NOT content with berating Nestl Rowntree boss Chris White over the decision to ditch the Smarties tube, as recounted in Saturday's Evening Press, Prince Andrew grilled our business editor Ron Godfrey at the same event.

Ron was introduced to the Duke of York at the business dinner in the National Railway Museum last Thursday night.

With remarkable royal originality, the Prince first inquired as to Ron's line of work. The answer took the Prince aback.

"Does anybody read your business pages?" he asked, and Ron's circle of friends loyally chimed in unison: "Oh yes."

But what would you do with a scoop that could scupper a business deal and cost jobs, asked the curious duke?

Ron said all the right things: I'm always sensitive to the effect my stories may have, but if it was a matter of public interest, I would publish anyway...

But who was Ron to define the public interest, demanded the insatiable prince? "Someone who has been at the centre of York's business community for 15 years," Ron replied, through a by-now clenched smile.

"It must be nice being at the centre of the universe," was the royal retort.

"There's room for both of us," came back Ron.

"It'll be a long time before I ever get there. I'm not sure I know the way," bantered the prince.

"I'll send you a map," said Ron. And with that, the prince departed.

SEEN in York: two officers chomping on sandwiches in a police car outside the flat at the centre of last week's murder inquiry - still clad in head-to-toe forensic suits.

LAST week, following fan Alf Redpath's tribute, we asked if anybody else had memories of meeting Dusty Springfield. This prompted a telephone call from Margaret Stoker of Strensall.

Forty years ago she owned a club in Middlesbrough and knew several other nightclub owners in the region. Through her work she met a galaxy of stars, including Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdink (then plain Gerry Dorsey), Bob Monkhouse and Jimmy Tarbuck.

Mrs Stoker, 76, vividly remembers her encounter with the "very nice" Dusty, backstage at a Teesside club.

"The thing that struck me most was her hair. It was all piled up with little curls inside and a flower in it.

"I don't know who did it, but it must have taken them hours."

VIEWERS of BBC Look North got a sneak preview of what could well prove to be a smash hit film last week.

The show screened a 30-second clip from a documentary charting the journey of the Ales Angels from York to Edinburgh and back.

The angels, a group of drinkers-turned-cyclists from the Blue Bell, Fossgate, have raised thousands of pounds for charity. Their Scottish escapade was captured on film by Chris Brooke, barman and filmmaker, and Ales Angels: The Movie is to premiere at the City Screen on March 29 (all profits to charity, natch).

Jim Hardie, landlord of the Blue Bell, says the film is hilarious and hopes it could be snapped up by a network TV producer. The Evening Press will have more on this as the glitzy premiere approaches.

Updated: 09:22 Monday, March 07, 2005