Home: a memoir of my early years

Summary of Home

1. 1

   When a Voice Becomes a Lifeline

   

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   Picture a young girl crouched in a London Underground station, the acrid smell of baked dust filling her nostrils as trains roar past. Above ground, bombs are falling. Down here, families huddle under coarse blankets, cooking on Bunsen burners, changing nappies, trying to preserve some semblance of normal life. This was Julie Andrews' childhood-not the fairy tale you might imagine for someone who would become Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp, but something far more complicated and painfully real. Her memoir reveals how a girl with a "freak voice" and a fractured family navigated wartime chaos, emotional abandonment, and the crushing weight of early fame to find her way home-both literally and metaphorically. The River Thames wasn't just geography for young Julie-it was her emotional anchor. Born in 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, she watched this waterway wind through the English countryside, a constant presence when everything else felt unstable.

2. 2

   A Family Built on Broken Dreams

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   Her maternal grandmother Julia contracted syphilis from her husband Arthur, a talented but alcoholic musician whose infidelities destroyed the family. He died in 1928 from "Paralysis of the Insane," leaving Julie's mother Barbara and aunt Joan orphaned as teenagers. They survived by forming a musical duo - Barbara on piano, Joan on drums - performing everywhere from Women's Institutes to nightclubs. Their vibrant red hair and Northern accents made them sensations in Surrey villages, but beneath the glamour lay desperation. When Barbara married Ted Wells, a gentle schoolteacher, her dying mother warned against it. Barbara chose him anyway because "he was a rock, because he adored her, and because it was safe." This choice shaped Julie's childhood - one parent offered unconditional love, another never quite earned her trust. Ted taught handicrafts at a grammar school, but his real gift was teaching his daughter to see the world. He'd wake Julie to watch hedgehogs, show her ant colonies, explain how trees "feed, clothe, and shelter us while making the oxygen we breathe."

3. 3

   The Father Who Taught Her to See

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   Though not physically affectionate, Ted treated Julie as a beloved companion, never condescending. His sole disciplinary phrase-"Look, Chick"-spoken patiently, was enough to correct misbehavior. He taught her to row on the Thames, pointing out nature's beauty, and gave her Palgrave's *Golden Treasury*, committing poetry to memory together. He believed deeply in human conscience above all else. Years later, when cruelly asked which parent she hated most, Julie realized with startling clarity: she loved her father completely, while her mother never earned her full trust. Many former pupils returned decades later to thank Ted, though he always felt his teaching career lacked significance. He couldn't have known his greatest student was the daughter who watched him so carefully. Everything shattered in 1939. Julie's mother joined ENSA to entertain troops in France with Canadian tenor Ted Andrews. Before leaving, she took Julie on an unusual walk through their village, and the young girl sensed her mother wasn't coming back-at least not to the family as they'd known it.

4. Chapter 4

   A Childhood Split in Two

   When Germany invaded France, Barbara brought Julie to London while Johnny remained with their father. London was brutal-sooty, cold, and frightening. Julie slept in a basement utility room with rats scurrying overhead, missing her brother desperately. War became visceral: air raid sirens wailing, wardens shouting "Put that light out!" at any glimpse of light, crowds retreating to Underground stations thick with dust. Meanwhile, her father and Aunt Joan built a new life in Surrey, welcoming Julie's half-brother Donald in July 1942. Her father, still devoted to Barbara, even offered to adopt Donald if she'd return. Julie's name was officially changed from Julia Elizabeth Wells to Julie Andrews-without her input, likely without her father's consent. She navigated between two families, belonging fully to neither, a permanent guest in both homes. Ted Andrews began giving Julie singing lessons, not because she was "discovered" in air raid shelters as publicity claimed, but likely to keep her occupied.

   Chapter 5

   The Prodigy with Pigtails

   Julie's voice had phenomenal range and strength for her age. A throat specialist confirmed her vocal cords were healthy despite secret cigarette experiments with their cleaning lady. Her stepfather tried connecting through gifts-a playhouse, a cocker spaniel-but Julie remained distant. She studied with Lilian Stiles-Allen, a bejeweled voice teacher who emphasized breathing exercises, scales, and mental pictures for vocal placement. "Bring high notes down and low notes up to create a beautiful string of pearls-a seamless line of sound," Madame would say. Just before her tenth birthday, Julie joined her parents' act, standing on a beer crate to reach the microphone. Her breakthrough came when Val Parnell heard her sing, leading to "Starlight Roof" at the London Hippodrome. On opening night, October 23, 1947, her coloratura piece ending with a high F above top C brought the audience to their feet. Reviews proclaimed "Prodigy with Pigtails!" and "Pocket-money Star Stops the Show!" She was twelve years old.

   Chapter 6

   The Cost of Extraordinary Talent

   As Julie's career flourished, her home life crumbled. Her stepfather's alcoholism worsened - Donald endured regular beatings while little Chris had his nose rubbed in a soiled toilet. Both boys were sent to boarding school despite living nearby. Julie began menstruating while performing as "the little girl with the phenomenal voice," wearing smock dresses to hide her developing body under public scrutiny. Her father became her sanctuary. He'd take "the pretty way" home through winding country roads, teaching her about English hedges and history. One unforgettable night, he drove her to Leith Hill near midnight to hear nightingales singing - his "antidote" to home difficulties. After successful pantomime runs and BBC's "Educating Archie" (twelve million listeners), she landed "Cinderella" at the London Palladium. Despite the triumph, Julie worried constantly: what appeal would she have once she lost her "freak voice"? Her education was practically nonexistent. She felt like "a hamster on a wheel," supporting her troubled family with no direction. Then came Broadway: the title role in "The Boy Friend." The decision was agonizing - how could she abandon her family for years? Her father gently encouraged her, saying it would "open up your head." Later he admitted he was "dying inside" but knew it was her best opportunity.

   Chapter 7

   The Transformation That Almost Didn't Happen

   New York overwhelmed Julie. After taxes and sending money home, she barely afforded rent. "By Thursdays, my roommate Dilys and I were usually broke and hungry," she remembers. Then came "My Fair Lady" with Moss Hart directing, Cecil Beaton designing costumes, and Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins. Two weeks into rehearsals, Julie struggled as Eliza-she hadn't mastered the cockney accent and felt inadequate except in the songs. Rex Harrison coldly suggested firing her. In a pivotal moment, Moss Hart dismissed the company for forty-eight hours to work solely with Julie. He bullied, cajoled, and encouraged her through every scene, making her scream lines and demonstrating Eliza's mannerisms. "I alternated between hating him and feeling utter despair," Julie admits, "but by the end, he had stripped away my girlish inadequacy and helped Eliza become part of my soul." "My Fair Lady" opened to tremendous acclaim, making Julie a Broadway star. She starred in "Camelot" opposite Richard Burton, then received a visit from Walt Disney wanting her for Mary Poppins. Julie's journey transformed childhood trauma into resilience, emotional abandonment into warmth, and a fractured sense of belonging into a gift she shared with millions.

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