STUNNED bride Andrea Wylie must have felt she'd just wed a man in a million when her new husband surprised her by having Ronan Keating turn up at their wedding reception in Northumberland to sing his hit song from the film Notting Hill, which the couple saw on their first date.

As romantic gestures go, that takes some beating. Multi-millionaire Graham Wylie also arranged for live opera, an 11-piece orchestra and the Drifters to perform at his and Andrea's spectacular nuptials at Slaley Hall.

I am sure Andrea and Graham love each other very much and I hope they will both be very happy. But those of us who had to make do with a disco and a buffet can take heart.

Because there was an even more romantic story in the papers this week, reminding us all that, as the old adage goes, money can't buy you love. It's much more valuable than that.

A young couple with small children, struggling to get by, turned down $1m from a rich businessman who had become infatuated with the wife and offered to "free" the husband to a life of bachelorhood, in the South of France if he wanted.

The pair decided they were quite happy as they were and could do without $1m thank you very much.

Call me an old cynic but I couldn't help wondering why the London businessman had offered his inducement in US dollars, since this is not common currency in England. Why not £600,000, or £1m? I suspect he is not only flash but a bit of a skinflint.

If the wife had taken up his offer I'm sure she would have been condemned to a life of misery. As it is, she knows her husband thinks she's worth more than $1m and they can enjoy the even greater riches of a happy marriage. Meanwhile, I suspect the affluent businessman's wife, who knew nothing about the deal, will now take him for all he's worth. Either that or they can remain wretched and wealthy together.

JOCKEY Bob Champion has demanded a DNA test to determine the paternity of the son he has raised for 19 years before agreeing to pay for his university education. How could anybody love, nurture and raise a child from newborn to 19 years and then prepare to disown them because he suspects he is not the natural parent? Champion is the only father Michael has ever known. But I wouldn't blame him if, after this, he is hoping the test proves negative. Who would want someone so mean and heartless for a dad?

CHANNEL 4 says it will only feature youthful contestants in the next series of Big Brother because older people are unattractive to viewers. I suspect they are being pressurised by advertisers, not viewers, as most young people have better things to do than sit in watching TV every night. We sad, "unattractive" older people, condemned to the sofa most evenings by the ties of children and lack of energy are quite happy watching entertaining characters like Antony Worrall Thompson and Toyah bounding across our screens. It makes us feel better about ourselves. And beautiful young things can be so boring.