Adele King, aka Twink, tells Andrea Smith about her Christmas plans, family relationships and new TV programme on Maureen Potter.

At 70 years of age, Adele King is “extremely chuffed” to be Woman’s Way’s Christmas cover girl, and she is looking gorgeous and suitably festive on these pages.

And we’re delighted to have her, as Adele, aka Twink, remains one of Ireland's biggest and best-loved characters, being hilarious, colourful and often outrageous, with a very kind heart and an unrivalled ability to tell a story.

Adele is sad that the usual practice of welcoming family and neighbours to her beautiful 18th century Georgian home on Christmas morning won’t happen again this year due to Covid - a tradition that began long before Adele’s time.

As she is a cake-maker and chocolatier extraordinaire, who creates exquisite pieces of art in the form of cakes, guests always enjoyed plenty of treats along with a glass of bubbly, and all went home with some of Adele’s creations.

“I have the nicest neighbours on the planet, and we have the best laugh and craic every year,” says Adele. “It was the saddest thing last year when, I’d say, for the first time in over 300 years, the old lady - Idrone House - didn’t have a plethora of lovely people in on Christmas morning.”

Adele is an only child and was very close to her beloved parents, Leo and Elizabeth, who have now sadly passed away. “I was the love of their lives, and while they gave me every opportunity to pursue my love of ballet, art, performance, horses and all the rest of it, I wasn't spoiled,” she says. “I absolutely idolised them and miss their company terribly, and would do anything to have a coffee and chat with my mum again.”

For many years, Adele enjoyed hosting her in-laws, Bernadette and Arthur Agnew (who have now also sadly passed), her sister-in-law Brenda and her nieces, Kate, Béibhinn and Líobhan.

Last year was a more low-key affair, and Adele had Christmas dinner with her daughters, Chloe and Naomi, and ex-husband David, who is a very fine oboist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

“Naomi is a wonderful chef and we had the most lovely Christmas,” she says. “We had fabulous food, great craic and a super evening afterwards.”

Adele is hoping the four of them will spend Christmas Day together again this year, which may seem surprising. As everyone knows, Adele and David had a very public and acrimonious breakup in 2004 when he left her for another woman, although this relationship is now over.

It was a very high-profile break-up that attracted huge media interest, complete with the now infamous leaked “zip up your mickey” voicemail. It also caused a temporary estrangement between David and his daughters, although that has been healed for many years now and they’re extremely close.

Happily, David and Adele have also become great friends again, and are a fine example of how people can move on from difficult situations with grace and renewed friendship.

“I phoned David the other night when he was coming back from a gig, and we talked for hours about everything under the sun and I kept him company while he was driving,” she says.

“I realise now what used to push his buttons and get him annoyed about me, and vice versa. Age brings a lot of wisdom, and I now recognise when a topic comes up that might cause a row so I don't push the buttons any more. We just have pleasant conversations.”

Adele adores Chloe and Naomi, who are beautiful young women with lovely personalities who are making great strides in their respective fields.

Chloe (32) was just 14 when she hit the big time with Celtic Woman, and she has also built a very successful solo career. She has the most stunning voice, and has been writing great songs and working with artists such as Nathan Carter on his US tours, John Driskell Hopkins from the Zac Brown Band and the Atlanta Pops Orchestra. “She is disgustingly talented,” agrees her proud mum. Chloe reunited with Celtic Woman for their latest album, Postcards from Ireland, and had around 130 shows lined up with the popular stage show and in her solo career when the pandemic hit, all of which, unfortunately, had to be cancelled.

Then there’s Naomi (28) who is the VIP speaker manager with the Web Summit, which involves taking care of very high-profile speakers. She spends months each year living in Lisbon, where the event is held.

“When I saw her working with Justin Trudeau, I said, ‘Am I buying a hat?’ because they looked so lovely together,” Adele laughs. “Alas, he’s married. Naomi is marvellous at her job and is on first name terms with the likes of Princess Beatrice and has worked with all these top models, politicians, rappers and influencers.”

