Timothy Byford

My Potted Autobiography

I was born on 25th July 1941 in Salisbury, England and spent my childhood at Sandle Farm, Fordingbridge, with my father Frederick, mother Elinor, sisters Anna and Sarah and brother Simon.There were several advantages in being the eldest; with three younger siblings I was left on my own more often and there was no one to hand down their outgrown clothes or sandals to me.

I started my education at St. Katherine's Primary School, Ringwood and at the age of seven years and nine months I was sent to boarding school, to the Cathedral School, Salisbury, where I discovered that it was possible to survive without the continual presence of parents. When I was thirteen I moved next door to Bishop Wordsworth’s Grammar School. Thus, almost my entire schooling was spent in the shadow of the beautiful Gothic cathedral.

At the age of twelve I wanted to be an RAF fighter pilot, but this passion was cut short by a call to the priesthood which in turn developed in a desire to teach. However, after a visit to the Salisbury Playhouse I fell in love with the theatre and instead of following my headmaster’s advice and studying history at King’s College Cambridge, I left school, and while looking for an opening in the theatre, earned my living by working first in an estate agent's office in Salisbury and then as a plumber's mate for Shering's the builders in Fordinbridge.
Eventually I managed to get a foothold in the theatre and completed a course in stage management at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. This was followed by an engagement as assistant stage manager with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Arts Thetare, London and a spell at the Criterion Theatre, after which I joined the BBC as an assistant floor manager, having just married Jenny, an actress I met during a theatre engagement at Frinton-on-Sea. In January 1964 I became father to Justin.
I eventually turned to directing and directed film inserts for the “Blue Peter” children’s programme. A subsequent series of documentary films took me to Yugoslavia where I went for a week and stayed for 35 years, having fallen in love with and married Mila, who provided me with two more sons, Andrea and Jovan.
I directed children’s programmes for Belgrade Television -“Marigold”, “Granny’s Boy”, “The Fledgling”(which was awarded the ‘Prix Jeunesse’ in Munich, 1980) and then for Sarajevo Television -“Funday Magazine”, “Musical Notebook”, “In Search of the Dodo” and “Open the Window”.
This was followed by a desire for change and I took up teaching English, working at a number of language schools in Belgrade and at the Krishnamurti International School at Brockwood Park in Hampshire, England where I taught English and Drama.
Another major change took place when I divorced Mila and married Zorica - my 3rd wife - on the 3rd of the 3rd month - just before the start of the NATO bombing in March 1999. 3.3.1999 - the numbers add up to 34 - 3+4=7 - our lucky number!
I now teach privately, translate from Serbian into English and write. I have completed a 'self-portrait' trilogy, 'Pigs Do Not Eat Banana Skins' and a book of seven short stories 'The Golden Candlestick' I am currently completing my autobiography: 'Timothy Byford: Warts and All'.