This dictaphone was used by Catherine Cookson, the acclaimed author from South Tyneside.
Catherine wrote almost 100 books and, at the height of her popularity, was the UK’s most widely read novelist, with sales exceeding 100 million. Her novels, many of which were set in her native Tyneside, were popular the world over and were translated into at least 20 languages.
After writing her first 16 books in longhand she developed writer's cramp. At her husband Tom's suggestion, she recorded the rest of her stories on tape. In the last years of her life, this dictaphone sat by her bedside.
Catherine Cookson (1906-1998)
On display at South Shields Museum
www.southshieldsmuseum.org.uk
