Valerie Grove on love in the life

Valerie Grove talks about the art of biography and the need for the biographer to discover the love in the life of the subject. She talks about being Kaye Webb's biographer and how she wanted to find the man that had been the love in her life- Ronald Searle- famous for being the cartoonist who created St Trinian's School. Webb was born in London in 1914 and went on to set up the much loved Puffin Club, which introduced a generation of children to good books. Ronald Searle, who had been a prisoner of war in East Asia and worked on the Siam-Burma Death Railway, became her third husband and they had twins. They married in 1948 and set up home in a modern house built by Denys Lasdun in Bayswater. Together they were the glamour couple of London in the 1960s and had wonderful star-studded parties. But then after ten years of happiness, when Kaye was a successful columnist and Ronald Searle the most sought after cartoonist around, he suddenly disappeared- eloping to Paris with another woman- leaving Kaye and the twins behind. Kaye was devastated but her career never faltered. She picked herself back up and moved to her new job at Puffin books, where she was the inspirational founder of the Puffin Club and Puffin Post, which brought adventure and excitement to a generation of young readers. The Puffin Club organised talks and meeting with writers for children. The Puffin Post published their letters and writings. Valerie Grove ends by saying that while researching her book she finally did find Ronald Searle - despite everyone saying that he was too much of a recluse and would never see her. He was living in France, aged 90, still drinking champagne every day and still drawing.