Jennifer White was playing the sister of the emperor Caligula in the 1968 six-part ITV drama series The Caesars when she met Eddy Shah.
At the time her admirers included Des O’Connor and Charles Bronson, and Shah, a humble floor manager at Granada Television, wondered what she saw in him. Nevertheless, he saw off her famous suitors and she gave up her acting career to marry him and start a family. “She was earning a lot more money than me and I was surprised she ended up with me,” he admitted.
When Shah was sacked, the couple sold their home to raise the capital to start the Messenger newspaper group, with his wife playing a prominent role behind the scenes.
After he took on the