Ginny Dougary :: Award-winning journalist and writer

Ginny Dougary :: Award-winning journalist and writer » Women http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk Politics, celebrities, interviews, opinions, travel, and more... Tue, 18 May 2010 16:07:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Pauline Prescott: ‘John would have resigned over his affair’ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2010/03/07/pauline-prescott-john-would-have-resigned-over-his-affair/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2010/03/07/pauline-prescott-john-would-have-resigned-over-his-affair/#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:12:37 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=307

Photo: Phil Fisk Pauline Prescott and I have been instructed to keep the volume down by a prefectorial therapist down the corridor from our tiny “treatment” room, where we are sitting opposite one another across a table, mercifully, rather than a collapsible massage bed. For one of us, at least, the pre-emptive admonition is redundant. Paul, as she is known by her husband (she calls him Prescott, as in, so she says, “Move it, Prescott”) has the dulcet tones that our greatest playwright celebrated, “Her voice was ever soft/ Gentle and low, an excellent thing in a woman.” The former Deputy Prime Minister, however, unlike Shakespeare, apparently ticks off his wife for speaking too quietly. Well, tick-off shtick-off... Since Traceygate, the balance of power in their 50-year marriage has, Mrs Prescott confirms, shifted (irrevocably, one suspects) to her advantage. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2010/03/07/pauline-prescott-john-would-have-resigned-over-his-affair/feed/ 0 Ruth Padel on Derek Walcott, ‘dirty tricks’, and the worst mistake of her life http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2010/01/31/ruth-padel-on-derek-walcott-%e2%80%98dirty-tricks%e2%80%99-and-the-worst-mistake-of-her-life/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2010/01/31/ruth-padel-on-derek-walcott-%e2%80%98dirty-tricks%e2%80%99-and-the-worst-mistake-of-her-life/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:46:52 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=281

How totally unboring it must be to be Ruth Padel, and that’s quite apart from the recent hoo-ha that prompted her resignation, last May, from her short-lived stint — what should have been a five-year triumph reduced to a mere nine days — as Professor of Poetry at Oxford. Her interests are so varied and extensive — she is as passionate about the natural world, both exotic (alligators, tigers, now cobras) and commonplace (the domestic habits of the urban fox), as she is about filling the “poetry-shaped hole” she believes we all have. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2010/01/31/ruth-padel-on-derek-walcott-%e2%80%98dirty-tricks%e2%80%99-and-the-worst-mistake-of-her-life/feed/ 0 Sandi Toksvig on her Christmas cracker http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/12/14/sandi-toksvig-on-her-christmas-cracker/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/12/14/sandi-toksvig-on-her-christmas-cracker/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:04:57 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=253 Sandi Toksvig has a habit of being picked up by strange women in public conveniences, which sounds like a cheap gag but happens to be true (although not in a George Michael way, obviously). Only the other day, she was sitting in one of those cubicles where you have to push your foot against the door to keep it closed — a challenge in itself if, like her, you’re under 5ft tall — when a woman burst in, mid-flow, apologised profusely, retreated, and then reappeared, saying: “I think you’re Sandi Toksvig — can I have your autograph?” Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/12/14/sandi-toksvig-on-her-christmas-cracker/feed/ 0 Paula Rego on her museum to celebrate the brutal world of Portuguese storytelling http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/09/28/paula-rego-on-her-museum-to-celebrate-the-brutal-world-of-portuguese-storytelling/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/09/28/paula-rego-on-her-museum-to-celebrate-the-brutal-world-of-portuguese-storytelling/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:08:19 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=241

