‘Poor old authorised Valerie Grove,’ writes Graham Lord, in a final chapter aptly called The Bitter End. ‘How is she ever going to be able to tell the complete truth about Mortimer?’ Lord explains that since Sir John Mortimer withheld co-operation on his biography (and appointed me to write one instead), this is a vastly different book from the one he might have written with Mortimer’s approval. He wrote it faster, for a start. (He also sent angry letters to Mortimer’s friends, saying ‘If Sir John’s friends won’t see me, I shall have to resort to his enemies.’)

Sep 2005

Playing God

Street Smug

Portrait of the Author

Queen of the Desert

His Family & Other Animals

Weathering the Dorm

Line Management

Down Memory Lane

Mayfair Lady

‘Crisp as a Celery Stick’

Keeping Up with the Burne-Joneses

Still Lighting Up

In Restaurants, Other Diners Applauded When He Left

Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The Voice of Everywoman

Long Wavering Radio

Cherchez Les Femmes

Ladies on Longwave

Not Just A Pretty Face

Sign Up to our newsletter

@Lit_Review

Last Tweets