Krrunch! No delight for caped crusader

It’s Batman v Batman in the latest credulity-stretching battle for The Dark Knight. The Mayor of Batman, the ancient oil-producing city in southeastern Turkey, is suing Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight, in a hopeful crusade for royalties.

“There is only one Batman in the world. The American producers used the name of our city without informing us,” argued Hüseyin Kalkan, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party mayor of the city.

Kalkan blames a series of unsolved murders on the psychological impact of the film’s global success – in which case he has not been fully briefed on the serious crimewave in Gotham City. Former Batman residents say Hollywood heavies have banned them from using their hometown name when setting up businesses abroad. Mayor Kalkan will produce evidence proving that the town’s Neolithic origins predate the 1939 DC Comics debut of his caped nemesis.

Perhaps Batman should twin with Glod, the Romanian village whose residents were “tricked” into starring in Borat. Their legal challenge was thrown out by a US district court.

Viewers who suspected Nick Robinson had a spring in his step on US election night were not mistaken. “Nick was coming back, I think slightly tipsy, from the American Embassy party and talking about how Gordon Brown and David Cameron would both like to be Barack Obama and clothe themselves in his glory,” said Peter Horrocks, head of BBC TV News. “I think Nick may have had one or two drinks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t enjoyed himself a little bit.” It looked like David Dimbleby could have used a stiff drink, too.

“American dramas are a lot better than British ones at the moment,” complains Hermione Norris, of, er, top British drama Spooks . She told the Radio Times : “We have fewer resources and it shows, which is sad. We still make some really strong dramas, like State of Play and Boy A but it’s a rarity.” The screen MI5 chief is “off to Dorset for a holiday – with my DVD boxed sets”. That’s The West Wing and The Wire, of course.

Pop artiste Pink has green fingers. “I have an organic vegetable garden with four raised beds. I grow cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, jalapeño peppers, spinach, kale and chillies,” she tells Q. “I also grow sunflowers, marigolds and herbs like basil and marjoram. I like to get out there in my wellies.” Sounds more Percy Thrower than punk? “It’s very punk rock to be out in a yard growing your own food.”

Postscript

“You've got a thousand years of camel s*** blowing up in your face”, Ridley Scott tells People, of his experiences filming Body of Lies in the Moroccan desert. “It makes you actually not feel too good.”

Yoko Ono congratulates herself in an Obama blog post. Her tearful joy on the historic night “had to do with the work we all did for the longest years trusting in miracles”. Diva awaits Obama’s call

The Face Beyoncé

Say goodbye to Beyoncé Carter Knowles, 27, singer, dancer, Amazonian power-couple heroine and hello to Sasha Fierce, the “more sensual, more aggressive” alter ego of the diva, who has scored her 27th consecutive Top 20 hit. Despite floor-fillers such as Crazy in Love, it is marriage to record mogul Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, that has given the former Destiny’s Child singer the confidence to let loose. I Am . . . Sasha Fierce, the new double album, represents the “outspoken” side of the Texan. There is little in its mix of ballads and bootie-shakers to threaten her value as the queen of beauty product endorsements.

Her reinvention continues with a big-screen role as Etta James, the R&B singer. As for Obama’s inaugural bash: “If they need me to sing, I’m there.”

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