Personalities of the Year unveiled

29 December 2000



Personalities of the Year unveiled

by FWi staff

PROTEST leader David Handley and TV celebrity Clarissa Dickson Wright have been voted Farmers Weeklys Personality of the Year by the magazines readers.

Monmouthshire farmer David Handley is the Farm Personality of the Year 2000. Clarissa Dickson Wright is the Non Farming Personality of the Year.

Hundreds of readers voted by fax, e-mail and post.

The two winning personalities were clear leaders and both have succeeded in getting their messages across to farmers and non-farmers alike.

Mr Handley came to prominence as the leader of Farmers For Action, a group of farmers who took direct action in a bid to force up milk prices.

He led protests at supermarkets and dairy processing plants to force negotiations which eventually led to a 2p per litre rise in the price farmers were paid for milk.

Spurred on by that success, Mr Handley became a high profile figure in the years fuel blockades during joint actions by hauliers and farmers angry at high fuel taxes.

Clarissa Dickson Wright has been popular with Britains farming population ever since the series “Two Fat Ladies” sang the praises of hearty British cuisine.

This year, she won more fans among farmers as she teamed up with her hill farming friend Johnny Scott for the BBC series Clarissa and the Countryman.