EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Former Top Gear presenter Sue Baker dies after motor neurone disease fight

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Sue Baker, one of the original Top Gear presenters when the BBC show would actually review new cars, has died after a battle with motor neurone disease.

'She died at home this morning with family around her,' confirms a spokesman for the journalist, who blazed a trail for women in motoring. 'Sue was a talented and prolific writer, a charismatic TV presenter and a passionate animal lover.'

Baker appeared in 22 series of the show from 1980, with her role eventually supplanted by motormouth Jeremy Clarkson.

Sue Baker (pictured), one of the original Top Gear presenters when the BBC show would actually review new cars, has died after a battle with motor neurone disease

'She died at home this morning with family around her,' confirms a spokesman for the journalist, who blazed a trail for women in motoring (pictured in 1974)

Baker (pictured with Tony Frost in 1972) appeared in 22 series of the show from 1980, with her role eventually supplanted by motormouth Jeremy Clarkson

Bond star ready for a fight- over his trees! 

As James Bond star Daniel Craig knows only too well, there is always a sequel.

And now I hear that he and his Oscar-winning wife, Rachel Weisz, could be facing a new battle with neighbours over plans to cut back troublesome trees at their £6 million North London townhouse.

Five years ago, the couple won a battle to keep a 65ft London plane in their garden after locals complained that its roots were damaging their home.

The neighbours applied to chop down the tree, believing it to be causing serious subsidence. But it was saved from the axe after Craig, 54, and Weisz, 52, star of The Constant Gardener, offered to cut it back instead.

Planners at Camden Council blamed a sewer pipe for cracks next door.

Daniel Craig and his Oscar-winning wife, Rachel Weisz, (pictured) could be facing a new battle with neighbours over plans to cut back troublesome trees at their £6 million North London townhouse

Now, the actors, who married in 2011, have applied to the council to carry out further tree works, lopping it back by 13ft. They also want to trim another London plane and a pear tree covered in ivy.

They need consent because the trees are protected by a Tree Preservation Order in a designated conservation area.

Planning agent Stephanie Radziwillowicz said: 'This previously reduced tree, overhanging several gardens, is in need of maintenance to slow root expansion and improve light.'

Officials at Camden Council are expected to make a decision later this month.

In 2017, bankers Alasdair Nisbet and his wife, Elizabeth, said their Victorian terrace home had been left riddled with cracks because of the roots from the thespian couple's trees.

The Nisbets supplied reports from experts who put the blame for their subsidence issues firmly on the roots.

However, at the time, other neighbours said the trees were 'aesthetically beautiful' and that their removal would be 'like losing a limb'.

A spokesman for Craig declined to comment.

Jenna and her love cut to the kiss

Prince Harry was once pictured with his hand on the knee of Victoria star Jenna Coleman as they chatted intimately in a marquee at a polo tournament.

But now the Blackpool-born actress, 36, has only one prince in her life. He is film director Jamie Childs, 35, and the pair stopped for a kiss during a stroll in North London. They met when he directed her in Netflix series The Sandman.

Victoria star Jenna Coleman, 36, has only one prince in her life. He is film director Jamie Childs, 35, and the pair stopped for a kiss during a stroll in North London (pictured)

Privately educated Jenna still lives at the £2.2 million London townhouse she shared with Tom Hughes, her boyfriend and co-star in the ITV period drama Victoria from whom she split in 2020.

Hughes, who played Prince Albert to her Queen Victoria, had been going out with her for four years.

Party-loving historian Simon Sebag Montefiore includes the pop knights Elton John and Mick Jagger in his new 1,300-page book The World: A Family History and is revealingly upfront about the reason why. 

'Elton is a great reader of mine and reads all the books,' Sebag says. 'Obviously, he had to go in. Mick Jagger, I also know and he also reads my books, so obviously, he had to go in too.'

Wedding can wait for Beacham, 75

Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham accepted a proposal from Bernie Greenwood in 2013, but she's still keeping the retired doctor waiting to exchange vows.

'We have this conversation so much, and I don't think getting married would make much of a difference,' she tells me. 'It feels like we're already married, and a ring and paper won't change what we have.'

Before Beacham, 75, met Greenwood, 83, she had flings with a series of toyboys, remarking at the time: 'I took them in as boys of 27 and sent them off as men of 32.'

She was among guests at the Michael Josephson Ball at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester, which raised £760,000 for three charities in the North-West.

Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham accepted a proposal from Bernie Greenwood in 2013, but she's still keeping the retired doctor waiting to exchange vows. (Pictured together in July)

When Olympic gold medallist Sir Mark Todd was caught on camera repeatedly hitting a horse with a branch to encourage it to enter a water jump on a three-day event course, he was handed a four-month suspension by the British Horseracing Authority. 

The event rider was allowed to resume his career as a trainer in April, but has now decided to slash his workload. 

'I'm not quitting but cutting down,' Sir Mark, 66, tells me. He insists it's not because of his suspension, adding: 'It's because I felt like it.' 

Sir Mark has, however, been known to change his mind. He separated from his wife, Carolyn Berry, in 2009, only to remarry her five years later.

Banksy surprised fans at the weekend when he unveiled his latest work on a building devastated by shelling in Ukraine.

Sir Michael Palin thinks the graffiti artist should travel to Iraq to brighten up some of Saddam Hussein's desolated buildings to boost tourism.

'They need Banksy over there,' declares the Monty Python star, 79, who visited Iraq for a Channel 5 documentary this year. 'They've got to try to find some way of using those buildings for their cultural value.'

Banksy surprised fans at the weekend when he unveiled his latest work on a building devastated by shelling in Ukraine (pictured)

Mixed Grylls now for Bear

Bear Grylls blamed going vegan for making him feel unwell and now the television adventurer says pulses are not the health food they're claimed to be. 'Lentils are terrible for you,' declares the Chief Scout, 48.

'I was vegan for a long time. I wrote a book on how I thought it was great, but my health really tanked and I certainly could not do 25 pull-ups,' says Grylls, speaking to Louis Theroux on a forthcoming BBC 2 programme.

He has since turned carnivore and now eats meat twice a day: 'I like steak and liver with honey and a whole bunch of eggs.'