EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Could Cumberbatch's heritage make him entitled to ... trends now
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Following news that Benedict Cumberbatch faces a possible compensation claim from Barbados over his slave-owning ancestors, there has been a curious twist in the story. No one disputes that the actor’s family used hundreds of slaves to harvest sugar in the 18th century. But it emerges that his plantation-owning great-great-great-grand-uncle Lawrence Trent Cumberbatch had a love match with Elizabeth, a mixed-race slave who died in 1824 after having two illegitimate sons. This opens the possibility of Benedict having mixed race genes. Could the Sherlock star be entitled to compensation from his own family for being the descendant of a slave?
Pictured: Benedict Cumberbatch in the film 12 Years a Slave
King Charles has retained the Christmas tradition of giving and receiving naff gifts. One of his presents was a pair of yellow crocs as worn by David Hockney at November’s Order of Merit lunch at Buck House. The King liked Hockney’s ‘galoshes’ saying they were ‘wonderfully chosen’. Will he be seen sporting his new footwear? Unlikely, says my mole, suggesting he will stick to the non-technicolour handmade creations of John Lobb.
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