US Edition 
More to Equus than a naked Daniel Radcliffe
Incensed that a large proportion of theatregoers in the West End appeared to regard Equus as little more than an excuse for Daniel Radcliffe to get his kit off, Sir Peter Shaffer has appealed to the people of New York to savour his words rather than the Harry Potter actor's body when his play opens on Broadway later this month.
"I was irritated that people talked on and on about it," the playwright, 82, says of its sell-out run in London last year. "It was so infantile. In the papers, I was always reading about how Harry Potter was 'waving his other wand'. There is a great deal more going on in the play, you know. I'm not writing porn, for God's sake."
Sir Peter concedes that Radcliffe, who was credited by one critic as possessing "the most famous penis in London", played his nude scene to perfection. "Dan's like a naked little animal, so vulnerable," he says.
Despite his reservations, the prospect of a nude Harry Potter appears to have done wonders for the box office. Mandrake hears ticket sales for the Broadway production, which also stars a slimmed-down Richard Griffiths, already exceed £1.7 million.
Who wants to go on an exotic trip?
More used to dishing out fat cheques to contestants on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Chris Tarrant was forced to part with half of his own £25 million fortune earlier this year when his wife, Ingrid, divorced him after discovering his philandering ways.
At the time, a friend of the 53-year-old blonde told a reporter that she was "not planning some round-the-world trip" to make use of her new-found wealth – but a few months down the line I can disclose that she is embarking on an exotic Asian adventure.
"l am setting off on Oct 15 to rally 1,800 miles across India," she tells Mandrake. "My co-driver is Rod Weston, who was a partner of Patti Boyd, and who is a great mate of mine, but please don't read anything more into our teaming up.
"l am starting off on something called the 'Karma Enduro' on my birthday and it is a rally against 60 others, taking two weeks."
The cost of the jaunt? A mere £8,500.
Developing nicely
The controversial property tycoon Christian Candy may like to keep a low profile, but I fancy it is going to be more difficult now that he is squiring Emily Crompton, the less-than-shy ex-girlfriend of Tom Parker Bowles.
"We met on a blind date," the 27-year-old former nightclub hostess tells Mandrake at the launch of Hannah Sandling's book The Lazy Goddess, in Kensington.
"It was set up by friends and we just clicked. We try and keep it quiet and have no plans for marriage and I'm very happy with how things are."
As Christian, with his brother Nick, bats off complaints from the likes of Rupert Everett, the Duke of Westminster and the Earl of Stockton about their proposed development of Chelsea Barracks, Emily buries herself in her books: she hopes to do a doctorate at Oxford in criminal psychology.
Tory to a T
Rory Bremner may be struggling to impersonate David Cameron, but his rival Jon Culshaw claims he has got the Tory leader to a T.
"He has the same hand movements of Tony Blair, only quicker," the 40-year-old tells Mandrake at a Mayfair reception. "There's a sense of the overexcited Scout leader about him."