In praise of: Clarissa Dickson Wright

Wright was half of the Two Fat Ladies with the late Jennifer Paterson. From a recent profile in the Sunday Telegraph, promoting her new book, Clarissa’s England:

She was born into wealth and privilege as the daughter of a surgeon to the Royal Family, but her father was a drunk who beat her up. Clarissa became the youngest woman ever called to the Bar. But she hit the bottle herself on the day her mother died, and the despair she felt led to alcoholism.

She spent all her £2.8 million inheritance in 12 years of heavy drinking. She has been declared bankrupt twice.

And how are her finances now?:

Fine, thanks. I turned down an awful lot of money from a supermarket chain years back. I don’t regret it. I used to say that all I had left in life was my integrity and my cleavage. Now it’s just my integrity.