An interview with the legend Catherine Cookson on the River Tyne on her return to the region in the 1960s.

Dame Catherine, the author of 100 books that combined sold more than 100 million copies in 18 languages, began life in poverty, worked as a laundress in a workhouse and did not begin writing until she was in her forties. Her final book was published in 2000.

Christopher Record, her physician, said Dame Catherine had managed to keep writing despite being bedridden for most of the last 12 years. She was up early in the morning dictating into her tape recorder.

She produced gritty, historical sagas, at least two books a year, pledging: "I intend to continue writing until they come to measure the box."

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