Jill Craigie / Rosamond Lehmann

Jill Craigie / Rosamond Lehmann (Live from Two)

Writer and filmmaker Jill Craigie and novelist Rosamond Lehmann are the guests on this afternoon chat show.

The guests and presenter are witty, forthright and charming in this edition of the weekly Wednesday afternoon chat show, Live from Two, which ran from 1980-81. Eloquent conversation flows freely between the guests, neatly guided by presenter Shelley Rohde.
Rosamond Lehmann, acclaimed author of novels including Dusty Answer and The Weather in the Streets - often cited as pioneering feminist classics - matter-of-factly pronounces that 'I don't consider myself specifically to be a feminist. I'm very happy to be a woman.'
By contrast, ground-breaking documentary film director Jill Craigie (misleadingly introduced as 'Britain's only woman film director in the immediate post-war years') is not shy about professing her own feminism and adds for good measure that 'my husband's a very good feminist.' Craigie was married to Michael Foot, then leader of the Labour Party and a contender to become Prime Minister. She concedes that 'he's a very strong theoretical feminist, yes.' Incidentally, later in her life, she tells Foot on-camera that his feminism was entirely theoretical, which he unconvincingly denies, in footage included in the documentary biopic Independent Miss Craigie (2020).
Much of the discussion is about men, marriage, and women's careers. When the presenter, Shelley Rohde, comments to Craigie that 'you're a very strong career person' she responds by shaking her head and countering 'I've always put personal relationships first.' Lehmann chips in 'So've I' and clarifies that she doesn't 'think of novel writing as a career.' There is some lively debate about the comparative degrees of sexual liberation in the 1940s and the 1980s - Craigie pronounces that 'the pill is basically liberation for men' in an astute observation on the clichéd notion of the freedom sinces the 1960s.

Presenter Shelley Rohde led an adventurous life herself, like her guests, though this is unmentioned in the programme. In her early 20s she worked as a foreign correspondent in Moscow for the Daily Express newspaper, and much later in life she went on to write an celebrated biography of artist L.S. Lowry.

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What We Read

Get between the covers with some of the brightest literary stars past and present.

In this hyper-digital age, there's something a bit special about the most medium analogue of all. Literary tastes may have changed over the years, but that cool touch of paper, that light swish as each page curves over is as satisfying as ever. But then, the chances are you're reading this in a public library, so you won't need us to tell you about the wonder of books. The videos collected here celebrate the joys of reading and the agonies of writing, and highlight how literary tastes have changed (or not) over the years. You'll find some of the giants of the literary scene discussing their work, their creative process and their influences. You'll find books of all kinds - fiction, non-fiction, for readers young, old and anything in between - explored, examined, discussed and reviewed. So why not, to borrow a phrase, curl up with a good video?

13 videos in this collection

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Douglas Adams

  • 1992
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Jilly Cooper / Jean Rook (Calendar People)

  • Leeds
  • 1975
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Kazuo Ishiguro with Clive Sinclair

  • 1986
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Ben Okri

  • 1991
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Margaret Atwood with Hermione Lee

  • 1985
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Children's Books

  • 1982
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Kathy Acker

  • 1987
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It's Fun to Read [29/12/70]

  • 1970
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The Book Tower [02/01/85]

  • 1985
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Barbara Cartland Book 'Getting Older'

  • Hatfield
  • 1984
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P.D. James with A.S. Byatt

  • 1986
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Jill Craigie / Rosamond Lehmann

  • 1981
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The Dog Gets into Mischief Again

  • 1971
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