Tribute to Maeve Binchy, International Novelist and Corrie fan

Gordon Snell is the husband of the late, international best-selling novelist Maeve Binchy and he gave a lovely interview to The Irish Times this week.

As the journalist interviewed Mr Snell, his two cats, Audrey and Fred, wandered in and out of the room.

Asked how they chose the names for the cats, Snell chuckled. “Audrey is a character in Coronation Street. We were both addicted to watching it. One evening we were watching, and Audrey got up and said: “I’m going up to bed to knuckle down with my Maeve Binchy.”

You can read the full interview here.

This summer will mark the fifth anniversary of Maeve Binchy's death.

Back in 2010 Maeve Binchy wrote an exclusive blog post for us!  You can read it here.

Read more Corrie news and spoilers here

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When Maeve Binchy wrote for the Coronation Street Blog

With the very sad news that novellist Maeve Binchy has passed away this week, we take a look back at her blog post she wrote for us here, exclusively on the Coronation Street Blog in September 2010.

Best-selling author Maeve Binchy is a huge Coronation Street fan. She's very kindly written about her love of Corrie, exclusively for the Coronation Street blog.  Visit Maeve Binchy's website.

Maeve Binchy, novelist, never misses Coronation Street!

"As soon as I hear the Corrie theme I pour the first glass of wine of the day. Then I sit down and am happily lost in Weatherfield. I have been watching it for well over forty years. My mother and I used to marvel at the three old dears sipping their milk stout in the snug. It seemed a safe, cosy world where everyone looked out for each other and no one had time to be lonely. The years went on, the characters grew up and grew old with us all. Some of them never looked old; like Ken, who seemed to grow more and more luxuriant hair, Liz seemed to attract younger and younger men and Gail never learned to be remotely mellow. Sometimes I used to wonder was everyone’s neighbourhood so hothouse and sexually active as the Street seems to be. Quite probably they are, and I am out of step.

I have always been an unashamed groupie for Corrie. I went on the guided tour at Granada and got myself photographed outside the Rovers Return. Our two lovely little rescue cats are called Fred and Audrey - because the male one is big and bluff and generally decent, while the female is elegant, well-groomed and flighty - exactly like Audrey and the late Fred Elliott. To me they are absolutely real people and I hope they will keep going for years and years."

Winner announced for our exclusive Maeve Binchy & Corrie competition

Congratulations go to Cheryl Johnson who is the winner of our Maeve Binchy competition which ended today.  In the competition here, we asked the following question:

Q: In Blanche Hunt's will on Coronation Street, who did she bequeath Eccles the dog to?

A: Ken Barlow

Well done to Cheryl, the book will be on its way to you this week. 

And for all Maeve Binchy fans out there, you might like to read her exclusive Coronation Street blog post she wrote for us - have a look at it here.

EXCLUSIVE! Maeve Binchy writes for the Coronation Street Blog

One of Blanche Hunt's favourite authors on Coronation Street was the best-selling writer Maeve Binchy.

If you remember, Blanche left her Maeve Binchy novels to Ken in her will when she passed away earlier this year. Another Maeve Binchy fan on Corrie is Connie, Jack Duckworth's fancy piece, who once loaned her sister her copy of a Binchy book.  Anyway, I'm building up to telling you something so exciting I can barely keep my fingers on the keyboard.

Not only has best-selling author Maeve Binchy been referenced many times by Coronation Street, she's also a huge Corrie fan and has very kindly offered to write a blog post for the Coronation Street Blog!

And so, to read all about Maeve Binchy's love of Corrie - and find out which Corrie characters she named her cats after - click here to read her blog post written exclusively for the Coronation Street blog

Visit Maeve Binchy's website

EXCLUSIVE! Win Maeve Binchy's new novel in Corrie competition

With a huge amount of thanks to the best-selling novelist Maeve Binchy, we not only have an exclusive blog post written by her about her love of Coronation Street (you can read that here), we also have a very special competition.

To win a copy of Maeve Binchy's new novel - Minding Frankie - all you have to do is email me with the correct answer to the following question.

Q: In Blanche Hunt's will on Coronation Street, who did she bequeath Eccles the dog to?

Overseas fans are welcome to enter this competion.  The winner will be drawn at random.  Deadline for entries is 5pm on Sunday 17th October.

Visit Maeve Binchy's website

Read more on Maeve Binchy and the Coronation Street Blog.