Catherine Cookson

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Dame Catherine Ann Cookson DBE OBE (27 June 1906 – 11 June 1998) was an English author. Cookson became Britain's most widely read novelist, while remaining a relatively low-profile figure in the world of celebrity writers. Her books were inspired by her deprived youth in the North East of England, the setting for her novels.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Writing Career 3 Books in Film and TV 4 Philanthropy 5 Honours 6 Later Life 7 Trivia 8 Bibliography 9 External link

[edit] Early life

Born Kate McMullen at 5 Leam Lane in Tyne Dock, South Shields, County Durham, England, she later moved to East Jarrow (now in Tyne and Wear), which would become the setting for one of her best known novels, The Fifteen Streets. Cookson was the illegitimate child of an alcoholic mother, Kate Fawcett. As a child, Cookson thought that her unmarried mother was her sister, and was raised by her grandmother Rose McMullen and her step-grandfather John McMullen.

She left school at 13 and, after a period of domestic service, took a laundry job in the workhouse in South Shields. In 1929 she moved south to run the laundry at Hastings workhouse, saving every penny to buy herself a large Victorian house and taking in gentleman lodgers to supplement her income.

In June 1940, at the age of 34, she married Tom Cookson, a teacher at Hastings Grammar School. After experiencing four miscarriages late in pregnancy, it was discovered she was suffering from a rare vascular disease, telangiectasia, which causes bleeding from the nose, fingers and stomach and turns to anemia. A mental breakdown followed the miscarriages, from which she took a decade to recover.

[edit] Writing Career

Cookson took up writing as a form of therapy to tackle her depression, and joined Hastings Writers' Group. Her first novel, Kate Hannigan, was published in 1950. Though it was labeled a romance, she expressed discontent with the stereotype. Her books were, she said, historical novels about people and conditions she knew. Cookson had little to do with the London literary circus. She was always more interested in practicing the art of writing. Her research could be uncomfortable - going down a mine, for instance, because her heroine came from a mining area. Having in her youth wanted to write about "above stairs" in grand houses, she later and successfully concentrated on people ground down by circumstances, taking care to know them well.

Cookson went on to write almost 100 books, selling more than 123 million copies of her books, her works being translated into at least 20 languages. She also authored books under the pseudonyms Catherine Marchant and a name derived from her birth name, Katie McMullen.

She remained the most borrowed author from public libraries in the UK for more than 20 years, only losing the title in 2004, which is testament to the ongoing popularity of her novels.

[edit] Books in Film and TV

Many Catherine Cookson novels have been transferred to stage, film and radio. It was on television, however, that she achieved her greatest media success, with a series of dramas on ITV lasting over a decade and achieving huge ratings.

[edit] Philanthropy

Although she became a multi-millionaire from her books, Cookson was always famed for her care with money, although she indulged in discreet philanthropy, supporting causes in North East England and medical research in areas that were close to her heart. When public lending rights were introduced for authors, she became immediately eligible for the maximum £5,000 a year but gave it away for the benefit of less fortunate writers. She also gave more than £1 million for research into a cure for the illness that had afflicted her.

In 1985 she created the Catherine Cookson Trust at the University of Newcastle, and promised it more than £800,000. In gratitude, the university set up a lectureship in hematology. Some £40,000 was given to provide a laser to help treat bleeding disorders and £50,000 went to create a new post in ear, nose and throat studies, with particular reference to the detection of deafness in children. She had already given £20,000 towards the university's Hatton Gallery and £32,000 to its library. Her foundation continues to make donations to worthy causes in the UK, particularly those offering services to young people and cultural ventures. There is also a building named the Catherine Cookson Building which is part of the medical faculty at Newcastle University

[edit] Honours

She received the Freedom of the Borough of South Tyneside, today known as Catherine Cookson Country and an honorary degree from the University of Newcastle. The Variety Club of Great Britain named her Writer of the Year, and she was voted Personality of The North-East.

She was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 1985 and was elevated to a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.

[edit] Later Life

In later life, Catherine and Tom returned to the North East and settled first in Corbridge, a market town near Newcastle, and later in Langley, Northumberland, a small village nearby. As her health declined, they moved for a final time to Newcastle upon Tyne itself to be nearer medical facilities. For the last few years of her life, she was bed-ridden and she gave her final TV interview to North East Tonight, the regional ITV Tyne Tees news programme, from her sickbed. It was conducted by Mike Neville.

