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Rosemary Timperley Homepage | Novels | Short Fiction | Timperley on Radio Articles | 'Ghost Book' Anthologies | Biography | Oddments Articles in Reveille Rosemary Timperley worked as a staff writer for the popular weekly magazine Reveille between 1950 and 1959. During her time at Reveille, Timperley, who had previously contributed a number of short stories in the late 1940s, continued to have her short fiction published in the magazine. In addition to this she edited the readers' letters page, ran a personal advice column (under her pen name Jane Blythe) and contributed a substantial number of feature articles. Several of these were concerned with various aspects of British history, though many others dealt with subjects much further afield, detailing unusual events in such exotic locales as Haiti and Dominica. A number of Timperley's contributions read as fascinating "strange but true" tales, but the variety of articles she wrote on various aspects of everyday life in Britain in the 1950s also make for interesting reading. Of particular interest are her articles about the history of the royal family. Her reflections on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in June 1953 certainly captured the public mood of the time. Given the cynical times we live in today there is a refreshing simplicity and innocence to some of Timperley's articles in which an automatic respect for the royal family illustrates just how much things have changed with the passage of years. Glancing through the problem page in issues of Reveille from the 1950s, one can see that Timperley provided readers with sound, common sense advice under her nom de plume Jane Blythe. In a talk broadcast on BBC radio in 1960, Timperley reflected on her time as an agony aunt, and having to try and give consolation and advice to individuals of both sexes who were obviously married to the wrong person! She also remarked on the sheer avalanche of letters she would receive each week, from lonely young men and women whose problems were "mostly amorous and domestic." While one can of course smile at an agony aunt column from fifty years ago, one is nevertheless struck by the timelessness of the problems faced by ordinary people in the 1950s. The concerns, worries and heartaches of yesterday certainly remain the same today! Given the huge readership of Reveille in the 1950s (which numbered in the millions) one can certainly view Timperley's advice column as a precursor to those still popular in newspapers and magazines today. Although Timperley became a freelance writer in 1959, this was by no means the end of her association with Reveille. In addition to a short spell in 1963 where she edited the book review column, her short stories and articles continued to appear in Reveille on a regular basis throughout the 1960s. Indeed some of her very best articles appeared during this period. Perhaps the most interesting of her articles for Reveille were those where Timperley talked about herself and her everyday experiences. These pieces provide fascinating insights into Timperley's character, whether she is discussing the horrors of Saturday afternoon shopping, the experience of losing a shoe while boarding a train on the way to work, or providing readers with advice on love, dating and relationships. However, of particular interest are the series of five articles Timperley wrote about her trip to Moscow in 1963. Amusingly, several of these articles appeared under the heading "Our Girl in Moscow!" Timperley's astute observations on Moscow - which she loved - and her impressions of the citizens of that city make for compelling reading. Her revealing glimpses of life behind the Iron Curtain were echoed later in such novels as They Met in Moscow (1966) and Journey with Doctor Godley (1973). In early November of 1964, the editors of Reveille announced that Rosemary Timperley had been admitted to hospital and would be there for some months. During her extended term in hospital, Timperley wrote a series of articles from her hospital bed in which she provided readers with a patient's-eye-view of life on a hospital ward. These weekly articles, full of insights into the workings of a hospital and what it is like to be a long-term patient, proved popular with readers. A Miss J. Murphy of Ventnor, Isle of Wight, made the following comments in a letter to Reveille: "All Reveille readers will regret the news of Rosemary Timperley's prolonged stay in hospital, but rejoice that her ready wit, human sympathy and powers of observation seem unimpaired...we all wish her a complete recovery." Well