Lisboa Maria Manuel - Paula Regos map of memory: national and sexual politics

My thanks must go first of all to Paula Rego herself, for her unwavering generosity in talking to me, in giving me so much of her time, and in generously supplying me with photographs and transparencies of her works as reproduced here. And above all for practising what she preaches: the freedom she grants to those of us who write about her work is the best of lessons in applied democracy.

Deepest gratitude is also due to Michael Brick, whose fault this book largely is, for encouraging me to stray temporarily outside my literary patch into art, and for giving me confidence and abundance of help once there.

Para a minha irmzinha, Ismene Lada-Richards, e para a sua Juliette. Thanks can never be enough to Victoria Best, Robert Evans, Mire N Mhaonaigh and Arthur Rowland, and their ever present shoulders.

Robert Hinde has for many years now provided much more than intellectual support: proofreading, tea, sympathy. A friend indeed whenever there is need.

High in my pantheon is David Lowe, Head of Foreign Cataloguing at the University Library, Cambridge. Without David's legendary competence, helpfulness, charm and cups of tea, the acquisition of material for parts of this book would have been impossible, and for large parts of it much more painful.

Margarida Calafate Ribeiro was, as ever, formidably generous with specific help in hunting down certain Portuguese paintings and moreover provided me with inestimable items of bibliography, reading material and documentation regarding the Estado Novo and Paula Rego, Our shared primary school reading books are the oddest of connections, two continents apart, and her gentle suggestions for further probing helped me to fill in many of the lacunae in this book. Profound thanks are also due to Coral Neale, who saves me from administrative disaster on average once a month (once a week in term time).

My gratitude also to Helder Macedo for his kindness, support and friendship, during writing, to Carli Coetzee for her affectionate support and to Kirsten Weissenberg for her endless patience.

Anthony Rudolf generously proofread the book and contributed more than one little gem towards interpretation. Thanks to Helena Vasconcelos: for helping me to remember.

Thanks are also due to David Midgley, for many conversations which helped me to broaden my understanding of some of the political forces relating to European fascism, as discussed in this book; Margaret Jull Costa for generously allowing me to help myself to her translation of The Crime of Father Amaro prior to publication and sharing with me our common separation anxiety with regard to letting go of final drafts; and Sue Mansfield for bailing me out of technical difficulties on an almost daily basis.

To me she will always be Mrs Vidal, although she has now changed her name. As my A' Level French teacher, she gave me one of those vital pushes in the right direction, whose importance only became apparent much later in life.

Maria Jos Agostinho and Maria Elvira Evaristo of the Arquivo Histrico de Educao and Ministrio da Educao and Madalena Garcia of the Museu de Arte Popular de Lisboa patiently assisted me in unearthing various paintings in Portuguese archives.

The Comisso para a Igualdade e para os Direitos das Mulheres in Portugal generously provided me with an extremely useful bibliography and material on abortion in Portugal.

I wish to thank also the following friends and colleagues who variously read and commented on parts of the book, pointed me towards bibliographical material, supplied me with references, helped in my dealings with museums across the world and generally participated in bringing the book into being by supporting me with their friendship: Pierpaolo Antonello, Patricia Odber de Baubeta, Patrick Boyde, Lus Adriano Carlos, Joo Czar de Castro, John Crook, the Dominican Brothers in Cambridge, Robert Evans, Sonia Morillo Garcia, Douglas Herring, Maria Jos Martinez Jurico, Peter Linehan, Paulo de Medeiros, Hilary Owen, Karl Posso, Maria Teresa Moreira Rato, Arthur Rowland, Simon Szreter, Isabel de Almeida Vervaeck, George Watson, Anne Woolf (Mrs Ogre) and Richard Zimler.