Me, Myself, I

Tracey Emin on a year of living dangerously

Kay Saatchi on life after Charles Saatchi

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/09/28/paula-rego-on-her-museum-to-celebrate-the-brutal-world-of-portuguese-storytelling/feed/ 0 Tracey Emin on a year of living dangerously http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/08/12/tracey-emin-on-a-year-of-living-dangerously/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/08/12/tracey-emin-on-a-year-of-living-dangerously/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:44:29 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=228 Tracey Emin is serene. That is not a sentence that comes naturally. She has emerged from her year of living dangerously — nothing to do with wild antics and everything to do with ill health — purged of both her demons and a giant, Gothic-sounding tapeworm. We meet in Spitalfields, East London, where Emin lives and works. She was a little bit late for our interview and so I had a chance to potter around her studio. This is where her embroidery and appliqué pieces are created and the room resembles a well-stocked children’s day centre. There is a row of orange washing baskets brimming with brightly coloured fabric and a wall of plastic boxes filled with all manner of things, neatly labelled: “Bits and bobs”, “Postcards and diaries” and “Voodoo dolls”. At the far end of the room is a trio of antique French chairs and a circular table, a glass top protecting an Emin oeuvre/tablecloth of appliquéd letters of the alphabet, and a ridiculously large bean bag on which Emin and her team of seamstresses sprawl, a (literally) laid-back sewing bee, to protect their spines and necks while they work. A glass door opens on to a small courtyard just large enough to contain a wrought-iron table and a couple of chairs. In the corner, next to several bicycles, is an impressively full rack of wine bottles which, on closer inspection, all bear the same label: Château de Tracy (sic). Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/08/12/tracey-emin-on-a-year-of-living-dangerously/feed/ 0 The many lives of Rebecca Miller http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/07/16/the-many-lives-of-rebecca-miller/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/07/16/the-many-lives-of-rebecca-miller/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:13:29 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=209 Photo: Mark Harrison About five minutes into the interview, Rebecca Miller starts to cry. We had been talking about writing, and I read out a line from the end of one of her short stories about different women’s lives which touched me. Louisa, a painter who has a complicated relationship with her mother, has come home to lick her wounds after an emotional collapse in New York. The family are around the table and her mother is drinking, as usual, which enrages the daughter, but when she looks up, “Her mother was looking at her with such love that Louisa could hardly bear to see it: it was like looking into the sun.” Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2009/07/16/the-many-lives-of-rebecca-miller/feed/ 0 Arianna Huffington: The superblogger http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/11/02/arianna-huffington-the-superblogger/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/11/02/arianna-huffington-the-superblogger/#comments Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:54:27 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=141 Vince Bucci There’s a perfect Arianna moment during our long interview in the heat of the Los Angeles summer, when I ask her whether she’s seen Swing Vote, a highly topical film that had just opened in America, starring and bankrolled by Kevin Costner. “Yes,” she says. “I am in it…” Pause. “I play myself.” Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/11/02/arianna-huffington-the-superblogger/feed/ 0 Celia Birtwell’s flower power http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/10/13/celia-birtwells-flower-power/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/10/13/celia-birtwells-flower-power/#comments Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:35:54 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=139 http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/10/13/celia-birtwells-flower-power/feed/ 0 Kay Saatchi on life after Charles Saatchi http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/07/27/kay-saatchi-on-life-after-charles-saatchi/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/07/27/kay-saatchi-on-life-after-charles-saatchi/#comments Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:22:03 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=137 Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/07/27/kay-saatchi-on-life-after-charles-saatchi/feed/ 0 Lady Antonia Fraser’s life less ordinary http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/07/06/lady-antonia-frasers-life-less-ordinary/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/07/06/lady-antonia-frasers-life-less-ordinary/#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:56:14 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=134 Lady Antonia Fraser adjusts her pearls, gazes out of the french windows opening out to the garden, and tells me to f*** awf. This, five minutes into our interview, comes straight after her waving a two-fingered salute at Private Eye. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/07/06/lady-antonia-frasers-life-less-ordinary/feed/ 0 I asked her whether she felt immortal. No, she answered http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/01/06/i-asked-her-whether-she-felt-immortal-no-she-answered/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/01/06/i-asked-her-whether-she-felt-immortal-no-she-answered/#comments Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:17:32 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/01/06/i-asked-her-whether-she-felt-immortal-no-she-answered/ Benazir Bhutto was via e-mail in October after the first attempt on her life when she returned to Pakistan to fight the free elections which General Musharraf had promised. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2008/01/06/i-asked-her-whether-she-felt-immortal-no-she-answered/feed/ 0 Sex, drugs and hockey sticks http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/12/17/sex-drugs-and-hockey-sticks/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/12/17/sex-drugs-and-hockey-sticks/#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:49:25 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/12/17/sex-drugs-and-hockey-sticks/ Hurrah, yaroo, jolly hockey-sticks and all that . . . St Trinian’s is back, this Christmas’s anarchic antidote to Harry Potter, and one of the starlets, the fetchingly named Talulah Riley, warns us that she and her fellow celluloid schoolgirls will be doing “anything and everything — there’s drugs, there’s sex, there’s tattoos and piercings”, to which the director adds (perhaps redundantly): “It’s going to shock some people.” Related posts:

Rob Marshall on directing Nine

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/12/17/sex-drugs-and-hockey-sticks/feed/ 0 Yes, we are bovvered http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/09/25/yes-we-are-bovvered/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/09/25/yes-we-are-bovvered/#comments Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:00:24 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/09/25/yes-we-are-bovvered/

Women’s hour

The labours of Cherie

I asked her whether she felt immortal. No, she answered

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Ginny meets Dolly

Elizabeth the first

Tracey Emin on a year of living dangerously

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/08/21/rock%e2%80%99s-stepford-wife/feed/ 0 Destiny’s daughter http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/04/28/destiny%e2%80%99s-daughter/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/04/28/destiny%e2%80%99s-daughter/#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2007 07:00:06 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/05/02/destiny%e2%80%99s-daughter/ Photo: Mark Harrison Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2007/04/28/destiny%e2%80%99s-daughter/feed/ 0 Joanne Lees: My Story http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/10/03/joanne-lees-my-story/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/10/03/joanne-lees-my-story/#comments Tue, 03 Oct 2006 23:12:29 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/10/03/joanne-lees-my-story/ Photo: Mark Harrison Related posts:

The need to share a dark secret

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/10/03/joanne-lees-my-story/feed/ 0 Game, set and in shape for more http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/06/01/game-set-and-in-shape-for-more/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/06/01/game-set-and-in-shape-for-more/#comments Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:03:16 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/06/01/game-set-and-in-shape-for-more/

Funny girl

The essence of Elle La Belle

Kay Saatchi on life after Charles Saatchi

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/06/01/game-set-and-in-shape-for-more/feed/ 0 The labours of Cherie http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/05/20/the-labours-of-cherie/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/05/20/the-labours-of-cherie/#comments Sat, 20 May 2006 14:38:29 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/05/13/the-labours-of-cherie/ Ginny Dougary For all her achievements as Cherie Booth QC, Cherie Blair has had a rocky ride at No 10. Ginny Dougary joined her on last month’s tour of Pakistan and Afghanistan to gain a remarkable close-up view of the PM’s spouse in action.

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/05/20/the-labours-of-cherie/feed/ 0 When the baby boomers become Generation Z http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/23/when-the-baby-boomers-become-generation-z/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/23/when-the-baby-boomers-become-generation-z/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2006 10:10:42 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/24/when-the-baby-boomers-become-generation-z/ Ginny Dougary Last week’s television highlight, for those of us addicted to the desperate goings-on in Wisteria Lane, was seeing the sober-suited working mother Lynette Scavo transform herself into a reckless sexpot — bedroom hair, bustier, “shakin’ her ass” as she strutted along the bar counter — in a last-ditch attempt to out-floozy her demon (and, significantly, childless) female boss. Ever since my favourite Desperate Housewife returned to work, leaving her hitherto breadwinning husband to do the childrearing, we have seen her performing ever more frantic cartwheels to prove that she can be a high-performing advertising executive while still, somehow, being a supermom (or some sort of mom) to her three children. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/23/when-the-baby-boomers-become-generation-z/feed/ 0 Hostess with the mostest http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/hostess-with-the-mostest/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/hostess-with-the-mostest/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2006 16:50:19 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/hostess-with-the-mostest/ Ginny Dougary Davina McCall may host shows at the tackier end of the television spectrum, but her appeal lies in a naughty, but oddly wholesome niceness. As she takes on BBC One’s primetime chat-show slot, Ginny Dougary meets a former wild child who has turned her bad times to spectacular good. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/hostess-with-the-mostest/feed/ 0 The cure for bad backs, by royal appointment http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/the-cure-for-bad-backs-by-royal-appointment/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/the-cure-for-bad-backs-by-royal-appointment/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2006 12:15:39 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/the-cure-for-bad-backs-by-royal-appointment/ Ginny Dougary Sarah Key’s method of stamping out pain is so successful that the Prince of Wales is a big fan. So is Ginny Dougary, after joining a week-long course that brought tears as well as laughter. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2006/02/11/the-cure-for-bad-backs-by-royal-appointment/feed/ 0 The essence of Elle La Belle http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/11/23/the-essence-of-elle-la-belle/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/11/23/the-essence-of-elle-la-belle/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:02:53 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=26 Ginny Dougary The Body has a mind all right, but it's hard to fathom. Wth rings on her thumbs and rings on her toes, Elle still turns heads wherever she goes. She is clearly a hippy chick at heart, particularly where accessories are concerned. The half-moons of her big toes are adorned with tiny crystals that twinkle as she wiggles them. Her bronzed forearm is covered in bits of string, ribbons and shells and each one has a story: “This one’s for breast cancer and Kylie. We’ve known each other for years. I haven’t spoken to her since she’s been ill and it’s on my mind. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/11/23/the-essence-of-elle-la-belle/feed/ 0 One tough kookie http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/11/05/one-tough-kookie/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/11/05/one-tough-kookie/#comments Sat, 05 Nov 2005 19:45:10 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=9 Ginny Dougary From honorary Rat Packer to early-adopting New Ager, Shirley MacLaine has always been an unconventional broad. In a wonderfully frank interview, she talks to Ginny Dougary about politics, sex, and brother Warren Beatty. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/11/05/one-tough-kookie/feed/ 0 Funny girl http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/07/09/funny-girl/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/07/09/funny-girl/#comments Sat, 09 Jul 2005 23:37:04 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=29 Ginny Dougary Jennifer Saunders is the unrivalled queen of British comedy. Here she talks, absolutely frankly, to Ginny Dougary about age, Eddy, shyness, weight – and the importance of being English. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/07/09/funny-girl/feed/ 0 Women’s hour http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/07/04/womens-hour/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/07/04/womens-hour/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2005 20:58:14 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=22 Ginny Dougary Women In Journalism started as an accident ... well, certainly by a sort of fluke and I was there to witness the unlikely uprising. In 1993 Eve Pollard, then editor of the Sunday Express, was also that year's appeals chairman of the Newspaper Press Fund, and hosted a fundraising evening with a panel of high-profile speakers. The topic she had chosen for discussion was something along the lines of Are Women Getting their Fair Share in the Media?. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/07/04/womens-hour/feed/ 0 All by herself http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/06/11/all-by-herself/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/06/11/all-by-herself/#comments Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:49:51 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/06/11/all-by-herself/ Ginny Dougary Despite her frail beauty, Naomi Watts has overcome the pain of her father’s untimely death – and the label ‘Nicole Kidman’s best friend’ – to become a star in her own right.

