Twiggy came to my flat to ask me out!

As he publishes his memoir, actor Leigh Lawson on the day the world’s first supermodel strutted into his life, his friendships with the stars and the compliment from Sir Laurence Olivier he’s never forgotten

- By Dominic Bliss

BREAKTHROUGH: As Alec in the film Tess with Nastassja Kinski, released in 1979, based on Tess of the D'Urbevilles

MOST OF US mere mortals can only dream of marrying a supermodel. Leigh Lawson really achieved it, though. Back in the 1980s, this actor wooed one of the most famous British models of all time — Twiggy — and the couple have been together ever since.

“1 love Twiggy more today than when we first met,” Leigh tells the Daily Express. “I’m so grateful for her.”

Most famous for two roles — as the leading man in a 1979 Roman Polanski adaptation of Tess of the D’Urbervilles and in the 1980s TV series Travelling Man — Leigh is happy to reveal the secrets to his long marriage. He is now 82 years old, while Twiggy is 76. Being already middle-aged when they first met was key, he explains.

“T was in my early 40s when I met Twiggy and she was in her late 30s. Had we met when we were younger, I’m not sure it would have worked. I think couples are more likely to make compromises when they’re that bit older.”

It was Twiggy who seduced Leigh, not the other way round. The two first met in the mid-1980s when a mutual friend, actor Robert Powell, took them out for dinner.

There was an immediate attraction, but Leigh played it cool, opting not to ask for Twiggy’s phone number. Then, to his surprise, a couple of days later she turned up outside his flat in a big blue Jaguar, asking him out “for a cup of tea”. Four decades later, they’re still together and living in London’s Kensington district.

“Having respect for each other is important,” Leigh adds on the recipe for a happy marriage. “Oh, and humour. We still make each other laugh.”