EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Homecoming for Hockney a decade on

Acclaimed as Britain’s greatest living artist, David Hockney was left devastated by the death of his young studio assistant, Dominic Elliott, a decade ago.

So much so that Hockney declared he would sell his five-bedroom home in Bridlington, on the Yorkshire coast, where Dominic took a cocktail of illegal drugs and alcohol with Hockney’s ex-partner before drinking lavatory cleaner, leading to his death aged 23.

After selling the house in 2015, Hockney lived mainly in Los Angeles and then in France.

Now, however, the Yorkshireman appears to have finally come home, at the age of 87.

A work by David Hockney, California (1965), worth around £16,000,000, March 2024

A woman looks at artworks by David Hockney, at Phillips in London, during the unveiling of the David Hockney auction highlights, September 14, 2023

I can disclose that the painter has quietly updated his details at Companies House to record that he is now a resident of the UK. The document for David Hockney UK Ltd was filed last week.

Hockney previously updated his place of residence to France in 2021 after moving to a 17th-century house in Normandy. He claimed his reason for moving was that he wanted the freedom to smoke in restaurants and because ‘the French know how to live’.

In 2022, he unveiled a 300ft frieze of the Normandy countryside painted using his iPad – a style that has become synonymous with him.

Before then, the US was named as his place of residence. He lived in Los Angeles for more than 40 years, memorably describing America as his ‘promised land’. California inspired his recurring paintings of swimming pools.

Despite declaring that the US and France were ideal environments for an artist, much of Hockney’s work is inspired by Britain, including his landscapes of Yorkshire and the celebrated series,

The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven).

After graduating from the Royal College of Art in London in 1962, Hockney briefly owned a flat in Notting Hill, which he stayed in when he visited home up until 1973.

The only significant period of time Hockney lived in Britain was between 2003 and 2013, during which he converted his home in Bridlington, a former bed and breakfast, into an art studio.

Liz’s boy reunites with ‘daddy’ for Diwali

Elizabeth Hurley spoke of her sadness at being unable to have a baby with her ex-husband, Arun Nayar.

But her son, Damian Hurley, 22, whose father is the late US film producer Steve Bing, has considered Indian textiles heir Arun a father figure for most of his life. 

And the three were reunited this week at a Diwali dinner for the Royal Drawing School and India’s International Institute Of Fine Arts at BAFTA Piccadilly.

‘Arun is Damian’s daddy, and a very good one,’ Liz has said. ‘They see each other a lot.’

She and Arun divorced in 2011 and he went on to marry model Kim Johnson, but they separated in 2017.

Arun Nayar, Elizabeth Hurley and Damian Hurley attend a Diwali dinner for the Royal Drawing School & International Institute Of Fine Arts at BAFTA Piccadilly on October 16

Elizabeth Hurley (pictured) spoke of her sadness at being unable to have a baby with her ex-husband, Arun Nayar (out of shot)

Few have lived a fast-lane life quite like Nigel ‘The Rat’ Pollitzer, the diminutive playboy who, it was said, ‘had a different woman every weekend’. 

But nearly eight months after his death, aged 82, I can disclose that he was ready to marry for a fourth time, and had explained that his will – just published – was ‘made in contemplation of my marriage to Donna Gardner’. 

‘We were together for 30 years,’ Donna tells me, delivering news which may surprise Louise Westlake, the third of Pollitzer’s ex-wives, whom he married in 1996.

He and Donna – the primary beneficiary of his £554,000 estate – shared a sprawling country house in Sussex owned by a trust controlled by Pollitzer’s adoptive family.

Arty Flora is a gem for jeweller Tiffany

The Princess of Wales has been spotted wearing Tiffany bracelets and earrings – but another member of the Royal Family has gone one better and got a job with the American jeweller.

Art consultant Flora Vesterberg, 29, a granddaughter of Princess Alexandra, says: ‘There’s a natural confluence between art and jewellery and I feel very grateful to be able to explore that further.’ 

She has already curated a Tiffany & Co exhibit, Windows of Wonder, which can be seen at Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street.

Flora Vesterberg, Princess Alexandra’s granddaughter, wins new job for Tiffany jewellers

It’s unlikely that Dame Maggie Smith, who died last month aged 89, considered Mother Superior in Sister Act to be her finest role.

Yet filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld, best known for the Men In Black films, has recalled in his memoir that producer Scott Rudin threatened to abandon Sister Act if he could not secure her. 

‘Scott… pulled up in his BMW 740i, windows rolled down, yelling into the car’s speaker, forcing the valet parker to stand there… ‘It’s simple,’ Rudin screamed. 

‘I either have Maggie Smith or I shut down the movie.”

British actress Maggie Smith poses on arrival for the BAFTA awards in 2016

Normal People star Paul Mescal fights in the Colosseum in Sir Ridley Scott’s forthcoming Roman epic Gladiator II.

Off-screen, the actor prefers a different arena. Mescal, 28, was seen at the O2 arena in London this week, watching The Rest Is Politics Live, a staging of Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart’s podcast. Clearly, podcasts are the new rock ‘n’ roll.

Beck’s team plays by his fashion rules

He was known for his flair for fashion during his time on the pitch, but David Beckham isn’t allowing his football players to demonstrate their own style credentials.

The former England captain, who is now the co-owner of Inter Miami CF, has ended the online trend of his players posing in their latest outfits before a match. 

‘Our team started doing it a couple of times and I stopped that, but we weren’t winning games at that point,’ he tells his former Manchester United teammate on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

‘They can still do it, I just don’t want to see it on social media if we’re actually losing games.’