I just love Diana. I loved her when she was a glamour-puss in the 1950s:
and I loved her later in life, when she got a little chubby:
Then in the 1980s, Diana set herself a dieting goal of losing 52 lbs. (25.5 kg) by her 52nd birthday, appearing regularly on the TV-am breakfast show here in the UK, getting on the scales for all to see her progress. There is a diet book to accompany the television slots, which I have, it is GOOD!
As part of my day job, I am lucky enough to work with the TV-am archive. Diana appeared as an agony aunt on the show, and those segments really show how compassionate and sensible she was. But the diet spots are the best. Especially the one that shows Diana in her own kitchen. She’s got a little mini TV set in there, I love it.
I wanted to write a longer piece about Diana than I could here on the blog, my column for the fabulous Eat Drink Films website this month is all about her. Here’s the link – you’ll find two recipes there, one for Apricot Chiffon and one for Breakfast Bean Omelette.
Eat Drink Films have also put together a brilliant collection of Diana Dors clips in a feature they call: Eat My Shorts – well worth a look whether you are a fan, or whether you are new to the charms of the divine Ms Dors. She’s so fab.
If you ever write any more Diana Dors posts, please include pictures from the Prince Charming video. Classic! And Mr Ant is so dreamy
Phairhead – I sooooooooo agree. I am going to do another Diana post JUST FOR YOU once I have found the photograph of me just before going to see Adam and the Ants with some friends c1980 – and YES, I did have the white stripe across my face. I really, really fancied Adam!
Your expanded piece over at Eat, Drink, Films really transported me back in time to the 80’s! My two-toned pompadour and peg-leg pants…using my homemade fake ID to sneak in to the punk clubs in Chicago… Sid Viscious and Johnny Rotten were the Brits on my radar, not Diana Dors. That morning show host was exactly the kind of person we thought we were rebeling against (and maybe the Apricot Chiffon too!)… ha, ha.
What a difference 35 years makes. Ms. Dors was lovely…and thank you for painting such a (pretty in pink) pastel portrait. She was definately a classic of her era(s)! The chiffon actually sounds yummy, although I’ll have to see if I can work up a version using agar instead of gelatin (the vegetarian thing).
Thanks for schooling me on stuff I missed! 🙂
…I especially appreciate (from the examples you’ve shown…I haven’t read her book) that Diana’s diet is about “real” food…not succumbing to the proliferation of artificial sweeteners that became the standard in that time. Her paella was full of flavor…her apricot chiffon used whole yogurt… her omelet was bacon-y, but relied on proportions to satisfy the palette… an impressively healthy approach (physically and mentally) in my opinion,.
Yep, the stuff in her diet book is really sensible I think. I met the food consultant who devised the recipes and rehearsed all the details with Diana before she went on air. You’ve reminded me to send her a link to the article. She too said Diana was lovely to work with. I think they all had fun making these spots.
Aw sweet. The 80s were a great decade for me too. Just getting into fashion big time, I had some truly hideous outfits, must get some photos from my folks place next time I am there… I’d love to see a photo of your two-toned pompadour!
I have a lovely email from Nick Owen (the TV-am presenter) about Diana. He said that he was shattered when she died (not long after she did these diet spots in fact), that she was lots of fun to work with and her house was “like something out of Hollywood”. A bit of Hollywood here in the UK, that is EXACTLY what we want!