Enoch Powell was so committed to his wife, Pamela, that he composed a poem for her on every wedding anniversary and gave her a rose for each year of their marriage.
On Saturday, Pam died at the age of 91.
‘Throughout the problems and difficulties they faced, Pam provided wonderful, down-to-earth support,’ a close friend tells me.
After suffering an illness for some time, she was able to return to her home in London’s Pimlico, where she was cared for by the couple’s two daughters, Susan and Jennifer.
Enoch Powell pictured with wife Pamela in the Evening News local radio station at the 1969 Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition
Enoch Powell and Margaret Pamela Wilson, pictured on their wedding day in 1952
Enoch Powell and wife Pamela pictured in Blackpool for the 1968 Conservative Party conference
She met Powell, who died in 1998 aged 85, while working at Conservative Central Office and they married in 1952.
Pam had turned down his first proposal on the grounds that ‘my father would never allow me to marry a teetotaller’.
Powell learnt about drink and, at his second attempt, she accepted him.
After Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech about the effects of immigration cost him his shadow cabinet job in 1968, his visits to universities almost provoked riots.
Pam would turn on the television each night he was away to check if he had survived the day.
Enoch Powell pictured with Pamela after he retained his MP seat for Wolverhampton in the 1970 General Election
Enoch Powell pictured with Pamela attending the service of thanksgiving for politician Iain Macleod in 1970
Oscar-winning lyricist Sir Tim Rice’s ex-girlfriend Amanda Eliasch may well regret buying herself a title.
For the vivacious ex-wife of Tory billionaire donor Johan Eliasch, who changed her social media accounts to ‘Countess’ Amanda Eliasch after purchasing the title for just £195, has been targeted by a conman.
‘I trusted a friend . . . but he has sadly stolen from me,’ she admits.
The film-maker, 57, accuses the pal of robbing her of $130,000 (£99,000) after he opened a bank account for her in London, where she deposited $986,000 (£748,000) from the sale of her California home.
The Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde is unrepentant about storming off stage in Dubai last month, when she reportedly told fans: ‘Stick your phones up your ass.’
Now, she says: ‘When I see someone on their phone at a rock show I think it’s further confirmation that cool is dead. It’s like a compulsion. It’s like smoking. Phones are the new cigarettes.’
Hynde, 66, adds: ‘It’s a hideous distraction . . . I’ll stop in the middle of a song and say: “Lady, put your phone down.” I find it quite demoralising. I’m up there trying to do my thing, I can’t work out why they’re on their phones.’
Artist Quinn’s new muse
A model of artist Marc Quinn’s head made with nine pints of his own blood once melted after builders switched off the freezer where art collector Charles Saatchi stored it at the Belgravia mansion he shared with then girlfriend Nigella Lawson.
Old one out, new one in: Artist Marc Quinn took up with dancer Jenny Bastet, pictured left, but now is thought to have moved on to model Layla Powell, pictured right, who runs a London spa
Quinn’s love life seems to be even more fragile.
After divorcing Lady Georgia Byng, daughter of the Earl of Strafford, in 2015, the 53-year-old sculptor took up with dancer Jenny Bastet.
Now, I hear he’s dumped Jenny and found a new muse: model Layla Powell, 30, who runs a London spa.
‘Jenny’s devastated and the split is very acrimonious,’ a friend says. ‘She really supported Marc through big changes in his life.’