As a star of Call the Midwife, Helen George has performed some harrowing scenes. In real life, the actress has endured an even more traumatic tragedy, which she has kept secret until now. Helen, 42, has revealed that her boyfriend died from blood cancer shortly after they became a couple. The ordeal was made even worse because she had to leave the country to film ITV’s Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters, which was broadcast last year. ‘I had been dating someone who very suddenly got diagnosed with leukaemia,’ she says. ‘It was pretty serious from the start and he knew. ‘The next day after that happened I had to fly out to the Bahamas to film the ITV shark documentary. I would call my best friend and sob down the phone about this lovely, beautiful man.’ Helen says spirituality and her crystals helped her cope with the tragedy. It left her convinced those who have died continue to watch over the living. Helen George has revealed that her boyfriend died from leukemia shortly after they became a couple’He now comes through in my clairvoyancy readings – he’s looking after me,’ she says of her boyfriend. ‘I’d like to be a clairvoyant. I’d like to talk to dead people.’ She says on the Mystic Mates podcast: ‘I went to this clairvoy ant last week and she said, ‘This is your ex boyfriend, and he died very suddenly after you started dating him. He’s come into the room because he’s not very happy about your situation.’ ‘I cried because it was wonderful to think this person, whom I didn’t really know for that long, was there. ‘He was angry that he’d left me looking for someone else and then finding someone else who wasn’t suitable.’ The comments come after Helen’s whirlwind romance with businessman Dan Innes came to an end earlier this month. Innes, 52, had moved into her London home, which she shares with her two daughters. Helen was previously in a relationship with her Call the Midwife co-star Jack Ashton for seven years. Archer’s academic altoHe’s relinquished his seat in the House of Lords and, he insists, has written his final book. But if Jeffrey Archer, 86, is taking it easier, his wife, the fragrant Dame Mary, 81, is still braving public trials that would daunt most – as proved at the couple’s Diamond Wedding anniversary party, held last weekend at their Cambridgeshire retreat, The Old Vicar age, Grantchester. ‘The highlight was Mary,’ says one of the 200 guests, among them former cabinet secretary Lord Butler, who said grace, ex-PM Sir John Major and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. ‘Mary sang the famous Tom Lehrer song, The Elements,’ my informant tells me, referencing the tune that begins, ‘There’s antimony, arsenic, alu minium, selenium/ And hydrogen, and oxygen, and nitrogen…’ and continues breathlessly through the periodic table. ‘A terrific feat of memory – and beautiful singing. Cheers rang out.’ Why Labour minister is no fan of Charli Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy took a swipe at privately educated pop stars at the UK Music Summer Party Pop star Charli XCX, who attended the private Bishop’s Stortford College, was originally hailed in Ms Nandy’s speech but was dropped in the updated versionIn keeping with Labour’s spiteful attack on independent schools, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy used her speech at the UK Music Summer Party to take a swipe at privately educated pop stars.’As the (Paul Simon) song says, ‘Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts.’ But pop is getting posher, and that must change,’ Nandy told guests. Public school stars include Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who went to Sherborne School, Lily Allen, to Bedales, and Florence Welch, to Alleyn’s.I can reveal an earlier version of Nandy’s remarks hailed Charli XCX as one of the UK’s greatest musical assets. However, the singer attended the private Bishop’s Stortford College. Charli, pictured left, was dropped in the updated version of the speech released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.Jagger’s good catch before big faux pasWith the Rolling Stones seen as their younger selves in the video for new single In The Stars, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence deepfake technol ogy, Sir Mick Jagger reveals he spotted an embarrassing error just before it was released. Explaining that guitarist Ronnie Wood had been mistakenly replaced by another rock legend, Jagger recalls: ‘I was talking to the lady working on the video. I said, ‘Stop at 3.18, that’s Jeff Beck!’ ‘The thing was, Ronnie had been in a band with Jeff Beck, so they might have gone back to footage.’I said, ‘You’ve got to change it to Ronnie!’ Jagger chuckles: ‘So we had Jeff Beck in the band for a minute. That was interesting.’New Strictly presenter Emma Willis’s husband, Matt, has admitted he couldn’t wait for his ‘challenging’ four-month Cabaret run to end after it left him in a ‘dark place’. The Busted star played the unsettling ‘psychopath’ Emcee. ‘I go home and my family are all in bed asleep and then I’m just there on my own and just trying to get out of this dark place, sitting with those feelings. It’s very weird,’ he says.Princess brings shaman to UK Princess Martha Louise of Norway and Durek Verrett explore London and pose for a selfie in Portobello MarketNot all royals who married Americans make such a song and dance about their visits to Britain. Princess Martha Louise of Norway, 54, didn’t have a care in the world as she explored London with her husband, Durek Verrett, 51, a shaman who boasts of contact with aliens. The couple, who married in 2024, visited Portobello Market, sharing selfies online.’There’s something timeless about London,’ says Durek, who acts as a personal spiritualist to Gwyneth Paltrow. While Harry and Meghan quit royal engagements in 2020, Martha Louise relin quished her royal duties to concentrate on alternative medicine two years later.Sir Keir Starmer may have axed hereditary peers, but the House of Lords is still a family affair. Transport minister Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill answered a parliamentary question from Lord Hendy – his brother. Hendy, 78, told Hendy of Richmond Hill, 73: ‘I am grateful to my noble kinsman for that answer.’ Some peers had no idea the two Hendys were related. They do not look much alike and have quite different parliamentary personalities. Minister Hendy is a tetchy per former at the despatch box. The older Hendy is a notoriously boring orator.