EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Richard Curtis, the king of Notting Hill is moving

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: I’ve had enough of Notting Hill, says romcom king Richard Curtis as he and girlfriend Emma Freud plot move OUT of the area he helped put on the map with his 1999 Hugh Grant film

His hit romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts helped transform a once run-down corner of West London into a neighbourhood of American bankers and Russian oligarchs, with property prices soaring to match those in Mayfair or Belgravia.

But now screenwriter Richard Curtis and his girlfriend, the broadcaster Emma Freud, are quitting Notting Hill.

‘It’s like the ravens leaving the tower,’ one of their neighbours tells me, somewhat dramatically.

The couple are understood to have put their home, in a particularly desirable corner of the area, on the market.

Screenwriter Richard Curtis and his girlfriend, the broadcaster Emma Freud, are quitting Notting Hill

Curtis, 65, declines to comment, but the five-bedroom, end-of-terrace house would be worth more than £20 million. He and Emma, 60, are thought to have paid £3.6 million for the property in 1998, the year before his film, Notting Hill was released

His hit romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts helped transform a once run-down corner of West London into a neighbourhood of American bankers and Russian oligarchs, with property prices soaring to match those in Mayfair or Belgravia

Curtis, 65, declines to comment, but the five-bedroom, end-of-terrace house would be worth more than £20 million. He and Emma, 60, are thought to have paid £3.6 million for the property in 1998, the year before his film, Notting Hill was released.

It’s not clear why the couple, who have four children, are moving, but they suffered a property disaster earlier this year when their 18th-century holiday home in a Suffolk seaside village was badly damaged by a fire caused by an electrical fault.

The blaze was particularly traumatic because their beloved pet cat, Meep, and four kittens were killed.

Curtis’s film came in for criticism recently for failing to reflect the ethnic make-up of the area, which has been at the heart of the West Indian community since the 1950s and home of the Notting Hill Carnival. Comedian Omid Djalili claimed ethnic actors were axed and his own role as a cafe owner reduced in order to make the film ‘more white’.

More from Richard Eden for The Daily Mail…

It’s not just David Walliams who’s made a fortune from children’s books. 

I can reveal that Shirley Hughes, who died in March aged 94, left almost £14 million in her will.

Newly released probate documents disclose that the acclaimed author and illustrator, whose books include Dogger and Alfie, had an estate of £13.6 million.

It will be split between her three children, journalist Ed Vulliamy, author and illustrator Clara, and research scientist Tom. 

Asked what she considered her greatest achievement, Hughes had the simplest of responses: ‘Creating picture books that some small child might enjoy.’

How much is lunch with a showbusiness legend worth? Try £100,000 if it’s Dame Joan Collins. That’s what a mystery punter paid at a black-tie ball at the Royal Lancaster hotel in London when lunch with the Dynasty star at Club 55 in St Tropez went under the hammer for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices. 

Piers Dunhill, great-great-grandson of luxury goods brand founder Sir Alfred Dunhill, has come up with a novel idea: alcoholic tomato sauce.

Entrepreneur Piers has teamed up with food scientist Christopher Beard to produce a variety of boozy foodstuffs, including frozen milkshake cocktails.

‘It’s called Naughty and is going to be massive,’ he assures me at the launch of Healing the Wounded Child charity at Tramp in St James’s, London.

Piers says of his partnership with Beard: ‘I knew he was a playboy, so I lured him in asking for investment by overlaying my message over a photograph of a sexy, blonde model — and it worked.’

Madcap mum Goldie steals Kate’s show  

Despite  wearing an embellished nude gown, Hollywood star Kate Hudson still managed to be upstaged by her Oscar-winning mother, Goldie Hawn, on the red carpet.

Larking about and pulling silly faces, the 76-year-old attracted more attention than her daughter, 43, who had kindly invited her to the Los Angeles premiere of the latest instalment of the Knives Out murder mystery films.

Kate, pictured as a tot with Goldie, is the daughter of pop star Bill Hudson. She made her name in the film Almost Famous.

Despite wearing an embellished nude gown, Hollywood star Kate Hudson still managed to be upstaged by her Oscar-winning mother, Goldie Hawn, on the red carpet

Kate, pictured as a tot with Goldie, is the daughter of pop star Bill Hudson. She made her name in the film Almost Famous

Anton du Beke’s  five-year-old son, George, knows just how to impress the parents of friends. Speaking about George and his twin Henrietta, the show judge says, ‘They love Strictly, and watched it last year . . . ‘One of George’s friends came round for a play-date the other day, and George opened the door and said to the mum, ‘Did you know that Anton du Beke from Strictly Come Dancing is my Daddy?’ It was so funny.’

Happy memories for ambassador’s widow

Sir Christopher Meyer’s widow, Catherine, enjoyed a joke with the Rev Canon Alan Gyle after the inspirational memorial service for her diplomat husband at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge yesterday.

Sir Christopher, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, died suddenly in July aged 78.

At the service, where mourners included Sir John Major, former Desert Island Discs host Dame Sue Lawley recalled his appearance on the Radio 4 show.

‘My definition for a castaway is that they would have wit, wisdom and eclectic taste in music. He had all of that,’ she said. ‘He balanced Tchaikovsky with Little Richard and AC/DC.’

Sir Christopher Meyer’s widow, Catherine, enjoyed a joke with the Rev Canon Alan Gyle after the inspirational memorial service for her diplomat husband at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge yesterday

Pop star’s season to be stroppy

Can someone tell Paloma Faith the season of goodwill will soon be upon us.

The pop star, 41, used her performance at Rosewood London’s Courtyard Christmas Party to accuse her record label of failing to promote her 2020 festive single, A Christmas Prayer.

‘This is one of the underrated Christmas songs on the market, and it’s actually good, as it’s with Gregory Porter,’ she told guests.

‘But no one has heard of it because no one at my label put a marketing budget on it.’ It doesn’t, however, seem to have left a lasting impression on Faith, a former coach on TV talent show The Voice.

She admitted: ‘I can’t remember the lyrics because I only sing it once a year.’

Can someone tell Paloma Faith the season of goodwill will soon be upon us. The pop star, 41, used her performance at Rosewood London’s Courtyard Christmas Party to accuse her record label of failing to promote her 2020 festive single, A Christmas Prayer

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