Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer from
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
. She was primarily known for her works of
psychological fiction
In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of the characters. The mode of narration examin ...
, often macabre tales set among the English working class. Bainbridge won the
Whitbread Awards
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
prize for best novel in
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...
and
1996; she was nominated five times for the
Booker Prize. She was described in 2007 by Charlotte Higgins as "a national treasure".
In 2008, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' named Bainbridge on their list of "The 50 greatest
British writers
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
since 1945".
Biography
Early life
Beryl Bainbridge was born in
Allerton, Liverpool and brought up in nearby
Formby
Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census.
Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "Fo ...
. Her parents were Richard Bainbridge and Winifred Baines. Although she gave her date of birth in ''Who's Who'' and elsewhere as 21 November 1934, she was born in 1932 and her birth was registered in the first quarter of 1933. When German former prisoner of war Harry Arno Franz wrote to her in November 1947, he mentioned her 15th birthday.
[ ]
She enjoyed writing, and by the age of 10 she was keeping a diary.
[ She had elocution lessons and, when she was 11, appeared on th]
''Northern Children's Hour'' radio show
alongside Billie Whitelaw and Judith Chalmers
Judith Rosemary Locke Chalmers (born 10 October 1935) is a British television presenter who is best known for presenting the travel programme '' Wish You Were Here...?'' from 1974 to 2003.
Early life
Chalmers was born in Gatley, Cheshire. Her ...
. Bainbridge was expelled from Merchant Taylors' Girls' School (Crosby) because she was caught with a "dirty rhyme" (as she later described it), written by someone else, in her gymslip pocket.[ ] She then went on to study at Cone-Ripman School, Tring
Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...
, Hertfordshire (now Tring Park School for the Performing Arts
Tring Park School for the Performing Arts is an independent co-educational school offering specialist courses in Dance, Commercial Music, Musical Theatre and Acting for 8–19 year olds. Originally known as the Arts Educational School, Tring Pa ...
), where she found she was good at history, English and art. The summer she left school, she fell in love with a former German POW who was waiting to be repatriated. For the next six years, the couple corresponded and tried to get permission for the German man to return to Britain so that they could marry. But permission was denied and the relationship ended in 1953.
Subsequent years
In the following year (1954), Bainbridge married artist Austin Davies. In 1958, she attempted suicide by putting her head in a gas oven.[ The two divorced soon after, leaving Bainbridge a single mother of two children. Bainbridge spent her early years working as an actress, and she appeared in one 1961 episode of the soap opera '' Coronation Street'' playing an anti-nuclear protester. She later had a third child by ]Alan Sharp
Alan Sharp (12 January 1934 – 8 February 2013) was a Scottish novelist and screenwriter. He published two novels in the 1960s, and subsequently wrote the screenplays for about twenty films, mostly produced in the United States.
According to ...
, the actress Rudi Davies
Ruth Emmanuella Davies (born 24 March 1965), known professionally as Rudi Davies, is an English actress, the daughter of Alan Sharp (1934–2013) and the writer, Dame Beryl Bainbridge (1932–2010).
Career
Davies began her acting career as Penn ...
(born 1965).[ Sharp, a Scotsman, was at the start of his career as novelist and screenwriter; Bainbridge would later let it be thought that he was her second husband; in truth, they never married but the relationship encouraged her on her way to fiction.
To help fill her time, Bainbridge began to write, primarily based on incidents from her childhood. Her first novel, '' Harriet Said...'', was rejected by several publishers, one of whom found the central characters "repulsive almost beyond belief". It was eventually published in 1972, four years after her third novel (''Another Part of the Wood''). Her second and third novels were published (1967/68) and were received well by critics although they failed to earn much money.][ She wrote and published seven more novels during the 1970s, of which the fifth, '']Injury Time
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
'', was awarded the Whitbread prize
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
for best novel in 1977.
In the late 1970s, she wrote a screenplay based on her novel '' Sweet William''. The resulting film, starring Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...
, was released in 1980.
From 1980 onwards, eight more novels appeared. The 1989 novel, ''An Awfully Big Adventure
''An Awfully Big Adventure'' is a 1995 British coming-of-age film directed by Mike Newell. The story concerns a teenage girl who joins a local repertory theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of ''Peter Pan'', the play quickly ...
'', was adapted into a film in 1995, starring Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakespe ...
and Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous a ...
.
In the 1990s, Bainbridge turned to historical fiction. These novels continued to be popular with critics, but this time, were also commercially successful.[ Among her historical fiction novels are '' Every Man for Himself'', about the 1912 Titanic disaster, for which Bainbridge won the ]1996 Whitbread Awards
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
prize for best novel, and ''Master Georgie
''Master Georgie'' is a 1998 historical novel by English novelist Beryl Bainbridge. It deals with the British experience of the Crimean War through the adventures of the eponymous central character George Hardy, who volunteers to work on the ba ...
'', set during the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, for which she won the 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
for fiction. Her final novel, '' According to Queeney'', is a fictionalized account of the last years of the life of Samuel Johnson as seen through the eyes of Queeney Thrale, eldest daughter of Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
and Hester Thrale
Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...
. ''The Observer'' referred to it as a "...highly intelligent, sophisticated and entertaining novel".
From the 1990s, Bainbridge also served as a theatre critic for the monthly magazine ''The Oldie
''The Oldie'' is a British monthly magazine written for older people "as a light-hearted alternative to a press obsessed with youth and celebrity", according to its website. The magazine was launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who was its edit ...
