Beckinsale dreamed of being a big sister

Kate Beckinsale has revealed that she dreamed of being a big sister until her father died when she was aged just five.

The actress said that her parents were planning to have another child when her dad, actor Richard Beckinsale, suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 31.

The Nothing But The Truth star explained to Hollywood Life: "I used to pester my mother for another baby when my father was still alive. She ended up having an eight-hour operation to unblock her tubes and things like that.

"The operation was a success, but my father died while she was having it, so it was really ironic, terrible timing."

The mother-of-one was recently named among the ten 'most desirable' women in the world in an online survey carried out by Askmen.