The IoS

John Prescott's autobiography, which is being ghost-written by Hunter Davies, may or may not provide a full account of his affair with Tracey Temple and other colourful episodes in the former Deputy Prime Minister's life, but the process of gathering material for it is proving almost as exciting. Prescott, his wife Pauline and Davies were dining at a pub in Lorton, Cumbria, recently while discussing the book, and were just ordering puddings when the lights suddenly went out. Prezza's minders jumped to attention - could the ex-DPM be the intended victim of a kidnapping, or even a murder, plot? The truth was more prosaic: a paraglider had flown into nearby electricity cables. Unfortunately, power was out for the rest of the evening, so Prescott was denied the hot "afters" for which the Kirkstile Inn is famed.

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Dave Davies, the Kinks' guitarist, is campaigning to save the street behind one of the group's biggest hits from being destroyed by redevelopment. Little Green Street in Kentish Town, north London, was the setting for 'Dead End Street', which reached number five in the UK charts in 1966. In the accompanying video Davies dressed as a Victorian undertaker watching a corpse leap from a coffin and run down the cobbles of the 300-year-old street. Now parts of it are to be demolished to make way for new apartments. "It's sad they feel they have to run slipshod over this lovely enclave of road," says Davies, adding that he doesn't think future visitors are likely to say: "Ooh, look at that high-rise building from 2008".

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The art world peacock Sebastian Horsley, pictured below, (see interview in The New Review, page 18), says he fears for his life after telling all in his autobiography, 'Dandy In The Underworld', about his love affair with Jimmy Boyle, a convicted murderer once known as "the most violent man in Scotland". He tells me: "If I die in a mysterious gardening accident, you'll know what's happened. Especially since I don't have a garden."

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Newspaper theatre critics allowed the tables to be turned on themselves a few years ago when they agreed to direct short plays at the Battersea Arts Centre, which were then reviewed by actors and directors. Now I hear that Fleet Street's jazz critics are also to brave the lion's den. Jamie Cullum's manager Marc Connor has organised an event at which a critics' band, led by Jack Massarik' of the 'Evening Standard on tenor sax, and expected to include John Fordham of 'The Guardian' on piano and Sholto Byrnes of 'The Independent' on double bass, will perform to a crowd of keen-eared jazz musicians. They'll be listening with extra care to Massarik, whose write-ups are often laced with barbs - so much so, that Ronnie Scott's recently took the extraordinary step of briefly banning him from the club.

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It must be getting serious. Tory mayoral hopeful Andrew Boff, currently running second to Boris Johnson in the polls, has resiled from one of his more outlandish campaign pledges - to turn the Millennium Dome upside down and fill it with tea.

"I knew this would come back to haunt me," he says when asked if he is still in favour of this bold policy. "I was trying to indicate my contempt for the whole project." Boff, a former leader of Hillingdon Council, says he wishes the current owners well, but this isn't the only part of his past that could come back to haunt him. His late uncle, Roy "Little Legs" Smith, was a wrestling dwarf who played a dalek in 'Dr Who' and boasted of performing "smacky bum" jobs for the Krays.

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Mark McCrum, travel writer and quondam biographer of Robbie Williams, has had many bizarre experiences while researching his forthcoming guide to etiquette around the world, 'Going Dutch in Beijing'. One Boxing (St Stephen's) Day, he was sitting at the bar of an Irish country pub with a group of old boys when he was somewhat discomfited by the turn of conversation. "They started going on about how much they were looking forward to the arrival of the rent boys," he tells me, "and I was nodding along, wondering whether I should point out that such a thing might be frowned on in some places." McCrum was heartily relieved when a few minutes later a bunch of chaps in bird masks turned up. His companions had,

of course, been talking about the Wren Boys, an old Irish tradition where people dress up and go from house to house asking for money to "bury the wren".

'Sindy'

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