Jan Leeming - Addicted to Love Jan Leeming

When Jan Leeming received an invitation to the annual Battle of Britain Memorial Day in July 2007 she had no idea of the journey it would set her upon.  After sponsoring a name on the Memorial she set about finding out more about the stranger she had been allocated.



"After a professional lifetime of interviewing and researching I was eager to find out more....  up came Rene's name on a Google search and the fact that he had written diaries during the war, which were published post-war... I am a romantic, pure and simple, and decided I would source a copy of the original diaries in French.  Finding a copy in an antiquarian bibliotheque in Belgium, I sent off the very reasonable sum of 10 Euros plus postage and soon received a copy with, would you believe, a little calling card stuck inside the cover to a Monsieur and Madame Griser, thanking them and sending her best wishes from 'Madame O. Mouchotte'.  What were the chances of that happening and that book ending up in my possesion?  I did not realise then that I was 'on a mission' and the more delving I did, the more I discovered, and the more deeply moved I became."



In a special episode of her successful podcast Jan Leeming charts her journey to bring the story of Rene Mouchotte to television and their republication.




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Jan Leeming concludes the reading of her autobiography 'Addicted to Love' - taking us back to 2002.
Romance beckons again and leads to a move to Kent.  She talks of her friendship with Jill Dando "I was incredibly flattered when Jill told me I'd been her role model in my days at HTV" and how sunflowers remind her of her.
Then returning home she finds a note from her husband and her world falls apart "It took a second or two for reality to dawn.  I still remember the cold shiver that went through my body despite the warmth of the day.  I felt dizzy and faint and heard an agonized cry from a long distance.  I realised the cry was mine."
This is the final episode of this series of Jan Leeming's 'Addicted to Love'.  The series will be back later in the year.

"In the words of Audrey Hepburn's character in the film, Roman Holiday - 'I was born with an enormous need for affection and a terrible need to give it.'  I am 'Addicted to Love.'"


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Reeling from her separation Jan plans a trip to South Africa but the press soon get word of her woes and pursue her for a story.  She accepts a job on The Big Breakfast "It was pure adrenalin that kept me going, as I'd had very little sleep for days" before jetting off.  
"Not only did I miss my husband desperately, but there was no regular work to take my mind off the situation, and I was concerned about the future financially.  I knew the house would have to go.  It had always been seen as the largest part of my pension plan, to be sold when we retired and to capitalise on the asset.  On my own I couldn't afford to retain it.  I ran away again."
After five weeks in Australia she returns to the UK and begins to rebuild her life.  A cruise to the Norwegian fjords with her son strengthens her resolve and she makes plans to move forward "I needed closure and initiated steps to divorce.  I needed that finality so that I wouldn't still be living in hope.  I had to face the future on my own, to get stronger and thank God for all the good things in my life."

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Jan causes controversy when Labour's communications director Peter Mandelson writes to the BBC to complain about her recording a Party Political Broadcast for the Conservatives.  Plans progress for her forthcoming marriage, to be held in Provence and she becomes one of the first presenters on This Morning, hosting the strand 'Makers' which viewers go wild for.
"I've always been fascinated by the Arts and Crafts world and we covered so many interesting subjects: the making of love spoons; creating lifelike pictures of animals from the dyed, dried grass Hare's tails; glass blowing; the making of automata.  The series must have been popular, because we went on to make twenty more."
She works with Sir Peter Ustinov on a documentary for American television on Jack the Ripper; with Susan George and Simon MacCorkindale on the film 'Stealing Heaven'; and gives her thoughts to Marks & Spencer on what was wrong with their local stores.  Then a shock announcement sends her world into turmoil.


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Jan becomes a firm favourite of TV viewers with viewing figures for the Sunday evening News being watched by over 14 million people.  Following the breakdown of her marriage she begins to see Eric Steenson and tells of some of the events she was invited to:

"I remember most when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman put in an appearance.  They arrived by helicopter and instead of being driven from the field... someone had organised a 'bridge' across the small stream so they could walk directly into the grounds.  Sarah trotted across very daintily but Andrew slipped and fell with both legs straddling the plank.  Ouch!  Remembering his rudeness to me I'm ashamed to say I smiled broadly.  But then so did a lot of other people!  Sarah was lovely."

A change of agents ahead of a BBC Newsroom reshuffle does nothing to help her position and despite still topping polls she is given a shorter contract and told "the BBC would prefer it if I made no waves and that if I didn't 'there would be other work' for me."

She recounts her memories of colleagues and friends, (as well as journalists) Richard Baker, Paul Daniels, Anne Robinson, Esther Rantzen, Sue Lawley, Selina Scott, Robert Lindsay, Emma Thompson, Russell Harty among them.




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Jan Leeming continues reading her 2003 autobiography 'Addicted to Love'.  Her professional life on a high, Jan publishes her beauty book 'Simply Looking Good', but separation from her husband leads to some ingenious ways to avoid the press.
"We propped up a ladder and I went over the dividing fence into their garden.  Then the neighbour drove out of his garage, with me lying low on the back seat.... and drove to a rendezvous point and transferred me to our car."  
A chance meeting with Eric Steenson turns into something serious and the couple enjoy a holiday in Provence.  "Provence is superb in the autumn, when most of the tourists have left and one can see the sights in comfort and still enjoy warm sunshine.  It was still warm enough to eat al fresco.  We ate in, we ate out, and we made love - so much so that at one point Eric suggested that I occupy myself with reading a book."

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