Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | Page 42

interview

Island Life - February/March 2011
Photo: Anne pictured at the World Championship of
Town Criers outside Shanklin Theatre 1986

Macmillan, using her shorthand and typing
skills to help write his memoirs, completing
three-and-a-half books in four-and-a-half
years. Anne said: “I was so lucky. I never
knew my grandparents, and he was really
like the grandfather I never had. It was
marvellous; hard work but like being part of
his family - a wonderful period of my life,
and I met a lot of interesting people.”
They included Jacqueline and Bobby
Kennedy, the widow and brother of murdered
US President John Kennedy. “I named it
Kennedy Day, because it was not long after
the President had been assassinated. Jackie
and Bobby arrived, escorted by seven Secret
Service cars, for lunch at Mr Macmillan’s
house.
“It was pouring with rain, the lobsters were
late and in the middle of it all Chief Supt
Bignell turned up from East G rinstead Police
Station and said ‘Mrs Bignell and I thought
we would come and give you a hand!’.
The Americans had seven black limos, with
Ambassadors and the lot, and the only British
security comprised Chief Supt. and Mrs.
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Bignell.”
Anne also worked for Lord Cobham,
whose many responsibilities included former
governor of New Zealand and President
of the MCC. He had been captain of
Worcestershire Cricket Club, so Anne’s work
often included arranging cricket matches at
Worcester, while she lived nearby in a flat at
the top of the imposing Hagley Hall, not far
from her original base in the Midlands.
She fondly recalls how the likes of Mr.
Macmillan and Lord Cobham were not just
employers, but tutors in her education of
life. “I think Mr Macmillan was one of the
funniest and wittiest men I have ever met. I
was taking shorthand notes, but sometimes
I was laughing so much I couldn’t write
it down. I think in a secretarial career the
higher up you went the easier the people
were to work for, so I had a lovely time.”
After what she describes as ‘a disastrous
nine months’ working for Winston Churchill
Junior, Anne lived in Sussex, and had several
more appointments including working for
Clifford Dann, who became president of the
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