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.
It is the question every woman has asked – how George Clooney spent his final hours as the world’s most eligible bachelor. But now the secrets of Clooney’s sophisticated stag do at a restaurant in Venice have been revealed. While many make do with a trip to the local pub, the Hollywood heartthrob feasted on … Continued
Filming for the new James Bond movie has been thrown into chaos after a row over a historic site in Rome. Producers had planned to shoot key scenes for Spectre on the 15th century Ponte Sisto Span with the golden gun bridge, including having Daniel Craig leap from a helicopter. But religious campaigners are furious as … Continued
I visited to the Greek island of Folegandros because I was intrigued by the name (King Minos’ son) and glittering white-cubed Anemi Hater on the slopes above the small port. That’s how most people get there, quite by chance. It only takes one visit to clinch it forever. There are certain places that begin to … Continued
Over the years, the residents of Grimsby have learned to endure an icy east wind and the mocking that accompanies any reference to the gloomily named town and its dependence on fish. But are they ready for Sacha Baron Cohen? An inside account from the Cape Town set of Cohen’s latest satire — based around … Continued
What’s in a name? In the case of Folegandros, history and holiday heaven in equal measure. Folegandros was a son of the great King Minos of Crete. Somehow, down through the years, he gave his name to a little island in the Cyclades — a gem of an outcrop, north-west of fabled Santorini. Most people … Continued
Jungle-faring contestants on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here could have been sitting down to a Friday night dinner with Jewish contestant Edwina Currie had she had her way, her husband has revealed, writes Sharon Feinstein. The image of the ex-MP cooking for minor celebrities and TV hosts Ant and Dec is not … Continued
She introduced herself to a new generation and survived everything the producers of I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Herethrew at her. But all Edwina Currie wanted out of her appearance was a home extension, says her husband. As the 68-year-old former MP prepares to fly back to Britain after her … Continued
He’s the lucky lottery winner who’s already blown £80,000 on a booze-fuelled around-the-world jaunt. And Matt Myles isn’t planning to stop there. After travelling to a lifetime of dream locations in just eight months, Matt is splashing the cash in the millionaire’s paradise of Dubai – where he’s already spent £8,000 in a day. He … Continued
