Beeb may regret giving judge Arlene the boot

Will Harriet Harman execute a soft-shoe shuffle and save Arlene Phillips from the axe in Strictly Come Dancing? The BBC is facing a revolt from viewers unhappy that the renowned choreographer and series judge, 66, is expected to be replaced by a younger model.

Alesha Dixon, 30, a former Strictly winner, is tipped to land the role as the BBC seeks to lure a younger audience in response to Cheryl Cole’s turn on The X Factor. But the BBC faces a challenge from Harriet Harman’s controversial Equality Bill, which promises to “end the last lawful discrimination — against older people”. Mrs Harman said, “People are not over the hill at 60. Many people seem to think it’s acceptable to discriminate against someone because they are older. It is not.” The BBC said that it is “always looking at ways to maximise viewers’ enjoyment of our shows”. Corporation lawyers are poring over the Equality Bill clauses — it could dictate the ethnic make-up of drama casts and force the Beeb to tell us whether Tess Daly earns equal pay to Bruce Forsyth.

What price now for Jeff Koons’s gold-leaf porcelain statue of Michael Jackson hugging pet chimp Bubbles, that sold for $5.6 million in 1991? “I enjoyed very much making a piece that showed Michael as an important cultural figure,” the artist tells us at the private view of his Popeye Series at the Serpentine gallery. Koons was “really thrilled” to see Stella McCartney join the queues to see his exhibition. “I try to bring works that touch people so they realise the art inside themselves. It’s about their possibilities and their parameters.”

Times readers can play a part in the BBC dramatisation of Sir Clive Sinclair’s inventive life (People, July 2). Extras are sought for filming at Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood, northwest London. Applicants with an early 1980s look and “plenty of hair” must be able to pass themselves off as “science students and Mensa members”. If you fit the bill contact amyclamp61@hotmail.com.

Model unlucky in love, again

The Face: Rachel Hunter

It was a wedding a year in the planning, featuring a stunning dress designed to show off Rachel Hunter’s shapely pins. The guest list included Michelle Pfeiffer and Sharon Stone. But now the 5ft 10in New Zealand-born model is said to be “stunned and distressed” after Jarret Stoll, an ice-hockey star 13 years her junior, called off the nuptials without any apparent explanation.

The wedding was supposed to send a message to Rod Stewart, Hunter’s husband of 14 years, that she was over him. The Sports Illustrated cover star regular had embarked on a series of affairs with “toxic bachelors” such as Robbie Williams and Tommy Lee. Despite a lump sum from Stewart, and his generous provision for their two children, Hunter, 39, claimed that she has had to keep working since their split, enduring the US reality TV show circuit. She gets to keep the £60,000 diamond engagement ring.

Lord Rooker is to be the new chairman of the Food Standards Agency. But just a fortnight ago he became president of the Royal Association for British Dairy Farmers. Greedy, no? He said: “Of course, that role is a clear conflict of interest, involving leading food staples such as milk and cheese, with being chair of the FSA. I have informed the Farmers that I cannot proceed.”

Postscript

The King of Pop is dead . . . so the O2 arena has dusted down an earlier model. Tickets are on sale for Elvis Presley In Concert next February. State-of-the-art video projections are involved. Could there be a Jacko duet?

How much of the UK’s consumption of champagne was Blur man Alex James responsible for? “0.01 per cent,” he told Absolute Radio. “They import 600,000 bottles a year. I probably had about three a day, so it’s a thousand. Yikes.”

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