Reading Readit: Miss Daisy Conquers Britain
What a laugh out loud, delightful book this is! 
Miss Daisy is 80 years old and proud of it. Some of her bits and pieces are wearing down and give her trouble more frequently than they used to, but many of us know exactly how she feels.
Just when she expects to relax and write her memoirs, (Miss Daisy has led an interesting life with many different people) she meets Her Ladyship and life becomes a series of adventures.
And what adventures she has! Her Ladyship decides that she and Miss Daisy will leave their comfortable home in Pembrokeshire and join some of Miss Daisy’s relatives in completing the John O’Groats to Land’s End rally. Her Ladyship assures Miss Daisy that although getting to John O’Groats may pose some small difficulties, “It’s downhill from then on Old Girl, all the way to Land’s End”.
Miss Daisy is not convinced; this is not the first time her Ladyship has taken her on a simple trip, only to then finish up in dire circumstances – not that Her Ladyship notices; she always blames Miss Daisy for any misadventure. Of course Her Ladyship wins the discussion, sends Miss Daisy for minor surgery and without any further “by your leaves”, packs herself and Oscar the Asthmatic Barking Dog and they are off to John O’Groats. Oh perhaps I should tell you, Miss Daisy is an Austin Seven Tourer, born in 1934!
Now what could possibly go wrong? Well apart from being stolen and used in a robbery; having a hitchhiker almost die in the front seat; spending a night in a, probably, haunted B & B and having kippers wired to her underside, nothing much really. Her Ladyship? Well it is really not up to me to say but expect a little romance, a little lust and a brush with Royalty. Even Oscar, the Asthmatic Barking Dog is not immune from the odd adventure or two, including an encounter with an amorous, royal corgi and Boris the Borzoi!
The story of the whole trip, adventures, misadventures and romances is told by Miss Daisy in her inimitable style, feisty, observant, quirky and entertaining. Warning! Do not read this book on public transport unless you are prepared to brave the stares of the people who wonder why you are laughing loudly.
What I can’t understand is how this is the first I’ve heard of Miss Daisy? She has a previous book, The Miss Daisy Diaries, her own website, writes a diary and a blog! Why wasn’t I told? Having found Miss Daisy, I intend to keep in touch; she is definitely my kind of lady!
I am not really sure why I should devote a page on this website to Her Ladyship, but as she rather too firmly pointed out that it was she who compiled and typed out my two books for me, so she deserves a little of the credit. Hmmph!
Well The Wrinkled One as I sometimes call her, started her career in broadcasting, doing the sound effects on the Archers way back in the late 1960s. Extraordinarily, she managed to climb the career ladder to become a Sound Supervisor over the next 12 years.
Imagining she might progress further, she left the BBC in 1990 to start an independent production company called Raw Charm. Well, it was certainly raw, but knowing her it probably lacked any charm whatsoever. She tells me constantly that she went on to produce many factual programmes before retiring with me to Pembrokeshire in 2006, where she took up writing for magazines like Saga and Pembrokeshire Life.
It was on a trip out with me when after a confrontation with a baseball becapped youth, that she suggested that I should let her publish my diaries. I wanted to say no, but Humans can’t hear me. Anyway, when that woman gets a bit between her teeth, there’s no stopping her.
Oh yes, that picture…. Don’t tell Her ladyship that I told you, but that was taken years ago! Miss Daisy’s biography of Her Ladyship appears at http://www.missdaisydiaries.co.uk/
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