The Author Archive Podcast

Sarah Waters : Fingersmith

Sarah Waters burst onto the literary scene at the very end of the last century with her novel 'Tipping the Velvet'

The story centered on the love between two women in Victorian England.

Her next novel Affinity was again set in Victorian times and centres on the spiritualism beliefs of the time.

In this interview Sarah talked to me about her novel Fingersmith.

In Victorian slang what was a Fingersmith? And how did a collector of contempory pornography have a place in the story?

Maggie Gee : The White Family

This novel was nominated for award when it was first published over 20 years ago.

It has a message of acceptance and tolerance which, sadly, is still totally relevant.

The novel was republished last year.

 

Simon Kuper - Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK

There is a thought that UK politics is still suffering from 'long Boris'. His attitudes and behaviour still cast a long shadow.

How did it all come to pass in the first place? How did Johnson and his coterie ever make it to the top of the pyramid?

In this detailed  and depressing book FT journalist Simon Kuper traces the idea of Brexit back to toffs in the Oxford Union in the late 1980s. 

As the UK government enters a death spiral in 2023 and the Conservative party fractures yet again the events covered in this book must surely be the base cause of the malaise.

2023 marks 50 years since the UK realised it no longer had an empire and joined Europe. And then catastrophically 52% of the electorate were persuaded that their lives would be better if we left. How wrong can you be?

 

Henry Sanderson - Volt Rush : electric cars and the race to go green

Once again transport is in the news. Is high speed rail the way forward? Should petrol and diesel cars be removed from sale by 2030?

I moved over to an EV 8 years ago and have never been tempted to go back. In my experience the cars keep improving and much more slowly the charging infrastructure is getting marginally better.

In Volt Rush Henry Sanderson tells the story of the electric car from the early 19th century to the current challenges facing the global industry.

Although an electric vehicle doesn't emit carbon dioxide and is thus 'clean' the raw materials in the battery have to be mined somewhere. There is big money to be made.

Who is winning the Volt Rush?

Jackie Collins , Joan Collins

It's good to see that Joan Collins is embarking on a tour talking about her life under the title 'Behind the Shoulder Pads'.

I remember a televised conversation I had with Joan. Her assistant decreed that the lighting must be subtle but Joan herself insisted on full on straight in the face spots. I had theories why this might be her preference.

Over the years I interviewed Joan and her sister Jackie a few times. It was always 'an event'.

The Collins sisters spoke to me in London at the end of the last century. Jackie was promoting her novel 'Thrill' about the glamorous world of Hollywood, and Joan was encouraging interest in her autobiography 'Second Act'. Both sisters were happy to talk about themselves.

Sadly Jackie died in 2015 .... but Joan marches on!

Anita Shreve : The Last Time They Met

Anita Shreve was a very successful writer mainly focussing on love and romance. She died in 2018 but her books still sell very well.

She wrote the stories and lived the life marrying four times.

She talked to me about her novel which is about a love that lasted through life even though the couple hadn't spent their lives together.

I remember her as a very attractive and sparkly interviewee.

Timothy Good - UFOs

The UFO and alien question is all over the TV news in the Uk and the US. Again.

In this interview on the subject David Freeman, a UFO skeptic, met UFO true believer Timothy Good when his book Unearthly Disclosure was first published.

The conversation was friendly but inquisitive!

So are UFOs real?  Are those little creatures with three fingers that are on the TV screens real aliens?

 

Sir Rannulph Fiennes, Eric Newby, Lucy Irvine.

It's autumn again which means it's time for the splendid Cheltenham Festival of Literature again.

A few years ago as part of the festival I interviewed Sir Rannulph Fiennes on stage at the Everyman Theatre about his family history book 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'.

I remember shaking hands  - a non standard formality for him. He told me how he had to adopt a DIY approach to dealing with frost bite in his fingers.

In this episode there's a conversation I had with Sir Rannulph later in a London studio, a chat with the legendary travel writer Eric Newby, and the life of the unforgettable Lucy Irvine.

Lucy had replied to an advertisement in 1980 seeking a woman to spend a year on a desert island with a man she didn't know.  This  adventure became a film starring Oliver Reid. She tells me how she went on to write the story of another island dwelling family in her book Faraway.

Memorable stories.

 

Geraldine McCaughrean : The Kite Rider

Gerald McCaughrean is a hugely successful author of books for children.

The Kite Rider is recognised as a classic and in this conversation she tells me about the background to her story and man lifting kites!

Philippa Gregory - The Other Boleyn Girl

These  revelations about life at the Tudor Court are now well known , but when I talked to Philippa Gregory about 'The Other Boleyn Girl' it was all quite new.

When the book was first published it won romantic novel of the year.

For a book that starts and ends with an execution that seemed a bit odd.