EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Third cancer shock for wife of The Crown star John Standing

During a career spanning more than 60 years, he's starred with Laurence Olivier and Peter O'Toole, and more recently become familiar to a younger generation as Captain Imbert-Terry in Netflix's The Crown.

But John Standing – officially 4th baronet Sir John Leon – is now reprising the most significant role of his life. He is, I can disclose, once more caring for his wife, Sarah, who, at 66, is 25 years his junior but is battling cancer for a third time.

'John has been amazing,' Sarah, the daughter of actress Nanette Newman and the late Stepford Wives director Bryan Forbes, tells me. 'It's a lot for him – he's 91. I should be the one taking care of him. But life has a funny way of spinning on a sixpence. He's been making me laugh and doing endless jigsaws with me and going on short walks.'

Standing was relieved when Sarah, sister of TV presenter Emma Forbes, was given the all-clear in 2023. But she now has aggressive large B-cell lymphoma, a variant of the non-Hodgkin lymphoma that previously afflicted her.

'It's just bloody unlucky that it's come back for a third time,' reflects Sarah, who wrote a memoir about her first cancer battle, Dancing With The Red Devil, during lockdown.

But she is staying upbeat, pointing out her illness is treatable, and adding she's been buoyed up by TV presenter Trisha Goddard, who is battling stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. 'She's my great cancer buddy,' says Sarah. 'When you're on steroids, the nights are long. So we speak to each other at least twice a week.'

And Sarah has further steadfast support from her younger daughter, Tilly. 'She's come to every appointment with me,' she adds. 'I feel very fortunate.'

Strictly needs female hosts, says ex-judge  

Strictly is facing a major shake-up following Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly's exit, as bosses eye up a male co-host to freshen things up, with Rylan Clark, Bradley Walsh and pro dancer Johannes Radebe all in the frame.

Yet former judge Bruno Tonioli, 70, has issued a stark warning if they plan to ditch the girl power.

He tells me at a West End charity gala: 'I think it will be better for them to find two women to replace Tess and Claudia because what I liked is that you had these two women holding the show. It was empowering to watch and that's what Strictly should be.

'Having Tess and Claudia together on the show made it quite special.'

Yasmin Le Bon's scary midnight encounter

Model Yasmin Le Bon admits being married to Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon for more than 40 years hasn't always been glamorous or safe.

Recalling one terrifying encounter with a fan, the 61-year-old reveals: 'There was one time in New York in a 24-hour deli late at night, there was a particular character, and I did think: 'Oh no, this is it, this is going to be the end – in a Korean deli at midnight. I'm going to get macheted. She's going to realise I'm the person that stands between her and her true love.' '

He lost the Labour whip and resigned as an MP after punching a man during a heated row in his Cheshire constituency, for which he was convicted of common assault and briefly imprisoned last year.

Now, a remorseful Mike Amesbury admits the bust-up led to the end of his marriage to social worker Amanda Perraton, with whom he shares a son.

'I lost everything, my career, my good reputation, our family home. And just before Christmas, the end of an 18-year marriage,' he reveals in his blog.

Amesbury, 56, who was MP for Runcorn and Helsby, says he's attempting to rebuild his life. 'I'm trying to slowly gain more work. Trying to make sense of a world that doesn't easily forgive.'

Alice gets fired up at her 40th

Mayfair fire wardens might have had their work cut out for them at Alice Naylor-Leyland's 40th birthday party at Harry's private member's club in London this week.

The socialite blew out a triple-tiered cake with a cluster of wildly blazing candles.

'This is 40,' wrote Alice alongside a photo she posted online. Attendees included film director Emerald Fennell, model Poppy Delevingne and DJ Lady Mary Charteris, pictured on Alice's left, who said she was honoured to be in her 'birthday gang'. Also there was Alice's husband, Tom Naylor-Leyland, heir to the £176million Fitzwilliam land-owning fortune.

Nic's unwise move

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan might be a vision in corsets on screen, but her dance moves on the set of The Magic Faraway Tree left her co-star Simon Farnaby less than enchanted.

She tells me at a screening of the film at BFI Southbank in London: 'Simon said: 'Feel free to improvise.' '

However, the routine then fell flat Farnaby, 53, who also wrote the screenplay. She admits: 'He was like: 'You know that dancing you're doing... it's really annoying. Don't do that.'

Despite having a career spanning over 50 years, Charles Dance shuns the idea of dishing out acting advice to his younger counterparts.

The Game Of Thrones star, 79, said on the stage at Advertising Week Europe: 'It's a bit arrogant to think you know it all just because you're 'a senior'. But if they asked [for acting tips], then yes.'