Frances Whiting

You know, in that time that I've been writing the column, you know, I got married, I had kids, my father, you know, life goes on.

And for many of the readers, exactly the same.

So sometimes when they write to me, they want to tell me that stuff as well.

So quite often the letters I get from readers are quite personal.

Most recently, I got a letter from a reader who told me that her mum, who was a big column reader for many years,

was dying and she was in palliative care in hospital.

And on the Sunday morning when they said, look, she's slipping, the daughter thought to herself, what should I do?

You know, the hours are long in hospital when you're looking after a loved one.

And she was at a loss and she thought, oh, and then I thought, it's Sunday.

So she raced down to the canteen where they had the paper and

And she bought the Sunday mail and then she raced back up because her mum and her used to share my column to each other every Sunday.

So she told me that she read my column to her mum for the last time and that it made her feel like they still had this connection.

So that was a privilege.

I felt pretty good about that.

When I look back, it's hard to kind of... It's not trying to pick a favourite child.

You know, sometimes it's obviously not always the celebrities that are the most interesting.

Like, sometimes it is people who have found themselves for whatever reason in the spotlight when they're not normally in the spotlight.

But...

I was very sad when I heard that Robin Williams had died because to this day, he's the kindest celebrity I've ever interviewed.

And he did me a kindness that he didn't have to do.