by Brendan King
20 Draft of ‘He’s the Captain of the Team’, c. 1969.
21 Ibid.
22 Quoted in Eaves Farm Journal, 1969.
23 Eaves Farm Journal, 1969.
24 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. February 1974.
25 Letter to Harold Retler, 16 June 1969.
26 Eaves Farm Journal, 1969.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Jo Davies, diary entry, 26 August 1969.
31 Jo Davies, diary entry, 3 October 1969.
CHAPTER 24
1 ‘Christmas my delight’, unpublished article, c. 1973. BL MS 83793.
2 Jo Davies, diary entry, c. September 1969.
3 Belinda Davies, email to author, 26 January 2014.
4 The other episodes in which Beryl featured were: ‘The Devil’s Sweets’ (filmed 30–31 January 1970 and broadcast 23 March); ‘Hear No Evil’ (filmed 4 April 1970 and broadcast 4 May); ‘Survival Code’ (filmed 15 April 1970 and broadcast 11 May); ‘No Room for Error’ (filmed 15 September 1970 but not broadcast until 11 January 1971); and ‘You Killed Toby Wren’ (filmed 16 October 1970 and broadcast 14 December).
5 James Scott, email to author, 3 April 2011.
6 Letter from Don McKinlay, 7 February 1970.
7 According to the first draft of The Bottle Factory Outing (BL MS 83797), in the novel itself it is advertised in a newsagent.
8 Lili Todes, interview with author, 11 December 2012.
9 Willa Petschek, ‘Beryl Bainbridge and her tenth novel’, The New York Times, 1 March 1981.
10 ‘Pickled in a bottle factory – the very idea!’, interview with Molly Parkin, Evening Standard, 16 November 1974.
11 Jan Dawson, Sight and Sound, Winter 1972.
12 That is the version she told me, at least, in 1987. James Scott doesn’t recall her being uncomfortable during the shooting of the scene.
13 Clinical note dated 11 November 1969.
14 Letter from Don McKinlay, c. January 1970. Archive.
15 Letter from Don McKinlay, 17 March 1970. Archive.
16 Ibid.
17 Jo Davies, interview with author, 16 September 2013.
18 Letter to Don McKinlay, c. 1970–71.
19 ‘Mothers-in-law and firearms’, draft version of the article that appeared in the Daily Mail.
20 ‘The day I was nearly shot dead by my mother-in-law’, Daily Mail, 5 February 2009. When Beryl originally submitted the piece it was entitled ‘Mothers-in-law and firearms’.
21 Martyn Harris, ‘Biting hard on the bullet-hole’, Sunday Telegraph, 24 March 1991; Nicholas Wroe, ‘Filling the gaps’, Guardian, 1 June 2002.
22 Evening Standard, 1 June 1995.
23 Air pistols of this sort were usually only capable of firing a single shot at a time, and would have had to be reloaded for a second shot.
24 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. August 1967.
25 Letter to Harold Retler, 3 January 1968.
26 Shusha Guppy, ‘The art of fiction: Beryl Bainbridge’, Paris Review, no. 157, Winter 2000.
27 See Authors’ Lives, British Library sound recording, 2009. This is an extended series of interviews with Sarah O’Reilly, conducted between December 2008 and July 2009. In them, Beryl talks at length, and in what appears to be specific detail, about many aspects of her life. However, the interviews are seriously marred by the fact that she gave them without recourse to any corroborative documentation. Not only are many of the dates of the anecdotes inaccurate, substantial errors of fact go unchallenged, making the whole sequence extremely unreliable as a guide to Beryl’s life. The fact that the interviews have the imprimatur of the British Library, and will thus be taken by many to be authoritative, is a great pity. Although Beryl seemed to exhibit no signs of dementia in later life, at several points in the interview she struggles to remember the names of her novels: ‘I did a book . . . oh dear . . . well, it was about the theatre . . . A Pleasant Day or something . . .’ It is something of a shock to realize she means An Awfully Big Adventure. This memory lapse may have been the result of a stroke or her medication, but it may also be that she had taken too large a swig of whisky before going to the British Library, a tactic she often employed to get through interviews with people she didn’t know, but one which wasn’t conducive to accuracy.
28 Rudi Davies, interview with author, 6 August 2014.
29 This is the version Beryl told Colin, who recounted it in an article entitled ‘Publishing Beryl Bainbridge’, Bookseller, 5 September 1981.
CHAPTER 25
1 Colin Haycraft, ‘Publishing Beryl Bainbridge’, Bookseller, 5 September 1981.
2 Christopher Hurst, The View from King Street: An Essay in Autobiography, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1997.
