A GLASS of champagne was prescribed by top Basingstoke cancer surgeon Professor Bill Heald and his wife Bounce after their daughter Lucy - the wife of tennis superstar Tim Henman - gave birth to a daughter.

Rose Elizabeth, the Odiham couple's first grandchild, was born just after 5am last Saturday at the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London.

Professor Heald broke off briefly from an operation in Grantham, Lincolnshire, to tell The Gazette: "I'm a very happy granddad and I have been in touch every day. We went up and annointed the baby's head."

The globe-trotting professor is currently in the Midlands, supervising the development of his total mesorectal excision bowel cancer operation, which has been taken up in the Trent health authority area.

Back at the family home, Mrs Heald said: "Tim rang us at 6am and it was a delightful way to start a Saturday. We are absolutely thrilled. We went up in the afternoon and she is a lovely little girl. We all wet her head with a little bit of champagne, as you should. Now I'm going to see if I can be a helpful granny."

Mrs Heald said the birth had gone "absolutely smoothly", adding her granddaughter would be known as Rosie.