In brief: Keira to play cockney Eliza

Keira Knightley (right) is to play Eliza Doolittle in a new version of the musical My Fair Lady, originally played in the 1964 version by Audrey Hepburn (left). The latest film will be produced by Cameron Mackintosh, who wants Daniel Day-Lewis to take the part of Henry Higgins... Boris Johnson has been discreetly investigating the possibilities of buying a £3m six-bedroom villa in Canonbury, Islington, just down the road from his present, more modest residence. Johnson is well able to afford the move - his mayoral salary is £137,579, and this is topped up by earnings from his column for the Daily Telegraph, reputedly £250,000 per year... According to reports, Princess Anne's daughter, Zara Phillips is to marry her long-term boyfriend, England rugby player Mike Tindall, next spring; unlike her brother Peter, she will apparently not be selling her wedding photos to Hello! magazine... Guy Ritchie, husband of Madonna, is attempting to revive his flagging career as a film director with a movie based on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes; he wants to repackage Holmes as a sword-wielding fist-fighter with a short fuse...New York City Opera has commissioned American composer Charles Wuorinen to write an opera based on Brokeback Mountain, the love story based on the Annie Proulx’s short story that won three Oscars when it was turned into a movie. It is slated to premiere during City Opera's 2013 spring season...