Sting skips long waiting list to join the Garrick

HE’S the man with pretty well everything — a 16thcentury manor house in 800 Wiltshire acres, a hillside retreat in the Lake District, a seven-bedroom house in Malibu, a 600-acre vineyard in Tuscany and the adoration of wife Trudie Styler.

Indeed, perhaps only one thing was missing from Sting’s fabulously gilded life — membership of one of London’s gentlemen’s clubs. But, I can reveal, that deficiency has just been rectified with his election to the £1,700-a-year Garrick — possibly one of the swankiest of these establishments.

Its stalwarts, including Jeremy Paxman and Stephen Fry, are entitled to wear a salmon pink and pale green tie.

Even better, I can disclose that Sting, 71 (right), who grew up in the shadows of the shipyards of North-East England, was spared the indignity of first joining the club’s waiting list. ‘His candidacy was waved through under “distinguished member” rules,’ a clubman tells me. ‘It was approved within a day or so.’ This preferential treatment spared the singer-songwriter the tedium of what some say can be as much as a seven-year wait. It also eliminated any chance he might suffer the humiliation which befell Paxman who, when first up for membership in the 1990s, was blackballed. The club retains a men-only membership. But this doesn’t mean Trudie is forbidden entry. ‘Women can come in as guests,’ a member assures me. ‘Recently, they’ve begun sitting at the long members’ table in the middle of the dining room. That wouldn’t have happened years ago.’ Police that table, Sting! The Garrick refused to comment, as membership matters are ‘confidential’ while a spokesman for the singer also declined to comment.