Waiter, didn’t you used to work in the City?

ONE City banker was surprised recently when he saw former JP Morgan Cazenove man David Clasen at the Mayfair restaurant Wild Honey. Clasen, according to my spy, was “bringing out the starters”. Could it be true? Former investment banker turned busboy?

Not quite. Since leaving investment banking, Clasen has taken his hobby of cooking to new levels by working for nothing one day a week in Wild Honey’s kitchens. “I really enjoy it,” he said.

Some of his tasks, alas, can be pretty dull. “Making the mouli for the boudin is a bit tedious,” he admitted. This is made more unpleasant because it must be done in a walk-in fridge. “It’s a bit boring in the fridge — it takes about an hour and you can’t chat to anyone.”

It is, however, more fun than investment banking, which Clasen doesn’t miss much. So, is he up to anything else? He has set up a boutique advisory firm, Clasen & Co, to advise gambling firms. Oh, and then there’s his singing. He has the tenor solo in the Orchestra of St Paul’s Messiah concert next month. A true renaissance man.

Kemsley puts Pele in goal

YOU couldn’t make it up. Paul Kemsley — Lord Sugar’s former Apprentice lieutenant, whose £500m property empire imploded in June — has bought America’s most famous soccer club, the New York Cosmos.

Kemsley plans to turn the team, dormant since 1985, into a global lifestyle brand with retail, leisure and music arms. But how? Last I heard, “soccer” wasn’t all that popular in America.

He will have some help from Pele, the world’s greatest footballer, who ended his playing career at the Cosmos in 1977: Pele will be president of the company. Simon Greenberg, Chelsea football club’s departing communications and public affairs director, is also said to be on board. It is unclear whether there will be any role for Kemsley’s other pals, including Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley or Topshop’s Sir Philip Green.

The club’s first game under new management will be held next summer in Central Park. It will see the Cosmos play Kemsley’s beloved Spurs — he was vice-chairman at the club until October 2007. In the meantime, presumably, he will draft in some players and coaches. Rumours that he will try to lure David Beckham have so far proved unfounded.

Kemsley bought the rights for an undisclosed amount from Cosmos president Peppe Pinton. Just how much of his fortune the former property tycoon has retained since his firm Rock Investment went into administration will now be revealed as he attempts to build the side up.

A friend of Kemsley’s is unambiguous: “This will be the biggest bounceback since Donald Trump.” Just what we need.

Innocents back to school

INNOCENT, the smoothie firm, would like you to know it is still fun and quirky despite Coca-Cola buying a £30m stake. It has reunited the 1980 St Winifred’s School Choir to sing There’s No-one Quite Like Grandma as part of its Big Knit charity campaign. Money raised from the song, which knocked John Lennon off the No 1 spot in 1980, will go to Age Concern and Help the Aged. Innocent co-founder Richard Reed, who clearly hates the spotlight, will play a cameo role in the video to the song. “It’s the highlight of his career,” quipped one colleague.

- AMANDA STAVELEY, the dealmaker, is well known for her savvy in the world of football but it seems she may also know something about the nags. Man of Iron, a horse she jointly owns with Sameer Al Ansari, boss of investment fund Dubai International Capital, in a syndicate called Samanda Racing (do you see what they’ve done there?) on Friday night won the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon race in Santa Anita, California. Ridden by Johnny Murtagh, it won by a nose in a photo finish over Cloudy’s Knight. In unashamed football style, Staveley is, according to friends, “over the moon”.

- I HEAR that LVMH, the luxury-goods firm, and Tommy Hilfiger, the fashion chain, are already courting Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor-in-chief, hoping she will take on some sort of advisory role. Wintour, of course, has not yet left the magazine but will be hot property when she does. “I can see her going somewhere like LVMH and I’m sure [its boss] Bernard Arnault has already been on the phone to her,” said one fashionista. “Hilfiger, on the other hand, seems a touch pedestrian for Anna.”

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