3 Colin Haycraft, ‘How we met’, Independent on Sunday, 21 October 1991.
4 The incident was reported in the newspapers at the time; see for example, Aberdeen Journal, 24 April 1929.
5 Michael Holroyd, interview with author, 25 June 2013.
6 Colin Haycraft, ‘How we met’, Independent on Sunday, 21 October 1991.
7 George Weidenfeld, ‘At Weidenfeld & Nicolson’, in Colin Haycraft: Maverick Publisher, ed. Stoddart Martin, Duckworth, 1995.
8 Alan Bennett was staying with Jonathan Miller when Colin and his family arrived in 22 Gloucester Crescent, but he moved in next door at number 23 – famously the setting for the events described in The Lady in the Van – in 1968.
9 Barry Baldwin, review of Colin Haycraft: Maverick Publisher, ed. Stoddart Martin, Duckworth, 1995, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 7.2, 1996, p. 131.
10 See, for example, Haycraft’s comments in ‘Publishing Beryl Bainbridge’, Bookseller, 5 September 1981, and ‘How we met’, Independent on Sunday, 21 October 1991.
11 The late Oliver Sacks consistently testified to Colin Haycraft’s gifts as an editor throughout his career, which was effectively launched by the success of Awakenings (Duckworth, 1973). Colin had encouraged Sacks to finish the book after Jonathan Miller had given him its first nine case histories in uncorrected typescript form. ‘Colin did an amazing thing,’ Sacks recalled, ‘he gave me the nine case histories in proof, without consulting me or consulting anyone he’d gone straight from uncorrected manuscript into proof. It was proof for me that he really thought the book was good.’ (See video interview on www.webofstories.com). After that, Sacks sent the remaining case histories as they were written down to Colin, and they would then go over them ‘in minute detail’. See On the Move, Picador, 2015.
12 Zelide Cowan, interview with author, 10 September 2015.
13 Letter to Don McKinlay, c. 1971.
14 This wasn’t so much of a concern for some Duckworth authors, as many were salaried academics who could afford to put up with small advances.
15 ‘Kindred spirits’, Guardian, 19 March 2005.
16 The official title of the novel was Harriet Said . . . but I have deleted the ellipsis to avoid confusion over punctuation.
17 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. November 1966.
18 This and subsequent two quotes, interview in The Times, 3 September 1981.
19 Letter from Colin Haycraft to the National Book League, 19 April 1972.
20 Duckworth press release, September 1972.
21 Karl Miller, ‘A novelist worth knowing’, The New York Review of Books, 16 May 1974.
22 Jo Davies, diary entry, May 1971.
23 ‘Pickled in a bottle factory: the very idea!’, interview with Molly Parkin, Evening Standard, 16 November 1974.
24 ‘Beryl Bainbridge: lady with the dangerous typewriter’, interview with Sally Vincent, Cosmopolitan, March 1979.
25 ‘Bitter sweet Beryl’, Liverpool Daily Post, 19 October 1979.
26 ‘Pickled in a bottle factory: the very idea!’, interview with Molly Parkin, Evening Standard, 16 November 1974.
27 ‘A visit with a friend – now a top British writer’, interview with Judith Kirk (née Gleeson), Focus, 20 April 1
979.
28 ‘Pickled in a bottle factory: the very idea!’, interview with Molly Parkin, Evening Standard, 16 November 1974.
29 Interview with Terry Waite, Terry Waite Takes a Different View, Thames, 1986.
30 Letter to Anna Haycraft, c. April 1972.
31 Letter to Anna Haycraft, c. May 1972.
32 Letter from Colin Haycraft to Roger Hancock, 2 May 1972.
33 Letter to Anna Haycraft, c. June 1972.
34 Letter from Roger Hancock to Colin Haycraft, 19 January 1973.
35 Letter from Colin Haycraft to Roger Hancock, 23 January 1973.
36 ‘Exhibition of Contemporary Art’, Camden Studios, 9–18 April 1968.
37 Liverpool Echo, 30 September 1972.
38 Quoted in Psiche Hughes, Artist, Writer, Friend, Thames & Hudson, 2013, p. 90.
39 Alfred Green, ‘Eyes left for Capt. Dalhousie’, Liverpool Echo, 30 September 1972.
40 Quoted in Psiche Hughes, Artist, Writer, Friend, Thames & Hudson, 2013, p. 90.
41 Letter from Nigel Mackenzie, c. October 1972.
42 See Psiche Hughes, Artist, Writer, Friend, Thames & Hudson, 2013, p. 104.
43 Alfred Green, ‘Eyes left for Capt. Dalhousie’, Liverpool Echo, 30 September 1972.
44 This and subsequent quote: draft of ‘He’s the Captain of the Team’, BL MS 83793.
45 ‘Pickled in a bottle factory: the very idea!’, interview with Molly Parkin, Evening Standard, 16 November 1974.