Naomi Almost-Mega Watts is quite right when she says that she’s not the sort of actress who lights up a room. Admittedly it would take a Day-Glo aura to penetrate the dungeonesque gloom of the Manhattan hotel foyer we meet in, but it does take a while to register that the childlike figure approaching me – fair hair scraped back in a stubby ponytail, pale face with no make-up, jeans, flat silver pumps, baggy bleached-blue cardigan, clutching a takeaway coffee – is a Hollywood star. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/06/11/all-by-herself/feed/ 0 Back on her feet http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/02/19/back-on-her-feet/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/02/19/back-on-her-feet/#comments Sat, 19 Feb 2005 23:50:18 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=30 Ginny Dougary Prince Charles is a fan; so is the Queen but physiotherapist Sarah Key's approach to backs is thoroughly down to earth. Related posts:

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2005/02/19/back-on-her-feet/feed/ 0 Me, Myself, I http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2004/11/13/me-myself-i/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2004/11/13/me-myself-i/#comments Sat, 13 Nov 2004 11:58:27 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2004/11/13/me-myself-i/

Tracey Emin on a year of living dangerously

Paula Rego on her museum to celebrate the brutal world of Portuguese storytelling

Kay Saatchi on life after Charles Saatchi

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2004/11/13/me-myself-i/feed/ 0 Edge of darkness http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2003/07/05/edge-of-darkness/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2003/07/05/edge-of-darkness/#comments Sat, 05 Jul 2003 10:19:19 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2003/07/05/edge-of-darkness/

I stand in terror on the edge of the ice. What have I got myself into?

Lady Antonia Fraser’s life less ordinary

Ruth Padel on Derek Walcott, ‘dirty tricks’, and the worst mistake of her life

]]> http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2003/07/05/edge-of-darkness/feed/ 0 Ginny meets Dolly http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2002/11/02/ginny-meets-dolly/ http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/2002/11/02/ginny-meets-dolly/#comments Sat, 02 Nov 2002 20:16:33 +0000 Administrator http://www.ginnydougary.co.uk/?p=16 Ginny Dougary Dolly Parton's bosom goes before her. It is impossible to think of her voice and her songs without conjuring a mental picture of that famous cantilevered shelf which juts so implausibly over her minuscule waist. Her top-heavy form even enlivened debate in the House of Commons when some years ago Kenneth Clarke chastised Gordon Brown for relying on the "Dolly Parton school of economics — an unbelievable figure blown out of all proportion with no visible means of support." Related posts:

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