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Growing Old Disgracefully

Episode 3 of 4

Alan Yentob meets Diana Athill, who became a celebrity in her 90s thanks to her frank and entertaining memoirs which chart a life less ordinary.

To celebrate the life of editor and author Diana Athill, who has died at the age at 101, another opportunity to see an Imagine documentary first broadcast in 2010.

At 92, Diana Athill was suddenly a celebrity. Her frank and entertaining memoirs, mainly written after the age at which most people retire, charted a life less ordinary. She'd had a string of love affairs, mainly with married, black and/or younger men; enjoyed 50 years of success as an editor, working with writers as distinguished as Jean Rhys, Molly Keane, Norman Mailer and VS Naipaul; and led a privileged childhood in a Norfolk mansion.

When Alan Yentob met her, she had recently chosen to go into an old people's home where they take people 'who have had interesting lives'. They discussed her life, her work and her outspoken thoughts on death.

1 hour

On TV

Mon 9 Jun 2025 00:15

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Alan Yentob
Participant Diana Athill
Producer Jill Nicholls
Director Jill Nicholls
Executive Producer David Okuefuna

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