Molly Izzard ( Crutchleigh-Fitzpatrick; 1 August 1919 – 4 February 2004) was an English writer. She was the co-author of the book published in 1959 called ''Smelling The Breezes'', which is about a camping trek she and her family took in the High Lebanon mountains. Izzard subsequently wrote ''A Private Life'' in 1963 on her private life at work. In 1969, she authored ''A Life of Dame Helen Gwynne Vaughan'' and ''The Gulf: Arabian Western Approaches'' on Middle Eastern events ten years later. Izzard's final work was a controversial biography on the explorer

Freya Stark Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 18939 May 1993), was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays ...

which was published in 1993.

Early life

On 1 August 1919, Izzard was born Molly Crutchleigh-Fitzpatrick, in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

, England. Her father was of Anglo-Indian stock, and exited Calcutta to work on a British Guiana sugar plantation. Following the separation of her parents, Izzard accompanied her father to India. She attended convents in

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 ...

and

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Ne ...

. After the death of her father in a car accident, she moved back to Britain and was educated at

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills. Overview As of 20 ...

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the ...

before matriculating at a finishing school in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

. Izzard did not feel comfortable in such an environment and moved to Hungary to live with a aristocratic count and his family. Just before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, she again returned to Britain to join the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry as a driver before taking on intelligence duties ferrying important individuals across London for the following three years. Izzard also served under

Sefton Delmer Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904, Berlin, Germany – 4 September 1979, Lamarsh, Essex) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government during the Second World War. Fluent in German, he became friendl ...

in the propaganda agency, the

Political Warfare Executive During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale and sustaining the morale of countries occupied ...

Career

She co-authored her first book, ''Smelling The Breezes'', with her husband

Ralph Izzard Ralph William Burdick Izzard, OBE (27 August 1910 – 2 December 1992) was an English journalist, author, adventurer and, during World War II, a British Naval Intelligence officer.''The Independent''Obituary – Ralph Izzard, 14 December 19 ...

in 1959, and was republished as ''A Walk in the Mountains'' in the United States the following year. The book Izzard wrote was about the two-month camping trek she and her family took through the High Lebanon mountains by donkey in 1957. Izzard's second book, ''A Private Life'', followed in 1963. She detailed in the book her memories of the first seven years of her marriage to Ralph Izzard reporting on the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, and bringing up her family amongst the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and the conclusion of British rule in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

in 1960. In 1969, she authored ''A Life of Dame Helen Gwynne Vaughan'' on a commission from her publishers. Ten years later, Izzard wrote, ''The Gulf: Arabian Western Approaches'', which was a first-hand account of the rise of the nation-states Bahrain, Kuwait and the Emirates set against Saudi Arabia's restrictive Wahabism as well as Iraqi and Iranian power when Anglo oil companies lost their grip on the region. She was asked by her publishers John Murray to write a biography on the explorer

. Izzard met Stark in the small Italian town of

Asolo Asolo () is a town and '' comune'' in the Veneto Region of northern Italy. It is known as "The Pearl of the province of Treviso", and also as "The City of a Hundred Horizons" for its mountain settings. History The town was originally a settl ...

and noticed accounts of her life were fabricated. This caused Izzard to extensively investigate Stark further and revealed further information on the explorer. When the Murray family reviewed the manuscript, they asked Izzard to make alterations to it since it showed Stark, also a John Murray author, in a negative light. Izzard refused to make any changes whatsoever. The book was published by

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publishe ...

in 1993 and was received negatively by enthusiasts of Stark and got mixed comments from reviewers.

Personal life

She was married to Ralph Izzard, a ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' Middle East correspondent, circa 1948 in Delhi until his death in 1992. They had four children. On 4 February 2004, Izzard died in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

in England.

Legacy

The correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' wrote of Izzard " hehad an enquiring mind, and her five books, on very different topics, were notable for their candour and the perceptiveness of her observations." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' writer Veronica Horwell said the writer was one of the sharpest of a foreign correspondent's wife who was experienced in public affairs and knew of constructing "daily connections with the realities of a place."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Izzard, Molly 1919 births 2004 deaths Writers from Cornwall People educated at Dollar Academy 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English non-fiction writers 21st-century English women writers English women non-fiction writers British women biographers English biographers English memoirists First Aid Nursing Yeomanry people