Why I'm Not A Millionaire: The dazzling memoir of an extraordinary trailblazer

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'She was bold, she was brave, she was funny, she was feisty. I owe her a great deal in leading the way' Sandi Toksvig 'Some people thought her merely bohemian, but others were grateful to have so engaging a role-model' INDEPENDENT The superb classic memoir from a dazzlingly eccentric and endlessly fascinating author - a woman very much ahead of her time. Nancy Spain was one of the most celebrated - and notorious - writers and broadcasters of the 40s, 50s and 60s. Hilarious, controversial and brilliant, she lived openly as a lesbian (sharing a household with her two lovers and their various children) and was frequently litigated against for her newspaper columns - Evelyn Waugh successfully sued her for libel... twice. She was also a fantastic crime novelist (and according to the Guardian, one of the 50 best female crime thriller writers of all time) writing with a unique style that marries the acid wit of Dorothy Parker with the intricacy of plotting worthy of Agatha Christie. WHY I AM NOT A MILLIONAIRE, has the same wit, style and fascinating detail - first published in 1956, with an introductory note from Noel Coward. After her death in a plane crash in 1964, Noel Coward commented: 'It is cruel that all that gaiety, intelligence and vitality should be snuffed out, when so many bores and horrors are left living.'

Nancy Spain was a prominent novelist, broadcaster and journalist. She was a columnist for the Daily Express and She magazine in the 1950s and 1960s. She also appeared on many radio broadcasts, particularly on Woman's Hour, and later as a panellist on the television programmes What's My Line? and Juke Box Jury. Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1917, she was the great-niece of the legendary Mrs Beeton. During the second world war she worked as a driver and served in the WRNS and after the war she published several detective novels set at a girls' school. Always controversial, her column-writing caused the Daily Express to be sued - twice - by Evelyn Waugh.

She was bold, she was brave, she was funny, she was feisty. I owe her a great deal in leading the way It is cruel that all that gaiety, intelligence and vitality should be snuffed out, when so many bores and horrors are left living Some people thought her merely bohemian, but others were grateful to have so engaging a role-model - INDEPENDENT Nancy's great qualities were her zest for life and her warm, North-country heart - TATLER