MICHAEL WINNER is in intensive care today after a serious health scare.
The former film director - now best known for his restaurant reviews - spent last night in hospital after suffering a persistent nosebleed.
An ear, nose and throat specialist struggled to stem the blood flow at Chelsea's private Lister Hospital and, amid fears of an ulcer, Winner was transferred to the nearby Cromwell Hospital.
The profuse bleeding would have been exacerbated by the blood- thinning medication the 67-year-old must take regularly after a heart bypass a decade ago.
Fifteen-stone Winner was put under 24-hour observation by cardiac doctors who feared internal bleeding.
However, the Death Wish director's girlfriend Geraldine Lynton- Edwards said: "It was nothing to do with his heart. He had a nosebleed and they just wanted to check it was nothing serious.
They thought it might be an ulcer but it's fine."
She said she hoped Winner would be able to leave the pounds 1,000a- night hospital later today.
The columnist was reported to have made his own way to hospital from his pounds 5million home in west London.
Winner has ignored medical advice and refused to rein in his excesses. He has a big appetite, likes a dram of whisky in his morning coffee and rarely exercises.
Winner's father George, a property developer and art collector, died of a heart attack in his sixties. An only child, Winner was cared for by his mother who gambled away a pounds 25 million inheritance on the roulette tables of southern France.
Winner recently said: "When people ask me what I most regret in life, my answer is, not spending enough money."
He has dated many glamorous women including actress Jenny Seagrove, who stars in BBC TV's Judge John Deed. He said of Seagrove: "She is the only one of my ex-girlfriends who doesn't talk to me.
"I am often described as a control freak."
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