One of the most amazing bits of gossip I’ve ever heard involved Bruce Forsyth being mistaken for Valéry Giscard-D’estaing by the Pope.

Ok. This has piqued interest. I have two sources for it though I’m still not sure. Here goes. Brucie was on a visit to Rome and wanted to meet the Pope (Benedict XVI at the time)

The best way the British Embassy in Rome could help was to usher him in with a group of MPs from the all party parliamentary group on the Holy See. So that’s how Brucie lined up to meet the leader of the world’s Catholics with David Amess and Stephen Pound.

When it was Brucie’s turn, he shook hands and said “And my wife”. The Pope was somewhat surprised by this because the woman he was greeting was evidently not Mrs Giscard-d’Estaing, as had been presumed, but Mrs Forsyth. That’s the story.