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SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Scottish actor John Hannah on why he'd like to let his dementia-suffering mother die because she has 'no quality of life'

By Sebastian Shakespeare for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:30 EST, 1 October 2015 | Updated: 00:15 EST, 2 October 2015

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Scottish actor John Hannah's 84-year-old mother Susan is in a care home suffering from dementia

John Hannah is best known for his moving rendition of W. H. Auden’s poem Stop All The Clocks at the funeral of his partner Gareth, played by Simon Callow, in the hit film Four Weddings And A Funeral.

The subject of mortality is very much alive for the Scottish actor, whose toolmaker father died last year and whose 84-year-old mother Susan is in a care home suffering from dementia.

‘She really doesn’t want to be here,’ says Hannah, 53.

‘Maybe there comes a time when you are done with that natural cycle. I am hoping, by the time we get to that age, there will be an assisted exit programme.

‘My mum’s got no quality of life whatsoever. I don’t know if she knows who we are when we go in.

‘But if someone said you can let her go now, my sisters and I, we would say, yes, do that. She can’t say it now — now the dementia has developed.’

Time-travelling Matt, the Duke with an iPod

Prince Philip is surely curious to see how the handsome young actor Matt Smith will depict him in forthcoming royal drama The Crown.

The former Doctor Who star, 32, is playing a young version of Philip, now 94, in a series about the Queen and is pictured as Philip in his naval uniform, complete with insignia.

Philip joined the Royal Navy in 1939 aged 18 and, at 21, became one of the youngest first lieutenants.

However, while filming in London yesterday, Smith looked distinctly unregal as he took a break to listen to music on earphones while sporting a pair of stylish aviator sunglasses.

Actress Claire Foy, 31, plays Smith’s on-screen wife — the Queen — in the Netflix series, which airs next year.

Actor Matt Smith (left) will depict Prince Philip (pictured right in 1947) in forthcoming royal drama The Crown

Known for his TV adventures, Ben Fogle is hoping to use his four-legged friends to enter the Guinness World Records next week.

The broadcaster is organising a labrador ‘flash mob’ in London’s Holland Park on Monday. ‘We want to get as many people and their labradors as possible in one place at one time,’ he tells me.

Ben’s black labrador, Inca, died three years ago and he now has a puppy, Storm. ‘Labradors are very sociable animals,’ says Fogle.

‘I think they will have the most fantastic labrador party ever.’

Chancellor George Osborne is making the most of his free time while the Prime Minister is out of the country.

I hear that while David Cameron was busy visiting Jamaica and meeting the Iranian president to discuss Syria, avid theatre-goer George enjoyed an evening performance of Hamlet, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, at the Barbican on Monday.

Also in attendance was actor Andy Serkis, who appears in the new Star Wars film — no doubt much to the delight of self-confessed fan George.

Sandra fears she's shrinking

Sandra Howard, wife of ex-Tory leader Michael

Turning 75 does not seem to have been a happy milestone for ex-model Sandra Howard, wife of former Tory leader Michael Howard.

‘I’ve noticed changes in our marital banter,’ says Sandra, now a novelist.

‘I can’t tell you what our teases used to be about — my memory’s not what it was — but, these days, we mostly joke about forgetfulness, deafness and never listening to a word the other says.’

Glamorous Sandra, a Vogue cover girl in her heyday, adds: ‘I’m getting worried about shrinkage.

'Friends my age seem to be looking smaller and shorter. Does that apply to me, too? I try to stand up straight and walk tall.

‘How does the Queen do it? Standing really gets to me these days.

‘I spend my life looking for a chair to flop down on, or a wall to lean against, yet she’s always standing and never seems to tire — and she’s even older than me.’

Downton Abbey has made screenwriter Lord Fellowes a success. But now, he wants to be an acting star in his own right. ‘My fantasy is to be like Dickie Attenborough, who was often behind the camera, then turned up . . .in Jurassic Park,’ says Fellowes, who’s just been sculpted by royal artist Frances Segelman. ‘She asked if I wanted all my chins to be included!’

A Crossbench hereditary peers’ by-election has come up, following the retirement of Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. Candidates have been told to submit a 75-word statement, outlining why peers should vote for them. Lord Aldington, an ex-banker, cites a home in swanky Pimlico. ‘A home in SW1 permits good attendance,’ he says.