1. Fay Weldon said there were many reasons why she became a feminist, including the "appalling" lack of equal opportunities and the myth that women were supported by male relatives.
22 Facts About Fay Weldon
1. 2.
Fay Weldon was born Franklin Birkinshaw to a literary family in Birmingham, England, on 22 September 1931.
3.
Fay Weldon grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand, where her father, Frank Thornton Birkinshaw, worked as a doctor.
4.
Fay Weldon attended Christchurch Girls' High School for two years from 1944.
5.
In September 1946, when she was 15, Fay Weldon returned to England with her mother and sister.
6.
In England Fay Weldon won a scholarship to the all-girls South Hampstead High School, before going on to study Psychology and Economics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
7.
Fay Weldon had temporary jobs as a waitress and hospital ward orderly before working as a clerk for the Foreign Office, where she wrote pamphlets to be dropped in Eastern Europe as part of the Cold War.
8.
Fay Weldon had to leave this job after she became pregnant.
9.
In 1971 Fay Weldon wrote the first episode of the landmark television series Upstairs, Downstairs, for which she won a Writers Guild award for Best British TV Series Script.
10.
Fay Weldon wrote the screenplay for the 1980 BBC miniseries adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.
11.
Fay Weldon's most celebrated work is her 1983 novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, which she wrote at the age of 52.
12.
Fay Weldon was chair of judges for the 1983 Booker Prize.
13.
Fay Weldon served together with Daniel Pipes as the most notable foreign members of the board of the Danish Free Press Society.
14.
Fay Weldon said there were many reasons why she became a feminist, including "appalling" lack of equal opportunities and the myth that women were supported by male relatives.
15.
In 1953, while working at the Foreign Office, Fay Weldon became pregnant by musician Colyn Davies whom she met when he was moonlighting as a doorman.
16.
Fay Weldon said that while she wanted the child, she decided she did not want the father.
17.
In 1961, aged 29, Fay Weldon met her second husband, Ron Fay Weldon, a jazz musician and antiques dealer.
18.
In 1994 Fay Weldon married Nick Fox, a poet who was her manager, but instigated divorce proceedings in 2020.
19.
In 2000 Fay Weldon became a member of the Church of England and was confirmed in St Paul's Cathedral.
20.
Fay Weldon stated that she liked to think that she was "converted by St Paul".
21.
Fay Weldon died at a care home in Northampton, England, on 4 January 2023, at the age of 91.
22.
Fay Weldon was survived by her sons as well as twelve grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.