was being rumoured over the weekend.

Scottish journalists were scurrying around trying to confirm reports that Glasgow Celtic was about to be bought by Bermuda-registered holding company, Firstgreen Ltd., which is run by Mr. Fergus McCann, who lives at Grosvenor Court, Pembroke.

Celtic, which has its roots in Catholicism, is best-known for becoming in 1967 the first British club to win the European Cup and for winning the Scottish championship ten years in a row under the managership of the legendary Mr.

Jock Stein.

The club, which recently applied for planning permission to build a new stadium, has been in turmoil this season due to a poor run of results and boardroom squabbling which culminated in the resignations last week of manager Mr. Liam Brady and assistant manager Mr. Joe Jordan.

* * * NJ Secretive Australian soap opera tycoon Mr. Reg Grundy, who lives next to Mermaid Beach Club in Warwick, is suing the Daily Express newspaper in the UK for alleged defamation over an article which appeared in its `Ross Benson's Diary' section on March 5, 1993.

The article highlighted how Mr. Grundy had fallen foul of Bermuda planners by operating his worldwide television empire from his South Shore home without planning permission -- a tale the Express had picked up from this column.

A lawyer for the Daily Express said: "We received a letter from Mr. Grundy's lawyer complaining about certain aspects of the article and we are fighting the action.'' He said that, since the article appeared, Mr. Grundy had been given "retroactive'' permission by Bermuda's planners to operate his business from home.

Retroactive permission basically lets off people who have broken planning laws in the past and allows them to continue what they have been doing, but in a legal fashion.

Mr. Grundy's application for this "after-the-fact'' approval had initially been turned down, but it is believed he may have successfully appealed.

* * * PTL This following story might have nothing to do with business, but the Diary believes it is too `cute' not to appear. And, heck, politics and business go hand-in-hand anyway.

Several voters in Warwick East demonstrated an acute sense of humour last week when they went to the polls in the General Election.

For them, the dream ticket for the constituency was not the two UBP candidates, the Hon. Irving Pearman and the Hon. Gerald Simons, or even the two PLP members, Mr. Alex Scott and Mr. Cal Smith.

No, for a few dozen voters in Warwick East, the combination they most wanted to see for their area was Immigration Minister Mr. Pearman and Independent Mrs. Patricia Gordon-Pamplin.

What makes this choice bizarre is that, for several weeks now, Mrs. Pamplin has been engaged in a highly-publicised fight with the Immigration department over plans to deport her American husband.

However, the `fireworks' ticket was not to be. While the Immigration boss topped the polls with 897 votes, Mrs. Pamplin, sister of Minister of Youth and Sport, Ms Pamela Gordon, finished last with 68, narrowly beating the number of void ballots!