SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: £20million Nigella had to take out a mortgage to buy a house in order to 'start again' after divorce

With pictures published around the world of her then husband, Charles Saatchi, with his hand round her throat outside a Mayfair restaurant, Nigella Lawson could have collected a fortune when she divorced the moody multi-millionaire art collector in 2013.

But Domestic Goddess Nigella chose to walk away with nothing of his, and she now appears to be counting the cost, despite being worth an estimated £20 million herself. The author and TV presenter, who accused Saatchi of acts of ‘intimate terrorism’ during their ten-year marriage, has said she was forced to borrow money from the bank in order to buy herself a new home.

‘I have very large overheads because, obviously, I had to start again,’ says Nigella, 56, right. ‘I have a mortgage. I want to pay [it] off and be solvent.’

Nigella Lawson could have collected a fortune when she divorced the moody multi-millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi (right) in 2013 but chose to walk away with nothing of his

You might think she would be able to receive some useful financial advice from her father, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson.

Sadly, the Tory peer admitted two years ago that his situation was so precarious that he feared he’d be unable to leave anything in his will.

‘I just hope that my money will last through the rest of my life,’ said Lord Lawson, 83. ‘I don’t think I’m going to be able to leave anything to my children.’

Nigel, who has five surviving children, contrasted his fortunes with those of his parents. ‘My father was a tea merchant in the City of London,’ he said. ‘He owned his own business. My mother was the daughter of a wealthy stockbroker who provided her with an allowance, even after she was married.’ Nigel said he sold his only British home, in London’s Kensington, in 1974 for a low six-figure sum.

The author and TV presenter, who accused Saatchi of acts of ‘intimate terrorism’ during their ten-year marriage, has said she was forced to borrow money from the bank in order to buy herself a new home

‘It’s probably worth an absolute fortune today,’ he said of the property, which would fetch at least £10 million on the current market. He now owns a house in France, which ‘has probably kept up with inflation but not increased in value in real terms since I moved in. It is probably worth not far short of a million euros (£758,000)’.

Nigella admits: ‘I haven’t got any business savvy whatsoever, I’m afraid to say.’

Labour MP John Mann discloses in the The House magazine that as a member of the Treasury Select Committee he recently visited the Bank of England’s gold vaults and was allowed to handle some of the £116 billion of gold they keep there.

‘The bars were surprisingly heavy,’ he says. Er, what did he expect? It’s gold.

Mann is so often rude to Bank top bods that it is actually rather surprising they did not lock him in the vaults and leave him there for the weekend.  

Nuclear Wintour cancels crimpers

American Vogue editor Anna Wintour’s frosty demeanour has earned her the nickname ‘Nuclear Wintour’, as a Yorkshire salon found out on Friday.

After I disclosed last week that York’s Bang Hair had been asked to spruce up the 66-year-old’s infamous bob during her visit to a York university fashion show, Wintour inexplicably cancelled her appointment.

Georgia May Jagger have scored her jobs with fashion houses Mulberry and Chanel

She did, however, deign to stop by the salon on her way to the show to say hello.

‘We were delighted to meet Anna,’ salon owner Jon Cotton tells me. ‘We didn’t do her hair.’

Her arresting looks have helped Georgia May Jagger score modelling jobs for brands including Mulberry and Chanel. But the 24-year-old daughter of Sir Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall has clearly decided her plump lips and sharp cheekbones are not eye-catching enough, so she has posted a selfie sporting four eyebrows. Why settle for two when you can have four?   

Children’s author Lady Georgia Byng lives a most bohemian life. After divorcing sculptor Marc Quinn — who also enjoyed the affections of a mistress — Lady Georgia, 50, is now courting Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt.

Guy, 54, was thought to be happily married to Gala Wright, daughter of late Floyd founder Rick Wright.

‘Georgia’s my girlfriend,’ Guy tells me. ‘We first met 30 years ago, and even then I thought she was amazing, but we completely lost touch and I didn’t see her for some 23 years.

‘We re-met in Ibiza, while she was still with Marc and I was with Gala.

‘We properly reconnected at Bella Freud’s Hoping Foundation ball.’

Georgia, daughter of the Earl of Strafford, tells me: ‘It was like God was watching us and waiting for the right moment.

‘Now we’re together again we’re very happy.’

Children’s author Lady Georgia Byng lives a most bohemian life. After divorcing sculptor Marc Quinn — who also enjoyed the affections of a mistress — Lady Georgia, 50, is now courting Pink Floyd bassist Guy Pratt