Share your memories of Clarissa Dickson Wright
Clarissa Dickson Wright, one half of the TV cooking duo Two Fat Ladies, has died aged 66. Her co-presenter in the series, Jennifer Paterson, died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 71. After Paterson’s death Dickson Wright went on to front several programmes on her own, including ‘Clarissa and the Countryman’ (with Johnny Scott) and ‘Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner’ in 2012. She also championed British pork in an episode of the BBC’s Great British Food Revival.
But it is for Two Fat Ladies that Dickson Wright will be forever remembered. She and her co-star roared onto our screens and always seemed to be cooking enough food to feed an army in the well appointed, cavernous kitchens of the stately homes they visited – after which they’d hit the road again in their trusty motorbike and side-car.
The Two Fat Ladies’ cooking was, I think it fair to say, pretty heavy on animals fats. Butter, cream, dripping and – best of all – lard featured regularly in their dishes, as this video parodies.
Nor did either of them look kindly on vegetarians:
Dickson Wright was a passionate supporter of hunting and other country pursuits, and even went as far as advocating eating culled badgers. She turned to alcohol after her mother died and battled alcoholism, famously contracting quinine poisoning from drinking too much tonic in too many G&Ts. “The beginning of my drinking career was rather enjoyable. I was rich, good-looking and kept the pain at bay on a wave of champagne and gin,” she said. All of this she shared in her 2008 autobiography Spilling the Beans.
She is quoted as saying, “I’ve had a fantastic life and I’ve done everything I could have wanted to do and more”.
What are your memories of Clarissa Dickson Wright? And what do you think of her views? Tell us in the comments box below.