31-548: Wicked Women is a collection of short stories by author Fay Weldon , published in the UK in 1995 . The stories pursue the themes of relationships, family and love, with the humor and wit that is typical of Weldon's style. The book won the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award in 1996. Weldon populates her stories with people suffering from detachment, unequal power relations, and social irreverence. Considered
62-544: A 15-year-old girl's life imprisonment. The film was shown in prime-time on the ITV Network by Granada Television . She also wrote the screenplay for the 1980 BBC miniseries adaptation of Jane Austen 's Pride and Prejudice , starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul . In 1989, she contributed to the book for the Petula Clark West End musical Someone Like You . Weldon's most celebrated work
93-512: A 1998 interview for the Radio Times , Weldon stated that rape "isn't the worst thing that can happen to a woman if you're safe, alive and unmarked after the event." She was roundly condemned by groups representing women victims of rape and violence. In a 2017 interview on BBC Two's Newsnight , she expressed ambivalence about the successes of feminism. Social change had been enormous, "thanks to feminism", but it wasn't all wonderful: "We saw
124-584: A doctor. In 1936, when she was five, her parents agreed to separate, later divorcing (1940). She and her sister Jane spent the summers with her father, first in Coromandel , later in Auckland . She attended Christchurch Girls' High School for two years from 1944. Weldon described herself as a "plump, cheerful child", stating in a blog post that began as an unpublished article for the Daily Mail : "I
155-785: A poet who was also her manager, but instigated divorce proceedings in 2020. In 2000 Weldon became a member of the Church of England and was confirmed in St Paul's Cathedral . She stated that she liked to think that she was "converted by St Paul ". Weldon died at a care home in Northampton , England, on 4 January 2023, at the age of 91. She was survived by her sons as well as twelve grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Love and Inheritance Spoils of War The Chapbooks The Collected Novels Volume Two (2018) South Hampstead High School South Hampstead High School
186-642: A point, how to be graceful and eloquent, how to convey emotion, how to build up tension, and how to create alternative worlds." In 2012 Weldon was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University , where she shared an office with Professor Maggie Gee . Weldon served together with Daniel Pipes as the most notable foreign members of the board of the Danish Free Press Society . A self-declared feminist, Weldon's work features what she described as "overweight, plain women" – as she deliberately sought, she said, to write about and give
217-565: A single mother, she married Ronald Bateman, a headmaster 25 years her senior. They lived together in Acton , London, for two years, until the marriage ended. In 1961, aged 29, Weldon met her second husband, Ron Weldon, a jazz musician and antiques dealer. They married in 1963 when Fay was pregnant with her second son Dan (born that same year). They lived in East Compton , Somerset , later having two more sons, Tom (1970) and Sam (1977). It
248-436: A slim and serious adult, and a handsome octogenarian with an interesting literary past. But that was not to be, despite a lifetime of diets. It was however a state of affairs which made me write a good few novels with overweight, plain women as their heroines. I’ve always been on their side – they are the unseen majority." In September 1946, when she was 15, Weldon returned to England with her mother and sister. She recalled: "I
279-574: A strong feminist writer, Weldon usually focuses on women navigating the dangers and difficulties of marriage and domesticity, as she does in Wicked Women as well, but in this book she find everyone wicked: Men, women, children, therapists, and even supernatural beings. The stories are divided by subject, as follows: The collection was well-received by critics. According to the Publishers Weekly review, "These 20 saucy tales prove that
310-419: A voice to women who are often overlooked or not featured in the media. She said there were many reasons why she became a feminist, including "appalling" lack of equal opportunities and the myth that women were supported by male relatives. "What drove me to feminism fifty years ago was the myth that men were the breadwinners and women kept house and looked pretty." She noted that the turning point for her, however,
341-458: A well-known face and voice on the BBC . She described herself as a "writeaholic". In 1971 Weldon wrote the first episode of the landmark television series Upstairs, Downstairs , for which she won a Writers Guild award for Best British TV Series Script. In 1980 Weldon wrote the screenplay for director/producer John Goldschmidt 's television movie Life for Christine , which told the true story of
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#1732786599254372-497: A world of young, healthy, intelligent, striving women. And we didn't really, honestly, take much notice of those who were not like us." In 1953, while working at the Foreign Office, Weldon became pregnant by musician Colyn Davies whom she met when he was moonlighting as a doorman. She said that while she wanted the child (son Nicolas), she decided she did not want the father. In 1957, tired of struggling to support herself as
403-830: Is a private day school in Hampstead , north-west London , England, which was founded by the Girls' Day School Trust (GDST). It is for girls aged 4–18 with selective entry at ages 4+, 7+, 11+ and 16+ (Sixth Form). The school was founded in 1876, the ninth school established by the GDST (previously known at the Girls' Public Day School Trust), with 27 pupils. Until 1886, the school was led by Rita/Rebecca Allen Olney; she left to found another school nearby with her sister Sarah Allen Olney who had been an assistant head at this school. The cross-dressing Mary Benton returned as headmistress when morale
434-519: Is her 1983 novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil , which she wrote at the age of 52. Her novel The Hearts and Lives of Men was written and published in serial form, appearing in the British magazine Woman between 1 February and 15 November 1986. She told The New York Times : "It was written as the Dickens novels were written....You made it up as you went along, confined by the structure of
465-534: The Foreign Office, where she wrote pamphlets to be dropped in Eastern Europe as part of the Cold War . She had to leave this job after she became pregnant. Later she took a job with Crawford's Advertising Agency , where she worked with the writer Elizabeth Smart , and where she could earn enough to support herself and her young son (Nicolas). As head of copywriting at Ogilvy, Benson & Mather , she
