UNIVERSITY of York bosses are scratching their heads over rumours that their new chancellor is to make a surprise appearance on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother, which begins tomorrow night.

If the reports in a national newspaper are accurate, it will mark a new broadcasting departure for the former BBC director general, Greg Dyke, the man who brought us Roland Rat earlier in his career.

Mr Dyke is claimed to be lining up to join the likes of Germaine Greer and Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell, who are reputedly poised to stir things up among the eight housemates during their fully-televised stay in the Big Brother house.

Some of the surprise guests will escape the spotlight after 24 hours, while others are to be locked in for the two-week duration.

Mr Dyke, 57, left the BBC last January in the fall-out from the Hutton Inquiry into the death of David Kelly. The York University politics graduate was installed as chancellor of his alma mater on December 3 last year.

Contemplating Mr Dyke's whispered foray into reality television, a university spokesman told the Diary: "We hadn't heard anything about that at all.

"If Mr Dyke is dropping in on the Big Brother house, it certainly won't be in his official university capacity."

Celebrity Big Brother starts tomorrow at 9pm on Channel 4.

PASTURES new beckon another of our fair city's most noted personalities.

With only ten days left in office, the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, is preparing to downshift on January 15, moving to Ilkley to become parish priest there.

After ten years at the sumptuous 17th century Bishopthorpe Palace, the Yorkshireman's retirement will see him ensconced in the somewhat humbler lodgings of the rectory at St Margaret's Church, Ilkley.

But the builder's son from Wakefield is sure to find much to interest him in his new surroundings, being a self-confessed expert on all things brick and mortar-related.

Had he not been called into the service of God, Dr Hope said he may have been keen to move into the building business.

When asked about this, the Archbishop's spokesman declined to comment, but said it was all in his book about the eminent clergyman.

In a national newspaper, the soon-to-retire Archbishop was quoted as saying: "When I visit churches my eye goes to the roof, drainpipes and footings.

"I've just opened a new school and I remarked, 'That's a nice set of Ibstock brick, that is,' to their astonishment."

Great news for Dr Hope's new congregation, then.

The Diary thinks they can expect to get some genuinely constructive advice thrown in with their pastoral care, when he takes up residence in Ilkley.

Updated: 09:31 Wednesday, January 05, 2005