Carol Klein’s father was ‘distressed’ she was a girl ‘I was called Bill for a year!’

Sadly, he died four years ago from mesothelioma, a disease typically associated with asbestos exposure to the lungs.

Carol developed a passion for gardening early on, but her father made it clear that he disapproved, branding her hobby “a waste of time”.

He’d been equally scathing about her interest in art, to the point that when she earnt a place at a Bolton arts school, she attended in secret for weeks.

That wasn’t the only schooling-related drama she associates with her father.