Biography and Memoir
Backlisted11 Helmi 2025

Biography and Memoir

A Backlisted Special dedicated to biographies and memoirs, with books by Nancy Mitford, Roger Lewis, Elizabeth Jane Howard, P.D. James and Jean Rhys. John Mitchinson talks to the writer and friend of the show Laura Thompson about five of her favourite books – two of them biographies (Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford and The Real Life of Laurence Olivier by Roger Lewis) and three memoirs (Slipstream by Elizabeth Jane Howard; Time to Be in Earnest by P.D. James and Smile Please by Jean Rhys). The discussion explores the difference between writing about someone else’s life and writing about your own; the various motivations that lead writers to produce memoirs, and the relationship between both forms and fiction. Laura Thompson is herself the writer of both biography and memoir. She has written a life of Agatha Christie, and books about the Mitford sisters and the Lord Lucan case, as well as a memoir of her grandmother, The Last Landlady. This is her fifth appearance on Backlisted, after joining us for episodes on Nancy Mitford, Antonia White, P.D. James and Agatha Christie. * To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops. * For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm *If you'd like to support the show and join in with the book chat, listen without adverts, receive the show early and get extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a patron at www.patreon.com/backlisted *You can sign up to our free monthly newsletter here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaksot(262)

Voices of the Old Sea by Norman Lewis

Voices of the Old Sea by Norman Lewis

We are joined by the poet Katrina Porteous and the writer and editor Patrick Galbraith to discuss Norman Lewis’s account of the of the three summers he spent working in Farol, a remote fishing village...

10 Joulu 20241h 7min

The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven

The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven

Rupert Everett joins us to discuss David Niven's memoir The Moon’s a Balloon. This show represents the fulfilment of a long cherished ambition: to dedicate a whole Backlisted to a book that Andy and J...

26 Marras 20241h 13min

Grinny & You Remember Me! by Nicholas Fisk

Grinny & You Remember Me! by Nicholas Fisk

Sam Leith, author of The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading, returns to Backlisted to discuss two novels by Nicholas Fisk, Grinny (1973) and its sequel, You Remember Me! (1984). Fisk's SF th...

13 Marras 20241h 10min

Round the Fire Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

Round the Fire Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

Happy Hallowe'en 2024! Join John, Andy and Nicky, plus guests Andrew Male and Dr Laura Varnam - AKA the Backlisted Irregulars - for this year's Hallowe'en special, celebrating Arthur Conan Doyle's "gr...

31 Loka 20241h 3min

Nico: Songs They Never Play On the Radio by James Young

Nico: Songs They Never Play On the Radio by James Young

Author Will Hodgkinson and actress and director Caroline Catz join Andy and John to discuss James Young's Nico: Songs They Never Play On the Radio, first published in 1992. This is the story of Nico, ...

21 Loka 20241h 13min

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

This episode features a live recording made at Foyles in London, where John was joined on stage by Una McCormack, making her record breaking tenth appearance on Backlsited, and Salena Godden, who retu...

7 Loka 202456min

Her First American by Lore Segal

Her First American by Lore Segal

This episode explores the third novel by the nonagenarian American writer Lore Segal which was originally published in 1985 by Knopf and is due to be released in the UK for the first time by Sort Of B...

23 Syys 20241h 7min

Season 3 Prequel

Season 3 Prequel

The waiting is nearly over! Ahead of Backlisted Season 3 - and our tenth anniversary year - John, Andy and Nicky get together to chat about books, vintage vinyl, what they did on their holidays, but m...

16 Syys 20241h 9min

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