I began my singing studies with famous British duettists Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, when I was seventeen. Two years later they asked me to act as studio accompanist for Webster. I completed the ATCL and LTCL singing diplomas and remained friends with them until their deaths. I completed the LTCL in piano at Trinity College, London in 1968. I hold a BA (Honours) (SA) majoring in History of Music, History and English.
Since 2006 I have published several books about Anne Ziegler & Webster Booth. I published my first novel and collection of short stories in 2010, and a further novel, "Just the Echo of a Sigh" in December 2011. I have reduced the price on my books so they are quite affordable. I hope you will enjoy them.
This book tells Pamela Davies' story of her keen admiration of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth in the forties and early fifties. Shortly after Anne and Webster returned to the UK from South Africa in... More > 1978, Pamela began corresponding with Anne and became good friends with her.
The book includes THE BODY OF WORK OF ANNE ZIEGLER AND WEBSTER BOOTH, compiled and edited by Jean Collen. Jean has listed many of their engagements on stage, screen, radio and television from 1924 to 1994.< Less
This novel has strong leanings to a Roman à clef (a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction). It was written during November 2011 for NaNoWriMo, and traces the life and... More > career of singing luminary, Malcolm Craig. He is a great tenor and has great success in his professional career, but his private life is far from tranquil. The book traces the course of his life, his career and his relationships from the 1920s to the beginning of World War Two.< Less
"A Scattered Garland: Gleanings from the lives of Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler" is a compilation of newspaper snippets, articles and criticisms, taken from a wide variety of sources,... More > interspersed with my own comments expanding on particular events.
The compilation covers Anne and Webster’s musical and theatrical ventures from Webster’s first professional engagement with D’Oyly Carte in the early nineteen-twenties to Anne’s final broadcast towards the end of the century. The book is over 300 pages in length and is liberally illustrated.< Less
Although this collection of fifteen short stories is fictional, it reflects my wide experience of life, as I have always been told to "write about what you know". Thus there are stories... More > about singers and accompanists, teachers and pupils, and older people trying to adjust to inevitable changes in their lives. Settings are South African or British, and stories take place onboard ship, in schools, homes, studios or theatres. Several stories are loosely based on particular incidents in my life, but are still fiction rather than fact, such as "Dux Scholar", "Wise Words in the Chippy", "Michelle", "By Appointment", and "The Song is Ended".< Less
This book tells Pamela Davies' story of her keen admiration of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth in the forties and early fifties. Shortly after Anne and Webster returned to the UK from South Africa in... More > 1978, Pamela began corresponding with Anne and became good friends with her.
The book includes THE BODY OF WORK OF ANNE ZIEGLER AND WEBSTER BOOTH, compiled and edited by Jean Collen. Jean has listed many of their engagements on stage, screen, radio and television from 1924 to 1994.< Less
Although this collection of fifteen short stories is fictional, it reflects my wide experience of life, as I have always been told to “write about what you know”. Thus there are stories... More > about singers and accompanists, teachers and pupils, and older people trying to adjust to inevitable changes in their lives. Settings are South African or British, and stories take place onboard ship, in schools, homes, studios or theatres. Several stories are loosely based on particular incidents in my life, but are still fiction rather than fact, such as “Dux Scholar”, “Wise Words in the Chippy”, “Michelle”, “By Appointment”, and “The Song is Ended”.< Less
The book is made up of articles and reviews about the recordings made by Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler (1929 to the present).
The discography section has been completely revised and updated in... More > this second edition of the book and includes an almost complete discography of their solo and duet recordings, as well as some of their surviving radio broadcasts.< Less
Jean Collen began her singing studies with the famous British duettists Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, in Johannesburg, when she was 17. Two years later they asked her to act as Webster's studio... More > accompanist when Anne - who accompanied their students - had other commitments. This was the beginning of a close friendship which lasted until their deaths.
The book gives a summary of Anne and Webster's rapid rise to fame, which is already well documented in their own autobiography entitled "Duet" (1951). The book's main focus is on their lives and careers from 1956 in South Africa and their "third" career when they returned home to the UK in 1978.< Less
Derek Bailey is one of Britain's finest tenors. He never forgets Elspeth McPhail, the young Scottish house-keeper who worked for him when he was starting his career in the thirties. Although he... More > becomes famous and successful his personal life is far from fulfilling.
This novel covers Derek's professional and personal life over a span of forty years including his two unsatisfactory marriages and his five-year affair with a girl young enough to be his grand-daughter.< Less
Derek Bailey is one of Britain's finest tenors. He never forgets Elspeth McPhail, the young Scottish house-keeper who worked for him when he was starting his career in the thirties. Although he... More > becomes famous and successful his personal life is far from fulfilling. This novel covers Derek's professional and personal life over a span of forty years including his two unsatisfactory marriages and his five-year affair with a girl young enough to be his grand-daughter.< Less
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