 CHRISTINE
HAMILTON
 Christine
Hamilton appears
regularly
on television
and radio,
on news and
current affairs
programmes
and on entertainment
and chat shows.
Her repertoire
includes everything
from “Have
I Got News
for You”
to “News
Night”
and from “Jerry
Springer”
to “BBC
Religious
Affairs”.
She is in
demand to
speak at luncheons,
dinners and
gatherings
of all kinds
and has filled
both Oxford
and Cambridge
Unions. She
also speaks
in tandem
with her husband,
Neil, whenever
asked to do
so. She is
equally at
home with
male, female
or mixed audiences,
and has enlivened
many a conference
dinner with
her charm
and humour.
Christine
is a practised,
entertaining
and witty
speaker, lifting
the veil on
the discreet
yet not-so-discreet
World of Westminster
and talking
about her
Great British
Battleaxes.
Christine
acquired media
celebrity
overnight
for the forceful
support she
gave her husband
during his
high profile
1997 General
Election Campaign
in the Tatton
constituency.
The Battle
of Knutsford
Heath was
one of the
high spots
of the campaign.
Descriptions
of her ranged
from the insultingly
unflattering
to the admiringly
adulatory.
She was called
everything
from “The
Wife from
Hell”
to “The
Battling Lioness”.
Lampooned
in countless
articles and
cartoons as
a ferocious
Battleaxe,
she also aroused
admiration
in many quarters
for her spirit
and chutzpah.
She was described
by Lynda Lee
Potter as
having “the
valour of
the early
Christine
martyrs. With
more women
like her Britain
would never
have lost
the Empire.”
Inspired
by her own
caricature,
her first
book “Christine
Hamilton’s
Bumper Book
of British
Battleaxes”
was published
in October
1997 and is
now out in
paperback.
Light-hearted
and entertaining,
it is a colourful
cornucopia
of 33 Belligerent
British Belles
who have enlivened
the pages
of history
and, more
recently,
the headlines
of the popular
press. The
Battle-axes
range from
Queens Boadicea
to Victoria,
from Nancy
Astor to Margaret
Thatcher;
from Fanny
Cradock to
Bessie Braddock;
from Joan
Collins to
Ena Sharples;
from Cynthia
Payne to Edwina
Currie and
from Barbara
Cartland to
Barbara Woodhouse.
Christine
spent her
childhood
in the New
Forest area
where her
father was
a GP in Ringwood.
After graduating
from the University
of York she
worked at
the House
of Commons
for 26 years
as research
assistance
and secretary
to MP’s,
starting with
the flamboyant
Sir Gerald
Nabarro (MP
for South
Worcestershire
until he died
in 1973).
She worked
for her husband
from his election
in 1983 until
he lost his
seat in 1997.
Still controversy
dogs Christine
and Neil,
when they
were arrested
on the basis
of false accusations
and during
the crisis
were filming
the famous
documentary
with Louis
Theroux..
Christine
can be seen
on many TV
appearances
notably “I’m
A Celebrity
– Get
Me Out Of
Here !”
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