Dragons' Den investor Theo Paphitis has revealed that he lost his mother to the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year.

The Ryman chairman - worth an estimated £290 million - appeared on the BBC business show between 2005 and 2012, returning for a handful of episodes last year.

Speaking to the Advertising Week conference, the 61-year-old admitted that his business interests have taken a hit because of the pandemic, while also revealing that he has also suffered a major loss in his personal life.

"We weren't generally touched by Covid, apart from one pretty well serious incident where we lost my mother, and my father ended up in intensive care," he said.

"He's recovered; sadly, my mother had underlying health issues that tipped her over the edge.

"So, it was a stressful time, not being able to go to funerals, not being able to do the normal things that we all do at times like that when we need to grieve. But as a family unit here in sunny Surrey, we coped."

Paphitis's father is now recovering at home after a spell in intensive care.