46 ‘Beryl Bainbridge: dressmaker novelist’, interview with Gareth Marshallsea, Books & Bookmen, February 1974.
47 ‘Pickled in a bottle factory: the very idea!’, interview with Molly Parkin, Evening Standard, 16 November 1974.
48 Karl Miller, ‘A novelist worth knowing’, The New York Review of Books, 16 May 1974.
49 ‘Bad old days’, The Times Literary Supplement, 28 September 1973.
50 Anthony Clare, In the Psychiatrist’s Chair, BBC Radio 4, 1999.
51 Interview with George Yeatman for the Booker Prize in 1973.
52 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. February 1974.
CHAPTER 26
1 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. February 1974.
2 Challenge Duplicate Notebook, 1974. BL MS 83795.
3 ‘Opponents in the generation game’, Guardian, 5 April 1990.
4 Challenge Duplicate Notebook, 1974. BL MS 83795.
5 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. March 1964.
6 ‘Opponents in the generation game’, Guardian, 5 April 1990.
7 ‘Eric on the Agenda,’ Bananas, no. 2, 1975.
8 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. February 1974.
9 Ibid.
10 Draft letter to Alan Sharp, c. 1966. BL MS 83731A.
11 Megan Tresidder, ‘The really awfully funny life of Beryl’, Guardian, 8 April 1995.
12 The Bottle Factory Outing, Duckworth, 1974, p. 10.
13 Peter Straub, ‘The novelists: five seekers of the dream’, Vogue, August 1975.
14 Neil Lyndon, ‘Beryl said . . .’, Radio Times, 13 March 1976.
15 ‘Pickled in a bottle factory: the very idea!’, interview with Molly Parkin, Evening Standard, 16 November 1974.
16 Interview with George Yeatman for the Booker Prize in 1973.
17 Letter to Edward Pearson, c. October 1974.
18 Two months later Greene selected Bottle Factory as one of his books of the year, describing it as ‘an outrageously funny and horrifying story’. Graham Greene, Observer, 15 December 1974.
19 Ronald Blythe, The Sunday Times, October 1974.
20 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. February 1974.
21 Letter to Belinda Davies, c. December 1974.
22 Letter from Austin Davies to Belinda Davies, c. December 1974.
23 Letter from Austin Davies to Belinda Davies, 3 January 1975.
24 Letter from Austin Davies to Jo Davies, 17 June 1975.
25 ‘Beryl’s perils’, interview with Lynn Barber, Observer, 19 August 2001. Beryl stated that the three most important men in her life – her father, her husband and her publisher – had all been bankrupts. In fact only her father was a bankrupt.
26 Letter to Belinda Davies, c. February 1975.
27 Postcard from Clive de Pass, 11 August 1973.
28 Letter from Clive de Pass, c. 1974.
29 Letter from Clive de Pass, c. 19 November 1974.
30 Letter to Anna Haycraft, c. September 1973.
31 Letter from Clive de Pass, c. November 1973.
32 Letter to Belinda Davies, c. December 1974.
33 Letter to Belinda Davies, c. February 1975.
34 Sun, 4 May 1967.
35 Peter Straub, ‘The novelists: five seekers of the dream’, Vogue, August 1975.
36 Letter to Edward Pearson, c. March 1974.
37 Quoted in ‘It’s been a long climb to the top’, Brandon Sun, 15 May 1974.
38 ‘Beryl Bainbridge talks to Yolanta May’, New Review, December 1976.
39 Alex Hamilton, ‘Arts Guardian’, Guardian, Friday 29 November 1974.
40 Susannah Clapp, ‘Goings-on in North London’, The Times Literary Supplement, 3 October 1975.
41 Peter Ackroyd, ‘English tragedies’, The Spectator, 10 October 1975.
42 Alan Sharp, letter to author, 13 February 2012.
43 Hansen would later dedicate his next Brandstetter novel, The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of (1978), to her.
44 Ronald Harwood, interview with author, 10 December 2013.
45 David Harsent, interview with author, 1 July 2013.
46 Ronald Harwood, interview with author, 10 December 2013.
47 Letter to Ronald Harwood, 14 March 1975. BL MS 88881/6/32.
48 This and subsequent quote, letter to Ronald Harwood, 28 March 1975. BL MS 88881/6/32.
49 Letter to Michael Holroyd, 11 April 1975.
50 Letter to Michael Holroyd, postmarked 11 April 1975. Such comments show how problematic it is to try to read Beryl’s novels as autobiographical romans à clef.
