EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Police find Jeffrey Archer's stolen bronze sculptures at travellers' site

Given that three out of four burglaries went unsolved across England and Wales last year, you could describe this as something of a Christmas miracle.

I can disclose that four precious bronze sculptures, which were stolen from Jeffrey Archer’s historic Cambridgeshire home, have been recovered.

‘It’s such a relief,’ the best-selling author’s wife, Dame Mary Archer, 80, tells me. ‘We are delighted.’

I disclosed last week that the artworks, worth tens of thousands of pounds, had been taken from the back garden of The Old Vicarage in Grantchester at night, while Lord and Lady Archer were asleep.

They are understood to have been found on a travellers’ site in neighbouring Bedfordshire during a police search.

‘We are very grateful for the police’s diligent work,’ Dame Mary says. ‘They have done brilliantly.’

The couple’s 17th-century home, which they have owned since 1979, was once lived in by poet Rupert Brooke, who was inspired to compose his ode The Old Vicarage, Grantchester in tribute to its ‘peace and holy quiet’.

Lord Archer, whose novels include Honour Among Thieves, had not expected to see his cherished sculptures again. ‘The saddest thing is that, according to the police, the thieves will almost certainly melt down the sculptures and the bronze will be worth just a few hundred pounds,’ he told me last week.

However, the works appear to be largely intact. One of them is Oceanides, by Maurice Lambert, which Lord Archer had left in his will to the Tate gallery. ‘We are thinking of speaking to the Tate to see if they would like it now,’ he tells me. ‘I am 84, so why wait until after my death?’

The Old Vicarage was visited by Lord Archer’s late friend Margaret Thatcher every summer for 11 years after she left 10 Downing Street.

In 2006, the Archers commissioned a sculpture of Brooke by Paul Day, which was unveiled by Baroness Thatcher. It stands at the front of The Old Vicarage.

The smart set's talking about... Aristocrat Clemmie's racy baby bump photographs

Clemmie Dugdale shocked her wedding guests this summer when she stripped down to her lingerie at the reception and crushed the cake with her bare hands.

Now, the actress has delighted friends with a more conventional surprise. She’s expecting her first child with husband Orson Oblowitz, an American filmmaker.

Clemmie, the daughter of Sir William Dugdale, 3rd Baronet, has been showing off her baby bump in photos too racy for a family newspaper. The snaps are believed to have been taken at the family seat, Merevale Hall in Warwickshire.

The actress, 33, who starred in her husband’s film Showdown At The Grand, is the granddaughter of Sir William Dugdale, 2nd Baronet. The late jockey and racing driver, whose nephew was David Cameron, won the Military Cross during World War II for courage under fire.

Danielle shares boy band secret

She is an opera star and the chatelaine of Glyndebourne, but Danielle de Niese could have been a member of Justin Timberlake’s pop group.

The soprano, 45, who was seen in The Merry Widow on BBC Four on Christmas Day, reveals: ‘I turned down the offer to join NSYNC. They wanted a girl in the band. Who knows what could have been?’

The group, made up of men including Timberlake, 43, was formed in 1995. It went on to sell more than 70 million records. 

De Niese, who has just celebrated the 15th anniversary of her wedding to Gus Christie, executive chairman of Glyndebourne opera house in East Sussex, moved to LA from Australia in 1990.

‘I met the producers of a band when I was 14 and they were like, “We’re forming this band and it’s going to be called NSYNC”,’ she tells me. Pop’s loss is opera’s gain.

Could Kate's jewellery twin be Britain's newest royal?

Sandringham's much-talked-about Christmas guest appears to be taking a leaf out of the Princess of Wales’s style book.

Yesterday, I reported that Eleanor Ekserdjian was allowed to join her boyfriend, Samuel Chatto, 28, at the Royal Family’s festive gathering in Norfolk, prompting rumours that an engagememt announcement might be imminent.

Now, Eleanor’s shared taste in jewellery with Catherine has led to more chatter. The London-based artist, 28, was seen in diamond pendant earrings that were remarkably similar to those previously worn by our future queen.

While Catherine’s earrings belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth, it’s unclear if Eleanor’s were a gift from Sam, a grandson of Princess Margaret.

Eleanor’s Sandringham invitation was thanks to a rule change introduced by the late Queen for Meghan Markle. Meghan was the first person permitted to spend Christmas at Sandringham before marrying into the Royal Family.

Elton's a fan of Potter runner-up

Daniel Radcliffe has amassed a fortune of nearly £100 million, and sometimes gives the impression that he is now defined by having derided JK Rowling for her insistence on identifying the sexes in a conventional manner.

But the man he pipped to play Harry Potter has rather different priorities.

Jonny Taylor – who came second out of 17,000 applicants to become the boy wizard – features as a guest vocalist on Easy City, ‘a song of hope for Ukraine’ by a recording artist identified only as Huella.

‘All proceeds are going to the Ukrainian Red Cross,’ says Taylor, 38, who lives in a one-bedroom flat in East London.

In his 20s, a motorbike accident left him unable to walk for 18 months. But during lockdown one of his songs was acclaimed by none other than Sir Elton John, and last year he played to 3,300 at London’s Roundhouse – not a Muggle among them.

(Very) modern manners

Shoppers ringing the London number for royal grocer Fortnum & Mason have been surprised that they’re always greeted by someone with a South African accent.

It turns out their calls are diverted 8,000 miles away from the London store, where Queen Camilla was spotted doing her Christmas shopping.

A spokesman says: ‘We’ve had teams in the UK and South Africa for years, as our focus is on providing a brilliant service for our customers.’ 

At least they are keeping it in the Commonwealth, I suppose.

The National Theatre’s Christmas hit is Ballet Shoes. In the audience this week was Timothy Combe, 88, the director of the Bafta-winning 1975 BBC dramatisation of Noel Streatfeild’s children’s novel.

He revealed that he was all set to cast Bonnie Langford, 60, in the star role, but decided against it because of her mother, Babette, now 94. ‘Bonnie was immensely talented, but her mother was too pushy and not good to have on set [during] rehearsals,’ Combe says.

‘In the end, I cast [Sarah Prince]. Not such a brilliant dancer, but we could work with that.’

Good evening everybody, enjoy these two hours,’ Sir Rod Stewart told fans at the start of a Christmas greatest hits show in Galicia, Spain. 

The show actually lasted one hour and 45 minutes, and local reviewers complained that the star left the stage on several occasions.

Perhaps Sir Rod, who turns 80 next month, just couldn’t wait to get back to his world-class model railway set?

Pat Cash, who was the first Wimbledon champion to celebrate victory by climbing into the stands at the All England Club, still knows how to wow a crowd. 

I hear that Cash, 59, played guitar with two bands, the Rolling Stoics and Chocolate Charlie, at Putney Lawn Tennis Club’s Christmas party in London. ‘He is a very accomplished musician,’ a guest tells me. 

Prince Andrew is such an embarrassment that he was encouraged not to spend Christmas at Sandringham. But could his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, have found a way to waltz back into the public’s affections?

I hear she could compete on Strictly. ‘I spoke to her about six weeks ago, and [the royals] all watch it,’ says former contestant and newsreader Dan Walker.

‘Fergie is probably the one [who would do it], or maybe one of her daughters, but so much time is required.’