Miranda Richardson has taken a swipe at Britain's "hideous" approach to success as the actress turned literary judge announced that Hilary Mantel has been shortlisted for another major book prize.

Mantel, 60, who lives in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, has already scooped the Booker and Costa Book Award for her historical sequel Bring Up The Bodies and has been shortlisted for the Woman's Prize For Fiction.

She could now become the first author to win all three titles after the novel, part of a planned trilogy on Thomas Cromwell, was shortlisted for the third prize, formerly known as the Orange Prize.

Blackadder star Richardson, who is chairman of the judges, said: "I was very keen to keep a balanced approach about Hilary Mantel because I've heard what we call the 'tall poppy syndrome', particularly in Britain, 'you've already had too much you can't have any more. Go away and die now', people being quite vitriolic in some cases..."

The 55-year-old Oscar-nominated actress said: "I think it's disgusting quite frankly. Because this competition is about excellence for writing...you cannot argue that... I did feel very strongly about that.

"I hoped she would make it through, that we would be in agreement... there was a risk it could go either way."

Asked whether she thought "tall poppy syndrome" was a particularly British trait, she said: "Yes I do. I think it's hideous, absolutely hideous. It goes through every profession.... definitely in acting."

She said: "I don't think Britain likes success. It's what I call the prodigal son or daughter where you have to go away to come back and be reclaimed...all that rubbish... I'm not sure where it comes from but it's dumb. It's the opposite of what should be."

Ms Mantel, who sparked a furore when she described the Duchess of Cambridge as a "shop-window mannequin", has previously said that she was "not going to apologise" for her wins, stating: "I'm not sorry, I'm happy and I shall make it my business to try to write more books that will be worth more prizes".

The author is up against Zadie Smith for London-set NW, her fourth novel, and US writer Barbara Kingsolver for her eighth novel Flight Behaviour.
Both writers could become the first to win the £30,000 prize twice after Kingsolver won with The Lacuna in 2010 and Smith scooped the gong for On Beauty in 2006.

The other writers shortlisted are British author Kate Atkinson for Life After Life and US authors AM Homes for May We Be Forgiven and Maria Semple for Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

Richardson insisted that there was still a need for a women's prize, adding: "They have been sidelined in the past."

Asked whether the late Baroness Thatcher had helped women in all areas of life, she said: "As many people as she did (help) she undermined."

She added that she was "absolutely terrified" before the longlist meeting "because of the terrifying responsibility of dismissing" so many novels.

But she said that whittling down the shortlist had been "joyous" and that there was more agreement than she had expected.

She said: "It becomes very clear very quickly what deserves to go on....But the process is going to be very tough now..."

She said that it was "an exceptional year for women's fiction" with the shortlist representing "six tremendous writers at the top of their game".

Richardson added that her film work had to take a back-seat during the judging process, saying: "The idea of dashing off set to go and scrabble through another 10 pages is just not my idea of fun."

The winner of the prize, now in its 18th year, will be announced on June 5 at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Exeter City council is to face a jury trial after denying that safety failings led to the death of an 80-year-old grandmother who fell off a ferry.

Dorothy Stevens, from Silverton, near Exeter, died in July 2010 after her walking stick broke as she was getting off the historic Butts Ferry in the centre of the city.

The hand-pulled chair ferry on Exeter Quay is operated by Exeter City Council, which is facing prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive over the death.

A trial date has been set for December 2 this year, after the council's barrister Mr Ian Dixey indicated they intend to plead not guilty to the charge when the case is heard at Exeter Crown Court.

They are accused of failing to conduct the ferry safely because they had not done everything reasonably practical to ensure the safety of those getting on and off.

The charge alleges they exposed members of the public, including Mrs Stevens to unnecessary risks.

Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, adjourned the case and set a timetable for the exchange of experts' reports.

The council was not required to make a plea to the existing charge because its wording may be amended before the trial date.

