Michael Morpurgo and his wife of 63 years, Clare Morpurgo, have delighted fans with a touching interview about their relationship.
The English author, poet and playwright behind books such as War Horse, Kensuke’s Kingdom, and Private Peaceful married philanthropist Clare Lane – daughter of Penguin Books founder Sir Allen Lane – in 1963, when he was 19.
They met the year before while their families were holidaying in Corfu; Morpurgo’s stepfather was an editor at Penguin at the time, and knew Clare’s father.
In an interview for Waterstones to promote his new memoir, Down Burrow Lane: Life and Love on the Farm, Michael and Clare answered a series of quickfire questions about married life.
@waterstones We’re not crying, YOU’RE crying at how adorable Michael and Clare Morpurgo are. #BookTok #lovewaterstones #WarHorse #michaelmorpurgo
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“He was stunningly good looking,” Clare said of her first impression of the former Children’s Laureate, “and he listened. I’ve known anyone listen as he does, and he still does.”
“She was my Juliet,” Michael said of Clare. “We’ve ended the relationship rather better than they did, poor couple.”
“I was 18, and she was simply the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen,” he said, recalling what made him fall in love. “You just know that that’s it. I hadn’t spoken to her, I didn’t know whether she’d make sense at all or whether I’d like her when she opened her mouth, but I didn’t really care. That sounds awful, doesn’t it, [but] she was just lovely. Is lovely.”
Clare said she loved Michael’s positivity: “However bad things get, he’s always saying, ‘Well, let’s do it differently, let’s try something else.’”
Michael added that he admired Clare for the relationships she had with their family. “She’s a wonderful companion, terrific mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and I’ve witnessed her in all these roles,” he said.
The couple share three children, all of whom are named after Shakespearean characters, and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Meanwhile, Clare said she was “bowled over” by how hard-working Michael was.
Asked what the secret was to a lasting relationship, he suggested that “kindness and understanding” were crucial: “If you don’t have those two then it ain’t gonna work!”
“I couldn’t say it better,” Clare agreed.
Fans in the comments section of the Waterstones TikTok post were moved by the couple’s relationship. “It’s amazing to see them live such beautiful lives with so much love,” one fan said.
“I adore how in love they still are after all these years,” another fan wrote.
One fan commented: “Truly adorable, need so much more of this gorgeous positivity in this testing world.”
“Stop I’m crying,” another said.
The couple will sit down for a conversation about 50 years of life on their Devon farm with The Independent’s culture editor Jessie Thompson at Henley Literary Festival this October.
Down Burrow Lane: Life and Love on the Farm is published by Hodder & Stoughton on 17 September.
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