Shamrock twirler

Lord Patten, in his last full year as BBC Chairman, seems to have got his after-dinner speaking mojo back on. Last night, he was in Dublin, reports the Irish Times, for a chow-down of business leaders sponsored by PriceWaterhouseCooper.

And he revealed links that should secure further bookings: the paper reports that, on his father’s side Patten’s forebears left Ireland for Lancashire during the mid-19th century. And on his own father’s death, his mother married the family GP, a McCarthy from Mayo. Lord Christy O'Patten, eh ?