Well matched: Sir Clive Sinclair and his wife Angie, who had a quick wedding in Las Vegas. They insist they are deeply in love despite the 36-year age gap
Are you sure you want to do this? That was the question the passer-by asked as she suspiciously surveyed the tall, leggy, young blonde bride who'd literally dragged her off the street to witness her spur-of-the-moment, Las Vegas wedding.
This question was swiftly followed by 'you do know marriage is for life?' as the reluctant witness then spotted the balding, bespectacled, grinning groom - clearly old enough to be the bride's father - anxiously awaiting them inside the Civic Court.
Mistaking the couple for tourists marrying on a whim - a rich old fool bedazzled by a young woman with dollar signs in her eyes - the witness clearly had her doubts about whether this marriage should go ahead, let alone last.
But as the bride insisted 'we want to do this' and 'we've known each other for 14 years!' the witness, an American woman in her 30s who'd just happened to be walking past, relented.
As she witnessed the five-minute ceremony (from which an Elvis impersonator was thankfully absent), little did she know that this was an event glossy celebrity magazines would have happily opened their cheque books to cover.
For it was on Friday, April 16, that Sir Clive Sinclair, 69-year-old computer tycoon - former chairman of Mensa, inventor of the world's first pocket calculator and the C5 electric car - married 33-year- old Angie Bowness, a former beauty queen, model and lap dancer.
Eligible: Angie has dated Robbie Williams (left) and Prince Albert of Monaco
Inventor: Sir Clive Sinclair, with his A-Bike invention, is a former chairman of Mensa
Unable to find a suitable wedding gown in Vegas, Angie wore a 'cute' blue summer dress by Alexander Wang, which she'd packed.
Today, both of them insist their wedding was all the better for being unplanned and simple.
Sir Clive says: 'We were on the flight to Las Vegas when I noticed the couple sitting across the aisle from us had a free bottle of champagne, so I said to Angie "How did they get that?"
Angie replied: "Perhaps they've just got married", so I said "I suppose we'd better get married then". We'd been engaged for a year, but hadn't made any firm plans.'
Angie's response was 'let me sleep on it', followed quickly by 'yes, let's do it'.
'It's really not me to have the big white wedding,' she says. 'We could have gone down that route, but I don't like a lot of fuss. This way was actually much better.'
Apart from a quick phone call to Angie's 12-year-old son Marcus - from a former relationship - to ask his permission to get married (to which he replied 'of course') not another soul knew, including Sir Clive's three adult children from his first marriage.
No doubt, they will be thrilled - if they can set aside the fact that they're all older than their new stepmother.
'The wedding was lovely, really quite emotional,' says Angie. 'We were both teary. I can't believe I'm now a married woman. But the most important thing is that we both love each other.'
Being Lady Sinclair must feel even nicer, although Angie is rather used to titles.
She's been 'Miss Nottingham', 'Miss Sheffield' and 'Miss England' in the past and, aged seven, she was 'The Face Of Tammy Girl'. But this new title commands a bit more respect.
Meeting Sir Clive and the new Lady Sinclair for the first time since their spur- of-the-moment nuptials, one can't help but echo the question the witness asked before their wedding: 'Are you sure about this?'
Because there is no doubting that they make the unlikeliest of couples. He sits at the table in their flat overlooking Trafalgar Square, wearing an immaculate suit and shirt, while Lady Sinclair's thong peeks out cheekily from the low slung waistband of her spray-on black jeans.
It's clear what he sees in her, but can she really, truly fancy him?
'Of course I do!' she says with such utter conviction that even I start to look at Sir Clive with fresh eyes.
And yes, they both nod enthusiastically, their relationship is more than just a meeting of minds.
That said, they do admit that on the night of their Vegas wedding they were so tired and jet-lagged they were virtually falling asleep during dinner and were out for the count by 9pm.
'It's really weird because we don't even think about the age difference between us. When people mention it, I think "oh yes". It doesn't matter to us at all,' says Angie, who met Sir Clive 14 years ago, aged 19, when they were both invited to a dinner function at Stringfellow's nightclub.
Sir Clive, an old friend of Peter Stringfellow, was guest of honour, while Angie, a lap dancer at the club, was invited along with two of Peter's other 'favourite girls'.
Some people might question what a respected scientist, inventor and knight of the realm was doing having dinner with lap dancers, but he was smitten and took Angie out on a few dates. They have been friends ever since and in recent years their relationship became more serious.
'Clive never had a table dance, hates that kind of thing and I've never danced for him,' says Angie.
Sir Clive says: 'Oh dear me no, it was a function and Peter is a very good host. I was very struck by Angie at the dinner - who wouldn't be?
'I thought she was a lovely young woman,' he adds, sounding like her grandfather. 'I never dreamed she would marry me.'
Almost as disconcerting was Angie's attraction to him, given that she had a score of young admirers chasing her.
And let's just say that Angie had plenty of opportunity to choose from a massive pool of younger male admirers before she realised that Sir Clive really was 'The One'.
'I've had plenty of offers of marriage from younger men, but only Clive has been able to offer the qualities important to me, if you are going to marry someone,' she says.
'So many young men have problems. I don't drink, smoke, do drugs or go partying, it's just not my thing. I want someone who knows me and who I know. Friendship is very important to me, I want someone I can rely on.'
But would she still love him, or have married him, if he was a car mechanic or supermarket shelf stacker? 'Let me just turn that around,' she says, quick as a flash. 'If I were 25 stone would he still be interested in me? No. It's how the world works, isn't it?
'I wouldn't be with someone just because he was a Sir, but I wouldn't hang around with someone if he didn't have something special. Clive's kind, a gentleman and he loves me.'
