Pattie Coldwell

Patricia Ann Coldwell (14 May 1952 – 17 October 2002) was a British television and radio presenter and journalist.

Early life Coldwell was born on 14 May 1952 in Clitheroe, Lancashire, the daughter of Eunice (née Salter) and Gordon Ellison Coldwell, a policeman. She attended Clitheroe Royal Grammar School for Girls before working as a secretary. She progressed to nationally networked programmes, such as Nationwide, Open Air, and, on BBC Radio 4, You and Yours. In 1988, she made a documentary for BBC1, Remembering Terry, which followed the final days and ultimate death of Aids sufferer Terry Madeley, winning an award from the Terrence Higgins Trust. In 1992, she had a daughter, Dannie, from the marriage. Six years later, the marriage ended in divorce. In 2002, she married fisherman Evan John, in Newbury, Berkshire, having met him on a family holiday on the Caribbean Island of Bequia in 1998. she had had breast cancer previously, being first diagnosed in 1997 and then in 1998. Coldwell died on 17 October 2002 in hospital in Newbury.

She continued to work until her death, and in her final months wrote about how she lived with terminal cancer in her Daily Express column. A week before her death, she wrote: "I went to bed in a sulk and found myself riveted to a documentary about Thalidomide 40 years on. The drug was given to pregnant women to stop morning sickness. The tragic outcome was that several hundred children were born without arms and legs – and I think I've got problems ... Many have developed successful careers. . . One's a club entertainer who brought the house down when he boasted about getting to the front of the queue at Homebase on a Bank Holiday weekend with his mobility sticker. It's wonderful to see barriers broken down about disability through laughter. It brought me back to realising how lucky I am."