At present it alleges they: "Failed to discharge the duty imposed on it by the Health & Safety At Work Act in that it failed to conduct its undertaking, namely the means of access to and egress from the Butts Ferry, in such a way as to ensure so far as was reasonably practicable, that persons not in its employment who may have been affected, including Dorothy Stevens, were not thereby exposed to risks."

The case is expected to concentrate on allegations by the HSE that the steps from the ferry were at inconsistent heights and there were not enough hand rails.

An inquest in April last year heard how frail arthritis patient Mrs Stevens drowned after falling into the River Exe as she got off the ferry during a heavy squall of rain.

Her collapsible walking stick snapped as she moved from the ferry to the shore and she toppled backwards into the water in front of her daughter and granddaughter.

She was pulled from the river but could not be revived despite the efforts of people who jumped in to save her.

Deputy coroner Mr Darren Salter recorded a verdict of accidental death.

At the time, her family described her death as horrendous and said she would be missed enormously.

She was well known in Silverton, as a long-standing member of the Women's Institute and Over-60s club.

Lady Thatcher, who was Prime Minister for 11 years from 1979, died on Monday last week. All Members of Parliament were invited to apply for invitations to the funeral.

Devon MPs attending are Conservatives Oliver Colvile (Plymouth Sutton and Devonport), Geoffrey Cox (Torridge and West Devon), Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton), Gary Streeter (South West Devon), Mel Stride (Central Devon) and Sarah Wollaston (Totnes).

Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter and former Cabinet minister, has also accepted an invitation. East Devon MP Hugo Swire, a Foreign Office Minister, will be laying a wreath at a the Commonwealth cemetery in Papua New Guinea, on an official visit.

Cornwall's three Conservative MPs – George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth), Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) and Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) – are also attending.

Mr Stride said: "Margaret Thatcher was an outstanding leader ranking alongside Churchill. She made entrepreneurship and enterprise central to our nation. We owe her a great deal."

Mrs Murray said: "She showed everybody you could achieve what you wanted to. She encouraged people to better themselves."

Mr Bradshaw said: "The day of her funeral is not the day for debate about Lady Thatcher's legacy – but for quiet reflection, prayer for her soul and respecting the grief of those who mourn."

Lady Thatcher has been awarded a ceremonial funeral with military honours. It will be the first time the Queen has attended the funeral of a British Prime Minister since that of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. An able seaman from RNAS Culdrose and a Taunton-based Royal Marine will also represent the Westcountry at the funeral today when they carry her coffin.

Corporal John Caulfield, 30, of 40 Commando, and Thomas Baker, 22, from Culdrose, will be among the pallbearers carrying the first female Prime Minister's coffin from St Clement's Dane church to an awaiting gun carriage, before walking alongside it, as her funeral procession makes its way to St Paul's Cathedral.

Former Teignbridge, Devon, Conservative MP Patrick Nicholls, a junior minister under Lady Thatcher, is another figure from the region attending, as is broadcaster Hugh Scully, who lives near Truro, who produced a four-part TV documentary, Thatcher: The Downing Street Years for the BBC in 1992.

The Government has been criticised for spending millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash on the event. Some opponents are set to stage protests on the procession route.

Downing Street announced yesterday former US vice-president Dick Cheney and ex-secretary of state Henry Kissinger are attending.

The pair do not form part of Barack Obama's official presidential delegation, which will be led by George Shultz and James Baker, who both served as secretaries of state during the Thatcher era.

Also on the list of attendees announced yesterday are Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, and Olympics supremo and former Cornwall MP Lord Coe. Argentina's ambassador to London has declined an invitation, Downing Street said. No 10 invited Alicia Castro but did not extend an invitation to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner amid ongoing disputes over the Falklands' sovereignty.

Westcountry families may have to grow more of their own food to cope with rising prices and global shortages, a Government Minister has warned.

Echoing the famous Second World War slogan "dig for victory", Farming Minister David Heath said spiralling costs could require a "dig for survival" strategy.

