0:00:14 > 0:00:18APPLAUSE
0:00:18 > 0:00:19Thank you.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21And hello and welcome to My Life In Books,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24a chance for our guests to talk about their favourite reads
0:00:24 > 0:00:25and why they are important.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28With me tonight, actress Anna Chancellor,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31currently starring in the BBC hit drama The Hour,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35but she'll always be unforgettable in Four Weddings And A Funeral,
0:00:35 > 0:00:39where she had the satisfaction of punching Hugh Grant.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40Alongside her, Nicky Haslam,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42one of the original It Boys.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46He is the country's most famous interior designer,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48there's nothing he can't do with chintz.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Welcome to you both.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55APPLAUSE
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Nicky, you're famous for decorating other people's houses,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01what about your own house when you were growing up?
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Erm... It was a very pretty Queen Anne, well,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08William and Mary house in, Buckinghamshire, sort of manor house.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10And it had beautiful panelling.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13It was the original home of the Chases, of Chase Manhattan Bank.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15And they kept writing to ask if they could move it to America.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17SHE LAUGHS
0:01:17 > 0:01:19I remember my father luckily tearing up the letters,
0:01:19 > 0:01:20I was so nervous he might sell it.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24And Anna, meanwhile, where were you?
0:01:24 > 0:01:27I was brought up in Somerset, on the edge of the Quantocks,
0:01:27 > 0:01:32in a large, rectory-type house.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37And there must have been a great many books cos your father dealt in books, didn't he?
0:01:37 > 0:01:41My father dealt in books, but I didn't live with my dad for most of our upbringing.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44- But whenever we went to see him, he lived in Kew.- Yeah.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48And you could hardly get through the front door,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52or get into a bedroom or get into a lavatory cos there were books everywhere.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54He'd obviously sort of forgotten to build shelves.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57We've got a picture of you growing up here.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59Oh, how old are we there?
0:01:59 > 0:02:00Ha! Quite young!
0:02:00 > 0:02:02You've still got the same jumper on.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06LAUGHTER
0:02:06 > 0:02:09And you were sent off to convent boarding school quite early.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Yes, I was sent off to boarding school at seven.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Actually, it's interesting, your first choice,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17which certainly wasn't in the library at your convent boarding school.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19- It's Bella, by Jilly Cooper. - Jilly Cooper, yes.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23- I chose that because so much literature was banned.- Yeah.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27And that made it such incredibly potent reading.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32We were completely addicted to Mills & Boon and, to crown it all, Jilly Cooper.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36So we sort of scored books off each other in the lavatories,
0:02:36 > 0:02:37and in the dormitories.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42And then, we'd be reading them. Lights out very early, seven o'clock, half past seven.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Then, we'd be reading them down our beds with our duvets and our torches.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51And suddenly, you'd hear the rustle of the...of the nun's skirt,
0:02:51 > 0:02:53and the rattle of her keys.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55And she'd rip off your duvet and you'd be caught,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58- and she'd get your Jilly Cooper and tear it up then and there.- Oh!
0:02:58 > 0:03:01- Which was like somebody taking your crack away from you.- Yeah.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03LAUGHTER
0:03:03 > 0:03:06And this was the days of nuns still in all their gear.
0:03:06 > 0:03:07They were in a proper habit.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12We'd say, you can kiss a nun once, you can kiss a nun twice, but you mustn't get into the habit.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14Yeah. That's very good.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Yes. That was our schoolgirl joke.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Can you give us an extract from Bella?
0:03:19 > 0:03:21- And perhaps an extract, which shows why the nuns...- Oh, yes!
0:03:21 > 0:03:23..didn't like her much.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25She was so good,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28because she obviously understood the teenage fantastical mind
0:03:28 > 0:03:30of a young girl.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32And it went something like this,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35"Bella sprayed on some scent,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37"then sprayed more round the room,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40"arranged her breasts to advantage in the white dress and,
0:03:40 > 0:03:42"sitting down, began to brush her hair.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44"There was a knock at the door.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48"'Come in,' she said huskily in her best Tallulah Bankhead voice.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52"As she turned, smiling, her mouth dropped in amazement.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56"For the man lounging in the doorway was absurdly romantic-looking,
0:03:56 > 0:03:58"with very pale delicate features,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00"hollowed cheeks, dark burning eyes,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03"and hair as black and shining as a raven's wing.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06"He was thin and very elegant, and over his dinner jacket
0:04:06 > 0:04:10"was slung a magnificent honey-coloured fur coat."
