Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 15, 2009 9:51:25 GMT
Near the bottom it says the stuff about Wendy and Jade are fabricated. I said as much at the time when Mux Clifford dared to use her to get that cow back on the front pages. Also compare the two and how they were at their weddings. RIP Wendy. SHE was the brave one. From the Mail on Sunday:
'Wend was a legend ... and so was her champagne onion gravy', says Wendy Richard's husband
By Antonia Hoyle
Last updated at 11:25 PM on 14th March 2009
Like many married men, John Burns had been made somewhat persona non grata in his kitchen by his decidedly more domesticated wife.
So when he opened his freezer last week he was intrigued to discover one neatly packed drawer full of chilli con carne, one crammed with shepherd’s pies and another containing steak pies and dumplings.
His eyes filled with tears, knowing that what would ordinarily have been a loving gesture from the woman who catered to his every whim instead symbolised the strength she had shown in the face of extraordinary suffering.
wendy and john
Brave battle: John and Wendy in their last photograph together, taken in December
John is the husband of Wendy Richard MBE, the luminous television actress who died, aged 65, last month.
And amid gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and dealing with the knowledge that her cancer had spread to her left kidney, her spine and her ribs, she had somehow prepared dozens of dinners for him should she not survive her ordeal.
Yet grief has robbed him of his appetite. It is all he can do to keep from crying as he claims that her death has come as an incredible shock.
‘Wendy was not just my wife. She was my friend. She was gorgeous and caring and the funniest person I ever met,’ he says. ‘Everywhere I go I’m reminded of her. Her Chanel suits are still hanging in the wardrobe and her pictures are all over the wall.’
John, 45, who finally married Wendy last October after 12 years together and worked as her personal assistant, adds: ‘At no stage were we told her cancer was terminal.
She made the food because she was a realist and wanted to prepare for every eventuality. But she didn’t discuss dying. I wouldn’t have wanted her to. She had beaten cancer twice before and she thought she could beat it again.’
wendy richard
Glamorous: Wendy modelling in 1972
Indeed, he says that Wendy – best known for playing sexy Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and, more recently, dour-faced Pauline Fowler in EastEnders – had responded well to chemotherapy. ‘We had planned a holiday at our favourite spa in Malta and were looking forward to the future,’ he says.
But in the last week of February, Wendy’s chemotherapy caused her mouth to swell with such severe ulcers she couldn’t even drink water.
Critically dehydrated, John rushed her to London’s private Harley Street Clinic where she was put on a drip and given dialysis to assist her ailing kidneys. Initially, the treatment worked and two days later she was sitting up in her fleece-lined silk pyjamas watching Jeremy Kyle.
‘Although she couldn’t talk she scribbled notes to me,’ he says. ‘One said “f*** off” because I was fussing over her so much. Her language was colourful, but never to anyone who didn’t want to hear it. Afterwards, she smiled.’
But the next morning, Wendy – who successfully battled breast cancer both in 1996 and 2002 – deteriorated rapidly. John, who had been taking their Cairn terrier Lily for a walk near their Central London mews house, was called back to intensive care. ‘Her doctor told me it was time to say goodbye,’ he recalls.
wendy and john
Soul mates: On holiday with husband John in Bermuda 2007
Sitting by her bedside, he caressed her forehead and told her he loved her. ‘A tear fell off my cheek, hit my jumper and rolled on to her arm,’ he says. ‘It seemed to happen in slow motion. There was no struggle and it was incredibly peaceful. I don’t think she could hear me cry. I hope she couldn’t, and she wasn’t aware of what was going on.
‘It was so surreal. The fact is that I’d grown up watching Wendy Richard. My wife was dying in front of me but so was a legend. I knew I wasn’t going to be the only one to miss her.’
Indeed, on the day Wendy passed away John received 600 text messages of condolence. Her local Marks & Spencer branch sent a bouquet of flowers, the Maltese spa declared it was naming Wendy’s favourite suite after her and even the staff at Golders Green crematorium told John it was an honour to be a part of her funeral.
Todd Carty, who played Mark Fowler, her son in EastEnders, helped John carry her body in the bamboo casket lined with royal-blue silk that she had requested because it was environmentally friendly.
‘She had originally asked to be put in a cardboard box, but I thought she deserved better,’ he says with a wry smile. ‘She was worried no one would turn up but it was packed. I made sure that the EastEnders tea lady sat on the front row because I knew how important she was to Wendy.’
