William Hickey

Bringing the gossip since 1933

- By Robert Meakin

PREPARING to marry business consultant David Turner, 21 years after the death of playwright husband Jack Rosenthal, Dame Maureen Lipman encountered an unexpected obstacle at Camden Registry Office.

Having arrived to meet the resident clerk with what she imagined were all the required documents before setting a date, irate Maureen reports: “She sent me out and told my future husband that there was no proof on Jack’s death certificate that I had been his wife.”

The actress, pictured with Turner, indignantly adds: “I explained to her manager that if he googled Jack Rosenthal he would see 2,014 photographs of every year of our 33-year marriage — but it cut no ice. Rules are rules. Jobsworth.”

Oh dear...