UK NEWS

WRITER IN DOG-RAGE ATTACK

Andrew Davies was set upon by dog owner

Sunday April 13,2008

By Brendan Abbot

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(5)

AWARD-WINNING writer Andrew Davies has revealed how he was headbutted and punched by a hoodie-clad thug in a “dog rage” attack.

Davies, 71, famous for raunchy TV adaptations of genteel classics, suffered a black eye as he was brutally felled.

He had warded off two Staffordshire bull terriers that were menacing his timid rescue dog Daisy when he was set on by their owner.

“It was dog rage,” said the stunned BAFTA and Emmy-winning writer, whose work includes Tipping the Velvet, Fanny Hill, Bleak House, Sense and Sensibility and the Bridget Jones films.

He was walking Daisy, who is terrified of wild dogs, in a park near his home in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, when he came under attack.

He said: “I drove one of them off. I shouted ‘Go on! Get out of it!’ and sort of aimed a kick at it, which was never really meant to connect, and didn’t.

“The dog got the message and went off but his owner shouted: ‘Don’t you ****ing touch my dog!’ and ran up and headbutted me and punched me in the eye. It knocked me clean off my feet. He was a big guy and I am quite little.”

Cardiff-born Davies, a former lecturer at nearby University of Warwick, has lived in Kenilworth with wife, Diana, a retired teacher, since the Sixties.

Police said the 6ft attacker, who was wearing a black tracksuit, put up his hood and fled after the assault.

They are now seeking a man in his early 20s in connection with the assault.

WHAT HAS "AWARD-WINNING WRITER" GOT TO DO WITH THIS?

13.04.08, 4:42pm

I am genuinely sorry that he was assaulted. But I fail to see how the fact that he is an award winning writer has anything to with the pros and cons of the case.
There is an increasing tendency for the media to assume that people working in the media are a race above.
The actual public opinion of them is if anything to the contrary.

• Posted by: MichaelC • Report Comment

DOG RAGE ATTACK.

13.04.08, 4:17pm

The ugly scene involving Andrew Davies is something I have experienced a few times as I walk my dogs in a local woods. There are morons in this country so stupid and aggressive, I think a pitbull in heat has fifty times the brain power. After the first time a vicous little bull-type opened my dog's cheek, and it's ape like owner wanted to slug me, I learned the lesson. That time, I refused to show fear, I am not a wimp and he sloped off muttering garbage.I then got a nice thick piece of stick which I carry with me every time. Offensive weapon, officer? Don't be ridiculous, dogs love a bit of stick chasing, don't they?With out any details, let me assure one and all who may read this, twice since that stick has settled arguments in my favour.

• Posted by: bluenote • Report Comment

DOG RAGE ATTACH

13.04.08, 4:16pm

What do you expect ? This is England in 2008.

• Posted by: kennyoldgit • Report Comment

ALWAYS TWO SIDES TO A STORY

13.04.08, 12:27pm

The problem was that he "sort of aimed a kick at it". How was the other dogs' owner meant to know it was not intended to connect? What if it had connected anyway? It might have done if the dog had moved unpredictably. The fact Andrew Davies' rescue dog was nervous due to problems of its own was not the fault of the probably friendly staffordshires. People do get provoked if they see someone apparently trying to hurt their dog. It's not right to retaliate by headbutting or punching, but it's not right to aim kicks at dogs either.

His dog may be helped by being taken to dog obedience classes or to see a dog-owning friend who will cooperate with the plan, so that it becomes used to being with other dogs in a controlled situation. Then maybe it will eventually be able to cope with other dogs approaching it in a park.

• Posted by: IJones • Report Comment

NOT ONLY IN THE UK

13.04.08, 2:18am

There will be many who scoff at the belief that in the last days of the Church on this earth, anarchy will be one of the birth pangs to provide for evidence of this biblical truth.

I really do grieve so much for the England I knew as a kid. Sure, horrible things did take place, but overall people were gentler then, more caring and considerate of their neighbours. The teaching of good manners, etiquette and parental discipline (which included smacking the little darling's behinds) were considered necessary and normal but then mums generally stayed at home to be all they could be as mums to their kids. Today our economy dictates otherwise and mums are paid to leave their babes at home.

Today, thuggery and violence, lack of respect for older people, abuse of mums and dads, vulgarity in the extreme, hate, rage, anger, violence, young girls walking around half naked, breasts hanging out, never having been taught what it is to dress "becomingly" prevail. Why? Because secularism and ungodliness dominate. In other words - there is no fear "awe" of God and no need to know Him. So then today all that that remains is but a shell of the Britain I knew and loved so much, which lives only within my memory.

I am deeply saddened for this lovely English gentleman and his precious companion. I have had similar occurrences here in the quiet backwaters of our beautiful fishing town where we live on the East Coast of Australia. A neighbour's dog opposite is allowed to roam unrestrained and chased me and my beautiful miniature dachshund into our home. I just managed to catch him up and was near enough to the front door to make it inside. Later the same dog, accompanied by another canine friend set to a smaller dog who squealed with terror. I intervened. These same neighbours and their friends said the little dog would be better off if the big dogs had killed it. Now they say that they cannot friends to me because I have "a thing about their dog" when in fact I love all animals - including snakes. I just believe that if people are going to have animals of any sort they should be prepared to look after them properly.

I wrote this little verse not long after I first left England so many years ago:

I think I've left them long behind far across the sea
Those little common courtesies that mean't so much to me.
A friendly nod, a caring voice, a thank you dear for that,
No longer there, so sadly missed the warm and cosy chat.
The friendly ear just mean't for me,
The friendly morning cup of tea,
The special deeds done lovingly
Were part and parcel of my life so far across the sea.
I've tried so hard to bring them back
There's no acceptance, just assumption.
All whys and wherefors and presumption
No soft sincerity.
I think I've left them far away, way across the sea.

This hardly rings true of the UK today.