Pop star Andrew Ridgeley was nursing a broken nose at his Bushey home this week after a “play” fight with one of his best friends.

Andrew, half of the chart-topping duo Wham, was injured at a promotion party in Orpington by his friend of seven years, singer David Austin.

The two poured champagne on each other during a friendly quarrel over a girl friend, but things then became out of hand.

A member of Wham’s management team said: “David picked up an ice bucket, but instead of pouring the ice over him, he dropped the bucket on him.

“It was quite a nasty accident and Andrew has had some stitches. It is not true that he was cut from nose to ear and he is not going to be scarred for life.

“He will look lovely once the bandages come off!”

She added that the two were still close friends. They appeared together in Bushey recently when they attended the opening of an exhibition of photographs by Andrew’s father Albert Ridgeley.

[From the Watford Observer of July 6, 1984]