Journalist, biographer and novelist AN (Andrew Norman) Wilson and author and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin discussed his memoir 'Confessions: A Life of Failed Promises', published in June. The two became friends when Andrew was a historical advisor on Daisy’s ITV series 'Victoria' (he has written biographies of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert).

Daisy asked Andrew about some of the topics covered in his book including him being sent to boarding school aged seven and his observations on his parents’ marriage.

My mother was a devout Anglican. My father was a passionate atheist. It is only when I wrote this book that I realised how utterly miserable they were with one another and totally unsuited, but they stayed together for almost 40 years,”

said Andrew.

Daisy commented:

There’s a lot of regret in the book about the roads you didn’t take.”

Andrew shared how he got into arts school but his father, who longed for him to go to Oxford or Cambridge, begged him not to go. He also wanted to do a gap year with an Anglican order in Zimbabwe, but his father was horrified.

Very often young people know what’s good for them much better than their parents or teachers,”

he observed.

Andrew and Daisy talked about his first foray into journalism as editor of the newspaper at Rugby School in Warwickshire. He told a story about a time when Queen Elizabeth was coming to open some new gates erected for the school’s 400th anniversary.

I wrote a passionately socialist leader in the school newspaper saying that rather than opening the gates, the Queen should be flinging wide the gates of opportunities for the working classes,”

he recalled.

This piece was picked up a local newspaper, then by the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph.

The excitement of writing something that appears in a newspaper has never left me,”

Andrew added.

When asked by a member of the audience how he came to write his memoir, Andrew explained:

“During lockdown I met a publisher on Hampstead Heath and told him I wanted to write about the German poet Goethe. He said he would publish the book but wanted to publish my memoir first. Within six months it was finished.

I think that everybody should write their memoir. It’s a wonderful feeling of release.”

Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Woodman commented:

Since our origin more than a century and a half ago, UWL has been intertwined with the locality. We value our partnership with Chiswick Book Festival as a way of connecting with the west London community and promoting a love of books.”

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