'Enjoy the here and now because I'm not certain there is something afterwards'

Thursday 7 June 2012

When I was seven ...

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SOUL searching victoria hislop

I wanted to be a tennis player. I admired the Australian player Evonne Goolagong. To my eye, tennis seemed glamorous, with lots of travel and constant sun tans. It seemed to have it all.

The first time my heart was broken ...

I was 17 and had a boyfriend who went off to university. He was a prodigious letter writer and would send me between two to five every day. Then one day the letter came saying he had met another girl. I was utterly devastated. I went from five letters a day to none. The wisest thing my grandmother told me ... A stitch in time saves nine. She meant it in a practical sense, but I have realised how much broader that saying can be.The biggest adversity I have overcome ... Lack of confidence. I made a decision to change that when I was 40. I made a speech at my birthday party, standing on a set of library stairs. I realised then how incredibly pleasurable it was to speak with everyone listening intently. Being married to Ian [Hislop], and him being such a good public speaker, it's something I perhaps felt before wasn't my thing. My motto for life ... Live for the moment – but without being selfish. Enjoy the here and now because I'm not certain there is something afterwards.My soul mate is ... I believe we have many. Team is an anagram of mate. A soul team would be my ideal.Not many people know that ... I have a good singing voice. I love programmes like the X Factor, The Voice and Britain's Got Talent. I cry regularly watching those shows. The most inspiring book I've read was ... Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I read it for the first time when I was 14. Before then most of the books I had read were about terribly good people. The characters however, would shout and scream, were passionate, almost murderous. It made me realise literature could be exciting. If ever I feel lonely I ... Play music and sing. At the moment I'm listening mostly to Greek pop music.What I look for in a friend is ... The people who will tell you when you have spinach stuck in your teeth.The person I ring first when I'm upset is ...My mother. She is truthful and gives great advice. She is probably my best friend.I believe the secret to a strong relationship is ...There can't be a sense of imbalance or, if there is in one department, it must be balanced out in another. Something I wish I'd done earlier ... Started to learn the Greek language. If I had my life again, I would have studied modern Greek at university.My all-time favourite YouTube clip ...A short lecture called Rebranding Greece by Peter Economides. He talks about how Greece could be transformed, quite simply and make it one of the most visited places in the world. My childhood hero was ...The headmaster of my primary school. He was passionate about classical music and would bring his records from home which we would listen to at assembly. Through that I got to know all the great pieces of classical music. The place I most like to call home ...Kent, London and Greece all have a sense of being home. I split my time between the three. The Thread by Victoria Hislop is published by Headline Review, priced £7.99

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'Enjoy the here and now because I'm not certain there is something afterwards'

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