0:04:10 > 0:04:11LAUGHTER
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Isn't it strange he's wearing fur?
0:04:14 > 0:04:17I bet you wore fur, didn't you?
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Yes, I did when I was very young.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24Meanwhile, Nicky, while Anna was at convent boarding school...
0:04:24 > 0:04:28- I got polio when I was seven, and I was in bed for three years.- Yeah.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33In a cast and I couldn't move my arms because it was...the cast was like that.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37You must have been one of the last cases, weren't you?
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Because, very shortly afterwards...
0:04:39 > 0:04:41They got a vaccine. It was just afterwards.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44- Everyone went and got off a... - Sugar lump, yeah.- Sugar lump, and...
0:04:44 > 0:04:46It was just before that.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Do you look back and think that it made a difference to your life,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51the three years you were in bed?
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Well, I loved every minute of it, must be said,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56because I was so nicely spoiled and looked after.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59And my mother used to bring all her friends,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02and music, put on the record player and dance around the room.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05My father's friends would come, and people would come and see me all the time.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07- The servants would come every morning for a chat.- Yes.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08It was, it was wonderful.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11And you were a big household.
0:05:11 > 0:05:12We've got a picture of you here.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14- Yeah, I had two elder brothers.- Yeah.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18And American elder sister - my mother was first married to an American.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20And you are the tiny one at the back!
0:05:20 > 0:05:21The tiny one at the back, yes.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24And your mother, with a very grand name, Diamond.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27She was called Diamond - she was born on the day of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29and Queen Victoria was her godmother.
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Good heavens.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33You too could sort of match each other on this,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36- because you are descended from the Earl of Winchilsea on one side.- Yes.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39- And Herbert Asquith on the other.- Yes.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Although I think the Asquiths weren't very posh.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45He sort of was elevated to poshness and then given a big title.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47- I think they had quite humble origins.- Yeah.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49But...
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Did you know... I know there's an age difference,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53but did the families know each other?
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Well, I heard about your family a lot, because Asquith was so famous.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Weren't they something to do with Reuters?
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Yes, my grandfather was the managing director of Reuters.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06I remembered sort of that in the back my mind, somehow.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07But did you work for my father?
0:06:07 > 0:06:10I worked... My first job ever was working for your father.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Why do you posh people all know each other?
0:06:13 > 0:06:14LAUGHTER
0:06:14 > 0:06:19And at Eton, you knew Anna's uncle.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22- Uncle Alexander, yes. - The gorgeous Alexander.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24How were you at Eton?
0:06:24 > 0:06:25- Pathetic.- Really?
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Well, no, not really.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29I didn't have to do anything very strenuous,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31cos of polio I could get out of most things.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33How did you amuse yourself?
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Well, luckily, they did realise I had quite good artistic talent.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40They encouraged me to go to the art school, and to write.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43- Yeah.- So I spent my life doing nice things.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Did you decorate?
0:06:45 > 0:06:47I decorated my room, rather embarr...
0:06:47 > 0:06:51well, not embarrassing, but flamboyantly, perhaps, we should say.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53So you were encouraged to be individuals?
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Yeah, that was the great thing about Eton, it was encouragement of individuals.
0:06:56 > 0:06:57And it still is, I think.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00And your first book, tell us about that.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02The first I remember changing my life was
0:07:02 > 0:07:04The Autobiography Of Alice B Toklas,
0:07:04 > 0:07:05by Gertrude Stein.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Gertrude Stein was an American writer, who moved... Huge American woman,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13who moved to Paris in the, I suppose, 1890s,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and had a big...became very literally famous.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19And her girlfriend was Alice B Toklas,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23and they lived together for ever and ever and ever.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27- And everyone passed through their doors.- Everybody, yes. I mean... - Picasso...
