| Molly Noyle Parkin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Molly Noyle Thomas 3 February 1932 Pontycymer, Glamorgan, Wales |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Alma mater | Goldsmiths College Brighton College of Art |
| Known for | Painter, novelist, and journalist |
| Children | Sophie Parkin |
Molly Parkin (born Molly Noyle Thomas in 1932, Pontycymer), is a Welsh painter, novelist and journalist, who became most famous for exploits in the 1960s.[1]
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Parkin was born in 1932, the second of two daughters, in Pontycymer in the Garw Valley, Glamorgan, Wales. When Parkin was aged 7 years, the Second World War broke out, and the family moved to London to live with grandparents.[2] Parkin passed her eleven plus exam and went to Willesden County Grammar School (now Capital City Academy).[3] During the war, without her parents knowledge, at age 12 years old, she worked on a paper round in Dollis Hill, London in the evenings after school.[3] She told her mother that was studying art after-hours at school.[3] Her grandfather, saw her delivering the papers and reported this to her mother, who prevented her from doing the paper round any longer and punished her by making her do housework.[3] She earned a little money from Mr Hill, their lodger, who took pity on her doing housework and paid her to clean his room.[3] He idolised Mr Hill, who she thought was a gentleman and her hero, and many years later she saw similar characteristics in James Robertson Justice.[3] Later the family bought a tobacconist and newsagent shop, which employed four paper boys.[3] When one of the paper boys was caught steeling money, her mother had to fill his shift quickly and made Parkin, aged 14, do his paper round, but on her first day on the new round, a car knocked her off her bicycle and she hit her head on the curb.[3] She was knocked unconscious, hospitalized, and spent about one year in convalescence.[3] During her convalescence off-school Parkin was on her own a lot in her room above the shop and spent a lot of work drawing and painting developing an interest in the arts.[3]
In 1949 Parkin gained a scholarship to study fine art at Goldsmiths College, London, and then a scholarship to Brighton College of Art. After marriage, she became a teacher who painted throughout her first marriage. After a series of affairs, including a long term association with actor James Robertson Justice, when Parkin separated from her husband at the start of the 1960s, her desire, inspiration and passion to paint left too.
To support her two daughters, Parkin turned to fashion. After making hats and bags for Barbara Hulanicki at Biba, and working alongside Mary Quant, Parkin opened her own Chelsea boutique, which later formed a feature in Newsweek about Swinging London. After selling the shop to business partner Terence Donovan, she founded the innovative Nova magazine in 1964. She then became fashion editor of Harpers & Queen in 1967, and The Sunday Times in 1969, before becoming Fashion Editor of the Year in 1971. After becoming a television personality in the 1970s, Parkin was banned from the BBC for too much swearing.[4]
In the early 1970s, Parkin wrote a 750 word outline for a novel entitled Love All. Disliked by publishers Blond & Briggs, the office secretary commented that she liked it, and it was picked up for publication. Her second more sexually oriented novel Up Tight published in 1975 was highly publicised, thanks to fashion photographer Harry Peccinotti’s cover shot of a French model wearing see-through knickers, resulting in book sellers Hatchards keeping it under the counter. After returning from living in New York city in 1980, she split from her second husband Patrick Hughes, and was again in need of funds to pay for her daughters' education.[5] By the time of publishing her novel Breast Stroke in 1983, her alcoholism had taken over. The three publications, plus various articles for men's magazines, earned her the position of 24th in Timeout magazines review of London's best erotic writers.[6]
After publication of her autobiography "Moll" in 1993, Parkin started painting again in the 1990s, with her first exhibition in more than a decade at the Washington Gallery in Penarth. Much of her new work is inspired by Celtic landscapes- in particular, Pontycymer - although she also found her travels in India moved her to brighten her palette to produce more vibrant coloured works.
In October 2010, her memoirs Welcome to Mollywood were published.[7]
In May 2011 she was a 'castaway' on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs.[2]