Celebrities and the royal wedding

Jeremy Wells. Photo / Janna Dixon

Paul Henry hasn't got time to think of the royal wedding. He's heading back to America on the day of the nuptials and until then he's flat tack getting his memoirs to the publisher.

"I have no idea how I am going to fit in all the things I have to do and finish the book before I leave for the States on the 29th," he said. "The book is looking really good Rachel, so it's worth it."

But Jeremy Wells is a surprising name to get in on royal wedding fever. He will be joining John Campbell's wedding coverage on TV3 on the day of the nuptials.

Wells, who has been seldom seen on telly since his Birdland show was a disastrous flop, will be joined by Wendyl Nissen and Louise Wallace to provide amusing analysis.

"I've always wanted to be the media meat in a Campbell/ Nissen/ Wallace sandwich," Wells said. "Although in this case, realistically, I'm probably more a condiment - a relish or chutney."

The cricket-mad satirist reckons he's brushing up on his royal knowledge in preparation for the show.

"As well as employing a group of recently unemployed researchers to research for the wedding coverage I'm emptying my brain of other information that's not going to be useful. This week I've binned a whole bunch of old cricket information on Richard Collinge that I've been holding on to for years and haven't had the opportunity to use."

As for wedding gift ideas, Wells suggests a timepiece.

"I've always thought of the kitchen clock as the ultimate wedding gift. You can never have too many kitchen clocks - especially when you're royalty and have heaps of kitchens."

Meanwhile, Paul Henry will be away for the entire month of May. He will be holding planned meetings with television network execs in Los Angeles about his foray in Hollywood.

But he stressed that his radio and TV roles with MediaWorks are not in any doubt. Henry said he had always expected to visit his youngest daughter Bella who is living in Kansas for the year. The pair are planning to hit Las Vegas for some R&R.

Jay-Jay Feeney is heading to London for the first time to cover the wedding for music station The Edge. She's been practising her curtseys and table manners in the event Bronagh Key gets knocked down with a bout of food poisoning and John Key needs a stand-in.

Key was quite satisfied with the idea. "If that's the case, I'm pleased I've got a back-up," he quipped.

Feeney's shock jock hubby Dominic Harvey is running the Boston marathon tomorrow and hasn't had time to think of vows and veils. But he's thrilled he's made it to Boston.

"It's the Holy Grail of marathons," he said. "You have to qualify just to enter and apply for one of the 25,000 places."

With a time of 3 hours, 15 minutes in the Auckland marathon, Harvey got his spot. As for his wife, well, she won't be standing on the sideline with a MyZone bottle.

"Heck no," said Harvey. "She'll be hitting the Boston shops."

The other well-known Dominic - Bowden, that is - has not disappeared from television, although he has been seldom seen on TVNZ's Breakfast show lately where he is meant to file entertainment reports from Hollywood.

The former NZ Idol's absence is explained by his commitment to Simon Cowell's upcoming X Factor show which is set to take America by storm.

Bowden, who relocated to Los Angeles with his wife Claire Robbie, has joined the show.

"I've been working on the production side of things in a small way, nothing major," he said. Last week he was in Newark, New Jersey for the New York City auditions.

"It's been crazy, so that's why I've been unavailable for Breakfast, but I'm still doing junkets for TVNZ. I spent the day with Lady Gaga last week."

-Herald On Sunday / View