0:07:27 > 0:07:28Yes. Hemingway,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Diaghilev, Balanchine.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34- All the great, literally, art world of the world.- Yeah.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37Is that where you wanted to be somewhere like that?
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Yet, I wanted, I think I wanted to be a scenic designer then.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43I wanted to do costumes.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Hopeless!
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Meanwhile, Anna, you were doing well at boarding school?
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- Ah... Intellectually well?- Yeah. - No, terribly.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55So did you leave as soon as you could?
0:07:55 > 0:07:56- I left with two O-Levels.- Yeah.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00And I was like Princess Diana when somebody, when a child said to her,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03"You've got an enormous head." And she said, "Don't worry, there's nothing in it."
0:08:03 > 0:08:05LAUGHTER
0:08:05 > 0:08:08She only had two O-Levels, like me. I had English and Religion.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11- Yes.- And then, what did you want to do?- I wanted to be an actress.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13So how did you go about it?
0:08:13 > 0:08:16When I left the convent, I became an artist model.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17- Yeah. A nude model?- Yes.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19- Yeah.- I wasn't shy like that.
0:08:19 > 0:08:20No.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23And then, amazingly, I got into drama school.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26- But then I had to leave, cos I got pregnant.- OK.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29So motherhood was a big change?
0:08:29 > 0:08:30Motherhood was a shock.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Where were you?
0:08:32 > 0:08:34- We were living in a basement flat in Shepherd's Bush.- Yeah.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37And I had... I found myself pregnant,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41found myself excited by the idea of it,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45and then found myself horrified and didn't know what...didn't know what to do.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47It was all happening, there was nothing that...
0:08:47 > 0:08:49There was no reversing the situation after a while.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51I was a romantic.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56And your next book, I suppose it's very much part of this time, isn't it?
0:08:56 > 0:08:57It's The Continuum Concept,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59by Jean Liedloff.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01It's a story of a woman
0:09:01 > 0:09:04who spent two years in South America
0:09:04 > 0:09:07and her sense of motherhood
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and how best to bring up a baby
0:09:10 > 0:09:14was entirely different from Dr Spock or Gina Ford today.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16That's right. And she felt,
0:09:16 > 0:09:21after watching these Native American Indians looking after their children,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25that they never put them down, that they were strapped to their bodies,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27that they slept in the same bed, they breastfed on demand.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30And one of the things I loved was that she said,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34"You must lead your, your very busy life,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38"you must go out and do everything that you normally do. You just have to do it with your baby."
0:09:38 > 0:09:40And I think, for me, and I was 21,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42and the idea...if you...it would have been,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45my life would have been over if I'd had to be locked in a basement flat,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49and bedtime at seven, and then you can't go anywhere.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51So I did take her everywhere.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54- And Poppy, who is now...- 24.- Yes. - Yes.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Does she remember those times?
0:09:56 > 0:09:58She remembers them as being fun times.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01And she used to... She used to shout,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03"Mum, turn up the music, I can't sleep!"
0:10:03 > 0:10:05LAUGHTER
0:10:05 > 0:10:09When I was rereading The Continuum, she said you mustn't keep it quiet.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11- That thing of people taking the doorbells out.- And tiptoeing.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14- No, no, that's all wrong.- Yeah. - How interesting.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16I don't know what happens if you have five children.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19- But for one, it worked.- Yeah.
0:10:19 > 0:10:20And Nicky, meanwhile,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23after Eton, what did you want to do?
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Well, I didn't really know.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30I knew it was going to be something to do with art in some strange way.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32But then I met David Bailey
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and that sort of crystallised it,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37and I wanted to be a photographer for a bit.
0:10:37 > 0:10:38And we went to New York together.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41It's the early '60s,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45and probably the sort of time that people like you, an old Etonian,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48suddenly were chumming up with East End...
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Yes, that was, that was the...
0:10:50 > 0:10:51How did that happen?
