The ballad of Connie and Babs
A few weeks ago executives were endeavouring to bring home to Conrad Black the full horror of his personal and corporate predicament, when a sight met their eyes. His wife Barbara, clad only in a leotard and shades, had swept into the room. For a moment nobody spoke. ‘Oh Conrad,’ Barbara Black proclaimed: ‘Let’s just get out of here. They hate us.’
Barbara Amiel was born in Watford, and she enjoyed the kind of childhood that, if survived at all, instils resilience through life.