Fiona Phillips is one of our best-loved television
presenters. Well-known for being warm, chatty and down
to earth, she attended her local comprehensive in
Southampton before studying English in Birmingham. For
over twelve years she presented GMTV, during which time
she interviewed some of the most famous and influential
people on the planet, from film stars to royalty,
politicians to local heroes. But in August 2008 Fiona
announced that she was to quit the job she loved,
revealing that her father, Phil, had been diagnosed with
Alzheimer's just a year after her mother had died of the
same disease and that she had decided to devote more
time to him and to her family. ''Before I Forget'' is a
wonderfully honest account of growing up in the 1960s
and 70s within a complex family. During her childhood
her father could sometimes be distant and demanding
which both saddened her and drove her to succeed, her
mother always the devoted wife and the steady heart of
the family. When Fiona lands the job at GMTV she revels
in how proud they are of her achievement.When her mother
and then her father succumb to Alzheimer's we share in
Fiona's sadness as she movingly describes watching them
fade away, one moment interviewing George Clooney the
next taking a call from Pembrokeshire Social Services to
say that her mother had wandered away from her care
home. ''Before I Forget'' is an extraordinary book which
will resonate with Fiona's millions of fans and the
millions of people who day-by-day are going through, or
have gone through, the same experiences. |
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