Connery's ex-wife sparks airport alert

The buzzing electric toothbrush of the former wife of James Bond star Sean Connery sparked a security alert at an Australian airport today.

Diane Cilento, who was married to Connery from 1962-1973, told national news agency Australian Associated Press that she was on a Virgin Blue plane due to leave the eastern city of Brisbane for the northern city of Cairns at midday Sunday when she was asked to return to the terminal.

“I was called off the plane and they had my bag there and they knew my name and they wouldn’t go near it because there was a terrible noise coming from it,” she said. ”They made me open it and it was my (electric) toothbrush.”

She told AAP none of the security staff wanted to go near her bag.

“There was a moment there when … I don’t know, maybe they thought there was a bomb or something,” she said

Cilento said after identifying the source of the noise and turning off the toothbrush, she and her bag were allowed back on the plane, which took off late for Cairns.