EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Former Surrey cricket ace brings home a Bentley! Sports star MOVES IN with Made In Chelsea Liv

As befits a former cricket star who was captain of Surrey at the precocious age of 22, Olivia Bentley’s new boyfriend, Rory Hamilton-Brown, clearly doesn’t hang around.

Made In Chelsea star Liv, 29, tells me she and Rory, 37, have already moved in together. I disclosed last November that the pair were courting after they met at Hurlingham sports club in Fulham, west London.

Liv says the secret to their relationship is that Rory doesn’t use Instagram. ‘It’s hard because of social media,’ says Liv, who has 630,000 followers herself. 

‘You never know anyone’s intentions. I’m just glad my boyfriend doesn’t have an Instagram account. I met him literally by chance, and we’ve now moved in together.’

Rory led Surrey to promotion in 2011, but the following year his teammate, housemate and long-time friend Tom Maynard was electrocuted on a railway line and killed by a train.

Heartbroken, Rory left the team to play for Sussex. But a wrist injury forced him to retire in 2015 aged only 27.

I've seen that look before, Suki

Her fiance Robert Pattinson played Batman, but Suki Waterhouse appears to take style inspiration from another icon of the big screen.

The model, pop singer and actress, 33, who won praise for her performance as a 1970s rock star in hit Prime Video drama Daisy Jones & The Six, channelled Chewbacca of Star Wars, when she went out for lunch in New York this week.

The shaggy, oversized faux fur coat was in keeping with Suki’s love of 1970s fashion.

Geri's ex Beekwith finally ties the knot 

During their two-year romance, Geri Halliwell was said to have been desperate for Henry Beckwith to propose.

But the 46-year-old son of property magnate Sir John Beckwith never did pop the question to the Spice Girl, 52 (pictured together in 2011), who went on to marry Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner.

Now, I hear that Henry, a cousin of former ‘It girl’ Tamara Beckwith, has quietly married an old friend he has known since they were at Newcastle University together. She is Penny Bailey, a speech therapist for children with special needs.

‘The wedding was over Christmas,’ a friend confirms. ‘The Beckwiths love big celebrations so were surprised by how private the wedding was.’ 

Henry, who works for family firm Pacific Investments with his twin brother Piers, confirms he’s now a married man. ‘We are very happy,’ is all he will say.

How to stay in step with Drew

She's known for sitting awkwardly close to guests on her chat show sofa. And now Drew Barrymore has gone one step further and is forcing her friends to step into her shoes – literally.

I hear that, at a party at the White House, the Hollywood actress, 49, took off her footwear and thrust them on to the tootsies of Charlie’s Angels co-star Lucy Liu, 56. ‘You HAVE to try these shoes,’ she said, bragging about their comfort.

Her brand of choice? Sole Bliss, whose platform heels have also appeared in the wardrobe of the First Lady, Jill Biden.

Within days of the exchange, Lucy Liu stepped out in her very own pair of Sole Bliss shoes.

Shortly after the White House event, the British shoe brand worn by Queen Camilla is understood to have received a call from Reese Witherspoon, pleading for the same pair of shoes. Who had recommended them to her? Drew Barrymore, of course.

The smart set's talking about... Steel Magnolia's daughter and the viscount's son

She has a formidable reputation as the divorce lawyer favoured by everyone from King Charles to Sir Paul McCartney, but will ‘Steel Magnolia’ Baroness Shackleton soon be celebrating a marriage rather than assessing the division of spoils following the end of one?

I can disclose that her elder daughter, Cordelia, 36, is stepping out with Philip Sidney, 38 – son of Viscount de L’Isle and heir to 2,500 Kentish acres and Penshurst Place.

Wary, perhaps, of jinxing their romance, the couple refrain from commenting on it, but one of Cordelia’s admirers tells me it ‘looks as though they’re progressing towards an engagement’.

He adds wistfully: ‘Cordelia’s very pretty, as well as frightfully bright – Oxford then Harvard Business School.’ 

Heartening words for Philip, who has three degrees, including a PhD from Cambridge, and now divides his time between Penshurst and work in corporate governance.

He is, he affably admits, built ‘for comfort not for speed’...

Former Channel 5 and Sky TV boss David Elstein wasn’t impressed with the BBC’s Christmas offering.

‘Not a single arts programme on BBC One for two weeks. And two on BBC Two: one, a relay of The Merry Widow From Glyndebourne, and the other, a rather disastrous documentary about Maria Callas,’ he tells Roger Bolton’s Beeb Watch podcast.

‘This is our public service broadcasting system’s best effort?’

Starring alongside her daughter in a forthcoming West End production of Mrs Warren’s Profession, Dame Imelda Staunton acknowledges the pair’s height difference (she’s 5ft; Bessie is close to 6ft) is hard to ignore.

Bridgerton actress Bessie, whose father is Downton Abbey star Jim Carter, once recalled: ‘When I was about 13, I came home very upset and had a little cry in the hall. She rushed up to hug me...she said, “Wait, wait!”, and climbed up three stairs until she was high enough to envelop me. Now, whenever I’m heartbroken, she’s waiting on the stairs.’

Game, set, match for Henmans' family home

It was the family home for more than 50 years, but Jane Henman has now lowered the net on its tennis court for the final time.

Eight months after her beloved husband Tony died aged 84, she’s sold the £1.85million, six-bedroom Oxfordshire house where they raised sons Michael, Richard and Tim.

All inherited the talent which has run through Jane’s family for generations – her grandmother beat the reigning Wimbledon champion, her mother played mixed doubles on Centre Court, her father represented Britain in the Davis Cup, and Jane herself competed at Junior Wimbledon – though it was Tim, of course, who came heartbreakingly close to winning the championship, watched intently by his parents.

‘Jane is incredible,’ a chum tells me of the stoical Mrs H, who has now moved to live near one of her older sons.

Grumpy-faced Adrian Chiles is convinced he knows why his TV career has failed to flourish – he’s not a brash self-publicist like his broadcasting colleagues.

‘I really struggle to talk myself up,’ The One Show’s former presenter admits. ‘It’s just not a very “British” thing to do. If you’re going to be praised, you’ve got to let other people do it.’

Chiles, 57, adds: ‘Having said that, I’ve paid the price for not being able to do that – and for not being on social media, as well. Because nowadays you’re more likely to get a job if you’ve got a big following. I just don’t think that my mental health could deal with it. I already over-think texts from neighbours, so 500 messages from strangers would just be too much.’