Latest news with #memoirs
ABC News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Trump backflips on Epstein and MAGA slaps back
On this week's show, Jez and Bev try to untangle what's been happening with the Epstein files. The Jeffrey Epstein-related conspiracy rumours US President Donald Trump initially helped stoke are now coming back to bite him. He's facing backlash from his MAGA fanbase as he tries to tamp them down. We also look at The Salt Path controversy and the trust between authors and readers. Does anyone actually fact-check memoirs? Jeremy Fernandez and Beverley Wang chat about the stories you're obsessed with, the stuff you've missed and the things that matter. Filling in while Julia Baird is away, is Beverley Wang is ABC's National Culture correspondent, co-host of Stop Everything and Life Matters on Radio National. Episodes drop every Wednesday afternoon. We want to hear from you! Join the conversation and email the show at notstupid@ Jez's pick: AI recycling trucks Bev's pick: Bev talks about Albo's song picks for Triple J's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. Voting closes at 5pm on 17
NHK
14-07-2025
- General
- NHK
Bereaved families publish memoirs ahead of 40th anniv. of 1985 JAL crash
Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the deadly crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet, bereaved families have published a collection of their memoirs. August 12 will mark 40 years since the plane crashed into the Osutaka Ridge in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo in 1985, claiming 520 lives. The collection was compiled by a liaison group of bereaved families and is their first publication in 10 years. Morishita Reiko, who lost her mother in the crash, is one of the 32 contributors to the book. In her memoir, Morishita reflects on a passage she wrote in the immediate aftermath of the accident: "If I could have one wish come true, it would be to see that summer day disappear and vanish." She wrote that that feeling has never changed since then. Ozawa Kimi lost her husband when he was 29 years old. Ozawa said their son and his wife are living a great life, showing her what it would look like if she had continued to live with her late husband. She says she sees herself and her husband reflected in the younger couple and thinks about living another year. And asked her husband to watch over her from heaven. Hirata Hiroko, whose brother died in the crash, wrote her memoir for the group for the first time. Hirata wrote that the day she reunites with her brother in heaven is approaching, given her declining health. She pledged to live each day to the fullest, with the lost lives of 520 victims, including her brother, in mind. Hirata added that, each time she sees an airplane flying in the blue sky, she couldn't help but wish them a safe trip. The head of the bereaved families' group, Miyajima Kuniko, lost her son in the accident when he was nine years old. Miyajima stressed that human lives must be protected at all costs, at any time. Miyajima said the group's publication of the memoirs will help keep alive the memories of bereaved families and all people involved in its activities.
BBC News
12-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
WWII evacuee's memoirs discovered in attic
A chance discovery has unearthed the memoirs of a woman evacuated to Lincolnshire during World War Braunston lived in London during the Blitz but was sent to a pig farm in Brampton when the Germans launched their V weapons, which they hoped would win them the 2023, her son Miles Bingham was clearing his mother's attic when he found her memoirs. However, 88-year-old Valerie had Alzheimer's disease and did not recognise her own work. Mr Bingham, 58, said he made the discovery when his mother moved into a care home. From under the cobwebs and dust in the loft of her house in Ludlow, Shropshire, he pulled a manuscript which had lain unseen for told the story of Valerie's experiences in wartime north London, in a house in Bush Hill Park, and when she was evacuated to Lincolnshire in 1944, aged about 11."Whilst they'd survived the Blitz, they were struggling to deal with this new wave of German rockets," Mr Bingham said. He shared an extract from the memoir, which has been published as a book called London Can Take It. "The boom of each V1 hitting London meant I could hear the detonations. Sometimes I even felt the earth tremor. At each explosion I bit my lips until they started to split. My mother looked gaunt with worry." Valerie was bundled on to a train and sent away to safety in the countryside. She had no idea where she was described arriving at the farm."To my despair, where a normal family might have had a front garden, here was a foul-smelling piggery right beside the property. I would be living with a pig man and his wife."I was shown to a small room and I was told to go straight to bed. I just lay there in the dark with my eyes closed, hoping I might wake up tomorrow and this was all a big mistake."Mr Bingham recalled how his mother found an atlas of Britain at school and tried to look up where she was living."She'd gone from the biggest city in the northern hemisphere to a place not even marked on a map of the United Kingdom. It felt like she'd arrived at the end of the world." Mr Bingham said his mother initially wanted to go straight back to London. She slipped little notes into her letters home asking for her mother to come and collect she loved the beautiful Lincolnshire countryside, he said."I remember watching in astonishment, the golden sun dipping below the distant horizon. Previously, I'd only ever arched my neck to view the sun blocked off by tall buildings."Unfortunately, Valerie was unable to appreciate the discovery of her story."She was suffering from Alzheimer's, " Mr Bingham said. "And even when I started to read extracts from her own work, she didn't recognise it at all. "Of course, I just wish I could have discussed it with her, but she died within two weeks of going into a care home."What we have is something really rare and it illuminates a childhood of somebody living in London and experiencing the Blitz. It's also a fantastic story about an evacuee's experiences as well." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Khaleej Times
