MR BEAN GOES DRIVE-ABOUT!

Rowan Atkinson is apparently lucky to be alive after he smashed up his McLaren F1 .

He crashed the £650,000 car, which is capable of 230 mph top speed, when he lost control, spun it several times and smashed into a tree and then a lamppost.

The car then burst into flames.

Mr Atkinson got himself out of the car and was looked after by another motorist. Firefighters put out the blaze and “Blackadder” was taken to hospital with a shoulder injury... and a nightmare insurance problem.

He is a car fanatic and owns a collection of vintage cars. He is also a speed fan, and won a “Top Gear” competition to be the fastest “celebrity” in a programme which was being rescreened at about the time of the accident. He bought this car to celebrate the success (ie vast income) of his Mr Bean film. But maybe the power of the car is too much for even his driving abilities. In 1999 he wrecked the front of it by driving it into the back of a Rover Metro!

People in show business always have difficulty getting car insurance. For some reason they are considered high risks. I’d imagine Mr Atkinson’s insurance premium is going to be sky high after this.

I wonder if that means a new series of Blackadder is on the cards?

WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY

Ever wondered why, when it isn’t reflected in the quality of the bulk of the programming, the television licence fee is so steep?

Well, here’s the answer. (Not all of it of course, but the stupid things that the BBC wastes money on are evidence of a culture of devil-may-care spending with our money.)

The corporation has so far spent £76,000 in legal fees trying to keep secret the identity of the crash-helmeted test driver in the popular “Top Gear” programme, who has been known only by the name “Stig”.

Last month it lost a case against Harper Collins which planned to publish Stig’s autobiography in which, of course, he reveals his identity.

It appears that there had originally been an agreement between Stig, who turns out to be racing driver Ben Collins, and the Beeb to keep his identity secret, but the judge had ruled that in fact it was the worst kept secret, and most people already knew who he was.

Exactly what benefit keeping his name secret would ever have been I’m at a loss to know, but certainly once it was in the public domain there seems to me to have been little point in spending that much money on the case.

I’m not particularly au fait with English legal systems but they do seem to have to brief the most amazing number of people, solicitors and barristers and QCs... it’s all complex and incredibly expensive compared with our system. And in this case one of the ‘briefed’ was charging £250 for an hour of his time. Nice work if you can get it I say.

I hope that “Top Gear’s” budget for next year is reduced by whatever the total bill comes to and the manager who took this forward finds himself among the first of the newly “free to explore other avenues” as I’m sure these people will be referred to. Couldn’t be having a lovie being just plain sacked, could we?