Pandora

THE ROMANCE between Princess Anne's son, Peter Phillips (pictured), and the 23-year-old American heiress Elizabeth Iorio has been widely publicised. But does the Queen know that the father of her grandson's girlfriend heads a drug company that has received the largest criminal fine - $10m in total - ever wielded against a major US pharmaceutical company? According to the US press, Theodore Iorio's company, Copley Pharmaceuticals, is currently being blamed for the deaths of 280 people linked to the use of albuterol, a Copley-manufactured drug used in the treatment of asthma. Mr Iorio told the New York Daily News, "Those lawsuits have to be looked at on a case- by-case basis", and said that, although the Iorios and the Windsors haven't actually met, Phillips's "family has been very hospitable and kind".

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LEGENDARY WELSH actor and documentary film-maker Kenneth Griffith received an award from a former leading light of Britain's neo-Nazi movement last Sunday. The award ceremony took place at the London Irish Club in Belgravia in honour of Griffith's film about the Irish Republican hero Michael Collins (which eventually made its debut in 1994, after being banned for more than 20 years). The Secretary of the Michael Collins Association, who made the award to Griffith, is one Mike Griffin, a former Mosleyite who ran the League of St George, an extreme right-wing group, in the Seventies and Eighties. Despite the man's somewhat unusual past, Kenneth Griffith, however, was happy to accept. In a spirit of understanding, he told Pandora: "All I can say is that they [Griffin and the Michael Collins Association] have been perfectly pleasant and supportive to me. Many people have done things they regret in the past. For instance, I myself once stole some stamps."

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THE LATEST joke being bandied around the Blair Cabinet features Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine meeting former Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell. Her enthusiasm for her new job as a UN Goodwill Ambassador sweeps Derry off his feet. "Wonderful, wonderful," he exudes on hearing all her plans. "The next time I'm in New York," says Derry, "we should get together and I'll introduce you to Kofi Annan. Kofi Annan's marvellous." But Geri says: "I don't like that Starbuck stuff. I just drink decaf."

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PANDORA WAS impressed to hear of old-school comedian Lennie Bennett's reaction to an invitation to speak at the Press Golf Society's annual dinner, held last week. The Secretary of the Society, a Bennett fan and a neighbour in Windsor, rang Lennie and told him about the impending beano. Lennie, a keen golfer, said that he would naturally be delighted, "but you know I am a professional." "Of course," said the Secretary, promising that the Society would have a chauffeured limo pick the veteran comic up, drive him to the dinner in Pall Mall, and drive him home afterwards - with pounds 500 cash in his hand. "I don't get out of bed for 500 quid!" exclaimed Bennett, and slammed the phone down. Pandora hopes the charming comic gets plenty of opportunity to catch up on his sleep in future.

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IT'S NO secret that Harvey Keitel was scheduled to appear in Stanley Kubrick's long-awaited film Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman but, for some reason, was mysteriously replaced by actor/director Sydney Pollack. Now a spurious rumour is making the rounds claiming that Keitel became a little too ardent in a sex scene with Kidman, leading to her demanding that Kubrick sack him. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Pandora knows that Keitel grew steadily impatient waiting for days in the Savoy Hotel for perfectionist Kubrick to call him to the set. He finally packed his bags and went back to the States, where he had another film commitment.

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IN WOODY Allen's soon-to-be released film Celebrity, Kenneth Branagh can be seen flopping into bed with both Melanie Griffith and, on another occasion, Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio. Branagh plays a Woody-like neurotic New York stud with an American accent. In a recent interview the actor told USA Today: "I was shocked myself when I saw it." However, Branagh insists that he wasn't consciously parodying his director. "Woody and I didn't talk about the character... I avoided wearing glasses or other things like Woody, but it came out the way it did. I have too much respect for him to satirise him." Gosh.