A wedding made for the big spenders

Doubtless Joan Collins would have agreed with the words of her fellow ageing thespian Roger Moore as he arrived at the 68-year-old actress's fifth wedding at Claridge's hotel yesterday: "Every time you get married, it's a lucky time.''

The pearls of wisdom came as a host of celebrities whose fame, like Ms Collins's, might be said to have peaked, gathered to watch "Joanie'' tie the knot with a Peruvian-born theatre boss 32 years her junior.

Percy Gibson, 36,who is also half Scottish, and his bride chose not to appear before the cameras outside the ballroom of the hotel in Mayfair. Perhaps it had something to do with an exclusive pictures deal with OK! magazine worth a rumoured £375,000. Instead, about 200 onlookers had to make do with a string of guests ranging from Cilla Black and Ruby Wax to Shirley Bassey and David Furnish, partner of Elton John.