He added: “She always stayed very much in the background.”

Other confidantes of Linda have reported she even said: “I never felt good enough to be Tom’s wife,” which was a truly sad admission.

For Sir Tom, however, it was a very different story, as he explained in his autobiography how he never loved anyone like her.

In the 2015 autobiography Over the Top and Back, Sir Tom revealed he first fell for Linda when they were both 12-years-old.

He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent two years in bed convalescing, but by the time he had recovered and they were 15-years-old, he had asked her out for a date.