0:10:51 > 0:10:55- Well, I met David through a mutual friend...- There he is.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00- Yes, it was fun chumming up with that world, it was a revelation. - Yeah.
0:11:00 > 0:11:01And it was all I wanted to be.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04I didn't want to see any of the Etonians.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06I didn't want that world at all.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09I just wanted this new thrusting world of...
0:11:09 > 0:11:12sort of the young, for want of a better word, mods.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14And going off to America,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17- the film just recently out.- Yeah.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21- Which is about David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton.- Yeah.- And you.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23And I was there, yes. And I stayed in America,
0:11:23 > 0:11:28cos the fashion editor, Clare Rendelsham,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31arranged for me to have an interview with the head of Vogue.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34- Did it open up a new world for you?- Yes, it did.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38And especially because I'd met this extraordinary person called Jean Howard,
0:11:38 > 0:11:43who had been a movie star but was married to the great agent Charlie Feldman.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45And I met her, and we had a terrific bond.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48And she introduced me to people like Cole Porter and...
0:11:48 > 0:11:49Of course(!)
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Lots of extraordinary movie stars. I mean, Dietrich, Garbo.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54I met them all through Jean, it was extraordinary.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And did that include Washington as well. Did you meet Kennedy and...
0:11:57 > 0:11:58- Yes.- ..Jackie Onassis?
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Because the ambassador, which then was David Harlock,
0:12:01 > 0:12:05and Jane, his daughter, was my great friend.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06Of course(!)
0:12:06 > 0:12:07LAUGHTER
0:12:07 > 0:12:10And I went to stay at the embassy the first time I was there.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And you've chosen this wonderful photographic book,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Jean Howards's Hollywood: A Photo Memoir
0:12:17 > 0:12:19And it's her photographs.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Well, besides being the sort of THE hostess of Hollywood,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25and she ran, she really ran Hollywood, she knew everybody,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28- she was on the side taking these extraordinary photographs.- Yeah.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31And they just are completely wonderful.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34They are not posed photographs at all.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37And they are of everybody of any interest, really,
0:12:37 > 0:12:38it was not just Hollywood,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41over the first part of the 20th century.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Nicky, do you think that photographs, as a decorator,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48do you think they are something that should be on show or do you prefer art?
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Photographs, I think photographs can be wonderful, properly done.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56- I'm not sure about them littering a room.- Yeah.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58What do you mean by littering a room?
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Well, all over the place, little sort of photographs framed on every surface.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03Where are we meant to put those?
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Well, as I said, they're fine if they are royal and on the piano.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08- OK.- Oh, do you think?
0:13:08 > 0:13:10I don't know about on the piano.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12- How do you open your piano then?- Don't.
0:13:12 > 0:13:13LAUGHTER
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Nicky, you went to New York with David Bailey,
0:13:17 > 0:13:18a completely new life.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20We've got a photograph.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22There you are, you look like James Dean there.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24I think people tried to look like me, Anne.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26- Ah, OK.- I think so.
0:13:26 > 0:13:27LAUGHTER
0:13:27 > 0:13:28Where are you there?
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I'm in my apartment in New York, on 77th Street.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35And did you go on to Los Angeles and Hollywood?
0:13:35 > 0:13:38No, I went to Hollywood to stay with Jean while I lived in New York,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and then I went to a ranch, I bought a ranch in Arizona
0:13:41 > 0:13:44- and bred horses and became a cowboy. - Yeah.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47We've got you looking very sexy here.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Ha-ha-ha!
0:13:49 > 0:13:51I... You see, everything, a Harley Davidson. A chopper...
0:13:51 > 0:13:54- Yeah. In Arizona? - In Arizona, yeah.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58- I mean the only point of life is having a motorbike and wearing Levi's, isn't it?- Indeed.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00LAUGHTER
0:14:00 > 0:14:04Anna, you were, you know, working your way as an actress.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07But of course we ALL got to know you
0:14:07 > 0:14:10in Four Weddings And A Funeral
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and that very sad moment when you're about to get married
0:14:13 > 0:14:15except you don't.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17- This is awful, isn't it?- Yes.