Carty gave a reading, as did Ian Lavender, whom she acted alongside in Dad’s Army, and her Are You Being Served? colleague Trevor Bannister. Wendy’s favourite chilli con carne recipe was prin-ted on the order of service. ‘I knew Wendy would like the idea of giving something back to the mourners,’ John explains. ‘And I wanted it to be a positive celebration of her life.’
todd carty
EastEnders star Todd Carty, who played her on-screen son Mark, was one of the pallbearers at her funeral
Less than a week later, however, and John is understandably struggling to maintain that sense of positivity. A staunch pragmatist with the same stoic temperament as his wife, he is, nonetheless, clearly shaken by her death.
He has lost a stone and a half in recent weeks, and the bags under his eyes are testament to the fact that he is struggling to sleep.
To bring him some comfort, he has chosen to speak at the same hotel in which he married Wendy five months earlier. He is even wearing the same shirt. It looks neatly pressed and starched, in a way that would make his wife proud.
There are two reasons, he says, for talking to The Mail on Sunday in what will be his first and only interview.
He is keen to promote a BBC1 documentary, to be screened this week, that he and Wendy made about her struggle with cancer, with the hope of raising awareness of both the disease and its possible cures.
But above all, it seems, he wants to pay tribute to the woman he describes as his ‘soul mate’.
As he tells of their relationship it becomes clear that, for all the time they spent together, he still can’t quite believe his luck in attracting her attention in the first place.
John’s father, who is now dead, ran a shoe-repair business in Belfast, and his mother held a succession of factory jobs. He moved to London on his own when he was 18. He had two daughters from a marriage that had recently ended and was working as a painter and decorator when he met Wendy in 1996.
john burns with his daughters
Grief: John, flanked by his daughters on the day he bid his wife a final farewell
By this time, of course, she had played Pauline Fowler, the long-suffering manageress of the Albert Square laundrette, for 11 years and was something of a national institution.
A former model, her acting career started with appearances in Dad’s Army and alongside Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii and Carry On Again Christmas. Landing the role of Miss Brahms in 1972 had not only made her a household name but a sex symbol for millions of smitten male fans, including John.
They were introduced by a mutual friend in a London pub near where they both lived. ‘I offered her a drink and she asked for a glass of champagne,’ he recalls. ‘She only drank Moet – if a pub didn’t serve it, she wouldn’t drink there. I said I could have bought my daughters two pairs of socks with what it cost me. She laughed and we hit it off, although at first we were just friends.’
Just two weeks later, Wendy discovered a lump in her left breast. ‘I went round to her house one day and she said, “I’ve got f****** breast cancer,” ’ he recalls. ‘There was no self-pity, she was just incredibly angry.’
The next day, she went into hospital. But although she had radiotherapy, she refused chemotherapy.
‘To her chemotherapy meant death, and the fear of the unknown,’ he explains. ‘And she hated the thought of losing her hair. I didn’t know her well enough to persuade her otherwise.’
Months later, Wendy was given the all clear. She befriended John’s two daughters – Jade, now 18, and Shannen, 16 – and he says that, despite their 20-year age gap, they were equals. ‘We were both fiery characters,’ he smiles. ‘We squabbled over silly things, such as me wanting to watch the football on television or getting back from the pub too late.
‘She’d call me “darling” if we were OK, and “John” if we were squabbling. I called her Wend.
‘She would cook, clean and do my shopping, but I wasn’t henpecked. That was just her way. The only place she was bolshie was in the kitchen. That was her kingdom and I was happy to stand back. Her champagne onion gravy is legendary.’
letitia dean and june brown
Old friends: Letitia Dean and June Brown - EastEnders' Sharon Watts and Dot Cotton - were among the soap's legends who paid their respects at Wendy's funeral
And if he did get on her wrong side, she had a way of wreaking revenge. ‘She’d make me smoked salmon and caviar sandwiches, cut into squares, for my packed lunch,’ he says.
‘The guys on the building site would think it was hilarious. But all my friends liked her. She wasn’t intimidating because she didn’t behave like a superstar. She would talk to a street cleaner the same as a solicitor.’
Neither did John – who quit his job to work for Wendy – find the fact that she earned so much more than him emasculating. He was always financially independent.
‘Of course, she would pay for dinner and the house and bills were in her name,’ he says. ‘And once, when I spent £1,000 on a ring for her, she went off her head because she said I couldn’t afford it.
