Harry, king of hardbacks, chalks up royal week for Penguin Random House

Image of the week: Prince of sales

Welcome to the Penguin Random House of Windsor, where it’s been a royal dream of a week for Transworld, part of the world’s largest book publisher Penguin Random House, as it struck gold with Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.

“We always knew this book would fly but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations,” said Transworld boss Larry Finlay, adding that only “the other Harry” – Harry Potter – had enjoyed higher first-day sales.

The memoir – which prompted a phalanx of photographers to camp outside a central London Waterstones to snap the “first” midnight buyer – shifted 400,000 copies across various formats in the UK and a ”sensational” 10,000-plus copies in the Irish market on the first day of publication. This includes online pre-orders, with the 50 per cent off price tag — an industry standard for big new non-fiction —, perhaps sealing the deal for those whose interest had been well and truly piqued.

“Bagpipes can drive you mad,” the Duke of Sussex notes on page 20 in just one of many truth bombs weirdly overlooked in the prepublication leaks. Value for money all round.

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In numbers: Orbital manoeuvres

14

Percentage decline in the share price of Virgin Orbit on Tuesday after the company confirmed that its LauncherOne rocket, its first from the UK, had failed to reach orbit.

9

Satellites on-board the vehicle, a rocket attached to a modified 747 jet, that instead burned up in the atmosphere as a result of “an anomaly”. This prompted Virgin Orbit to delete an earlier, premature tweet suggesting the rocket had “successfully” achieved its mission.

17,000

The miles-per-hour speed the vehicle needed to reach to gain the correct altitude. The UK Space Agency looked on the bright side. “A lot of positives have been achieved,” insisted its director of commercial space flight Matt Archer. “Space is hard.”

Getting to know: Taormina, Sicily

With The Banshees of Inisherin winning big at this week’s Golden Globes and on track for a mini-haul of Oscars, the good people at Achill Tourism have naturally prepped a Banshees “locations trail” for fans of the Martin McDonagh film who want to covert their appreciation into a visit and possibly a pint.

For screen tourism dollars, however, Taormina in Sicily may be tough to beat this year. Wealthy Americans have been so seduced by the depiction of, um, wealthy Americans holidaying in the second season of HBO’s dark comedy The White Lotus that it has prompted a spike in both web searches and bookings to the seaside resort town and Sicily as a whole.

[ Is it time to join the set-jetters and take a White Lotus holiday? ]

Some vital local folklore for Lotus-inspired travellers: the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace, the hotel that features in the Globe-winning series, has had previous brushes with Hollywood actors. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton succumbed to one of their real-life dramatic arguments on its terrace back in 1963, with the fight apparently involving Taylor breaking a mandolin over Burton’s head.

Your move, McDonagh.

The list: Powerful passports

The good news for holders of an Irish passport is that it has maintained its joint sixth position in the latest edition of the Henley Passport Index of the most “powerful” passports, which is based on data from the International Air Transport Association. But which passports are the strongest, according to the index?

=3. Germany: In joint third position is Germany, with holders of a German passport entitled to access 190 countries without a prior visa. This is three more countries than the Irish passport.

=3. Spain: Likewise, a Spanish passport will come in handy in most places around the world.

=2. South Korea: Out of a total of 227 destinations, a holder of a South Korean passport will enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival in 192.

=2. Singapore: Singaporeans can also access 192 countries without a prior visa. Passports at the upper end of the index are indeed far more “powerful” than those of bottom-ranked Afghanistan (a score of 27), Iraq (29) and Syria (30).

1. Japan: Out in front with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 193 countries is Japan, with the country’s passport taking the top spot for the fifth consecutive year. Almost a decade ago, that honour went jointly to the UK and the US, now joint sixth and joint seventh respectively. Oh well.

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