2 Monday May 23 2022 | the times
times2
The sun is out, the Chelsea Flower
Show opens tomorrow, the jubilee is
nearly upon us and the Duke of York
is going to a Garter ceremony — an
image so distressing it makes me want
to pixelate my own brain. Apparently
he’s going to attend the event at
Windsor, where everyone gets togged
up in plumed hats and velvet robes, in
a private capacity as a royal knight,
and fair enough. Nothing says
“private” like strutting round Windsor
Castle with the Queen and half the
royal family in front of television
cameras from around the world. As for
the “royal knight” bit, reported in The
Sunday Telegraph, it sounds as if it
might involve galloping in on a
charger while reciting that speech
from Henry V, perhaps with Fergie in
the stands wearing a tiara from
Accessorize and waving a limp hanky
at her hero. Knowing those two, we
can’t rule anything out.
Putting aside the thought of Andrew
and garters, for which I can only
apologise, the jubilee has been
worrying me. Will it be freezing cold
and damp like it was for the Diamond
Jubilee in 2012, when the poor Queen
had to spend hours on that boat going
down the Thames? That can’t have
passed the fun test, can it? I just
googled it and oh, the poignancy of
William and Harry standing shoulder
to shoulder behind her, smiling and
waving. Must HM, at 96, really be
subjected to Ed Sheeran singing
God Save the Queen? Granted, that’s
better than most of his own songs,
but there’s also going to be Cliff
Richard doing something on a bus
and Holly Willoughby emoting in a
ballgown. Why can nothing happen
any more without Holly Willoughby
being there? Who chaired that
meeting? Meanwhile we learn that
Charles and Camilla will appear in
a scene on EastEnders.
Keen as ever to protect their privacy,
Harry and Meghan might liven things
up by abseiling onto the Buckingham
Palace balcony, squashing Camilla and
proclaiming a republic. It would make
great telly for Netflix after all, which is
the main thing and definitely all that
counts during the Queen’s Platinum
Jubilee celebration. Failing that, they
could invite Hello! to join them for a
special jubilee party at Frogmore
Cottage, with Beatrice and Eugenie
and everyone else who has been
‘My marriage
would have
ended in him
killing me’
The TV presenter Ruth Dodsworth
suffered years of abuse from her
husband. She fears he will soon be
released from prison. By Martha Gill
W
hen she
met her
husband,
Ruth
Dodsworth
was an up-
and-coming
young
television presenter with her own
house and a busy social life. By the
time their relationship ended with his
arrest 18 years later, she was having to
ask his permission to buy a sandwich
at lunchtime. She was cut off from
friends, family and her own finances.
Her husband wouldn’t even let her go
to the bathroom alone.
“After he was arrested I got access to
my own money and I went and bought
a coffee for the first time,” she says.
“That was an absolute moment in my
life. I’ll never forget it.”
Jonathan Wignall, 56, a
businessman and former nightclub
owner, was sentenced to three years
in prison last April after pleading
guilty to stalking and coercive control.
He had called Dodsworth 150 times
in a day and placed a tracking
device under her car’s steering wheel.
But those details, which made
headlines, don’t even “begin to
describe” the extent of the abuse,
Dodsworth, 46, tells me.
“His pattern was to start shouting
then get closer and closer and closer
so he was spitting in my face. Then
that developed into holding me by the
throat and pushing me against the
wall. It was clever because behaviour
like that doesn’t leave a bruise on your
face,” she says. “I wore long sleeves to
cover other marks. But my face was
always fine.”
When not assaulting her he would
follow her from room to room, not
allowing her even to lock thebathroom door, and taking secret
photographs.
“When he was arrested they found
hundreds of photos of me on his
phone. It was like he was building a
dossier,” she says.
Throughout their relationship he
turned up obsessively at ITV Wales,
where Dodsworth worked, and would
force her to eat lunch with him in his
car. Colleagues who rang her would
find Wignall on the other end. He
would offer to pay the couple’s
children to go through her phone
contacts. Once she woke up to find
him touching her fingerprint to her
phone to gain access.
