Richard Eyre on Mary Soames: 'She gave herself without reserve to the life of the National Theatre'
Mary Soames (obituary, 2 June) was chair of the Royal National Theatre Board from 1988, during most of my time as director, and we became very close friends. Her appointment was greeted by many people with surprise and by some with alarm. I heard it said by a Labour MP that her mandate would be to privatise the National Theatre, and by a Tory that she was being put in to "sort out the pinkoes".My own respon…