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
'My history is being stolen': Scandal-prone Spanish former king to publish memoirs
Spain's former king Juan Carlos will publish his memoirs by year end in an unprecedented move by a Spanish monarch, publishing house Planeta said on Monday. Once revered for his role in Spain's transition to democracy, Juan Carlos was forced to abdicate in 2014 following a series of scandals that included an affair with Danish national Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn and the shooting of an elephant in Botswana. He is now seen as a liability for his son, King Felipe. Spanish prosecutors investigated allegations of fraud laid against the former king in Spain and Switzerland, but dropped the probe due to insufficient evidence and the statute of limitations. The former king's lawyer said at the time that prosecutors had failed to prove the existence of any wrongdoing or criminal behaviour. "Reconciliation," written in first person, aims to highlight his fundamental contributions to the success of Spain's young democracy during his almost 40-year reign, overshadowed by his self-imposed exile and some of his own mistakes, the publisher said. "My father always advised me not to write my memoirs. Kings do not confess. And certainly not publicly. Their secrets remain buried in the shadows of palaces. Why am I disobeying him today? Why have I changed my mind? Because I feel that my history is being stolen from me," Planeta quoted the former king as saying. The memoirs will tell in detail the private side of a public life, Planeta said, in a book "rich in anecdotes that do not shy away from the most significant episodes of our recent history, nor from the joys and sorrows of his intimate and personal life."
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anger as 'neutral' mandarin fawns over Sturgeon ahead of £300,000 memoirs
Scotland's top civil servant has been accused of 'fawning over' Nicola Sturgeon after wishing her success with her £300,000 memoirs. Permanent Secretary Joe Griffin cheered on the former First Minister after clearing the 464-page book, titled 'Frankly', for publication. In a letter telling her no changes were required for national security reasons, he gushed: 'I wish you well with publication of the memoirs'. The Scottish Conservatives criticised the remark given Ms Sturgeon's controversies in office and civil service neutrality. Deputy party leader Rachael Hamilton said: 'Scots will wonder why someone duty bound to be neutral was fawning over Nicola Sturgeon in this way. 'There have been repeated concerns that permanent secretaries have ended up being close to their SNP bosses. 'Joe Griffin should have thought twice about using this sort of language especially when the former First Minister's divisive legacy is still being keenly felt.' Other material released by the SNP Government yesterday shows Ms Sturgeon demanded tight security to ensure there were no leaks from her book, for which she is receiving a reported advance of £300,000. The memoirs of former ministers are governed by the 50-year-old Radcliffe Rules. Politicians are free to write about their own work but must not reveal anything which could breach national security, harm the UK's international relations, or damage 'the confidential relationships between ministers or of ministers with their officials'. Ms Sturgeon, who left Bute House in March 2023 after more than eight years as First Minister, announced she was writing her memoirs in August the same year. In December 2024, the Scottish Government's most senior official wrote to her about vetting the contents. Then permanent secretary John-Paul Marks asked the Glasgow MSP to 'share the draft manuscript with my office, if possible three months ahead of publication'. In February, Ms Sturgeon told the Government she expected an 'advanced draft' in late March and demanded to know how officials would guard the contents. 'I'd be grateful for an indication of what the circulation will be with SG [Scottish Government] - I assume very limited - and what steps will be taken to ensure confidentiality,' she wrote. Mr Marks told her 'a small senior group' including the Director of Propriety and Ethics would undertake the review and provide advice. He said: 'In terms of ensuring the manuscript is held and reviewed in a secure manner, we would request that you provide my office with four hard copies. 'These will be securely held and reviewed by a named list of senior officials only. We will not hold the document in electronic format.' Publishers Pan MacMillan sent the four copies to Mr Marks by secure delivery on March 26. Two weeks later, Mr Griffin took over as Permanent Secretary and on April 24, told Ms Sturgeon, based on the advice from the review group, no changes were required. He added: 'At all times strong security arrangements have been observed with only a small number of designated senior officials having recorded access.' He concluded: 'Thank you for engaging with the process proactively, and I wish you well with publications of the memoirs. Best Wishes, Joe Griffin.' A Government spokesman said: 'The Permanent Secretary signed off his letter in a manner that was polite and appropriate.'
