Deany Judd Journalism

The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Express

Fri, 1 May 2009 -1:00:00 GMT

This week I interviewed Samantha Fox for Life Choices - 20 years ago my brothers would have been so envious!

click here to read it http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/166594/Samantha-Fox-I-was-starving-so-I-ate-a-rat

For this week's Life Choices in The Daily Express I interviewed Prue Leith, Vernon Kay for Heaven and Hell in The Telegraph and Piers Morgan in The Guardian

Fri, 3 Apr 2009 -1:00:00 GMT

Kate Thornton's heaven and Hell

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 -1:00:00 GMT

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/heavenandhell/4373976/Kate-Thorntons-heaven-and-hell.html

Jodie Kidd takes time out from her Strictly training to tell me about the woman who gave her a competitive spirit

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

My Grandmother was Lord Beaverbrook’s daughter and Rachel Carpenter was her right hand woman and has since been the right hand woman, mentor, friend and more to four generations of the Kidd family. When I was growing up my parents had to go to America and Rachel was left to look after us. She had a big hand in bringing me up and now at 75, she still lives with me.

She is the most amazing woman; she has never married or had children of her own but has just devoted her life to our family. She runs the house and the horses and she took charge of my whole equestrian life when I was young; teaching me to ride as she’d taught my Father before me. I went on to jump at a high level as a junior and she looked after my three ponies took me to every competition and stood cheering me on. Oh, and she also drove the horse lorry

I’ve never met a more capable woman. She has every cure for any horse ailment and she’ll probably find it under your kitchen sink. If a slate blows off the roof in a wind Rachel, can fix it, if a stable door has broken rachel attends to it She grows her own vegetables in her vegetable patch and is out the door every morning at 7 am being incredibly busy tearing around the garden and looking after the horses. She is busy all day long and then somehow, miraculously, has a roast dinner on the table at seven in the evening. When I cook a roast it takes me the whole afternoon to prepare it; she makes everything look effortless.

She still has the most amazing blonde hair and is incredibly healthy. Physically she is very strong from throwing all these bales of hay around and carrying huge bags of horse feed, you would never know her real age which must be attributable either to the glass of whisky she has every evening or simply her approach to life which is that nothing is ever a problem. she has coped with everything and anything life has thrown at her and doesn’t want to slow down at all, she just loves her life.

My life has been so jet set that to come back home to such a wonderfully grounded person has been so good for me. Working with my family she has mixed with everyone from Royalty to Argentinean groomsmen and speaks to them all in the same way and I hope I’ve learned that from her. She has great stories to tell from her experiences too and is great company, but she’s no pushover, no –one would mess her around.

I would hate to think what my life would be like if Rachel hadn’t been in it She has instilled great confidence in me, ‘Come on Jodie, you can do it.’ she would say and then make me do something over and over again until I got it right. As a result I am every bit as determined and competitive as she is. She can see a lot of herself in me and that’s why she’s so proud of me. She knows that my determination and will to win comes from her and that I give 110% to everything. She loves Strictly Come Dancing and comes every week- I’m worried about what she would do if she ever found herself face to face with any of the judges because she gets so angry with them when they’re not nice to me. That sums her up; she’s always been there for me.

Mark Ramprakash 's best and worst holiday experiences

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Mark Ramprakash, Surrey cricketer and one time winner of Strictly Come Dancing, talks bout his best and worst holiday experiences.

Best holiday

I’ve been on many great holidays but one that really stands out in my mind was when my parents took my sister and me to Barbados for the first time in 1986. It was a three week holiday over Christmas and New Year and I remember enjoying the great weather at that time of year. We stayed in an apartment on a beach and it felt like we swam all day long. The food was fantastic and we ate in restaurants with fire eaters and limbo dancers. I got to play some cricket too which added to my enjoyment of it all. I fell in love with the Caribbean then and have been back about fourteen times since.

What’s the best hotel you’ve stayed in?

I’ve been very fortunate because I’ve travelled a lot with my job which has involved staying in lots of beautiful hotels around the world, but in terms of sheer luxury I don’t think you can beat the Conrad in Chelsea. The rooms are huge and the bathrooms just magnificent- I love staying there.

What do you need for a perfect holiday?

I don’t much like sight seeing or action holidays – I’ve never been skiing in my life because of my job and have hardly even been on holiday in Europe. Most of my holidays dovetail with cricket tours and so tend to be in Australia, South Africa and the Caribbean which suits me perfectly because I love the sun. I like a good beach and swimming pool too. If the hotel has a gym then I would use it and that’s a bonus but it’s not a requirement for a good holiday. Lastly I like good food and a variety of food; not the same offerings night after night.

What do you always take with you?

I always check that my swimming trunks are packed and I take some books too although I’m not a great reader. I try to have a cup of tea around four o’clock with a cake wherever I am in the world and so I pack decaffeinated tea bags too, but if I’ve forgotten them then I’ll have a regular cup of tea.

Best piece of travel advice?

I travel a lot which means that I take the whole process a bit for granted and don’t understand why people get so stressed about it all, you just have to accept that there may well be delays and setbacks, it’s all part of the process.

When I’m on holiday I’m amazed that so many people still burn in the sun despite the amount of publicity surrounding skin cancer. I don’t think people realise how much sun cream they should put on and how often.

Worst holiday?

My worst holiday was a few years ago when we decided at the last minute that we needed some sun and so we took ourselves off to Lanzarote. The wind was howling and we spent most of the week wearing a fleece huddled in deckchairs under towels. It wasn’t the best week ever. There’s something very depressing about a holiday resort in the rain.

Worst experience on holiday ?

Not long after 9/11 I was on a flight with my parents and two daughters returning from Barbados. It was a night flight and so the lights were dimmed and most people were asleep. About three hours into the flight, the lights snapped on and the crew burst into all this activity; tearing up and down the aisle looking very serious. The pilot announced that there was a smell of burning on the plane and they had forty minutes to reach Azures. Under the circumstances he wasn’t very reassuring which I interpreted as the situation being more serious than he was letting on. It felt like a very long forty minutes.

Biggest packing mistake?

Most people pack too much but on a cricket tour to India a few years ago for some strange reason I didn’t take enough casual clothes with me and I ended up wearing the same clothes over and over again and sending them to the laundry. It began to get a bit depressing and there wasn’t any time to go and buy any more.

Worst hotel?

In 1987 when I first started playing cricket we stayed in some really horrible places with creaking floorboards and low ceilings which meant you had to bend your head constantly. There isn’t one which stands out in my mind as being particularly bad they were all just very mediocre. The hotel in Lanzarote that we stayed in wasn’t great either. There was a band every night and the noise of them echoed round the hotel and meant we couldn’t sleep -I’m sure if the weather had been good it wouldn’t have been as bad.

What do you avoid on holiday?

I like to keep myself to myself on holiday; I keep my head down and try to concentrate on my family. I don’t see holidays as an opportunity to make friends.

What do you hate about holidays?

I hate jet lag. I don’t mind on the outward journey because I like getting up early and watching the sun rise. I’m not so keen on it on the return journey but you just have to ride it out and it will sort itself out.

Where to next?

I’ve never been to America before – they don’t play cricket there -so a trip there is long overdue. I’m going to tour around a little and I’ve promised the children I’ll take them to Disney; they’re 11 and 6 years old so the timing is perfect, I’m really looking forward to it.

Mark was talking at Ford Fiesta’s Tango at the Tower, to launch the all-new Ford Fiesta - the car the nation is about to fall in love with... Visit www.fiestalovefactory.com for more information

Business guru and poet, Felix Dennis talks about the teacher and publishing mogul who guided him

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Felix Dennis on the teacher who sparked his career and the mogul who guided it.

My first mentor was a shy supply teacher of English at my grammar school. I was an unruly pupil, constantly in trouble and much addicted to showing off by tormenting teachers who lacked the ability to keep order. ‘Abdul’ Rowe was such a teacher. (We never learned his first name and nicknamed him Abdul for his black beard, somewhat reminiscent, in our adolescent eyes, of a Turkish pasha.)

One day, Abdul kept me in after class. Then he did a surprising thing: he sat down opposite me on one of the benches. Masters never did that— you always had to converse with them standing in front of their desks with your hands behind your back. I realise now that he wanted to get my attention, something he was unlikely to achieve with a formal lecture. Then he took out my exercise book and went through an essay I’d written. Despite myself, I began to listen as he critiqued it. His voice hardly above a murmur but looking very hard into my eyes, he ended by saying: ‘You’re a born writer. Why don’t you stop playing the fool and learn to use this talent?’ For the next few months, before I was expelled for some prank or other, that’s what I did. In Abdul’s classes at least, I became a model pupil. Mr. Rowe instilled in me a belief that I could write. That belief never left me and was a major factor in determining the future course of my life. He was a very shy man but an excellent teacher when given the chance. He took a lot of interest in me and lent me books.

My next mentor was a very different man and entered my life in very different circumstances. By then, I was a brash, young multi-millionaire magazine publisher. His name was Bill Ziff. In the close-knit world of American magazine publishing he was a demigod. Born to rich parents and the inheritor of a huge stable of consumer magazines, he had gone on to eclipse his father’s achievements. For whatever reason Bill took to calling me up at my tiny offices in New York to invite me out to lunch. He was gracious and unassuming, with a mind like a steel trap and a vast knowledge of the magazine industry. Lunch was invariably accompanied by what amounted to a master-class in magazine publishing.

I’ve no idea why Bill took so much time to show an English interloper and potential rival the ropes of an industry of which he was an undisputed master. Perhaps he already knew that neither of his sons were going into the magazine business (they eventually became investment bankers). Perhaps our very different upbringing intrigued him. Perhaps he liked what I was trying to do — he did buy one of my magazines for $20 million; the most money I had ever earned. Later, he attempted to persuade me to merge my company with his in Europe. Like a fool, I fought him tooth and nail, using everything he had taught me to defend my independence. Looking back, I wish I had compromised. He still had much to teach me.

Felix Dennis’s new book of verse, Homeless in My Heart, is published by Ebury Press (£12.99) next week.

Gerald Scarfe tells the lovely story of a fellow cartoonist's unknown influence on him

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Cartoonist Gerald Scarfe on a fellow cartoonist’s unknown influence

I was a sickly asthmatic child and so was often absent from school. Drawing was my way of expressing myself and I knew I was good because people would tell me and despite my absences, I was famous in my Welsh school for drawing a great Welsh dragons. Being a cartoonist wasn’t really a career choice in those days – it still isn’t but I remember admiring Walt Disney’s work and then I discovered the work of cartoonist Ronald Searle He was most famous at that time for St Trinians and his cartoons in Punch magazine and his work just resonated with me at once. I took one look at it and knew this was what I wanted to do.

My problem was that I hadn’t had any formal education because of my sickness and so hadn’t any knowledge of how to go about becoming a cartoonist -my father was in banking and he thought that art was a dodgy world, so I didn’t get much encouragement there. When I was about 14 years old I decided to take matters into my own hands. I lived in Hampstead and I found out that Ronald Searle lived in Bayswater - in Newton Road. I decided that I would cycle to his house and ask his advice. I remember as I cycled there I tried to compose what I would say to him: how much I admired his work and most importantly, how could I become a cartoonist? In my mind’s eye I can still see his house – it was set back from the road behind a high brick wall with an arch-shaped green front door alongside which was a big brass door bell.

I must have stood on that doorstep about a dozen times in total but was never brave enough to ring the bell. I would cycle around the road disconsolately for a long time afterwards, angry at my cowardice. Despite this, Ronald Searle continued to be an invisible mentor to me- a beacon in the distance of what I could achieve. There were other cartoonists around but he was doing what no other person was doing and that was saying something through his cartoons either about politics or questioning what life is all about. There was a great truth to his work which I believed being an artist was all about. I regularly cut out his drawings and hung them on the wall and I suppose copied his style in a way.

I worked as a commercial artist for a while which felt like I’d sold my soul to the devil and but I always yearned to emulate Ronal Searle and so I sent cartoons to Punch Magazine and they were accepted immediately. When Private Eye began Peter Cook and William Rushton encouraged my political cartooning which resulted in some grotesque and rude drawings and it was then that I could let myself fly.

Four years ago on my birthday, we were in France and my wife took me to a restaurant. The restaurant was deserted except for another couple who were Ronald Searle and his wife. It was the most wonderful surprise. On my place setting was the most beautifully wrapped gift. He urged me to open it and inside this box was a brass doorbell with a note attached which said ‘please ring at any time’. He really is the most delightful man and I now see him every year. We talk business and about the art world in general.

Do I wish I’d rung that bell all those years ago? I don’t know the answer to that but I do know that I get up every morning and know how lucky I am to be doing a job I love.

Monsters: How George Bush Saved the World -- and Other Tall Stories is published by Little, Brown, priced £40.

Birds of a Feather Actress, Lesley Joseph talks about her love of big parties and how she doesn't tolerate children with bad manners

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Come For Lunch and You’ll Cook

The Birds Of a Feather actress Lesley Joseph, 62, lives in Wandsworth

Food: Always the same or always game.
I always think I am going to try new dishes but when it comes to it somehow the same orders come out every time. I tend to order lamb in restaurants, and liver is another favourite, and smoked salmon is a must as a starter. I am permanently on a diet and never seem to eat potatoes in restaurants, but pile my plate with as many vegetables as I can. Creme Brulee is about the only desert I have regularly- and so I might as well have had the potatoes.

Cooking: Experimental or tried and tested.Spending hours trying out a new recipe is my idea of hell. I hate everyday cooking - walking round food shops, feeling fruit, and choosing spices is not on my list of favourite pastimes A really good leg of lamb, a beautiful piece of delicately cooked beef, a succulent roast chicken, with chicken soup to start, all that I can cope with . I have been known to invite friends to lunch and ask them to come a little bit earlier and do the cooking. I have always thought that life is too short to spend too much time slaving in the kitchen, but I guess that is why I am an actress and not a chef.

Clothes :M &S or D& G.I love unusual clothes- clothes cut on the cross, layered clothes, one off dresses and suits and you can only really get those in boutiques, so I tend to buy occasional designer clothes and wear them a lot. I have once or twice been to a function and seen someone else wearing the same dress so I try and make sure I keep circulating my clothes. There is nothing quite as lovely as wearing a beautifully tailored dress or suit, that makes you feel like a million dollars.

Fashion:Victim or Setter. I wish I could say I was a setter. How many people can truly say that? I certainly can’t. But I’m not a victim either. I wear what I want to wear, when I want to wear it. I am never persuaded by the fashion magazines to wear something just because it’s in vogue this year, if I don’t think it suits me. I am always pleased when black comes into fashion, as I think I am a goth at heart, and my wardrobe is full of LBDs.

Shopping:'til you drop or avoid at all costs.
When I am in the mood I have been known to shop for hours. It’s a strange thing, but some days I love trying on clothes, and everything seems to fit and I look good, and I can end up with bags full of clothes that have been a pleasure to buy. Other days, I try on one thing and somehow everything is wrong. On those days I accept defeat and just go home.

Holidays: Beach or piste

Definitely not piste. Not that I have ever tried but it has just never appealed to me it looks too much like hard work and terrifying too- the thought of my small frame hurtling down a slippery slope fills me with dread. Beaches however have much to recommend them. I love a warm sea, a sun lounger, a good book, a big umbrella, and lots of sun tan lotion. It does however have to have an interesting town nearby, or a ruined castle, or somewhere to go, when boredom sets in. I can’t sunbathe anymore anyway.

