Radio star Joan Bakewell makes it look easy – balancing a broadcasting career with being a Peer and an advocate for various important causes.
But behind the scenes, she’s had a lot to deal with, including a traumatic health battle and a stalking ordeal. For years the Portrait Artist of the Year star was sent poison pen letters from a stalker, even appearing on Crimewatch in a bid to catch the culprit in 2001.
A man in his 70s was questioned by detectives at the time after obscene letters were sent to various female celebrities. Others targeted included Diana Rigg and Sue McGregor. Joan said at the time: “This just has to come to an end. We’ve been harassed and patient long enough. It is time this person realises how upsetting this is.”
More recently, though, Joan has been dealing with a diagnosis of colon . The 91-year-old had to undergo surgery last year for the condition, explaining to The Guardian that she wants to do a documentary on “what it’s like being old”.
She said: “You have to stay fit. I had an operation for colon cancer 18 months ago and recovered. I only managed part of the chemotherapy because it was so horrible. And also, I thought, ‘I’m 90. I’m going to die soon’.
Dame Joan Bakewell underwent gruelling cancer treatment (Image: Getty)
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“One of the strangest things about life is that nobody thinks about dying When you get older, you do think about it, particularly when you open the paper and another friend has died. People die. Everybody dies. Isn’t it scandalous?
“The idea that your children will one day reach the age when they die, I just find unacceptable.”
Sadly, Joan isn’t the only member of her family to battle cancer – her mother died of leukaemia at a young age, and her sister died from cancer aged 58. But she feels “serene” at the prospect of dying.
The 91-year-old battled colon cancer (Image: Getty)
She told The Mirror: “When you’re my age a lot of your friends have died already; dying is on the agenda, it’s waiting for you. I thought, ‘Oh, it’s my turn. My turn to go down’. So I felt quite serene about it.”
Thankfully, though, Joan recovered, explaining that her chemotherapy was just a “mopping-up operation to make sure it doesn’t come back”. She added to The Times: “It’s inconvenient, of course, for work, but I’ve only missed one day’s shooting – and it’s quite hard to sleep at night, but as I tend to wear extremely loose clothes now no one’s noticed it.”