Why write a biography? It only pins you down. Suffice to say I was born in Africa. And already that’s seeing the world without its skin. My father was the local gynaecologist. My mother was born in Strasbourg. My grandmother lived with us. In many ways I loved my childhood but not in others. I would have been cheating myself if I hadn’t left to study English literature in Britain. Before that I was lucky enough to live in Paris on the threshold of womanhood, in the spring, on my own, and of course that stays with you forever. We ate well and cheaply and I learnt to love wine and got engaged. At Edinburgh I got a First class MA Honours and the Janet Christie Bequest to study abroad. So we drove to Florence and lived in an old farmhouse for 8 months, learning Italian, studying at the British Institute.
In the slipstream of your life you imagine you’ll be a great writer, another Virginia Woolf, have the perfect family, be the best mother. So many impossible aims. I ended up being a journalist. A mother to one daughter. A lover. As a journalist I did quite a lot of good in the beginning. Campaigning stories, saving a horribly mistreated lioness in Italy, seals in the Hebrides, premature babies at Dulwich hospital in need of incubators, endangered leatherback turtles in Tobago. I have done a lot of travel articles, restaurant and hotel reviews, and many years of exciting seat-of-the pants Showbiz stories, travelling with Freddie Mercury, Rod Steward, Spandau Ballet, interviewing Angelina Jolie, Leonardo di Caprio, Bono, Jude Law. Now I’m writing a novel set in Venice and its working title is Behind the Mirror. With a novel, which takes years to write, you’re not the same person at the end of the book as you were at the beginning. The story has changed, the characters are deeper, but you have changed with them. You fall in love with all of them. I’m nearly ready to say goodbye to them and let them stand on their own.
Oscar Pistorius will only be able to leave his house to go to church when he is freed from jail next week. The devout Christian, whose faith is said to have deepened over recent months, must be accompanied on trips to attend mass. While under “house arrest” at his uncle’s home he will be allowed … Continued
Baan Klang Nam, which means House on the Water, is where the locals go, real Thai, hardly any tourists and absolutely buzzing. This isn’t a romantic hotspot but it is a great family restaurant. You can even take the mother-in-law if she’s tagging along. A converted teak house right on the Chao Phraya River with … Continued
A Middle East expert has relived the chilling moment he caught a rare glimpse of Jihadi John’s face during a shocking encounter in Syria. Jurgen Todenhofer was fact-finding in a terrorist stronghold when the British ISIS executioner – masked knife-wielding “star” of a series of sickening beheading videos – was assigned to be his driver. … Continued
Arriving in Rome is surreal, gliding past the ancient world in a taxi, the great spectacle of the Colosseum looming down with echoes of sacrificial screams and lion roars. On this day, Morgan Freeman is here for a remake of Ben Hur, with Daniel Craig down the road in Bond car chases. Rome is back … Continued
Sam Smith, who detests comparisons to Adele, could be about to follow in her footsteps by singing the theme tune to the next Bond film, Spectre. The British singer of the worldwide hit Stay with Me has been the bookmakers’ favourite for the job for some time. Now a senior music industry source has claimed … Continued
When Michael Bublé follows you to your bedroom, you know you’re staying in the right hotel. Admittedly it was all rather brief. We made a few clumsy stabs at jokes about my pyjamas and rumpled sheets and collected business cards. So we discovered this was his third stay – and mine – at the Belmond … Continued
Twilight actress Kristen Stewart has found new love – with her personal assistant Alicia Cargile. The star’s mum Jules Stewart has given her blessing to the relationship, which comes two years after Kristen, 25, split from long-term love Robert Pattinson, 29. Jules, 55, told the Sunday Mirror she has met Alicia and that the couple … Continued
The remains of the British victims of the Germanwings plane crash are finally ready to be returned to their families. Dad-of-two Martyn Matthews, 50, student Paul Bramley, 28, and baby Julian Pracz-Bandresy were among 150 killed when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, flew a jet into a mountain in the French Alps. After a 10-week search, … Continued