Approach to Life.:Manana or right now.I like things done yesterday. I am quite impatient and if something has to be done I have to do it right away. I always arrive at places early rather than late and I hate it when someone says they will do something and then you wait for ages because they have forgotten or just put it off. I get it done and move on to the next thing. Life is too short to pile things up.

Friends: Quantity or quality.Both really. Quantity does not necessarily mean you do not have quality. There are just more of them. Nothing ever replaces old friends, and having a few close friends you know are always there is wonderful. But meeting new people and expanding your group of acquaintances is also exciting. I love making new friends, and having lots of people to have merry times with is great.

Entertainment.:Intimate dinner or big bashAn intimate dinner is always lovely as long as I don’t have to cook it. Big bashes are fabulous if they are well organized and I enjoy catching up with a lot of people in one evening. I love dancing and really enjoy big glitzy parties. I really enjoy planning big functions -choosing colour schemes, designing invitations, deciding what to wear.-yes, I think the big bash wins it.

Drink..Beer or Bolli.Neither. I don’t drink. In the days when I did drink it would be Bolli every time, as I have never liked the taste of beer. Now I am perfectly happy with a Virgin Mary with lots of tabasco, and horseradish and I don’t miss alcohol at all. Well, sometimes just a little...

Housekeeping:Aggie and Kim or Wayne and Waynetta
Aggie and Kim any time. I can’t stand a house that is dirty or untidy. I love to see a room with everything in its right place, with fresh flowers, and sunlight streaming through clean windows, and plumped cushions. I do however like a house to look lived in and not like a museum, so everyday mess I don’t mind, but I never go to bed with the washing up in the sink. I love piles of ironing airing on the drier, and cleaning is something I am quite happy to do.

Cars...Boy Racer or Sunday DriverCars don’t mean much to me. I have an old car that looks fine and gets me from A to B and that is all I want. I have never seen the point of spending a lot of money on something that loses value the second you drive it out of the garage. I also feel a bit guilty about something that uses a huge amount of petrol, and costs a lot of money to run. I use buses or try and cycle as much as I can.

Money:Rainy day or live for today.Rainy day. I don’t spends lots and don’t worry where the next pay cheque is coming from. I’m in such a precarious business that I never know where the next job is coming from, so I am always a bit careful. I am certainly not mean though, and will never put off doing something if I really want to do it.

Property: Urban Chic or Rural Retreat.
There is something about a cottage in the country that I always love. Being surrounded by fields, in a house that has stood for hundreds of years is my idea of heaven. My work dictates that I live in the city, so I do try and combine the two, and get out of town as much as I can but my heart is definitely in the country.

Décor: Minimal or cosy.I’m going through a minimalist phase at the moment which means throwing away all the clutter, and keeping everything very simple. My problem is that I don’t like modern furniture so mine is a sort of chintzy version of minimalism. I always think other people’s houses look more stylish than mine. I have a lifelong battle with the furniture and am always moving things around to look better.

Children...Mary Poppins or Cruella de Ville. I love children most of the time but I can’t bear small children with bad manners or who scream all the time but in the main I love the innocence of children. I love doing pantomime and watching children come backstage with wonder in their eyes as they see where the magic happened. I love listening to kids’ conversations as they discuss things so earnestly, and I love taking children to the theatre, to the world of make believe.

Health: Alternative or Aspirin.
I love alternative treatments like massage, reflexology, which all make you feel better but if I was ill I know I would rather have conventional medicine to cure me.

Rubbish:Bin it or recycle it.
There is absolutely no excuse for not recycling everything you possibly can. Goodness knows where it ends up, but I feel guilty if I put a scrap of paper in the wrong bin. I separate paper, tins, rags, in fact everything. I just wish manufacturers would cut down on the packaging.

Fitness...Jane Fonda or Jim Royle.I used to be Jane Fonda but the problem is I get bored very easily- I go to the gym for a few months and then I don’t go for a year. My boredom threshold is very low. I took up Pilates last year and was almost religious about it. I stopped nine months later and haven’t done any exercise for about six months. I do cycle and walk a lot though. I somehow I manage to keep fit – not Jim Royle yet.

Technology: Gadget Man or Technophobe.I am very proud of myself. I have mastered the computer, I can send attachments. I dragged myself into the 21st, Century, kicking and screaming. I was the person who took three years to learn how to take money out of a bank machine. I decided I could not live in the dark ages and now I love it. But I still love receiving a hand-written letter- nothing beats that.

The Underdog Show is on LIVING every Thursday at 8pm and repeated on Sundays at 6pm.

Janet Ellis' Life Choices

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

I’m at my best in exam conditions

Janet Ellis, 53, is married to husband John Leach and they live in London. She has three children, singer Sophie Ellis Bextor 29, Jackson, 21 and Martha 17

Food : Always the same or always game

I love eating out it’s such a treat for me and I’ve traveled a lot with work and so have had the privilege of eating some really exotic dishes -some of which I had no idea what I was eating at all. I think you really get to know a place from eating the food. I like most things except the white of an egg for some strange reason.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested

I read cookery books like novels and then experiment on my friends. I’m good at sea bass which has become a signature dish of mine and I love comfort food -big hearty soups which last all week and change every day as I add new ingredients to it.

Clothes: M&S or D&G

I’m both but I like to stay away from the steeper end of the spectrum. I love Liberty it’s a delicious shopping experience and I love Agnes B and Whistles. Top Shop I like too but I try to get into before the teenage shop assistants have woken up and can see how old I am.

Fashion: victim or setter

I regard fashion as fun and enjoy dressing up so don’t really feel like a victim as such. Being on television people look at you in a different way, they have expectations of you which is fine by me because I’ve always enjoyed clothes.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs

I can’t go anywhere without shopping and can go all day but I have a very strict rule that I won’ try on the thing that deep down I know won’t suit me too early because that just leaves you feeling rotten for the rest of the day so quit while you’re ahead. I used to joke with my friend Caron Keating that the horrible jumper in the one and only shop in the village in Cornwall that we laughed at at the beginning of my stay, I would end up buying three days later just so I could buy something.

Holidays: Beach or piste

I’ve never been skiing; the thought of being high up and then hurtling myself down a hill at top speed doesn’t appeal very much. The chance of lying down and reading a book with no timetable is on the other hand very appealing. I love Italy and we’re just back from California which I loved.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now

I’m very last minute and always need a deadline. I put off paying bills and writing letters but if I have to write an article and I’m told I’ve got an hour to do it, I’m fine- exam conditions seem to bring out the best in me.

Friends: quantity or quality

I would always value the people over numbers so I’m quality. I’m lucky because I’ve made great friends over the years but I haven’t got enough time for those friends I’ve got already so I don’t need any more.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash

I do enjoy parties and always have a better time than I think I’m going to have, but to be honest I think I prefer getting ready rather than the party itself. I do really enjoy having people round and feeding them, that’s my favourite night.

Drink: Beer or Bolli

That’s a hard choice. There’s nothing to beat a sip of beer on a cold day but I would have Bolli to celebrate every time. If it’s just an everyday occasion then I’ll have a Kir. I have a drink most days – it’s a beacon at the end of a day but I would never have a drink on my own.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta

I’m Wayne and Waynetta – My house was recently filmed for the TV programme Cash in the Attic and a viewer stopped me in the street and told me she had been greatly comforted watching it because she had thought she lived in chaos until she saw my house. I moved around a lot as a child and I’m sure I’m so dug in here that it would take me two years to get out of it.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday DriverI’m a Sunday driver and love cars. When I was single I had a Ford XR3 i which was a joyous thing. I covered the live Top Gear show at Birmingham and I could feel a wave of envy from all these males when I got into these amazing cars. Anyone seeing our car would know that cars are no longer important to us: I drive an Audi A6 estate which has been trashed over the years, but I now drive so rarely in London that I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on a car

Money: Rainy day or live for today

I’m afraid I haven’t grown up and am still rainy day my husband is exactly the same so it works really well- we’re both optimists.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreatThe city every time. When I retire I plan to move even further into London where there are lots of things to do. The occasional trip to the country or seaside I enjoy but I couldn’t live there.

Décor: minimal or cosy

I have more of a charitable look- my husband used to be a minimalist but quickly realized he was fighting a losing battle and has now given up. We have cluttered surfaces everywhere and things at the bottom of piles that haven’t seen the light of day since we moved in eighteen years ago.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville

Having worked in children’s TV for so long I have to say that I’m Mary Poppins don’t I? I genuinely do enjoy the company of children they are delightful and so refreshingly honest. And of course there’s no-one in the world like my grandson.

Health: alternative or aspirin

I like a complimentary approach to medicine – I take aspirin first and then try to find out why I wasn’t well in the first place.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it

It’s taken us a while to get into it – but I’m now a wholehearted supporter of recycling and can find another use for a lot of things.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle I’m too old to jump about but I really like walking and I can walk for miles and miles as long as I’ve got the right shoes and a waterproof jacket. I do an aqua aerobics class once a week mainly because I’m the youngest in the class which makes me feel great.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe

I have to have things very carefully explained to me and then I’m fine I never want a gadget just because it’s new but if it can make my life easier then I’m all for it.

Janet is fronting Sky Learning and the WI’s campaign ‘W-Icon’, the search for the ultimate WI member. Visit www.sky.com/w-icon for more information and forinspiring hints and tips from the WI

Jane McDonald's Life Choices

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Singer and TV presenter Jane McDonald 45 lives between Yorkshire and London, Her partner is Ed Roth of the Searchers

Food : Always the same or always game

I’m pretty game and will try anything once and if I like it I’ll keep doing it – same with The only thing I don’t like for some very odd reason is tomatoes – oddly I like tomato sauce and I like grilled tomatoes but I hate a raw tomato, other than that I’m very game.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested

I don’t cook very often but when I get time I do quite enjoy it but I love eating out in nice restaurants and do so lots. I like good Northern food and I make a good shepherd’s pie and Sunday roast – comfort food I call it.

Clothes: M&S or D&G

I’m both but probably more High Street -you get can get great bargains on the high street. I do look in shops on Bond Street occasionally but rarely buy. My favourite designer is Joseph and on the High street I like Karen Millen and Coast.

Fashion: victim or setter

I certainly have been a victim in the past but now I like to do my own thing – I hate being styled for TV although the stylist on Loose Women is great but generally I hate being told what to wear.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs

I’m a girl and can happily shop all day as long as I can stop for a glass of something along the way. If I’m shopping in London I stop at Selfridges’s bar, if it’s up north it’s usually Betty’s tea room. I like making a day of shopping.

Holidays: Beach or piste

I’ve tried skiing but I was terrible at it – I kept asking myself what I was doing there, although the scenery was lovely but I need the heat. A five star hotel, cocktails by the pool and a handsome man at my side is my ideal holiday and looking at him is the only sightseeing I want to do.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now

I’m pretty organized and don’t like putting things off at all, I can’t sit down in the evening until I know everything has been done for the day.

Friends: quantity or quality

I’m very choosy and have few real friends although lots of acquaintances but friendship is a rare thing and I’m funny about letting people in. On Loose women we’re friendly but at the end of the day we’re colleagues rather than friends.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash

My idea of a good night out is a night in – I have to go to a lot of parties for work so a cosy night in at home is my ideal.

Drink: Beer or Bolli

Bolli -I can’t do volume so never a beer. I drink the occasional glass of champagne because it’s has fewer calories than a glass of wine but I’m not a great drinker; I’ll have a drink when I feel like and usually stop at two. My boyfriend doesn’t drink at all which makes me very aware of what I’m drinking.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta

I need tidiness and calm around me because I can’t relax if I can see something out the corner of my eye that needs done. I have a few people who help me now because I’m short of time. My Mum is a great help.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver

I’m a Sunday driver with a boy racer car – I like the idea of speed but never put my foot down. I drive a lovely Jaguar but it’s wasted on me in terms of its power. I should really have a Volvo. I like a nice car or at least a big car, I think small cars are like keyings.

Money: Rainy day or live for today

I used to be rainy day and then I got divorced and lost all my money so that changed my outlook completely. I now enjoy myself to the full and don’t worry about tomorrow.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat

I like the country although I have the best of both worlds because I spend half the week in Mayfair and then I’m straight back up North to Yorkshire but I’d hate to live in London full time.

Décor: minimal or cosy

Cosy I like sumptuous sofas, a big roaring fire, a piano and a big TV for when I get the chance to sit down and I don’t like lots of colour around me, I need everything harmonious and peaceful so I have neutral colours.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville

I’m not Cruella but I’m certainly not Mary Poppins. I’m not very good with children and never have been. I’m an aunty and a Godmother but not a very good one because I don’t know what to do with children. I’ve always been on the road and traveling but of course they don’t realize how rubbish I am, they just think I’m cool because I’m on the telly.

Health: alternative or aspirin

Give me drugs every time – I haven’t really tried any alternative routes because I need something to work quickly and natural routes take forever.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it

My Mother is very good at recycling- we have every bin in every colour and she sorts it all out but I’m not good at all.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle

I don’t do anything at all. Nor do I deprive myself of anything I just eat half of something and leave the rest. When I’m singing a lot because I use my diaphragm sp much I always look really toned. I have such a busy schedule there’s just no time to fit proper exercise into my day.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe

I need technology because of my job I’m just about to buy a new iphone so that I can stay on top of my emails when I’m away from home but I wouldn’t say I like gadgets, I just appreciate that they make life easier.

Jane McDonald's new album 'Jane' is out now.
Visit www.Jane-Mcdonald.com for tour information.

Marie Helvin's Life Choices

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Food : Always the same or always game

My father brought us up eating fish only because in Hawaii, where I was brought up, the meat is shipped from California and my Dad didn’t like the idea of it. I’ve never tried a sausage or pork or liver. I stick to fish and vegetables-I’ve had jelly fish which is a Chinese delicacy but I won’t be having it again.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested

I really enjoy cooking, am very experimental and like nothing better than doing things off the cuff. I’m good at Hawaiian dishes and Japanese dishes too and make lots of good pasta dishes anything to do with fish I’m comfortable with too.

Clothes: M&S or D&G

Both – I love what Jean Paul Gaultier is doing for Hermes- incredibly beautiful and glamorous but very expensive too. The older I get the more classically I’m dressing so I like Ralph Lauren and Donna Karen too. On the High street I like Whistles and M&S.

Fashion: victim or setter

The days of being a victim are long gone but now I’m in my 50’s I know what suits me which I know disappoints people because they expect me to look like I’ve just stepped from the pages of Vogue when in fact often I simply wear a beautiful pair of trousers and a white shirt – that’s like a uniform to me.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs

I’m very lucky because designers will often send their stuff to me and if I see something I like in a magazine I’ll call the store and either pick it up myself or have it sent to me so I don’t shop often and never all day. I like shopping in America and find the experience more pleasurable there.

Holidays: Beach or piste

I want nothing whatsoever to do with the cold- it was written into my modeling contract that I wouldn’t go anywhere near the snow or cold places. Although funnily enough, I’ve just come back from a cruise round the glaciers of Alaska. The wildlife was sensational. I’ve been round the world so I often go back to places I liked but I don’t lie in the sun any more.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now

I drive everyone nuts because I never procrastinate; I’m organized and get things done quickly.