She died aged 91 (16 days before her 92nd birthday) at her home in Newcastle, although her novels, many written from her sickbed, continued to be published posthumously until 2002. Her husband, Tom Cookson, died on 28 June 1998, just 17 days after Catherine. He had been hospitalised for a week and the cause of his death was not announced. He was 86 years old.

[edit] Trivia

• In her memoirs, Dame Catherine suggested that her actual date of birth was June 20, 1906, although there is no known documentary evidence of this.
• A musical about the couple's life - Tom and Catherine - was written by local playwright Tom Kelly. It played to sell-out crowds at the Customs House in South Shields.

[edit] Bibliography

• The Fifteen Streets 1952
• Colour Blind 1953
• Maggie Rowan 1954
• Rooney 1957
• The Menagerie 1958
• Fanny McBride 1959
• Fenwick Houses 1960
• The Garment 1962
• The Blind Miller 1963
• The Wingless Bird 1964
• Hannah Massey 1964
• The Long Corridor 1965
• The Unbaited Trap 1966
• Slinky Jane 1967
• Katie Mulholland 1967
• The Round Tower 1968
• The Husband 1969
• The Nice Bloke 1969
• The Glass Virgin 1969
• The Invitation 1970
• The Dwelling Place 1971
• Feathers in the Fire 1971
• Pure as the Lily 1972
• The Invisible Cord 1975
• The Gambling Man 1975
• The Tide of Life 1976
• The Girl 1977
• The Cinder Path 1978
• The Man Who Cried 1979
• The Whip 1983
• The Black Velvet Gown 1984
• A Dinner of Herbs 1985
• The Bannaman Legacy 1985
• The Moth 1986
• The Parson's Daughter 1987
• The Harrogate Secret 1988
• The Cultured Handmaiden 1988
• The Black Candle 1989
• The Gillyvors 1990
• My Beloved Son 1991
• The Rag Nymph 1991
• The House of Women 1992
• The Maltese Angel 1992
• The Golden Straw 1993
• The Forester Girl 1993
• The Year of the Virgins 1993
• The Tinker's Girl 1995
• Justice Is a Woman 1995
• The Bonny Dawn 1996
• The Obsession 1997
• The Upstart 1998
• The Blind Years 1998
• Riley 1998
• Solace of Sin 1998
• The Desert Crop 1999
• The Thursday Friend 1999
• My Land of the North 1999
• Desert Crop 1999
• A House Divided 2000
• Rosie of the River 2000
• Silent Lady 2002

The Hamilton series

• Hamilton 1983
• Goodbye Hamilton 1984
• Harold 1985

The Kate Hannigan series

• Kate Hannigan 1950
• Kate Hannigan's Girl 2001

The Tilly Trotter trilogy

• Tilly Trotter 1980
• Tilly Trotter Wed 1981
• Tilly Trotter Widowed 1982

The Mallen trilogy

• The Mallen Girl 1973
• The Mallen Streak 1973
• The Mallen Litter 1974

The Bill Bailey trilogy

• Bill Bailey 1986
• Bill Bailey's Lot 1987
• Bill Bailey's Daughter 1988

The Mary Ann stories

• A Grand Man 1954
• The Lord and Mary Ann 1956
• The Devil and Mary Ann 1958
• Love and Mary Ann 1961
• Life and Mary Ann 1962
• Marriage and Mary Ann 1964
• Mary Ann's Angels 1965
• Mary Ann and Bill 1967

Children's stories

• Matty Doolin 1965
• Joe and the Gladiator 1968
• The Nipper 1970
• Blue Baccy 1972
• Our John Willy 1974
• Mrs Flannagan's Trumpet 1976
• Go Tell It to Mrs Golightly 1977
• Lanky Jones 1981
• Nancy Nutall and the Mongrel 1982

Autobiographies

• Our Kate 1969
• Catherine Cookson County 1986
• Let Me Make Myself Plain 1988

Written as Catherine Marchant

• The Slow Awakening 1976
• Miss Martha Mary Crawford 1975
• The Iron Facade 1965
• The Fen Tiger 1963
• House of Men 1963

Written as Katie McMullen

• Heritage of Folly 1962

[edit] External link

• Catherine Cookson at the Internet Movie Database