I’M NOT normally interested in the marital experiences of celebrities, but have to confess to being intrigued by Sir Roger Moore’s revelations about his former wives during his TV interview with Piers Morgan last week.

The one-time Bond actor was surprisingly candid when he revealed he was both shaken and stirred by incidents in his early marriages which occasionally left him suffering physical injury.

My particular fascination was with Sir Roger’s comments about his 15-year marriage to the 50s singing star Dorothy Squires, whom he divorced in 1968 following his relationship with Italian beauty Luisa Mattioli.

It soon became apparent that Miss Squires never emotionally accepted her marriage was over, an aspect of the singer’s life that was poignantly illustrated to me in the mid-90s after being asked to write a story about her.

After losing a series of ill-advised legal battles, Miss Squires was made bankrupt in 1986 and she was left a homeless recluse, living on the charity of friends.

One of these was a fan from Ackworth, near Pontefract, who invited Miss Squires to live with her. But when the lady died her family took legal action to evict the singer.

To get her reaction to the story, I phoned the house and the call was answered by a lady with a slight Welsh lilt in her voice.

“Is that Miss Squires?” I queried.

“There’s no one of that name here,” she replied and slammed the phone down.

I consulted a musician friend of the singer, who had originally tipped us off about her plight, and he suggested I call her again, but this time address her differently.

When the woman answered, I said: “Could I speak to Mrs Moore?”

“This is Mrs Moore speaking,” she replied.

Miss Squires still slammed the phone down when I declared I was a reporter - but to me those few words spoke volumes about a life of loss and longing.