dementia

ICONIC Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales left a huge £3.2million in her estate, The Sun can reveal.

The acting icon sadly died last October aged 93 following a decade-long battle with dementia.

Documents obtained by The Sun show she passed on 40 per cent of her fortune to children Samuel West and Joseph West, who she had with late actor husband Timothy West, and 20 per cent to stepdaughter Juliet.

She also made a string of donations to charities close to her heart.

Court records show the star left an estate worth £3,376,585.

It was reduced to £3,166,554 after taxes, debts and costs were deducted.

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Her will was signed in 2020 and a grant was issued by the High Court earlier this week.

In the six-page document, Scales asked her trustees to delay selling her South London home by up to a year to let grandson Clement, who lived at the property, move out.

She also revealed she and husband Timothy had gifted son Sam £300,000 to help renovate his home.

Charities to benefit from her will included the Snipe Charitable Trust, which was given £10,000, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, which got £1,000, and the Royal Horticultural Society, which also got £1,000.

Prunella had continued to travel around the world into her 90s after a glittering 70-year career in TV, film and theatre.

The actress was best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of John Cleese’s hot-headed hotelier Basil in classic Seventies sitcom Fawlty Towers.

The show ran for two seasons in 1975 and 1979 and is considered one of the best British comedies ever made.

Episodes often featured Sybil trying to calm Basil down or putting him in his place.

Cleese, 84, led tributes to his screen wife, branding her “a really wonderful comic actress”.

He added: “Scene after scene, she was absolutely perfect.”

Prunella also appeared in Coronation Street between in 1961 as bus guard Eileen Hughes.

She played Queen Victoria more than 400 times in a one-woman play, An Evening with Queen Victoria, written for her by Katrina Hendrey in 1979.

She would reprise the role of Victoria in the 2003 BBC docu-drama Victoria: An Intimate History.

In August 2024, aged 92, she reprised the role again for a voice over at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The production, Queen, saw Prunella play an 81-year-old Victoria, reading out letters in the final year of her life.

Asked in 2024 if she liked playing royals, Prunella told The Times: “I don’t.

“When you say ‘like playing queens’ there aren’t any queens that I want to play.

“But the queens I have played have all been interesting people with interesting jobs and interesting lives.”

Prunella also appeared on Great Canal Journeys, a Channel 4 series celebrating her and Timothy’s love of narrow boating.

She continued to front the show despite a 2014 dementia diagnosis.

Timothy, her husband of 61 years, said of the condition: “The sad thing is that you just watch the gradual disappearance of the person that you knew and loved and were very close to.”

Prunella was born in Surrey in 1932, the daughter of actress Catherine Scales and cotton salesman John Richardson Illingworth.

She started her career as an assistant stage manager at the Bristol Old Vic in 1951 before moving into acting.

The star was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1992 Birthday Honours List, and awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 1999.

Timothy, who died in November 2024, left the bulk of his £110,000 estate to charity, including theatre schools and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

BBC Comedy director Jon Petrie said: “She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today.”

SINGER-songwriter Linda Perhacs has gone missing – with the artist’s loved ones issuing a plea for information on her whereabouts.

The musician, 82, who struggles with dementia, was discharged from a care facility eight months ago – but has not been heard from since.

The cult songwriter’s friends and collaborators posted a plea for help on social media on Monday.

Her manager Laura Stearns said Linda had not been seen or heard from in eight months.

In December, she was released from an assisted living facility in Northridge, California, by her legal guardian.

 Stearns said: “Linda Perhacs our dear friend and legendary singer-songwriter was discharged from a residential care facility approximately eight months ago under the supervision of her legal guardian.

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“Since then, friends and longtime collaborators have been unable to reach her and repeated attempts to contact her guardian have reportedly gone unanswered. Please help us locate Linda to ensure her wellbeing.

“The intention is not to intrude upon her privacy, but simply to ensure that she is safe and to re-establish communication with someone whose artistic contributions continue to resonate across generations.”

A missing persons report for Linda was filed with the Los Angeles Police Department on June 6.

The singer’s friends and collaborators, including writer Jessica Hundley, singer Julia Holter and DubLab co-founder Mark “Frosty” McNeill, have shared pleas for information.

Her co-producer, Fernando Perdomo, said on Monday that he had been unable to reach her next of kin.

He said: “We’ve all been in touch with her since she’s been in a home for memory care, and we even performed with her two years ago for her 80th birthday party.”

Perdomo added that he wanted to speak to Linda about six weeks ago.

He explained: “So I gave her a call and found out that she had been moved out by her next of kin, and because of California law they can’t tell us where she is.

“I think he might have blocked us, which is really, really weird.”

Perhacs shot to fame decades after the 1970 release of her debut album, Parallelograms.

The record initially bombed and sold poorly, prompting Perhacs to quit the music industry and go back to her job as a dental hygienist.

However, the internet helped new fans rediscover the album in the late 1990s.

It was soon hailed as a lost folk classic and re-released several times.

Following her revived career, Perhacs returned to the studio to release her second album, The Soul of All Natural Things, in 2014, followed by her third, I’m a Harmony, in 2017.

RADIO and TV broadcaster Paul Gambaccini has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

The BBC Radio 2 and Greatest Hits Radio presenter, 77, shared a heartbreaking statement confirming he is suffering from the illness.

He said: “As Freddie Mercury once sang, you can’t turn back the clock, you can’t turn back the tide. Ain’t that a shame.

“In early 2025 I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“There’s no denying it’s a serious condition with an uncertain future, but for now life goes on as normal and I continue to broadcast The Paul Gambaccini Collection on BBC Radio 2 from 8-10pm on Sundays, and my shows on Greatest Hits Radio.