0:14:17 > 0:14:18Duckface is betrayed.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20LAUGHTER
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Did you know, when the film came out, how special it was going to be?
0:14:23 > 0:14:25No, I didn't think at all.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31- Although, for me, it was fantastic being in the film.- Yeah.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33So it was all an enormous bonus for me.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38I remember being on the bus having breakfast with Rowan Atkinson,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42and I don't think Hugh was on the breakfast bus, actually. But...
0:14:42 > 0:14:45- What, was he too grand for the breakfast bus?- I think so.
0:14:45 > 0:14:46THEY LAUGH
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Was Andie MacDowell on the breakfast bus?
0:14:48 > 0:14:51He was always complaining, "This is a nightmare. Nobody will believe it.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53"I've got a friend who's gay, a brother who's deaf.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56"Nobody is going to think..." He was always moaning.
0:14:56 > 0:14:57LAUGHTER
0:14:57 > 0:14:59"Do think anyone will laugh? I don't think so."
0:14:59 > 0:15:02How early did you know you were going to be Duckface?
0:15:02 > 0:15:05I didn't know I was going to be Duckface. It was a shock.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07I didn't quite realise that that's what I was going to be known for
0:15:07 > 0:15:09for the rest of my life.
0:15:09 > 0:15:10LAUGHTER
0:15:10 > 0:15:14- And in many different languages. - Yes, in every language.
0:15:14 > 0:15:15In Hungarian it's horse cheek.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17LAUGHTER
0:15:17 > 0:15:19But it's much, much worse in Italian.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21I was filming with Colin Firth,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23who is famously married to a beautiful Italian.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27And he learnt Italian in about a week in order to get off with her.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30- Yeah.- God, she is beautiful too. - She is beautiful.- Yeah.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32Well, he couldn't wait to tell me
0:15:32 > 0:15:36- that in Italian it's faccia di culo. - Yeah.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39- Which apparently is arse face.- Yeah.
0:15:39 > 0:15:40LAUGHTER
0:15:40 > 0:15:43- I mean, that's beyond rude, isn't it?- Never mind.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45But actually, I adore ducks.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47I'm happy to be...
0:15:47 > 0:15:50to be compared with a duck.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54And it certainly allowed you your next big part on television.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57You were in the famous, with Colin Firth, Pride And Prejudice,
0:15:57 > 0:16:02where you played Caroline Bingley, who's an opinionated snob.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05- Yes, she's great, isn't she? - Yes, here she is banging on.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07It might be awful when I see it.
0:16:07 > 0:16:08No, no, no.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12She's having a few opinions about Elizabeth Bennet here.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17For my part, I must confess I never saw any beauty in her face.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Her features are not at all handsome,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22her complexion has no brilliancy.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Oh, her teeth are tolerable, I suppose,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28but nothing out of the common way.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33And as for her eyes, which I have sometimes heard called fine,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36I could never perceive anything extraordinary in them.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40And in her air altogether,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43there is a self-sufficiency without fashion, which I find intolerable.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45APPLAUSE
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Wonderful.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49APPLAUSE
0:16:49 > 0:16:51So you're sitting on the fence.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53SHE LAUGHS
0:16:53 > 0:16:56And of course, your next book is Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Yes, I thought I might choose THE most famous novel ever written
0:17:01 > 0:17:04because I am just a great lover of the novel.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Some people don't like novels.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11But I just, I... I'm addicted to a good story.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14And I suppose Jane Austen here does manage to marry
0:17:14 > 0:17:18- that incredible story with those brilliant characters.- Yeah.
0:17:18 > 0:17:19With great wit.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So funny. And when I read it at school, of course, you know,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25loved it at school, pleased to be given a book that you can read.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29And then reread again obviously, for the...
0:17:29 > 0:17:30for the television programme.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And then, when you are acting in something,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36- you have an extra greed for anything they can tell you anything about it. - Yeah.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40So if you look at a painting or if you read literature
0:17:40 > 0:17:43or you see a film that can in any way inform you,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45you suddenly open your mind
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and become a voracious reader or a voracious viewer,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51in a way that, up until then, I had no...
