Peggy Woodford Aylen

As a child

My childhood in Upper Shillong in the foothills of the Himalayas was magical. We lived on a hilltop in an old thatched bungalow with big verandas, and dogs and guinea pigs galore as pets. My father (a Dorset man) was Director of Agriculture in Assam, and my mother (from a Guernsey family but born in India) was one of the first women to study agriculture in England. As children my brother Tom and I knew that one day we'd all be going 'Home' but it was unreal to us: home meant our Assam bungalow, and the pony-trap journeys into town, and the picnics in mossy jungle valleys where the creepers made wonderful swings, and the early-morning rides on good-hearted old Pempa, our dapple-grey horse who loved children. When the monsoon came we would run out and put our faces up in the sheets of rain, and then wait for the flying ants to emerge from the hot, wet earth. Once I remember running down the drive to watch a long line of elephants being driven to a destination on the plains far away. It made us sad to see them go, particularly the baby elephants following their mothers.

As an adult

My three years at Oxford changed my life. I went there expecting I'd go on the stage after getting a degree and did as much acting as I could. I worked with brilliant people like Anthony Page and Dudley Moore and loved it all, but slowly began to see that the theatre wasn't the life for me. Encouraged by a tutor, I won an Italian Government Bursary and spent a year in Rome doing research on the Englishwoman in Italy in the eighteenth century, learning Italian, making life-long friends, and beginning my first novel, which was published when I was 26. When I was about 12 I'd written a few chapters of a book (heavily influenced by Enid Blyton) but never thought of writing as a career. Yet once I started, writing has been the only thing I've ever wanted to do.

As an artist

Soon after my first novel (for adults) I was asked to write biographies of Mozart and Schubert for children. I loved doing them, and would have done more for the 10+ age group but other things happened; other books were written and I also started teaching English to support myself while writing. I taught teenagers at England's first sixth form college, Padworth, and it was they who encouraged me to write teenage novels. So I did that for many years, until my own daughters were too old to read them, and then went back to adult fiction. And now the wheel has turned again and I'm writing for children.

Things you didn't know about Peggy Woodford

1. Peggy's favourite game as a child was Monopoly because she loved the London street names.
2. She loves standing on her head.
3. Her favourite food is hot chestnuts on a cold winter's day.
4. She loves swimming in the sea on a hot summer's day.
5. She adores sparrows and is happy she has lots in her garden.
6. She always wanted curly hair instead of straight.
7. She always wanted to be tall instead of short.
8. As a child, she wanted to be a ballet dancer.
9. Her favourite city is Rome.
10. She thinks trees are more important than politicians.

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