‘She once bought me a Versace jacket but I didn’t wear it for two years. I’m not materialistic.’
John says that Wendy – at times criticised for her aloof public persona – ignored his pleas to smile more and, when she knew she wasn’t going to be pictured, would leave the house without brushing her hair.
By his own admission, theirs was not a ‘lovey-dovey’, publicly tactile relationship and it is easier to envisage the two trading insults than declaring their everlasting love for each other.
‘She’d constantly take the p***,’ he smiles. ‘We’d be out at dinner with friends and she’d look across and say, “It’s always a pleasure to hear John eat.” She told me I sounded like a cement mixer.
‘Whenever we went on holiday we’d buy a box set of DVDs – normally an American series. Her favourite was The Sopranos. I’ll always remember her coming out of the bathroom of a hotel room in Florida dancing to the music of the theme tune.’
natalie cassidy
Natalie Cassidy - Sonia in the soap - was like a daughter to Wendy in real life
There were, of course, plenty of events Wendy was expected to attend. As her partner, John met celebrity friends who varied from Bruce Forsyth to younger EastEnders cast-mates such as James Alexandrou and Natalie Cassidy, who played her son and daughter-in-law, Martin and Sonia Fowler.
‘I wasn’t starstruck,’ he claims. ‘At first a few people in the showbiz world would sneer at me for being in the building trade, but it didn’t bother me or her.
Any insults were water off a duck’s back. I had to force her to go to awards ceremonies. She was rubbish at networking and believed her acting skill was enough without having to schmooze people.’
Before she met John, Wendy had been married three times – to importer Len Black, advertising executive Will Thorpe and carpet fitter Paul Glorney.
But John says that had no bearing on their decision not to wed sooner, even after he proposed with a sapphire ring in 2002. ‘We talked about it a lot but she was always working and we didn’t get round to it,’ he says.
The same year, her cancer came back. As before, there was anger instead of tears. ‘I’ve only seen Wendy cry three times,’ he says.
‘Once was when Princess Diana died. She never cried about her cancer. She would swear about it while she was loading the washing machine. This time I tried to persuade her to have chemo, but she wouldn’t. Other than take her to hospital at gunpoint, what could I do?’
He says she was also worried the drugs would force her to take more time off work. ‘That was the only thing she worried about,’ he says. ‘She wanted to work until the end. That’s what kept her going.’
By 2005, her cancer had gone into remission. The following year, Wendy left EastEnders after 21 years on the show. Although she carried on working, with minor television roles and voice-overs, the couple had more time to go on holiday.
They travelled to Florida, the Caribbean and New York, where Wendy would sit admiring the view of Broadway from their hotel suite as she lingered over a cigarette.
But in January last year, their exotic idyll was cruelly interrupted when her cancer returned for a third time. By last autumn it had spread and she had no option but to submit to chemotherapy.
‘She bought three good wigs and even joked she’d save money on hairdressers’ bills,’ recalls John. ‘But she did want to get married before her hair fell out.’
A staunch supporter of the Conservatives, she also quipped to John that ‘there’s no way Gordon Brown was getting my f****** money’. By the time they wed at a hotel in London’s Mayfair last October, she was too ill to have a first dance and had to leave at 4.30pm to take her medication.
Wendy is, of course, not the only celebrity cancer victim of recent months. But John says any stories that she called reality television star Jade Goody for support and met at the Royal Marsden Hospital are entirely fabricated. ‘Of course, Wendy felt sorry for the girl, but she’s never met her,’ he says.
He drew some comfort from seeing Wendy in the chapel of rest, where he kissed her gently on the lips. An EastEnders make-up artist brought some colour to her face and she was cremated in her dark-blue Paul Smith wedding suit and a spritz of her favourite Clarins Eau Ressourcante perfume, surrounded by family photos John had put in the casket with her. Her ashes are still at their home, sitting below the MBE Wendy was so proud to have been awarded for services to television in 2000.
John has drawn comfort, too, from her former colleagues. Alexandrou and Carty visit often and Natalie Cassidy – whom he sees as a daughter figure and even called Wendy ‘Mum’ – has moved in with him to help him handle his grief, along with his best man Paul McGlashan.
But he will draw most comfort of all from the memory of his wife. ‘I don’t want to sit here and sound miserable because that’s not what Wendy would have wanted,’ he says. ‘As sad as I am, I feel happy that I’ve known Wendy, and lucky that I spent so much time with her.’