Naomi has also worked in television, concert and event production, and she is an excellent chef with a real passion for food.

“I am so proud of both of my girls although I never wanted either of them working in this preposterously stupid entertainment business,” laughs Adele, who has been performing since she was a small child. “I think it’s a ludicrous way for an intelligent young woman to make a living. I didn’t pick it as a career, and even though I’ve tried to leave it countless times, it always comes looking for me.”

STRAIGHT TALKER

As everyone knows, Adele is very straight speaking, outspoken and direct – which has gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion.

She has also applied this approach to her relationship with her daughters. “I’m the matriarch, and mums are who you hope will put you on a good path for life,” she says. “And if that makes you unpopular by saying the things they don't want to hear, so be it.”

“I don’t ever see David get angry with the girls, because maybe he feels that he lost them once and doesn't want to lose them again,” she muses. “Whereas I don’t give a damn because I'm their mother so I just say what needs to be said.”

Adele has had some challenges in recent years, including the theft of her tiny Yorkshire Terrier, Teddy, who was thankfully recovered. A famed animal lover, she was devastated to lose her six dogs to old age over the past two years, with little Teddy’s death in October coming as a particularly hard blow.

“I’m in unspeakable pain over Teddy’s loss,” she says, sadly. “I see him everywhere I go as he was my beloved little pal and constant companion.”

One of the difficult aspects of getting older is losing friends and colleagues, and Adele was also heartbroken to lose her great friend Brendan Grace in 2019. She was delighted to recently attend the opening of the exhibition of his costumes - Brendan Grace and Bottler, The Liberty Boys - which is running at the Museum of Style Icons at Newbridge Silverware.

“I was never a person who thought about death, but when you get older, it’s all around you,” she says. “Christmas is a particularly hard time as you associate with family and friends and suddenly the numbers are dwindling rapidly. So I'd say to anyone reading this to treasure the people in your life as it's not guaranteed you’ll have them next Christmas.”

Adele is also heartbroken at the havoc the pandemic has wreaked on the entertainment industry, and she has obviously experienced first-hand the toll it has taken on her family, emotionally and financially.

“It has been the most crippling few years, and to say that we are in dire straits is an understatement,” she says. “I say that as someone who has never been one to air my personal woes publicly in the media, unless they go ahead and print things about me without my permission.”

“And I don't want to be saying, “Boohoo, poor me,” because so many people are in the same situation. I feel so sorry for the young entertainers and producers who have spent money putting on shows.

It seems such a travesty that the very people who keep people’s spirits up during any kind of global problem are the ones permanently kicked in the teeth.”

One of the upsides to life slowing down was that Adele rediscovered her love of art, and she has started painting again. Naturally, she is amazing at it, and is producing stunning works that would be the envy of many seasoned artists.

MAUREEN POTTER

She is also about to grace our screens again as she was thrilled to be asked by Waka TV to take part in a forthcoming episode of Shoulders of Giants on RTÉ. It follows six contemporary personalities paying tribute to the veterans who had an inspirational influence on their careers.

Adele’s tribute is to Maureen Potter who died in 2004. She first met her when she was one of the Gaiety kiddies, performing alongside the panto queen, actress and comedian.

“I was a bit of a pet of hers, and she used to call me ‘Young One’ and was always lovely to me,” says Adele, who went on to spend every Christmas for decades performing in panto.

One of the saddest aspects was that she remembers thinking that Maureen’s hand was huge when she had held hers as a small child, but as she looked at the handprints outside the Gaiety theatre, Adele saw how small Maureen’s actually were.

She thought she was an expert on the famous personality, but learned so much more about Potter’s fascinating life while making the programme.

“It’s incredible what a team of really good researchers can dig up that you didn't know,” she says. “And when we went out filming, we uncovered even more incredible stories. We did loads of wonderful interviews, and my general feeling was one of amazement as we went through Maureen’s wonderful life. I was so emotional making it, and think it will be such a marvellous programme for viewers to watch.”

Shoulders of Giants: Twink on Maureen Potter airs on RTÉ One on December 19.