I have a lovely Diana Dors story to tell, and I have saved it until December because BEHOLD THE SPLENDOUR OF THE DIANA DORS ADVENT CALENDAR!

Blog reader Sam Dwyer tipped me off to the existence of this bit of superbness, and I immediately bought two.  One for me and one for Mr Rathbone.  But do you know what else?  The brilliant, brilliant website I bought this from – Renown Pictures – is selling a Diana Dors sweatshirt and Mr R is buying me one for my birthday.  I am in heaven.

I have three recommendations for you if you are a fan of old movies and the wonderful movie stars of yesteryear.  Christmas is coming and you should definitely put something from the following on your wishlist, or make someone you love happy by a gift of something like:

a) The Joan Crawford Cookbook put together by yours truly.

b) my chum Greg Swenson’s amazing Recipes for Rebels cookbook – lots and lots and lots of movie star recipes!  A truly fabulous book to have by your side in the kitchen.

c) something from the Renown Pictures website – they have SO MANY AMAZING THINGS to buy.  Including the aforementioned sweatshirt and lots of other brilliant Diana things…  All of which I want very badly of course…

So there you go.  Prezzie ideas for you.  It is hurtling towards us folks!

Now for my brilliant Diana Dors story.

As a film archivist, I often have really fun things to do at work.  The collection I work with includes the TV-am archive. 

It’s a wonderful treasure trove of 80s fabulousness, and the best thing about it for me is that Diana Dors is sprinkled all around it.  

For those too young to remember, or not from these shores, TV-am was one of Britain’s’ first breakfast television programmes.  Diana had an “agony aunt” slot, and then later, the brilliant “Dors Dozen” feature, where 12 members of the public joined Diana in an attempt to lose weight.  I’ve written about this over at Eat Drink Films, so if you want to know more about this genius project skip over to Eat Like the Stars – Diana Dors.

I was recently contacted at work by Susan, who was one of the Dors Dozen.  Susan asked if I could make her a DVD copy of her appearance on the show.  But of course I could, with pleasure!  I asked Susan if Diana was nice to work with, she confirmed that she was, and told me lots of fun details about the filming of the show.

Each of the Dors Dozen was filmed preparing a dish from the diet plan and there was a book accompanying the television slot, which I am proud to have in my collection.  

I was thrilled to discover that the dish Susan prepared for the show, was the legendary Breakfast Bean Omelette, which is a big favourite of mine.  I’ve made this lots of times.

So here’s the story!  Susan told me that when the film crew came round to her house to film her cooking the omelette, her next-door neighbour was really jealous that she was going to be on TV.  The neighbour went out for the day and made sure that her phone was constantly ringing, which could be heard on the TV soundtrack. Ring ring.  Ring ring.  Ring ring.  Eventually, the cameraman went round to the neighbour’s house, climbed through the window and took the phone off the hook.  Brilliant!

You’ll see Susan in this clip which shows the Dors Dozen and DD herself weighing in for the last time – try and block out the speaking clock!

And here’s the recipe Susan demonstrated on the show.  I love this and make it quite often, dieting or not.  Susan’s demo isn’t available to view on the internet yet, but I’m working on it…

Diana Dors’ Breakfast Bean Omelette

  • 2 eggs, size 4 (medium)
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 rasher (strip or slice) streaky bacon, rind removed and chopped
  • 2 oz. (50g) baked beans in tomato sauce, warmed

Beat the eggs with the water and salt and pepper to taste. Fry the bacon in a nonstick omelette pan until crispy. Add the egg mixture and, using a fork, stir the mixture over a high heat until almost cooked.

When the omelette is almost set, spoon the beans on one side of it. Fold the remaining half over the beans to seal. Transfer to a warmed plate to serve.

The recipe serves one, contains 4g of fiber and 240 calories.

Renown Pictures have a TV channel called Talking Pictures and if you like classic movies and TV you will love it!  I don’t have a TV but Mr R does, so I am sure we’ll be tuning in to some fabulousness over the festive season.  You can check out their schedule here – Talking Pictures TV

I have my eye on Scrooge: A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim

and an episode or two of Burke’s Law with Gene Barry.

 
 

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