Friends: quantity or quality

I have friends who have been my friends for thirty years. I’ve got great men friends who I love having lunch with it’s great to get into a man’s psyche. I enjoy my girl friends too and am very appreciative of the fact that I’ve got both, but in many ways I’m a loner and am happy with my own company.

Entertainment: Intimate Dinner or Big Bash

I have to go to parties for work occasionally but it’s never something I enjoy. I’m very often the first to leave and usually after only staying for half an hour. I haven’t been to a nightclub for fifteen yearsor so- an intimate dinner with a man is my ideal.

Drink: Beer or Bolli

I always have a bottle ofChampagne in my fridge and I’ll have a glass of wine with my meals after a long day I’ll have glass of champagne to unwind but I don’t keep wine in the house because it’s too tempting whereas one glass of champagne always feels enough.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta

Aggie and Kim are too extreme but I am house-proud and I’m happy to do it myself: I just put some music on and jump about wearing only my pants and bra and clean away. Twice a year I get a huge spring-clean done and I have a housekeeper who comes when I’m away. I don’t do my own ironing because I’m not good at it.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver

I don’t drive here -I have a license but I hate the traffic. I take taxis or have a driver. In Hawaii the streets are wide and driving is much more pleasurable.

Money: Rainy day or live for today

I’m a bit of both I’m a single woman of a certain age so I have to think about the future but I’ve just paid huge hospital bills for my late mother and that’s been a setback to me.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat

I’m fortunate because I’ve got a great contrast in London and Hawaii. I love the business of my life in London but Hawaii is home . Hawaii isn’t rural as such but it’s where I ride my horses As soon as there’s space in my diary or a lull in work, I’m off to Hawaii. Now my Dad is on his own I want to spend as much time as possible with him.

Décor: minimal or cosy

My last apartment was on the river and so it had a minimalist look which suited the building -at the moment I’m in a small cottage with a patio garden and so it’s more of a cosy look with a lot of things stacked – because I’ve run out of room.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville

I’m neither of those because I have never been around children. I like the look of them and would never be cruel in any way to them but they don’t interest me at all. My Godchildren are all grown up now but when they were children I was awkward around them. No one in my family has children, my parents have no grandchildren; it’s just the way it’s gone.

Health: alternative or aspirin

I’m a fan of integrated medicine which is an approach which combines the best of both approaches. I’m such a champion of this that I’m working on a food supplement range with my Doctor.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it

I recycle when I can and I do my but I could probably do more.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle

I used to go the gym but then decided I didn’t like the look of built up muscles and wanted more of a dancer’s body so I stopped the gym and now I just run or walk. I manage to run about three times a week.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe

I only learned how to use a computer last spring because I needed to be in touch with my publishers but I only use it for email. I write in longhand rather. If my career in modeling dwindles then Ill learn because I like writing. I don’t have an ipod or a blueberry or a blackberry or a raspberry – you see I don’t even know what they’re called.

Marie Helvin launches STOPä, the innovative skin renewal device, which offers professional clinical results from the comfort of home. The collagen boosting device is available exclusively at Selfridges or at www.stop-age.com

Penny Smith's Mentors

Fri, 5 Sep 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Penny Smith owes her love of words and rhetoric to two erudite women

There have been two people in my life who have had a great influence on me despite the fact that I’ve only met one of them. The first is Miss Judd who was my English teacher when I was about 15 years old and she was just one of those fantastic teachers you remember for the rest of your life. She used to have an open house for any students who wanted to drop by and talk to her about the book they were reading and so quite regularly I would trot off to her house with a couple of friends and we would sit and talk about books for hours .It was so refreshing to read for pleasure and it was from her that I learned that you could hold a view about something, an opinion and then expand on it and that it was even in fact quite all right once you had explored something a bit further to change your mind about it. Until then in typical teenage fashion, I thought changing your mind was a sign of weakness.

She was young enough not to seem like other teachers or at least I would never have gone to another teacher’s house, but she was so enthusiastic about her subject and that rubbed off on her pupils. She had a great joy of language and thrilled in using words that weren’t everyday words and then encouraged us to look them up. I didn’t keep in touch with her at all -when I left home I didn’t go back to Rutland for the best part of 20 years but she was a very influential part of my life I don’t think I’d have been a journalist had I not met her because I wouldn’t have had the courage of my convictions and to instil that kind of confidence in another person is such a great thing to do.

Around about this time I discovered the journalist Katharine Whitehorn’s column in The Sunday Observer and I don’t think thereafter I missed one of them. She was and still is the most superb writer. In the same way that Miss Judd could, I would hold a categorical opinion on something and then read her column and think; ‘oh’ and instantly I could see the logic of what she was saying. She was so clever and always had a different take on things that was what she was so brilliant at. I don’t remember reading an article and not being swayed by what she said and even if I agreed with her from the outset, she expanded the ideas I held and made me think more deeply about it, added a new perspective. I always wanted to write like that but of course have failed miserably.

I read the column avidly and often would save it until quite late on a Sunday before reading it and when I finished it I would sit for a couple of minutes thinking about what she’d written , my determination to become a journalist stronger. In those days of course I didn’t realise there was a hierarchy in newspapers, I thought you went along and sort of said to the editor, ‘I don’t want to be involved with any story that involves death or human suffering, but could I write a weekly column that gives people the benefit of my sagacity.’ Of course nothing like that happened and when I became a cub reporter I was in state of shock for quite a while.

Recently when reading her autobiography I was reminded all over again of her great wisdom and turn of phrase; I was taken back in time and I cried at the end and was just in awe of her all over again- I’ve never met her but would love to tell her that without knowing it, she played a crucial part in my career choice.

Penny Smith Coming Up Now, is out now .

Sian Williams' Life Choices

Fri, 5 Sep 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

I like warmth and colour at home

BBC Newsreader Sian Williams , 43 lives in North London with her partner and her three sons, Joss ,16, Alex 14 .and Seth 18 months.

Food : Always the same or always game

I tend to stick to the same thing which is a bit dull but as far as food goes I really don’t want to think about it too much. I don’t eat meat so that narrows the choices down a lot. I cook meat for my sons but I just have never liked the taste of it. When I first tried sushi I thought I was being very adventurous.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested

I’m happy to try new things as long as they don’t take too long I once followed a Rick Stein recipe and half way through it said now add your own home made pesto sauce see page 36 – it just all takes so long . When I stand for ages making something for the boys I end up telling them how long it took me to make and feel completely resentful that they didn’t fall on it full of appreciation.

Clothes: M&S or D&G

I’m more High street for TV because viewers tell you quickly what they think of what you’re wearing and so there’s no point in spending fortunes. This morning I was Top Shop although a viewer phoned to say I looked like Austin Powers. I’m quite small and tend to look even smaller in more causal clothes – I like Ronit Zilkha suits because they’re structured and I have one Alexander McQueen suit which cost fortune and so I wear it a lot and I don’t care what anyone else thinks of it.

Fashion: victim or setter

I’m not innately stylish and I often get it wrong -clashing colours look great on Sara Jessica Parker but on me they just don’t work. Doing my job I’ve learned that I can’t everyone happy and so I try not to worry about it.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs

If I could take Gok Wan with me and he picked out several outfits for me and spare net he agony of shopping that would be perfect. Shopping is one of my least favourite things to do.

Holidays: Beach or piste

I used to ski and then I broke my leg chasing my son down a simple run on the first day of the holiday and spent the rest of the week in plaster cast –it’s put me off ski holidays a bit but I’m not great at just lying about either. We’ve just had a week in Dorset in a lovely family hotel where they rang a bell for dinner- I loved it.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now

The things I don’t get done tend to wake me up at 2 in the morning and nag away at me so I try just to do things at once to save myself the grief of worrying.

Friends: quantity or quality

I like meeting new people but I think there’s a big jump from that to arranging to meet up. I prefer spending quality time with my good friends and I feel as if I don’t do enough of that.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash

You can hide at an intimate dinner but I like people chatting and unwinding round a table with a bottle of good wine and discovering new things about them. I’m not great at going out and like spending time at home.

Drink: Beer or Bolli

If the opportunity arises, I’ll have champagne. I used to drink beer in Liverpool and always behaved very badly so I now stick to wine. If I have a glass of wine every evening them I don’t feel I have to gulp it down at the weekend– getting up at four in the morning is a great leveler; an extra glass of wine is never worth the pay off.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta

I hate a messy kitchen and so that’s tidy but the rest of the house is pretty messy. I am awful at picking up clothes and so are my sons. From the age of 13 I did lots of cleaning job and so I’m not averse to doing it myself but now I have a cleaner I feel guilty.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver

I drive a skoda which is all you need to know about my interest in cars. I get the tube or the bus I don’t need a car I wouldn’t spend money on a car, it’s never going to be a priority with me.

Money: Rainy day or live for today

I tend to squirrel it away if I can which comes from working from a young age. From the age of 13 I worked eight hour days at the weekend. When I was at university I had masses of cleaning jobs because I was always terrified of debt. My dad came from a very poor background and that rubbed off on me. I think it’s good to be financially independent but when I splash out it’s on holidays rather than material possessions.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat

I’ve lived in cities for twenty years but I grew up by the sea and would love to get the chance to move somewhere on the south coast –that’s my long term aim.

Décor: minimal or cosy

I strive for a minimal look but looking round the kitchen I’d have to say it’s a messy- lived-in look. I don’t like a stark room I need a bit of warmth and colour.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville

I’m a complete push over when it comes to my sons and I let them off with far too much. In many ways they have it far easier than I did but they have good manners and are nice people.

Health: alternative or aspirin

I’ve had to rely on conventional medicine at times but I don’t like taking antibiotics if I can help it– a good night’s sleep and eating the right food should be enough.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it

I try to recycle and then I buy food online and four apples arrive on a polystyrene tray in a plastic bag, it drives me mad. Why can’t we have paper bags again? My children nag me about energy saving light bulbs so I’m getting good at things like that too.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle

I’ve joined a gym and was going every week for a while but the truth is I hate them and would much rather be outside. I walk tothe underground every day and I’m out with the baby in the afternoon- that’s enough.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe

My boss would like if I was more technically minded but I’m not very good at it. I find computers such a waste of time – I can sit on the internet and before I know it two hours have passed and I’ve got nothing to show for it. I don’t like mobile phones either- I don’t want to be contacted all the time. And you can’t gauge someone else’s mood with emails or texts and it just leads to miscommunication. I’m going to start a campaign to bring back one phone in the house -that was always enough.

Life Choices Lynda La Plante

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

My son changed the world for me Lynda La Plante

The writer and producer, Lynda La Plante, 62, lives between South London and The Hamptons in America. She has one son Lorcan, 5.

Food : Always the same or always game

I’m not really very adventurous - when you get to my age you just eat what you like and I prefer simple food. I live in The Hamptons in the US for six months a year and the fish is so fresh there that I often eat that or char grilled chicken with a salad. I’m allergic to red and green peepers so I need to avoid dishes with those.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested

I’m experimental but only because I’ve forgotten how to make a dish and just throw in anything. I fail miserably at anything exotic that requires masses of ingredients Having a five year old, I refuse point blank to cook a separate meal for him so at five years old he’s more experimental than I’ve ever been: in restaurants he orders mussels and sushi. I’m really good at stew and chicken soup and I come from Liverpool and so I make a great scouse stew.

Clothes: M&S or D&G

I’m loathe to spend a lot of money on clothes; no matter how lovely an outfit may be, I could never justify spending thousands of pounds on clothes. I read about women who spend thousands of pounds on a handbag- that’s madness. I do buy second hand designer clothes and try to alter them a bit. I often buy a coat, strip out the lining and change it and it looks so much better.

Fashion: victim or setter

I’m neither- I’m very aware of my body shape which means you can’t really be a setter. I’m wearing lots of flowing garments at the moment which suit me and are fairly trendy.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs

I’m inclined to do marathon shops and out here in the US- when I go, I go! I’m very good at shopping for things like Christmas well in advance and have a Christmas cupboard which is well stocked all year round so that I avoid the horrible Christmas rush.

The pound is so strong against the dollar at the moment that my son is dressed like a Prince these days.

Holidays: Beach or piste

I live in the Hamptons all summer and come out for Christmas so I’m surrounded by beautiful beaches most of the time. I love sailing and water skiing and have arranged to sail round Turkey soon in a beautiful creaking old sailing boat with a chef and staff – that’s my idea of a great holiday.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now

I can be both, it depends what’s involved. Being a producer and writer and having deadlines that have to be met, I’m highly organized-often people say to me, ‘Gosh, you get back to me so fast and are so organized.’ Little do they know the chaos I leave in my wake in other areas of my life.

Friends: quantity or quality

Again what I love about coming out to the Hamptons is that I have lotsof friends here that I pick up with when and I have lots of friends from my RADA days but I don’t feel the need to have people around me . I love dinner parties and catching up with people but I’m not someone who sits on the phone for hours to my friends. When I meet people I have a rapport with then I strike up a friendship with them.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash

I like both- when I organize a dinner party it seems to begin with just six people then before I know it I’ve invited twelve. I like giving big parties too.

Drink: Beer or Bolli

I’m wine rather than these – in the summer I enjoy Chardonnay and then I in the winter I enjoy red wine-I have a glass of wine every day.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta

I’m untidy but obsessively clean if that makes sense. I have help but I have been known to roll my sleeves up, I always feel good when I’ve cleaned and polished.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver

Cars are my passion: I’ve always loved them. I drive a good steady Lexus for shopping and running around; I have an outrageous Bentley and an old Saab convertible, a Land Rover and a convertible Mercedes. I take such good care of them, I polish them and clean them but I haven’t a clue what’s going on under the bonnet but they look immaculate.

Money: Rainy day or live for today

I’m a spender and always have been – some people would say it’s because I’m optimistic while others would say it’s stupidity, however you can’t take it with you is my philosophy towards money. I’m a high earner but I work hard and I don’t see the point of doing that if you then don’t enjoy spending it.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat

I’m a little bit if both I live in Richmond near the park and so it feels like I’m in the country but not too far away from the city and in the Hamptons I’m out in the wilds and so I’ve got the best of both worlds.

Décor: minimal or cosy

The Minimal look is for single people who don’t like sitting down. I like a really cosy warm look with lots of art and colour around me.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville

I love children and have a home where lots of children come and play, it’s constantly full of children. Having Lorcan has changed my life beyond anything I could have imagined.

Health: alternative or aspirin

I try to be alternative where possible and protect myself from having to be either -I eat sensibly, take vitamins and exercise but when things go wrong it would be silly not to turn to the experts.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it

I recycle a lot of things by giving them away to people – toys and clothes in particular and I try my best to recycle waste too.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle

The gym used to be a huge part of my life -I went regularly and had a trainer but I’ve changed my approach and instead of going to the gym and getting on an exercise bike, I now just cycle outside and I swim a lot too. I’m very aware of exercise and how important it is.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe

I’m surrounded by technical experts and I try myself but I’m pretty hopeless -I can’t even remember my own mobile phone number. I have to use computers for work but I’m paranoid about the internet and suspicious of it – I get emails from people asking me if I would like to be their friend- no I would not! Why anyone would want to make friends over the internet is beyond me.

