SIXTY SECONDS
THE NOVELIST, 86, ON LOSING HER HUSBAND, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MEET THE QUEEN AND HER LOVE OF YORKSHIRE
Friday, November 29, 2019
First of all, we’re sorry for the loss of your husband Bob, who died recently.
The thing is, Bob was perfectly alright on the Monday and it all happened so very suddenly – he had a big stroke. The last thing he said to me was ‘I love you’ but I knew he didn’t want to be kept alive by machinery.
That’s understandable...
He didn’t suffer, he was 92, that’s a good age. We had a great marriage and it was happy right to the end – and I try to draw comfort from that. I recently had to choose a headstone, so there have been tears again, but Bob always said I had a steel rod in my spine. He said I had to face the fact he was older than me and said, ‘I want you to keep going because we’ve had all these years together.’ But I can’t complain because
I’ve had a charmed life with
Really warm:. a great husband and great parents.
Did you mind being an only child?
Not at all – because I was the only one, a lot of love and affection was poured on to me. My parents devoted their full attention to me and my mother read to me, took me to the local library in Yorkshire, to the Theatre Royal in Leeds to see the ballet, to watch movies and to visit stately homes, where she’d tell me all about the history. She installed a lot of selfconfidence in me and if you can be confident aged 20 about who you are, it’s a big boon.
You met the Queen in 2007, when you collected your OBE. What actually happens behind the scenes?
Before you go in, you are in a group of people outside and courtiers attach a tie pin to your left shoulder so she can hang your medal on it. When you go in, the Queen is standing on a platform because she’s tiny and behind her is a chair and her black handbag. She shook my hand and said, ‘I know you’ve written a lot of books.’ I walked backwards and almost fell, because I was wearing black patent leather and they stick together if you’re not careful. When I retreated to the next room I asked the courtier why we had to leave our handbags behind and he said, ‘We once had a woman who dropped her handbag and lipstick was rolling around the Queen’s feet.’
What was the Queen actually like in person?
I enjoyed meeting the Queen. I felt she was really warm and it was like being with a nice friendly aunt.
He said, ‘They don’t dislike you, love, they just resent you because the subs like to swear’
You’re based in New York. Do you still watch English TV?
Apart from the news, not a lot. I did watch Poldark but it didn’t make me want to visit Cornwall because I have Yorkshire to go to and I can’t be disloyal.
Do you believe in a sisterhood?
A strange thing happened to me in the hospital as I sat holding Bob’s hand – girlfriends were bringing me coffee and a sandwich, and while I don’t believe in this vast thing called the sisterhood,
I do believe you can have really good female friends. I called the ones who were coming in and bringing me drinks and snacks my ‘posse’.
Your books are apparently the most read in the special collections at Leeds University…
my mother I had written a short story and she sent it to a children’s magazine. They printed it and sent me a money order for seven and six but all I cared about was the byline, Barbara Taylor. I told my mum I wanted to write books and she told me that might take a while so I decided to become a journalist in the meantime. When I started as a junior reporter on the local paper I sat opposite Keith Waterhouse [newspaper columnist and author], who was 20. One day I said, ‘Keith, why don’t they like me?’ and he said, ‘They don’t dislike you, love, they just resent you because the subs like to swear and they can’t use fourletter words in front of you.’ But I worked hard, kept my head down and over time the men grew to respect me and started to swear again.
. Traitor? Barbara. watched Poldark.
Well, I had a note from the woman who is head of the collections of the manuscripts and papers in the special collections at Leeds University. I have given the university 34 manuscripts of my major novels and more novellas, and according to the archivist out of all the modern writers they house there, my archive is the most popular.
You actually sold your first story aged only ten.
Yes, when I was ten years old I told
Is it true you and Bob never argued?
We had our disagreements and our little quarrels but we never shouted at each other. I deal with words as a writer so I was very conscious that words can hurt. So I learned to get up and leave him to go and make a cup of tea and change the subject.
Taylor Bradford’s In The Lion’s Den and the 40th anniversary edition of her novel A Woman Of Substance (both HarperCollins) are out now