Lady Ayer
At a party (left) following her appearance on television programme After Dark in 1989
Born
Alberta Constance Chapman

(1925-03-19)19 March 1925
Providence, Rhode Island
Died24 June 2003(2003-06-24) (aged 78)
Known forTV commentator and writer
Spouse(s)Wells
A. J. Ayer
Childrentwo

Alberta Constance Wells, also known as Alberta Chapman, Dee Wells, Alberta Constance Ayer, Lady Ayer (19 March 1925 – 24 June 2003), was an American journalist, novelist, and broadcaster.[1]

Life

Alberta Constance Chapman was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1925.[1] She served in the Canadian Army before marrying a diplomat named Al Wells. They married in Paris where she had been working at the US embassy. They spent two years in Burma before the marriage ended amicably.[2] The daughter from this marriage was Gully Wells, who became a writer.[3]

She met the academic A. J. Ayer (Freddie Ayer) in 1956, and despite his infidelity she married him in 1960.[4] At this time she had been the books editor of the Daily Express for two years. During the 1960s she was frequently on TV including as a regular on Three After Six. The three in question were Benny Green, Alan Brien and herself. The programme would discuss the news and current affairs.[5] In 1965, the head of ITV had to apologise to the police after her suggestion that they might let an art thief "fall down some stairs". She wrote her forthright opinions for The Sun newspaper during the 1960s.

In 1973, her own novel Jane was published. It sold two million copies as it described the affairs of the eponymous heroine. She and her husband took up different interests and this included different partners. She moved to New York with a designer named Hylan Booker, whilst her former husband married Vanessa Lawson.

In 1989, she remarried Ayer; he died shortly afterwards. She died in 2003. She was survived by two children, a daughter by Al Wells and a son by A. J. Ayer.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Alberta Wells, ODNB, Retrieved 25 June 2016
  2. 1 2 Dee Wells, 12 June 2003, Daily Telegraph, Retrieved 25 June 2016
  3. ↑ Gully's travels, womanaroundtown.com, Retrieved 25 June 2016
  4. ↑ Henry Louis Gates; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 301–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  5. ↑ Amazing Depths, 14 January 1966, The Spectator, Retrieved 25 June 2016
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