Paxman splits from partner of 35 years

JEREMY PAXMAN, the former

presenter, has split from his partner and the mother of his three grownup children after 35 years together.

The 66-year-old separated from Elizabeth Clough, 64, last year, his agent said. The couple might have hoped to spend more time together following his decision to step down as the host of the BBC current affairs programme after a quarter of a century.

At the time he said: “I should rather like to go to bed at much the same time as most people.”

He has recently been staying at his flat in Kensington, London, where he is understood to have been comforted by Jillian Taylor, a woman in her thirties who works in publishing.

Paxman met Ms Clough, a former BBC producer, while working on

and they later lived together in Oxfordshire. Confirming their split to the

his agent said they “retain a mutual respect for each other and a deep love for their children”. The couple have a 26-year-old daughter, Jessica, and twins Jack and Victoria, 19.

The host, who recently published his memoirs, has worked with the BBC since 1972.