von Juventina » 25.08.2006, 23:21
Jini Fiennes:
I decided when I was three and a half that I was going to have six children. We were very settled when Ralph was born. Mark, my husband, was a farmer and his own shepherd. We had a large flock of sheep, a big house and plenty of help, so I was able to spend lots of time with Ralph. He was a wonderful baby, thrilling and so exuberant. Martha came along a year later. I don't remember Ralph being jealous but I do remember I bought her a teddy that you could throw in the washing machine; all Ralph's teddies were very superior, not the kind you could wash. He took one look at this new inferior teddy and claimed it as his own. Martha never got the teddy; Ralph still has it, I think.
Ralph Fiennes:
I was the eldest of six children by the time I was seven. My image of childhood is of walking, drawing, painting, gumboots, mackintoshes, children's books, teatime, hard boiled eggs, dogs, running, playing, always en masse. I think all of us at one point or another wanted to define our territory. There were six of us all being encourage to be creative and I remember being furious because one of my brothers, Magnus, always seemed to be copying my ideas. Mummy said I shouldn't be angry but flattered that he thought my ideas were worth copying. Even though there were so many of us, I think that my mother was very fair about the amount of time she gave to all of us.
We certainly has confrontations when I was a child. I think it was because I was obsessively selfish and demanding and she was very strong in making me aware of that. I think of her now more as a friend than a mother. I value her opinion about my work hugely because she is able to sense and articulate things in my performances and communicate them to me in a way that no one else possibly could.
