Nella Last(1889-1968)
- Writer
Nella Last was a Cumbrian housewife with a talent for writing who
chronicled her life for the social research organisation, Mass
Observation. Many other Mass Observation diaries, now held in the Mass
Observation Archive at the University of Sussex, ended with the
conclusion of World War II. Nella, however, kept sending in her diaries
to the Mass Observation office in London and continued writing until
1966 (she later died, in 1968). Her diary, consisting of around 12
million words, is one of the longest in the English language. A first
volume of her diary, Nella Last's War, was published in 1981 and was
turned into a successful TV film adaptation (Housewife, 49) by the
actress and comedian Victoria Wood in 2006. The book is available in
two editions, the original 1981 print as well as a refurbished edition
released in 2006, around the time when the TV film was first broadcast
and interest in the diaries sharply increased, the film being
subsequently released onto DVD.
