Following the news of Clarissa Dickson Wright’s death on Saturday at the age of 66, we take a look at some of the former Fat Lady’s finest achievements, both within food and outside of it.
Wealthy beginnings
Born in 1947 with quite possibly the longest name ever recorded (Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright), Clarissa Dickson Wright was the youngest of four children, with a surgeon to the Royal Family as a father, and an Australian heiress as a mother.
She lived in St John’s Wood, London, with her family before studying law at University College London, becoming the country’s youngest barrister upon graduating at the age of 21. Dickson Wright came from a wealthy family and reportedly inherited over £2 million when her mother died in 1975; a loss which, followed by her father’s death a couple of years later, greatly affected Dickson Wright, sparking a long battle with alcoholism.
Her battle
It was in 1979 when Dickson Wright first got involved with food, taking control of the kitchens at a drinking club in St James’s Palace, London. A two-year stint as a cook/housekeeper for a family in Sussex followed, but she was dismissed for reasons related to her alcoholism – later in life, Dickson Wright attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, counselling sessions, and detox centres.
Just six-or-so months after leaving the Promis recovery centre in Kent in 1987, Dickson Wright began a new job, running the famous Books for Cooks shop in Portebello Road, London. She was forced to leave seven years later after the owner decided to sell the shop, and so Dickson Wright moved to Edinburgh to open the Cooks Book Shop. It closed in 2004, after Dickson Wright went bankrupt.
Two Fat Ladies
It was during this time in Scotland that TV producer Patricia Llewellyn asked Dickson Wright and fellow ‘Fat Lady’ Jennifer Paterson if they wanted to make a programme together; the pilot episode of Two Fat Ladies was recorded in autumn 1994, prompting BBC2 to commission a series. Three successful series were shown worldwide, before Jennifer Paterson died in 1999 mid-way through the fourth series, marking the end of the programme. You can watch a trailer for the show below.
A country lass
Post-Fat Ladies, Dickson Wright had another stint on television, this time alongside her ‘childhood chum’ Sir Johnny Scott (5th baronet of Beauclerc, Bywell St Andrews, Northumberland) in BBC2 series Clarissa and the Countryman. It ran from 2000-2003 and was, in essence, a celebration of the English countryside. Dickson Wright also played the gamekeeper in Absolutely Fabulous in 2003, and took part in the BBC reality TV show, Art School.
Her autobiography, Spilling the Beans, followed in 2007, and other publications include Clarissa’s Comfort Food (2008); Potty (2010); and a History of English Food (2012), from medieval feasts to modern-day farmers’ markets. The latter was very well received by critics, and readers alike (take a look at the reviews on her Amazon page).
Dickson Wright, who was also a keen supporter of hunting, died on Saturday (March 15, 2014) at the age of 66 in Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary. A statement from her agency said: “Loved dearly by her friends and many fans all over the world, Clarissa was utterly non-PC and fought for what she believed in, always, with no thought to her own personal cost.
“Her fun and laughter, extraordinary learning and intelligence, will be missed always, by so many of us.”
Image courtesy of Mark Robinson
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