Shirley, you can’t be serious ...

EITHER Victoria Beckham didn’t know who she was, or Posh, on her way to her car from a party, did know who Shirley MacLaine was, but didn’t care, because she walked past MacLaine as if the latter was nobody.

That was a month ago, at a film premiere.

How quickly, as Gay Byrne would say, how quickly they forget. The little be-spectacled figure in the background of the photograph may no longer be instantly recognisable by younger people, but that’s a function of fast-fading fame, rather than of merit. Because, whichever way you slice it, MacLaine has merit.