Pandora

HOLIDAY PLANS? Elizabeth Hurley: "We've got a short vacation in Greece to look forward to." So why does Hugh Grant, when asked the same question, reply: "With two movies opening this summer, I have no relaxing time at all. Whatever time I have is spent in a drunken stupor."? Sounds as though the couple's PRs aren't the only ones due for a break...

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LACHLAN MURDOCH'S handlers have been spoon-feeding stories that since the heir apparent moved into the inner circle of Daddy's News Corp suits, "it's definitely a cooler place to work". Hmmmm. Lachlan Murdoch (pictured, with his wife Sarah) has been conspicuously absent from London, hasn't he? This town's the sphere of influence of his sold-down rival for the family fortune, elder sister Elisabeth.

Oh, and FYI: Lachlan has a tattoo on each arm. On his right, a gecko; the 27-year-old's left forearm is ringed by a trendy bluish-black band. But recent pictures of the boy have been digitally made over so the tattoos are less visible. Why?

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BE CAREFUL while enjoying the great indoors. Some 12,000 Brits ended up in hospital last year following accidents involving vegetables, according to the new issue of She, quoting a government report on accidents in the home. It also says "trousers are thought to have played some part in injuring 2,779 people, while 572 people were hospitalised because of injuries involving toothbrushes".

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TRUE STORY: Andy was looking forward to his 40th birthday bash that night when the Prime Minister's office called. Would he mind dropping in to No 10 that evening? "I'm dressed down," he pleaded, "I'm not suited." No worries, he's told, it's you he wants to talk to, not your kit. Andy arrives to find that No 1 Guy is running late. And he's stuck in an anteroom full of suited-and-booted types whose demeanour suggests their collective take on him is: "What's this ratbag doing here?" At which point the Foreign Secretary arrives with Igor Ivanov, the Russian foreign secretary. Cookie Monster notices Andy, and introduces him to his Russian companion. The duo then breeze into the Prime Minister's office, and our man detects a certain attitude adjustment among those waiting with him for an audience. Fifteen minutes later the door opens as Blair shows Ivanov and Cook out. He catches sight of a familiar face. "Andy!" No 1 Guy cries, and once again introduces Birthday Boy to the Russian Foreign Secretary. Multiple choice: who's more bemused? a) Ivanov, b) the anteroom suits, or c) the former editor of The Independent, Andrew Marr???

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WHODATHUNKIT? It takes a baby cygnet 24 hours to peck its way out of its shell.

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THEFTS FROM STARS: Nicole Kidman always reads scripts in bed eating cereal. And always listens to music prior to stepping before the camera. In extremis, before a performance she thinks could prove tough, she eats a disgusting cream doughnut. The synapse path here? The sugar shock creates extra energy.

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21ST-CENTURY BRANDS will include a new kind of generic product, says the Amsterdam-based trend-tracker Johan Kramer. "Not bland and cheap generics, but anonymous and unmarked - products that take on the identity of the people who buy them." Oh, rather than the other way round...?

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I'M THE ONE That I Want Dept: Andrew Denton, a Sydney DJ, was asked: if he were a pop star, who would he most like to be? "Kate Bush," he replied, "So I could sleep with myself."

Pandora by e-mail: pandora@ independent. co.uk