Because every young girl in those days wanted to be an actress especially in california. I truly had no thought about it. I knew i loved to go to movies, but why would you think youre going to be in the movies . Its one thing to go to the movies and see movie stars, but why would you think you were going to be in the movies if no one in yourfamily. If you werent exposed at all. I had no dream of that. All of a sudden i guess i thought it was so crazy that i would fit into show business. You have to be a little crazy to be in show business, i have decided that. President obama has authorised sanctions against russians, who its claimed used Cyber Espionage to interfere in the recent us president ial election. The Syrian Government says there is a real chance of reaching a political settlement to the syrian conflict, after a ceasefire after a ceasefire was brokered with the help of damascuss ally russia. Hollywood actress, debbie reynolds, best known for her role in musical singin in the rain, has died aged 84 from a suspected stroke. Now its time for meet the author. For her latest novel, different class, Joanne Harris is back in school, st oswalds grammar school, where she set two previous books. And although she says that she thinks of it as comic, the comedy is darker than ever. From one of our most prolific and well read authors, chocolat was of course an International Bestseller and memorable film. The classrooms and corridors are the setting for a story of sexual jealousy, sometimes hate, deception and some violence, and an exploration of some of the most troubling relationships between teachers and pupils, and the havoc that they can sometimes wreak. Welcome. Joanne, despite what happens to some of the pupils and teachers in this story, it strikes me that schools attract you. You like them, dont you . Im very fond of schools. I taught in them for 15 years, and theyre wonderful observations of community. The observation here is, as i said at the beginning, pretty dark. Its funny, its touching, but it goes to some very dark places, both in terms of the staff and their charges. It does. Ive found that schools are a perpetual stage for tragedy, farce and everything in between. So many things can happen, its such an unpredictable environment. And that unpredictability isntjust because of the setting, its because of the age of those involved. Were talking about adolescents, people going through all kinds of crises, some imagined, some real. And relationships with teachers, which are inevitably very delicate things. I think so, yes. Its a very intense stage, adolescence. You feel things very strongly. You can experience things for the first time and they are so powerful that they create an upheaval in your life. I found it a very interesting thing to be part of, but its daunting as well, because later i realised that as a teacher, you can influence somebodys life and people remember things and if they remember something as unfair, they can resent it in a way an adult would not. Some bad things happen in this book. I wont say what they are, but i think its safe to say youre led into territory that has become much more familiar to us allegations of sexual impropriety and misconduct and so on, and terrible Emotional Trauma between staff and pupils did you know thats what you were getting into when you started . Not entirely, no. What happened was that i started off with the germ of an idea and then in real life Operation Yewtree started to unfold, and i found that there was an uncomfortable crossover between what i was writing about and what was happening in the world, and it became much darker and more topical than i thought it would. You touch on the whole question in this book of atmospheres that can develop, rather hysterical ones, leading to, in some cases, a witchhunt atmosphere, or territory where there are false accusations and great damage done as a consequence. Its something that clearly fascinates you, the unfairness thats lurking under the surface. Yes, i think so. And also the past and how the past affects the present, and how memory is not inherently a reliable tool, particularly when dealing with experiences of trauma, how memory can be affected by all kinds of things that are happening in the present day, and how memory can therefore sometimes be both unreliable and frightening. The principal character, straightly, has been a teacher for a very long time, so this has happened to him again and again. Theres that interesting sense of having seen generations of pupils coming through, in his case, to learn classics or not. First of all, you clearly adore him. Im very fond of straightly. Were not same person, but i might have grown into him if id stayed at the school where i taught for long enough. Hes flawed in a lot of ways, but ultimately has a good heart. Hes warm and affectionate. He loves hisjob. Hes aware that he is affecting young lives, and he has a strong sense of duty. I also like the fact that he is a bit of a subversive. He has various prejudices hes completely unaware of. He has favourites. Hes a bit bad with technology, he likes the Odd Sneaky Fag outside when he shouldnt. One of the interesting things about the way you construct the narrative here is that you have an older man talking, but you have youngsters as well, so theyre inhabiting completely different milieu although theyre in the same place, in the school. Thats right, but i think i had the benefit of being in that environment for long enough to pick up a lot of voices, to remember the way teenage boys talked, the way older members of staff talked, and so ive borrowed from colleagues, from pupils who are now ex pupils and who watch the whole process with joy from twitter and