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“I’ve just ordered three live baby Jesus’ for our nativity play, one girl and two boys.” Lotte tells me as we drink tea in her Chiswick Mall home.

A life of ballet, theatre, motherhood, passion and poetry, Lotte Moore has undoubtedly lived life to its fullest and is chronicled in her recently published autobiography entitled Snippets of a Lifetime.

Beginning with her account of a childhood spent in wartime Essex and Kent during which Churchill, Chaplin and other such luminaries make regular appearances, Lotte’s honest and often amusing book is filled with memories of an eventful and at times tragic existence.

Her accounts of her family are honest and warm, from an affectionate portrayal of her grandfather the writer and parliamentarian A.P. Herbert, to the difficult relationship with her mother.

At the age of 12 Lotte discovered a gift for ballet, a talent which took her to London where she trained with the Royal Ballet School before becoming a member of the Royal Opera Ballet.

Performing with Joan Sutherland and others, she became a part of 60’s London and when her ballet days came to a close she turned to acting performing in Arnold Wesker’s The Kitchen, Roman Polanski’s Dance of the Vampires and with Richard Burton in Anne of the Thousand Days.

At 35 Lotte gave up the stage, married Chris Moore and turned her attentions to bringing up her children and step children.

At the age of 70 Lotte still holds music classes and believes she’s taught “At least half of Chiswick” over the years. “St Mary’s Convent welcomes us each year.” She continues with her explanation of why she needs three baby Jesus’ “After the nativity we sing ‘Knees up Mother Brown’ and all the aged knees clack up and down in time with the wheel chairs.

“This is my 28th year teaching local children aged from two to six singing and rhythm. It’s great to hear them singing and skipping down Chiswick High Road. My profound wish is to gather together as many young and old as possible, especially at Christmas time, it is so rewarding.”

Lotte lives by the Thames, home to many of her childhood and adolescent memories. Her book ‘Snippets of a Lifetime’ is available at Waterstones Chiswick priced £12.00.

 

November 14, 2007