Here is the second extract from my memoir Hit Girl: My Bizarre Double Life in the Pop World of the Eighties. It is September 1980 and, under my pen name Betty Page, I have just been appointed a staff writer at the music paper Sounds after spending a year being the editor's secretary by day and secret music journalist by night. My first assignment is a tough one: to secure the first music press … [Read more...] about How I played my part in inventing the New Romantics
My Personal Stories
My bizarre double life in the pop world of the Eighties
After a small ripple of public demand, I'm going to start posting a series of extracts from my unpublished memoir Hit Girl: My Bizarre Double Life in the Pop World of the Eighties - which may be undergoing a title change to avoid confusion with the character Hit-Girl in the Kick-Ass movies. The first extract is from chapter three - Betty Page Is Born Again, which tells the story of my … [Read more...] about My bizarre double life in the pop world of the Eighties
Stories of a life less ordinary
I am a story archaeologist. I help people unearth the treasure buried in their life stories. I firmly believe that, no matter what anyone says about how boring they are, there is no such thing as an ordinary life. That’s why my favourite TV programmes are the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? and the documentary Long Lost Family, which reunites mothers parted from sons, brothers … [Read more...] about Stories of a life less ordinary
Who were you, Kathleen? My grandmother story
Who were you, Kathleen? What were your fondest hopes, your most cherished dreams? How did life treat you? Did it unfold as you wished? I’ve often pondered these questions, especially when looking at the only photograph I possess of my maternal grandmother (NB: it is not the photo above!). It was taken at my parents’ wedding in 1949 – a formal portrait of both sets of grandparents standing … [Read more...] about Who were you, Kathleen? My grandmother story
How I became an April Fool
Yes, it’s April Fools’ Day but this post is no joke. I am marking - rather than celebrating - a defining event. For today is the 40th anniversary of the day - Sunday April 1, 1973 - that my lovely dad had a devastating stroke, when he was only 46 years old. While I am not going tell the story of that event right now, suffice to say it changed the lives of every member of my family. My dad’s … [Read more...] about How I became an April Fool
Rescuing the Purple Princess
I spent the whole of Good Friday 2012 crawling around on my hands and knees, clearing out the loft. This had been a long time coming. When my husband (then boyfriend) moved into my small flat in 2008, some of his belongings and what seemed like half of my life had to be moved into the space above our bedroom. It had stayed there, unloved and ignored, ever since - partly because we had never got … [Read more...] about Rescuing the Purple Princess