I was so sorry this morning to read of the death of Clarissa Dickson Wright, an amazing lady of massive character and courage – a splendidly non-PC advocate of good food, good living and English country life.
I never knew her well, and I never knew her in her drinking days, but our paths crossed several times over the years. First, I suppose, when she was running Books for Cooks in Blenheim Crescent and latterly as a guest on a couple of historical food programmes she made for the BBC. Obituaries in all of the papers have charted her life and career (there is a nice one in the Telegraph here), and hopefully, her death will persuade the BBC to re-run some of the wonderful Two Fat Ladies programmes which made her a household name in the 1990s. So, this is really just to say that I am very sad that she has gone – British food has lost one of its most robust and entertaining champions.
Fortunately, however, she has left a sizeable body of books. A number of these relate to her various cookery programmes, but, of the others, and can I most thoroughly recommend two: her History of English Food which I reviewed here when in came out three years ago, and her autobiography, Spilling the Beans. Normally I loath ‘celebrity’ autobiographies but hers was such an extraordinary life and she retails it with such honesty and such humour, that I was gripped from cover to cover.
Oh I loved her so much. She was full of life and so much fun. The kind of person you warm to instantly and I think she would have been fun to have at any dinner party. Like you say, a fascinating woman. I was very sad to hear of her passing. She developed a really rare blood disorder normally only associated to malaria regions or treatment which she caught from years and years on the G&T (quinine). Such a shame and a great loss. RIP Clarissa.
Yes she was a one off. I did not agree with everything she said but what she did have to say came from a huge experience and a intellect and love of life. I enjoyed her programmes and her books and I loved that she wrote about English food heritage with such vibrant and enthusiastic tones.
I suspect one of the first things I’ll be doing when I’m next in the office is pilfering a copy of one of her books from your bookshelves – they sound as magnificent as she clearly was!
Clarissa really was “larger than life”. Her strength of character always shone through, anyone who can overcome severe alcoholism deserves praise for that alone. However her many achievements from practicing law to cooking to protecting the countryside and small local producers make her a shining star. Our paths crossed, but sadly, I never got to know her well, which will be a constant regret. Maybe in some other life, who knows?
So true, Jane.