Beryl Bainbridge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dame Beryl Bainbridge
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|---|---|
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| Born | 21 November 1932 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 2 July 2010 (aged 77) London, England |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse |
Austin Davies
(m. 1954; div. 1959) |
| Partner | Alan Sharp |
| Children | 3, including Rudi Davies |
Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (born November 21, 1932 – died July 2, 2010) was a famous English writer from Liverpool. She was best known for her exciting stories that explored people's thoughts and feelings. These tales were often set among everyday English people and sometimes had a dark, mysterious feel.
Beryl Bainbridge won a big writing award called the Whitbread Awards twice, in 1977 and 1996. She was also nominated five times for the important Booker Prize. In 2007, she was called "a national treasure," meaning she was a much-loved writer in her country. In 2008, The Times newspaper named her one of the "10 greatest British writers since 1945."
Contents
About Beryl Bainbridge's Life
Beryl Bainbridge was born in Liverpool, England, and grew up in a nearby town called Formby. Her parents were Richard Bainbridge and Winifred Baines. Even though she sometimes said she was born in 1934, she was actually born in 1932.
Early Life and School Days
Beryl loved to write from a young age. By the time she was 10, she was already keeping a diary. She took acting lessons and, when she was 11, she appeared on a radio show called Northern Children's Hour. Other famous people like Billie Whitelaw and Judith Chalmers were also on the show.
Beryl was asked to leave Merchant Taylors' Girls' School because she had a poem in her pocket that wasn't allowed. After that, she went to study at Cone-Ripman School in Tring, Hertfordshire. There, she discovered she was good at history, English, and art.
Love and Family Life
The summer she finished school, Beryl fell in love with a German man. They wrote letters to each other for six years and tried to get permission for him to come back to Britain so they could get married. But permission was denied, and their relationship ended in 1953.
In 1954, Beryl married an artist named Austin Davies. They later divorced, and Beryl raised her two children. For a while, Beryl worked as an actress. She even appeared in an episode of the TV show Coronation Street in 1961. She later had a third child, the actress Rudi Davies, with Alan Sharp. Alan was a writer too, and his encouragement helped Beryl start her own journey into writing stories.
Beryl Bainbridge's Writing Career
To fill her time, Beryl started writing stories, often based on things that happened in her own childhood. Her first novel, Harriet Said..., was turned down by several publishers at first. They thought the characters were too unusual. It was finally published in 1972, after her third novel had already come out.
Her second and third novels were published in 1967 and 1968. Critics liked them, but they didn't become very popular. She wrote and published seven more novels during the 1970s. Her fifth novel, Injury Time, won the Whitbread prize for best novel in 1977.
Books Made into Films
In the late 1970s, Beryl wrote a movie script based on her novel Sweet William. The movie, starring Sam Waterston, was released in 1980. Later, her 1989 novel, An Awfully Big Adventure, was also made into a film in 1995. This movie starred famous actors like Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant.
Historical Novels and Success
In the 1990s, Beryl Bainbridge started writing historical fiction, which means stories set in the past. These books were still praised by critics, but this time, they also became very popular with readers.
Some of her well-known historical novels include:
- Every Man for Himself: This book was about the 1912 Titanic ship disaster. It won the 1996 Whitbread Awards prize for best novel.
- Master Georgie: This story was set during the Crimean War. It won the 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.
Her last novel, According to Queeney, was a made-up story about the last years of Samuel Johnson's life. It was told from the viewpoint of Queeney Thrale, a daughter of his friends. The Observer newspaper called it a "highly intelligent, sophisticated and entertaining novel."
From the 1990s, Beryl also wrote reviews about theatre plays for a magazine called The Oldie. She usually wrote positive reviews, and they were often published after the play had already finished its run.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Beryl Bainbridge received many honors for her writing:
- In 2000, she was given the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). This is a very high honor in Britain.
- In 2001, she received an honorary degree from the Open University.
- In 2003, she won the David Cohen Prize for Literature along with Thom Gunn.
- In 2005, the British Library bought many of Beryl's personal letters and diaries to keep in their collection.
- In 2011, after she passed away, the Booker Prize committee gave her a special award.
- The musician Mark Knopfler even wrote a song called "Beryl" about her, which was on his 2015 album Tracker.
Beryl Bainbridge's Later Years
In 2003, Beryl's grandson, Charlie Russell, started making a documentary film about her life. It was called Beryl's Last Year. The film showed her childhood and her efforts to write a new novel. This documentary was shown in the United Kingdom on BBC Four in 2007.
In 2009, Beryl donated a short story called Goodnight Children, Everywhere to a project called Ox-Tales. This project collected stories from many UK authors to raise money for Oxfam. Her story was part of the "Air" collection. Beryl was also a supporter of the People's Book Prize.
Beryl Bainbridge was still working on her novel The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress when she died. This book was based on a real trip she took across America in 1968. It tells the story of a mysterious girl who was thought to be involved in the assassination of Robert Kennedy. The novel was published in May 2011 after her death.
Death
Beryl Bainbridge passed away on July 2, 2010, in a London hospital. She was 77 years old. She died after her cancer returned. She is buried in Highgate Cemetery in London.
Beryl Bainbridge's Novels
- A Weekend with Claude (1967)
- Another Part of the Wood (1968)
- Harriet Said... (1972)
- The Dressmaker (1973) – nominated for Booker Prize
- The Bottle Factory Outing (1974) – nominated for Booker Prize, won the Guardian Fiction Prize
- Sweet William (1975)
- A Quiet Life (1976)
- Injury Time (1977) - winner, Whitbread Prize
- Young Adolf (1978)
- Another Part of the Wood (revised edition) (1979)
- Winter Garden (1980)
- A Weekend with Claude (revised edition) (1981)
- Watson's Apology (1984)
- Filthy Lucre (published 1986)
- An Awfully Big Adventure (1989) – nominated for Booker Prize
- The Birthday Boys (1991)
- Every Man for Himself (1996) – nominated for Booker Prize, winner of the Whitbread Prize
- Master Georgie (1998) – nominated 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) (1994)
Non-fiction Books
- 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)
Images for kids
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Beryl Bainbridge
Dame Beryl Bainbridge at British Council: Literature
See also
In Spanish: Beryl Bainbridge para niños