* Wendy Richard: To Tell You The Truth, BBC1, Thursday, 8pm.
'Wend was a legend ... and so was her champagne onion gravy', says Wendy Richard's husband
By Antonia Hoyle
Last updated at 11:25 PM on 14th March 2009
Like many married men, John Burns had been made somewhat persona non grata in his kitchen by his decidedly more domesticated wife.
So when he opened his freezer last week he was intrigued to discover one neatly packed drawer full of chilli con carne, one crammed with shepherd’s pies and another containing steak pies and dumplings.
His eyes filled with tears, knowing that what would ordinarily have been a loving gesture from the woman who catered to his every whim instead symbolised the strength she had shown in the face of extraordinary suffering.
wendy and john
Brave battle: John and Wendy in their last photograph together, taken in December
John is the husband of Wendy Richard MBE, the luminous television actress who died, aged 65, last month.
And amid gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and dealing with the knowledge that her cancer had spread to her left kidney, her spine and her ribs, she had somehow prepared dozens of dinners for him should she not survive her ordeal.
Yet grief has robbed him of his appetite. It is all he can do to keep from crying as he claims that her death has come as an incredible shock.
‘Wendy was not just my wife. She was my friend. She was gorgeous and caring and the funniest person I ever met,’ he says. ‘Everywhere I go I’m reminded of her. Her Chanel suits are still hanging in the wardrobe and her pictures are all over the wall.’
John, 45, who finally married Wendy last October after 12 years together and worked as her personal assistant, adds: ‘At no stage were we told her cancer was terminal.
She made the food because she was a realist and wanted to prepare for every eventuality. But she didn’t discuss dying. I wouldn’t have wanted her to. She had beaten cancer twice before and she thought she could beat it again.’
wendy richard
Glamorous: Wendy modelling in 1972
Indeed, he says that Wendy – best known for playing sexy Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and, more recently, dour-faced Pauline Fowler in EastEnders – had responded well to chemotherapy. ‘We had planned a holiday at our favourite spa in Malta and were looking forward to the future,’ he says.
But in the last week of February, Wendy’s chemotherapy caused her mouth to swell with such severe ulcers she couldn’t even drink water.
Critically dehydrated, John rushed her to London’s private Harley Street Clinic where she was put on a drip and given dialysis to assist her ailing kidneys. Initially, the treatment worked and two days later she was sitting up in her fleece-lined silk pyjamas watching Jeremy Kyle.
‘Although she couldn’t talk she scribbled notes to me,’ he says. ‘One said “f*** off” because I was fussing over her so much. Her language was colourful, but never to anyone who didn’t want to hear it. Afterwards, she smiled.’
But the next morning, Wendy – who successfully battled breast cancer both in 1996 and 2002 – deteriorated rapidly. John, who had been taking their Cairn terrier Lily for a walk near their Central London mews house, was called back to intensive care. ‘Her doctor told me it was time to say goodbye,’ he recalls.
wendy and john
Soul mates: On holiday with husband John in Bermuda 2007
Sitting by her bedside, he caressed her forehead and told her he loved her. ‘A tear fell off my cheek, hit my jumper and rolled on to her arm,’ he says. ‘It seemed to happen in slow motion. There was no struggle and it was incredibly peaceful. I don’t think she could hear me cry. I hope she couldn’t, and she wasn’t aware of what was going on.
‘It was so surreal. The fact is that I’d grown up watching Wendy Richard. My wife was dying in front of me but so was a legend. I knew I wasn’t going to be the only one to miss her.’
Indeed, on the day Wendy passed away John received 600 text messages of condolence. Her local Marks & Spencer branch sent a bouquet of flowers, the Maltese spa declared it was naming Wendy’s favourite suite after her and even the staff at Golders Green crematorium told John it was an honour to be a part of her funeral.
Todd Carty, who played Mark Fowler, her son in EastEnders, helped John carry her body in the bamboo casket lined with royal-blue silk that she had requested because it was environmentally friendly.
‘She had originally asked to be put in a cardboard box, but I thought she deserved better,’ he says with a wry smile. ‘She was worried no one would turn up but it was packed. I made sure that the EastEnders tea lady sat on the front row because I knew how important she was to Wendy.’
