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Loretta's talk, Painting with Words, which she gave on November 5th 2011 at the beautiful Malvern Library, was a great success. Well over thirty people came along and enjoyed her presentation of Edward Hopper's cinematic and atmospheric paintings. Loretta has written several short stories inspired by Hopper's paintings and these can be read at www.authorsden.com under Lorri Proctor. Loretta read her story 'House by the Railroad' to the audience who gave a little gasp at the ending . . . always a bonus for the author! This iconic image inspired the creepy house of Norman Bates in Hitchcock's thriller film 'Psycho' which, by an interesting coincidence, was on ITV3 the same weekend.

'Haitch' or 'aitch' : All about pronunciation.

My 'five minutes of fame' actually spanned the day when David Sillito of the BBC caught me coming out of the British Library a few weeks ago and got me pronouncing a variety of words in my own inimicable fashion. I was relieved to learn that others also used my versions of the language. This amusing clip sponsored by The British Library appeared on Breaksfast Special, Seven o'clock News and even World News. Wow. How about that for a TV appearance lasting a few seconds? Malvern author Loretta Proctor held a booksigning event in her home town of Great Malvern, Worcestershire on Saturday 10th April. It was held in the Malvern Hills Art and Craft Gallery, a charming venue, with the beautiful backdrop of the Malvern Hills. It was a sunny day, perfect for gardeners and the Grand National was kicking off that afternoon but despite these possible setbacks, Loretta was well supported and sold several copies of her new novel The Crimson Bed and a few of her first novel The Long Shadow. She has already had a London launch at Goldsboro Books, in London's historic Cecil Court. She said, 'That was a wonderful event but I wanted to have a launch in my home town of Malvern as well as many people said they would like to attend. "Author Loretta Proctor on the genesis of The Long Shadow. In the foreword to my book The Long Shadow I explain how the idea of writing this book began to take shape in my mind as far back as 1973. I was always interested in history and in particular the period of the First World War..." Read more at The Podcast for The Crimson Bed is now ready and up and can be heard on Excerpts are being read by a young and upcoming actress called Tessa Nicholson. Tessa recently played the part of Elizabeth Jarvis accused of killing her baby in the new BBC1 TV drama, Garrow's Law. March 12th 2010 From the Matador website news. Loretta Proctor has enjoyed a successful launch for her book The Crimson Bed. About 40 people attended the event at Goldsboro Books, in Cecil Court, London on March 12th. Loretta said: “It was a real thrill to see the window with rows of my book in it, and I sold a good 30. The wine flowed, conversation hummed and it was a most enjoyable evening.” Amongst the many guests was actress Tessa Nicholson, who read extracts from the book for Loretta’s podcast. Loretta said: “She kindly agreed to drop in and read a portion of Chapter One, leaving off just as my hero unbuttons his trousers ...! That got the audience! “It was all great fun. I'm shattered now but it was worth it.” Loretta chooses a beautiful cover for Victorian love story by Sue Vickers sue.vickers@malverngazette.co.uk Friday 5th February 2010 Malvern and Ledbury Gazette The Crimson Bed is a Victorian love story and is packed with Loretta’s own passions and interests, including painting and the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Her debut novel, The Long Shadow, which was published five years ago, spent almost 30 years languishing in a cupboard at Loretta’s home in Pickersleigh Road before she finally finished it and sent it to a publisher. She said: “This one only took me about a year to write but I’d had been working on the ideas for quite a few years.” The cover of The Crimson Bed features a beautiful Pre-Raphaelite painting, The Crystal Ball, a particular favourite of Loretta’s, by the artist John Waterhouse. She said: “I really wanted this painting as the cover. It’s very beautiful and it’s intriguing because there is a skull on the picture that had been painted over but which was revealed by restorers.” As a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Society, Loretta enjoyed researching the background for the novel, making trips to the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.