Angela Rippon
Headline:
Angela Rippon on the devastation of Alzheimer's: 'All mum remembers is she loves me'
Synopsis:
One look at the photographs former newsreader Angela Rippon has spread out on the table, and you can see she must have inherited her round, high cheek-boned face from her father.
What she took from her mother, Edna, is immaculate grooming and style. It's there to see in the photo of the two of them, heads together on the day Angela collected her OBE.
It was 2001, Edna was 80 and very smart in black and scarlet, a smile softening her serious features, her grey hair all crisp curls. 'She's lost a lot of weight since then, she's very frail,' says Angela tenderly.
Edna was a career woman in her day. She ran the Wedgwood Room in Dingles department store in Plymouth, before moving on to manage Royal Doulton in another store.
'When we went out anywhere, she would automatically turn the china over to check the make, or flick the glass to see if it was crystal. I used to be so embarrassed,' says Angela.
But she was also proud. 'Mummy had staff who were responsible to her, she ran a business and she was very good at it. She was my role model; she gave me my work ethic and my desire to make something of my life. She was a strong-minded, determined woman. She still is.'
But now, aged 87, Edna has dementia. She can't always remember what's wrong with her, but when she is reminded, the old strength shines through: 'Oh yes,' she says, 'but I'm not giving in to it, Angela. I'm going to fight this, you know.'
- Publish date:
- 2 December 2008
- Author:
- Serena Allott
- Source:
- Daily Mail
- Media:
