Of eu legislation into british law. Prince george started his first day at school with a little in courage and from his father. An update on the market numbers for you heres how londons and frankfurt ended the day. And in the the United States this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. The pound lost ground against the euro. This was due to euro zone forecasts. On meet the author this weekjim naughtie talks with the biographer Claire Tomalin about her new book about herself a life of my own. Claire tomalin is one of our great biographers. Her subjects have included samuel pepys, jane austen, dickens and hardy. Now shes done what many biographers dont do shes written about herself. A life of my own, is her story, her family and her loves, the tragedies and joys in her life; the literary world in which she found her calling, her craft, welcome. Having spent so much time dealing with the detail of other peoples lives, trying to sort out truths from falsehoods, was it difficult to take the plunge and hold a mirror up to your own life . I think it was the most difficult book i have ever tried to write. I found it very painful and i asked myself quite often, should i be doing this, shall i go on with it, shall i give up . There are a lot of tragedies in your life which we might touch on but as a whole, its an extraordinary life, full of fun and friendship as well. Why did you find it so tough . Because i had to address, really, really sad things that happened, particularly the death of my beloved and wonderful daughter, susanna. Who took her own life . Who took her own life. And i wanted her to be there. I felt she was such a remarkable person. And i also feel that the care of depressed young people, we all know, its not as good as it ought to be, and i suppose i blamed myself in a way, that i hadnt kept her alive. You had to deal with your feelings, you husband, nick tomlin, who was killed, in the yum kippur war, a terrible tragedy but you have had ups and downs of extraordinary kind during your marriage and its tough to write about that . Yes. But i saw, i learned something from it. I saw that first of all, probably i shouldnt have married him. We were great friends and lovers and we had fun together but we were not really soul mates. And every time he ran off with a blonde and i was left with the children it had a good effect on me, because i thought, ive got to cope, ive got make my life, ive got to get a betterjob. And if you look at my life, when i came to look, i saw that each time he did something really dreadful, i grew and progressed so that most sadly, i mean it was terrible when he was killed, but i had in a way been prepared to cope. And in dealing with your own feelings at the time, in the 50s when you were a student through the 60s the tumultuos 70s, fleet street, the literary world, it must be difficult to write about friends and friendships with real honesty . Well, i think my friendships with Terry Kilmartin who, was literary editor of the observer, who was a wonderful friend to me, with kyle miller with neil atherton, with michael frane, who in the end became my husband but for many years was a friend to me, with sarah foreman, who was at the sunday times, who i must not leave out, marina warner, victoria glendenning, who was a great friend, because we both had children, we were both making our way in the literally world and we had such fun together. You moved in that literally world of newspapers, magazines, the new statesman, the sunday times, you became literally editor and in the late 60s and the 70s these were exhilarating times, in that world, werent they . I was very lucky. I meanjournalism was booming. I had these brilliant friends and it was a very entertaining world to be part of, yes. And newspapers and magazines in those days, to an extent which i think it isnt there now, really cared about the original poetry, the job of the critic, about what the literary pages should do. It was thought as being important. I thought they were very important. I thought they really mattered. Well they did. I thought to address literature and the arts seriously and write seriously about them and entertainingly, which he these very, very funny review vorax like the brilliantjohn cary, i thought that was very important. And i thought each week, i must make my pages the best pages. There must be something on my pages, that everybody has to, people who dont usualally look at the book page, will want to read, and that was my goal. In some ways, its a book, in part of course, about your family, but also about what it was like in that era. Through the 60s when things opened up, when a sort of deferential social attitude gave way to something wilder and more spontaneous. Our sexual life changed. Well, absolutley, that was it. I mean i put in the book, the moment in 1963, when id had my fourth baby, and i went to my gynaecologist and he leaned forward over the desk and held up a packet and said i think you might like these. These are pills that will stop you getting pregnant. And i said, yes yes absolutely and i saw at that moment that things had changed between men and women. Theres a great deal in the book about your growing affection for the english language, for literature, your discovery of thomas hardy, for example, whom you came to deal with as a biographer much later in life and the start of yourjourney into samuel pepys, and Mary Woolstonecraft of course. With Mary Woolstonecraft, i was a0 when i wrote that book, my first book. And i fell in love with the whole process with research and writing. And i realised at once that i had found my mitre. And you would always do that. But then i couldnt. I had to earn my living. You cant earn your living from writing biographies. So i was