Dame Judi Dench has revealed she can no longer leave her house alone due to her deteriorating eyesight.

The 90-year-old actress has macular degeneration, a condition which leads to a gradual loss of vision.

In a new interview on Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast, Dame Judi says “somebody will always be with me” when she leaves the house.

“I have to [have someone] now because I can’t see,” she continues. “And I will walk into something or fall over.”

Reflecting on how she used to feel about attending events alone, Dame Judi said she was “no good at that at all”.

“And fortunately, I don’t have to be [alone] now because I pretend now to have no eyesight,” she laughs.

In July 2023, Dame Judi said she was determined to work “as much as I can” despite her health issues.

“I mean, I can’t see on a film set anymore,” she told The Mirror’s Notebook magazine. “And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But, you know, you just deal with it. Get on.”

Dame Judi’s acting career began in the 1950s when she made her stage debut in a production of Hamlet at London’s Old Vic theatre.

In the decades since, she’s conquered the worlds of TV and film, winning an Oscar for her role in the 1998 movie Shakespeare In Love and, more recently, playing the head of MI6, M, alongside Daniel Craig’s James Bond.

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Dame Judi has also cemented herself as one of the UK’s best stage actresses, winning a string of Olivier awards for starring roles in plays including The Winter’s Tale and Macbeth.

Her most recent screen credit was in 2022, for a small role in Christmas film Spirited. She has continued to make public appearances and last October, she was a speaker at the Cheltenham Literary Festival.

From the sampled vocals of Mel & Kim to the instantly memorable lyrics of Rick Astley’s biggest hits, Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s songs ruled the UK charts in the late 1980s.

With a blue plaque being installed on the side of the Bermondsey building that housed their “hit factory”, the trio spoke to Sky News about spotting Kylie’s “spark” and claiming they “invented” AI.

At their peak in 1989, Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman songs made up a whopping 27% of the UK singles market.

It remains one of the most successful partnerships in the history of pop.

Waterman admits feeling “knocked out” by the 40 or so crowd that came to watch them receive the honour – including 1980s artists Brother Beyond, former staff who worked on their records, and fans.

“These are some of the kids that every day used to be here after school wanting autographs. Of course, they’re all grown up now!” laughs Waterman.

The partnership produced countless hits for some of the biggest stars at the time.

“We had a method of working, we tried to taper the songs to how we thought the public would perceive the artist and we were quite successful in that regard,” says Matt Aitken.

Waterman adds: “If it didn’t work, we didn’t bother.”

In 1988, their success went into overdrive thanks to a collaboration with a young Australian soap actress called Kylie Minogue who they hadn’t even heard of at the time.

“When she arrived at the studio we were unaware that she was even turning up,” Mike Stock explains. “So we had to come up with a song pretty quick.”

They wrote her 1987 debut hit I Should Be So Lucky in just 20 minutes.

“She was a great deliverer of a song,” Aitken says.

“When she was sat in a corner you wouldn’t know she was there but the minute a camera went on… she sparked,” adds Pete Waterman.

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Back in the day most of their hits were recorded on a simple 24-track tape machine but now, with advances in AI software, songs can be produced in an instant.

So how do the trio feel about artificial intelligence being the new “hit factory”?

“AI? We invented it!” jokes Waterman.

“You’ve got to incorporate influences from the past but… the difference between AI and what we did [is] we had emotion,” he says.

“We fought over songs if a lyric didn’t work. It doesn’t work without emotion.”

Sting has cancelled an awards ceremony performance and several shows at short notice this week, on the advice of his doctor.

An announcement on the British singer’s Instagram page said the decision had been made “due to illness” but did not include any more details.

Sting, 73, was due to perform at the Bass Magazine Awards in California, where he is set to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award, on Thursday.

He has also postponed shows in Phoenix, Arizona, and Wheatland, California, as well as a performance at a record label’s anniversary concert, which were all due to take place later this week.

“On advisement from his doctor, due to illness, it is with sincere regret that Sting must cancel his appearance at the Bass Magazine Awards this Thursday and postpone his STING 3.0 concerts,” the statement said.

The Phoenix show, originally scheduled for 24 January, has been moved to 1 June, while the 26 January Wheatland show has been pushed back to 28 May.

“Fans should retain their tickets for the postponed shows, as they will be honoured on the new dates,” the statement said.

“Sting sincerely apologises for any inconvenience and extends his gratitude to the fans for their understanding.”

The Cherrytree Music Company’s 20th anniversary event, also set to feature Shaggy and other artists, will now take place on 29 May.

Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, rose to fame as frontman of The Police in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with hits including Roxanne, Message In A Bottle, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, and Every Breath You Take.

His success continued as a solo artist, with three number one albums in the UK chart and three top 10 singles – All For Love (with Bryan Adams and Sir Rod Stewart), When We Dance, and Rise And Fall (with Craig David) – as well as other hits including Englishman In New York, and If I Ever Lose My Faith In You.

In 2022, he became the latest in a list of high-profile artists, including Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, who have sold their music rights, announcing that his back catalogue of solo material and songs he wrote for The Police had been acquired by Universal Music Publishing Group.