thought of by readers, Timperley had been contributing regularly to the magazine since 1947. A total of eighteen hospital articles appeared in Reveille between November 1964 and April 1965. The last entry in the series, which appeared shortly after Timperley had left hospital, was aptly titled "Rosemary Out of Bed!" A few months after leaving hospital, Timperley began a part-time job as an auxiliary nurse and in September 1965 her article "All the Ward's a Stage" appeared in Reveille. In this article she talked about her new role in which she saw hospital life from a completely different perspective. Indeed, from this point on many of her novels and short stories had medical settings, in which the experiences of doctors, nurses and patients were brought to vivid life. Timperley continued to contribute articles to Reveille in the late 1960s. In several of these she described in detail her trip to Greece in 1965. In one article, "My Ruthless Romeo", Timperley recalled a frightening experience she endured on a hillside above Athens. Interestingly, this incident served as a major inspiration for her novel People Without Shadows (1966), which is set in Greece. It also provided the partial basis for the opening scene of her later novel The White Zig-Zag Path (1974). In another article, published in 1967, Timperley went back much further in time and shared with readers her reminiscences of working for the Citizens' Advice Bureau in Kensington during World War Two. By early 1968, Timperley had her own dedicated column in Reveille in which she tended to write a number of "mini" articles. She continued to relate her experiences abroad, detailing incidents which occurred on trips to Venice, Prague and Tangier. Her observations on the places she visited were incisive and refreshingly honest. Timperley wrote candidly about the naivete often associated with being an English tourist. However the inspiration she derived from her travels is evident in these articles, as with her novels and short stories. As well as her travel articles, Timperley continued as before to write on all manner of subjects. In one article from March 1968, she vividly described her experience of giving a talk on the BBC Radio program "Woman's Hour". In another piece published in July 1969 Timperley provided readers with a candid recollection of teaching English to a class of 35 girls (aged between 15 and 16) towards the end of the Second World War. This article was of course a look back to her time as a teacher at a school in Dagenham, Essex in the 1940s. Timperley's articles continued to appear regularly in Reveille throughout the early 1970s. One fascinating piece from 1970, entitled "Hospital Job Had Me in Stitches" (which she wisely wrote under her pen name Jane Cameron), detailed the pranks Timperley and a fellow worker got up to while working as evening domestics in a large hospital. The true-to-life setting for this article clearly inspired Timperley's earlier novel The Washers-Up (1968). Another amusing article was "My Battle With the Bottle" which appeared in June 1972. One must stress that this piece, rather than being about overcoming alcoholism, was in fact a detailed account of Timperley's struggle to open a particular bottle of wine without the aid of a corkscrew! The very last article Timperley wrote for Reveille was "Even the Lawyers Got Punished!" which appeared in the January 4, 1974 issue. This represented the end of her long association with the magazine. Only two more of her short stories were published in 1974, with both of these being reprints of older stories that had originally appeared elsewhere. After 1974 Timperley's work (both fiction and non-fiction) ceased to appear in Reveille, a fact that coincided with a general deterioration in the magazine's overall quality. Having shrunk in size from its earlier whopping 40-page length and with the short story feature dropped from the magazine altogether by the end of 1975, the contents of Reveille became more and more concerned with television, films and celebrity gossip. Although the magazine was never high-brow, issues of Reveille in the mid 1970s lacked the diversity and charm of earlier years. In its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s Reveille was a quality magazine read and loved by a huge section of the British public. Timperley was very much a part of that success. Reveille was finally discontinued in August 1979. The checklist below is arranged in chronological order and includes all of Timperley's articles for Reveille: "They Fished for Chickens at the Coronation" "Stuffed Frenchman Made a First-Rate Feast" "The Blood-Soaked