Category Archives: Titanic

Tom Titanic: a Welsh hero remembered

On 15 April I went to Cemaes, the northernmost town on the Ynys Môn coast, with my cousin Alex Leslie, and my sister Lucinda Mackworth-Young. We were there because Cemaes is the town where Thomas William Jones was born, on … Continue reading

Posted in BLue Plaques, History, Kindness, Places, Talks, Titanic, Travel | 4 Comments

RMS Titanic: on this day 106 years ago … & Samira Addo, Portrait Artist of the Year

It’s 106 years ago today that the ‘unsinkable’ passenger liner, RMS Titanic, hit an iceberg and sank in just two hours and forty minutes. For years the tragedy was a matter of private internal horror: people didn’t talk about trauma then and … Continue reading

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Auditioning to become a WI Speaker, and ‘Born Baffled: Musings on a Writing Life’

In March I auditioned to become a WI speaker. The WI, you say? Don’t they just make jam, sing Jerusalem and talk a lot? Yes to all three, but no to JUST. There are 6,300 WIs in this country with 220,000 members … Continue reading

Posted in Psychology, Talks, Things I'd Love to Have Made, Titanic, Women, Writers, Writing | 3 Comments

Third novel, and the Reith Lectures, 2016

This month I finished my third novel. Finished to be interpreted loosely: there will be redrafts when I’m working with an agent and then with an editor. It’s working title is For the Love of Life. Rejoice. At least for now. … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Equality, Fiction, Things I'd Love to Have Made, Third Novel, Titanic, Writers, Writing | 2 Comments

Leslie House, Fife; and the Daily Good

My great-grandmother Noël Rothes, whose life was the initial inspiration for my novel The Dance of Love, lived at Leslie House between 1904 and 1919. The house was burned to the ground while under restoration in 2009. It’s been the … Continue reading

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103 years on, Titanic; and the things that come unbidden when you write

One hundred and three years ago today more than 1,500 people died in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic when RMS Titanic hit the iceberg and then sank, in the early hours of 15 April. My great-grandmother, Nöel Rothes, was one … Continue reading

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The Titanic: the 102nd anniversary of the tragic sinking, and, on a happier note, the launch of SHINY NEW BOOKS

On this day, 102 years ago, many many people drowned, or froze to death, in the icy waters of the north Atlantic after RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg. My great-grandmother, Noël Rothes, was one of the lucky survivors. I … Continue reading

Posted in Reviews, Things I'd Love to Have Made, Titanic | Tagged | 2 Comments

On this centenary of the tragic sinking of RMS Titanic

My great-grandmother, Noël Rothes, set sail from Southampton on RMS Titanic on 10 April 1912. She was one of 2,224 passengers and crew bound for New York. She was also, very luckily for her, one of 712 who were saved. … Continue reading

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Rewriting WRITTEN in WATER, Part 2

I thought perhaps my wonderful editor might have sent me her report on the final draft of WRITTEN in WATER by the beginning of this week, but because she is a careful thoughtful editor it won’t be with me until … Continue reading

Posted in Dance of Love, The, Things I'd Love to Have Made, Titanic | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Convergence of the Twain

It is strange what research throws up when you let yourself follow a curving line, isn’t it? (I know, it could be called a MAT, but I don’t think it counts.) I was looking for information about icebergs, when this … Continue reading

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Prinknash (pr Prinnidge)

I am going here where these Benedictine monks live The reason I am going is that this was my great-grandmother’s childhood home (she of the biography I was going to write, now of the novel that I am about to … Continue reading

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Camas Chil Mhalieu, Loch Linnhe

I am going here: Which is in northwest Scotland. Image © Copyright Donald MacDonald and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence. I’m going in search of the cottage that my great-grandmother used to go to get away from … Continue reading

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