ANECDOTES about ELEANOR BERRY by Rozanne Robinson, a freelance journalist

"You're too bloody unfit!" said the Governor of Wormwood Scrubs

Berry applied for a job at Wormwood Scrubs, which entailed teaching illiterate prisoners how to read and write.

She attended the interview and sat before a panel, headed by the Governor. The interview lasted for half an hour and she thought she had established an excellent rapport with her interviewers. A month later, she received a curt letter from the Governor, saying that she had been unsuccessful with her application.

She rang the prison and, after much persistence, she was put through to the Governor.

"Can you give me some idea why I wasn't accepted?" asked Berry.

"Yes. I'm very sorry to have disappointed you, but I can."

"Why did I fail to give you satisfaction?" asked Berry.

"Please be assured, that I don't mean to offend you, but you struck us all as being physically, quite substantially unfit. For instance, you were unable to mount a very short staircase, without holding the bannisters with both hands, and when you got to the top, you appeared too exhausted even to be able to speak."

"What on earth has that got to do with reading and writing?" asked Berry.

Other Eleanor Berry anecdotes can found them under Robert Maxwell as I Knew Him (Click Here to Go there).