The former Tory MP made the revelation in her final magazine column, published this week despite her tragic killing. A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder15:58, 15 Jul 2026Ann Widdecombe used her final magazine column to tell how England's World Cup heroics made her smile in her final days - despite admitting she hated football.‌The former Cabinet Minister made the comments in her final Widdy Wisdom magazine column, which was published in this week's best magazine despite her tragic death last Wednesday. The glossy magazine made no mention of Ms Widdecombe's death in the printed product and it is believed the announcement came too late to alter its content.‌In the page 23 column, Ms Widdecombe wrote: "I hate football and I am bored with Wimbledon so currently my TV is firmly off. The saturation coverage is unbearable and indeed in 2012, when Britain was hosting the Olympics, I went up the Mekong River in Asia to escape it all."‌But she added: "Yet there is undeniably something infectious about other people's excitement and I was not one of the po-faced miseries who grumbled about the pubs being open all night when we were playing Mexico. "Nay, as soon as I woke up, I checked the score and smiled as I imagined the hullabaloo of rejoicing which doubtless broke out up and down the country as the third goal was scored while I was in the Land of Nod. It is the same spirit that people clap in restaurants when at another table the diners sing Happy Birthday."Ms Widdecombe, who was aged 78, was found dead in her home in Haytor, Devon, last Thursday. The veteran politician, lately a spokeswoman for Reform UK, is believed to have lain dead in her kitchen for 24 hours after she sustained serious injuries in the isolated cottage where she lived with her cat last Wednesday.‌In her last magazine column, written just days before she died, Ms Widdecombe, who had an outdoor swimming pool at her home also wrote about her lack of sporting talent. She said: "The only sports I ever enjoyed participating in were swimming (still do but now very gently) and riding (osteoporosis says no)."At school my sprint would have disgraced a tortoise, I could barely lift the discus. let alone throw it and my despairing PE teacher, who was a kindly Christian soul and hated saying anything negative, once wrote on my report 'Ann is polite and helpful and always volunteers to put the equipment away'. It caused such amusement to my family that it became a trope for anything hopeless."‌Ms Widdecombe also used what became her final column to talk about her time starring in panto and how she loved witnessing children enjoying it. She wrote: "Whenever people ask me what I most enjoyed about doing pantomime I reply that for four or five weeks all I heard was the sound of children laughing. Kids laugh at anything and it is one of the best sounds in the world."She added: "When I lived near Fulham football ground I grumbled mightily at the traffic but out in the garden I used to grin as we would hear the build-up to a goal and then either a roar of delight or a huge groan. Football is fine, as long as I don't have to watch!".Writing on the best Magazine Facebook page on July 10, the publication said: "This morning, best lost our much-loved columnist Ann Widdecombe – the Queen of Common Sense.‌"The former MP, known for her straight talking and having little time for “whingers”, became just as well known in later life for her love of animals. She adored her cat, Aloysius, opposed fox hunting and was a patron of a donkey sanctuary. "She also won a whole new generation of fans on Strictly Come Dancing, where she famously – in her own words – “galumphed” her way to the semi-finals with Anton Du Beke. Ann was witty, forthright, and never afraid to speak her mind. "She was a unique voice and a treasured part of the best family. We’ll miss her enormously, and our thoughts are with her family, friends and everyone whose lives she touched."The prime suspect in Ms Widdecombe's killing, a 28-year-old White British man is still being quizzed on suspicion of murdering her at her home - four days after armed police swooped on his mid-terrace house in Rotherham, South Yorks, some 270 miles away.‌The man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday before being re-arrested on Monday accused of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. On Tuesday, police were granted a warrant of further detention meaning the suspect can be held for questioning for up to seven days under the Terrorism Act.If approved, they could continue to hold him without charge for up to 14 days under the Terrorism Act. Detectives have been examining CCTV appearing to show the suspect putting a wooden stick in the back of a filthy and moss-covered red Vauxhall Corsa on the same day.Article continues belowNeighbours have described him as a loner who became increasingly reclusive after the death of his father last December. But Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the House of Commons on Monday the suspect was not known to the Government anti-extremism scheme Prevent.