POOR old Brucie! I’m referring, of course, to Sir Bruce Forsyth - the veteran entertainer and Strictly Come Dancing host.

He’s not actually poor, but at 85 he can certainly be described as old.

Mind you, he carries his years very well and I can understand why he has been stung by the recent criticism of his sometimes less than perfect interaction with the autocue.

But Brucie has really got nothing to be concerned about.

My advice would be to swat aside his critics as one might swat aside a fly.

After 70 years a performer, he’s assured his place in entertainment history.

He’s also got pots of dosh, lives next to a golf course and has been knighted by the Queen.

Oh, and we shouldn’t forget he has a beautiful, younger wife.

Beautiful, younger wives are often very enticing to older richer men.

Plighting one’s troth with such a dish can make the older man feel younger - the problem is it can also make a richer man somewhat poorer.

Of course, people will always pre-judge motives in these cases.

One of the best comedy interviews of recent years was when Caroline Aherne’s Mrs Merton interviewed magician’s wife Debbie McGee, opening with the question: “So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”

I’m sure, however, that Miss McGee married for love, not money. Perhaps she was one of those woman who believe young men take too long to mature; in which case it’s understandable if they get fed up of waiting and choose instead to go for a husband who has already ripened.

These situations are never straightforward, of course. Take the rich 65-year-old man contemplating proposing to a 23-year-old.

“Do you think she’d marry me if I tell her I’m 45?” he asked a friend.

“Your chances would be better,” said the friend, “if you tell her you’re 90.”