Top UK columnist Bel Mooney writes movingly of a new service being offered by BBC journalist Lucy Greenwell and two entrepreneurial brothers. They offer live 80-minute perfectly edited recordings of interviews with loved ones, especially aged parents, to ‘treasure for posterity.’
Taking advantage of the service by making a recorded interview with her 90-year old father the journalist says: “The voice is so familiar but there is something magical and moving about hearing my father telling the story of his life.”
Ghost-writer Michael Walsh says it is a wonderful scheme and matches a similar service he has pioneered. “Memoirs of any kind used to be only for the rich or famous. Now the personal computer and internet allow anyone to set down the story of their life and experiences for posterity.”
Mooney, once married to Jonathan Dimbleby, says: “With every family there must be so many memories like his. I listen to my father talking about watching the great sailing ships leaving Liverpool as a boy; about stamp collection being the way by which he could travel in his head, and about the moments when his mum was dying and calling him by his baby name. I hear him tell of how he coped with my brother’s terrible car accident when just 19 years old. Listening to this and much more, I know that ordinary lives are all extraordinary.”
During the narrative her father revealed aspects of social and family history that in this fast moving world left her speechless. Walsh of michaelwalsh.es says many clients are not necessarily interested in getting their book published. The written record of their lives or the lives of their families will be a ‘This is Your Life’ bound and illustrated documentation of an ordinary yet remarkable life; a family heirloom.
He believes the written word is far superior to recordings. CDs can’t be guaranteed useable for more than ten years; a book if kept as a family heirloom will last for centuries. A correspondent says: “It made me realise that I must write all my memories in a memoir for my children and future grandchildren, in the event that anything should happen to me.”
The main advantage of having a life story written down rather than voice recorded is the volume of detail. It is difficult to ram a life story into a 90-minute recording; a small book memoir of perhaps 20,000 words will provide much more information. It also gives opportunity to express one’s innermost feelings. “I asked my grandfather to write out his life story many years ago,” writes Mary. “It describes how he ran away from school at eight years of age, to work on a farm. It later describes how he survived in the trenches of the First World War where he was serving on the front. It is more precious to me than I can describe.”
Yesterday’s history is tomorrow's mystery. Michael Walsh says it is only a matter of time before people realise that everyone can, with their ghost-writer’s help, write down their own memoirs. The cost is not exorbitant at all. He says a well written co-authored novel based on fact, or a memoir, can be as little as €400; half the price of the CD version.