Tight fit: Daniel Craig in Skyfall where Tom Ford's outfits were considered unpatriotic and too small

James Bond fans were delighted when it was recently confirmed that Daniel Craig would ditch the beer and return to sipping vodka martinis in 007’s next outing, Spectre.

However, traditionalists still have one cause to grumble. I am told producers will continue their deal with American tailor Tom Ford.

Not only is this considered unpatriotic, Ford’s outfits in Skyfall were also panned for being too small. One critic said his buttock-clenchingly snug designs made Craig look ‘like a bodyguard’.

David Mason of London tailor Anthony Sinclair, who cut Sean Connery’s iconic suits, says: ‘Of course, it’s saddening to witness Bond’s flirtations with glamorous Americans. I must confess I was expecting a call.’

BBC legend's plea to save Wimbledon

Doyen of BBC sports broadcasting Peter Dimmock, the original host of Grandstand, is appalled that the Corporation is in negotiations to share its once prized Wimbledon tennis coverage with subscription channel BT Sport.

Dimmock, as dapper as ever at 94, tells me ruefully: ‘It is yet another example of the Beeb’s apparent lack of interest in providing the really first-class sports service that licence holders surely deserve.

‘Of course money is tight — but is the expense of providing so many BBC TV channels really justified?’

Did the BBC really need to send 38 crew members to South America for last night’s controversial Top Gear Patagonia special?

The vast team was forced to flee angry locals in Argentina earlier this year.

Lofty historian Andrew Roberts, who recently visited 53 battlefields in ten countries while filming a three-part BBC Two documentary on Napoleon, wails: ‘Jeremy had ten times as many people as me.

‘All I had was a producer, a camerman and a soundman — that’s all.’

Princess Michael of Kent says her husband will not co-operate on a biography of his father

Pushy and the secrets of a royal black sheep

Princess Michael of Kent says her husband Prince Michael will not co-operate on any biography of his colourful father Prince George, who died in a plane crash in 1942.

‘We’ve been approached, but my husband just refuses point blank,’ Princess ‘Pushy’ tells me.

‘He said he did not want to know any more about his late father.’

That’s understandable. Alleged cross-dresser George was rumoured to have had relationships with such diverse figures as Barbara Cartland and playwright Noel Coward.

Heaven knows what other shockers a detailed biography might drag up!

High-decibel actor Brian Blessed is fed up of being asked to repeat his famous catchphrase ‘Gordon’s alive!’, which he boomed in 1980 sci-fi hit Flash Gordon. ‘I must say it 100 times a day,’ he moans. ‘Her Majesty The Queen asked me to say it, and so did David Cameron.’

There there. Better than being ignored . . .

Cats pounce on their Tom

Lewis Hamilton, left, and Tom Cruise, right, with Nicole Scherzinger and her castmates in the musical Cats

At first glance, you might think Tom Cruise and Lewis Hamilton are being accosted by a pack of deranged fans.

In fact the pair were posing with the F1 champion’s girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and her castmates in the musical Cats, at the London Palladium on Saturday.

Cruise is in town filming his fifth Mission Impossible film, but clearly none of Nicole’s fellow moggies took his fancy. The thrice-divorced star, 52, left the theatre on his own.

Glamorous Channel 4 racing presenter Emma Spencer is used to handing out betting tips, but she recently had a sizeable flutter of her own.

Emma, 36, has challenged jockey AP McCoy, 40, to a game of tennis, which could net her £20,000.

‘AP offered me 20/1 and, since he’s never picked up a racket in his life, I bet £1,000 on myself,’ she tells me.