'Nothing else is going to surprise or hurt me'
Fern Britton is quite the multitasker. As I visit her at the headquarters of HarperCollins publishers to discuss her new novel, she manages to sign 750 copies of her book, answer detailed questions and greet myriad familiar faces who wander past.
She appears totally relaxed and effortlessly charming, so it is surprising to learn that Fern is still marvelling that she is in this situation. ‘I never envisaged myself becoming a novelist,’ she reveals. ‘I always found anything longer than a five-minute television script rather daunting, and the idea of actually writing something was just too terrifying.’
Yet here she is, having penned her fourth novel, A Seaside Affair, and already working on her fifth. ‘Now that I’ve had four published, there’s a nice row of them on my bookshelf,’ she smiles.
With three decades on the small screen under her belt, including a 10- year stint on ITV ’s This Morning, this new direction in Fern’s career is a result of a little persuasion and her own passion. She was approached to write a novel after her 2008 autobiography, Fern: My Story, hit the bestseller lists, and after a bit of gentle cajoling and guidance she agreed.
She had firm ideas about how she wanted to write. ‘When I read, I want to be taken away,’ she says softly, ‘and I want to give others a story that they can get lost in. I can’t bear books that are sad. I’ve done all the weeping I want to do in my life, and I really don’t want to read a book that makes me cry. I am writing for people like me.’
And how, I ask, would she describe people like her? She laughs, smoothing down her blonde hair and hitching up her glasses. ‘A woman who is tired, who has spent all day running around with the kids, walking the dog and taking the recycling out. Someone who, when she gets into bed, wants to read something that doesn’t require her to ponder too much.’
Having said this, she has been especially gratified by the number of men who have come forward to say they’ve enjoyed her books. ‘Some have bought them for their wives and when they’re on holiday, they pick up the book and read it themselves – and they’ve enjoyed it!’
Perhaps the reason Fern conjures a ‘sweet world’ in her fiction is because her reality has not been so breezy. She made the decision ‘not to self-edit’ when she wrote her autobiography, which means that she included honest and unflinching detail on topics such as her battle with depression, the end of her first marriage, and the horrifying night she was raped.
‘I think my 30s and 40s were a time of being very unhappy. My first marriage collapsed and I had all sorts of difficulties. But then you learn that you’re going to survive it, and you do survive, and there is a wonderful life on the other side.’
She pauses in her book signing for a moment. ‘I’ve got to the point where I don’t think anything worse can happen to me now. Nothing else is going to surprise or hurt me.’
With the judges of The Big Allotment Challenge, from left: Jim Buttress, Thane Prince and Jonathan Moseley
And with her wide smiles, giggles and natural effusiveness, she certainly seems like a happy lady. Her contentedness is largely due to her more relaxed pace of life, and the time spent with her family (her second husband, TV chef Phil Vickery, their daughter Winnie, and Fern’s three children from her first marriage).
‘Being with the family when they’re all in their beds under one roof, is lovely. The children are growing up and putting down their paving stones for their futures, and I’m proud of them all. And Phil and I love hanging out with each other. Never marry someone who isn’t your best friend.’
After so many years under the bright lights of television, she has found that she is rather suited to the quieter life of a writer. ‘I like being at home, I like my own company, and I like that I don’t have to get made up and put on a smile,’ she says.
That’s not to say, however, that she has abandoned television entirely – she is currently appearing on BBC’s The Big Allotment Challenge and has another series of Fern Britton Meets… lined up for the autumn. ‘I’m not expecting my television work to come to a close in the next five minutes,’ she says, ‘but it will finish at some stage, and I’m OK with that. I’ve had 34 years in television so I don’t feel I’ve missed out on anything. I’m very happy when the new, young people come through. It’s their turn.’
In fact, another reason she cherishes her writing is because she does not miss the scrutiny of being in the public eye. ‘When I started in television in 1980, the pressure on female presenters wasn’t what it is today. They weren’t looking at you for your clothes or your shape, you were just a presenter who happened to be a woman. But now it’s out of hand. It’s all about what you wear, what your hair is like, what your wrinkles are like, whether you’ve had Botox, whether your knees are saggy. Ridiculous.’
Fern endured her fair share of comments about her appearance in 2008 when, after she had shed five stone, and everyone thought she had lost the weight with the help of a new diet and exercise regime – she fronted ads for Ryvita at that time – the tabloids revealed that she’d had a gastric band fitted. ‘Why should my private health issues be made public?’ she asked at the time.
‘It is an unpleasant culture,’ she says. ‘The female writers who have columns in newspapers, I don’t know whether they just don’t like other women, or they’re told to write that way, but they don’t seem to realise that what they’re writing is hurting their subject, or that person’s children who are reading it.’
Fern makes a point of not concerning herself with it (‘If I’m on the front cover of one of those weekly magazines, I won’t even bother to look at it’), instead concentrating on her writing. ‘I’m a person who didn’t go to university – I don’t have one of these marvellous English degrees – but if someone asks me to do something then I do it to the best of my ability. I’m only just beginning to be able to say “I’m a writer.”’
With at least three more novels in the pipeline, Fern will be busy for a good while yet. ‘Writing is still terrifying. You can get a really good idea, then it suddenly escapes you. I think the only thing to do is to push on and it will work out in the end.
‘So that’s what I do, I just keep pushing on.’
