About

About Fidelis Morgan

Due to a quirk of fate Fidelis Morgan was born in a red gypsy caravan, Kiomi Romani, which stood in a corner of the grounds of the ancient Abbey of Amesbury, halfway between Stonehenge and Woodhenge.

Her parents were Liverpudlians. Liverpool had taken a bad pasting during the second world war. Housing and jobs there were scarce, so her parents moved south, where they hoped the money was. As her father was a recently qualified dental student, they picked a town that had no dentist and thousands of potential patients.

Amesbury is a service town. Nearby are the army camps of Salisbury plain, the RAF base at Boscombe Down and other military establishments like the germ warfare centre at Porton Down.

It turned out there wasn't much spare accommodation in Amesbury, so her parents bought an old wooden caravan to live in, and the Anglican vicar kindly allowed them to keep it in the orchard. A black Great Dane called Gunter shared the tiny living space. The original Home Alone kid, whenever her parents went out they left her with this very special nanny - Gunter. Today they would have been arrested!.

Her father worked in one room on nearby Church street (the dental chair was behind a big screen, with patients waiting on wooden chairs only feet away), where, as it has an address, her birth is registered. (Forms do not allow for an address like: "Under the third tree in the field behind the church, not far from the wire fence"). Her mother made most of the huge living room - an orchard - to paint, as she had recently graduated from Liverpool Art School.

The ancient Abbey, where (according to legend) Queen Guenevere retired after she heard of King Arthur's death, is long gone. Guenevere is supposed to have died in the orchard where Fidelis was born. Fidelis was delivered by her father, as no doctor would attend, thinking the family were gypsies. Click here for childhood pictures.

While staying with his patrons the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry in the 18th century building known as Amesbury Abbey (now an old folks home), John Gay wrote The Beggar's Opera.

Fidelis was educated at boarding school: Yateley Hall, Farnborough Hill (the school which produced Anne Robinson of The Weakest Link) and Upper Chine. She had a bad school record and was expelled a few times, including from kindergarten.

During her school holidays she spent a lot of time living in Montmartre where her mother worked as a painter on the Butte. To ensure a decent evening meal Fidelis earned money painting clowns, playing the guitar and giving Americans guided tours in a cod French accent. ("Don't you talk good English, little girl!")

She did an honours degree at Birmingham University Department of Drama and Theatre Arts. It was here that her interest in Restoration theatre started. Her tutor Jocelyn Powell wrote Restoration Theatre Production, a book which points out the parallels between Restoration staging and the theories of Bertolt Brecht.

She has worked as an actor with The Royal Shakespeare Company, repertory companies in Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool, Leeds and Glasgow, as well as touring companies like Paines Plough and a stint in the West End.

It was while playing Polina in Chekhov's The Seagull, sitting freezing in the wings at Glasgow Citizens, that she came up with the idea of writing The Female Wits.

Her career in writing including plays, non-fiction and whodunits, as well her acting work on TV and in the theatre make up the rest of this website.

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