The warning came as new figures showed fruit prices are more than 10% higher than last year with vegetable costs up 6.7%.

Meat prices have also risen 2.4%, reflecting the increased production costs being faced by Westcountry farmers after 18 months of poor weather.

Mr Heath said the country could no longer rely on food imports and needed a greater level of self sufficiency, nationally and individually.

"With an increasing population, increasing demand not just in this country but across the world, we are going to have to increase food production," he said.

"We made a huge mistake a few years ago when the idea got around that we didn't need to produce in the agricultural sector any more, that we would be able to buy our way through whatever was necessary to feed the country.

"Once we used to 'dig for victory'. There may come a time soon when we need to 'dig for survival'."

He later added: 'We need to be able to produce enough to deal with the requirements in this country. Food security is going to be an issue of increasing relevance.

'There is nothing that provides more classical insecurity across the world than not being able to feed populations adequately so we need to be aware of that and we need to respond to it."

New inflation figures yesterday showed the impact of food price rises on the cost of living.

The Consumer Prices Index remained unchanged on 2.8%, although last month bread and cereals were up by 3.6%.

Ian Johnson, spokesman for the National Farmer's Union in the South West, said: "Some 80% of the region is grassland and most of the crops grown here are for animal feed.

"But after 18 months of wet weather, and three consecutive bad winters, the availability of animal feed is becoming critical and silage is running out because farmers have not been able to turn out cattle when they normally would.

"The impact has been huge cost increases for farmers and that will be felt for a long time and may well get worse."

Mr Johnson said farmers would only be able to pass on those "cumulative" costs, if public attitudes changed.

"Consumers, and farmers are consumers too, have to realise that we have enjoyed very cheap food for a long time," he added.

"But we have to be realistic – food costs more to produce and, inevitably, will cost more to buy."

Chief Reporter

Westcountry runners caught up in the deadly Boston marathon attack have spoken of their shock at the bombing.

The terror blasts at the finishing line left at least three people dead, including an eight-year-old boy, while scores more were injured, many requiring amputations.

Some 347 of the 25,000 taking part in the race were British and several told of the aftermath of the two blasts.

Bev Dowrick, from Torpoint in Cornwall, said she had just finished the marathon in a time of three hours and 31 minutes and was heading towards the family area to meet her husband when the explosions happened.

"I was about 300 metres away," she told the BBC. "You feel the explosion first of all, then you hear the bang and then the smoke.

"There were two explosions and everyone around me was a bit stunned. The police start running, the sirens start going and you get a sense that this isn't a firecracker going off or a clap of thunder."

Ms Dowrick, a physiotherapist, said she returned to a nearby apartment with her husband, her friend Nicola Rutherford, who finished 15 minutes behind her, and her partner.

"Right now the four of us in our apartment are veering from elation that we're safe, elation that we've finished the marathon and absolute disbelief that we've been caught up in something this horrific and disbelief that people have lost their lives and we're safe," she said. "You feel that you shouldn't feel so happy that you're safe."

Mark Jenkin, a 34-year-old sports journalist from Barnstaple in Devon, said the explosion had put the race into perspective.

After finishing 138th in a time of two hours and 24 minutes, he told his paper, the North Devon Journal: "It had been a beautiful day in Massachusetts.

"The support along the whole course was amazing and it was one of the friendliest races I've ever taken part in. I had a bad time over the last few miles but the actual race result just seems irrelevant now.

"I was so drained at the finish line, feeling dizzy and stumbling around and the volunteers were so kind. A couple hours later they would have more serious things to worry about. I'm so thankful to have been out of harm's way.

"My thoughts go out to all those people who were injured and the families of those who were killed. Boston is a great city and the people are rightly proud of their marathon which they have hosted since 1897. It was a privilege to take part in such a historic race and it is sad that the 117th Boston Marathon will be remembered for the wrong reasons."

Experienced runner 51-year-old Michael Smith, from Weymouth, completed the 26.2-mile course – his 152nd marathon – about 20 minutes before the fatal explosions.

"I was in the baggage area collecting my things when we heard the explosions," he said. "We could see the smoke going up.

"We didn't know what had happened but the police were there straight away, cordoning off the area."

Determined to run in London on Sunday, he was flying home yesterday with his mother Lois, 74.

"I was going to the finish to see Michael at the end but changed my mind, which was probably a good thing," Mrs Smith said.

"I missed him at the 22-mile marker so got the underground to where the finish was. He found me just as I was getting off the tube, which was when the police arrived and shut it down."

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Westcountry guests at Baroness Thatcher's ceremonial funeral have heaped praise on the St Paul's Cathedral service.

In the presence of the Queen and  dignitaries from around the world, the United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister was given full military honours as the coffin bearing her body was brought to the cathedral in procession, through streets lined with mourners, on a gun carriage drawn by six black horses.

Geoffrey Cox, Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon, said Lady Thatcher was the most remarkable Prime Minister of modern times" and the service "did justice to the size of her achievements".

Some voiced anger at the reported £10 million cost of the ceremonial funeral - though ministers insisted today that the final bill would be "much, much less".

But Mr Cox said: "This was an extraordinary woman – a woman of extraordinary character.  I sensed today there was a degree of consensus, a rejoicing that Britain has produced a person of this spirt and this magnitude. The honour accorded to her was justified."

Tory backbencher Oliver Colvile, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: "I thought it could be summed up in one word: Britannia.

"There was a real sense of here was a woman who helped us through some very difficult times and was certainly responsible for helping this country."

Falklands veteran Lieutenant Colonel Peter Cameron, from Tavistock in Devon, was also among the guests.

The former Royal Marine recalled an encounter with Lady Thatcher 25 years after the conflict as he spoke of his support for the divisive prime minister.

"I had a lovely moment with her at RAF Waddington (in Lincolnshire) when she was quite frail and we were watching a display," he said.

"She was on my arm for 10 minutes and afterwards she said 'That was fun'.

"And I said 'It was fun, Lady Thatcher, but when it's for real, it's slightly different."

Lt Col Cameron, who commanded an air squadron of 18 light helicopters during the Falklands conflict and was later awarded the Military Cross, added: "She had the backbone to send us there in the first place and she had the resolve.

"When I met the first Falkland islander, I realised that we had done the right thing, despite the fact that I had three helicopters down and lost four blokes."

The veteran added: "I never stop thinking about them but they didn't die in vain."

Although the event was not the state funeral received by Sir Winston Churchill, it was conducted with more pomp and ceremony than any seen in London since the death of the Queen Mother in 2002.

At St Paul's, a congregation of more than 2,300 guests heard the Bishop of London Richard Chartres pay tribute to Lady Thatcher's "perseverance in struggle and courage".

Among those present were more than 30 members of the Iron Lady's cabinets from 1979-90, including Lord Heseltine and Lord Howe, whose challenges to her leadership triggered her removal from power.

Every member of the current Cabinet attended, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, who gave a reading from the Gospel of St John. A clearly moved Chancellor George Osborne appeared to wipe tears from his eyes during the ceremony.

Lady Thatcher's coffin, placed beneath the dome of St Paul's, was draped in a Union flag and topped by a floral tribute of white roses bearing the handwritten note "Beloved Mother – Always in our Hearts" from her children Sir Mark and Carol Thatcher.

Walking ahead of the coffin as it entered the cathedral were Lady Thatcher's grandchildren Michael and Amanda, carrying cushions bearing her insignia of the Order of the Garter and Order of Merit. Amanda also gave a reading from the King James Bible.

The bishop deliberately steered clear of discussing the former Conservative leader's political legacy in his address, insisting that the funeral was "a place for ordinary human compassion of the kind that is reconciling... for the simple truths which transcend political debate".

But outside the cathedral, there were reminders of the bitter divisions of the Thatcher years as protesters joined mourners along the route.