A Seaside Affair is published by HarperCollins, priced £12.99
Fern is a guest author at The Lady’s Literary Lunch on Tuesday 13 May. Click here to book.
She appears totally relaxed and effortlessly charming, so it is surprising to learn that Fern is still marvelling that she is in this situation. ‘I never envisaged myself becoming a novelist,’ she reveals. ‘I always found anything longer than a five-minute television script rather daunting, and the idea of actually writing something was just too terrifying.’
Yet here she is, having penned her fourth novel, A Seaside Affair, and already working on her fifth. ‘Now that I’ve had four published, there’s a nice row of them on my bookshelf,’ she smiles.
With three decades on the small screen under her belt, including a 10- year stint on ITV ’s This Morning, this new direction in Fern’s career is a result of a little persuasion and her own passion. She was approached to write a novel after her 2008 autobiography, Fern: My Story, hit the bestseller lists, and after a bit of gentle cajoling and guidance she agreed.
She had firm ideas about how she wanted to write. ‘When I read, I want to be taken away,’ she says softly, ‘and I want to give others a story that they can get lost in. I can’t bear books that are sad. I’ve done all the weeping I want to do in my life, and I really don’t want to read a book that makes me cry. I am writing for people like me.’
And how, I ask, would she describe people like her? She laughs, smoothing down her blonde hair and hitching up her glasses. ‘A woman who is tired, who has spent all day running around with the kids, walking the dog and taking the recycling out. Someone who, when she gets into bed, wants to read something that doesn’t require her to ponder too much.’
Having said this, she has been especially gratified by the number of men who have come forward to say they’ve enjoyed her books. ‘Some have bought them for their wives and when they’re on holiday, they pick up the book and read it themselves – and they’ve enjoyed it!’
Perhaps the reason Fern conjures a ‘sweet world’ in her fiction is because her reality has not been so breezy. She made the decision ‘not to self-edit’ when she wrote her autobiography, which means that she included honest and unflinching detail on topics such as her battle with depression, the end of her first marriage, and the horrifying night she was raped.
‘I think my 30s and 40s were a time of being very unhappy. My first marriage collapsed and I had all sorts of difficulties. But then you learn that you’re going to survive it, and you do survive, and there is a wonderful life on the other side.’
She pauses in her book signing for a moment. ‘I’ve got to the point where I don’t think anything worse can happen to me now. Nothing else is going to surprise or hurt me.’
With the judges of The Big Allotment Challenge, from left: Jim Buttress, Thane Prince and Jonathan MoseleyAnd with her wide smiles, giggles and natural effusiveness, she certainly seems like a happy lady. Her contentedness is largely due to her more relaxed pace of life, and the time spent with her family (her second husband, TV chef Phil Vickery, their daughter Winnie, and Fern’s three children from her first marriage).
‘Being with the family when they’re all in their beds under one roof, is lovely. The children are growing up and putting down their paving stones for their futures, and I’m proud of them all. And Phil and I love hanging out with each other. Never marry someone who isn’t your best friend.’
After so many years under the bright lights of television, she has found that she is rather suited to the quieter life of a writer. ‘I like being at home, I like my own company, and I like that I don’t have to get made up and put on a smile,’ she says.
That’s not to say, however, that she has abandoned television entirely – she is currently appearing on BBC’s The Big Allotment Challenge and has another series of Fern Britton Meets… lined up for the autumn. ‘I’m not expecting my television work to come to a close in the next five minutes,’ she says, ‘but it will finish at some stage, and I’m OK with that. I’ve had 34 years in television so I don’t feel I’ve missed out on anything. I’m very happy when the new, young people come through. It’s their turn.’
In fact, another reason she cherishes her writing is because she does not miss the scrutiny of being in the public eye. ‘When I started in television in 1980, the pressure on female presenters wasn’t what it is today. They weren’t looking at you for your clothes or your shape, you were just a presenter who happened to be a woman. But now it’s out of hand. It’s all about what you wear, what your hair is like, what your wrinkles are like, whether you’ve had Botox, whether your knees are saggy. Ridiculous.’
Fern endured her fair share of comments about her appearance in 2008 when, after she had shed five stone, and everyone thought she had lost the weight with the help of a new diet and exercise regime – she fronted ads for Ryvita at that time – the tabloids revealed that she’d had a gastric band fitted. ‘Why should my private health issues be made public?’ she asked at the time.
‘It is an unpleasant culture,’ she says. ‘The female writers who have columns in newspapers, I don’t know whether they just don’t like other women, or they’re told to write that way, but they don’t seem to realise that what they’re writing is hurting their subject, or that person’s children who are reading it.’
Fern makes a point of not concerning herself with it (‘If I’m on the front cover of one of those weekly magazines, I won’t even bother to look at it’), instead concentrating on her writing. ‘I’m a person who didn’t go to university – I don’t have one of these marvellous English degrees – but if someone asks me to do something then I do it to the best of my ability. I’m only just beginning to be able to say “I’m a writer.”’
With at least three more novels in the pipeline, Fern will be busy for a good while yet. ‘Writing is still terrifying. You can get a really good idea, then it suddenly escapes you. I think the only thing to do is to push on and it will work out in the end.
‘So that’s what I do, I just keep pushing on.’
A Seaside Affair is published by HarperCollins, priced £12.99
Fern is a guest author at The Lady’s Literary Lunch on Tuesday 13 May. Click here to book.