facebook. Youre a great twitter user, i gather. I do like twitter, yes. Do you find old pupils coming on and saying, it wasnt like that with you . Many boys come back and say they read this. Very often, they turn up to readings, and of course they all think im writing about them, which isnt quite true, but there are certainly little vignettes. And although its a dark story, youre clearly having fun. Youre an immensely successful author, very widely read. Are you irritated when people say youre the Chocolat Woman . I know youre not irritated by its success, but does it sometimes hang round your neck . Inevitably, a little. Im very grateful for the response to chocolat and the fact that people loved it. I love it, too, and im still writing about those characters. What i find irksome, if anything, is the assumption that i will always do the same thing. Most of my readers dont make that assumption, because they know i can go in any kind of direction and have done, and im lucky in that sense. You take the authorial responsibility very seriously. You speak up for authors. Recently, you talked about not going to one nameless Literary Festival because they were expecting all kinds of things, exclusive contracts and a puny fee, and you said, hang on, authors deserve to be treated in a better way. Its notjust about me wanting money or special treatment. Its the opposite. I would like people to see writing as a job, a profession, and to treat authors professionally. This is particularly important for Young Authors who have difficulty in getting to festivals because of what it costs. They dont make much money writing, contrary to public opinion. Absolutely. The average salary of a professional author is £11,000 a year, according to the society of authors. This isnt much. Not many of us get to write for a living and make a reasonable living out of it. And youre an author who conforms, i think, to one of of the garden, like roald dahl. Do you disappear and enter a different world when youre there . Shed world is a specific space, and i think its psychologically important for an author to have a work space, particularly someone like me, whos on a timetable for so long. Its difficult to manage your time and get into the psychological headspace of writing, so i think its important to create a place where you work and nothing else happens, whether its a shed or a desk. When i started off, i had no desk, so i had two objects i would put in front of my laptop when i wanted to write, and that created my work space, wherever it was. Sometimes, im working on two at once, almost always, in fact. I have books that i write on sunny days and ones that i write on dark days, of which different class was one. And this was a dark day book. It is, although there are glimpses of sunshine as well. I should say its fun as well. Joanne harris, thank you. Thank you. Some parts of the uk had a decent day with some Winter Sunshine and you had to go to the hills of shropshire to find it. Some fog lingered for places. For many central and eastern areas, a very pleasa nt central and eastern areas, a very pleasant day, cold, but some sunshine. Temperatures are now plummeting under the clear skies and weve got some fog forming and the extent is difficult to forecast but by the end of the night there will be some patches across east anglia and the south east of england. Further north, a Weather Front bringing rain. To the south east, not so cold, but go down to the south east and east anglia, close to freezing. A lot of cloud to start friday, not much rain, maybe some spits and spots in the south and west but most places fine and dry. The greatest weather across the south east with those patches of fog the most grey weather. Across most of Northern England, dry and cloudy start, and some places starting around eight, 9 degrees and maybe double figures early tomorrow morning in Northern Ireland. Similar in scotland but we are going to see some rain, mainly in the north and west. The Weather Front is going to be with you for some time, some heavy bursts of rain, maybe some rain on the western coasts but we should see some breaks in the cloud, so should see some breaks in the cloud, 03 should see some breaks in the cloud, so a bit of sunshine at times. A range of temperatures, single figures in the south and east, but about 11 or so for glasgow and belfast. New years eve, the Weather Front is still across butland, moving south scotland. Some drizzle around the western coasts and hills. Around midnight, the Weather Front should clear from glasgow and edinburgh and was so late in the day from Northern Ireland but it will be sitting over Northern England towards north wales. Seven, 8 degrees around midnight in the south but in the north, temperatures dropping, a sign of things to come moving into new years day. Cold air, a sharp drop in temperatures and cold enough for some snow in northern scotland. This is bbc news. The headlines at eight president barack obama has imposed sanctions on russian officials in retaliation for hacking the us president ial election, saying all americans should be alarmed by russias actions. The United Nations has welcomed a ceasefire in syria brokered by russia and turkey. Russian president putin said the warring parties had declared their readiness to start peace talks. Family doctors warn that patients in england could wait more than a month for an appointment because the systems overstretched. Devon and Cornwall Police investigate the discovery of the bodies of two men at a flat in st austell. Detectives are treating the deaths as unexplained. Also in the next hour. Tributes to Hollywood Star debbie reynolds, whos died at the age of 8a
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.