0:17:51 > 0:17:53It doesn't sort of occur to you to look at things in that way.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58And you can match Nicky, again, because you are actually related to Jane Austen.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00- I am.- Yeah. See?
0:18:00 > 0:18:03This is just an awful name-dropping session now, isn't it?
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Yes, it's wonderful.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10She was my, six or maybe eight generations back, my great aunt.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13And my grandmother remembered her aunt
0:18:13 > 0:18:16talking about Great Aunt Jane and Great Aunt Cass.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18It really is extraordinary.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20So, within memory, there are people
0:18:20 > 0:18:23who would have talked and remembered her. Yeah.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Yes. Nicky, you came back to London
0:18:26 > 0:18:30and solely built up a business.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33- I came back in '72.- Yeah.- From New York after 10, 11 years in America.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36And I came back because
0:18:36 > 0:18:39a friend of mine had liked the flat in New York and the ranch in Arizona and things,
0:18:39 > 0:18:44and I just thought, "Why don't I give him a chance and let him do my house?"
0:18:44 > 0:18:46Which brings us, Nicky, to your third book,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48which is called Versailles, by Ian Dunlop.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Why have you chosen this?
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Being a decorator, a designer,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55in the end you have to admit
0:18:55 > 0:18:59that the French 18th century is the perfect example of the whole thing.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03And this book opens one's eyes to the perfection of
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Louis XIV, Louis XV, particularly Louis XVI.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10If you look at that period in that book,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13can you give me an example of how you would use
0:19:13 > 0:19:18something from there in a modern setting?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Well, yes, cos I mean, there are sort of golden rules of decoration.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25And if you look at almost any French building, everything has a reason.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29And the only reason of anything in decoration is to make more light.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Because in the old days, there was no light,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33so everything had to gleam and glitter.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37You edged everything in silver or gold, so you've got more light in the room.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39It wasn't because we want to look ostentatious.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41There's a reason for everything - fascinating.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44What do you if you've got an ugly part of the room or a pillar?
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Well, you...you block it up
0:19:47 > 0:19:50or you cover it with some brilliant device,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53- so it takes, your eye goes to something else.- Yeah.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56I mean... There are ugly features in every room,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58mostly one's friends.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00LAUGHTER
0:20:00 > 0:20:01Not yours.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03THEY LAUGH
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- But you just cover them up.- Yeah.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08- Like polite parents.- Yeah.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12And what do you despair of when you see
0:20:12 > 0:20:16a lot of furniture today and the way people decorate their rooms?
0:20:16 > 0:20:19I despair of people who haven't got a clue of what they like.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22- It's much more interesting, and much more worrying.- Yeah.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26- People who don't know are the hardest people to decorate for.- Really?
0:20:26 > 0:20:28- They don't know what they like. - Yeah.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31You have a huge batch of Russian clients now, do they know what they want?
0:20:31 > 0:20:34- Not to begin with. They soon learn when they come to me.- Do they?
0:20:34 > 0:20:36LAUGHTER
0:20:36 > 0:20:38So you have a blank canvas?
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Certain... Yes. Certain people give one a blank canvas.
0:20:42 > 0:20:48And after four or five houses, they say, "Just do it."
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Which is quite nice.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55Anna, I know that you are currently in rehearsals for The Hour.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57- I'm filming now.- Filming, yes. You've got the hairdo of Lix.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59A little bit, yeah.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01- It's quite dark, isn't it?- Yeah, it's lovely.- Yeah?- Yeah.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03And yet again a very strong woman.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07She's in the newsroom as a reporter in the '50s.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12And actually, there wouldn't have been many women at that time
0:21:12 > 0:21:14in a radio newsroom.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16- No.- Except someone like Lix.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19- Yes, who can drink and smoke and who is fearless.- Yes.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23- And who doesn't show her emotions. - Yeah.- She's like a bloke.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26We've got a little clip of you.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30Monitoring are sending through the transcripts of the Egyptian broadcasts.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32I need someone to be able to translate.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34My man in Alexandria, well...
