Catriona Olding has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Life was complicated when I fled to Provence in November 2014 with no job and very little money. At first a comedian friend and his wife lent me their second home. The intention was to stay for six months, recover from a traumatic marriage break-up and write a book about my father, who was a giant (7ft 4in) and had for a spell in 1938 toured Nazi Germany and England as part of a world-famous revue. I was also planning to learn copy-editing in the hope that when I got back, I could get a job as the oldest-ever publishing intern. But in those days I didn’t even have a laptop and since money was running out, I had to abandon both ideas and find work.

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My father was a giant and had for a spell in 1938 toured Nazi Germany as part of a world-famous revue

My father was a giant and had for a spell in 1938 toured Nazi Germany as part of a world-famous revue

At 51, cleaning, doing laundry and ad-hoc catering work for close to minimum wage was difficult, but I had little choice with no French. After five months, when a return to the UK seemed impossible, I rented a barely habitable concrete shack up a hill in the woods, miles from the village. The........

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