Ed Vaizey brought to book by Keith Allen’s sheriff
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Narrated by Patrick Kidd
When Ed Vaizey met Keith Allen recently, the former arts minister needed to ask a question that had nagged him for years. Was Allen’s villainous and rather camp Sheriff of Nottingham in the BBC’s Robin Hood series based on him? It seemed unlikely, if only because Allen’s Sheriff had a beard, but he was called Vaisey (sic) and smooth-chopped Ed had been at college with Dominic Minghella, the series creator. Allen didn’t know so Vaizey tracked down Minghella, who “sheepishly” confessed. “I was a prominent arse in those days,” Vaizey admitted, “and he probably thought I needed to be brought down a peg.” Vaizey is rather flattered but tells me: “If I ever do a Nadine Dorries and write a far-fetched book on politics, I