Carty gave a reading, as did Ian Lavender, whom she acted alongside in Dad’s Army, and her Are You Being Served? colleague Trevor Bannister. Wendy’s favourite chilli con carne recipe was prin-ted on the order of service. ‘I knew Wendy would like the idea of giving something back to the mourners,’ John explains. ‘And I wanted it to be a positive celebration of her life.’
todd carty
EastEnders star Todd Carty, who played her on-screen son Mark, was one of the pallbearers at her funeral
Less than a week later, however, and John is understandably struggling to maintain that sense of positivity. A staunch pragmatist with the same stoic temperament as his wife, he is, nonetheless, clearly shaken by her death.
He has lost a stone and a half in recent weeks, and the bags under his eyes are testament to the fact that he is struggling to sleep.
To bring him some comfort, he has chosen to speak at the same hotel in which he married Wendy five months earlier. He is even wearing the same shirt. It looks neatly pressed and starched, in a way that would make his wife proud.
There are two reasons, he says, for talking to The Mail on Sunday in what will be his first and only interview.
He is keen to promote a BBC1 documentary, to be screened this week, that he and Wendy made about her struggle with cancer, with the hope of raising awareness of both the disease and its possible cures.
But above all, it seems, he wants to pay tribute to the woman he describes as his ‘soul mate’.
As he tells of their relationship it becomes clear that, for all the time they spent together, he still can’t quite believe his luck in attracting her attention in the first place.
John’s father, who is now dead, ran a shoe-repair business in Belfast, and his mother held a succession of factory jobs. He moved to London on his own when he was 18. He had two daughters from a marriage that had recently ended and was working as a painter and decorator when he met Wendy in 1996.
john burns with his daughters
Grief: John, flanked by his daughters on the day he bid his wife a final farewell
By this time, of course, she had played Pauline Fowler, the long-suffering manageress of the Albert Square laundrette, for 11 years and was something of a national institution.
A former model, her acting career started with appearances in Dad’s Army and alongside Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii and Carry On Again Christmas. Landing the role of Miss Brahms in 1972 had not only made her a household name but a sex symbol for millions of smitten male fans, including John.
They were introduced by a mutual friend in a London pub near where they both lived. ‘I offered her a drink and she asked for a glass of champagne,’ he recalls. ‘She only drank Moet – if a pub didn’t serve it, she wouldn’t drink there. I said I could have bought my daughters two pairs of socks with what it cost me. She laughed and we hit it off, although at first we were just friends.’
Just two weeks later, Wendy discovered a lump in her left breast. ‘I went round to her house one day and she said, “I’ve got f****** breast cancer,” ’ he recalls. ‘There was no self-pity, she was just incredibly angry.’
The next day, she went into hospital. But although she had radiotherapy, she refused chemotherapy.
‘To her chemotherapy meant death, and the fear of the unknown,’ he explains. ‘And she hated the thought of losing her hair. I didn’t know her well enough to persuade her otherwise.’
Months later, Wendy was given the all clear. She befriended John’s two daughters – Jade, now 18, and Shannen, 16 – and he says that, despite their 20-year age gap, they were equals. ‘We were both fiery characters,’ he smiles. ‘We squabbled over silly things, such as me wanting to watch the football on television or getting back from the pub too late.
‘She’d call me “darling” if we were OK, and “John” if we were squabbling. I called her Wend.
‘She would cook, clean and do my shopping, but I wasn’t henpecked. That was just her way. The only place she was bolshie was in the kitchen. That was her kingdom and I was happy to stand back. Her champagne onion gravy is legendary.’
letitia dean and june brown
Old friends: Letitia Dean and June Brown - EastEnders' Sharon Watts and Dot Cotton - were among the soap's legends who paid their respects at Wendy's funeral
And if he did get on her wrong side, she had a way of wreaking revenge. ‘She’d make me smoked salmon and caviar sandwiches, cut into squares, for my packed lunch,’ he says.
‘The guys on the building site would think it was hilarious. But all my friends liked her. She wasn’t intimidating because she didn’t behave like a superstar. She would talk to a street cleaner the same as a solicitor.’
Neither did John – who quit his job to work for Wendy – find the fact that she earned so much more than him emasculating. He was always financially independent.
‘Of course, she would pay for dinner and the house and bills were in her name,’ he says. ‘And once, when I spent £1,000 on a ring for her, she went off her head because she said I couldn’t afford it.
‘She once bought me a Versace jacket but I didn’t wear it for two years. I’m not materialistic.’
