Lauren Child: My name is Lauren Child. And actually, I changed my name, because I used to be called Helen. I was born, or christened Helen. I don't know why I didn't get along with that name very well. And it didn't feel like it was my name. Or maybe, it was because some of the years I was at school, I wasn't that happy. And so it became linked to a feeling of unhappiness. And so I decided I was going to change my name. I wasn't sure what name to use, but I knew I couldn't use anything too singsong-y, or flair-y, because I wasn't used to that, because Helen is quite a simple name. So I didn't want anything that had an -ing on the end, because I felt it wouldn't feel like me. So it had to be a name that sounded similar, but was different in my mind. And so I chose Lauren, because it wasn't, when I changed my name, a very popular name in the UK. I know it's a very popular name in America. But in the UK, it was not a name that anybody was called. Now, funnily enough, it is quite common. But back then, it wasn't. But I thought it was a very pretty name, but quite less sophisticated name, without being fussy.

And there's also this amazing actress that I used to watch when I was a child, called Lauren Bacall. She was a great actress of the screen. The sort 1940s, '50s, era I think. And I just thought she was marvelous. And I used to watch lots of her films, 'cause they would be on in the afternoon. And we didn't have a lot of television when I was growing up, but she was one of the people I saw. And I thought she was sort of marvelous, because she's a very strong character. And funny enough, I based Ruby Redfort's boss on Lauren Bacall. So that's really where that character comes from, and it's where my name comes from. That explains why I'm called Lauren.