Princess Diana poignantly sought Charles’s approval after her Royal Ballet dance

In a new memoir, Allan recalls that the dance, choreographed to the tune of Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl, was a surprise to celebrate Charles’s 37th birthday in 1985.

‘After repeated curtain calls, an elated Diana left the stage and enthused, “Beats the wedding!”’ writes Allan.

‘She made her way to Charles, and as she stood before him, I could sense she desperately wanted his approval. He said, “Well done, darling”, and turned to talk to someone else.’

Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff Morgan McSweeney has a passion for Werewolf, the card game on which The Traitors, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, is based. Fellow aficionados say he’s so annoyingly good they team up to eliminate him early.

Werewolf involves secretly killing others. Did Machiavellian Morgan ever deal a hand to his predecessor?

Regretfully looking back on being labelled the ‘thinking man’s crumpet’, Dame Joan Bakewell, pictured, recalls her repressed teenage years in Stockport. She complains: ‘You were not meant to have any sex life.

My mother discovered a photograph of me kissing my boyfriend of six months. She made me stand and watch while she burned the photograph and told me, “This sort of thing must never happen again”.’

Charming chancer Jeffrey Archer proudly recalls the time he persuaded The Beatles to perform at Oxford University in aid of Oxfam.

‘John was very clever. He and Paul were incredibly bright and could easily have gone to Oxford,’ he remarks.

‘Ringo was the one I didn’t get to know well.’

The Fab Four drummer had the measure of Jeffrey, remarking: ‘He strikes me as a nice enough fella, but he’s the kind of bloke who would bottle your p*** and sell it.’