His collection of relicry extends to football, its centrepiece a shirt worn by West Brom and England striker Jeff Astle during the 1970 World Cup.Ah, football. In a sense Skinner is a victim of his own success, football-wise. The enormous popularity of Fantasy Football League, combined with that of “Three Lions”, the anthem he co-wrote with David Baddiel for Euro 96, has helped to widen the game’s appeal And Skinner isn’t sure he likes that. When I ask him to reveal one of his prejudices, he lambasts football’s spreading fan base.”At head level, I think it’s brilliant that women and posh people like football, that I can go and see a private doctor in Sloane Square for my ITV medical and he says ‘aren’t Tottenham doing well?’ But at gut level I think, ‘what the fuck’s it got to do with you?’ It’s partly class prejudice, partly gender prejudice I know it’s wrong. And I like getting a free sandwich at Wembley, but I look at all the corporate johnnies and I can’t help thinking ‘where were you in the pissing rain against Bristol City on a Tuesday night?’”And so we come to the $64,000 question. Might Skinner’s prejudices, or anything else for that matter, drive him back to drink? On 4 September last year he reached the same age as Elvis on the day he died, an occasion he desperately wanted to mark by leaping off the wagon for the first time in 12 years In the end, he didn’t.

Then he decided to see in the new century with a drink.”But my alcoholic guardian angel in the shape of Eric Clapton got me along to an Alcoholics Anonymous New Year’s Eve party. I’ve never done the AA thing, and I know Eric thinks I wouldn’t still have urges if I had.”The last time he had the urge, he was relaxing beside a hotel pool in Egypt.”There would have been something marvellously significant about starting again in a Muslim country,” he says. “I was there with a mate, and he had a beer, and I had a cranberry juice, and he said he’d get me a beer if I wanted.” Skinner laughs. One might even call it a sardonic chuckle.”That,” he adds, “is what friends are for.”‘Cooking With Elvis’, Whitehall Theatre, London Previews from March 7 Box office: 020-7369 1735. The Controller of Radio 4 has a hard life. Move a favourite programme by an hour or two, and middle England discovers the joy of voicing unrestrained venom. Dismiss a plummy-voiced presenter, and newspaper editors start commissioning damning editorials

The Controller of Radio 4 has a hard life.

Move a favourite programme by an hour or two, and middle England discovers the joy of voicing unrestrained venom. Dismiss a plummy-voiced presenter, and newspaper editors start commissioning damning editorials.
Three high-flying BBC insiders, nevertheless, are keen to take up the vacancy left by James Boyle and have made the final shortlist for the job. Two are women.Anna Carragher, head of programmes at BBC Northern Ireland, is the front-runner. Unlike Mr Boyle, she is said by BBC insiders to enjoy a harmonious relationship with the head of radio, Jenny Abramsky. Her case is also helped by the fact that Northern Ireland is seen inside the BBC as the front line of programming. Desperate efforts have to be made to keep the broadcasting there impartial in the face of criticism from both sides of the sectarian divide.Ms Carragher also has strong credentials in terms of her own Radio 4 background.