Muriel Spark - The ELUSIVE SPARK BBC Ex-S & BBC Bookmark Film

Dame Muriel Spark was brought up to believe she was a poet and a dreamer. A writer of international renown, and the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, she rarely gave interviews or allowed glimpses into her private life. After much consultation she was persuaded to be interviewed in her Italian home by her fellow writer and biographer Alan Taylor.
With extracts from:
Curriculum Vitae
The Girls of Slender Means
Emily Bronte, Her Life and Work
Loitering With Intent
The Seraph and the Zambezi
The Comforters
Memento Mori
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Drivers Seat
The Portobello Road
Contributors:
Professor David Lodge, Novelist and Critic
Dr Ruth Whittaker, Critic
Frances Cowell, School Friend
Doris Lessing, Novelist
Neville Braybrooke, Writer and Friend
Written and Narrated by Alan Taylor
Readings: Tamara Kennedy, John Murtagh
Rostrum Camera: Malcolm Paris
Film Camera: Garry Morrison, Tony Cowan
Camera Assistants: Chris Burns, Gordon Gronbach
Sound Recordist: Mike Thomas
Production Manager: Joan Raba
Researcher (Italy): Regina Sansalone
Assistant Producer: Mark Downie
On-Line Editor: Chris Mason
Dubbing Mixers: Bronek Korda, Derek Livesey
Film Editor: Jan Leman
Producer: May Miller
Director: Eleanor Yule
Bookmark Series Editor: Roland Keating
BBC MCMXCVI
For more information please visit:
www.theguardian.com/books/201...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
www.amazon.co.uk/Appointment-...
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[@Enr227]

Interesting Muriel Spark and Doris Lessing in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, both 1 child, both left for GB

[@rosemarywaldie4958]

Loved The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Love this video too I shall have to discover more of her books

[@carolking6355]

That was just wonderful. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was the first book I read at University in my literature class. I love biographies and have always wondered what Muriel Spark was like. I liked her very much. So confident and totally self assured and with a good heart. I will look up wiki to see what happened to he beautiful son.

[@dinacox1971]

Graham Greene (my very favorite writer) and Evelyn Waugh were supporters!!! Wonderful. I found these three separately and oh my how I have loved them.

[@58christiansful]

I love Greene and Waugh but never really took to Spark. Always thought she was over-rated.

[@snufkin84]

Amazing! Me as well. I am a massive Greene and Spark fan! I’ve never heard of Evelyn Waugh but will now check her out.

[@dinacox1971]

@@snufkin84 Evelyn Waugh was a man and maybe best known for Brideshead Revisited which has been made into both a movie and a miniseries.

[@thomasceneri867]

@@58christiansfulI’m sorry, but Muriel Spark is NOT overrated!

[@Mrrossj01]

Memento Mori. The dramatization of the outstanding novel is posted on KZbin. The production is superb. The actors are all beyond excellent.

[@LEMANPRODUCTIONSARCHIVE]

Absolutely agree, it is a brilliant piece of work well worth seeking out.

[@orchid6789]

Wonderful. Thank you. And no ads 😄

[@LEMANPRODUCTIONSARCHIVE]

You’re welcome 😊

[@jerryrichardson2799]

Thanks for this.

[@LEMANPRODUCTIONSARCHIVE]

My pleasure, glad you enjoyed the doc.

[@Alisonwest]

I smiled at MS’s statement that babies really weren’t much of a problem. So small etc. […] Of course I had my parents, who brought up my son. I couldn’t have had a job. (loosely quoted). So little trouble indeed.

[@LEMANPRODUCTIONSARCHIVE]

Sadly, and despite the best efforts of his grandparents, her son paid a high price for this cruel abandonment.

[@user-lo1iz8tj1v]

@@LEMANPRODUCTIONSARCHIVE Living with one's grandparents is hardly cruel abandonment, it's not like he was left in an orphanage.

[@daniellamcgee4251]

​@@user-lo1iz8tj1v Muriel Sparks left Rhodesia on a troopship to England, leaving her then 4 year old son, Robin, behind in a Convent. Robin finally arrived at his grandparents house when he was 7 years old. That is abandonment. Muriel made no effort to form a close relationship with her son. She was always emotionally absent, as described by her friends, and those who knew Robin.

[@brightonmick]

Whenever I read anything by her, I become someone better.

[@reddragongnosis2255]

No you don't.

[@brightonmick]

@@reddragongnosis2255Yes I do

[@brightonmick]

@@reddragongnosis2255 From my what?

[@georgerafael]

So glad to see this again. Far, far superior to the Kirsty Wark's documentary of three years ago.

[@LEMANPRODUCTIONSARCHIVE]

Thank you, and I agree!

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Also ; we didn't have to endure Wark's nails on blackboard voice ! An added bonus.

[@shipaskof8371]

Ive no ad interruptions but usually I do.

[@danielhoneywell8292]

I'm reading her novels in order and have just started The Takeover. So, for me, this video is perfectly timed. I'm grateful that it's been made available. My top three so far are The Public Image, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and The Driver's Seat.

[@58christiansful]

The Driver’s Seat is something of an oddity. And the Elizabeth Taylor film is worse.

[@snufkin84]

The Public Image is great; I was less taken by The Driver’s Seat - too postmodern I think. Momento Mori is brilliant.

[@garyjones1737]

Daniel, I love the books you mentioned. But The Takeover was the one I enjoyed most. Hardly anyone mentions this book though. What did you think of it?

[@nawtynanna]

Would love to watch but too many ads

[@bimma1000]

get adblocker ABP it's free

[@suesmith9665]

Crazy story

[@BSyn-ei4uv]

what pens are they!?

[@garyjones1737]

She always used to buy her notebooks from James Thin in Edinburgh. It is quite likely she bought her pens there too.

[@BSyn-ei4uv]

@@garyjones1737 Thank you for the insight!! :)

[@suesmith9665]

In another life for this one is gone

[@marysheridan7694]

Too many ads, cant watch

[@davidbruce18]

Far too many ads just ruined it

[@bimma1000]

get adblocker ABP it's free

[@Nia-yz4ft]

She has a raspy voice during the interview.

[@murkydepths181]

Having a baby is no trouble - she abandoned her baby to her parents so of course it wasn’t

[@wandajames6234]

An ad every minute ruins this. I'm out.

[@bimma1000]

get adblocker ABP it's free

[@bimma1000]

@@GuacamoleyNacho Well, my adblocker ABP works on KZbin

[@pixels2u]

@@GuacamoleyNacho Ad Block Plus installs into your web browser and will def block YT ads. It's a whole new world.

[@springsogourne]

Pay KZbin’s subscription fee. No ads. Why would you expect to get this content for free?

[@Mrrossj01]

Bad living conditions. Gas rings - CO2 - and cheap food. Brain damage.

[@thomasceneri867]

I love her, but she’s too much! She says that her son was not really a hindrance to her 20:43 writing. Then she says that her parents took care of her son while she wrote and worked!

[@nawtynanna]

Would love to watch but too many ads

[@bimma1000]

get adblocker ABP it's free