Tribute to Dilys Wells

Citation

Blades, M. (2003), "Tribute to Dilys Wells", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 33 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2003.01733eaa.001

Tribute to Dilys Wells

Tribute to Dilys Wells

This edition of Nutrition & Food Science pays a special tribute, and is dedicated to the previous editor Dilys Wells who died in April this year. I am very sad to have to write this editorial as I will miss Dilys as a friend and fellow nutritionist and am grateful to her husband for providing so much information about her for me. Also I am grateful for the tribute from Mr Forbes who worked with her for many years.

Dilys edited Nutrition & Food Science for over 30 years; and she was really a remarkable woman. Dilys Ann Wells, Bachelor of Science, nutritionist, journalist and author; and Dilys Ann Duerden, Bachelor of Art, wife and mother.

Dilys Wells grew up in wartime Grimsby with her parents and grandmother, sisters Nina and Fae, and brother Tony.

From an early age Dilys achieved excellent results at school, with a particular interest and ability in the sciences. At Wintringham Girl's Grammar School, science was obviously not considered a subject suitable for young ladies and so it was to the Boys' Grammar School that she went in the sixth form. This created quite a stir amongst her male classmates, at least up until she was asked not to wear her short hockey skirt in the corridors because of its effect on the boys! She also found that she was the target of the advances of several young school masters at Saturday evening dances at the Cleethorpes Winter Gardens – apparently the female teachers were very put out.

Dilys learned to drive in an enormous pre-war Triumph complete with crash gearbox. It clearly amazed the examiner during her driving test who could not understand how anyone could learn to drive in such a vehicle.

After leaving school, Dilys won a scholarship to Queen Elizabeth College, London to study nutrition, and graduated with her first bachelor's degree. Of course it was not just any old university chancellor that presented it to her, but the Queen Mother herself, although an administrative error meant that Her Majesty in fact presented Dilys with a degree in Horticulture.

Dilys went on to work with S.H. Benson for a number of years, which was then one of the top London advertising agencies. Bensons were responsible for the famous Guinness advertisements, and that particular drink was available in the staff canteen at a very reasonable price. Dilys took advantage of this and developed a life-long taste for it. One of her accounts was Dual Floor Cleaner, which she launched at Dirty Dicks, the famous Bishopsgate pub renowned for never being cleaned. This was their selling point and claim to fame, although Dilys persuaded them to let her clean a small area of floor. For several years, Dilys was known amongst housewives under the nom-de-plume, "Betty Holmes", providing cleaning advice and handy household tips.

Dilys married Michael Duerden in Grimsby on the 30 January 1965. This was the day of Winston Churchill's funeral.

Dilys Wells remained an important person in Dilys Duerden's life after she was married, and her career as a nutrition journalist continued in her maiden name. It is also the name on the front of her 12 books, one of which was the first nutrition textbook written especially for schools in conjunction with Wendy Mathews.

She was particularly proud of a book she wrote for The Times in only two months when she was looking after her first son Patrick. She was prouder still when this book was translated into Braille. About ten days after her second son was born, she accepted an invitation to become the Editor of Nutrition & Food Science, a magazine for colleges and teachers. She created quite a stir in the little Hemingford Grey cul-de-sac by being visited by Prince George Galitzine in his Rolls Royce. She was also visited by Delia Smith, who left her gloves behind. Dilys continued editing Nutrition & Food Science for over 31 years, only relinquishing her position with profound sadness when her illness made it impossible for her to continue. Shortly after her retirement, her publishers made a special award of excellence for her achievements.

Recently Dilys became very interested in furthering her own academic achievements and gained a GCSE in psychology. This was promptly followed by an A-level, which in turn inspired her to start a degree course at the Open University. Her scholastic abilities were once again proven, and it was with enormous pride all round that she graduated with her second bachelor's degree in 2001.

To the people of Oundle, where she lived, Dilys was a familiar figure as a volunteer for many years at the Oxfam Shop, as secretary of the Historical Society and as a steward at the International Oundle Festival. Many people at the festival came to know Dilys very well, and one of the performances this summer will be sponsored in remembrance of her. Dilys coped with her illness with cheerfulness and an ever-present smile in public and also at home. Perhaps the most amazing of all was that she never once complained about her situation and only ever said that she had suffered "bad luck". She was an incredibly brave woman and will be sorely missed.

Certainly I will miss her friendship and advice.

Mabel Blades

Tribute to Dilys Wells From Colin Forbes

I was very sad to hear of the recent death of Dilys Wells.

Dilys was the founder Editor of Nutrition & Food Science when it was started by my parents' company, Forbes Publications, with help from the British Nutrition Foundation. She remained its founder editor until her death, over 30 years later.

In that time, with the help of an eminent Editorial Board, she almost single-handedly made the journal into the success it became, carving a place in the market with teachers, students and lecturers alike. Principally aimed at schools teaching nutrition for GCSE and above, she made the journal a model of clarity, accuracy and topicality as well as providing a very wide-ranging diet of articles for the readership. That the magazine was a success in its field was mostly due to Dilys' role as Editor and it is hard to think of anyone else who would have done better.

When I became involved with the magazine through working at Forbes Publications, I was always impressed by Dilys' intellectual rigour, her ability to write fluently and clearly, and her grasp of all areas of the subject. She was always ready to take on new ideas and to adapt to the changing market. During her editorship she saw sweeping changes in education, especially in the areas covered by the journal and the sister publication New Home Economics, which she also edited in its latter days.

Dilys was an excellent colleague, always helping and encouraging younger assistants, and unfailingly polite and unflappable, remarkable in a world where deadlines always loomed and pages got changed around very close to press time.

When Forbes sold the magazines to MCB in 1995, I was glad that the new management retained her as Editor, and she took Nutrition & Food Science forward into a more academic environment.

Dilys also wrote books, including the Second Book of Food and Nutrition (with Wendy Matthews) and Focus on Food, a topic based book on food studies that was a considerable success in its day.

Dilys Wells was a fine editor and nutritionist. She will be sadly missed.

Colin ForbesFormerly Publishing Director, Forbes Publications