy life of Queen’s godson
Clodagh McKenna, TV chef, has a unique way to ensure her recipes receive royal approval.
Her husband, the Queen’s godson Harry Herbert, 62, tells me at the launch of her latest cookbook, In Minutes: ‘I’m the taster for all of Clodagh’s recipes.’
Clodagh, who wed Harry in August, in the grounds of his family home — Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle — insists there are two he favours the most.
The This Morning star, 46, reveals: ‘Harry’s favourites are either my risotto Milanese or spicy Korean chicken.’ So has she ever cooked for Her Majesty?
‘I couldn’t possibly comment,’ she laughs.
Modern ways are very common
The Duchess is a keen tennis and croquet player at Fulham’s Hurlingham Club. But I can tell you, some other members love this exclusive venue so much that they want it as their final resting place.
So many do that the chief executive Alan Flitcroft has warned members may no longer be able to scatter their loved one’s ashes on the club’s hallowed turf.
He explained: ‘The club’s policy has in fact changed over the past 20 years from being fairly relaxed about families scattering ashes and having memorial plaques, benches, trees etc in the club grounds to being fairly restrictive.
‘This is because the club was in danger of becoming a memorial park.’ Let’s hope this doesn’t cause a racket!