Oxford News
Rick Stein ‘nearly killed’ ex-wife in crash at Oxford University
The TV cook, now best known for his seafood restaurants and BBC travel series, grew up on a farm in Churchill, a small village just outside the market town of Chipping Norton.
Mr Stein later went on to study English at Oxford, further strengthening his ties to Oxfordshire alongside his upbringing in the Cotswolds.
During his time as a student, he maintained a long‑term relationship with Jill Stein, who would go on to co‑found and run the business side of his restaurant empire.
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The couple later married, remained together for many years while building their businesses, and eventually divorced after their relationship broke down.
In a recent interview with The Times, the 76-year-old revisited a near‑fatal incident in Oxford which she says has left her with permanent hearing loss.
She had moved to London while Mr Stein was at Oxford, and had arranged to meet him in Oxford for a weekend.
Ms Stein discovered that he was instead drinking at a student club and confronted him when he eventually arrived at the pub where she was waiting.
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He recalled in the book that he reacted “angrily but also very lustfully”, but remembering that night, Ms Stein told The Times: “He did nearly kill me.”
Driving fast on the Oxford bypass, Mr Stein crashed into roadworks and hit a 44‑gallon drum, sending an oil lamp through the windscreen and into her head.
Ms Stein said: “He could see that I was bleeding quite a lot and I said, ‘oh, just put me to bed. I’ll be fine.’ And he thought, even though he was drunk, ‘no, I’m not sure about this’.
“‘I think I’ll ring the ambulance’. So he rang the ambulance and, because it was a 999 call, the police came along as well, and they breathalysed him.”
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At the John Radcliffe Hospital, a brain surgeon operated on her, and during her interview with The Times, Ms Stein pointed to her left side and added: “And that’s why I can’t hear in this ear.”
Asked how long it took her to forgive him, she reflected: “I never blamed him really. I don’t know why, but I didn’t.”
Mr Stein later began a relationship with Sarah Burns, a publicist who had worked with his company, while he was still married to Jill Stein.
The affair eventually led to the end of his first marriage, and he went on to marry his second wife in 2011, with the couple now living between Australia and the UK.
Traffic was halted on the major trunk motorway at about midday on Friday, August 7, because of a serious collision.
Cars were stopped and diverted before junction 10 with Ardley heading northbound on the motorway, before junction 11 with Banbury, and drivers travelling southbound were also stopped to allow an air ambulance to land.
READ MORE: M40 closed with two hour delays due to ‘serious’ crash
Cars experienced delays in excess of two hours on the northbound approach, with six miles of congestion reported, as well as significant delays on the A34 towards the Wendlebury Interchange and junction with the M40.
Thames Valley Police has been approached for more information on what happened but has not provided a response.
The motorway had reopened by about 3pm but residual delays remained for much of the afternoon.
Thames Valley Police’s rural crime taskforce, which frequently patrols the countryside across the north of Oxfordshire, have now revealed its officers were the first on the scene.
A spokesperson said they provided ‘an immediate response and support to those invovled’ and it is understood other emergency responders subsequently attended the scene.
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The officers also dealt with a stolen car in Kidlington and seized a van with no insurance whose driver had no licence.
In Chieveley, the taskforce arrested a driver on suspicion of possession of class A and class B drugs and driving whilst unfit through drugs, without a licence and without insurance.
It was described as a ‘proactive day highlighting the wide range of incidents Rural Crime Taskforce officers respond to across the force area’ by the team.
Environmental charity Earth Trust shared a video of the remnants of a barbecue still smouldering and surrounded by litter and burnt wood at historic chalk beech mounds the Wittenham Clumps in South Oxfordshire.
The fire, discovered on Friday, August 8, came just a day after the charity warned people about the dangers of barbecues at the green space during the extreme drought the county is facing, as ‘a single spark could develop into a wildfire’.
READ MORE: Mum jailed after teen girl beat up man, 50, hours before his death
A spokesperson for Earth Trust said: “The reality is that one small fire could easily burn through the whole of the Clumps and Bessie’s Field grasslands.
“It could spread into the hedgerows, damage the woodlands, and cause real, lasting harm to the archaeology of Castle Hill.
“A disposable BBQ might look harmless. A few glowing embers might seem like nothing. But in dry grassland, that is all it takes.
READ MORE: Police taskforce ‘first on scene’ of crash which closed M40
“Please do not bring BBQs or light fires at the Clumps or any of our nature reserves. Take your litter home. Leave no trace.
“If you see vegetation on fire, no matter how small, call 999 immediately and ask for the fire service. Do not put yourself at risk.”
People are asked to bring picnics instead, take all litter home, leave no trace on the landscape and report any signs of fire immediately to protect the iconic landscape.
The former UK Prime Minister, who lives just outside of Wallingford with his family, was paying tribute to Rod Liddle in a new article in The Spectator following the broadcaster’s death.
Mr Liddle died on Sunday, August 2, after a short illness and having spent his career in journalism and Mr Johnson has now paid tribute to him.
In his Spectator piece, the former Henley MP wrote: “Look at what has happened to free speech in the last couple of decades: J.K. Rowling all but cancelled just for saying a woman is a woman; the cops knocking on your door for non-crime hate incidents; students banning brilliant minds from their campuses; endless ridiculous ‘content warnings’; people fired just for a stray comment on the internet.
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“It’s mad, and yet more and more journalists have been invisibly capitulating. We have been toning it down, cutting that joke, sandpapering things to avoid getting into trouble.
“Not Rod Liddle. In the last few years he seemed to become more and more exceptional: still blazing away from his lonely but glorious redoubt.”
Ms Rowling, who wrote all the books in the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, has told of her growing “fury” after a leading human rights charity branded the sexual violence support centre she founded “anti-rights”.
The sector’s watchdog has confirmed it is investigating the matter.
The Harry Potter author said she is willing to support legal action on the issue, after a report published by Amnesty International UK listed Beira’s Place alongside several other organisations described as “gender critical” and classed as “anti-rights”.
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The list also named For Women Scotland, which won a Supreme Court case in April 2025, which saw judges at the UK’s highest court rule that the term “woman” in the Equality Act refers to a biological woman.
Beira’s Place was established in Edinburgh in 2022 by Rowling to provide women-only support for women who have experienced sexual violence.
Rowling posted on X on Friday: “Amnesty’s attack on Beira’s Place has left me burning with the kind of fury that mounts with every passing hour.”
She had previously stated that Amnesty had made a “massive error of judgment” if it believed “organisations it has attacked will be unwilling to go to court”.
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She added: “They underestimate both the solidarity that exists between the targeted organisations and my willingness to support legal action, not just on behalf of Beira’s Place, but for all women’s and LGB organisations falsely branded ‘anti-rights’.”
The Charity Commission said on Thursday that it was looking into the issue and confirmed on Friday that it had opened a case into the matter; however, it has not yet taken the step of opening a formal inquiry.
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We have opened a regulatory compliance case to further assess concerns raised with us about a briefing published by Amnesty International UK Charitable Trust.
“As part of this, we will be engaging with the charity’s trustees to gather more information.”
The commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, also said the charity had referred itself to the watchdog by submitting a serious incident report.
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