Deadly Intent by Lynda La Plante is available now in all good bookstores

Suzanne Shaw: 'I was born in the wrong century'

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

'I was born in the wrong century’

The singer and dancer Suzanne Shaw 26 lives in Buckinghamshire with her boyfriend DJ Jason King and her son Corey, 3.

Food : Always the same or always game

I like to stick to what I know and then have a bit of someone else’s crocodile I usually ask the waiter what he recommends and when I’m in a different country I’m a bit more adventurous –but instinctively I go towards the safe option of steak, chicken or fish.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested

I’m experimental but it usually always goes wrong. My boyfriend is a great cook and so these days I leave the cooking to him. I It’s something I enjoy but only if I’ve got time, I hate cooking in a rush. When I do cook I always think I should do it more often because I enjoy it so much. Everyone says my chill is really good.

Clothes: M&S or D&G

I’d rather have three cheaper dresses than one good dress although I do have one Christian Lacroix dress which I like a lot. I love the High Street - Mango, River Island and Top Shop are my favourites

Fashion: victim or setter

I’m a victim. I like looking my best and shop a lot but I’m not good at putting things together myself, I just look at what’s in a magazine and copy that particularly accessories, I don’t know where to start with those.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs

I shop often but for very short periods of time. I never try clothes on I prefer trying things on at home and I hate queuing. I go into a shop see what I like grab it, pay for it and go home. I’d much rather take things back than spend time in the shop

Holidays: Beach or piste

I’ve never been skiing but I will take Corey when he’s a bit older.

I’m not a fan of sight seeing but I do like action holidays- I’m first to bungee jump or paraglide. Our last holiday was a safari which I really enjoyed but these days I’m working so hard that a book round the pool is what’s required.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now

It just depends what day it is, I’m very changeable – a bedroom that needs to be cleared out can sit like that for months with me and I’ll bury my head in the sand about it . Then there are other days when I just get a list together and completely focus on ticking things off and doing them.

Friends: quantity or quality

I have a handful of friends who are all really special and dear to me. I wouldn’t change them for the world. I’m not great at keeping in

touch with former colleagues because that takes up a lot of time.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash

I dance all day so it’s not my idea of a good night out and so I much prefer a pub to a club. I hate busy places too, I would prefer to sit down and chat. I enjoy giving parties – we had a great party at New Year which I loved.

Drink: Beer or Bolli

I drink Chardonnay and the occasional spirit but I would have a glass of champagne if it was being offered. I tend to drink only at weekends but sometimes when I get home putting my feet up and having a glass of wine is just what I need but I try to avoid doing that because it’s so fattening.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta

I’m really clean but I struggle to be tidy, especially with p47aperwork. I think if I get more storage in my house I would be a lot better. I don’t have help in the house, I like doing it myself.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver

I love my cars and I would love to be on Top Gear. I drive a sensible Merecedes because of my son which means I miss out on soft tops and all the fancy bits but my boyfriend drives a Range Rover which is great to drive and looks great too.

Money: Rainy day or live for today

I’m live for today but I’m getting better. I have put money away for Corey and I’ve just bought a house which has been scary but in the long term I’m sure will be a great investment.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat

I haven’t lived in the city for four years- I’m there for work and then can’t wait to get home. I love living in the country, village life is so great; everyone knows everyone else, Corey goes to a great school nearby and the local pub is great too. It’s ideal for bringing up a child.

Décor: minimal or cosy

I’m not bothered about colours in a room but I need it to have personality, it needs to say something about the person who owns it. I like bookcases and things of interest and I don’t think you can have that with a minimal look.

Health: alternative or aspirin

I’m alternative -I do a lot of meditation and reiki and take a lot of vitamins but I would take antibiotics if I needed them.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it

I try, and I’m getting good but it’s hard at the moment because we don’t have separate bins yet so it’s quite a chore but we do try.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle

Exercise is a huge part of my life- I do eight shows a week which alone makes you pretty fit but I also I go to the gym, swim, walk when I get the chance and go for the occasional run. I do something every day, I really enjoy it and feel awful when I don’t do something.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe

I was born in the wrong century- I hate technology with a passion. I use a pen and paper. I have a mobile phone and I phone people but I don’t text them, I would much rather talk to them. I can’t email, I can’t use the internet and I don’t want to. I see people with all these fancy phones and I just think what a waste of time .

Suzanne Shaw is the special guest of the Variety Club Raceday at Sandown Park Racecourse on Saturday 30th August. For further information vist www.sandown.co.uk or contact: 01372 47 00

My Mentor - Lulu

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

When I was 14 I was the lead singer of a band called The Gleneagles and we toured venues in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It was at one of these, The Lindella Club, that I was spotted by Tony Gordon. He ran a couple of clubs at the time and so didn’t have time to manage my career but he introduced me to his sister Marion Massey who was to be my manager for the next twenty five years.

She said later that she was immediately struck by me despite the fact that I had a heavy cold, was pale and was wearing three jumpers; she saw something in me that fascinated her. She had three young children at that time – twins of only about five years old and I’m not sure that she realised what she was taking on. The first thing she and her brother did was to change my name from Marie Lawrie to Lulu and the band became The Luvvers- if she’d done nothing else for me that alone was life changing, who knows what success I would have had had that not happened?

She was a very sophisticated and chic woman and she had a very loud commanding voice to match her big personality. She spoke in what I saw at the time as a posh voice, a middle class accent. She lived in a huge house in Holland Park and had staff so she was very wealthy which was like an alien world to me. She was warm and maternal –she was Jewish and so was very family orientated and funny and loved food- all these qualities I loved in her.

Looking back now, I have no idea how she balanced her family life with managing me but it must have been difficult. However she did it, she did a great job; she guided me in ways that someone younger couldn’t have, she was always very protective of me and I felt very much that she was in my corner looking after my interests. For instance when I first went to London I lived with her parents which was wonderful for me. She didn’t manage anyone else, I was her sole charge which was very unusual in those days and still would be today. That could only have worked to my advantage.

People have always asked me why I didn’t go off the rails and I’m convinced it was because I was managed by this older woman who I had to answer to. Had I been managed by a group of young guys my own age, things may well have turned out very differently, she was instrumental in keeping my feet on the ground, there’s no doubt of that. My mother found it very difficult because she thought this woman had taken her place, and in many ways she had.

Had I not met her, my life would have been very different- I don’t doubt that I would have been in this business, but I would have had a very different career. It may have been a better one, who knows, but I do believe that I may well have got into more trouble along the way and it’s a great testament to her that I never lost my way.

We went our separate ways after twenty five years, which was beyond time for a change- psychologically there’s a lot that could be explored there in terms of the length that we both hung onto the relationship when it should have finished earlier. We lost touch and I’ve never really thought that she knew how much I appreciated her, but I would like to honour the fact that for a long time she guided every aspect of my life; she discovered, nurtured and masterminded my career and I owe her a lot.

'Lulu's Time Bomb products are available exclusively on QVC and at www.lulusplace.co.uk.

Life As I Know It - Katherine Jenkins

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Singer Katherine Jenkins, 25 lives in North London with her singer/songwriter boyfriend Steve Hart, 32.

If I could change anything about myself I'd...

be Wonder woman and be able to work as much and spend more time with my friends and family.

The most romantic thing anyone's ever done for me is...

Taken me on a holiday to Florida for my birthday. My boyfriend took me and we hired a car in drove around for three weeks stopping in different hotels if he had been a girl it would have been like Thelma and Louise because it was such a big adventure.

Not a lot of people know this but I'm very good at ...

Tap dancing. I went to tap and jazz lessons when I was young for quite a few years and it’s something I do every so often for a laugh.

You may not know it but I'm no good at ...

Anything to do with sports - tennis, hockey, netball -I am shocking. I would definitely be the last person you would pick for the team

To wake myself up I...

Have a good stretch and drink a glass of water with a Vitamin C tablet.

Last thing at night I always...

Watch a bit of telly and play with my dog- Oh and take my makeup off.

If I have time to myself ...

I cook at home and invite some friends round.

When I'm feeling down I...

Send myself to my local salon and get either a facial or a massage but that doesn’t happy very often so I must be a happy person.

My "happy place" is...

Neath, my home town. I like to go to a park up there called the Gnoll which is where I used to play as a kid, it’s just a beautiful country park, and I like to go for a nice walk.

My best friend is...

Kristy, we have been friends since we met on the first day of school at 11

The worst thing you could say to me is...

That I am not working hard enough. I put my all into everything I do so that would hurt.

The best thing my parents taught me...

To believe in myself and to follow my dreams and that if you work hard enough they will happen.

If I can, I always try to avoid...

Smoky places.Yes because of my voice. I have always been against smoking. I lost my Dad to lung cancer so it’s something that’s really important to me.

It's not good for my image but I like ...

Chocolate. I could eat it every day so I am never going to be really stick thin.

My biggest influence ...

Is my mum. Because she has always been the breadwinner of the house and a career woman and I have always looked up to her.

My greatest weakness / self indulgence is...

Chocolate again.

No matter how strong willed I am, my boyfriend just has to say “shall we have a bit of chocolate?” and then it all goes out the window. It’s terrible for your voice and so I could never eat it on the day of a show but after a show it’s fine.

If I could pass any law it would be...

That the fast lane on the motorway is only for overtaking. I would make some sort of law work where it’s more enforced than it is. It’s clogging the motorways up and it takes forever to get anywhere now.

I drive ...

An Audi and a smart car.

The song I can never get out of my head is...

Time to Say Goodbye because I am singing it all the time on my tour.

When I was a child I wanted to be ...

A singer. I always wanted to be a singer

If I could be someone else I'd be ...

I would like to be a teacher again. I did it for a year and loved it so much that one day in some capacity I hope to go back to it. I passed the teaching exams whilst at the Royal Academy as a back-up plan in case the singing didn’t work out

My biggest regret is ...

I don’t regret anything – I am definitely a positive person. You have to try and see everything in a positive way and if you have that kind of way of thinking, things work out for the best.

My proudest moment...

Was last year when I won my Brit Award, that was amazing because all my family were there they had come up on a bus trip from Neath, so that made it even more special.
and I didn’t expect to win.

My little black book wouldn't be complete without...

My designer who makes all my stage clothes.

The shop I can't walk past without buying something is ...

Karen Millen and Jigsaw.

The most expensive thing I've ever frittered money on...

My mum brought me up to respect money so I wouldn’t say I fritter it away. If I am going to spend a lot of money it’s a very thought out decision. The most I have ever spent on one item would be my car but I love it and it’s brought me a lot of pleasure.

I always laugh at...

My boyfriend Steve; he is very funny

When I need to wind down I...

Spend some time at home, do some cooking and invite some friends round and connect with everyone again.

I know I'm having a bad hair day when...

My boyfriend tells me.

On feeling fat days I...

Wear a sort of flairy long skirt that doesn’t make me look bloated.

My last meal would be...

Cockles and lava bread and then a roast dinner.

Where is your favourite place in Britain?

Neath – where I was brought up.

What is your favourite restaurant?

The Mango rooms in Camden but it’s almost like a secret that I don’t want anyone else to know about, I don’t want everyone rushing there and then I can’t get a table.

Where was your last holiday?

Koh Samui in Thailand.

What are you reading at the moment?

I have just finished The Time Traveller’s Wife; it’s fabulous I loved it. It’s just like the Lovely Bones, I thought it was lovely.

What was the last film you went to see?

Munich.Which was good but it was completely different from what I expected and it’s very long.

The best day of my life ...

Would be the day I won the Classical Brit. It was great from the start and we had a great party afterwards.

Be Careful what you wish for ...

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

What did you want to be when you grew up? Every little girl has her fantasy job, and some of us even achieve it. But living the dream can be a sever reality check- as these two women discovered

Annie Nelson, 33 lives in Birkenhead, Auckland’s North Shore, New Zealand

But was brought up in Basingstoke, England. She’s married to Tony Nelson.

And they have one son Ted, 3. Annie trained to be a nun but is now Deputy Principal of Birkenhead Primary School

For almost as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a nun. My childhood was very traditionally Catholic- I am one of eight children, I went to Catholic schools and even a Catholic college; it was a very traditional childhood, a bit like Angela’s Ashes I like to think. We had the obvious money trouble that comes with a family of ten and an order of nuns nearby, The Daughters of Charity, were an amazing support to the whole family. I’m number five in the eight, and the younger of the two girls. The Daughters always cared about us: they delivered food, Christmas presents and even ice cream money. I always felt like I was cared for and even in a sense belonged to them. They sent me off safely to College with a holy statue, a card and £10. They are wonderful people and I had a strong sense that I wanted to give something back to them and wanted to help others who had been in the same situation as me.
People’s reactions to my decision were very mixed: my mum was really pleased, but my dad was a bit more reticent and my brothers and sister reacted the way siblings in big families react to anything, and that is to laugh and tease you. However, a great friend of mine had turned against Catholicism and she wrote me a very strong letter advising me against ‘doing the devil’s work.’ as she called it. Naturally we lost contact for a while but we got back in touch a few years ago. Many other friends questioned me and said that I’d be able to help people in other ways. I tended not to argue back but now I know they were right.

My parents were keen that I go to college when I finished school and then if I still felt the same way I could join the order. My resolve didn’t waver and In my last year of college, I took steps to enter the order when I graduated. I began to have regular one to one meetings with a sister and we talked about the future and my next steps. At this time I also spent a lot of weekends meeting and staying with various communities around the London area. Once the summer holidays of my sabbatical year were complete, I worked and lived in Victoria with a very strong group of sisters running The Passage, a shelter for the homeless.

I really enjoyed it and I worked very hard – but never as hard as the others, and it was tough. After spending a month or so there I worked in a school for children with hearing impairments. The house was a very small community and the sisters were powerhouses of energy, enthusiasm and commitment. They were all incredibly inspiring women.

Before I became a nun I’d expected hard work, long days and early nights, and time filled with people, doing worthy jobs for people who needed it. Some of that was correct; I worked the doors of a night shelter, I served breakfasts to the homeless and managed to get to Mass on a very regular basis. Despite all this, life was crowded and lonely. It was ordinary and in a way just like family life - we ate together, prayed together and talked together- we’d even watch Countdown together like my Mum and Dad did. I’d read the numbers and letters out to the sisters who couldn’t see the screen very well. Funnily enough these would be my bleaker moments because I found that funny and there was no one to “catch” the moment with.

I realised very quickly that it wasn’t for me. I felt supervised and never relaxed. In one of my initial interviews I was told that if it was right I’d feel at home and I didn’t ever feel like that. I missed freedom of choice. I realised that life is a gift, it flies by and if you spend a minute regretting decisions then it is an insult to God. You have to believe that you are in the right place, and if you aren’t then you must either make it work or make it better. Dad insisted that coming home was for the best, the convent wasn’t a place for me. He believed that my gift would be to have a husband, children and teach. And so I left.
For a while I felt embarrassed by starting something and not finishing it, it’s always difficult to believe you have failed at something, but I’m really glad I met all those tremendous women. I often think of them, and before moving to New Zealand I had intermittent contact with one or two of them. Before I left one of the sisters advised me that maybe I would never have the feeling of being at home anywhere and wouldn’t settle at anything. I almost believed her until I met my husband. The feeling of being at home comes from being with the right person and knowing that you’re in the right place. It was an amazing experience that taught me how to go the extra mile, but I also learned that attitude can be found in many places, especially if you’re prepared to look.