very lucky to have the job at the sunday times and when i left the sunday times after wapping in 1986 i was able then, in my 50s to start on my career as a writer and for the next 25 years i wrote historical biographers and i was very, very happy doing it. Well, theres an enormous amount of happiness in this book, despite all the ups and downs and indeed the tragedies, you seem to be somebody who is somehow able to cope to a remarkable degree . Yes, well, that is true but you do have to cope. If you dont cope. Whats left . You might as well give in. And i think i learned to cope a bit in childhood. I was a child who was disliked by my father and loved by my mother. And i had that curious experience as a small child of realising this, of being well aware that my father didnt like me, and that my mother was my supporter and the person who loved me. Your father was french and lived into his 905. Yes. How did the relationship change . I think when he began to realise that i was a clever child. When he began to want to have a divorce from my mother, he spoke to the Family Doctor and said, you know, what about the children. She said, well you dont need to worry about claire, because shes very clever. This had never occurred to my father. He was always surprised. Very surprised when i got into cambridge, very surprised when i got a first. He said, thats all very well, you need secretarial training. I mean at my wedding to michael, when he was in his 90s to which he came, he said, you never cease to surprise me, claire i began by asking you how difficult it had been to decide to do this and to write honestly about your own life, the difficulties, the joys and the sadnesses, what was it like when you finish . Ed what did you you feel when you finally sent off that manuscript . I felt maybe i shouldnt plush this book and i hadnt written quit enough. And my very good editor, anita butterfield, wrote me a letter saying, look, there are things you havent said, there are things you havent really said about writing your books and that matters. And she made me write some more. It was very good advice. Are you happy youve done it . Yes, i am happy ive done it. I mean, when i was young, andre doitch said to me, youve had an interesting life, you should write a novel. But i said, im not a novelist. But then i began to think but i have to a story to tell. Everybody has a story to tell. Your life is material, you know. Even if, i mean you have to deal with everything, an affair with martin amis, which everyone would notice. My most famous affair. Well, it was an Office Romance and it was very short and it was very delightful. And there we are. These are the things that make up a fascinating life. Thank you. Claire tomalin, author of a life of my own, thank you very much. Latest live update and the focus will be on the hurricanes, we have three of them. This one may become a major hurricane. We know it is barrelling through their primulas. A nasty situation there. We will keep you updated. We have low pressure in charge of our weather. Going into friday, the north of scotland, wind picking up, becoming blustery into tomorrow. Brain in many areas, patchy in nature but pushes further southin patchy in nature but pushes further south in england and wales overnight, staying mainly dry tomorrow, showers and the west of scotla nd tomorrow, showers and the west of scotland but in the east it will stay dry overnight. Showers tomorrow in north west scotland giving longer spells of rain but frequent showers here, not so many to the east of the pennines compared with north west england, a scattering of showers, but sunny spells and the showers get going more frequently in northern ireland. Many of us, for wales, the midlands could start dry but through the south of england, plenty of cloud, showery outbreaks of rain and that sets the scene for rain at times during freddie, not necessarily all the time but rain at times with the potential for heavier bursts and for wales, rain works in end of the morning lunchtime, to wit east anglia, the north of england, scattered showers, a lot of showers throughout scotland in the north west. In any sunshine, out of the breeze, it may not feel too bad but it is cool and it will be called through the week and, again in the wind, this is where we will find most of the showers, not too many in these, some of us might avoid them, lighter winds down that side of the uk, sunny spells, and then for part two of the weekend, rain spreading south east, it showers will follow one behind and still cool. For the weekend, it will be wet at times, but not all the time, there will be some drier and sunnier moments, but still on the cool side, the wind picking up and to the uk, sunday night into monday, the risk of severe gales. That could have an impact, we will keep you updated on that. More about the hurricanes and oui that. More about the hurricanes and our weather on line. Did 30 hello, im Karin Giannone welcome to outside source. We begin in the caribbean. At least ten people are dead after Hurricane Irma wreaked widespread destruction. The extent of the destruction and barbuda is unprecedented. Im of the view that as it stands now barbuda is barely habitable. Irma is still a category 5 hurricane and next its heading for the turks and caicos islands. Our reporter in myanmar says entire swathes of Rakhine State are depopulated and burning, as the mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims to bangladesh continues. The german elections are just over two weeks away ros atkins is seeing how the land lies in cologne. Every day outside source features bbc journalists working in over 30 languages. Your questions are always welcome. Bbcos is the hashtag
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