My grandfather was a classic pater familias– tough, strong, very loving. He came to the UK aged 16 from Poland. He presided over Sabbath dinners and would say to me, aged six, "Now, Edveena, vot do you think?" He worked until he was 84, and died soon after. My work ethic comes from him. My father was a tailor, making uniforms for sea captains. He was a very cultured man: he sang opera in the bath, saw every play at the rep theatre and quoted Shakespeare at me. This is a cultural pattern that has vanished. He left school at 14 and had an unfeigned, unselfconscious love of culture. He gave me that.
Can you see a theme? It is the men that are my powerful influences, not my mother. I have always worshipped men: first my grandfather, then my father. In a curious way, I am not a feminist. I have never believed that the "failings" of women are due to men.
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