Dear Beryl Bainbridge died today at the age of 75. She was a wonderful woman – a wonderful English woman – and a wonderful writer. She was also a Catholic for a while – a traditionalist who did not delight in the changes to the liturgy or in the downgrading of sin and penance.
I got to know her very slightly when I worked for the Spectator. It was always a pleasure to deal with her. She never answered the phone, at least not to me. You got an answering machine and you left a message saying you were awfully sorry to bother her but could she do 1,200 words on…” She always could. She’d ring you and tell you to expect the copy the next morning and could you please look out for spelling mistakes and stuff? She did not use email but faxed her pieces. They were always spot on and to length, full of droll observation, and the spelling was pretty good, too.
