by Helen Trinca
11 Susannah Godman, interview with HT, 2 September 2011.
12 Christopher Potter, Madeleine St John obituary, Independent, 6 July 2006.
13 Christopher Potter, interview with HT, 12 May 2011.
14 FH, letter to VSJ, 6 August 2006.
15 VSJ, letter to FH, 4 September 2006.
16 CT, tribute to MSJ, July 2006.
17 Susannah Godman, interview with HT, 2 September 2011.
18 Ed St John, interview with HT, 4 July 2011.
19 Jane Holdsworth, interview with HT, 16 May 2011.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Madeleine St John destroyed most of her papers before she died, so piecing her life together was only possible with the help of her family and friends.
Colette St John Lippincott was open and generous and gave me access to a central part of Madeleine’s story—Sylvette’s psychiatric records.
Chris Tillam provided material and extensive correspondence between Madeleine and his mother Joan Tillam.
Judith McCue allowed me to use nine hours of interviews she recorded with Madeleine in London in 2004. Few biographers receive such a gift and I am grateful to Judith.
Florence Heller was a vital link to the Ted and Sylvette years. Felicity Baker spoke at length about the times she shared with her cousin in the US and London, and provided key letters and photographs. Annabel Ritchie and Antony Minchin offered childhood memories and precious adult correspondence.
Ed St John and Patrick St John supported the biography, knowing it would inevitably contain hurtful statements from Madeleine about their parents.
Nicole Richardson allowed me to see family photographs and records, and her father Ron Storer offered important documentation and memories of Jean and Feiga Cargher.
Henriette Pile, Lorna Harvey, Ria Murch and Gloria Skinner and, before her death, Margaret Whitlam recalled memories of the young Sylvette.
Deslys Hunter, Jennifer Palmer, Angela McGrath, Susie Osmaston, Roslyn Grose and Sue Schauer shared memories of St Catherine’s and Queenwood. Thanks to Tina Micklethwait, Ingrid Wilkins, Roger Parkes, Jonette McDonnell, Renate Watkinson, Antony Harvey and Didy Harvey for memories of Castlecrag.
Madeleine’s friends from Sydney University were keen to help record the life of their friend. Thanks to Colleen Chesterman, Jane Gardiner, Sue Clilverd, Libby Smith, Marilyn Chapple, Denise Bradley, Robbie Brentnall, Richard Walsh, Mungo MacCallum, Katherine Cummings, Peter Grose, Lee Cataldi and Winton Higgins.
Chrissie de Looze, Daniel Le Maire, Sue Sheridan and Michael Chesterman provided information about the early London years. American memories came from Tom Bell, Henry Breitrose, Mike Rubbo, Jill Roehrig Olson and Tomas Kalmar.
The Hill sisters—Vidya Jones, Chrissie Magid and Catherine Knoles—and the Herbert siblings—Ann Fenton, Diana Herbert and Tim Herbert—along with James Hughes and Deidre Rubenstein recalled the ashram period. Dave Codling didn’t miss a beat when I tracked him down in Yorkshire to quiz him about an affair forty years ago. Madeleine’s connection with All Saints was described by Frances Barrett, Alex Hill, Celia Irvine, David Bambridge and Jacqueline Bateman. Teresa Attlee, Rob Tooley and Kathy Tooley spoke warmly of the friend met in Greece. Thanks to Robert McPherson, Felicity Marno and Sir Stephen Mitchell for recollections of Madeleine as antique dealer and friend.
Madeleine’s agent and publishers encouraged the project. Thanks to Esther Whitby, Christopher Potter, Sarah Lutyens and Kent Carroll. Susannah Godman and Jane Holdsworth, who were so close to Madeleine at the end, require special thanks. Bruce Beresford, Madeleine’s literary executor, was an enthusiast from the start, and Clive James, an unabashed St John fan, helped via email.
Thanks also to Sarah Middleton, Peta Worth, Steve Lippincott, Aaron Lippincott , Priscilla and David Maxwell, Georg Kalmar, Jane Cornwell, Martha Ansara, Andy Costain, John McDonnell, Siobahn McDonnell and Phil Jones. Many people helped with documentation: Laura Ginters; staff at the National Library of Australia and the New South Wales State archives; Chris Fowler and staff at the Oxford Brookes University archives in the UK; Evangeline Galettis, school archivist at St Catherine’s as well as Averil Condren and Beryl Cato; Donna Hughes, executive officer at the Queenwood Old Girls Association; and Chris Jenkins, who helped interpret Sylvette’s medical records. Kathy Kettler was hard to find but the effort was worth it to hear her joy when told Madeleine had dedicated a novel to her. Angela and Darryl Miller, the current owners of Number 9 The Rampart, generously allowed me to view Madeleine’s childhood home, and the residents of 53A Colville Gardens let me see inside her London flat.
Madeleine is a book thanks to the vision of Michael Heyward and the team at Text, especially senior editor Jane Pearson, who transformed my draft.
Thanks, as always, to my colleagues at the Australian for their conversation and interest.
I am grateful to all those who read chapters, provided feedback, or simply tolerated my Madeleine obsession over two years, especially Melinda Jamieson and Mathew Trinca (who also fed me during an Italian winter), Bruce Wood (ditto in London), Lyndall Crisp, Geraldine Doogue, Bob and Mathilde Swift, David Harman, Robin Trinca, Warren Scott, Jenny McPhee and Chris Ballantyne. Special thanks to my mother, Jo Trinca, for her unconditional support.
PHOTOS
Feiga and Jean Cargher, Paris, 1916.
Frederick de Porte St John, with wife Hannah and children. Front, from left: Florence, Pamela and Margaret. Back, from left: Roland and Ted.
A pregnant Sylvette St John, Sydney, 1941.
Building a life in Castlecrag, circa 1950:
from left, John and Margaret Minchin, Sylvette and Ted.
First encounters: Ted, home from the front in 1943, with Madeleine, fifteen months.
All to myself: Madeleine, aged four, with Sylvette and Ted, Sydney, circa 1945.
Happy families: the St Johns at Castlecrag, 1953.
Madeleine and Colette in 1955, the year after Sylvette’s death. ‘Smiling for the camera’, Madeleine wrote in her photograph album.
Chris Tillam and Madeleine in their apartment in Cambridge, Mass, 1967.
‘The Octopus’ at work on Honi Soit, 1960.
From left, Marilyn Taylor, Jane Iliff, Madeleine St John, Susan McGowan.
At typewriter, Clive James. In the background, David Ferraro and Helen Goldstein.
Madeleine in her room at 75 Swinbrook Road, in the late 1970s.
Madeleine at a kirtan, with Swami-ji.
Madeleine in London, 1969.
Clockwise from top left: Colette, Felicity Baker, Florence Heller, Madeleine holding Claire Heller, Michael and Juliet Heller.
Madeleine with Puck, Colville Gardens, 1990s.
Madeleine, 1998.