Wignall had meanwhile acquired
complete control of the couple’s
money, taking out multiple loans
and credit cards in Dodsworth’s
name behind her back and pawning
her jewellery.
“I never saw any mail,” she says.
“After he was arrested we found bags
and bags of it.”
Despite her husband’s horrific
campaign, Dodsworth didn’t recognise
what was going on for many years.
The turning point came when her
teenage children expressed fears for
her safety, which made her realise her
situation was not normal. “They said,
‘Don’t come home, he will kill you.’ ”
In October 2019 she left Wignall.
Afterwards, he bombarded her with
phone calls and threatened to take
his own life. The next morning,
when he was arrested on suspicion
of harassment, he responded to
police by saying: “Harassment? But
she’s my wife.”
“Afterwards the police handed me
this booklet, almost like an idiot’s
guide to domestic abuse. It was a
eureka moment,” Dodsworth says.
“It was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that isHilary Rose
GETTY IMAGESMaking
tea, I’ll do
it my way
The UK Tea &
Infusions Association,
which apparently
exists, reports that
hardly anyone drinks
traditional builders’ tea
any more: strong, milky
and sweet. According
to a report in The Mail
on Sunday, there is also
controversy about
when you add the milk,
so allow me to put my
head above the parapet
and admit that my own
mother thinks I’m
beyond the pale when it
comes to this. I add
milk to the mug when
the teabag is still in it,
not after I’ve taken it
out. It makes sense,
surely: when the bag’s
still in there you can
adjust the strength of
your tea. If the bag’s
already in the bin and
you overdo the
milk, disaster.
Also, those
people who have
a special little
dish next to the
kettle for used
teabags — what’s
that about? Why
would you want
dried teabags
on your work
surface? More to
the point, life is
way too short to
recycle a teabag.Dear MI5:
I love a
spa day
wanted to recruit you
you got a tap on
the shoulder. It sounds
like the managing
consultants have
been in to MI5
encouraging blue-sky
thinking, because a
woman has complained
that they tried to
recruit her as aninformant by offering
her a £200 voucher for
a day at a luxury spa.
She says it’s
harassment and has
complained, although
saying “no thanks”
might also have worked
just as well. Just a
thought. Also: £200 for
a whole day at a luxuryspa? That’s a bargain.
Memo to MI5: you
can totally recruit me.
I’m not very good
at keeping secrets
but I’m excellent at
having facials, and
what better use could
there be of public
money? Anyone?
Kevin Maher is awayLegend has it that back
in the day, if the
security services
booted off the balcony. They could all
stare glumly at bunting and pretend
they don’t care, or hoist a corgi aloft
and sing Rule, Britannia!. Good times!
Uncle Andrew could make time in his
busy schedule making a public
spectacle of himself to join them, in
a private capacity of course. Hopefully
Netflix will capture the moment
baby Lilibet thumps Archie in a fight
over the last iced bun before the
whole party descends into acrimony
and chaos.
And while the country obsesses
about bank holiday weather and
traffic, what you really need for jubilee
success, as the Queen knows better
than anyone, is forward planning.
It’s an old-fashioned concept barely
recognised by young people, because
they grew up with mobile phones and
limitless, exhausting spontaneity in
their social lives. So much nicer
instead to have things to look forward
to that you organised months ago.
Forward planning is how I’ve finally
scored a ticket to the Chelsea Flower
Show and why, when everyone else is
stationary trying to drive to the beach,
I’ll be kicking off the jubilee weekend
with a lunch booked three months ago
at the most popular restaurant in
London and feeling quite epically
smug. Summer 2022: are we nearly
there yet?Prince Andrew is to be
a ‘private’ knight for a
day. How private, I ask?
m A p a d k t t w d o s t w r