Road From Slavery to Freedom" "Man Aged 152 Killed by Smog" "Scandal Fear Kept 'Aunt Jenny' in Luxury" "It's Wedding Cake Every Day for Lover's Leader" "Bluebeard Kept Girls in Cellar" "Too Strong to be a Policeman" "Munching Miss Makes Marvellous Mrs." "Wanted to Please All - As Hangman" "All Done by Mirrors" "Blew Himself Up to Be Free" "'Rolled-Gold Man' Started Legend" "Fled Up Chimney to Wed" "Why Your Elephant is White" "Dog Set on Ducks for a Guinea" "Cuties Wiggle When He Whistles" "World Without Women is 'Nuts'!" "Prescribed 200 Teas a Day" ""Going Up" - to Death" "'Innocent' Beard Spared at Execution" "Window Peep Punished Wife" "Hired His Wife for Can of Beer" "Gallon of Beer Cured Thick Head" "Danced Minuet in Flour Barrel" "Wild English Flirt Was Arab Queen" "Cheered Master for Flogging Them" "Ate Birthday Cake - Hanged Baker" "Wore Lover's Tooth as Tie-Pin" "Torture Children to Drive Out Demons" "Gold Dream Killed Love" "Neglected Baby for TV" "Tried to be Good - by Instalments" "Tough Girls - and Don't Know it" "Walked on Pearl-Studded Carpets" "Fighting Women Killed Own Sons" "Swinging Ghost Makes Them Happy" "Stayed Hypnotized a Year" "Yanked Prince's Ear, Saved Life" "Love Secret Hidden 68 Years" "Wife-Beater Stole Church Congregation" "Terror Dolls Killed Victims" "Made Murder a Sport" "Coloured Cliffs Clue to Fortune" "Waited for Visitors - to Eat Them" "Garters Saved this Story" "Ghost with Toothache Haunted Dentist" "Daring Dress Earned Gift from King" "Talked Herself into Losing £3,000" "Tricksters Fooled Themselves With Monkey Business" "Wed to 3 Sisters and their Mother" "Dark Larks for Kidnapped 'Birds'" "Won Wife by Knifing Husband" "Shot Horse to Stop Daughter's Wedding" "Shapely Girl was Dinner Dish" "Travelled in his Bed" "Lost £20,000 Because She Sat Down" "Loved for Being Fat and Lazy" "Bishop Used Ham as Book-Mark" "Secret Eater Never Aged" "Punished for Refusing Drinks" "Hotel Bill - for Kisses" "Drank Blood to Save Father's Life" "Postman Says - Bite that Dog" "He Makes Tough Types Tremble" "Fans Tore her Bed-Sheets into Rosettes" "Cavemen Started Glamour Business" "One Word Tamed Train Toughs" "Time for Reflection" "What Women Whisper About Men" "Can 20 Wed 50 and be Happy?" "Mother Who Murder Love" "Women are Cheats! - Say Men" "Why Husbands Leave Home" "Rumours Can Kill" "Just Suppose You Met Yourself..." "Kindness Drives Kids Crazy" "He Owned a Dud-Cheque Paradise" "Men Wore Falsies - in their Stockings" "Wild Ones Wreck Room to go Straight" "Village of Eternal Children" "Men Who Take 'No' for an Answer" "Men Fall for Merry Widows" "Men are the Marriage Makers" "Poison Letters Can Kill" "They Prefer Bigamists to Bachelors" "Fear, Boredom, Marriage: Drive Women to Drink" "Our Sit Back and Snooze Age" "Society Lice - No Wonder Rome Was Angry" "Diaries can be Dangerous" "Teenager Murdered her Mother" "Jilted Brides are Lucky" "How to Succeed with Women - Bah!" "No Room for Love - at the Top" "Love - The Great Gamble" "Robbie Burns: Farmer's Boy Fascinated by Women" "Kindness can be a Dangerous Drug" "Fatties Have Thin Time" "Don't be Shy - be Tough" "Women Who Ruin Men" "'Fair Enough' isn't Good Enough" "Beware! They've Got You Taped" "Girl Who Smuggled Gem in Glass Eye" "Some Mothers are Wicked" "At Spring-Cleaning Time Love is in the Picture" "Let's be Kind to Teachers" "Part the Bride and Groom" "Old Fools are the Biggest" "Don't Be Your Age - Be Yourself" "These Reluctant Husbands are a Dying Race" "Men are Mad in Summer" "This Food is Really Awful" "Don't Let Housework Haunt You" "Everyone's Scared of the Silent Terror" "It's No Fun Being a Baby" "Teasing Keeps Redheads Cool" "We're Driving Each Other Crazy" "Blue Eyes are Bloodshot" "British Queen Led Women to War" "Hell Every Saturday Afternoon" "Talking to Yourself is Good for You" "It's Christmas - So Hold Your Tongue" "The Price of Guilty Love - Death" "Laughing Sickness" "Girls in Blue: Trousers Set Three Beauties Battling" "Rich Men Queued for Wives" "Trapped! - By Giving Up Smoking" "Abominable Snowwomen Fall for Men" "Rule by Terror: Slaughtered 300 for Keeping Cats" "Rule by Terror: Queen Started Massacre to Avenge Murder" "Rule by Terror: Poured Burning Brandy on Visitors" "Rule by Terror: Dictator Hanged Slackers" "Rule by Terror: Murders Lulled Killer to Sleep" "Losing a Shoe Gave Me Kicks" "When Men Cry..." "My Manners are Simply Awful" "Faceless Terrors Vanish on Sight" "Lovers Toyed with Death in Spring" "Dreamboats But They Worry Women" "Midnight Miracle in Moscow" "How Film Fans Vanish in Russia" "Comrades go Underground for Pleasure" "Pop Songs Over Red Square" "City Without