Earl Spencer back on television

Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, is hoping to revive his television career with an appearance on a new BBC series, The Speaker. Before he made his most famous TV appearance - his electrifying address at his sister's funeral in 1997 was watched by millions around the globe - he had been working in television for a decade, and he is now keen to rekindle his career.

Spencer, the ninth Earl, started out as as a contributing correspondent for NBC News in 1987, before moving to Granada in 1991 for a two-year stint. His CV also lists another couple of years at NBC News from 1993, and a move to presenting, for NBC's Super Channel (now NBC Europe) for two years from 1995 to 1996. A year after his sister was killed in a car crash in Paris, Spencer became a writer on the nature series Planet Wild until 2000.

In his latest television foray, Charles Spencer is a mentor on BBC2's hunt to find Britain's best teenage orator, along with TV newsreader Kate Silverton, Dragon's Den's Deborah Meaden and the former Downing Street spin-doctor Alastair Campbell. Spencer dishes out his advice to the 20 young semi-finalists at his stately home Althorp House, helping them "explore the craft of information giving", according to the BBC.

The Earl, who called Diana "the most hunted person of the modern age", made his first speech at the age of four. But does the owner of the 16th century stately home and Northamptonshire country estate really need the money - or the public profile? Spencer claims that he is not a wealthy man. "I have six children and a large estate to maintain," he told the London Evening Standard. "There is no money to be made in managing an estate. I am simply a caretaker and will be handing it on to my oldest son Louis when the time comes."