51 In 1984 Colin sold the American rights to Watson’s Apology to McGraw-Hill, being dissatisfied with George Braziller’s offer. It was the first of Beryl’s books not to be published by Braziller in the US. As a friend of Beryl’s, George was understandably upset over the deal, which he blamed on Beryl’s new agent, Andrew Hewson, even though he wasn’t representing her at the time.
52 Telegram from George Braziller, 21 March 1975. Braziller offered her $1,000 expenses, but Beryl’s irrepressible urge to exaggerate can be seen by the letter she wrote to Michael Holroyd two weeks later, in which she gives the figure as $2,000.
53 Letter from Michael Holroyd, 24 April 1975.
54 Letter from Michael Holroyd, 1 May 1975.
55 Postcard from Michael Holroyd, 24 May 1975.
56 Draft letter to Dennis Enright, c. June 1975. BL MS 83794.
57 Letter to Michael Holroyd, c. 23 June 1975.
58 Letter to Joseph Hansen, c. 30 June 1975. JH.
59 Letter to Joseph Hansen, c. 20 July 1975. JH.
60 Letter to Joseph Hansen, c. 5 September 1975. JH.
61 Letter to Michael Holroyd, c. September 1975.
62 Letter from Joseph Hansen, 15 September 1975.
63 Letter to Joseph Hansen, c. December 1975. JH.
64 Letter to Joseph Hansen, c. 4 March 1976. JH.
65 Letter to Colin Haycraft, c. 1976.
66 Nick Totton, The Spectator, 8 October 1976.
67 Letter to Joseph Hansen, c. 25 September 1975. JH.
68 Neil Lyndon, ‘Beryl said . . .’, Radio Times, 13 March 1976.
69 ‘Beryl Bainbridge talks to Yolanta May’, New Review, December 1976.
70 Leslie Hanscom, ‘A writer whose public consists of critics’, Newsday, 14 March 1976.
71 Hugo Williams, New Statesman, 1 October 1976.
72 Francis Wyndham, ‘Compression chamber’, The Times Literary Supplement, 8 October 1976.
CHAPTER 27
1 Letter to L
ili Todes, c. 12 January 1978.
2 Katharine Whitehorn, ‘Novelist who can’t write fiction’, The News, 7 February 1978.
3 ‘It’s my turn now . . . says writer Beryl Bainbridge’, Newsagent and Bookshop, 18 September 1976.
4 ‘The peril of being Beryl’, interview with Gerald Isaaman, Camden New Journal, 6 February 2003.
5 Letter to Penny Jones, c. 1977.
6 This and subsequent two quotes, letter from Clive de Pass, c. June 1976.
7 Draft letter to Clive de Pass, c. October 1976.
8 This and subsequent quote, letter from Clive de Pass, c. 24 August 1978.
9 Ibid.
10 Letter from Clive de Pass, 25 July 1978.
11 Unpublished extract from Dinah Swain’s diary, 15 August 1978.
12 This and subsequent quotes to end of section, letter from Clive de Pass, c. 24 August 1978.
13 Letter to Judith Shackleton, c. September 1976.
14 A. N. Wilson, interview with author, 4 March 2015.
15 This and subsequent two quotes, letter to Joseph Hansen, c. 4 March 1976. JH.
16 Evelyn Straus, ‘Panel of noted British literary figures talks with a Jerusalem audience’, Jerusalem Post, 18 March 1977.
17 ‘How we met: Beryl Bainbridge and Bernice Rubens’, interview with Caroline Boucher, Independent, 11 July 1993.
18 ‘A tale of two authors’, interview with Dan Carrier, Camden New Journal, 4 November 2005.
19 This and subsequent quote: ‘How we met: Beryl Bainbridge and Bernice Rubens’, interview with Caroline Boucher, Independent, 11 July 1993.
20 ‘A tale of two authors’, interview with Dan Carrier, Camden New Journal, 4 November 2005.
21 Mike Cullen, interview with Philip Saville and Beryl Bainbridge, 1981. In fact Payne devotes five pages to the incident, and some of the details it includes are used in Young Adolf.
22 Reader’s Almanac, interview with Walter James Miller, WNYC, 30 June 1979.
23 During the writing of Young Adolf, Beryl made use of the only extracts of Bridget Hitler’s diary then available, those published by Mike Unger in the Liverpool Post in 1973. Duckworth would publish Unger’s edition of the diary under the titled The Memoirs of Bridget Hitler in 1979.
24 Reader’s Almanac, interview with Walter James Miller, WNYC, 30 June 1979.
25 ‘Beryl Bainbridge writes portrait of young Hitler’, interview with Carol Crotta, Los Angeles Examiner, 25 June 1979.