WHEN Kate Charlton-Jones set off in the footsteps of her literary hero, the last people she thought she would bump into were Hollywood A-listers Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes.

That, however, is exactly what happened when she took a trip to the east coast of America to study the life of writer Richard Yates.

His book, Revolutionary Road, has just been adapted for the big screen, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, and directed by Kate’s husband Sam Mendes.

Mrs Charlton-Jones, 49, is studying Yates, who died in 1992, as part of her PhD research at Essex University. She decided, if she was really going to understand the man behind the literary works, that she needed to see where he lived and worked.

As part of the trip, which took place last November, she met Blake Bailey, the biographer of Yates, who then put her in touch with Monica, one of the writer’s daughters.

Mrs Charlton-Jones said: “The first week was very bookish, but I was in seventh heaven spending time at the archive at Boston University Library, reading his letters and meeting up with people who knew him.

“I think Monica was a bit wary of me at first, but after meeting Blake he wrote to her and said I was cool.”

The following week in New York, Kate, who lives in Little Horkesley, got to meet Monica and another of Yates’s daughters, Sharon, at a screening of the new Hollywood blockbuster in Times Square.

She said: “I went on my own, but there were a lot of journalists there as well as Monica and Sharon.

“Afterwards, we got driven to a special post-screening dinner, and I couldn’t believe it when I discovered I was on their table.”

Trying not to pinch herself too much, things got even more exciting when Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes turned up.

“I had a cigarette with Kate outside,” she said.

“We had a great chat about the film, and then Sam came to fetch his wife.

“He was really lovely. We spoke about Richard Yates, and he told me how many people had told him not to mess it up.

“At the end of the evening I went up the street to catch a yellow cab, thinking that was just the most amazing night ever.”