Prams" "Nine-Year-Old Wrote Best-Selling Romance" "Flattery Gets You Everywhere" "Mr Smith had Fifty Wives" "Flushed with Success" "Frank Letters from a Queen" "The Lover who Killed to Support his Family" "Wizard in a Wig" "So Many Ladies in Hospital" "Glamorous Nights in Hospital" "No Resting Place!" "Sister's Job to Make it Merry" "My Tribute to Goodness" "Patients Cannot Change Their Spots" "Escape to the Outside World" "Caught with the Vodka" "Body Business" "Protect Me From My Visitors" "New Sins Find Me Out" "I've Grown Accustomed to the Place" "Looking at Work is Wonderful" "My Picture of Health...I Hope" "I've Become a Jelly Baby" "They Never Needle Me On Sunday" "Hostess in a Nightie" "Rosemary Out of Bed" "Let's Have a Love Post" "Secret Hell of Rudyard Kipling" "We Are All Guilty" "Paying for a Memory...and Other Odd Thoughts" "It's All Greek to Me" "My Ruthless Romeo" "All the Ward's a Stage" "Cowards Die Many Times" "Come off it, Women Doctors" "Open-and-Shut Case" "Men Should Cry More" "My Early-Morning Mates" "Aspetti (it is not Spaghetti) for the Signora" "Magic out of a...Mess" "Has Anybody Seen My Laundry?" "Goodbye is Quite a Problem" "Rather than Look a Fool" "Something to Live For" "Taken for a Ride" "Traveller's Czechs" "I Feel Better When I'm Scared" "A Sticky Situation" "Dervish in a Dressing Gown" "Long and Short of it" "Playing the Listening Game" "Good-Bye with a Bang" "A Young Voice" "A Mug with Plugs" "The Worst Years of Your Life" "Panic at the Green Light" "Up the Creak" "My Crowning Moment" "I do not have a Bedroom" "Do You Say 'Sorry' to Animals?" "Home Thoughts for Abroad" "Not Just the Ticket" "Ouch!" "City of Water...and Kindness" "Strangers in the Night" "Where Have all the Violets Gone?" "My Russian Typewriter" "My Russian Shock" "They're Just Jealous" "That Russian Typewriter" "Cheering for the Doctor" "Down-to-Earth Stars" "Magic Telephone" "Character Shows" "Too Wordy for Words" "Outlook Rosea" "Tell People They Look Nice" "A Tax on Girls!" "Books are for Reading" "The Tiniest Things" "Don't Just Sit There!" "Potty Names for Loos" "A Sight Too Embarrassing" "Nothing Like a Dame" "How They Take Their Medicine" "It's Peculiar Being Normal" "So You Think You Need Eight Hours?" "Open Invitation" "Take a Good Look at Yourself" "Heads Without Bones..." "Children Love Poison" "A Din Can Be So Quiet..." "The British Breakfast is Too Much" "That Stealing Feeling" "20 Men to Christmas" "Lend Me Your Ears" "Hospital Job Had Me in Stitches" (as by Jane Cameron) "There's a Saint for Everything" "Mystery Patient" "Happily Married Couple" "What the Devil Became of Angels?" "Harold Was All Right" "Flushed With Pride" "Bdoing! - It's Got Me Again" "Drunk in Charge of a Typewriter" "I Take Things in My Stride" "Daylight Robbery" "All in the Absent Mind" "Run, Rabbit, Run" "What Your Eyes Say" "Those Wicked, Wicked Women" "Hope I'm Not Boring You" "Carpet Thieves Made Us Roll Up" "Anything for Sympathy" "Sunday Afternoon Among the Bedpans" "Stop That Pie" "Happiness Just Floated Away" "Fear in a Flash" "Out For Adventure" "What Do You See Here?" "Presents I Can't Hand Over" "Picture of Stillness" "Children Will Swallow Anything" "People Give Camels the Hump" "You Can Trust Father Christmas" "Steamed Up Over Gas" "You Know the Feeling" "Cold Comfort that Folk are Nice" "Itching for a Good Scratcher" "Ugly Men are Handsome Prospects" "Plenty of Cleopatras About" "Give Yourself a Good Name" "Pebble Was 20-Carat Diamond" "Auntie Made ME Look Glamorous" "Witches' Day Brings in May" "I'm Being Converted" "Cured - by Thought" "Light of my Life" "Big Noise at the BBC" "It's on the Tip of my Tongue" "Chew Music" "My Battle with the Bottle" "As Others See Us..." "Pen Pals Excite" "Wordth, Wordth, Wordth" "Monday Lovers" "Play on Words" "Why Wicked Women Get Off Lightly" "They Made a Name For Us" "Mice in the House" "Word that Means so Much to a Woman" "Housewife in Nightdress Chased Phantom Burglar" "Of Course You Don't Snore..." "Cold Comfort" "Wolves Make Good Husbands" "No One's Bats About Them" "Caught Green-Handed" "If it Wasn't for Loving - a Hare's Life Wouldn't be Worth
Living!" "Be My Useful Guest" "Spread of Margarine" "Get Wise to the Owl" "Making Work Go Like a Dream" "When We Hung Up The Dead" "Nothing Deters These Gents" "Dealing with a Bleeding Nuisance" "Nightmare World of Dreams" "Life is Ever-Lending" "Have a Slice of Roast Beefalo" "One Plus One Make Eight" "Glow-Worms Do It With Their Lights On" "Accentuate the Negative" "Even the Lawyers Got Punished!" Footnotes ABOUT REVEILLE ARTICLE IN DESTINY
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