Former air hostess Samantha Taylor , 31 is single and lives in Muswell Hill, She now works in the Beauty industry.

When I was a little girl I remember the teacher asking me to draw a picture of what I wanted to be when I grew up and I drew a picture of an air hostess carrying a tray- I always wanted to be an air hostess. It was for a number of reasons- I remember watching old Doris Day and James Garner movies where he was the dashing Captain and she the beautiful immaculately groomed air hostess. This image was reinforced for me because at that time one of my mother’s friends was an air hostess and she was impossibly stylish and chic and I grew up with this idea that it was the ultimate in glamorous jobs and I had this image in my head of what life as an air hostess would be like and never really entertained the idea of doing anything else.

When I was 19 I was offered a job with Qantas airlines and at first it lived up to my expectations – I was flying all over Australia and earning really good money for a 19 year old. It was great fun meeting all sorts of new people and learning new skills and I loved when I was introduced to people telling them I was an air hostess but very quickly the novelty wore off and the realities of the job hit home.

Working with so many females definitely has drawbacks and the amount of backbiting that goes on is incredible. There are a lot of women working with a lot of eligible and not so eligible pilots and many of these girls didn’t care what they had to do to attract their attention and you can imagine what went on. I found that very tiresome and after a while pathetic. There really wasn’t much sense of sisterhood, it’s much more of a dog eat dog world to work in.

And of course the combination of eating all that flight food and going out boozing all night meant the weight really piled on me and I was spoken to a couple of times about it – not in an official capacity as such but it meant that I was more or less on a permanent diet. And flying definitely interferes with your sleep patterns and your relationships too – you often don’t finish work until midnight and can be working again at 5 in the morning; or if you have a day off you can be on call and phoned at three in the morning and asked to be on the tarmac in an hour. There’s always a feeling that your life isn’t your own.

I thought it would be very jet set and glamorous the reality is it’s not glamorous at all- flying in Western Australia with mining destinations meant that you’d have a plane load of rude drunken miners trying to grope you, also a lot of men proposition women flight attendants which is pretty degrading too. Once we had a man on the plane who dropped money on the floor and when one of the other air hostesses picked it up she asked around whose money it was and then she walked into the galley and he gestured with his head towards the toilet intimating that she’d picked up the money and had to play the game. People leave their manners at the door on a plane – especially men.

It’s pretty dead end in terms of career prospects too- you can’t really work your way up and nor can you really transfer your skills other than in a customer service role so in a funny way it’s pretty dead end. I always thought that I would end up working on long haul flights, that was my aim but after four years I just wanted to get out of the industry and get my life back. I now work in the beauty industry and I’ve never regretted leaving the industry at all. I just now watch those old movies with a more cynical view.

Heaven and Hell - Darcy Bussell

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Darcy Bussell, 35 is married to Angus Forbes . they have two children Married to Angus Phoebe, 3 and Zoe 9 months and live in West London

Great Holidays …

Which was your best holiday?
A few years ago a group of 14 of us hired a Turkish fishing boat which had been converted into a sailing boat. It came with a captain too and he sailed us around all these beautiful islands off the beaten track. It was wonderful because every morning when we woke up we were in a different bay, it was wonderful. The boat was also big enough to have your own space. We haven’t done it yet with any kids; I’m waiting until they are old enough so that I don’t panic about them falling overboard and of course they don’t get up before us in the morning.

What’s the best hotel you’ve stayed in?
The Hyatt in Hamburg. I was working there and stayed in the hotel for a week. It had heated bathroom floors, a walk-in shower and the most wonderful swimming pool. It was great to come home to it after a hard day’s work.

What do you need for a perfect holiday.
Definitely sun. Good child care is important now too, although I don’t want to go on one of these all-inclusive children orientated holidays, there would be too many children in grown up places for me. I also like somewhere where they speak English - I know that sounds bad but when you have children it does make it easier if they get ill, it’s good to know you’d be understood.

What do you always take with you?
My swimming costume and sun cream are essentials. I like to take a couple of magazines and I also nail varnish because it’s about the only time I get to paint my nails. I always pack my water colours too as I do love to paint.

What’s your best piece of travel advice?
I think it’s really important to avoid stress when traveling and the best way to do that is to arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare and be extremely organised that way you can relax as much as possible.

…and disasters

What was your worst holiday?
We went to Antigua and it was a disaster. Firstly it was too far to go for just a week and then when we arrived there had just been terrible storms and there was all this rain and it was a bit depressing. I really felt for the people there because they make their living from tourism and it was just so wet and miserable.

What was your worst experience on holiday?
I’ve been very lucky I once had my rental car stolen and thought it was going to be a disaster but we found it round the corner. I also once had tonsillitis on holiday which wasn’t very pleasant,I had to go top bed for a couple of days.

What’s the biggest packing mistake you’ve made?
I like to think I’m an expert on packing because we go on 2 month tours and so we have to be prepared for all sorts of weather. On my honeymoon however I took too many clothes and felt I had to wear a different dress each night because I’d brought them.

Which is the worst hotel you’ve stayed in?
We don’t often stay in hotels, we tend to hire villas or boats. We once bare-boated in a sailing boat in Greece and that was probably the worst thing I’ve slept on. The water tank leaked and everything got wet. And even though it was lovely weather we had to hang everything out to dry. The bathrooms were awful and although boats can be tough this one was particularly awful. Also we called the dingy a deflatable because every time we got in it we had to pump it continuously to stop it sinking every time we went to shore.

I’ve been quite lucky with hotels with work. There was only one bad hotel in New York - The Holiday Inn - and they had mice. That was quite amusing. The Holiday Inn will probably never let me stay in their hotels ever again. Everyone had to move room because there were mice in every room. Luckily I didn’t see them but other people did.

What do you avoid on holiday?
When I’m on holiday with my family we avoid hotels because I stay in so many hotels when I’m on tour. We sometimes stay in very small boutique hotels but I tend to think they’re overpriced particularly when we now have children. So we tend to rent houses and that works well for us. I also tend to avoid other people we try and get off the beaten track and live quietly.

What do you hate about holidays?
I love holidays and I hate coming home. They are never long enough. We always do a lot of research before we go and so on the whole they usually turn out to be very good and we aren’t in for any surprises.

Darcey Bussell : Pilates For Life a Michael Joseph Paperback available form 12th January price £14.99

My Mentors - Mary Portas

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

When I was 23 I was working as display manager for Top Shop in Oxford Circus. Sir Ralph Halpern, who was the boss of the Burton Group at that time, decided to take me under his wing and got me involved in the visual side of retailing. He was very aware that the creative side of retailing was the most important part of it all .I was only 23 and felt totally out of my depth: I had regular one to one meetings with him and he sent me to The States to learn about how they retailed; amazing opportunities for someone of that age, for the first time I knew what stress was.

He was a petite man but a dynamic force, witty and a very strong presence in a room. I remember looking at him and admiring his energy and drive. He believed in my potential and in turn I grew in self belief. I used to go to him with these ideas and he would say straight away ‘do it.’ Waxing lyrical and looking at things from all angles isn’t on in retailing. Everything moves so fast there isn’t time to dither. If you believe in something, do it and to this day I’m a great believer in my gut instinct.

My business partner, Peter Cross is similar in that when I first met him I was blown away by his energy. He was a client of mine and he insisted I come along to every meeting which really pissed me off – I wouldn’t build up much of a business if I had to go to every meeting- but I always went because I got such a buzz being around him. I need people around me, I’m not a solitary player at all and every time I met up with him I felt energised.

We thought in the same way which was inspirational and it wasn’t long before we decided we should work together.

He really enjoys people, especially if he’s inspiring them but if he is in the company of someone dull, he isn’t at his best. He’s got a dry sense of humour and he’s got vulnerability too and of course he’s very handsome which always helps. He understands me and knows exactly how to get the best out of me, always with great kindness and humour. If something doesn’t inspire me at once I tend to dismiss it, but Peter makes me look again at ideas, he makes me think deeper and points out the potential in things.
From him I’ve learned what others think about me because sometimes when you’re the boss you don’t often get a true sense of that. I have a big persona which many people find threatening, especially in a woman, but he’s made me use that as a positive thing. I’ve learned to channel that and to use my skills to my best. I have the vision and he carries it out. He’s very passionate about things and drives it to the last degree and won’t give up until he’s got what he wants and won’t let people away with things. At times this can divide opinion on him because he drives others so hard, I think people either love him or hate him.

I’m firmly in the love camp: he believes in me and I know he thinks I’m the best thing since sliced bread which is a very nice feeling in life. The great thing is the feeling is mutual.

Mary Queen of Shops on BBC 2, starts on June 9th and is produced by Optomen.

Dames of the Games

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Dame Mary Glen-Haig, 87, lives in West London. She competed in the fencing event in the 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games and is a double Commonwealth gold medallist. She is the honorary president of the British fencing association, an honour only held before by Winston Churchill.

My father fenced in the 1908 Olympic games and was instrumental in the forming of the fencing Club before the First World War and then when he was asked to teach the Ladies Section he took me along. I must have been about ten years old and I was allowed to join in the class work and got to know everyone. I liked it immensely. I started to compete and then gradually began to compete at international level but it was very amateurish then, nothing was laid on for you; I remember going to a competition in France and my father insisting that my brother come with me. The cheapest way to do it was for us to sit up all night on the overnight ferry, and then at the other end get a train and then I’d compete after all that.

Taking part in the Olympics was just a natural progression from that point and it was thrilling to be a part of it but life was very different in those days- there was a war on and rations made life much more difficult. We had to go to a haberdashery shop in Oxford Street called Bourne and Hollingsworth and buy a white button through dress with our own money and coupons, I think we were given a badge for our blazers. One of the competitors, Macdonald Bailey, had connections with the rag trade and he gave every lady in the Olympic team a cocktail dress which was really rather thrilling because no-one had such a thing and we were all delighted with it. There were one or two parties and generally it was a happy, sociable time.

The night before my event I was working until 8pm in my job as an administrator at Kings College Hospital. That was probably a good thing because I don’t remember being nervous, how could you be nervous when there were air raids and casualties every night? I remember leaving the hospital with my fencing kit when I realised I didn’t have my ration book with me and I had to go back and find the cook and get some butter and sugar from her before I set off again. We were billeted in an empty house behind Victoria station with four of us to a room sleeping in camp beds, it wasn’t exactly the lap of luxury.

On the day itself I reached the semi finals and was very confident because I had beaten everyone but in the intervening time between events someone suggested I should rest and I was taken to a house in Harrow where I promptly fell asleep in the sun in the garden.; quite the wrong thing to do before competing in an Olympic event, but in those days athletes were a docile obedient bunch and of course we had no managers or coaches as such. I came eighth in the final and I’ve always thought that if my father had been present – he was assisting at the modern pentathlon event in Aldershot – it may well have been quite a different result; I don’t think I’d have won but I’m sure I’d have got a medal. However that may well have sent me down a different path in life and I don’t regret anything because I’ve had huge pleasure from fencing my whole life. It’s enabled me to travel the world, I went onto compete in three more Olympic Games, although I was over the hill for medals I was good enough to retain my place in the team and participated in Three Commonwealth Games, winning gold in 1950 and 1954.

The world has changed hugely since those days and it saddens me that sport, as well as all walks of life has become about money and oneself. In those days money wasn’t an issue. It just didn’t matter but that’s all changed and that makes me sad. But it’s wonderful that the 2012 Olympics are going to be held in Britain I think it will be wonderful for the whole country.

Sprinter Sylvia Disley competed in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. She won a bronze medal in the 1952 Helsinki Games for the relay race. She’s married to fellow Olympian steeplechaser John Disley who co-founded the London Marathon. They live in Hampton and have two daughters Emma, 40 and Kate 38 and two grandchildren Alexandra 12 and Olivia, 2.

As a child I was aware that I was a fast runner- no-one had ever beaten me- but I never imagined I’d compete at Olympic level. When I was 16 I read in the newspaper that the Women’s National Athletics Championship was going to be held the next day and I phoned up and asked if I could take part. I couldn’t because entries had closed three weeks earlier, but I was put in touch with my local club and the following year I won the British Championship.

However in many ways I’d prefer to forget the London Olympics- I tore my hamstring a few months before and it didn’t heal until after the Games so it wasn’t my finest hour –I remember being terribly proud and excited that they were being held on my home turf and that’s exactly how I feel about them being held here in 2012.

My Mother came to see me and she had to buy her own ticket - I had complete strangers asking me for a free ticket to watch the games and my answer was always the same : “”Even my Mother had to buy her own ticket.” It was regarded as a strange thing for a girl to do in those days – people used to think you had to be ugly and muscle-bound with piano stool legs to be a runner. I went through my life trying to highlight that women athletes are feminine; I always made an effort to dress properly and wear make up . Funnily enough in the European Championships in Oslo in 1946 it was discovered that two of the fastest women there were in fact men; and so in 1948 in London that was the year they introduced sex testing which involved a somewhat embarrassing dropping of the shorts. That probably isn’t necessary these days because of the very tight-fitting shorts they wear.

Although it will be so different from 1948 not least because of the number of events and the facilities that will be on offer. In 1948 it was very impressive because they did the whole thing on a budget the whole thing cost £600 000 and they made a £10 000 profit and they did that by using existing facilities. For example they used nurses’ homes and schools to house athletes; and they put a track down at Wembley Football Stadium and used that for athletics events. One very nice touch was that next door to Wembley was the Empire Pool which had been a dance hall during the war and when they took the floor up there was a 50 metre pool underneath and so all they had to do was put in the seats and the facilities for the press and it was ready. As soon as the swimming events were over they boarded up the pool and used it as the venue for fencing, boxing and wrestling they made that change in the space of 48 hours, when you look back it was very well done considering what they had to work with.

Of course there was no sponsorship in those days and that meant that we all had to work. I was a journalist and I had to train in the evenings after work and any holidays I had were taken up competing abroad. But I rather liked having a life outside athletics; I wouldn’t have liked my whole life to have been dominated by it. Although in many ways it has because I married a fellow athlete, as did many of the other girls. I think it’s because we met up at so many events that it was inevitable.

Our daughters have never found it hard to live up to being the daughter of two medal winners ; they were both very sporty in their own right but I think competing at that level has to be something you come to yourself. The training has certainly given me the mental attitude that you should keep active – I still swim, cycle and do aerobics every week and have only just stopped skiing. We’re still involved with The Olympian Association and like to feel that we have something to pass onto younger people.; I know our granddaughter is quietly proud of us.

Sprinter Dorothy Parlett 78 lives in Woodford Green, Essex and has three children 4 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. She is married to her second husband John Parlett who is also a former Olympian. She won a silver medal in the 100 metres race at the 1948 Olympic Games.

If you had told me I’d have won a Silver Olympic medal for sprinting six months before I did I’d never have believed you because until 1947 my sport was the high jump. Then in 1947 they were drawing up a list of possible names for the Olympics and I was put forward. I was put in the hands of Sandy Duncan who was an international long jumper and I began to train with him. He didn’t think I would make the grade as a high jumper but thought I was a great sprinter .I started sprint training with him in March and won a silver medal in August of 1948.

