Opinion

Radio review: What would you tell your younger self?

Author Philip Pullman was Kirsty Young’s latest guest on Radio 4′s Young Again

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann is an Irish News columnist and writes a weekly radio review.

Philip Pullman and Kirsty Young
Philip Pullman told Kirsty Young what he would tell his younger self in the latest episode of Radio 4's Young Again
Young Again, Radio 4

If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what would you tell them?

Young Again invites guests to talk about what made them who they are.

Sometimes we learn a little more about the presenter too – Kirsty Young – and in this episode featuring writer Philip Pullman, he turned the tables on her. It was refreshing.

Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy sparked the imaginations of children and young people across the world.

But they also reached a much wider adult audience. His feisty, passionate heroine, Lyra, struck a chord and Lyra has become one of the most popular names for baby girls.

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His Dark Materials is about to air on BBC One
His Dark Materials was serialised for BBC One (Alex Bailey/Marco Grob/BBC/Bad Wolf/HBO)

The writer looked back at an exotic childhood spent travelling – his father was an RAF pilot who died when Pullman was seven. Although an experienced pilot who had flown Spitfires in the Second World War, he crashed his plane into a hill.

“It is the sort of crash that a beginner would make,” said Pullman.



It came at a time when his parents were moving toward a legal separation. There was a mystery there. He never got answers.

His mother remarried and he became part of a larger blended family. He regrets never asking what had happened between her and his father.

“They all die very inconveniently, our parents. They die very thoughtlessly before you’ve had the chance to say, ‘Come on, what was going on?’,” he said. That made me smile.

Sir Philip Pullman made his stage debut in an adaptation called His Dark Materials
Sir Philip Pullman made his stage debut in an adaptation called His Dark Materials

Pullman the writer confessed that he isn’t big on plans. He planned his first novel – spent a whole six weeks doing that – and then tore it up.

Writing is a combination of talent, hard work and luck, he said. You don’t sit down for an hour hoping to be lucky, you work. You don’t just wait for inspiration.

They all die very inconveniently, our parents. They die very thoughtlessly before you’ve had the chance to say, ‘Come on, what was going on?’

—  Philip Pullman

The honesty of the man was appealing – his regrets about not talking more to his mother, and about going off to write when perhaps he should have spent more time with his children.

There was a strength, a gentleness and an honesty that came to the fore.

Looking back, he also said he wished he could have overcome his shyness with girls when he was a teenager.

“Just go and tell her. Tell her you think she’s lovely…” he’d have said to his younger self. But it all turned out well in the end.