An Interview with Felicity Fair Thompson

Born in Australia, I started out in England on stage as a dancer. Later, after working in the glamour of the Odeon Leicester Square, I moved to the Island to run a holiday business. I became a travel writer, film maker, children’s writer, novelist, playwright. My documentary Carisbrooke Castle was broadcast on SKY TV. Three of my other fourteen travel films were shown on Australian television. I have written three children’s stories, three staged plays, scenic travel features, theatre reviews, award-winning poetry, personality profiles and three novels—and I teach. I gave workshops alongside Sir Andrew Motion at the Tennyson Bicentenary and have taught for Screen South, Connexions, Isle of Wight College, independently, and with young people with learning difficulties.

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Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I was Senior Assistant Manager at the Odeon and Leicester Square Theatres, the first woman in Rank’s West End Cinema management. Surrounded by movie stars, the rich and famous, all the Royal family, with press and film media buzz, thousands of cinema fans, different political climates, electricity strikes, threats, record-breaking runs, and special moments and delightful tales—all my personal memories are here—glamour, royalty, money magic—the inside world of cinema I was part of in those exciting years in Leicester Square.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I have an MA in Screenwriting UAL. I am a writer, writing tutor and film maker and I live on the Isle of Wight. My documentary Carisbrooke Castle was broadcast on SKY TV and three of my other fourteen travel films made for the retail market were shown on Australian television.

I have taught Creative Writing for Screen South, Connexions, Isle of Wight Council, Isle of Wight College, and alongside Sir Andrew Motion for the bi-centenary celebrations for Alfred, Lord Tennyson, as well as guiding young writers with learning difficulties, and teaching writing independently.

My published writing includes three children’s stories with a new one being published 2025, an EU-funded community play, theatre reviews, personality profiles, award winning poetry, scenic travel features, and three novels: Hold Tight, my latest novel, Cutting In, which was Top 3 Finalist in the Beryl Bainbridge Award People’s Book Prize, and The Kid on Slapton Beach, which has received rave reviews.

Exit the King, about King Charles I, performed at the 2017 Ventnor Isle of Wight Fringe Festival, and in January 2018 at Carisbrooke Castle, where the King had been imprisoned, was my first stage play. Later in 2018, I co-wrote two new stage plays: Voices over Passchendaele, performed at Northwood House on the Isle of Wight over the November Armistice weekend, about the first use of ground-to-air wireless in the aeroplanes over the battlefield and marking 100 years since the end of WWI. The Power Behind the Microphone, about the beginnings of radio in Chelmsford, and Marconi, features the moment in 1920 when the opera star Dame Nellie Melba sang on the wireless, the first world-wide radio broadcast ever. The play was due to mark that centenary and be performed at the Civic Theatre in Chelmsford, but from it instead came a short, streamed presentation of the main scene with Anna Steiger as Melba, to mark the moment on 15th June 2020.

My novel Cutting In was re-published in February 2021. My children’s book, Grandpa’s Dear Old Girl, with illustrations by the artist Carolyn Pavey, was published in September 2021 by Beachy Books.

For 2024, with encouragement from Dartmouth Tourism, I wrote and directed a short film, “80 Years On,” based on the characters in my novel The Kid on Slapton Beach, which has been shown eleven times—in Devon and on the Isle of Wight. My short film script, “Cat’s Cradle,” won the Bronze prize in Film Expo South Short Film Scriptwriting Competition 2022, and Quarter, Semi, and Finalist in three more International Festivals in 2023. My script Making News has won two Awards in 2023 in International Film Festivals. My script “On That Beach,” adapted from my novel The Kid on Slapton Beach, was semi-finalist in the Miami Screenplay Awards May 2023, award winner in four more International Film Festivals, and finalist in the Cambridge Film Festival, April ’25.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

The Lights of Leicester Square—the title came from my life being lit up by working in the West End amongst all the exciting people: film stars, the royal family, film makers, and all the glamour of cinema. Hard work, too, of course, because the West End lights were hardly ever off!

What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?

Relating such inside stories and recording all the excitement was wonderful. And how fulfilling it was when I sent the MS to Michael Grade, Lord Grade, asking if he would do a short review for me and he came back saying he was delighted to do the Foreword. I sent a copy to HM Queen Elizabeth and I received a letter back saying she wanted me to know how many lovely memories the book had brought back.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

The James Bond Theme would be special—James Bond films showed every year! And with Live and Let Die taking so much money, a party was arranged in the ‘Royal Retiring Room’ so that staff could have a little glass of bubbly with Roger Moore—I had to organise that everyone on the staff had that opportunity, and while they drank their bubbly, got his autograph and smiled, no one knew quite what to say—poor man was stuck with me all afternoon from 2.30 pm to 5 pm—he was so nice and so easy to talk to so I had a wonderful time!

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

I hope that people remember the glamour and excitement of those days in Leicester Square when thousands of people queued to see films, the nights when members of the royal family came to charity performances, and Royal Film performances when huge amounts of money were collected for charity, and the excitement of people crowding the square to catch sight of Queen Elizabeth and her family—and the super presentation of wonderful movies.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

To record it all for the people who worked there—some of whom I am still in touch with; for people who came to a special cinema moment; for people who were part of the productions; for the producers, the writers, the actors and actresses who thrilled the public with fantastic cinema experiences.

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