VANESSA REDGRAVE - REDGRAVE: 'I'M A FAILURE'

Theatre stalwart VANESSA REDGRAVE is convinced she was a "failure" as a mum, because she was too interested in politics to treat her kids to a proper childhood. The Academy Award winning star, mother of JOELY and NATASHA RICHARDSON, often left her daughters attempt to cook for the family while she went out on protest marches. She says, "I'm quite a failure as a mum in some ways. My children put me on the scent of what I've been like as a mum and sometimes I think that's quite unfair. "And at other times, I think they're right. I've been as good a mother as I was capable. "That's why maybe Tasha is such a brilliant cook as she got totally fed up and exasperated. I laugh about it and they do now, but at the time I don't think it was a laughing matter."