Helen Fielding modelled Bridget Jones'Mr Wallaker on real-life teacher
The
private school teacher who inspired Bridget Jones’s new romantic hero
told today how he thought author Helen Fielding was joking when she
asked if her hunk could be based on him. Move
over Mark Darcy! Teacher Andrew Walliker, 53, is the inspiration for
Spot
the difference: Helen Fielding says teacher Mr Walliker, left, looks
‘a bit like’
Chess-playing
hero: The real Mr Walliker, pictured with his son Harry, 12, plays
chess,
Mr
Walliker, who lives in Bushey, Hertfordshire, with his wife and children
Teddy, 17, Amy 15, and Harry, 12, said his family were amused when
Fielding rang him, but had forgotten about it since. The
original hero, played in the films by Colin Firth (above with Renée
Zellweger as Bridget),
Fielding
said: ‘We got hold of Mr Walliker who was in the New Forest, I told
him about it and he thought it would be great fun.’ Giving
rise to speculation about who might play the new romantic lead in any
future film of the third Bridget
Jones Diary, the Yorkshire-born author said the fictional Mr
Wallaker looked like James Bond actor Daniel Craig, as did his real-life
counterpart. Headmaster
Mr Douglas, 57, told MailOnline the Daniel Craig likeness had not
occurred to him before. He
said: ‘Helen rang me while I was on holiday in the Norfolk Broads and
I was more amused than surprised when she said she wanted to base her
hero on Andrew Walliker. She said she just really liked the name. ‘I
wouldn’t say he looks much like Daniel Craig but it’s a bit of fun
for all of us. Andrew has been here for years and is an absolute
star and we all love him. ‘But
I must admit I haven’t noticed any mothers throwing themselves at him
at the school gates.’ Fielding, who lives in both London and Los Angeles, has two children by American Kevin Curran, from whom she is now separated, Dashiell, nine, and Romy, seven. What Dashiell thinks of the decision to pick his teacher as a male lead has not been revealed.
Helen Fielding, above left, rang her son’s teacher and asked if he minded her naming the book’s hero after him
But
the move to include a handsome teacher in the third instalment of the
fictional diary will delight Bridget enthusiasts who have waited 14
years since the second instalment, Bridget
Jones: The Edge Of Reason, was published in 1999. The
heroine is no longer a tragic singleton but a 51-year-old heroine who is
now a mother-of-two, single since the swooned-after Mr Darcy died.
Living in north London and addicted to her smartphone, the up-to-date
Jones is having an affair with a younger man and coping with school-gate
politics. Fielding
has said she telephoned Mark Darcy actor Colin Firth to break the news
to him that his character had died. She
said: ‘I had to ask him if he had someone with him and if he was
sitting down – it was like someone had actually died. ‘I was almost
saying “I’m so sorry for your loss”.’ Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was published by Jonathan Cape last week. |