Clarissa Dickson Wright

Clarissa Dickson Wright was an English celebrity chef, television personality, businesswoman and a former barrister. She was best known as one half, along with Jennifer Paterson, of the incredibly popular television series, Two Fat Ladies. Having trained as a lawyer, Dickson Wright was the youngest woman ever to be called to the Bar. At the age of 11, Clarissa was sent to Sacred Heart School. After school Clarissa studied for the Bar at Gray's Inn, while pursuing a law degree at University College London. She practiced successfully as a barrister for several years. However, she found cookery to be her true calling when she worked at Books for Cooks in London's Notting Hill while recovering from 12 years of alcohol abuse. During her time in Edinburgh, television producer Patricia Llewellyn asked her and Jennifer Paterson if they wanted to make a television programme; they made a pilot in autumn 1994. After the pilot, BBC2 commissioned a series of Two Fat Ladies. Three successful series were made and shown around the world. Paterson died in 1998 mid-way through the fourth series and Clarissa refused to make another series after her co-star's death. She also appeared with Johnny Scott in Clarissa and the Countryman from 2000 to 2003 and played the gamekeeper in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous in 2003. In 2005, Dickson Wright took part in the BBC reality television show Art School. Dickson Wright has campaigned for the Countryside Alliance and was the first female Rector of the University of Aberdeen. Her autobiography, Spilling The Beans, was published in September 2007. In 2008, she presented a one-off documentary for BBC Four, Clarissa and the King's Cookbook, where she makes recipes from a cookbook dating to the reign of Richard II. During her cooking career, Clarissa ran her own catering business, worked on a yacht in the Caribbean and served 60 meals a day at her London luncheon club. She also became one of only two women in England to become a guild butcher. She was represented in the UK by Useful Talent who are specialists in celebrity-led endorsements.