He was buried up to his neck in sand and surrounded by insects during a Bushtucker Trial on I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!

But Stanley Johnson now faces a more serious challenge: He is recovering after being treated for colon cancer.

‘Late last year I was having a [chest] scan and this brilliant professor, Margaret Johnson – no relation – examined everything,’ Stanley tells me from his hospital bed at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, west London.

‘She said, “There’s nothing wrong with your chest, but there’s something odd further down.”

‘My local NHS doctor, Daniel Dietch, insisted that I should follow up on the anomaly. On Friday last week, [surgeons] dealt with this obstruction, I hope to get out of the hospital this Friday.

‘I have been blessed with this stroke of luck.’

This photograph was taken by his son Boris Johnson, the former prime minister and Daily Mail columnist.

Former Tory MEP Stanley, 85, underwent a successful hemicolectomy, a procedure to remove one half of the colon. ‘The moral of the story is, scan when you can,’ he adds. ‘It was spotted early and dealt with quickly.’

The hospital stay hasn’t dampened his zest for adventure. ‘I’m off to Tibet to examine the glaciers,’ insists Stanley, who travelled to China with his son Max for his book and documentary In The Footsteps Of Marco Polo.

His elder daughter, the journalist Rachel Johnson, remarks: ‘My incredible father looks much better after a five-hour operation than most people less than half his age on holiday.’

Boris was, of course, admitted to intensive care while he was in 10 Downing Street after contracting Covid-19.

Comic Jack: New wife Roxy is a football widow 

Two months since he exchanged vows with model Roxy Horner, 34, Jack Whitehall admits their marriage has got off to a ‘rocky start’.

The comedian and die-hard Arsenal fan explains: ‘We got married and then I delayed our honeymoon to go and do a job.

‘We did the honeymoon, but when we arrived back from it I left the house to watch the Arsenal game and didn’t return for a week because I was celebrating [Arsenal’s Premier League win] drunkenly on the streets.’

The 37-year-old adds: ‘I think she thought the football was over, but now we’ve entered the World Cup and me staying up till 3 am to watch the Senegal game. So it’s been a tough start, but probably indicative of what being married to me will be like.’

Proud Jemma shows off her little Lord Alfred

Two different generations of Wellesleys were honoured by the Royal Family this week.

Yesterday, the Duke and Duchess of Wellington joined King Charles and Queen Camilla in the first carriage of the Royal Procession on the first day at Royal Ascot.

The previous day, the duke’s grandson Lord Alfred Wellesley served as a Page of Honour to Their Majesties at the Order of the Garter service and parade in Windsor.

Lord Alfred, 11, posed with his proud mother, the model-turned-make-up-artist Jemma Kidd, 51, for this photograph.

Sober and full of vim and vigour at the grand old age of 79, Ronnie Wood is still counting the cost of his druggy former rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. Remembering his Rolling Stones bandmate Charlie Watts, who died in 2021 aged 80, the guitarist discloses: ‘Charlie said to me shortly before he died, “Ronnie, you’re just as crazy now as you were when you were using.”’ Wood adds: ‘What a waste of 20 million quid.’

Gracie’s cool about gig for Harry Styles

Marcella star Anna Friel’s musician daughter Gracie is hitting all the right notes with pop superstar Harry Styles.

The 20-year-old landed a coveted spot performing at the Meltdown festival he curated in London. Gracie gave an acoustic performance alongside fellow singer Stephen Fretwell during two nights of the 11-date festival at the Southbank Centre.

Pictured backstage with her guitar, she says: ‘I feel grateful.’

Gracie, whose father is Harry Potter star David Thewlis, has said of her music: ‘I write a lot of songs with the guitar and I’m getting better the older I get.’

Forget Thelma & Louise: Here’s Jo and Ingrid! 

Jo Wood and Ingrid Tarrant, who’ve both been through hell with adulterous husbands, are driving to the South of France.

This week, Chris Tarrant’s ex and the former wife of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood boarded a car ferry at Dover in Ingrid’s vintage Bentley.

‘We go back a long way and have the same shared experiences,’ says Ingrid who received a multi-million-pound divorce settlement from TV entertainer Chris in 2007.

‘We’ve got lots to talk about – like sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. I’ve done this trip before with my daughter Fia, but we got lost and ended up in the red-light district with all the hookers asking if they could sit inside the Bentley for pictures.’

Ingrid adds: ‘It will be an adventure. We will be staying in lovely chateaux. Who knows, we might meet some nice gentlemen…’

Tom Cruise says his friend Sir David Beckham has achieved the real Mission: Impossible – making Americans love football, or ‘soccer’, as the World Cup co-hosts call it.

The former England captain signed for Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007. ‘Before David ever played a match for the Galaxy, stadiums across the league began to sell out,’ the actor says.

‘People who had never watched soccer suddenly had a reason to. When David arrived, major league soccer had 13 teams. Today, it has 30.’ Cruise adds: ‘Not just an extraordinary career, but a legacy that changed the trajectory of a sport.’ Trend it like Beckham.