IF WOMEN RULED THE WORLD...

EVERY single one of us would get to look like Melanie Sykes at 50. The first thought that popped into my mind when I saw those pictures of her gallivanting around Venice with a 23-year-old gondolier called Riccardo was, blimey, Melanie Sykes is what age? She looks about 34 – and she rocks a silk kimono, as proved by this photo she posted from her hotel on the same trip.

Either way, her age didn’t bother young Riccardo – proof that, as Groucho Marx didn’t quite say, a woman is only as old as the man she feels.