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She said it was organised for her to see Dr Ann Coxon of Harley Street, London, for a "company medical", which was sold to her as a perk of working in the chairman's office.

They pursued private treatment with Prof James Malone-Lee - an expert in chronic UTIs - and other consultants at the Harley Street Clinic in London on the advice of other sufferers.

But this wasn't an option, despite the company website saying its "main clinic" was located on Harley Street, central London's prestigious medical neighbourhood.

"I had just come from my scan in a private clinic near Harley Street," he said.

It’s typical of this diary that when Rickman learned he had the aggressive form of cancer that would kill him, he simply wrote: “Dr. Landau, Harley Street. A different kind of diary now.”