“I’m grateful for the kindness and support I’ve already received.

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“I will be as open as I can as things progress.

“For now, I wish to be given the space to keep on broadcasting the music I love to the listeners I love even more.

“These are the days of our lives.”

Alzheimer’s disease is named after the doctor who first described it in medical literature, Alois Alzheimer.

The condition affects one in six people over the age of 80 and it is thought that around 850,000 people in total are suffering in the UK alone.

A hallmark of the disease is the build-up of amyloid beta proteins in the brain, which causes plaques.

The plaques then result in the loss of connections between nerve cells in the brain – and ultimately the death of those cells and a loss of brain tissue.

Those with Alzheimer’s also have a shortage of key chemicals in the brain, which help transmit messages.

A lack of these chemicals means the brain is unable to process certain messages how it would have previously.

While there is currently no cure for the disease, some treatments can help boost these chemical messages, and ward off some of the symptoms.

But it is ultimately a progressive disease which means more symptoms appear and worsen over time.

Since his diagnosis, Gambaccini and his husband Christopher Sherwood have been receiving support from the Alzheimer’s Society.

Charity chief executive Michelle Dyson said: “Paul’s experience shows that there can be life after a dementia diagnosis – his fans will be delighted at his decision to carry on hosting his shows.”

She added: “Receiving a dementia diagnosis can be frightening, but it can also open the door to receiving treatment and support.

“We hope that by sharing his diagnosis, Paul will encourage others to spot the symptoms and reach out if they are worried about themselves or a loved one.

“The earlier someone is diagnosed, the better the chances are that they can continue doing the things they love and live independently for longer, and plan for the future.”

Known as “The Great Gambo” and “The Professor of Pop”, New York-born Gambaccini has presented regular programmes on BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4.

He was a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s long-running arts programme Kaleidoscope.

He’s also hosted the Classic FM series Paul Gambaccini’s Hall Of Heroes, the Radio 4 music quiz Counterpoint, Pick Of The Pops on BBC Radio 2, and America’s Greatest Hits on Greatest Hits Radio, as well as the Paul Gambaccini Collection on Radio 2.

Gambaccini was inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame in 2005.

The Alzheimer’s Society offers support to everyone affected by dementia at alzheimers.org.uk and has a support line on 0333 150 3456.

A dementia symptoms checklist can be found at alzheimers.org.uk/checklist.

Julie Hayden and Gail Gregory, the self-proclaimed ‘dementia rebels’, appeared on This Morning to share their experiences of living with dementia and challenge misconceptions about the condition

Two women determined to challenge the stigma surrounding dementia have shared their personal journeys living with the condition.

Julie Hayden and Gail Gregory, the self-proclaimed ‘dementia rebels,’ featured on Tuesday’s This Morning to mark Alzheimer’s Society’s Forget Me Not month.

Chatting to hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, Gail, from Lancashire, disclosed she had received her diagnosis in 2019 aged 54, and was informed at the time she only had six to seven years to live.

“I was running my own business, and we’d noticed changes with my personality,” she explained. “I had an embroidery business like teddy bears and clothing, and we put personalised messages on, and I was taking a lot of information in which I wasn’t retaining. So when people were placing orders, I was having trouble retaining information, so I was making mistakes, which we put down to stress at the beginning because we had just moved.

“As you do, you put things off, and you think it’s going to get better, but it doesn’t get better, it goes worse, and so other things start to creep in,” reports Lancs Live.

Eventually, Gail chose to consult a medical professional and described the assessments she underwent at the doctor’s that proved challenging, such as drawing a clock face, “getting the numbers muddled up,” and attempting to recall an address.

Reflecting on that moment, she said: “You realise there’s something wrong. It’s then that it’s reality, that there’s something wrong. But what, you don’t know.

“Nobody tells you it’s going to be dementia, and you don’t imagine it’s going to be dementia, especially not at the age of 54.

“This is where the perception is wrong. Everybody expects it to be an older person in their later years, what they don’t expect is that people younger than me have been diagnosed, there are even children diagnosed.

“It’s that perception we need to change, because it’s not the end of life, it’s the beginning of a new one.”

Julie also revealed how she had been suffering from “life-changing” symptoms for more than five years when she was diagnosed, but was dismissed by the doctors.

She was told she was depressed and going through menopause, and it took Julie more than five years for a diagnosis.

Julie and Gail are now both supporting other people with dementia, particularly younger people, and fighting back against the stigma of people living with the condition.

As she urged for more training and information to support doctors, Julie said, “I can’t tell you what it’s like to live with cancer and go through the treatments because I’ve never been there. Nobody can tell you what it’s like to live with dementia unless they’ve actually lived with it.”

She added, “I had huge surprises as to what it was like, compared to how I thought it was going to be like when I got my own.”

Sharing her gratitude for the support they’ve both received from friends, family and those spreading awareness, Gail read: “A diagnosis of dementia, it can change many things but it should never, ever change our worth.

“We don’t need pity, and we don’t need to be pushed aside, because we need understanding and support and the opportunity to continue to live our lives with purpose, dignity, and connection.”

She added, “When I got my diagnosis, they said to me I would have six to seven years to live. I’m in those years now, and I’m still going, and what people should be saying to us is, go outside and live your life. Do the things that you want to do because that’s what life’s about at the end of the day, it’s about living.”

She continued: “I’m very grateful for dementia, because dementia has made me calm down. It’s made me appreciate the things that we have, like nature and things like that; it’s been wonderful. We get so many opportunities that we wouldn’t even dream of having, like coming here today, it’s wonderful.”

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.

For more information, visit https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/