It was a happy and smiling Anna Massey who greeted me in the foyer of her Glasgow Hotel on a bleak Autumn day in 2006. We had arranged to meet at the Theatre Royal at 12.15, but having been rescheduled twice this had now been brought forward to 10.45 such was the demand for her time.
Accompanied by her PA from Publishers Random House, we drifted towards the Restaurant and found a quiet table in the corner, overlooking George Square. This was a grand setting, totally appropriate for an interview with a lady who has lived the grand' life.
Deep friendships with Noel Coward, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, John Gielgud, and Ralph Richardson are just a fraction of the memories recalled in her autobiography Telling Some Tales.' Dancing with John F. Kennedy, playing hostess to Prince Philip, and being a guest at the wedding of Princess Margaret to Anthony Armstrong-Jones, are tales that sit comfortably beside those from a theatrical life that has encompassed Stage, Screen, Television and Radio.
In her book she describes one particular New York Theatre gathering with the wonderful sentence "The room was full of egos, many of whom wrote their own notices as they shook your hand." There is no ego here - one immediately warms to Anna, who makes you feel like an old friend.
Whereas many people are happy just to accept that they are in the company of celebrities, Anna has the ability to be actually interested in them as people.' She is able to remember their special characteristics, their conversations, and those fleeting individual moments which for many just get lost in time.
Writing the book was a joy for her. She has always been interested in words, and we started our conversation talking about a little passion in her life, crossword puzzles.
"I started doing crossword puzzles with my Mother, and I remember the moment vividly. We were on a long journey, and I sat in the back with my little suitcase to keep me company, and my Mother and Brother sat in the front. Suddenly she read out a clue and said Oh I wish I had the Morse code.' I was a girl guide, and I piped up from the back well I do.'"
"So I unpacked my little bag and gave her the book. Unfortunately it did not help her solve the problem, but ever since I have been an avid crossword fiend, and used to do them with her. I still do them to this very day."
"I love to go deeper into the meaning of words, and the play on words. It sharpens the mind to continue ones' knowledge of the love of words, and hopefully there is a lively feel to the writing and an unusualness that has helped me, especially now that I have started writing myself."
Anna was in Glasgow as part of a promotional tour to promote her book, and I wondered if writing the book had been difficult.
"I really had a great time," she said, as the waitress brought the tea. "I had only just bought a computer and that was quite new, so I had to learn a lot about things like deleting and numbering pages etc., but I conquered all that and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I looked forward to going back to the project each day, but of course I did not always manage it."
"When you run a house, time is always at a premium. My husband, Uri, was very good, he went without meals, did the shopping, and of course he was also my great critic. I would read to him every single thing that I had written before it was passed on to anybody else."
Uri, a Russian scientist, is her second husband who she married in 1988, and it is obvious that they are still very much in love. In her book she says Life is absolutely bearable on your own. It is unbearable with the wrong companion, but it is so much richer with the right partner.'
To approach Anna on this subject is to open the floodgates to her emotions.
"My husband is an inventor, a metallurgist, and a remarkable human being, who I met very late on in my life. I have spent the last 18 years with him, and he has totally changed my life. He has an extraordinary original view on life, and we have conversations even now which are just so fascinating. I have found life so much richer and fuller in his company. I feel very spoilt."
"In life you have got to live and open yourself up to meet the right person. I went through a lot of my life with blinkers, but I worked hard to get the blinkers off. When they are gone, once you discover who you are and what your problems are, then you learn more about yourself."
"When you achieve this you can also understand more about other people. This helps you to have an equal relationship, because no relationship with anybody is worth anything unless it is equal. Giving, taking, understanding, and respect, those things are difficult to find if you do not know who you are, because where is the equality?"
Her book documents her darker periods as well. When talking about her 12 years of analysis she describes the feeling as like walking through a field of manure to pick a daisy.' She is careful not to dwell too much on these moments, preferring to let the reader see that there is always hope. When asked about those times, she smiles, sips her tea, and explains.
"I think that always out of the dark times will emerge positive thoughts. I managed in those darker moments to find humour and laughter and optimism. We all struggle with those bleaker times, but you just have to battle through them and say something which I have always said to myself which is This too shall pass.'"
"Even in the good times you have to say that, which I think is an adage of Confucius, then used by Abraham Lincoln, and now of course used by me and probably many others as well."
We had agreed 10 minutes, and although having a reputation for being a talkative girl at school, I knew that Anna had a schedule to keep to.
I will shamefully admit that although I am a writer, it is very rare for me to read a book, something to do with attention span.' However, "Telling Some Tales" was a book that I could not put down. It is a wonderful read, recalling a time when stars were stars.' A story of a woman who has experienced every emotion in life, and who has at last found true happiness.
We shake hands, and I walk out onto a Glasgow Square now bathed in sunshine.. It was only ten minutes, but I felt like I had lived a lifetime in another glorious world.