黑洞社区

Rum deal

Though her dad may be a G&T man, Miles Delap鈥檚 nine-year-old daughter knows that rum is a far better bribing tool when dealing with a pirate. Delap, who is a partner at consultant Gardiner & Theobald, was amazed when his daughter, Beatrice, managed to persuade Johnny Depp to visit her school in Greenwich (dressed in full costume) as he filmed scenes for Pirates of the Caribbean nearby. You may have read about Mr Depp鈥檚 school visit back in October and here is how it was done. Beatrice wrote to Captain Jack Sparrow asking for help to stage a mutiny against teachers, promising 鈥渁 plentiful supply of rum鈥� in return. She handed the note to a security guard on set and it made its way around the crew before reaching Depp. A few days later the school received a call saying Johnny Depp would be arriving in 10 minutes. Then Beatrice interviewed him.鈥� Now there鈥檚 a girl who knows how to get what she - and pretty much every other girl in the whole world - wants.

Fashion victim

Female readers (and no doubt some of their male counterparts) will be all too aware of the perils of footwear choices when attending awards functions. The five inch heels that seem perfectly feasible when sat indulging in a three-course meal become much less appealing when you triumph and feel the need to celebrate by throwing some dubious shapes with colleagues. So spare a thought for those women at the British Council for School Environments bash last week, who hadn鈥檛 realised the awards presentation was a stand up affair. One prize winner, presumably surprised by her victory and caught trying to get some respite, arrived shoeless on stage before hurriedly redressing the matter in time for the photograph. Quite a feet.

Too much to bear

Last week鈥檚 Lord Mayor鈥檚 Property and Construction dinner at Mansion House had all the usual pomp and circumstance but extra significance for us, given that the post is this year occupied by an engineer - head of regeneration at Hammerson, Mike Bear. However, the RICS Singers - a choir made up of RICS members - did their best to undermine any solemnity at the event with a selection of songs inspired by the not at all grizzly Mayor Bear. Starting with Teddy Bear鈥檚 picnic, they also sang Bear Necessities from the Jungle Book. Unfortunately they stopped there, missing the chance to regale the diners with their rendition of Elvis鈥� (Let me be your) Teddy Bear or the Alan Price Set鈥檚 Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear. Care to chip in?

I鈥檓 famous! :-)

Adorning the front page of 黑洞社区 is a privilege sought by many but realised by few. Last week Ken Shuttleworth joined an elite group of individuals whose portraits have graced 黑洞社区鈥檚 front cover. The enormity of the honour was clearly not lost on Shuttleworth who took to Twitter to pronounce his excitement. 鈥淥MG on front cover of 黑洞社区!鈥� tweeted the man behind the Gherkin. Shuttleworth鈥檚 excitement does not extend to London skyscrapers - of which he is openly critical. One presumes we won鈥檛 be seeing any giddy tweets about the Shard then. LOL!