''. Her reviews rarely contained negative content, and were usually published after the play had closed.[
]
Final years
In 2003, Bainbridge's grandson Charlie Russell began filming a documentary, ''Beryl's Last Year'', about her life. The documentary detailed her upbringing and her attempts to write a novel, ''Dear Brutus'' (which later became '' The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress''); it was broadcast in the United Kingdom on 2 June 2007 on BBC Four.
In 2009, Bainbridge donated the short story ''Goodnight Children, Everywhere'' to Oxfam's Ox-Tales
Ox-Tales refers to four anthologies of short stories written by 38 of the UK's best-known authors. All donated their stories to Oxfam. The books and stories are loosely based on the four elements: Earth, Fire, Air and Water.
The Ox-Tales books w ...
project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Air" collection. Bainbridge was the patron of the People's Book Prize.
Bainbridge was still working on '' The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress'' at the time of her death. The novel, which was based on a real-life journey Bainbridge made across America in 1968, is about the mystery girl reputed to have been involved in the assassination of Robert Kennedy
On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. He was pronounced dead at 1:44 a.m. PDT the following day.
Kennedy was a senator from New York and a candidate in ...
. The novel, which was published in May 2011 by Little, Brown
Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown (publisher), James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Ear ...
, was edited for publication by Brendan King, whose biography ''Beryl Bainbridge: Love by All Sorts of Means'' was published in September 2016.
Death
Bainbridge died on 2 July 2010, aged 77, in a London hospital after her cancer recurred. Confusion over her birth year resulted in some reports giving her age at death as 75. She is buried in Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
.
Honours and awards
In 2000, Bainbridge was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). In June 2001, she was awarded an honorary degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
by the Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
as Doctor of the University. In 2003, she was awarded the David Cohen Prize
The David Cohen Prize for Literature (est. 1993) is a British literary award given to a writer, novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist or dramatist in recognition of an entire body of work, written in the English language. The prize is funde ...
for Literature together with Thom Gunn
Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement, and his later poetry in America, even after moving towards a looser, ...
. In 2005, the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
acquired many of Bainbridge's private letters and diaries.[ In 2011, she was posthumously awarded a special honour by the Booker Prize committee. ]Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...
included a song titled "Beryl" dedicated to her and her posthumous award on his 2015 album '' Tracker''. In 2016, a Blue Plaque was unveiled at the house she resided in while growing up in Formby.
Bibliography
Novels
*''A Weekend with Claude'' (1967)
*''Another Part of the Wood'' (1968)
*'' Harriet Said...'' (1972)
*'' The Dressmaker'' (US title ''The Secret Glass'') (1973) – shortlisted for Booker Prize
*''The Bottle Factory Outing
''The Bottle Factory Outing'' is a 1974 novel by English writer Beryl Bainbridge. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize that year, won the Guardian Fiction Prize and is regarded as one of her best. It is also listed as one of the 100 greatest ...
'' (1974) – shortlisted for Booker Prize, won the Guardian Fiction Prize
The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Founded in 1965, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the United Kingdom. The award ran for 33 ...
*'' Sweet William'' (1975)
*'' A Quiet Life'' (1976)
*''Injury Time
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
'' (1977) - winner, Whitbread Prize
*'' Young Adolf'' (1978)
*''Another Part of the Wood'' (revised edn) (1979)
*''Winter Garden'' (1980)
*''A Weekend with Claude'' (revised edn) (1981)
*''Watson's Apology'' (1984)
*''Filthy Lucre'' (written as a teenager in 1946 but published 1986)
*''An Awfully Big Adventure
''An Awfully Big Adventure'' is a 1995 British coming-of-age film directed by Mike Newell. The story concerns a teenage girl who joins a local repertory theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of ''Peter Pan'', the play quickly ...
'' (1989) – shortlisted for Booker Prize
*'' The Birthday Boys'' (1991)
*'' Every Man for Himself'' (1996) – shortlisted for Booker Prize, winner of the Whitbread Prize
*''Master Georgie
''Master Georgie'' is a 1998 historical novel by English novelist Beryl Bainbridge. It deals with the British experience of the Crimean War through the adventures of the eponymous central character George Hardy, who volunteers to work on the ba ...
'' (1998) – shortlisted for Booker Prize
*'' According to Queeney'' (2001)
*'' The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress'' (2011)
Short story collections
*'' Mum and Mr. Armitage'' (1985)
*''Collected Stories'' (1994)
*''Northern Stories Vol. 5'' (co-editor with David Pownall) (1994)
Non-fiction
*''English Journey, or The Road to Milton Keynes'' (1984)
*''Forever England: North and South'' (1987)
*''Something Happened Yesterday'' (1993)
*''Front Row: Evenings at the Theatre'' (2005)
References
External links
*
*
''Guardian'' interview
at ''The Guardian''
Beryl Bainbridge Criticism (Vol. 131)
Beryl Bainbridge biography
*
''The Oldie Magazine''
''The New York Times'', 2 July 2010
Beryl Bainbridge: 1932 – 2010
Thought Catalog
The Man Booker Prize: Special Prize for Beryl Bainbridge
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography audio podcast
–- issued in January 2014 (find under literary listings)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bainbridge, Beryl
1932 births
2010 deaths
British Book Award winners
Deaths from cancer in England
Costa Book Award winners
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
David Cohen Prize recipients
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients
Novelists from Liverpool
People educated at Merchant Taylors' Girls' School
People educated at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts
People from Formby
Writers from Liverpool
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English women writers
21st-century English novelists
21st-century English women writers
English women novelists
Burials at Highgate Cemetery