TV luminaries wish Bottomley would keep her appointments

People & Business

Virginia Bottomley is not winning any friends in television circles, if last week's events are anything to go by. The National Heritage Secretary invited a group of television luminaries to her offices last Wednesday, asking them to bring along their "wish lists" for what the government should do for the broadcasting sector.

The time was set at 5.30 and broadcasting notables such as Bruce Gyngell of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees, Nigel Walmsley of Carlton and Steve Morrison of Granada Media turned up on the dot.

Mrs Bottomley, sadly, did not. She arrived at 5.50, spent another five minutes fussing around trying to find an underling to join the throng, and then announced she would have to leave within 10 minutes for another engagement.

The wish lists never even made it out of the guests' lapel pockets. Mrs Bottomley devoted the entire 10-minute "meeting" to a finger wagging lecture about digital television.

The new "Big Cat" logo at the legal firm Osborne Clarke has caused a bit of a "to-do" among M'Learned Friends. Osborne Clarke's is one of the few legal practices to have a logo of any sort. And Leslie Perrin, a senior partner, was keen on the designer's Panther-style image because it represented something different. "Most law firms are still into quill pens and geezers in wigs," he said. "It is as if longevity and tradition are all they are prepared to sell. Well, we were founded in 1720 but we think that speaks for itself. We wanted something that was more modern."

But the "Big Cat" image immediately sparked a wave of "Fat Cat" jokes. Mr Perrin was sent five cans of cat food every day for a week as well as a steady flow of mail, complimentary and otherwise. The cat food will not go to waste. Mr Perrin has eight cats after one of his moggies presented him with six kittens the other week.

Management at Groupe Chez Gerard, the London restaurant group, put on the glad rags yesterday to promote the relaunch of Scotts, the Mayfair restaurant, which reopens next month.

Neville Abraham and Laurence Isaacson donned top hat and white tie for the photos. The new finance director, Clare Whitley, was asked to sport the same kit too. "It's one way of getting her in trousers," Mr Isaacson said.

Dress size news from Oasis, the women's fashion chain led by Michael and Maurice Bennett. The company has had to "go up a size" in its new German stores to accommodate the fuller figure of the Teutonic fraulein. The new size 16 has proved successful and has since been introduced in the UK stores too.

In Taiwan, however, the company has had to indulge in a bit of garment "downsizing" or "shrinkage". There, the smaller Oriental physique has required smaller sizes to be added to the range.

Cantor Fitzgerald recorded a convincing victory in the Reuters City Sevens rugby challenge in Richmond on Sunday. The Cantor team, which included two Harlequins players, thumped last year's winners, Lloyd's of London, 33-19 at the Richmond Athletic Ground in Surrey. Almost 2,000 spectators watched humiliations such as Cantor scoring 52 points against Ernst & Young. The event raised pounds 8,000 for Sparks, the children's charity, and even Ernst & Young salvaged something from the wreckage of their afternoon. They went on to win the plate for first-round losers. The event organiser, ex-Hoare Govett broker Keith Shepherd, declared the event a triumph. "It was the first time in 15 years that all the teams have turned up."