These are my pages on the late author Helene Hanff who became famous from her book "84, Charing Cross Road", and whom I met in New York in November 1994.

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My Helene Hanff site has been running since 1997 and in the background since then I have been compiling a biography on her - and two accompanying photo books.

The books that I'm writing about Helene are a labour of love - books for fans, by a fan - and are my attempt to gather many of the various aspects of her life, her family, her friends, her books and articles, along with the experiences shared with me by many of her other fans together in one biographical volume, plus two books of photos relating to the sights and scenes she described in her books. The project is  coming towards the closing stages - I will announce publication dates here when publication is imminent.

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For those not in the know, "84..." is a collection of letters: the real-life 20-year-long correspondence which Helene shared from her apartment in New York, USA with Frank Doel, the manager of Marks & Co bookshop in London, England.

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"84" was adapted several times, including a BBC TV 'Play for Today' with Anne Jackson as Helene, and Frank Finlay as Frank; plus a play which was performed on London's West End and New York's Broadway in the 1980s and which has continued on hundreds of amateur stages worldwide ever since. By far the most well known adaptation of "84" is the movie starring Anne Bancroft as Helene, and Sir Anthony Hopkins as Frank.

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I corresponded with Helene from 1988 onwards and met her in November 1994. After her death in 1997 I created a website in tribute to her and since then, I have been contacted by more than 10,000 fellow Hanff fans ('Hanffians'), many of whom also met her or contacted her.

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Select a page from the links on the left side...