496-511: The Year. E-book Fay Weldon Fay Weldon CBE FRSL (born Franklin Birkinshaw ; 22 September 1931 – 4 January 2023) was an English author, essayist and playwright. Over the course of her 55-year writing career, she published 31 novels, including Puffball (1980), The Cloning of Joanna May (1989), Wicked Women (1995) and The Bulgari Connection (2000), but
527-501: The dogged persistence of genetic bonds and in an uncompromising universe of clear rights and wrongs with their own inevitable consequences. With Wicked Women, Weldon has become one of the most cunning moral satirists of our time. In her rueful stories, justice is done -- whether we like it or not." Wicked Women won the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award in 1996, and became a 1997 New York Times Notable Book of
558-462: The moral philosopher Malcolm Knox , who "spoke exclusively to the male students, maintaining that women were incapable of moral judgement or objectivity." She completed her Master of Arts in 1952 and moved to London, where she worked as a clerk at the Foreign Office for a salary of £6 a week. Weldon had temporary jobs as a waitress and hospital ward orderly before working as a clerk for
589-543: The story, which is going to go on for you don't know how long—but you have to be able to bring it to an end with three weeks' warning." In 1993, her play Mr Director was produced at the Orange Tree Theatre in London. Its subject was the treatment of juveniles in a children's home. In 2000, Weldon's novel The Bulgari Connection became notorious for its product placement, naming the jewellers not only in
620-499: The title but another 34 times, while a minimum of 12 times was stipulated in the £18,000 contract. In 1996, she was a member of the jury at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival . She was also chair of judges for the 1983 Booker Prize . The judging for that prize produced a draw between J. M. Coetzee 's Life & Times of Michael K and Salman Rushdie 's Shame , leaving Weldon to choose between
651-564: The two. According to Stephen Moss in The Guardian , "Her arm was bent and she chose Rushdie" only to change her mind as the result was being phoned through. Weldon was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University in West London in 2006: "A great writer needs a certain personality and a natural talent for language, but there is a great deal that can be taught – how to put words together quickly and efficiently to make
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#1732786599254682-504: The worst varieties of human pretension and evil are often the most entertaining, especially in the hands of an expert vivisectionist like Weldon." The Kirkus review stated that, "Both sexes and all ages come in for some merry tweaking by this master of sexual satire--making this outing a familiar pleasure for old fans and a thoroughly satisfying introduction for newcomers." New York Times reviewer Deborah Mason writes, "Weldon's wrap-ups are eloquent and absolute. They are born of her belief in
713-525: Was a literary groupie from the antipodes...Not that I had any intention of being a writer at the time – too much like hard work. All I wanted was to get married and have babies." She did not see her father again before his death in 1949. In England Weldon won a scholarship to the all-girls South Hampstead High School , before going on to study Psychology and Economics at the University of St Andrews , Scotland. Later she recalled attending classes with
744-672: Was born Franklin Birkinshaw to a literary family in Birmingham , England, on 22 September 1931. Her maternal grandfather, Edgar Jepson (1863–1938), her uncle Selwyn Jepson and her mother Margaret Jepson wrote novels (the latter sometimes under the nom de plume Pearl Bellairs , from the name of a character in Aldous Huxley 's short story "Farcical History of Richard Greenow"). Weldon grew up in Christchurch , New Zealand, where her father, Frank Thornton Birkinshaw, worked as
775-416: Was born large, blonde and big-boned into a family of small beautiful women. My mother thought it was unlikely that anyone would marry me, and therefore I would have to pass exams, earn my own living and make my own way in the world. Or that’s what I thought she thought." She goes on to explain how this view of herself affected her later writing career. "I’d be happier to have been seen as a skinny, feisty child,
806-402: Was low. The "Brigadier-General" built up the school until in the 1920s it was claimed that half of the school's students then at university were studying scientific subjects. From 1946 until the late 1970s, it was a girls' direct grant grammar school , with around half the intake paid for by the local council. In January 2015, alumna Helena Bonham Carter, opened a new 7-storey building for
837-491: Was most well-known as the writer of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983) which was televised by the BBC in 1986. Married three times and with four children, Weldon was a feminist . Her work features what she described as "overweight, plain women". She said there were many reasons why she became a feminist, including the "appalling" lack of equal opportunities and the myth that women were supported by male relatives. Weldon
868-399: Was published. "When I submitted my first novel in 1966 it was accepted without demur. I thought this was because I was a wonderful writer, But it wasn't. It was because I had learned to have nothing turned down." She subsequently built a successful and prolific career, publishing over thirty novels, collections of short stories, films for television, newspaper and magazine articles and becoming
899-435: Was responsible for publicising (but not originating) the phrase " Go to work on an egg ". She coined the slogan "Vodka gets you drunker quicker", saying in a Guardian interview: "It just seemed ... to be obvious that people who wanted to get drunk fast needed to know this." Her bosses disagreed and suppressed it. In 1963 Weldon began writing for radio and television. Four years later her first novel, The Fat Woman's Joke ,
930-445: Was the outright sexism in the media industry at that time, such as when she attended a casting session of a TV drama she had written and watched the male director and producer "...cast the lead by flicking through Spotlight and just choosing the girl they both most fancied. And they were amazed when I objected: female skill, talent, experience, intelligence meant nothing to them". However, some of Weldon's commentary drew controversy. In
961-406: Was while she was pregnant with Dan that Weldon began writing for radio and television. The couple visited therapists regularly and in 1992 Ron left Fay for his astrological therapist , who had told him that the couple's astrological signs were incompatible. They began divorce proceedings, although Ron died in 1994, just eight hours before the divorce was finalised. In 1994 Weldon married Nick Fox,