The Writers Summer School in Swannwick, Derbyshire has
played host to many writers. Past speakers have included; Iain Banks, Ruth Rendell,
PD James, Norman Wisdom, Terry Pratchett, Colin Dexter and Deric Longden. Deric
was from Derby and met his second wife, author Aileen Armitage at the annual writing
event. He had been sent to interview her for Radio Derby and became a regular speaker
himself and together with Aileen, helped guide many budding writers.
Now the Swanwick Writers’ School together with the
ME Association are creating the Deric Longden Memorial Prize. The 500 word
short story completion will be awarded to the writer/carer who, like Deric, has
a witty way with words and is fulfilling the role of carer to a friend or
family member for love rather than financial reward.
It is fitting that Deric is being remembered in
this way having started writing by entering a short story competition himself.
Through wining the competition, not once but twice, he becoming part of the BBC
Radio Derby broadcasting and journalist team. He then went on to become a bestselling
author, speaker, screenplay writer and win an International Emmy for his screen
adaptation of his book ‘Lost For Words’ and Dame Thora Hird a Bafta for her portrayal
of Deric’s Mum. It is also fitting that the ME Association are sponsoring the
award in recognition for the profile Deric’s first book ‘Diana’s Story’ had in
raising the awareness of ME. Diana’s Story’ was about Deric’s first wife’s
severe ME and the story was turned into the BAFTA nominated TV drama ‘Wide-Eyed
and Legless’. Deric’s reading of it was voted by Radio Four’s ‘Woman’s Hour’ listeners
as the most popular serial in 50 years.
I once asked Deric how he started writing and his
answer below reflects his witty view of life?
I always wanted to
write but never did anything about it other than little bits and pieces for my
own pleasure. Then in 1974 BBC Radio Derby ran a five hundred word short story
competition. Each entry had to be submitted under a pen name and so I called myself
‘Biro’, which I thought was a pretty good pen name.
My story was about
a hundred year old man who put his great age down to the fact that he had
always lived in a house without an outside lavvy. It kept you on your toes, he
said. There was no easy trot upstairs like when you have one inside.
You never quite
knew when the urge would come over you and you’d have to gather together your
packet of twenty Capstan full strength and your box of matches. Grab the Daily
Mirror from under the dog, slip the lavvy key off the hook and then vault the
old wooden gate as you sprinted some thirty five yards up the garden path in
the pouring rain. You could never relax for a moment.
Somehow I won and
the following year I entered again, this time under the pen name ‘Papermate’. I
wrote a story about a shepherd who only had two sheep and rather than leave
them out on the lonely moors at night, he would take them home with him.
Most shepherds dip
their sheep only once a year, but he was able to do it once a week because fortunately
he had a double draining sink unit. Afterwards he would pop them into the
tumble drier – for forty five minutes on woollens.
I won again and the
following year went for the hat trick. A week after I had posted my entry the
producer rang me.
‘Are you by chance
Parker 51’?
I said that I was
and he told me that I looked like winning again and made me an offer I couldn’t
refuse.
‘If you withdraw
we’ll give you a regular weekly slot’.
Two and half
thousand broadcasts later I wince slightly when I look at the stories now,
although if I’m honest with myself, I smile as I wince.
Bibliophile has already digitally published a
collection of Deric’s cat short ‘Tailpieces’ as well as republishing his books
in digital form. We are now working on two more digital collections, which will
cover his anecdotal and witty Radio Derby scripts which cover over 20 years of
broadcasting.