0:21:34 > 0:21:37He does his best but it's, it's schoolboy Arabic.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Lix has got a lackey?
0:21:39 > 0:21:43When you have a president of a Middle Eastern country angry with half the Western world,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47buying arms off the Soviets and whipping up crowds in Alexandria,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50chances are, Egypt leads.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54And Westminster's getting a little edgy. Tu ne penses pas?
0:21:54 > 0:21:57APPLAUSE
0:21:57 > 0:21:59He's gorgeous, isn't he?
0:21:59 > 0:22:00And then, I have an affair with him.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03- Aren't you lucky!- I couldn't believe it!- Yeah.
0:22:03 > 0:22:0420 years junior to me.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07We thought they were joking when... He-he-he!
0:22:07 > 0:22:09- If you were him, you'd hardly argue with her.- No.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11No. If she wanted it, you'd...
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Yes, she's a...she's tough.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17And it's good, what happens in the next series.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Anyway, we will move on to your final book,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22which I loved this book.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Ladder Of Years, Anne Tyler.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28- It was published in the mid '90s. - Yes.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29Tell us about it.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33- I think she's a terrific writer, Anne Tyler.- Yes.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35What I find so brilliant in my...
0:22:35 > 0:22:39I find she's changed my perception on life,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41and on people and their behaviour.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Because she sets up characters that you would,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46in your life, if you knew people like that,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49think that you could... You'd know which way they were going to go.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53And she always takes them somewhere else,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55so it's totally believable,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57and yet, beyond your imagination.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59This is about a middle-aged woman,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01conventionally American,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05married to a doctor who's older and gets ill far too often,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07and children that don't really appreciate her.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Everyone's rather bored by her and overlooks her,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12nobody thinks she is capable of anything interesting.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16And she has an idea, which I'm sure many, many women
0:23:16 > 0:23:19at that stage in their life have of just running away from it all.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20Yeah.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25And I defy you, if you read the first chapter of this, not...not to keep on reading.
0:23:25 > 0:23:26Something happens and she thinks,
0:23:26 > 0:23:28"I'll just do it."
0:23:28 > 0:23:32It's as though that filter in her life, which tells her "better not", goes,
0:23:32 > 0:23:34which I've had that sometimes.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37I think everyone is tempted, the difference is that she does it.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40And it starts when she goes to the supermarket
0:23:40 > 0:23:42and a gorgeous young man in there
0:23:42 > 0:23:44asks her if she would pretend,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46while they are shopping in the supermarket,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48to be his new girlfriend,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51because his ex-wife and her lover are also shopping.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53Yes.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55And he wants to look OK, doesn't he?
0:23:55 > 0:23:58- Yes, he wants to have a beard, so to speak.- Yes.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00- Are you going to read an extract for us?- Yeah, yes.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04"She would have feared that he was trying to pick her up,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08"except that when she turned she saw he was surely ten years her junior,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10"and very good-looking besides.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14"He had straight, dark-yellow hair and milky blue eyes
0:24:14 > 0:24:16"that made him seem dreamy and peaceful.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18"He was smiling down at her,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21"standing a little closer than strangers ordinarily stand.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24"'Um...,' she said, flustered. 'Shallots,' he reminded her.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27"'Shallots are fatter,' she said.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29"She set the celery in her grocery cart.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33"'I believe they are above the parsley,' she called over her shoulder,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36"but she found him next to her, keeping step with her
0:24:36 > 0:24:38"as she wheeled her cart toward the citrus fruits.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41"He wore blue jeans, very faded, and soft moccasins
0:24:41 > 0:24:45"that couldn't be heard above King Of The Road on the public sound system.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47"'I also need lemons,' he told her.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49"She slid another glance at him.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52"'Look,' he said suddenly. He lowered his voice. 'Could I ask you a big favour?'
0:24:52 > 0:24:55"'Um...' 'My ex-wife is ahead in potatoes.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57"'Or not ex I guess but estranged, let's say,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59"'and she's got her boyfriend with her.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01"'Could you just pretend we're together?
