Away for a while

I am away for this week so unfortunately there will be no updates.
I'll be back with lots of news things.

Starsigns - Libra

Diana developed a liking for starsigns and the meaning about them. She once said Librans are "without a doubt the most argumentative men in the world". She backed this up by the fact her father was a Libra. Diana had frequent rows with her father growing up as he didn't approve of her ambitions to be a film star. In fact her fathers favourite phrase was saying he "washed his hands of her", something that obviously stuck in Dianas mind throughout her life.
She went on to say male Librans are convinced they are right all the time. Sounds like a male trait in general to me (joke)

Diana Dors - It's Too Late

Diana Dors - It's Too Late (1964)

The A side to 'So Little Time'. No idea what happened to the first 30 seconds of the pictures, it plays perfectly off youtube, once on youtube it cut all that off for some obscure reason.

Diana on egotism

In her book 'Behind Closed Dors', Diana talks about egotism and one rare incident where she was guilty of it. She was invited to a garden fete, for which she'd be paid a small fee. She took her Husband, Alan Lake and their son, Jason along too. They were having a nice time and Diana was centre of attention, having her photograph taken everywhere and people making nice comments. In her words, she was 'wallowing in supreme egotism'. She was making a speech when Jason butted in with a comment of 'Mummy....how much are you being paid for this?'.
No sooner had she recovered from this embarrassment, a woman rushed out from the crowd waving a piece of paper for Diana to sign. She exclaimed "I knew it must have been you Diana, because I recognise your husband!"

Diana Dors - Where Did They Go?

In 1982 Diana recorded and released a single called 'Where Did They Go', which is all but lost from records and is now a fairly rare record. A lovely track, Diana sings of her past life, very akin to "Those Were The Days" by Mark Hopkin. It's a poignant song as it was recorded while she was battling against cancer.

On the b-side is a duet with her son 'Gary' who had a good singing voice too himself, in a track called 'It's You Again' written by Gary.

I am planning to record a video of it playing on my record player and put it on youtube at some point and I'll post it on the blog once I do so too. It would be such a shame for this gem of a record to be lost completely.

Kip Gowans

Diana met Kip on the set for Oliver Twist. Despite Diana dressed in Dickensian clothes and dirt smeared all over her face, Kip took a liking to the 15 year-old Diana. Diana was attracted to his looks and confidence and she agreed to a date with him. He didn't take her to the cinema or for dinner, rather to Ruislip woods and as they lay on the grass battle ensued. Diana, still, in many ways admirably a virgin, fought off Kip's advances much to his disappointment. Despite this awkward date, they went on a second one which again turned out to be disasterous. Again they went to the woods and the same battle ensued.

Kip walked her back to the station muttering he'd see her around and that was the end of their brief romance. It had a profound affect on Diana, whom started to question herself and why she couldn't behave like whoever Kipp was to get with next. She wondered why she valued her virginity more than others around her and the whole ordeal certainly contributed to her growing up. Diana would wait for a long time for him to call again but he never did.

Kip ended up marrying Lee-Ann Remick and had a successful career as a director and producer.






Lee-Ann and Kip

Diana's Claustrophobia

Diana's birth took nearly a week and her mother, Mary nearly as a result. Diana was cast aside by doctors as they battled to keep Mary alive, Diana meanwhile was revived by a nurse nextdoor. As a result of this near-suffocation Diana suffered from Claustrophobia for the rest of her life. It makes me wonder whether this claustrophobia contributed to her brilliant performance in a prison cell in Yield To The Night. Just a thought though.

Her mother took a long to recover from the birth but she did and she devoted her love to Diana, much to her husband's/ Diana's father's annoyance.

Yield To The Night Poem

A Loveliest Tree - A.E. Housman

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow


Parts of this poem are read out at various places during the film by Diana/ Mary as she stares the prospect of death in the face. This is the poem in full, a beautiful poem made even more beautiful from Diana's soft, delicate voice.