Alberta Constance Wells, also known as Alberta Chapman, Dee Wells, Alberta Constance Ayer, Lady Ayer (19 March 1925 – 24 June 2003), was an American journalist, novelist, and broadcaster.

Life

Alberta Constance Chapman was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

in 1925.Alberta Wells
ODNB, Retrieved 25 June 2016 She served in the Canadian Army before marrying a diplomat named Al Wells. They married in Paris where she had been working at the US embassy. They spent two years in Burma before the marriage ended amicably.
12 June 2003, Daily Telegraph, Retrieved 25 June 2016 The daughter from this marriage was Gully Wells, who became a writer. She met the academic

A. J. Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer ( ; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989) was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books '' Language, Truth, and Logic'' (1936) and ''The Problem of Knowledge'' (1 ...

(Freddie Ayer) in 1956, and despite his infidelity she married him in 1960. At this time she had been the books editor of the ''Daily Express'' for two years. During the 1960s she was frequently on TV including as a regular on ''Three After Six''. The three in question were Benny Green,

Alan Brien Alan Brien (12 March 1925 – 23 May 2008) was an English journalist best known for his novel ''Lenin''. This took the form of a fictional diary charting Vladimir Lenin's life from the death of his father to shortly before his own demise in 1924. ...

and herself. The programme would discuss the news and current affairs.Amazing Depths
14 January 1966, The Spectator, Retrieved 25 June 2016 In 1965, the head of ITV had to apologise to the police after her suggestion that they might let an art thief "fall down some stairs". She wrote her forthright opinions for ''The Sun'' newspaper during the 1960s. In 1973, her own novel ''Jane'' was published. It sold two million copies as it described the affairs of the eponymous heroine. She and her husband took up different interests and this included different partners. She moved to New York with a designer named Hylan Booker, whilst her former husband married Vanessa Lawson. In 1989, she remarried Ayer; he died shortly afterwards. She died in 2003. She was survived by two children, a daughter by Al Wells and a son by A. J. Ayer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Alberta 1925 births 2003 deaths Writers from Providence, Rhode Island 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American novelists American women novelists Journalists from Rhode Island American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women