Behind The Scenes

Watching her father, the renowned actor Bob Hoskins, lose his memory while battling Parkinson’s drove Rosa Hoskins to write a loving memoir to preserve his memory. She tells ANGELA WINTLE about their close but complex relationship and her idyllic childhood summers in Sussex.

THE smell of car leather and spearmint always takes Rosa Hoskins back to a happy time before her father was felled by illness. “It was a warm summer’s day and he’d come to pick me up from Lewes Station,” she says. “I got in his car. On the stereo, he was playing a song called Daisy by a folk singer called Karine Polwart. ‘Listen to the lyrics of this, love,’ he said. ‘They’re wonderful. Want a chewing gum? Give us one, will ya?’

“He always had Wrigley’s spearmint gum in the glove compartment of his car,” she smiles. “We drove down the winding country roads, passing the bucolic scenery...” She pauses, lost in reflection. “I often find myself searching for Daisy on Spotify. The spry melody instantly transports me: I’m back travelling through the sunny countryside.”

Rosa’s parents bought their Sussex hideaway, a four-bedroom property with a swimming pool, tennis courts and paddock set in 13 acres just outside Chiddingly, near Lewes, when Rosa was four. “Mum bought it while Dad was away working and instantly fell in love with it,” she says.

“It was a picturesque oasthouse, surrounded by woods, so she put in an offer, which was accepted, even though Dad hadn’t seen it. Then the storm of ’87 happened and the owner rang to say all the trees had been blown down and it was carnage. Thankfully the house had remained unscathed.”

The young Rosa was enchanted by her new rural escape. “The house had low ceilings and beams and an interesting round kitchen where a railway clock chimed the hour. I have lovely memories of Sussex. We visited most weekends and spent as much as six weeks there in the summer.