A cornerstone of Dalek Snowdon's campaign is his status as a Family Being. Features editor Melinda Blithber visits the Snowdons at home. Behind every powerful man, they say, is a strong woman, or, in this case, a heavily armoured cybernetic hermaphrodite with a raygun. When Dalek Jessica Snowdon meets me at the door of the Snowdon's graciously appointed Church Bay mansion it's obvious at a glance that she's a force to be reckoned with. It's traditional in Dalek society for the female-designate of the species to go out to war to support their layabout husbands. Jessica, however, as heiress of the Skaro Ka-Tek Clan, has no such need. Born in 1969, Jessica had a comfortable and privileged childhood. On leaving school in 1985, she set off on her gap year of travel before starting a BA in Discombulation and Monsterology at the University of Skaro.  Jessica Dalek, seen her in her gracious Church Bay home Despite his lowly background (the Snowdon family were running a Cardiff fish and chip shop at the time) the pair found they had much in common. After exterminating everyone in the pub, Jessica and Snowdon left together. And thus began a whirlwind romance – holding plungers in the park, candlelit dinners, dancing and extermination. They were married in 1986. After a honeymoon spent on a Spelunking holiday in the Lakes District, they emigrated to New Zealand on the basis that it was just as rainy, dull and full of sheep as Wales, but with 3 million new people that they hadn't exterminated yet. Son Jeremy was genetically engineered in 1987, followed by daughter Amanda in 1989. "Jeremy's our pride and joy" says Jessica. "He's very active and outgoing. He's a great sportsbeing, always has been, right from when he was playing hide-and-exterminate with his little friends from school. He grew out of it though, round about the time he ran out of little friends, so he started looking for a newer, more challenging sport more suited to his violent disposition. That was when he discovered football." The lack of feet has certainly not discouraged young Jeremy from climbing the ranks of his chosen sport. He's now representing Auckland at an international level. His dream, though, is to play for Manchester United. "The normal violence of football isn't enough for him. He's always after new challenges, and he really likes the idea of riots and bloodshed on a huge scale." Amanda, in contrast to her brother, has turned out as a surprisingly quiet and shy type. "It's a sad thing for any parent to admit, but Amanda's a little bit of a disappointment. She reads books occasionally, has shown a disturbing interest in theatre, and once she cried when someone flushed a spider down the plughole. "We were thinking of having her exterminated, but we decided to send her to Catholic school instead." Once both offspring started school, Jessica settled down to the life of a gracious lady of leisure. Stylish and glamorous, she is every inch the society wife, from her lovely, all-natural gold patina to her perfectly toned physique. "I like to keep myself in shape" she says. "There's this misconception that Daleks have no concept of elegance. But that's just an excuse. I exercise daily, avoid caffeine and eat only macrobiotic vat grown protein. I'm not like the old generation who let themselves go once they've exterminated the population of a planet and settled down. I know some Daleks who still dress like it's the 1970s and haven't had a genetic rebuild since 1986." That certainly isn't the case with Jessica, who's dressed to impress in the very latest battle armour. "It's the from the BBC Spring 2006 collection. It did put rather a dent in Snowdon's platinum card, but he says it's worth it." Indeed, Jessica is making quite a name for herself as a fashionista about town. She's regularly spotted among Auckland's elite, lunching at Racnoss's Brasserie before spending an afternoon browsing the fine boutiques of Auckland's fashion district. She's even launching her own fashion label at the 2007 Fashion Week. "Finding stylish battle armour isn't a problem, though you may have to shop around. Mine's not off the peg, obviously. I have a little man in the Dalek Builder's Guild who takes care of my couture needs. But the real Achilles heel of most Dalek wardobes is the lingerie. Not even the Dalek Builder's Guild have given much thought to those all-essential feminine unmentionables. Or if they have, they're not admitting it. "I felt it was time to address this. No elegant Dalek-about-town is going to feel properly dressed if underneath her battle armour she's wearing Bridget-Jones style giant cotton horror knickers. So I've come up with a specialist lingerie line. Pure silk, very sensuous, adapted to our uniquely imposing and beautiful physiques. " At present the Davros' Secret collection is available only in Dalek biotiques. However, Jessica hopes soon to market her line to a wider public. "We're starting small at first." she admits. "We've got interest from certain quite specialised shops in the K Road area. I'm hoping that this will start to bring Dalek fashion design to the forefront." "There's no reason that Daleks need to be seen as the fashion pariahs of the Galaxy. That's what Time Lords are for. "Well, until we exterminated them, anyway." • |
