Joan Bakewell is optimistic as she reveals cancer battle
BARONESS BAKEWELL, who has spoken movingly of how powerless she felt when her sister was dying from breast cancer aged 58, has revealed that she’s now fighting her own health battle.
The distinguished broadcaster, 89, tells me she’s undergoing treatment for colon cancer. ‘I had an operation before Christmas,’ she says. ‘I’m feeling fine, and the chemotherapy is a moppingup operation to make sure it doesn’t come back.’
Lady Bakewell, whose cancer was detected during a routine examination, adds: ‘I’ve always been optimistic because I caught this cancer early on. Within a week, I was in hospital having an operation.’
She’s continued working, including on a new series of Landscape Artist Of The Year, on Sky Arts tonight: ‘One session of voiceover — that’s all I needed to cancel.’
Lady Bakewell, who was dubbed the ‘thinking man’s crumpet’, inspired Harold Pinter’s Betrayal after she had an affair with the playwright when she was married to TV producer Michael Bakewell. Pinter was married to actress Vivien Merchant.
Her work as patron of Breast Cancer Care has stood her in good stead: ‘Treatments have improved so much, and cancer is no longer a death sentence. In a sense, it’s made me optimistic, which sounds odd.’