CHRISTMAS is Josephine Cox's favourite time of year, when the world-famous novelist fills her house with everything she can think of to make it magical.

The prolific writer - one of Britain's favourite authors - also makes sure that Christmas is a happy time if it features in her novels.

But as a young girl growing up in the back streets of Blackburn, the contrast could not have been greater.

Josephine Brindle was born the fourth of 10 children during the Second World War in a cotton-mill house in Derwent Street - which has since been demolished - where she and her family lived in abject poverty.

It was in the days before the Welfare State, and the Brindles faced a daily struggle just to survive.

Although her mother was a doffer, working to replace the bobbins of yarn at the now defunct Ciceley Bridge Mill and her father worked for the then Blackburn Corporation, the family slept six in a bed and there was rarely enough food for 12 mouths.

Until she was 14, Josephine "didn't even know what Christmas was".

"Father Christmas never visited us, or any of the families that lived around Henry Street and King Street, where we lived in the former tripe shop," said Josephine, who now lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband Ken whom she married aged 16.

"Christmas just didn't exist for us, there was no tree or presents or dinner, if we got an apple or an orange then we were lucky."

Josephine, along with her two sisters and seven brothers, attended the Blackburn Ragged School in Bent Street, which was founded in 1881 as a Sunday school for underprivileged children.

The Christians from the school used to collect second-hand toys from more affluent people, and at Christmas, the poorer children would queue up to receive a present.

"One year, I got a one legged teddy bear," said Josephine, "it had such a lovely face and I loved it, and kept it for years after until I lost it when I moved house."

But aside from a handful of happy memories, Christmas was "just another day trying to survive".

"We would never be asked to go in the school nativity play because we were too scruffy.

"Christmas was alien, something that happened to other people."

She added: "Life was very grim, quite often Mum would take us up to the Nazareth House Institute for Orphan Children and Aged Poor where we children would sit on the bench with the tramps, and the nuns would bring us some bread and dripping.

"It's shocking to think now that things were so bad not so very long ago.

"But at the time we didn't know any different, everyone in that area was the same. Until of course I went to school and then you found out how poor you really were, and were tormented for it."

Despite the almost Dickensian levels of hardship, Josephine still loved Blackburn "with a fierce passion".

She said: "Although life was tough, we entertained ourselves and played out in the streets for hours, and I loved Blackburn and its people. I was devastated when I had to leave."

Josephine left Lancashire in 1953 after her parents split up and she moved down South with her mother.

They first went to stay with a relative, and it was at her Aunt Biddy's house that Josephine experienced her first "proper" Christmas, at the age of 14.

"When I woke up on Christmas morning, it was like magic," she said.

"There was a tree with lights on it and lights all around the room, it was wonderful and a complete revelation that this was what it was all about.

"After that year, I made sure every Christmas I had was as special as possible.

"I really love it now, and I go all out, filling my house with singing Santas, candles, a big tree with lights and lots of food and drink, music and laughter."

She spends Christmas with Ken, sons Spencer and Wayne and as many other family and friends who can join them.

Josephine said: "I feel like I missed out on my childhood Christmases so I make up for it now!

"And I never wanted my own children to know what it was like for me and my family. I'm sure my brothers and sisters feel the same.

"We never had any holidays as kids so now all of us siblings go on a trip to Blackpool every year, to help make up for it."

Her gruelling experiences as a child continue to be a formative influence on her work, as does her unfailing love for Blackburn - she travels back up at least twice a year to visit family, and says she will always "belong" to the town.

But she often includes happy Christmas scenes in her books rather than the bleak reality she remembers.

"In my books I have lovely Christmases, the one I used to dream about."

Josephine became a writer relatively late in life - aged 43 - when her debut Her Father's Sins, written in six weeks whilst convalescing after an illness, was an instant best-seller.

She has gone on to be one of Britain's most popular and prolific authors, with 40 books published and worldwide sales topping 15million.

But her natural flair for story telling was obvious from an early age; she used to charge local kids a penny each for her to make up a story, for money for the gas meter.

She said: "I'm extremely lucky because I absolutely love what I do, I have so many stories inside of me - my first book was the first time I got to share them with the world, and I'll carry on as long as I am able.

"My childhood was tough definitely, but I know how fortunate I am now."

PANEL Josephine left school at 14 in order to work and earn money to help her mum. She went on to do a series of jobs including in a plastic factory, driving a builder's van, and as a personal assistant.

When her two sons started school she gained two A levels through night school, and got a place at Cambridge University. Her children were too young for her to take it up so she taught English and history for 14 years.

She won the Superwoman of Great Britain Award, for which her family had secretly entered her, at the same time as her debut novel was accepted for publication, in 1987.

She has a devoted following of millions worldwide for her dramatic sagas of northern life - publishers are now so sure of her novels' success, they print "best-seller" on them at the outset - and she is also one of the top three most borrowed authors in the UK library lending list.

Josephine has written two books a year since she was first published.

Her latest novel, The Loner, set in 1950s Blackburn, is currently out in paperback and her new work Songbird will be released in hardback in February.