John says that Wendy – at times criticised for her aloof public persona – ignored his pleas to smile more and, when she knew she wasn’t going to be pictured, would leave the house without brushing her hair.
By his own admission, theirs was not a ‘lovey-dovey’, publicly tactile relationship and it is easier to envisage the two trading insults than declaring their everlasting love for each other.
‘She’d constantly take the p***,’ he smiles. ‘We’d be out at dinner with friends and she’d look across and say, “It’s always a pleasure to hear John eat.” She told me I sounded like a cement mixer.
‘Whenever we went on holiday we’d buy a box set of DVDs – normally an American series. Her favourite was The Sopranos. I’ll always remember her coming out of the bathroom of a hotel room in Florida dancing to the music of the theme tune.’
natalie cassidy
Natalie Cassidy - Sonia in the soap - was like a daughter to Wendy in real life
There were, of course, plenty of events Wendy was expected to attend. As her partner, John met celebrity friends who varied from Bruce Forsyth to younger EastEnders cast-mates such as James Alexandrou and Natalie Cassidy, who played her son and daughter-in-law, Martin and Sonia Fowler.
‘I wasn’t starstruck,’ he claims. ‘At first a few people in the showbiz world would sneer at me for being in the building trade, but it didn’t bother me or her.
Any insults were water off a duck’s back. I had to force her to go to awards ceremonies. She was rubbish at networking and believed her acting skill was enough without having to schmooze people.’
Before she met John, Wendy had been married three times – to importer Len Black, advertising executive Will Thorpe and carpet fitter Paul Glorney.
But John says that had no bearing on their decision not to wed sooner, even after he proposed with a sapphire ring in 2002. ‘We talked about it a lot but she was always working and we didn’t get round to it,’ he says.
The same year, her cancer came back. As before, there was anger instead of tears. ‘I’ve only seen Wendy cry three times,’ he says.
‘Once was when Princess Diana died. She never cried about her cancer. She would swear about it while she was loading the washing machine. This time I tried to persuade her to have chemo, but she wouldn’t. Other than take her to hospital at gunpoint, what could I do?’
He says she was also worried the drugs would force her to take more time off work. ‘That was the only thing she worried about,’ he says. ‘She wanted to work until the end. That’s what kept her going.’
By 2005, her cancer had gone into remission. The following year, Wendy left EastEnders after 21 years on the show. Although she carried on working, with minor television roles and voice-overs, the couple had more time to go on holiday.
They travelled to Florida, the Caribbean and New York, where Wendy would sit admiring the view of Broadway from their hotel suite as she lingered over a cigarette.
But in January last year, their exotic idyll was cruelly interrupted when her cancer returned for a third time. By last autumn it had spread and she had no option but to submit to chemotherapy.
‘She bought three good wigs and even joked she’d save money on hairdressers’ bills,’ recalls John. ‘But she did want to get married before her hair fell out.’
A staunch supporter of the Conservatives, she also quipped to John that ‘there’s no way Gordon Brown was getting my f****** money’. By the time they wed at a hotel in London’s Mayfair last October, she was too ill to have a first dance and had to leave at 4.30pm to take her medication.
Wendy is, of course, not the only celebrity cancer victim of recent months. But John says any stories that she called reality television star Jade Goody for support and met at the Royal Marsden Hospital are entirely fabricated. ‘Of course, Wendy felt sorry for the girl, but she’s never met her,’ he says.
He drew some comfort from seeing Wendy in the chapel of rest, where he kissed her gently on the lips. An EastEnders make-up artist brought some colour to her face and she was cremated in her dark-blue Paul Smith wedding suit and a spritz of her favourite Clarins Eau Ressourcante perfume, surrounded by family photos John had put in the casket with her. Her ashes are still at their home, sitting below the MBE Wendy was so proud to have been awarded for services to television in 2000.
John has drawn comfort, too, from her former colleagues. Alexandrou and Carty visit often and Natalie Cassidy – whom he sees as a daughter figure and even called Wendy ‘Mum’ – has moved in with him to help him handle his grief, along with his best man Paul McGlashan.
But he will draw most comfort of all from the memory of his wife. ‘I don’t want to sit here and sound miserable because that’s not what Wendy would have wanted,’ he says. ‘As sad as I am, I feel happy that I’ve known Wendy, and lucky that I spent so much time with her.’
* Wendy Richard: To Tell You The Truth, BBC1, Thursday, 8pm.
