[John Osborne, playwright; Hunter Davies, journalist] Substantial Typescript Article headed Indy Interview: John Osborne [i.e. The Independent newspaper] AND with MS. comments and corrections by Osborne (and wife Helen - see added letter below).

Nine pages, A4, good condition. Davies begins the typescript John is not feeling so good today, said his wife Helen, picking me up at the local railway station. More of a halt really, miles from anywhere, on the Shropshire-Wales border. She looked a bit tired herself, but then being Mrs John Osborne has always been a fairly exhausting business.[...] The last words from but are underlined in pencil and Osborne has commented in the margin, Come off it - not that old one!. Among other additions, Helen comments that he has not much to contribute to local life when Davies has said nothing. Later Davies adds to his statement about Jill's suicide with a MS addition, presumably in Davies hand but perhaps prompted by Osborne, but [due to] the break-up of an affair with a millionaire businessman. Various additions and corrections throughout, the last two being a. a MS addition concerning Osborne's drinking (in Helen's hand). The final MS addition is probably by Davies himself. Following the typed line And he did make me smile, even on a bad day, the line in MS ironically for him. Let's hope there are many better days to come. WITH: [John Osborne, playwright experiencing difficult times] Helen Osborne, wife of John Osborne, playwright [John Osborne, playwright] Autograph Letter Signed Helen [Osborne] to Hunter Davies, author, journalist and broadcaster, apparently reviewing an article Davies is seeking to publish & admitting that Osborne and herself are experiencing hard times. Headed The Hurst | Clunton | Craven Arms Salop, minimal date (Sun[day]).With envelope. Two pages, 21 x 20cms, fold marks but text clear and in good condition. Dear Hunter, | Thanks. Have made a few corrections & also - | a) Could you play down the health bit? Sometimes it's pretty good, but this sort of thing scares off commissions & bloody terrifies the bank manager. b) The subject of money. The position is frightful. If you saw the size of the overdraft & the back tax demands, you'd go white overnight. But, again, it gets up the nose of the afore mentioned Bank Manager & what Archie Rice [The Entertainer] called the Income Tax Man. We are treading on sliver-thin ice here. | Also, as I know from a previous Indie [The Independent Newspaper presumably] interview, with La Barber [Lynn Barber], it produced a wad of hate mail from your readers. Ditto the daughter. Which I have to answer. No thanks! | Hope we'll see you again - either here or in your ravishing looking house in the Lakes. Better mood then, I'd hope.[...] Helen Osborne [nee Dawson] was herself a journalist [Wikipedia] NOTE: Osborne died later in the year in which Davies interviewed him and published a piece (presumably this one) in The Independent, Osborne's obituary appearing in The Independent on 27 December 1994. See Image (half)