Behind the scenes with Jackie Ranston (part 2)

Laura Tanna, LETTER FROM LAURA

Jacqueline Irene Ranston's name may not be on the tip of everyone's tongue worldwide, but it certainly should be in Jamaica. This woman deserves a gold medal for giving life to Jamaica's fascinating history, tracking down every obscure photograph and bringing to light all kinds of anecdotes about those who have helped make this country what it is today. Her current, what-is-sure-to-become a best-seller, Behind the Scenes at King's House 1873-2010, was launched on Thursday October 20 in the ballroom of King's House and is just the latest in a series of books which delve into the lives of colourful characters.

She started with Selected quotations 1935-74, The Best of Bustamante, went on to the combined biographies of Jamaican national heroes Norman Manley and Sir Alexander Bustamante in From We Were Boys, continued with Lawyer Manley, Vol One, First Time Up, then branched out with a biography about the family from whom renowned Chris Blackwell comes in The Lindo Legacy, a 400-year history of a Sephardic Jewish family. A biography of Jamaica's third governor general in Independence was published as They Call Me Teacher: The Life and Times of Sir Howard Cooke. She topped that off with the incredibly readable and beautifully illustrated Belisario - Sketches of Character which went right back to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem to bring readers up to date on the birth and life of a Jamaican-born artist whose depictions of Jonkunnu figures have been reproduced to hang on walls throughout Jamaica.

When I interview someone, I like to find out what makes them tick. In part one, you read about her life in Jamaica. Now read about her past.
Born in London, England in 1946 and living in Jamaica since 1970, Ranston describes what influenced her to become the writer she is today.

"My father, Patrick Miller, was a master stone mason. He had an innate love of stone and an intimate knowledge of each stone type. I remember him taking me to Westminster Abbey and showing me his 'mark' in some restoration work he had done for the Queen's coronation. The war interrupted his early life. He joined the navy to become an anti-aircraft gunner on destroyers and cruisers. After one of his ships was blown up, he and five others, and the ship's dog, were the only survivors. His hobbies were archaeology and books. He used to spend his weekends working with his friend who owned an antique shop in Highgate Village. They specialised in rare and antiquarian books, maps and manuscripts. Dad used to take me with him most weekends. That's where I developed a love of books and archival material.

efficient housekeeper

"My mother, Irene Miller, was a sergeant major, ATS (Auxilliary Territorial Service). After the war, she wanted nothing more than to be a housewife, and refused to discuss the war in any shape or form. Food and clothes continued to be rationed until I was about eight years old. She put me 'in charge' of the ration books when we went shopping, and I used to tear out the little coupons with great care. She taught me to become an efficient housekeeper, saving up our meat rations so we could have one whole rabbit stew, or saving up the cheese coupons for one splendid macaroni cheese. She taught me to knit and sew, and I made many of my own clothes."

With just one sister, seven years junior, with whom Ranston is very close, she grew up in north London in a post-war block of flats. "But the surrounding area was one big bomb site," she remembers. "As kids we were never allowed outside that square block, but of course, we sneaked out whenever we could to rummage round the ruins - broken teapots, torn photographs, pictures, the odd protrusion of a broom or some pathetic piece of furniture that had once been part of a home or shop. I often wondered who they belonged to and what stories they could tell. The best thing about those days was the mobile library that parked outside the flats every Saturday and Wednesday. I was always there, ready and waiting."

through the back door

She began reading at age four and went to school at five, but says: "I left school at 16 and went straight into publishing - the venerable house of Longmans, Green & Co founded in 1724 - albeit through the back door. I had made up my mind during those years of visiting the antique shop, every weekend, that I wanted to work with manuscripts and make them into beautiful books. But publishing at that time was still a 'gentleman's profession'. My father's friend's wife ran an exclusive girls' school. Each year Longmans took on one of her 'girls'. She recommended me for an interview and I got the job. I could write shorthand and clock a pretty fast 180 words a minute on a manual typewriter."

Placed in the typing pool at Longmans to do secretarial work, she sought attention. "I would send back typed letters with a little poem or limerick about the book in question or, if the letter was about a book dealing with, say, marine life, I would underline the heading with Spanish tilde to represent waves! Anything to make my work stand out among the rest." Before long editors noticed her, and then came the break. "There was a vacancy in the Overseas Department for a researcher and illustrations editor and it was offered to me. Life thereafter was pure joy. I had a reader's ticket for the British Library (then housed in the British Museum); the School of Oriental and African Studies, you name it, I had an entr*e, and worked those tickets till they crumbled.

"I also got to know a book inside out from the manuscript stage right through to finished printed book. I learned the rudiments of copy-editing, paste-up, proofing, indexing - even had to go to a printery and print my own book - including mixing the inks!"

Now you understand not only why Jackie Ranston's biographies have been such a success, but also, when combined with husband Dennis Ranston's expertise, their Twin Guinep Publishing Company is successful.