Farewell then, Clarissa Dickson Wright

[Stillhomewardbound]

She was an excellent DID guest in the Sue Lawley era.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/9ca65290#p00941tb

[Anna]

I was never tempted by her recipes - too heavy on game, giblets, lard and cream - but she was entertaining and very knowledgeable about food and the countryside. Seems she had an eventful life but a shock to discover that she was only 66 years old.

[Flosshilde]

How odd - I replied to shb's post saying that I never really took to her - but the post has disappeared. I wonder why? I can't think it was offensive in any way.

[french frank]

How odd - I replied to shb's post saying that I never really took to her - but the post has disappeared. I wonder why? I can't think it was offensive in any way.

There's only one entry in the Moderator log for today - my correction of the spelling of Ms Dickson Wright's name in the thread title.

However, you do seem to have posted your Thackeray poem on two different threads (one now deleted) ... ?

[cloughie]

How odd - I replied to shb's post saying that I never really took to her - but the post has disappeared. I wonder why? I can't think it was offensive in any way.

I tend to agree - however much we try we can't like everybody. Maybe I should stick to 'If I can't say anything good, then say nothing at all!'

[Serial_Apologist]

She seemed to have very right-wing views. I could never work out if one were supposed to take her seriously or not.

[Flosshilde]

Teamsaint has very kindly let me know (via a pm, to save my blushes possibly ) that my post was on the Gove thread in the politics forum. That's the second post today on the wrong thread

I think that I was put off CDW by her right-wing views, & her keen-ness on killing animals like foxes (not that I object in principal to killing foxes, just to chasing them round the country with dogs first).

[jean]

Despite her social position, she had a ghastly abusive father and a difficult childhood, and wrote very frankly about it all later. That interested me.

[Richard Tarleton]

I think that I was put off CDW by her right-wing views, & her keen-ness on killing animals like foxes (not that I object in principal to killing foxes, just to chasing them round the country with dogs first).

The fox, as any intelligent farmer knows, is the farmer's friend. Its principal diet is small mammals, rodents, the very things which eat their crops and compete with their livestock for grazing - above all, rabbits. This from the University of Bristol's fox website (the University of Bristol is the base of the UK's leading fox expert, Dr Stephen Harris)

Rabbits cause most agricultural losses but farmers tend to underestimate their losses due to rabbit grazing. At 1998 prices, one study estimated that, each year, a single rabbit would cost a farmer £6.50 eating winter wheat, £1.40 eating spring barley and £3.40 eating grazing pasture.

Rabbits make up the largest proportion of the diet of foxes in rural areas

In rural areas of Britain, 45% to 70% of the diet of foxes is made up by rabbits. During its lifetime, by eating rabbits each fox might be worth £150-£900 in increased revenue to farmers.

In areas with high levels of predator control, where fox density is lower, rabbit density is higher and there seems to a negative link between predator control and rabbit abundance, i.e. rabbits seem to thrive where there are fewer foxes.

The website tells you all you need to know about foxes, foxes and sheep, foxes and chickens, etc. . Perhaps a separate thread, in view of David Cameron's latest initiative.

De mortuis etc., I could take or leave CD-W's cookery programmes, but I greatly objected to the profile on country matters afforded to her by the BBC.

[Barbirollians]

The fox, as any intelligent farmer knows, is the farmer's friend. Its principal diet is small mammals, rodents, the very things which eat their crops and compete with their livestock for grazing - above all, rabbits. This from the University of Bristol's fox website (the University of Bristol is the base of the UK's leading fox expert, Dr Stephen Harris)



The website tells you all you need to know about foxes, foxes and sheep, foxes and chickens, etc. . Perhaps a separate thread, in view of David Cameron's latest initiative.

De mortuis etc., I could take or leave CD-W's cookery programmes, but I greatly objected to the profile on country matters afforded to her by the BBC.

She was someone who clearly led an extraordinary life . The Two fat ladies was entertaining TV but Jennifer Paterson always came across as the more interesting character and cook . I read her autobiography and she had a very tough upbringing with an abusive father , wrecked her own career with drinking and seems to have been terrible with her finances - she managed to go bankrupt again even after the Two Fat ladies success.

Clarissa and the Countryman was a disgrace - pro hunting propaganda at the licence fee payer's expense .

[Flosshilde]

Jennifer Paterson always came across as the more interesting character and cook .

Yes, I always thought that too. CDW's earlier trouble with alcohol etc should, I felt, have made her rather more human & empathetic, but instead she seemed rather the opposite.

[hmvman]

I enjoyed the Fat Ladies programme and still cook some of their recipes (or 'receipts' as they like to call them). CDW said in an interview that the producers of the programme paired up her and JP because they thought they would fight and it would make more interesting TV but, in the event, they got on well together.

I never saw the countryside programme and probably didn't miss much by the sound of it.

But another great character gone. R.I.P.

[Don Petter]

I thought Clarissa and the Countryman brought a welcome breath of fresh air, in two senses, to our television.

[Richard Tarleton]

I thought Clarissa and the Countryman brought a welcome breath of fresh air, in two senses, to our television.

Which two senses would those be, Don? It was an appalling programme. Waxed jackets do not a countryman (or woman) make.