GOODBYE MY LOVELY LYNDA

ON SATURDAY, in his first interview since her death, Lynda Bellingham’s husband Michael spoke movingly to the Mail of the astonishing courage with which she faced terminal bowel cancer. Here, he recalls the start of their love affair — and the strains it

ACTRESS Lynda Bellingham was far from impressed the day she first set eyes on Michael Pattemore — or ‘Mr Spain’ as she liked to call the man who would become her third husband. Watching him roar up in his ‘hairdresser’s car’ — a bright red BMW Z3 — she turned to her best friend and said: ‘There’s a Jack the Lad if ever you saw one.’ Lynda was in Spain with her friend who was buying an apartment, and they turned up at the door of Michael’s estate agency ten years ago looking for help with the mortgage.

Leaping out to greet them, Michael knew Lynda only as ‘the Oxo bird’, but as they chatted over a glass of Rioja afterwards, ‘something clicked’.

‘It only seems like yesterday,’ says Michael. ‘Lynda was warm, funny and intelligent. I think I fell for her there and then. The truth is she was everything a man could want in a woman.’

Michael, 59, buried his beloved wife Lynda on November 3, ten years to the day they met. They were the happiest years of his life. Lynda’s death last month from bowel cancer, he says, has left an unbearable chasm in his life.

Property developer Michael was a constant presence by her side as she undertook her final TV interviews and public appearances to say goodbye to her fans and thank them for their overwhelming outpouring of love.

Lynda died on October 19 in Michael’s arms, hearing him tell her he loved her a million times over. Today, not only is he bereft but he still marvels that their relationship ever happened in the first place.

‘Lynda could have had any man she wanted, but for some reason she chose me,’ he says. ‘In ten years, we never had a single argument, not one cross word. I felt like the luckiest man in the world.’

Neither was looking for love when they met. Michael, a divorced former nightclub owner, was living the life of Riley in Spain after his first 25-year marriage — from which he has two adult children — ended.

Twice-married Lynda had been a single mother for 12 years. Her 1975 marriage to film producer Greg Smith had lasted just one year — unconsummated — and her second, to Italian waiter Nunzio Peluso — the father of

‘She could have had any man, but she chose me’

her two sons — had been scarred by violence and domestic abuse.

Lynda had been so unlucky in love that she’d given up on that front and was happy to devote herself to her sons. She’d resigned herself to growing old alone — but meeting Michael on her trip to Spain changed everything.

‘Before she flew back to Britain, Lynda said: “If you’re ever in North London, give me a call and I’ll cook you a meal.” But I thought she was just being polite and that I’d never see her again.

‘Then, one night, I was sitting in my villa reading a book and I thought I’d send her a text message, asking: “How are you doing?” She replied immediately, saying: “I’m in a car park in Watford waiting to film a scene. I’m supposed to be making love in the back of a car with someone.”

‘I replied: “Great, go for it.” And she texted back: “But he’s ugly.”

‘She made me laugh, and every now and then I’d call her or text. We became great friends.’

That December, Michael flew back to Britain and was on his way to visit his daughter Stacey in Windsor when Lynda called. She immediately invited them both round for dinner. They arrived to see a smiling Lynda at the door and also on her TV set — appearing in the penultimate episode of the police soap The Bill.

‘It was surreal. Lynda put a glass of wine in our hands and said: “Sorry, I’ve just got to watch this.” Suddenly, there were two Lyndas in the room. We had a wonderful evening and that was it. We ended up kissing and I fell head over heels.’

To begin with Lynda, one of Britain’s best-loved and most recognisable actresses, wanted to keep Michael secret. She didn’t want her sons to meet him until she was sure it was serious nor did she want the fledgling romance to be the subject of gossip.

‘One weekend my plane was late and Lynda was having dinner with friends, so I went to meet them,’ he says. ‘The minute she saw me, she ran over, threw her arms around me and gave me the biggest kiss. I said: “Lynda, no one is supposed to know about me.” And she said: “I don’t care any more, I want us to go public.” So we did.’

The news was greeted with alarm by Lynda’s protective friends, who gave Michael the third degree over his intentions. And who could blame them?

He had been jailed for 21 months in 1998 after becoming caught up in a Ponzi scheme, luring unsuspecting investors into a financial scam.

Michael insists he was innocent and an unwitting pawn, but he pleaded guilty to avoid his then wife being threatened with charges.

‘From the start, I was honest with Lynda and told her about my past. On our third date, I said: “I’ve got something I need to tell you.” I told her everything, then I walked to the door and said: “I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to see me again.”

‘She was famous and I didn’t want my past to embarrass her, but she

‘I hear you’ve been a naughty boy,’ said Biggins

said: “Come here, you fool, and give me a kiss,” ’ says Michael.

‘The first time I met Lynda’s friend Christopher Biggins over dinner, he asked me: “How much do you earn? Do you have a property? Oh, and I hear you’ve been a naughty boy.”

‘I replied: “I probably earn more money than you, I have a lovely villa in Spain and yes, I’ve been a naughty boy, but that’s another story.”

‘Everyone doubted me to begin with, but I proved them wrong, and over the years they accepted me when they could see how happy Lynda was. I adored her and would never have done anything to hurt her.

‘I’m sure they thought I was after Lynda for her money or fame, but nothing could have been further from the truth. If anything, her career was going through a rough patch when we met and I would have been more than