I trained four evenings a week for a couple of hours and competed on a Saturday. I had a full time job in the city as a typist and so could only train after work for a couple of hours. People were excited by the Olympics in London but you can’t compare it to 2012 in any way, they were entirely different times- we didn’t have as long to prepare for it; I think we only knew it was going to take place two years beforehand, it was altogether more low key. Of course there was rationing but as an Olympic hopeful we were given a little bit more, we had extra meat.

On the day I was competing I remember I felt incredibly nervous as I came out into Wembley Stadium in front of the thousands of people who were there - I’d never even competed in an international event before the Olympic Games which seems extraordinary in today’s terms. My parents and fiancé were there watching me and for years afterwards people said to me. “I saw you run, I was there.” which was lovely. It had been beautiful weather when I won the heat which suited me very well, but unfortunately the weather broke and it was wet and horrible on the day of the final but I was exhilarated to get the silver medal. I was beaten by Fanny Blankers-Koen of The Netherlands and she was a superb athlete.

In those days coming second was a great feat as was simply being selected to take part but nowadays the emphasis is all on being number one and the important part about taking part has been lost. I think money entering sport has changed everything- we were much lighter hearted about it all; we competed because we loved it. I give talks to schools sometimes and take my medal with me and I always try to convey to children the importance of enjoying what they’re doing, not just winning. I do however feel heartened when I overhear them saying “Mummy I held an Olympic medal today” on their way out of the school, it makes me feel that it is still valuable.

And athletes nowadays are national celebrities which is a new phenomenon too, although I did have my share of publicity I suppose: after the heat on the Saturday I was on the front pages of The Sunday Pictorial and I was recognised by people in the street. I was invited to open jumble sales and sports meetings and when they were showing the Olympic film at various cinemas I was invited to go on stage to introduce it which happened in about 6 cinemas in East London- it was all quite exciting.

I’m not sure if it’s difficult having a mother with a silver Olympic medal: my children were very sporty at school and I had high hopes that they would follow in my footsteps but I think in many ways it was too much to live up to. People would say to them, “Your mother won the silver, how about you trying for the gold?” and that naturally put them off. It was a disappointment to me but they are all very proud of me.

I am thrilled London won the Olympics although it’s a long time off, I just hope I’ll still be around for them. Very strangely the day the bid was being announced I had a German film crew in my home watching my reaction to the news and I had to be very exuberant but I’m not naturally like that, but I am absolutely delighted.

My Mentor - Terry O'Neill

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

From the age of 14 I played the drums and was passionate about jazz music. When I came out of the army Rock and Roll had taken over but I didn’t want to play that seven nights a week, and decided that I should get myself to America where jazz was very big. I worked out that if I became an air steward I would spend four days a week in New York followed by four days in London and could play jazz in both countries which would be perfect. When I applied to British Airways to be a steward they told me that it was much easier to get a job with them if I was already employed in some capacity by the airport and so I ended up taking a job with the airport photographic unit. I wasn’t interested in photography at all, it was simply a means to and end.

I thought that geniuses took photographs; I didn’t think it was something you could learn. Then I met Peter Campion who was a very shy, unassuming man who had a huge passion for photography. He must have seen a spark of interest in me because he started to bring in books on photography and made me read them. Slowly his passion for the subject rubbed off on me and I became fascinated with what a camera could do. We would look at photographs and talk about how they’d be taken. He taught me the nuts and bolts of photography; how to use a camera and what the different lenses were for. It wasn’t just the technical grounding I learned from him however, the most important thing he taught me was to fill the frame with what you want to say and I’ve always done that – people point a camera at a person sneezing and there are four things going on in the photograph, the important thing is the person sneezing and that’s all you need.

At that point I came across the work of the photojournalist W. Eugene smith which was very different form anything I’d seen and I really identified with it. He had been crippled for a year and couldn’t leave his house and took photos through a window. His work made me aware of different possibilities.

I had to go to art school one day a week as part of the job and I was given assignments to do. One was to take photos of people at the airport. I saw a man wearing a pinstriped suit; he was sleeping and was surrounded by African chieftains. I thought it was quite a funny photo. A photographer from The Sunday Disptaches approached me and told me that the man in the suit was Rab Butler, the foreign secretary and proceeded to organise for his paper to buy it from me and that was the start of my career.

Influenced by W Eugene Smith and of course Peter Campion’s advice of filling the frame, I began to take photos of celebrities but in a different way. Rather than the run of the mill photo of someone emerging from a plane, I’d take a photo of a man watching Petula Clark sitting in curlers putting her make up on.
Another important thing I learned from Peter Campion was that a photographer should fade into the background and should never be noticeable. In my career this has been invaluable advice. When Frank Sinatra agreed to let me follow and photograph him, he ignored me the entire time and that’s the biggest compliment a photographer can be paid. A photographer coming into a room and taking over is all wrong.

I don’t know how my life would have turned out had I not taken that photo of African chieftains; it’s amazing to think that one photograph changed my life and that wouldn’t have happened had I not met Peter Campion. I feel very fortunate.

Sinatra :Frank and Friendly by Terry O'Neill published by Evans Mitchell Books £30

Heaven and Hell - David Coulthard

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Great Holidays...

Which was your best holiday?
I’m not big on holidays and would never block two weeks off in my diary for instance. I tend to tie holidays in with work – I’ll grab a few days holiday in Dubai when I’m in Bahrain racing and a week in Thailand between the Malaysian test and the Malaysian Grand Prix. My business is a year round business and so it’s difficult to completely switch off; I pretty much always have to do at least an hour in the gym in the morning and always watch what I eat so it’s never truly a holiday For that reason I don’t have a best holiday as such -I’m always very happy wherever I am and try to make the best of it but a place I enjoy is The Maldives because the service is discreet and there’s a lot of privacy, the water is a nice water temperature and it’s not too difficult to get to. I enjoy Thailand too because the food is great and the people are very gentle and the service is always wonderful.

What’s the best hotel you’ve stayed in?
I like the Amanpuri in Phuket and have been there several times. There’s a very laidback atmosphere but the service and the food is wonderful too. It isn’t a big hotel, it’s made up of individual Thai style bungalows with their own private beach and that along with the wonderful service and food, makes it very special.

What do you need for a perfect holiday.
Exercise facilities are a must and a spa is always good. I need water of some description although I don’t like lying on a beach and getting sand between my toes so a pool would be better. I only read books when I’m on holiday, the rest of the time I read magazines and newspapers so a few books are required and I like a nice bar to sit and have a cocktail at.

What do you always take with you?
My gym equipment and my ipod with ipod speakers - I like background music rather than being plugged in and cut off from everyone around me. I also take my Speedos for doing lengths in the pool. They’re so much better at cutting through the water than trendy longer trunks which I do wear but not for swimming. I only wear them walking from my sun lounger to the pool but even then I get some questioning glances from other people sitting round the pool. I’m a good sleeper and can sleep almost anywhere so I don’t need a special pillow or anything like that.

What’s your best piece of travel advice?
Unless you’re going to space you will be able to buy whatever it is you need and no matter where you are going, you will not need 16 pairs of shoes. I’ve got much more economical with my packing as I’ve got older I know very well how hotel laundries work and pack accordingly.

…and disasters

What was your worst holiday
I’ve been really lucky and can hand on heart say I’ve never had a bad holiday but that’s probably because I’ve never been on a package holiday or a conventional holiday really. and also because I’m pretty unadventurous.

What was your worst experience on holiday?
In the eighties my family was in Portugal and we all got food poisoning. I just had a dodgy stomach but my Mum ended up in hospital which wasn’t very pleasant at all.

What’s the biggest packing mistake you’ve made?
I’ve never forgotten anything or packed the wrong things, I’ve just packed too much but I’ve definitely learned over the years and now have a rule that I take three of everything – three pairs of jeans, three T Shirts, that always works well.

Which is the worst hotel you’ve stayed in?
Most of my traveling has been through racing and so I’ve been lucky enough to stay in reasonable places and my experiences have largely been good. Nor am I experimental, if I go somewhere and like it, I go back time and time again. I always look for the positive and even in a mediocre hotel you can have a really nice receptionist or the chamber maid is friendly.

What do you avoid on holiday?
I avoid cheap holidays. I think you get what you pay for and this is especially true when it comes to holidays- I’d sacrifice other things to ensure I had a good time on holiday.

What do you hate about holidays?
I accept airports as part of my life but I hate the whole process of getting ready to come home – the packing and relearning how to walk in shoes. I always arrive home exhausted.

Where to next?
Apart from travel for races, I don’t plan very far ahead. I’ll just look at my diary, see where I’m going to be and if I feel like it and am able to, I’ll take a break for a few days. I’ve never had the urge to go and see somewhere and I’m the world’s worst sightseer- I always feel that there will be plenty of time for that in the future.

It is what it is: The autobiography by David Coulthard published by Orion £18.99

Heaven and Hell - Richard Madeley

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Best holiday ever
The summer we spent in our own house in Cornwall was a great holiday. We were working on This Morning and had six weeks holiday. We’d been going to Cornwall for years- it was where we had our first holiday when we got together in 1984- and we’d always loved it so to have pour own 0place was really special. Added to that pleasure it was the summer of the eclipse which was really dramatic in Cornwall and added to the feeling that it was a special time.

Best Hotel
The Beverley Hills Hotel is my favourite – in many ways it’s old fashioned but because it’s clientele is so demanding I think they’ve got everything just right. The pool is beautiful and the service round it first class; everything is very comfortable and it’s not stupidly expensive. We also can claim that we’ve been thrown out of it – we were on a fly drive holiday years ago and having never been, we stopped off to have lunch. We were all wearing shorts and the manager asked us to leave, just as Shelley Long was checking in. Our kids were mortified.

Need for a perfect holiday
First and foremost, I need sunshine, I don’t mind the occasional cloudy day but a good does of sunshine is essential; it just makes you feel so good. I can’t think of anything worse than going on a ski holiday- I’ve never been and never want to. A nice view is important too, and I like unpretentious hotels and a very big bed.

Always take with you
For some reason I always take a torch and keep it at the side of my bed. If I’m staying in a strange hotel it’s reassuring to know that if I wake up and can’t find my way around, that won’t be a problem. I always intend to take my own pillow because even in very good hotels the quality of pillows is poor, but I’ve never got round to it.

Best travel advice
Since 1992 when we went on a fly drive holiday, I’ve only ever taken carry-on luggage, I’ve never put anything in the hold. Occasionally Judy takes a bigger bag that has to be checked in but mainly the whole family travels like this. It takes a bit of nerve to do it but it makes life so much easier. You’re not worrying about losing luggage, you’re not hanging about waiting for luggage and if you’re hiring a car you’re at the top of the queue. I highly recommend it.

Worst Holiday
Years ago we went to Maderia and stayed in Reid’s Palace Hotel -the hotel Churchill used to go to. It looked incredibly romantic in the brochure, the setting was beautiful and the men had to wear dinner jackets in the dining room. The hotel itself didn’t disappoint but it was a truly awful holiday. The weather was woeful; it rained every single day; we got food poisoning from a tapas bar and were both ill for 48 hours and everyone around us was a pensioner. Even the airport was awful, it had the shortest landing strip I’ve ever seen so take –off and landing were hairy- I loathed it from start to finish.

Worst experience on holiday
We used to go to The Algarve a lot with the children and one night we came out of restaurant one night to find that the police were charging all non-Portuguese people who had parked their cars in this street. We all had to pay on the pot fines of about £50 and it was clearly a scam. It really soured the holiday for me. The guy in front of me was arguing vehemently with them and I was worried we were all going to be arrested.

Biggest packing mistake
I can smugly say I don’t have too many of them because I take so little. I have what I’m wearing and I take a spare pair of jeans, two or three T shirts a pair of sandals, a charger for my mobile, my laptop, basic shaving kit a book and of course my torch. I buy toiletries there and if I get fed up with my clothes I buy a short or whatever.

Worst Hotel
In Italy a long time ago we stayed in what looked like a beautiful hotel from the outside. When I went o bed there was the most awful smell. I checked all over the room and found a dead rat under the bed we checked out at once.

What do you always avoid on holiday
I always buy newspapers and I like being sociable, so I don’t avoid much but
in the south of France I avoid swimming in the sea. When the children were young they always got horrible ear infections whenever we allowed them to and at times you can see the sewage, it’s such a shame.

What do you hate about holidays
I don’t hate airports but Judy says that I turn into Basil Fawlty the minute I step inside one. I would argue that someone has to take charge. Judy is a very efficient human being but when she gets to an airport she goes to pieces and is full of doubt about everything – are we in the right terminal? Is this the right check-in desk? Are you sure this is the right gate? If I didn’t take control we’d never get anywhere.

Where to next?
I’ve never been to New York – Judy lived there for a while once, my kids have been, our cleaner’s been; everyone I know has been… I hope to go in the next year or so.

Richard & Judy returns to Channel 4 on Monday 18th June at 5pm for an eleven week run.

Heaven and Hell - Sir John Mortimer

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Great Holidays …

Which was your best holiday?
Every year we rent a house near Sienna in Italy and they’re all marvelous holidays. I’ve been going for years and I still really enjoy it. The best thing we’ve done is go on a trail of artist Della Francesco- we visited where he was born and all the different spots where he worked. That was a wonderful experience. I enjoy combining relaxing and looking at paintings and Italy is wonderful for that.

What’s the best hotel you’ve stayed in?
La Gazelle d’or in Morroco is a wonderful hotel . We go every year in January or February and it’s marvelous. We sit in the sunshine during the day and have lunch by the pool and then in the evening there’s the most marvelous log fire in the suite. It’s luxurious and the food is excellent. I’m quite disabled and a lovely waiter there called Rashid takes me to a table at the pool and gets me drinks and pencils and leaves me to sit and write. Once on holiday there I met John Profumo and I was praising the staff and he told me that the same waiter every day used to take him to a table beside the pool and say to him ‘This is where you sit and write until lunchtime.’ Of course Mr Profumo had no such desire.

What do you need for a perfect holiday.
I love to sit and write in the sun so sunshine above all. Pencils, pads of paper and peace and quiet are basic needs too but other than that I’m easily pleased.

What do you always take with you?
Books, pencils, pads of paper and too many clothes.

What’s your best piece of travel advice?
If you possibly can get a wheelchair even if you don’t need one. It’s wonderful: you’re always pushed in front of everyone else and then lifted onto the plane, you avoid queues and get lots of attention . I thoroughly recommend it.

…and disasters

What was your worst holiday
At the beginning of the seventies I went to Tunisia. The pilot told us the temperature as we landed and it was colder than London. When we arrived at the hotel it was still being built and there were builders and machinery everywhere. It was really terrible. It rained every day. I hated it. I’ve avoided Tunisia ever since.

What was your worst experience on holiday?
On that same Tunisian holiday it was my birthday and as a birthday treat , my wife with great difficulty managed to track down an English newspaper and presented it to me to read. I was delighted but then came across a devastatingly bad review of my play. You can imagine what that did for my spirits.

What’s the biggest packing mistake you’ve made?
I always pack too much. You hardly need anything on holiday and we never learn. In Italy there’s a wonderful lady there who washes everything and so there’s never any need for all the clothes I’ve crammed into a suitcase. I pack about 39 books too and even as I’m packing them I know I can’t possibly read them all.

