Chatshow host Graham Norton DOUBLES his earnings to £5.2million on top of his basic BBC salary
Puckish TV chat show host Graham Norton criticised the ‘pathetic’ decision to publish the salaries of the BBC’s highest-paid stars, claiming that some of the figures bore little relation to reality.
That’s certainly the case for Norton, as I can reveal that he earned millions more than his published salary of between £600,000 and £609,999.
New accounts for the television production company he founded, So Television, which makes his Friday night talk show, disclose that he was paid a staggering £5.2 million in the 17 months to the end of last December.
That’s a whopping increase of £2.6 million on the £2.6 million he received in the year to the end of July 2016.
I can reveal that Graham Norton (pictured) earned millions more than his published salary of between £600,000 and £609,999, writes SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE
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‘The increase in pay is largely down to an 81 per cent increase in turnover from £11.6 million to £21 million, which is due to the improved performance of the company and the financial statements covering a 17-month period,’ says a note in the accounts.
Norton, 55, said in October that the BBC’s disclosures about salaries were not in the public interest and had done little more than to provoke ‘gossip’ about what people earn.
It was former culture secretary John Whittingdale who insisted that the BBC published the salaries of everyone earning £150,000 a year or more.
New accounts for the television production company Norton (pictured on his chat show with Emma Stone, Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Melissa McCarthy and Rick Astley) founded, So Television, which makes his Friday night talk show, disclose that he was paid a staggering £5.2 million in the 17 months to the end of last December
But Norton said: ‘The public transparency was already there. They’d already published what proportion of the licence fee is paid to on-screen talent.
‘Now, that’s the bit that people should be interested in. This bit is just gossip.’
The new accounts for So Television, now owned by ITV, report that the payment to him is for presenters’ fees, production fees and royalties. It made a £2.9 million operating profit on a £21 million turnover.
Norton said in 2011: ‘Will I take a pay cut? Absolutely. God, yes. There should be no special cases. The cutbacks at the BBC are across the board, which is how it should be.’
Maths whiz Rachel’s in the pink for darts bout with Donna
Donna Air was accused by some viewers of adopting a ‘posh’ accent when she appeared on BBC1’s Celebrity MasterChef, but the former Byker Grove star is proud of her working-class background.
So what better way for James Middleton’s Geordie ex to demonstrate she’s still in touch with her roots than with a game of darts?
Donna, 39, joined Countdown maths whiz Rachel Riley at a charity darts night.
However, it was not held at a northern working men’s club, but the swanky Arts Club in Mayfair. And darts is not Donna’s only hidden talent.
Donna Air, 39, joined Countdown maths whiz Rachel Riley (pictured) at a charity darts night
‘There was a storyline on Byker Grove that required me to have snooker lessons,’ she tells me at Fitzdares’ Darts At The Arts, in support of National Numeracy. ‘I can also ride side-saddle.’
Sadly, Donna, who split up with the Duchess of Cambridge’s brother earlier this year, can no longer hope to ride with the Queen.
Tim Rice tips Biggins to play him in biopic!
Oscar-winning lyricist Sir Tim Rice is excited by news that a stage show based on the life of his long-time collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber is being developed.
‘Waiting for news regarding who will play me,’ says Sir Tim, who wrote Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Evita with the composer. ‘I have suggested [James Bond actor] Daniel Craig or the bloke in Poldark, but I think Christopher Biggins is current hot favourite.’
Mick’s ex Carla’s a Faithfull friend
While Sir Mick Jagger’s recent lovers, ballerina Melanie Hamrick and producer Noor Alfallah, are scarcely bosom buddies, his exes get on like a house on fire.
The Rolling Stones singer’s Sixties muse Marianne Faithfull, 71, cuddled up yesterday to fellow singer Carla Bruni, 50, who had a clandestine affair with Jagger while she was going out with Eric Clapton.
The former French First Lady Carla told her fans online: ‘With my dearest Marianne for the release of her new album. Love always.’
The Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger’s Sixties muse Marianne Faithfull, 71 (left) cuddled up yesterday to fellow singer Carla Bruni, 50 (right)
Pictured: Mick Jagger at a pre-Oscar awards dinner in Los Angeles in February 2017
I’ll be a hands-on daddy, says Gandy
Britain’s highest-paid male model, David Gandy, is happy to share nappy-changing duties with his girlfriend, Stephanie Mendoros.
The criminal lawyer is due to give birth to their first child this month and Gandy tells me: ‘We’ll share parental leave when the baby comes.
‘We’re very fortunate in that we’re both self-employed, so we can take time off more easily.
Britain’s highest-paid male model, David Gandy, is happy to share nappy-changing duties with his girlfriend, Stephanie Mendoros (pictured together)
‘I’m really excited. My dad was a great father, so I’m just going to try to emulate him.’
Dame Joan Collins is bemused by the trend for young women to have artificially enhanced posteriors. ‘I find it bizarre,’ remarks the Dynasty star.
‘I do wonder when I see those girls with cement put in their derrières what they are going to look like when they’re 60 or 70. It has to fall!’
Joanie, incidentally, has been married to Peruvian theatre producer Percy Gibson, 53, since 2002. ‘I liked him, and then like turned to love, and love turned to lust,’ she says.
‘But lust doesn’t last. As we all know, you wear yourself out.’
Dame Joan Collins is bemused by the trend for young women to have artificially enhanced posteriors, writes Dame Joan Collins
Nigella Lawson seems the epitome of poised cool nowadays — but the domestic goddess confesses to ‘crippling shyness’ as a teenager. And her late mother, Vanessa, was unsympathetic.
‘I was very, very shy as a child,’ recalls the television chef, 58. ‘My mother used to say: ‘Why are you being shy? No one’s interested in you!’ Which, when you’re 15, is not helpful. But now, I understand completely where she was coming from.’
Nigella Lawson (pictured) seems the epitome of poised cool nowadays — but the domestic goddess confesses to ‘crippling shyness’ as a teenager, writes SEBASTIAN SHAKESEPARE
Sanjeev Bhaskar, star of The Kumars At No. 42 and Goodness Gracious Me, turned 55 yesterday, but don’t send him belated good wishes, for the funnyman hates celebrating.
‘I don’t like my birthdays and I never have,’ he tells me at the Ten Years of JKS Restaurants dinner at Trishna in Marylebone, Central London.
‘I know this sounds weird for an actor to say, but I really don’t like the attention.’
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