How Not to Be a Perfect Mother

LIBBY PURVES was a late starter, having her first baby at thirty-two. Previously she practised for motherhood by carrying heavy tape recorders round all day (on BBC Radio Oxford), getting up at 3.30am (as presenter of the Radio 4 Today programme), and by refereeing contentious arguments (as chair of BBC TV’s Choices). Libby Purves has written and edited several books, and writes for a number of newspapers and magazines. Now she lives in Suffolk with her husband, Paul Heiney, her son of eleven and daughter of nine. Once a week, she escapes from home life by travelling to London to present the Radio 4 chat show, Midweek, in which only two people are ever allowed to talk at once, and nobody’s nose needs wiping.