People

Eddie Izzard goes from strength to strength in the US. In the movies we last saw him as a baddie in My Super Ex-Girlfriend and he apparently filmed his scenes in next year's Ocean's Thirteen in Hollywood a few weeks ago. Now the US channel FX has agreed to film his new drama about a con-artist family. The Riches will feature Izzard and Minnie Driver as a couple who take over the life of a family killed in a car accident. And Fox has confirmed Izzard will be a villain in the sixth series of 24, in which Kiefer Sutherland returns as Jack Bauer fighting increasingly pesky terrorists.

The self-effacing Ashlee Simpson is to be the new Roxie Hart in the endless West End money-spinner Chicago, it was announced yesterday. Who is Ashlee Simpson, some of you may ask. Well, mean and nasty people, not this column, would call her a manufactured pop star of little talent. She has appeared in a movie, Undiscovered, for which she was nominated for the Razzie award for worst supporting actress. Her sister Jessica Simpson was also nominated, but in a closely fought race they lost out to the estimable Paris Hilton. We particularly like the names of her reported boyfriends, from the all-American sounding Josh Henderson to Ryan Cabrera to Wilmer Valderrama to Braxton Olita

Anyone who lives in London needs no telling how high property prices are. So when even the absurdly rich and well-paid Michael Ballack whines about it, then maybe it really is time to pack up and move out. The £130,000-a-week Chelsea player tells Berlin's Bild-Zeitung: "London is extremely expensive. It is better to rent." Eh? He adds that he's found somewhere in Wimbledon, perhaps because it is on the District line and therefore only 15 minutes to Fulham Broadway. He says he is delighted that you can get German food in supermarkets, but he has picked up a fondness for fish, chips and peas.

A new and lovely sounding summer festival was announced yesterday, to be held next year in the highlands of Scotland, called The Outsider. Devised by Pete Irvine and Neil Dalgleish, it will have music, comedy, film, debate, dancing, stargazing and, in a blow to burger van franchises, wild food foraging. So what sort of punter do they want to attract to Rothiemurchus near Aviemore? Irvine says: "The Outsider is for people who want to contribute, not just consume change; they want to do - not just die. It's for people who want to change the world." Actually, looking at the diary, might be a bit tricky.