SO Peter O’Toole wryly contemplates his eighth Oscar nomination. For my part, I am of an age and was sufficiently star-struck to have followed his career play-by-play and film-by-film from the 1950s.

ISRAELI Defence Minister Amir Peretz yesterday created a committee to investigate Israel’s conduct during the 34-day fight against Hezbollah following growing criticism of ministers and generals.

FIRST Veteran: I served with John Kerry.

Al Pacino launched his big screen version of The Merchant of Venice today and called for more of Shakespeare’s plays to be given the movie treatment.

Al Pacino was bringing Shakespeare’s merchant to Venice for the world’s oldest film festival today, while Johnny Depp took inspiration from another literary icon, Peter Pan.

As the Venice Film Festival gets underway today, organisers are hitching their stars to director Steven Spielberg – just the man, they hope, to inspire Hollywood moguls and prize-hunting artists alike during 11 days of glitz and film magic.