Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | страница 40

Island Life - February/March 2011

Photo: Anne skating on the Serpentine with Pat and Ingrid in 1947

nicknamed Beetroot and Turnip – ‘what
fun’!.
“I was eight when the Second World
War started, and one of my memories
was the bombing of Coventry, which
was quite close. Janetta was just six
weeks old, and we had no air raid
shelter as the German planes went
overhead all night long,” she said.
“Then they used to drop any bombs
they hadn’t used, and I remember
hearing them fall, and was terrified.”
As a war evacuee, Anne later attended
school in Newbury, and was keen on
playing lacrosse. She was in the first
team at the age of 12, and despite
having some teeth knocked out in one
match, she prides herself on playing the
sport on the famous rugby ground at
Twickenham.
Following the war, and return to
Queensgate school, Anne then left at
16 and went to Sweden for six months
to stay with an uncle and aunt. She
recalls their house had hot water three
days a fortnight! “My uncle was very
pompous, and I was quite lonely, but
I had a boyfriend who took me to the
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opera on a Monday, where his parents
had a box. While I was there, I learnt
dressmaking, Swedish and continued
my piano studies.
“Mummy thought I would return
as this sophisticated, well educated
daughter, but instead I came back with
fat cheeks, an orchid in my buttonhole
and smoking – mummy was not
pleased. So funny!”
On her return from Sweden, Anne
went to secretarial college in London,
and always made it her aim to work in
the Foreign Office. Despite impeccable
references she was turned down – but
never in writing – and maintains it was
because she had a Swedish mother.
So she went into the Stock Exchange
instead as a secretary, initially earning
£5 a week, but spending six and a
half happy years there, taking driving
lessons and passing the test.
From the Stock Exchange Anne
headed for Fleet Street in1956,
spending six years as the editorial
manager’s secretary of the Mirror
Group Newspapers, embracing all four
publications of the time. She laughed:

“I was very well protected in there.
They used to remove articles they didn’t
think I should read, because I suppose
in those days we were all very innocent.
“There was one terrible murder, and
the murderer actually came into the
office to meet the crime correspondent.
He was taken to the editorial floor by a
girl about the same age as one he had
just murdered. After that security was
tightened up.
“It was so interesting but my father
hated me working at the Mirror. I made
a lot of friends, and remember when
we moved offices to Holborn Circus, we
worked non-stop for 36 hours, moving
165 filing cabinets. We worked hard,
but it really was fun.”
During her time at the Mirror, Anne
also worked in the legal department
and was involved in helping to publish
several major stories that are still talked
about to this day. She spent 10 hours
typing the statement for columnist
Cassandra – Bill Connor – when he was
sued for implying that renowned pianist
Liberace was homosexual. As reward for
typing the statement Anne was allowed
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