Ready Steady Cook presenter Britton shows off new tattoo

Presenter Fern Britton said she is “enjoying a disgraceful middle age” as she showed off a new tattoo.

The 53-year-old, who became a familiar face on television during her stint on Ready Steady Cook and This Morning, described herself as “a work in progress”.

She told Woman and Home magazine she owed a lot to her second husband, chef Phil Vickery, whom she met on the cookery show. She said: “I’m enjoying a disgraceful middle age, though without Phil I would not be as I am today. He’s a chef; he’s fiery when he wants to be and in control too – he has that command. And yet he has more emotional intelligence than any other straight man I’ve met.

He’s my best friend. We found each other at a time when we were both finding life a bit difficult, and we clung to each other and we’ve made each other grow.”

The star revealed she had a butterfly tattooed on her stomach at Christmas after her 10-year-old daughter Winnie had given her a stick-on one.