Which is the worst hotel you’ve stayed in?
It has to be that one in Tunisia. Sorry to go on about it but it really was dreadful; all these builders milling around and all there machinery making the most dreadful racket. The staff were sullen too but who could blame them?

What do you avoid on holiday?
Boring British people – and there are plenty of those around . Actually I try to avoid them everywhere I go not just on holiday. I do like meeting people but not if they’re boring. I quite like being recognized and always feel a bit put out if I’m not, but I don’t want to get trapped. I avoid sun cream too and I’ve always been wary of newspapers on holiday ever since that bad review. ..

What do you hate about holidays?
I hate airports and aeroplanes. I hate flying. I once was coming back from Italy and the pilot approached me and said, ’How’s Mr Rumpole?’ I said, ‘Forget Mr Rumpole and get back and steer this thing.’ He took me up to the cockpit and tapped one of the instruments and said, ‘This thing hasn’t worked for years.’ Actually that experience did me a lot of good and I was never quite as frightened again but I don’t enjoy it.

Where to next?
I’ve been all over the world on book tours and am pretty well travelled
But I’ve never been anywhere in South America and would quite like to go there some time.

'Mortimer's Miscellany' will be at the Kings Head Theatre, Islington from 6th - 25th Feb. www.kingsheadtheatre.org.

Heaven and Hell - Amanda Wakeley

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Fashion designer Amanda Wakeley , 45 lives in South London with her boyfriend financial guru Hugh Morrison.

Great Holidays

I love travelling and especially enjoy feeling connected to the elements in some way which is why I love skiing but cruising on our boat last summer for two weeks was my dream holiday. We had just bought her and it was our first holiday on her. We joined her in Naples and then sailed round Capri, The Amalfi coast, Positano and the Aeolian islands. It was incredibly romantic because this was the area where we first met. I love sailing; it’s so peaceful and is a great holiday because you completely switch off. Even though I’ve been around boats all my life, I still feel as if I’ve got a lot to learn about them.

Best Hotel
This is difficult because there are so many great hotels in the world and it depends what my needs are: on a business trip the Peninsula in Hong Kong takes a lot of beating because the service is outstanding. To be pampered and live in luxury, I’m torn between the Devi Garh in Rajasthan in India and the Amankila in Bali- both are luxurious retreats which have everything you need. For pure escapism and the Robinson Crusoe experience, nowhere beats Mnemba Island off Zanzibar. It takes only twenty minutes to walk round the entire island and the only noise you can hear is doves cooing.

What do you need for a perfect holiday ?
It depends on the time of the year but I need enough peace and quiet to still my mind. Sailing and skiing are both great because you can switch off from work and concentrate fully on the job in hand, When I’m somewhere warm and not engaged in an activity, I enjoy the thinking time.

What do you always take with you?
My Hermes pashmina always comes with me because it’s great on the plane and I use it instead of a bulky hotel bathrobe too. Holidays are the only time I get to read and so I always take books. I’m not a great fan of fiction, I prefer biographies or travel books; I always like to feel like I’m learning something. My ipod comes too and my boyfriend is a pretty vital ingredient.

What’s your best travel advice?
Zone out- So much is out of our control when we’re travelling that to remain calm you have to accept that. For most of us life is pretty stressful but travel should be about pleasure and enjoyment. A couple of years ago I was returning from Florence and was delayed for 24 hours which was pretty infuriating but Cathy Lette and Victoria Hislop were on the same flight and we ended up having a great time. I think that’s what you have to do.

Worst Holiday
A few years ago friends and I rented the most beautiful house in Koh Samui for two weeks over Christmas and New Year. It rained from the moment we got off the plane until the moment we got back on. And not light rain; this was real tropical, monsoon downpours. At that time of year we were all desperate for some sun and however much we tried to laugh it off, it was really disappointing. Even coming home on the plane we all felt damp.

Worst Experience
Water skiing is a passion of mine and a few years ago in Fiji I was trying to teach one of my friends. I was in the water with her and she was trying o get out of the water onto the boat when we heard this tearing noise which was her hamstring ripping. It was awful because she was in so much pain. Of course there’s nothing you can do but ice it and rest and in time it heals, but it was horrible at the time.

Packing Mistakes
Like everyone else, I always pack too much. It’s at a ridiculous level because I pack enough clothes for about twelve different looks and end up wearing about a third of them. I used to get wound up about it and think how stupid I was being, but now I just accept that that is how I like to travel. Who cares?

Worst hotel
This is perhaps unfair but I had only been at The Oberoi in Delhi for twelve hours when I got a dose of the infamous Delhi Belly. The restaurant there is beautifully decorated and is all minimalist chic but I wouldn’t go back. On my return home, when I told people I hadn’t been well about four different people guessed where I’d been staying because the same had happened to them.

What do you always avoid on holiday?
I’m happy to avoid routine on holiday. I love the freedom to come and go whenever I please which is in stark contrast to my working day at home where every hour is accounted for.

What do you hate about holidays?
Two things: unpacking and coming home to two weeks of piled-up post. I’ve recently persuaded my housekeeper that she’s great at unpacking so I just need to talk her into sorting though my post and I’ll have cracked it.

Where to next?
I would love to go to South America and will happily go back to India which I loved, just not to the same hotel.

Amanda Wakeley will show her new collection for Autumn / Winter 2008 on the 11th February during London Fashion Week.

Amanda Wakeley Flagship Store,
80 Fulham Road,
London. SW3 6HR
020 7590 9105
www.amandawakeley.com

Heaven and Hell - Amanda Holden

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Actress Amanda Holden, 35, lives with her partner Chris Hughes in West London with their daughter Lexi, 1

Which was your best holiday ever?
Chris and I went to Necker Island in the Carribean when I was about 24 weeks pregnant. The island itself is fantastic and it’s obviously very posh there are only about twelve people there. It’s exactly how I imagine Heaven to be: our room overlooked and it was just stunning. We ate meals on the beach and we could do any water sports we wanted; we had private tennis lessons’ everything was just perfect. Richard Branson was there as well and he’s the most fantastic host, always organising things and just great fun. We knew it was going to be our last holiday before Lexi came along sow e made the most of it.

What’s the best hotel you have every stayed in?
Just recently I stayed in a hotel when I was filming in South Africa which was pretty amazing. We had a weekend off and we went to Johannesburg and stayed in a hotel called The Saxon. I didn’t know it existed which is probably no bad thing because otherwise I’d have stayed there every weekend. It used to be someone’s house, but is still huge and it has the most beautiful landscaped gardens, great service, huge beds and a heated pool that Lexi just loved, it was like getting into a warm bath. It also had the most amazing treatments on offer – I had a Tibetan sound treatment therapy which involved banging drums and putting singing bowls on my body and hitting them and the vibrations ran through me – it was just so relaxing. Chris and I both agreed it’s one of the best hotels we’ve ever been to.

What do you need for a perfect holiday?
I need Chris ,my daughter Lexi and now I need good child care. We’re off to Babington House soon where we go a lot because it’s so child- friendly and dog- friendly too. There we can go to dinner in the restaurant and they organise a local lady to come and baby sit for the evening, it’s very well organised but relaxing too. They’ve got mountains of things in the bedroom for kids: drawers of nappies, sterilisers , microwaves in the room if you want to heat anything up, they’ve thought of everything. That to me is a great holiday.

What do you always take with you?
I always take my hair straighteners and never use them. I arrive there and can’t even be bothered to dry my hair, I end up walking about like a tramp but I never learn and always pack them. I do take a book but I don’t tend to read it any more because Chris hates when I’m reading. I always take my Jo Malone Vitamin E gel, which I swear by, it protects you from the sun and it’s a good lip gloss as well. I pack for England, I could go on and on. I have never been a light packer!

What’s your best piece of travel advice?
I was working in South Africa for six months this year and someone suggested that when we were coming home I should send my luggage on ahead. I had 7 suitcases and about 10 boxes to bring home. It was fantastic, I had one piece of hand luggage at the airport and everything was waiting for me at home, II didn’t have to think about a single thing. Travelling with baby is stressful enough so that was fantastic advice.

What was your worst holiday ever?
I was doing Thoroughly Modern Millie in the West End and hadn’t had a break for nine months when Chris and I decided to go away for a week’s holiday. We went to Barcelona where Chris had really terrible diarrhoea and my mobile phone got stolen. Then we travelled on to Venice, where I then got a kidney infection and was hospitalised. It was an utter disaster. I had to have a whole month off work, not one that stands out in my mind as being great.

What was your worst experience on holiday?
Everything about that week was pretty ghastly. Venice is such a beautiful romantic place and I was walking around with Chris and I just kept getting massive stabbing pains in my back. At first I thought it was because I’d been doing too much walking and then the doctor misdiagnosed it and gave me a cortisone injection, he didn’t take my temperature, or my blood pressure or anything. The only way I could sleep was in a hot bath so I had to sleep in a bath with Chris slumped on the floor next to me to make sure I didn’t drown. Getting home was a bit of a challenge too because you have to get on a boat to get yourself to the airport.

What’s the biggest packing mistake you’ve made?
Just generally packing way too much. Without a doubt I pack about 10 or 11 pairs of shoes when I go on a two week break and I end up wearing only flip-flops or nothing. I have a whole case of “you never know”, its just stupid and now I’ve got the baby she has a whole case of “you never know too” as well. You never think another country’s going to have what England’s got so you pack all that stuff in there. I desperately need someone to come and streamline my packing.

Worst hotel you’ve stayed in?
We didn’t stay at it but the worst hotel I went to in the last couple of years was sadly in Bournemouth. I lived in Bournemouth for a large part of my life and I took Chris there and we went to the Royal Bath Hotel and ordered a pot of tea and two bottles of still mineral water. Well the tea came in a filthy china cup with tea stains already on it. My cup had a lipstick stain on it. The two bottles of water that came were two massive bottles of Evian, not little things. Then we ordered a sandwich – both the fillings were wrong and the bread was stale and this was supposed to be a 5 star hotel. I shudder to think what it would have been like had we stayed there.

What do you avoid on holiday?
People. I tend to keep my head down and avoid people when I’m away. We try and take a house somewhere and then we don’t have to see anyone really.

What do you hate about holidays?
Unpacking when I come home. I don’t mind all the packing and sometimes I even treat myself and get all the washing and ironing done but I absolutely can’t bear unpacking. I haven’t told Chris this yet but there’s a fantastic company called The Practical Princess, , and they recently streamlined my wardrobes for me, they threw loads of stuff out and hung every thing back up in colour coordinated organisation. We’re going away at the weekend and I’ve employed them to secretly come into my house and unpack my seven suitcases from South Africa while we’re away. Chris would go up the wall because they are quite pricey and it’s something I could easily do, but I just don’t want to. He doesn’t need to know that, we’ll come back and he’ll be so impressed that my wardrobes are still tidy.

Where too next?
Oh there’s too many places I want to go to. I’d love to go to Egypt. I’ve done parts of India and would like to see the rest. I’ve never been skiing but would love to do that soon too and I try to go to Italy every year but missed it this year so I really want to squeeze in a trip there too.

Amanda Holden is starring in Wild At Heart on ITV 1 in January (need to confirm the dates)

My Mentor - Hermione Norris

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

I don’t think as an actor you can have a mentor as such, and certainly in my case there isn’t just one person who stands out as having mentored me. Instead I have an eclectic mix of people who have helped me along the way, who have inspired me to do my best.

My interest in acting was ignited by my drama teacher when I was 11, Julia Myles. She got us to improvise to Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights and it was just the best fun; it was the first time in my life that I felt completely absorbed in something else ,that I had transcended myself in a way and I loved it.
I then won a scholarship to ballet school which I really enjoyed but after a couple of years I’d started to think that being a dancer was too limiting; I was rebellious and felt it was a narrow field to pursue . Around the same time I was thinking this a teacher there called Andrew Neil said to me, ‘You should think about becoming an actress,’ it really struck a chord with me because not only was I restless within myself but he was a really broadminded individual, the sort of person you took notice of. He used to put on two handed plays at lunchtime which in itself was quite a daring thing to do at school; he directed me as an actress rather than as a schoolgirl and was always able to draw great stuff out of me. I didn’t recognise that at the time, but looking back now that was what was so inspirational to me and what makes him so extraordinary. We’ve kept in touch and he remains very supportive of my career.

At the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art(LAMDA) my mentor was Colin cook– but I’m not unusual in that , I’m sure if you asked anyone who went there at the same time they would say the same about him he was hugely popular and everyone admired him. It was such a big thing to have been accepted by LAMDA and I remember the first class we had with him he was so inspiring and excited for us; he was incredibly generous and just wonderful to be around. In particular I remember him teaching us to always look to the virtue when you’re watching a performance which has always stayed with me. He’s still working at LAMDA, no doubt still inspiring everyone he comes across. I’m still in touch with him and we drop one another a line occasionally.

There have been so many people I’ve worked with I’ve been touched by; the joy of my job is that I like to think I learn something from everyone I come across but a few stand out in my mind. I did the Men’s Room with Bill Nighy which was only my second piece of television work and I couldn’t have been luckier - he has great humility in the way he approaches his work and again I’m not unusual in saying this , I think he’s touched a lot of younger people’s lives . Celia Imrie is the most generous spirited actress I’ve ever worked with, she’s an exceptional human being and her professionalism never ceases to amaze me and Peter Firth who I work with on Spooks was nominated for an Oscar when he was just 21, but there he is grafting away every day on the set of Spooks. From all of them I’ve learned much; above all I hope I’ve learned to be gracious and dignified.

Hermione Norris will be starring in KINGDOM, on ITV1, on Sundays at 9pm. starts on 13th Jan

Alastair Stewart

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

My mentor is Sir Alastair Burnett, who was the most authoritative and accomplished news caster there has ever been. I joined ITV in 1976 after three years at Southern TV and ended up in the same newsroom as this demi-God. He was a giant in the industry and I remember feeling tongue tied and awkward the first time I met him but he immediately put me at my ease and was the friendliest, most charming person you could ever hope to meet.

My first job was the industrial correspondent which was his field and he was always very interested in what I was doing and would exchange notes and help me with it. We hit it off at once although he was very much my senior. He dominated everything he did by force of personality and experience but he always made you feel like you were an important part of his team. In some ways he reminded me of a truly great teacher, even to the point of wearing tweed jackets, and he was a stickler for homework. He impressed upon those working with him how important it was to go into a studio prepared. ‘homework, homework, homework’ he would say and that’s never left me.

I used to always carry notes and folders with me into the studio so that I could look up anything that I couldn’t remember. He told me that one day I would walk into the studio with only one piece of paper. I asked him what would be on the piece of paper and he said, ‘For me at budget time it’s always the name of the horse I’ve backed in the Cheltenham Cup whatever it is for you dear boy will be for you to decide .’ He was enormous fun to be around.

During the Thatcher era we worked on many news specials together, myself, Peter Sissons and Alastair and there was a great deal of banter between us all. I remember glorious planning lunches we used to have where Alastair would regale us with wonderful stories about people he’d engaged with, he was great raconteur.

