Slade star Noddy Holder is usually in a cheerful mood at this time of year as he looks forward to the annual £500,000 he receives from airplay of his band’s hit Merry Xmas Everybody.

This week, however, he has been left shocked by a vicious attack on his beloved daughter-in-law, Beth Fox.

Beth, 29, who is a stand-up comedienne, was the victim of an attempted robbery while on her way to perform in north London.

‘My daughter-in-law fought off two muggers and no one helped her,’ Noddy’s wife, Suzan, reveals.

Beth is understood to have been followed to a bus stop near Finsbury Park by two men who then grabbed her tote bag.

‘She told them to “get off” and began to tussle with them over the bag,’ Suzan tells me, adding: ‘They started mocking her and this fired her up and she started screaming and wouldn’t give up the bag. They eventually ran away.’

Suzan, a television TV Producer, 58, continues: ‘There were six other lads nearby who were just watching and did nothing. She [Beth] thought by screaming it would attract help. But what is most upsetting is that there were people at the bus stop, and nobody diverted their gaze. They could have pulled a knife out on her and no one would have saved her.

‘Beth is street-smart and has lived in London for seven years, but she’s been left shaken by what’s happened as it’s not funny when you’re a woman walking and someone puts your hand in your bag.’

Impressively, Beth went ahead with her performance at Camden’s Shtick Comedy Club that night.

Her husband, music producer Django Holder, 29, often accompanies her to gigs. ‘It’s often recommended for female comedians to go in pairs to gigs because of these kinds of incidents,’ Suzan explains. ‘My son [Django] usually chaperones her to her gigs but on this occasion couldn’t. Beth won’t stop performing because of this – she will keep gigging.’

Sting reveals the only time he was star-struck

Sting must have signed thousands of autographs for his fans over the years, but has he ever been sufficiently star-struck to ask anyone for their signature?

‘I only have one autograph,’ admits the former Police singer-songwriter, who turned 73 last month. ‘I have Frank Sinatra’s autograph. I got that maybe 25 years ago, and he wrote, “To the new Blue Eyes”.’ He adds wistfully, ‘But… I have green eyes.’ 

 Ivy snubs hungry Joan 

She’s entranced generations of men, not least all five of her husbands, and has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

But despite her decades on screen, Dame Joan Collins felt like an ingenue when she attempted to dine at The Ivy Victoria brasserie in London.

Percy Gibson, husband No5, had booked their arrival for ‘between 7.45 and 8pm’. However, showing up comfortably before 8pm, they were greeted with a look that said ‘Who the hell are you?’, complains Dame Joan, and were then told no table was available.

‘I’ve been going to the original Ivy since I was 16,’ wails the 91-year-old Dynasty star.

Trouper that she is, Joan found sustenance elsewhere.

 Oh waiter, there’s a dancer in my soup

Strictly speaking, dancing in a restaurant doesn’t count, but Nadiya Bychkova surely deserves a perfect ten from Strictly Come Dancing’s judges for her latest performance.

The Ukrainian treated guests at the tenth anniversary party of the Italian restaurant Bocconcino in Mayfair to an impromptu display of her best moves. Nadiya, 35, whose dance partner, swimmer Tom Dean, was the first celebrity to be eliminated from this year’s series, showed off her fancy footwork to music from the band Viva Lina.

‘The live music is perfect for ballroom dancing,’ she tells me.

Mind those bowls of spaghetti, Nadiya!

Gary Barlow and his £30,000 wine bottle

Take That star and wine lover Gary Barlow boasts: ‘I think the most expensive bottle of wine I own is a Pauillac. 

‘And I do believe – I’m gonna name drop, I’m afraid – the King gave it to me around the Diamond Jubilee. 

‘I organised the concert for that, so I got it sort of a couple of days later with a little telegram. I haven’t touched that. 

‘It’s actually not even in the cellar, it’s upstairs in the house.’ 

However, whether the Pauillac gifted from the monarch is a £30,000 premier cru Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, the pop singer does not disclose.

Beefy in Oz river fall. No crocs hurt

They may have been rivals on the cricket pitch, but when Ian Botham fell into crocodile-infested waters Down Under during a boating trip last week he was saved by former Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes.

Referring to the Australian film Crocodile Dundee, Lord Botham said: ‘Crocodile Beefy survived. I was out of the water quicker than I went in it. Quite a few sets of eyes were having a peep at me. Luckily I had no time to think about what was in the water.’

Botham, who was on the Moyle River near Darwin, was badly bruised after hitting the boat as he fell.

The cricket legend had been catching barramundi – or Asian sea bass – with Hughes when they climbed out of a tender into their fishing boat.

When his flip-flops got caught in a rope, he went head first into the river. ‘It was just one of those accidents,’ Beefy adds.

 Trump to visit London (sort of) 

Donald Trump is to appear in London soon – but it won’t be the real US President-elect. Instead he’s being portrayed by Dead Ringers impersonator Lewis MacLeod on stage at the Shaftesbury Theatre next month. 

‘Trump, in his first term, had a high-pitched voice which I couldn’t quite master,’ MacLeod admits at a fundraising Christmas party for the children’s cancer charity Jordan’s Retreat. 

‘But now he is going to have a more ethereal voice. And after he was shot at, his is a more evangelical and deeper, softer, older voice in time for his second term.’ 

Yasmin’s a Duran Duran gran

When Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon sings Is There Something I Should Know?, perhaps he’s thinking of his daughter, Amber.

She certainly had some news for him – the 35-year-old model is expecting her first child.

Amber posted a photo online of her bump, left, calling it a ‘big surprise’.

The father is former rugby player Ben Mercer, 37, who now creates TikTok videos.

Amber’s mother, model Yasmin Le Bon, 60, said: ‘People think “grandma”… is an ageing word, but I don’t care!’