All I want for Christmas is you
‘Tis the season to fall in love. MARION McMULLEN looks at some famous couples smitten by the romance of winter weddings
IT MAY be cold outside, but that has never stopped romance from being in the air. While many are counting down to Santa and a Christmas feast, others have fanned the flames of love and tied the knot.
Future British prime minister Margaret Roberts wore a midnight blue velvet dress for her wedding to Denis Thatcher at Wesley’s Chapel in London on December 13, 1951. The bride was 26 years old and the groom 36 and their marriage lasted 52 years until Denis’s death in 2003.
Baroness Thatcher once said: “I usually make up my mind about a man in 10 seconds ... and I very rarely change it.”
The dress later sold for £25,000 at auction in 2015.
Fans had to be held back by police when British rock and roll star Marty Wilde married Joyce Baker at Christ Church in Greenwich on December 2, 1959. The couple have four children, including singer Kim Wilde, and met on a TV show when Joyce was one of the Vernon Girls – a girl group formed at the Vernon football pools company.
The wedding of Z Cars actor Brian Blessed to Hildegarde Neil on December 28, 1978, proved an arresting affair. The bride and groom, who have now been together 41 years, married at Woking Register Officer and PC Bob Shatwell and PC David Morehead promptly clapped handcuffs on the happy couple... in recognition of Brian’s role in the famous TV police drama.
American film star Natalie Wood opted for a white strapless wedding dress with a white lace hooded cape when she wed fellow actor Robert Wagner in Scottsdale, Arizona, on December 28, 1957.
The groom wore a suit and tie with a corsage as they tied the knot. The couple divorced in 1962, but remarried in 1972 and remained together until Natalie tragically drowned in 1981 at the age of 43.
She once said of marrying the same man twice: “Sometimes it’s better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
That’s Life TV presenter Esther Rantzen married TV producer Desmond Wilcox on December 2, 1977 and the couple held their wedding reception in Knighsbridge.
Esther was expecting their first baby at the time and the couple’s marriage lasted for 23 years until Desmond’s death in 2000 at the age of 69.
Avengers and James Bond star Honor Blackman married actor Maurice Kaufmann on December 18, 1961 at Chelsea Register Office.
It was Honor’s second marriage and the couple held their wedding reception at a club in Chelsea. Shortly after the wedding, she met producer Leonard White to talk about playing Cathy Gale opposite Patrick Macnee as suave agent John Steed in The Avengers.
Honor and her husband adopted two children – Lottie and Barnaby – but the couple amicably divorced in 1975 and Honor, who is now aged 94, never remarried.
Bestselling writer Jackie Collins married her first husband, Wallace Austin, at Grosvenor House in London on December 13, 1960. She wore a traditional white wedding dress and veil for the ceremony. Among the guests was her actress sister Joan. Jackie married again in 1965 to art gallery and nightclub owner Oscar Lerman and this time held the wedding at the home of Dynasty star Joan.
The wedding of Bill Treacher, who played Arthur Fowler in EastEnders and actress Katherine Kessey was held at St Leonard’s Church, Streatham on December 1, 1971. Bill, part of the original cast of EastEnders, and Katherine are still together and the bride’s twin sister, Karen, was their bridesmaid.
James Bond star Sir Sean Connery married his first wife, actress Diane Cilento, in a secret wedding in Gibraltar on December 6, 1962. The couple, who were together 11 years before divorcing in 1973, honeymooned near Marbella in southern Spain.
Two Time Lords tied the knot on December 13, 1980 when Doctor Who stars Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, who played Romana in the longrunning BBC sci-fi series, married at Chelsea Register Office in London. The marriage was dissolved two years later and the Doctor Who stars divorced.
Hollywood golden couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward had one of the strongest marriages in Tinseltown. They married in Vegas on January 29, 1958, after meeting while filming the movie The Long, Hot Summer. Joanne wore a palecoloured dress with a pleated skirt for the wedding.
The couple were together 50 years and celebrated their golden wedding anniversary just months before Paul passed away in 2008 at the age of 83.
The Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid star was once asked why he had never been tempted to stray and simply replied: “Why fool around with hamburger when you have steak at home?”