Jeremy Paxman spotted with rumoured new flame after split from partner of 35 years Elizabeth Clough
The ex-Newsnight presenter is said to be holed up in bachelor pad with book researcher Jillian Taylor, thirty years his junior
Jeremy Paxman has split from the mum of his three kids after growing close to a woman half his age.
The 66-year-old University Challenge host has moved out of the family home he shared with his partner of 34 years Elizabeth Clough.
He is now living in a "bachelor pad" in Kensington, west London, and said to be spending more time with book researcher Jillian Taylor, who is in her 30s and divorced from her previous partner.
The pair have worked closely together on the ex-Newsnight presenter's history books and have known each other for more than six years.
Paxman - once dubbed the "thinking woman's crumpet" - gushes about Jillian's research skills in his 2011 book Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British.
He says in the acknowledgements section: "Jillian Taylor is the best researcher a writer could wish for – conscientious, imaginative and astonishingly industrious."
And in his 2013 book Great Britain's Great War he says she "continues to amaze" and adds: "She is probably the perfect researcher - bright, resourceful, cheerful and indefatigable."
Jillian works for publisher Penguin where she was an editorial assistant before being promoted to an editor in May 2015.
The pair have also travelled together on "research trips."
In July 2014 they stayed in the Orkney islands while Paxman researched an article on the World War I sinking of HMS Hampshire.
Paxman yesterday confirmed that he and 64-year-old Elizabeth had split and that he was no longer living at their home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
The couple have three grown up kids - daughter Jessica, 26, and 19-year-old twins Jack and Victoria - and are understood to have separated in November.
The news was confirmed in a brief statement by his agent who said: "Jeremy Paxman and his partner separated last year.
"They retain a mutual respect for each other and a deep love for their children."
He quit Newsnight in 2014 after signing a four year deal with the BBC in 2010 worth £3.2m.
latest in TV and showbiz
Asked if he was in a relationship with Jillian, she said: "No further comment."
Elizabeth had her own successful career as a producer on the BBC's faith and ethics programme The Big Questions.
But she resigned in 2011 when production moved from London to Glasgow so she could stay close to Paxman.
Privately she is thought to be devastated by the collapse of their relationship, according to , after first meeting during their work at the BBC.
Paxman was spotted in 2003 kissing actress Sinead Cusack, wife of Oscar winner Jeremy Irons, but they denied an affair.
Last year he revealed in his memoirs that he felt a "passionate hatred" for his dad after he walked out on the family when Paxman was 24.
He revealed his ill feelings in a new book, A Life In Questions, and detailed how typewriter salesman Keith left the family to move to Australia.
Paxman revealed that he eventually tracked down his father ten years later in an attempt to find out what happened.
In his book, Paxman did not go into detail about the relationship with his wife Elizabeth or their three children.
Got a story? email [email protected] or call us direct on 02077824220