Each year thousands of people travel to Fowey to celebrate the life and works of Daphne du Maurier. The 'Du Maurier Festival' brings together many of today's artists, writer and performers to pay tribute to the woman who was one of their inspirations. The year 2007 marks the centenary of the birth of Daphne du Maurier, the woman who found so much inspiration in Cornwall for her many books. The 91Èȱ¬ is celebrating the life and works of this defining author, unveiling two new commissions, and regional programming to mark her centenary in 2007. 'Daphne', a brand new drama staring Geraldine Somerville (Gosford Park, Harry Potter), Elizabeth McGovern (Freezing), and Janet McTeer (Five Days, Tumbleweeds) brings the secret love life of this renowned storyteller to 91Èȱ¬ TWO.
 | | Fowey's beautiful estuary |
Based on the acclaimed biography by Margaret Forster, 'Daphne' charts the story of du Maurier’s unrequited passion and shows how Daphne’s inner struggles with her sexuality informed the writing of her compelling stories. The 90-minute drama focuses on the most emotionally fraught yet creatively fertile period of the authors life – the years between the Rebecca trial and the writing of her short story The Birds. During this time Daphne met the beautiful and glamorous American heiress Ellen Doubleday, and the play she wrote about her forbidden love for Ellen 'the Rebecca of Barberrys' led her to a life-changing and ultimately doomed real life affair with the irreverent fun loving actress Gertrude Lawrence. Du Maurier once said "Everything I write comes from some sort of emotional inner life." Daphne could easily have been the central character in one of her own novels, and the conflict between her real world and her inner world inspired her compelling fiction and is revealed in this revealing and intimate drama. The Road to Manderley 91Èȱ¬ TWO brings Rick Stein closer to one of his literary heroines as he sets off in search of the author's world in his beloved Cornwall.Ìý Daphne has been a firm favourite of Rick Stein for a long time.
 | | Fowey - home and inspiration |
"I grew up with those amazing locations in Cornwall that fed her imagination. I love the way she'd soak up the folklore of a place – the myths and legends that local people in those times really believed in. Like a skilful chef nothing is wasted on her. If she had spent her working life in Hampstead would Rebecca and Jamaica Inn have come to life? I suspect not." The world of Daphne du Maurier still exists in Cornwall, mostly unchanged, and in a 50 minute programme, Rick sets out to find those special timeless places that made her lay awake at night weaving her thoughts together. On 91Èȱ¬ Radio Cornwall Du Maurier absorbed the landscape, the folklore, and the history of Cornwall and used it to tremendous effect in her work. Throughout the month of May, the Afternoon Programme on 91Èȱ¬ Radio Cornwall will be celebrating the life and works of one of its most famous residents. Presenter Emma Lloyd will be discovering the influence Cornwall had on the author's life and will be inviting the Afternoon Book Club to re-visit du Maurier's novels. ÌýÌýÌý | 
