Mother's Day 2013: Susan Greenfield says 'Mum? I owe her everything'

Baroness Susan Greenfield, the ground-breaking professor of neuroscience, crossbench peer and burgeoning novelist, says her achievements are down to her formidable mother, Dorice

When she was eight years old, Susan Greenfield was chosen to be a duchess in her school play. “I woke up that morning and there, hanging on the door, was this most amazing dress,” she remembers. “It was lilac. This was a fairytale dress.”

Baroness Greenfield’s mother, Dorice, recalls making it: “I stuck loads of cottonwool on, then dotted blobs of ink to make it look like ermine,” she says. “On stage, it looked really good.”

They glance at each other, and Susan says: “That is the sort of thing a loving mother will do for a daughter. Not telling you, either, so you wake up and there’s this real surprise.”

^{A young Susan Greenfield pictured with her mother}