Celebrity reality check

It's at times like these you realise that celebrities aren't always blessed differently from the rest of us.  Poor Cheryl Cole has malaria which is horrible.  My father contracted malaria on a troop ship to South Africa.  I imagine today's drugs deal with it more effectively but his strain stayed in his body his whole life.  When he and my mother were first married, he had one of his random attacks and she thought he was mucking about (it has to be said he was a bit of a joker!).  She had no idea poor woman. There was her husband acting as if he was freezing to death in bed on a warm summer's day. The shakes are very disturbing.  X-Factor matters little when you're feeling like death so forget your commitments, Cheryl and just commit to getting well.

The curse of the X-Factor has hit Dannii too, whose home delivery turned into a take away as she needed to be swiftly whipped into hospital when complications arose.  Fortunately all turned out for the best and she gave birth to a baby boy.

And the remarkable Jennifer Saunders has kept her battle with breast cancer under wraps until now, nine months later, when she's been given the all clear.  Bravo!