Sir Clive, whose weakness for attractive young women has in the past turned him into red-top tabloid fodder, doesn't really care what people think of him, nor does he think it detracts from his reputation as an innovative inventor.
What is it about younger women that I like?' he asks. 'That's a bit like asking a bank robber why he robs banks. That's where the money is.
'Why do I like young women ... because they are pretty. It's as simple as that. I've dated other women, oh yes, but none of them have been as nice as Angie.
'I've loved Angie for years. She's beautiful, of course, but she also has a lovely personality. She's very easy to be with. It doesn't even cross my mind that she might find another man attractive or be tempted elsewhere.'
No, Angie is through with younger men and as she reels off a list of famous men she's dated - it's quite some roll call - she insists Sir Clive beats them all hands down.
Her first celebrity boyfriend, aged 17, was snooker star Ronnie O'Sullivan, whom she met after shooting a calendar for the World Snooker organisation at the Dorchester hotel.
'He was 18 and kept trying to press his number in my hand as I left,' says Angie. 'We had a few dates. It was a disaster to be honest. Why? Drugs.'
In 1999, she had a few dates with Prince Albert of Monaco, whom she met on a modelling assignment, and in 2004 she dated pop star Robbie Williams - having met him at a birthday party held by Little Britain star Matt Lucas.
Did she fall for Robbie? 'No.' Why? 'Best not to say ... he wasn't taking drugs at that point, but there were problems.' Intriguing.
Angie was also the last girl to date TV presenter Vernon Kay before he met and married Tess Daly. Their relationship lasted six months.
Was she surprised by the 'sexting scandal' which engulfed father-of-two Vernon after he was caught sending racy messages to a glamour model behind his wife's back? No, she says.
But can Angie really trust Sir Clive, whose own roll call of glamorous dates is equally impressive?Following his divorce in 1985 from his wife of 23 years, Ann, he developed an eye for the ladies, dating actress Sally Farmiloe, Ruth Kensit - the 21-year-old cousin of Patsy Kensit - actress Tricia Walsh and the doyenne of plastic surgery, Cindy Jackson.
'I wouldn't have married him if I thought he'd be attracted to someone else,' she says. 'I was very young when I first met Clive, marriage didn't even enter my head.'
Clive, she says, was a good friend to her after the birth of her son, when her relationship with Marcus's father, Mark Thornton, collapsed. Today, Sir Clive and Marcus clearly adore each other.
He says: 'I've known Marcus since he was tiny and he is an enchanting child. We are incredibly fond of each other. That was another reason why I wanted to marry Angie. We wanted Marcus to feel secure, to feel that he would always have someone to turn to. Of course, he has his own father, but he now has a stepfather, too.'
Marcus goes to grammar school in Lincolnshire, where Angie owns her own property.
She divides her time between London and the countryside and her mother, Shirley, looks after Marcus when she is working.
These days, intriguingly, Angie runs Sir Clive's company, while he busies himself with the inventions and product development side.
He is currently refining his revolutionary folding A-bike and expects to produce a prototype of a successor to the much maligned C5 electric three-wheeler later this year.
They both say they are extremely hurt by the false assumption that Angie is some kind of gold-digger.
Sir Clive says she is a talented businesswoman, with two properties of her own, who has done 'fantastically well' since she took over the running of his company.
To give her some credit, Angie is a bright, privately-educated girl who planned to study business and languages at university before winning Miss Nottingham at 17 and developing ambitions to become a model.
When she was 18 years old, Angie took the Miss England title, but was disappointed to be runner-up in the Miss United Kingdom contest.
She then worked for the Miss Universe Corporation, organising the Miss London and Miss Nottinghamshire contests.
'People always go on about how I was a lap dancer, but it was something that I did for three months in my life 14 years ago,' says Angie.
'I didn't particularly enjoy it, I found it quite hard, but I'm not ashamed of it. In those days it was topless, not nude dancing. No one could touch you.
'I'd come from Nottingham with �1,000 in my pocket, a one-way ticket and all these dreamy ideas.
'I didn't realise how expensive it was living in London. In the modelling-world you do a job and don't get paid for four months and I had rent to pay,' she says.
Today, running a renowned firm, with a title to boot - all that must seem a world away.
Now they are married, will there be more children? Both say no. They are too busy and like their lives the way they are.
Besides, they have Marcus and Sir Clive has his three children, Belinda, 45, an art historian, Crispin, 42, a property developer and Barto, 39, an inventor, plus three grandchildren aged 23, 20, and 15.
One dreads to think what Sir Clive's adult children make of their young stepmother. Might they now be worried about their inheritance?
'When Ann and I divorced, I gave her all my money as I didn't want any unpleasantness,' he says.
'My divorce lawyer was very cross with me, because it was the largest settlement he'd ever seen, but I wanted her to have the money and we remained good friends until he rdeath in 2003,' says Sir Clive.
'When Ann died, that money was divided among the three children so they have been well provided for. I am very close to my children, but they don't know Angie very well.
'When we returned from Las Vegas, I phoned my daughter, but she wasn't in, so I left a message. Crispin is living and working in Shanghai at the moment so I couldn't speak to him. I am sure they will all be pleased for me.'
The words seem to hang in the air between us.
But for all this unlikely couple's happiness, the fact remains that he is 36 years her senior. In ten years' time he will be 79 and she will only be 43. By then, she might be less of a wife than a carer.
Angie says: 'He's as fit as a fiddle. He's fitter than many 21-year-olds I know. He is up and running at 8am every morning. I don't worry about the future, because the future might not come. I live for the day.'
Sir Clive adds, smiling: 'My mother's uncle got married when he was 92 and lived to be over 100.
'I don't have any health problems and I would be very surprised if I didn't live to be 110.'
