Last act in the tragedy of a pop tycoon

Bryan Morrison (pictured with wife Greta), died on Saturday after two years in a coma

As he hovered between life and death, polo-playing music impresario Bryan Morrison was unaware of the bitter rift that threatened to destroy the family he was devoted to.
It was his infidelity that ultimately triggered the conflict that was to pitch generation against generation after Morrison suffered severe brain injuries in a polo accident at his own club, the Royal Berkshire.
But in the hours before his death on Saturday morning, after more than two years in a coma, the family were reconciled.
And next weekend, following Friday's private funeral service, all are expected to gather at a musical tribute to the man who made a £90 million fortune publishing the music of Elton John, Wham! and the Bee Gees.
'Out of this tragedy there is at least something positive,' an old friend of Morrison tells me. 'Everything was pretty much resolved over Bryan's bedside.'
For Morrison's family, the world stopped when the flamboyant former manager of was thrown from his pony in July 2006.
As I revealed, on the days when his wife Greta and the couple's children Jamie, now 31, and Karina, 28, were not at his bedside, his mistress was  -  pretty Siobhan Barney, a former PR girl with whom he was having an affair.
A year later, it emerged that Morrison's elderly mother Dinah told me she had not been invited to her granddaughter Karina's wedding. The reason, I am now told, is that Dinah and Bryan's sister Jan had befriended Siobhan. Understandably this created a crisis for the family.
But as Bryan's health failed last week, and he was moved from a residential home near the family's Berkshire mansion to hospital, the family settled its differences. Three times before he had recovered from grave illness, but not this time.
Greta, Jamie and the family's much-loved housekeeper Espinela were at Morrison's side when he died at breakfast time on Saturday.
Although the club is for sale at £12 million, it is expected that Jamie will now take it over. The fabulous family home has also been on the market for £6 million.
On Saturday afternoon players at the Royal Berkshire  -  where Prince Charles is a member  -  halted chukkas to observe a two-minute silence for the colourful businessman who employed the Duchess of York's late father, Major Ron Ferguson, as manager.

Jo Wood says she has thrown in the towel on her marriage to Ronnie Wood

It's all over now
Humiliated by her husband's affair with a Russian waitress 40 years his junior, Jo Wood admits that she has thrown in the towel on their 23-year marriage.
'I just want us to be friends now,' she tells me exclusively.
Her comments came as it was revealed that Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood could face a £50 million divorce payout to his estranged wife.
But money was not on her mind as Jo spoke to me at the Berkeley Square Ball. 'We've been through too much together not to stay as friends whatever happens next,' she says.
'I'm still in touch with him and I've seen him. And despite everything I still really care for Ronnie.' As for her own future, Jo is optimistic.
'Everything is fine, and everything is going to be fine,' she says.
'The thing is, I spent so many years concentrating on Ronnie, dressing Ronnie and looking after Ronnie, that suddenly I can now concentrate on me.
So for example I have been dressing differently recently.'
She admits she has lost weight. 'Well, I've been going through a very tough time, so I guess a lot of the way I look is down to the stress.
But also I have become completely obsessed with the gym. 'I think if you feel good inside, physically, that confidence really shows, and I feel fantastic.
'I have been going as often as possible. I do find it very therapeutic and a great way to channel everything out.'

 

More...

• Ronnie Wood faces £50million divorce pay-out after he is pictured on intimate date with Russian lover, 20

Mark Thatcher takes on new role

Dragged into the fallout from the failed 'wonga' coup in Equatorial Guinea  -  something he strenuously denies being involved with  -  Sir Mark Thatcher certainly knows a thing or two about security.
Now Lady Thatcher's son is putting that expertise to good use by penning an article about bodyguards and protection for William Cash's quarterly business magazine, Spears Wealth Management Survey.

Says Cash: 'Mark is an expert on security matters like kidnap, ransom and personal protection and says that if close personal protection is not mentioned then security people can't really be serious. He is writing for our Christmas issue.'
Well, I suppose you can overdo all that seasonal jollity.
Charlie opts for Willow pattern
She was once touted as a potential bride for Prince William, but stunning Willow Corbett-Winder, 25, is now firmly off the market after tying the knot with longterm boyfriend Charlie Crossley, 30-year-old son of millionaire businessman Stuart Crossley, who recently finalised his own divorce from Susan Sangster.

Willow Corbett-Winder and Charlie Crossley at their wedding in Berriew, Wales

The young couple ravelled from St Tropez, where they run their own vineyard, for the service in Willow's home village of Berriew, in mid-Wales.
They were joined by 150 guests, who included model Poppy Delevingne and her sister Chloe with her husband Louis Buckworth, and the Duke of Marlborough's 25-year-old nephew, Alexander Spencer-Churchill  -  who arrived conspicuously date-less after his recent split from socialite Lady Louisa Compton.
An otherwise traditional service  -  followed by a reception at Willow's nearby family home, Vaynor Park, where Prince Charles is often a guest  -  included one unexpected modern touch. The bride swept up to the church in a powder blue stretch limousine.
• Melvyn Bragg's celebration of the 30th birthday of ITV's South Bank Show has upset novelist Ian McEwan. Lord Bragg claimed that before he interviewed McEwan the then novice writer was literally sick with nerves.
McEwan tells me: 'He has said that I was so nervous that I threw up beforehand. I'm afraid he is mistaken. I shall be  writing to Melvyn.'