Dulcie swaps by-lines for an online existence

UNLIKE Dulcie Domum, her most famous literary creation, Sue Limb is petite, measured and the mistress of her passions.

Born in Bletchley in 1946, Sue recalls a feeling of wonder at arriving in Cheltenham at the age of eight when her father, Wilfred, took up a position as radio engineer at GCHQ.

"In 1954 it was still a very buttoned up post-war society and I was a very buttoned up constipated little child," said Sue.

"Cheltenham seemed very exotic and gloriously elegant after Bletchley."

Her mother's independent spirit and her father's sense of humour were strong influences on their young daughter.

"My mother, Winifred, was the daughter of a Welsh hill farmer who studied French at Strasbourg as part of her university degree,"

"She was very unusual for her time."

"Music was always her greatest love so I used to be carted off to music recitals all the time in Cheltenham."

The Limb family loved improvising funny voices finding inspiration in such programmes as the Goon Show.

"My father would use comedy to overcome his shyness.

"I believe comedy is to do with pain, secrets and overcoming embarrassments.

"It's a very effective smoke screen."

Sue recalls that as a child she would use her love of writing as an escape into different world.

"I loved writing so much that I would offer to write my brother Roger's Christmas thank you letters.

"I would spend hours writing them in his style, imagining myself to be him."

But it was to be a teacher at Pates Grammar School that set Sue on the path of a literary career.

"I had an idea that I would go into politics because it interested me so much," explained Sue.

"But an inspirational teacher in my Lower 6th turned me onto English and made me realise that was my passion." It was during this time at the age of 16 that Sue came across the material for her first book.

"I was so interested in Scott's expedition that I sent a card to Professor Frank Debenham, who had been Scott's geologist.

"As a result I got invited to Cambridge to visit him and his wife and I was introduced to Captain Oates's sister, Violet who lived in a cottage in Suffolk.

"She decided she liked me and let me read his correspondence.

"As I read through all these letters tied in bundles with ancient green ribbon I came across a lot of criticism of Scott.

"Violet said that she wanted me to write her brother's biography but what could I do, I was only 16 and this information about Scott was dynamite.

"I did what I could and deposited it with the Scott Polar Research Institute, little knowing that it would resurface 14 years later."

In 1965 Sue went to Newnham College, Cambridge where she read English and enjoyed a heady time in the Footlights Theatre directing and acting with celebrities such as Griff Rhys Jones and Douglas Adams. "I had a fabulous time."

Sue laughed and added: "Well as fabulous as any anxious, driven, undergraduate that we all were, could have."

After her degree, Sue stayed on to research Elizabethan lyric poems "I named Betsy my daughter after Elizabeth I because I admired her so much" and married history lecturer, Roy Porter who she describes as "ferociously clever."

"But I wasn't cut out to be an academic, I still felt most at ease when I was writing humour."

Sue trained as a teacher and taught English and Drama until she realised that to be a writer she would have to leave Cambridge.

"Roy and I separated and I moved to London, our marriage had unravelled over the years," explained Sue.

"But we are still the best of friends." Sue found that teaching had given her a valuable 'in' to starting her freelance career.

"As a teacher I had poured over copies of Jackie magazine which I had confiscated and I was deeply immersed in teenage culture so I started writing quizzes and sending them off to Jackie."

With her work appearing in teenage magazines, She, Cosmo and Sunday supplements, Sue describes it as a golden era in an erstwhile treacherous business.

It was during this time that Sue received a letter from Major Patrick Cordingly who had been in Captain Oates's regiment.

He had discovered Sue's work at the research institute and wanted to persuade her to rewrite and publish a book.

For a year the two of them worked together, and in 1982 Sue's first book 'Captain Oates, Soldier and Explorer was published.

In 1985 she married Dutchman, Jan Vriend, composer, pianist and conductor of avant garde music.

The couple had Elizabeth (Betsy) and had moved to Stroud to be near Sue's parents who lived in Woodchester.

In 1987 Sue, Jan and Betsy bought a house in Woodchester with Sue's parents.

Although her marriage to Jan ended in 1989 - "We never got the hang of being married," Sue explains.

The 80s and 90s were halcyon years for Sue's career. Novels, documentaries, TV and radio series came in quick succession.

And in 1989 Dulcie Dulman was conceived and born on the pages of The Guardian

"I was invited up to London by Alan Rusbridger who had been asked to start a weekend supplement for paper.

"He'd read Love Forty and Loves Labours and thought I would be ideal to write a column about domestic life.

"Betsy was four and as someone dogged by a permanent feeling of defeat and chaos, the treachery of housework was an easy seam to mine for me.

"I dashed off a piece about a health visitor and sent it off expecting them to suggest alterations but it was accepted.

"And they accepted it as it was for the next 12 years, it was extraordinary."

But this year the inevitable but shocking happened.

The Guardian decided Dulcie Dulman had to go.

Sue recalls the day in March when she heard there was a letter waiting for her at the post office.

"It was a bad time. Foot and mouth was within a mile of Steve's (her partner) farm and I saw the envelope with The Guardian printed on it.

"I stood in the street in a blizzard - I knew what it would say but opening it was a shocking moment.

"I thought I was plunging into the abyss and I felt fear.

"I had always had another string to my bow, a book, a radio series but nothing had been accepted since the autumn, the drought started."

The Guardian braced itself for the onslaught from furious Dulcie fans.

One typical letter read: "I don't think I'll bother with the Guardian Weekend any more.

"With no Dulcie Domum it hardly seems worth the trouble of picking it up from the doormat."

Then one of the sub editors gave Sue an idea.

"He said that they didn't know what they would do with all the letters," said Sue.

"My nephew was building me a web site and I thought why shouldn't Dulcie go on the net.

With Sue and her nephew working flat out, the web site was finally completed at 2am the day before the last column came out and the Guardian agreed reluctantly to give the web address a mention.

The next day the site received 100 messages from bereft Dulcie fans and by day two a further 200.

Six months on and www.suelimb.com has over 500 subscribers.

"I have found out a lot more about my readers as a result of this," said Sue.

"They are very interested in the relationship between her life and mine, so I explained a little while ago that while I draw on my experiences, Dulcie is not me.

"Many wrote and thanked me for that.

"The letters I get give me a huge amount of confidence.

"I had no contact with the readers in all those years until Dulcie disappeared and now they write and give me advice.

Although Sue has shared her life with Steve for over ten years she is proud of her independence.

"I have never been financially supported by a man and I'm grateful for that."

"Money is the most contentious area for married couples, even more than sexual fidelity.

She remains good friends with both her former husbands. She is the phlegmatic type she explains who is not taken to cutting up trousers or wasting good wine preferring instead to reserve her passionate feelings for her daughter and the environment.

Sue and Steve both love travelling and her hope for the future is to see more of the world.

The internet venture has given Sue a confidence in her work that was lacking before, along with a belief that something will always turn up.

And while she continues writing, relieved fans are assured that - Dulcie will live on, in a virtual, if not virtuous world.