Jill Hyem
  • Home
  • Childhood
  • Acting
  • Writing for radio
  • Writing for television
  • Writing for theatre
  • Short stories
  • The Writers' Guild
  • Other influences

Childhood

Picture
Asked, at the age of eight, what I wanted to be when I grew up I replied, “I’m going to be an actress first, and in my old age I shall be a writer.” Both these aims I achieved, although my “old age” came rather earlier than anticipated. I was in my mid-twenties when I started writing full-time.
 
I was born in London but spent my early years in Devon on the edge of Dartmoor.
Picture
Back in London I began to rebel, finding the suburban life of East Sheen so dull after running wild on Dartmoor.

At ten I was sent to a small boarding school in Sussex known for its happy atmosphere rather than its academic record.  Most of the other girls had, what seemed to me, exotic backgrounds – parents in India, or divorced or whose father had died heroically during the war. Not to be outdone I told my classmates that I was a foundling abandoned on the church steps by my real mother who had been a duchess or a murderess according to my mood. When word of this reached the headmistress she telephoned my poor mother to ask why I had not told her that Jill was adopted.

Fortunately they were both sensible women and agreed to say nothing to me but to direct me towards the drama classes.
I Have Five Daughters
'I Have Five Daughters' by Margaret Macnamara - Angela Thorne (far left), me (far right)
Dear Brutus
'Dear Brutus' by James Barry - me with Angela Thorne
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.