0:25:01 > 0:25:04"'Just till I can duck out of here?' 'Well, of course,' said Delia.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07"And without even taking a deep breath first,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10"she plunged happily back into the old high-school atmosphere
0:25:10 > 0:25:12"of romantic intrigue and deception.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"She narrowed her eyes, lifted her chin and said,
0:25:15 > 0:25:16"'We'll show her!'
0:25:16 > 0:25:19"And sailed past fruits and made a U-turn into root vegetables."
0:25:19 > 0:25:21LAUGHTER
0:25:21 > 0:25:24- It's good, isn't it?- Oh, fabulous, fabulous!
0:25:24 > 0:25:25Much recommended.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Nicky, your final choice of book.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Well, I'd, I...unlike you, I don't read novels.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34It's the only thing I really don't... I don't like fiction,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37I like truth, biography, interest, geography, travel, etc.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41- But my favourite book in the world is a novel.- OK.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44And it's called A Legacy by Sybille Bedford.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46She is, I think, the greatest writer I've ever known.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48Tell us a bit about her.
0:25:48 > 0:25:49She is half German,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52she lived in Rome, the south of France, London,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54she was the best friend of Huxley.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56That kind of world.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01And she just writes the most perfect prose I've ever known, I've ever read.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05And A Legacy is really her life and her family,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08done...and her past done as a novel.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10But it actually is her, you can tell all the way through.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12So it is autobiographical, actually.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Totally. Totally autobiographical.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16- And it starts in Germany. - It starts in Germany.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19It comes all the way through to 1946 in the south of France.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24And considering that English was her second language,
0:26:24 > 0:26:25she just writes so beautifully.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Yes, she polished and polished, and when I was writing that book,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31I'd ring her up, and I was panic-struck about things.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34She just said, "Read again, polish it. Read it again, polish it.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37"Read this sentence. Take this out. Read, read, read. Polish, polish, polish."
0:26:37 > 0:26:39So you knew her?
0:26:39 > 0:26:40- Yeah.- Of course(!)
0:26:40 > 0:26:44- Well, I made a particular effort to know her, because I admired her so much.- Yeah.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48And we had the same doctor, that helped.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50- Could you read us a little bit? - All right.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55This is about her grandparents, the Merz's.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58"They had no interests, tastes or thoughts beyond their family
0:26:58 > 0:27:01"and the comfort of their persons.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03"While members of what might have been their world
0:27:03 > 0:27:06"were dining to the sounds of Schubert and Haydn,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10"endowing research and adding Corot landscapes to their Bouchers and Delacroix,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13"and some of them were buying their first Picasso,
0:27:13 > 0:27:17"the Merz's were adding bell-pulls and thickening the upholstery.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21"No music was heard at Voss Strasse outside the ballroom and the day nursery.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23"They never travelled. They never went to the country.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26"They never went anywhere, except to take a cure,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30"and then they went in a private railway carriage, taking their own sheets.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33"They took no exercise and practised no sport.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36"They kept no animals, except carriage horses,
0:27:36 > 0:27:37"and none were allowed in the house.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41"The caretaker had a canary in their basement by the furnace,
0:27:41 > 0:27:46"but no truffled nose had ever snuffed the still hot air upstairs,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48"no padded paw had trod the Turkey pile,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52"no tooth had gnawed, no claw ripped the mahogany and the plush,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54"and there was a discreet mousetrap set in every room."
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Wonderful detail!
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Oh! It's just... It's like a film, isn't it?
0:27:59 > 0:28:01You've both sold your books very well indeed.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Anna Chancellor, Nicky Haslam. Thank you so much.
0:28:04 > 0:28:10APPLAUSE
0:28:10 > 0:28:13And just to remind you, details of the series are, of course, on the BBC website.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19You can also hear our guests
0:28:19 > 0:28:20read a passage from their favourite
0:28:20 > 0:28:22children's book.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24And please join me again tomorrow.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Same time, same place. Good night.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30APPLAUSE
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd