Felicity's best life lesson

If you're lucky you encounter wonderful people in your life who profoundly affect the course of your development. Felicity (92) is one of those people for me. I met her through work and she became not only my invaluable mentor and resolute supporter, but also a dear and much loved friend. She was one of the great journalists of her generation, a giant of Fleet Street (albeit one rather tiny in stature) at a time when women in senior positions were few and far between. As feisty and forthright today as she was the first time I met her nearly 20 years ago.

"My feelings about people are so sickly sweet I feel I should apologise for them, but I do find that the nicer you are to people, the nicer they are to you and the more you enjoy yourself. I’m 91 now, so it’s taken me a long time to get here, but I’ve found that the more you smile at people, the more they smile back at you. That sounds like something someone would embroider on a cushion, but it’s true. 

People are the most interesting thing in life

I wanted to be a journalist from the age of about 15. If you’re a good journalist you have to be interested in people. What else is there? Are you going to be interested in flowers? I mean, I like flowers, but I wouldn’t say they were the most interesting thing in life. People are the most interesting thing in life. And everybody is interesting. Sometimes people need a push up the bottom to get them going, but they develop better that way than if you turn your back on them."