Desert Island Discs Jilly Cooper on the secret to a successful marriage
Sep 23, 2025
Jilly Cooper shares her insights on a successful marriage, emphasizing the importance of luck, kindness, and laughter. She entertains with a humorous bedtime story and reflects on how she and her partner avoid reading each other's work. The conversation also touches on the provocative reputation of her novel 'Riders', her witty responses to school bans, and practical writing tips, like keeping a diary and capturing sensory details.
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Luck And Laughter In Marriage
- Jilly Cooper attributes a successful marriage largely to luck and being married to a very nice man.
- She also links a happy marriage to shared hysterical laughter that kept their relationship lively.
The 'Dogs In Bed' Joke
- Jilly recounts a Daily Mail call asking what she wore in bed and shares Leo's jokey reply that she wears dogs.
- She adds a family-friendly punchline that reaching for something furry at night gets you bitten.
Mutual Lack Of Reading
- Kirsty asks if Leo ever read Jilly's books and Jilly replies he read Prudence once and felt worse.
- Jilly admits she reciprocated by not reading much of his military history publications.
