RICHARD EDEN: Strange case of a missing memorial to Cecil Rhodes

Having already pledged £100million ‘reparations’ to make amends for slavery with its ‘social impact’ fund, the Church of England has apparently found another way to tackle prejudice: pulling up ‘racist’ flowers.At St Mary’s in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, a hydrangea, close to the church porch, has been torn out – along with a plaque explaining that the plant, donated decades ago, was given in the memory of clergyman’s son Cecil Rhodes – founder of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).The plaque made plain the hydrangea’s very definite link with the imperialist, stating that it came from Groote Schuur, ‘home of the late Cecil Rhodes, near Cape Town, South Africa’.Carlisle Diocese, which is unsure when the plaque ‘vanished’, insists that this ‘was not a decision about Rhodes’, but a consequence of the hydrangea becoming ‘progressively weaker’ and eventually dying last year.But it has resisted the offer of a replacement hydrangea – made by a local who has a cutting from the original plant at Groote Schuur. ‘Any decision on new planting would be a matter for the parish,’ says the diocesan spokesman, adding that, ‘in over 70 years of living here, I have never heard the plaque mentioned or discussed’.This disgusts acclaimed architectural historian John Martin Robinson, who lives nearby. ‘Dead? The hydrangea wasn’t dead last year – it was thriving,’ he assures me. ‘The missing metal sign is of historic interest and covered by the historical listing of the church. It needs to be found,’ he adds. The memorial to Cecil Rhodes at St Mary’s in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, which has vanished‘As for pleading ignorance about the link to Rhodes, that makes matters worse. Culpable ignorance is a mortal sin, according to the teaching of the Christian Church. This is a Grade I-listed building in a conservation area. Yet the roof is leaking through lack of maintenance, the rectory is empty and the diocese want to sell it off.‘There is “no money” to do anything worthwhile, but there is money to root up historic shrubs and install bossy signs everywhere.’Strictly host Emma: I’m not into sequins Strictly Come Dancing host Emma Willis has revealed she isn't the biggest fan of sequinsSequins and Strictly Come Dancing usually go hand and hand, with former hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly both embracing the sparkle.But new host Emma Willis is having none of it.The presenter, 50, unleashed her inner rock chick at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards in London, wearing an Alexander McQueen tartan dress, chunky black boots and a long hair braid.‘I’ve never been into sequins,’ Emma tells me. ‘I’ll leave that to the contestants on the show.’She says of her Strictly experience so far: ‘It’s really fun.‘It’s a beast of a show, it’s very long and live. I love that, but it’s a real build-up.'Former hellraisers compare notes… Rock star Alice Cooper and actor Michael Douglas look compelled by their latest memoirsRocker Alice Cooper and Hollywood royalty Michael Douglas confess their sins in their new memoirs, Devil On My Shoulder and One Helluva Ride.And they looked shocked while peering into the contents of each other’s books after they bumped into each other in Manhattan.Fatal Attraction star Douglas, 82, who details drug taking and affairs in the book, admits: ‘I found myself in situations where it looks like I’m the bad guy.’The ‘Godfather of Shock Rock’ Cooper, 78, says of his memoir: ‘I’m... coming clean about the extent of my addictions, my blackout years, the creative process fuelled by alcohol, drugs and round-the-clock TV.’Royal chronicler who saw late Queen weep for Aberfan dies He saw Queen Elizabeth cry in public and was the first person to conduct a television interview with Princess Anne, whose biographer he later became, knocking out the book on a portable typewriter his wife Diana bought him for £14.But Brian Hoey, who has died aged 92, self-effacingly attributed his success to ‘being in the right place at the right time’.After national service in the RAF, he became the first presenter of BBC Wales’s news programme, Wales Today, in 1962. Four years later, he was one of the first reporters at Aberfan where a 111ft high coal tip had collapsed, engulfing a primary school.‘I could see a steady stream of miners coming off the early morning shift,’ recalled Hoey, in the Mail in 2024. ‘There was no talking. Without any instruction, they started picking through the wreckage.’Of the 144 who died, 116 were children – a loss of innocent life, added Hoey, which reduced the Queen to tears when she visited days later.Blair Institute rakes in £137m Does the taxpayer really need to fund Sir Tony Blair’s security? The former PM’s Tony Blair Institute for Global Change raked in an astonishing £137.4million last year.Newly published figures disclose that the not-for-profit organisation’s turnover was up £21million on 2024. That year, I reported that tech billionaire Larry Ellison had agreed to pour £213million into the institute from his own foundation.The institute has remained silent about Blair’s relationship with another US billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried. In 2022, Blair took to the stage alongside Bankman-Fried. The next year, Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and money laundering.‘At least one person is thrilled to have the Duke of Sussex back in this country.It’s a not-so-“secret” crush,’ comedienne Katherine Ryan says of her fondness for the King’s younger son, whom she has met. ‘He was so charming, so handsome, in real life – and he knew about the jokes that I told about him.‘He was very cool and relaxed about that.‘He said, “You’re the one who tells jokes about me.”’Victoria Coren Mitchell raised eyebrows at a BBC report that ‘a poker player has become the first woman to win a major event on a UK tour’. The Only Connect presenter mused: ‘Interesting phrasing, BBC News. I feel sure a woman has won something in a UK tournament before...don’t tell me, don’t tell me.’ Coren Mitchell was the first woman to win an event on the European Poker Tour, in London in 2006, and was the first two-time winner of the same competition, the BBC acknowledged.