Stars bid a fond farewell to Lynda Bellingham in service she planned herself

Celebrity friends and family of the late Lynda Bellingham said a fond farewell to her today - in a service she planned herself before she died.

Bellingham, best known as the Oxo mum, chose St Stephen's Church in central London as the venue as it is where she married her husband Michael Pattemore.

Much of the service was filled with laughter as Bellingham was remembered as a "thoughtful, maternal, generous, fabulous woman", who was also a "natural clown."

But there were tears when her husband told the 300-strong congregation: "It breaks my heart that the one thing I could not protect her from was this disease called cancer."

Actors Christopher Biggins, Lesley Joseph, Amanda Redman, Patricia Hodge, Sylvia Syms and novelist Lynda La Plante were among those who attended.

To warm applause Gyles Brandreth told the congregation "love, laughter and friendship, those are the gifts Lynda gave us. Haven't we been blessed?"

He jokingly described the bubbly actress as "so sexy that even gay men fancied her, and she fancied them too".

He added: "She fancied Biggins - I think that is why Michael has come in one of Biggins's cast-offs.

"She showed us how to live and then how to die with such grace and kindness."

Biggins said that the laughter is the thing that he would always remember about her.

He said: "She would have loved this full house and would have loved the laughter we have had. God bless you Lynda. We love you."

Bellingham had colon cancer which later spread to her lungs and liver and died aged 66 in the arms of her husband at a London hospital.

In her last few weeks, she spoke openly about her illness and its effect on her family.

Her book - There's Something I've Been Dying to Tell You - discussed her illness in detail and spent weeks at the top of the best-seller lists.

Peter Delaney, who conducted the service which was joking dubbed as the second meeting of the Lynda Bellingham Appreciation Society after her funeral, noted that she had handpicked the details of how the event was to play out.

He joked: "The contents of this service are Lynda's wishes because she planned her farewells. She was not a control freak but she liked to know what was going on."