The wife of George Melly has revealed the veteran jazz singer is in the early stages of dementia, explaining that the condition had made him quite impatient and obsessive, but that it hadn't stopped him from performing.
Speaking to the BBC, Diana Melly explained: "I first noticed about two years ago, that his memory was really pretty awful. He's always been, as it were, the absent minded professor, so a lot of it was not easy to spot, because he's never been able to change a light bulb or do anything that most of us could do. But his memory just got very bad". Mrs Melly gave the interview as a report was published about the number of people in the UK who now suffer from the condition - which could exceed 1.7 million by 2051.
As previously reported, Melly caused health fears last month when he collapsed while performing at a gig in Hove, but Diana told reporters next day that it was a temporary health problem and that he had quickly recovered from it.