Much of his appeal lay in the fact that he wasn’t a man who ever stood on ceremony; not for him the chauffeur-driven car, he much preferred walking with his flat cap pulled down low over his face or hopping into a black cab where he could connect with people. In meetings he would say ‘this isn’t something that plain folk would be remotely interested in,’ and insisted that the news lead on what the plain folk would be talking about the next day in bus queues and in the works canteen. However he wasn’t frightened of leading on heavy weight stories because then his brilliant writing skills would take the heavy weight story and bring it alive – he always wrote his own bongs and his own lead ins. I remember once at the State Opening of Parliament with its wonderful array of heralds and purservants walking in front of Her Majesty he said it was ‘like watching a deck of cards on parade.’ which is a great line.

He had the most phenomenal comprehensive knowledge base and encyclopaedic memory but not just for the great events in history but for oddities too: he would read out a football result ‘Partick Thistle 3 Clyde 1’ and then say, ‘ that’s the first time they’ve scored in three games.’ he had such a wide range of experience.

After the programme he was very much part of the team and the first to put his hand in his pocket at the bar, he was very generous. He would be magnificently dismissive of the regard I and others hold for him but I think he knew how highly we rated him. The night he left I presented the news with him and you could hardly move in the news room afterwards which was very emotional.

He was the best in the business and anyone who wants to go into news reading should get the tapes out and watch them, they would learn all they need to know. I’ve always thought that if I’ve achieved anything over these last thirty years it’s almost entirely down to the relationship that he was kind enough to allow to develop between us.

My Mentor - Johnny Vegas

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

The comedian Paul Whitehouse has been huge inspiration to me in my life and is a great example of someone who has been a great success yet remains grounded and very kind. He had seen me doing stand up and wrote a part for me in his series Happiness. I remember going for an audition and feeling very nervous about it I had never acted before and didn’t think I could do it. He phoned me after it and said, great, but could you come back and try it again, but maybe don’t shout this time, talk normally’ That made me even worse because I hadn’t been aware that I was shouting.

After getting the part, I had a real feeling of wanting to give him 110% because I felt so lucky to have been given the opportunity to work with him; I’m not sure if that opportunity hadn’t come up if I’d have gone into acting at all, it would certainly have been a lot more daunting.

From him I learned so much: his professionalism is extraordinary and that coupled with his ability to have fun at the same time is what makes him so special. His turnover of work would put many to shame too. I admire him a lot and will always be grateful to him; he’s been a great mentor in my personal life too and just knowing he’s at the end of the phone, in my corner in life helps a lot.

However I wouldn’t have been in the position to have met Paul had I not been mentored by my parents who gave me such a great start in life. Just to know you are loved like that is a great start in life. My father is like Atticus Finch from To kill a Mockingbird, he’s a man of strong principal and he’s taught me to always look at things from the other person’s point of view rather than making rash judgements of them. He’s one of life’s copers; he gets on with things and never makes a song and dance about things. He has a strong sense that there are certain things that you have to stand up for in life – he gave me a copy of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist to read when I was 14 which pretty much says it all. He banked with the Royal Bank of Scotland years and years ago because they didn’t invest in South Africa,.

I remember in the 80’s when he’d been out of work for six weeks and had no money coming in, he and I dragged a piece of scrap miles and miles so that we could get a fiver for it at a scrap yard. When we got there the yard was closed. I could see his heart was breaking but rather than get upset, he set the piece of scrap down and said, ‘somebody might need it more than us.’ We walked the long way home with him telling me all these stories about him growing up. Something that could have broken his spirit he turned into a really memorable day for me: that’s my Dad.

In terms of my career , my parents both gave me the space to go and be who I wanted to be; my sister had gone to art school before me so that had paved the way in terms of them realising that I wasn’t 9-5 material, but even so when I chose to do art and ceramic design at Middlesex University , my Dad must have taken a load of stick for that in terms of it being the least practical course in earning terms, but he would never have said a word.

I went through a stage where I saw other people whose parents had money and there was a time when I felt that I wished they’d been more like that, but of course you learn that children who come from families like that very often have huge expectations of them and are under a lot of pressure to perform. I was the opposite, they were always proud of me and I know they would have been just as proud of me had I been a bin man- all they have ever wanted was for their children to be happy, It gives you great strength in life to know that you can always go home . I feel very blessed in life because of the parents I have; to know that you’re loved is a great start in life.

Tamzin Outhwaite - I even eat the food used as film props

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Actress Tamzin Outhwaite, 35 lives in North London with her fiancé, actor Tom Ellis

Food : Always the same or always game
I’m very adventurous with food and pretty much eat everything. When I was growing up the only food I hated was liver but now I love it which means that there is no food I don’t like. I have a reputation for being a big eater and even eat the food that’s used as a prop on the set. Sushi is my favourite meal.

Clothes: M&S or D&G
I’m both- I shop at Miss Selfridge and Top Shop a lot and I really like designers Marc Jacobs and Gharani Strok.

Holidays: Beach or piste
If I have to choose it would be beach but if I can fit in both that’s ideal. Actually not a beach break, I prefer to go somewhere tranquil; that suits me better and I’m not mad on city breaks- that’s too frantic. I haven’t been skiing for two years but before that I skied pretty regularly when you’re in a contract skiing is off limits. I first skied when I was at school and that got me into it. I’ve never learned to snowboard I just sick to skiing.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
I go through phases -I get things done when they need to be done but a lot of the time I put things off. I’m sure if you asked the men in my life they’d say I was right now but that’s because women are so good at multi-tasking. I’ve got piles of paperwork and I’m not very good at housework and I buy things that don’t need ironing. I can be at work and in between filming scenes I phone people and organize all sorts of things. Lots of people tell me to get off the phone, to relax and just let things happen.

Drink: Beer or Bolli
I’m a bit ‘when in Rome…’ if I’m watching a football match I have a lager and lime but when I’m out with the girls I go for a glass of bolli. If I’m eating out I’ll have a glass of wine but I don’t drink at home.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta
It took me years to do it, but I’ve recently employed a cleaner once a week and it’s the best money I spend – the extra hours are worth it to me. I like to know everything’s clean and if I’ve been working for 14 hours it’s lovely to come home to a tidy house.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver
I don’t think I’m either. When I’m working I’m driven to work so I don’t drive very often. I drive a Renault Megane convertible and I love taking the roof down in the summer and I like it to be clean so I suppose I’m very proud of it, but I don’t drive fast.

Money: Rainy day or live for today
I don’t have a routine- I’m live for today for a year or so and then I realise I can’t go on and I cut back for the next year or so. Travel is my biggest expense and I’m always live for today in my approach to holidays.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat
I’m city at the moment. I like having greenery around me but being only 20 minutes from the city centre suits my lifestyle. When I have a family the rolling hills and village schools will appeal more.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville
Mary Poppins- I love kids. I have no nephews or nieces but I am a Godmother but I’m not very good at that because of my lack of time. I’ve just been playing a character who has three kids from the age of 6 to17 and it was great being around them and relating to them. By the end of the four month run I was really attached to them and felt quite emotional at the wrap party.

Friends: quantity or quality
Now I’m quality. When I was younger I was quantity which I think most people are because they’ve got time. I’ve got much choosier as I’ve got older. I have friends from school, college, jobs ten years ago and jobs three months ago.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs
I love shopping at Christmas time because I love the atmosphere but I hate shopping for myself- I hate trying things on and I have to really be in the right mood.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested
I’m experimental- I’m great at going to the cupboard, seeing what’s there and making a meal out of that. It’s always been a running joke with those around me -I can make a meal out of anything. At my cousin’s 30th birthday celebrations recently we all went away for the weekend and I made a great pot of Miso soup which everyone raved about. I find cooking very therapeutic.

Health: alternative or aspirin
I see a cranio osteopath who balances my energy and I love homeopathy and massage. But I’ll happily take Nurofen when I need to; I don’t feel strongly about it.

Décor: minimal or cosy
I’m cosy. I think with our weather you have to be. I have a lot of warm chocolate and cream colours around me. I dream about owning a minimal place abroad in the sun but I don’t think that look would work here.

Fashion: victim or setter
Comfort first, fashion next. I’m not a setter for sure but I don’t buy anything that’s a trend. At the moment I’m just doing lots of layers in bright colours.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it
I recycle those things that are easy to recycle but I’d like there to be more facilities around us.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle
I’m picked up for work between 6am and 7am and dropped home at 8pm or 9pm and so exercise doesn’t really feature much. I’ve been working solidly since June and so I’ve been Jim Royle. This is the longest I’ve worked without time off but I’m about to have three months off before we start filming Babylon again and I’ll get to the gym and do some yoga.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe
Until a year ago I was a technophobe but I decided that I had to make the effort and threw myself into it and am now a bit of a gadget man. I have an Apple computer and I use it a lot as well as my ipod. If I’m honest though, I still prefer writing a letter to sending an email.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash
I have a lot of intimate dinners and enjoy them, but I think birthdays and Christmas and big occasions all merit a big bash.

Tamsin Outhwaite appears in Vital Signs which begins on ITV on 20th April at 9pm and runs for 6 weeks.

Paula Radcliffe - Marathon star with a taste for bubbly

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Long distance runner and marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe 33, lives in Monaco with husband and manager Gary Lough and their two-month old daughter Isla.

Food : Always the same or always game
I try new food all the time. Gary laughs at me because I order things from a menu and I have no idea what I’m going to get. I have a dairy intolerance so I have to watch that, but otherwise I just go for it. If I’m beside the sea I always order fish.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested
Experimental. We move around a lot and so don’t have access to lots of ingredients and so I make it up as I go along. I like cooking but more often than not Gary does it because I’ll be exercising or stretching. We tend to eat things that are quick to make – we eat a lot of stir fries. Baking is my specialty – I do a great banana cake.

Clothes: M&S or D&G
When I’m not in sports clothing I’m a mix between designer and High street. My Rock and Republic jeans are a big favourite at the moment because they fit me so well. I love Zara for staples and I have one or two D&G and Gucci pieces.

Fashion: victim or setter
I’ve made mistakes, but on the whole I’m pretty conservative. On the running track I like to wear what I feel good in because then I race faster and I don’t really care what it looks like.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs
It depends what mood I’m in. If I’ve been at a training camp and I haven’t had the chance to shop for ages, then I love nothing more, but if I’m not in the mood to get changed and unchanged then I just don’t bother. Internet shopping is great for music and books but with clothes it frustrates me because you can’t see and feel things.

Holidays: Beach or piste
I can’t ski because of the danger of injuries. But if I’ve just run a marathon then lying on a beach reading books to recover is great. I can do that for a week and then I get bored so if we’re away for longer than a week I need to be more active.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
Right now. I’m a big live in the moment freak, if you’re always thinking about tomorrow you never get anything done today. I prefer to live right here and right now. I never worry about tomorrow.

Friends: quantity or quality
Quality. I’m lucky because I’ve got a lot of good friends. I travel around a lot and that means my friends have to put up with a lot because I miss so much. I meet lots of new people all the time and I hope I’m friendly but I’m quite shy.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash
Traveling together we spend a lot of time having intimate dinners –it used to be just the two of us but now the three of us- so when we get the chance to meet up with friends and family it’s great.

Drink: Beer or Bolli
I hate beer, I’ve tried to like it but it’s just nor for me. I’d much rather have a glass of wine or a glass of Bolli. I don’t restrict myself on that front at all; I have a glass or two of wine with my meal, it doesn’t affect my performance.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta
I hate things being in a mess but I’d much rather someone else dealt with it because there are far more valuable things to do with time I think. If it’s a choice between cleaning and spending time with my daughter Isla she wins every time.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver
I lean more towards the boy racer. I like driving a good car and I like fast cars. I drive a BMW X5 and I like nothing more than driving it in the mountains and putting my foot down.

Money: Rainy day or live for today
Somewhere in the middle -as long as there’s enough in the bank I don’t worry about it but we don’t have a very expensive lifestyle. If I’ve had a good race I like to buy myself something as a reward but I don’t throw money around. I was a saver when I was younger -I would decide on something I wanted and save for it and then start saving for something else rather than hoarding it.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat
I love going for long runs in the mountains but I love London and New York too so I’m a bit of both. We live in Monaco and the mountains are five minutes drive away and there’s the sea; it’s a beautiful place to live. We tend to only be there when it’s quieter which we prefer.

Décor: minimal or cosy
Minimal but not overly; we have a lot of junk we’ve accumulated over the years and now a lot of toys and baby stuff strewn everywhere but we do like wooden floors and a bare look underneath it all.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville
Mary Poppins. I always wanted to have children and I’m loving being a new Mum it’s amazing how much pleasure you get from looking at a two month old baby – I can do it for hours; I can also make a lot of silly noises for a long time too.

Health: alternative or aspirin
Being an athlete, I m pretty in tune with my body and know what it needs and I tend to respond much better to alternative medicine than conventional.
I use acupuncture and homeopathic medicine. If I have to, I take medicine but not anti inflammatories which don’t agree with me.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it
I’m trying hard but it’s not very popular here in France. They only seem to recycle paper and glass which we have to put aside and take to the dump ourselves. I have an ongoing battle with Gary because he puts everything in the bin.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle
I train twice a day every day. Apart from running, I stretch and do core stability work using a Swiss ball but I should do more Pilates. After a marathon I have some time off- I’ll have a three week break and we’ll go on holiday and I worry about getting back into shape when I start training again.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe
I’m somewhere between the two; I like to play with gadgets and phones and teach myself but I’m not brilliant at it. I’m comfortable with technology, and I think that’s the key.

Tara Palmer- Tomkinson - I like a short, sharp shop

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Socialite and television presenter Tara Palmer- Tomkinson, 34 is single and lives in London’s West End.

Food : Always the same or always game
I’m always the same- whenever I go to the Ivy I have fishcakes and when I go to Caprice I have calves’ livers, I don’t vary things much at all. The most adventurous thing I’ve ever eaten was when I was in the jungle and that was a live witchety grub.

Clothes: M&S or D&G
I’m designer and High Street, I like to mix the two. – favourite labels are Chanel and Top Shop -I’m a Chanel girl all the way and find it very difficult to walk past the shop without buying something.

Holidays: Beach or piste
Beach in the summer and piste in winter -variety is the spice of life. I’ve just bought a chalet in Switzerland which is really beautiful. I don’t like skiing on the piste; I much prefer skiing off piste on powder snow. I’ve skied since I was three. I love St Tropez in the summer.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
I’m a real procrastinator and do put things off but I’m very organized because I have people around me who keep me organized but if it was left up to me I’d be all over the place. - I’m very bad at opening my post and slow to write thank you letters -but I do hand write them and believe that people should do that

Drink: Beer or Bolli
I hate Bolli or any champagne – I’ve done my champagne years I prefer a Martini now. I’ll occasionally have a small Guinness but not beer.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta
I’m more like Patsy from Ab Fab. I don’t do any housework but I’ve got great maids and great staff around me who are unbelievably good, they’re superb. You won’t find a piece of dust in my house

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver
I loathe Sunday drivers and they probably loathe me too. I’m mad about cars and always have been – I drive a new BMW 6 series.

Money: Rainy day or live for today
Live for today- financially my future is planned out and I’m well looked after. The money I earn I spend before I’ve even got it.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat
I’m very lucky because I’ve got both. I spend the week in London and weekends in the country in Hampshire. If I had to choose I’d choose rural and just stay in hotels in London because they’ve got great hotels there.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville
I’m an aunt six times over and a Godmother to four and I spoil them all like crazy; I take them all out for a great lunch and then to see my waxwork at Madame Tussaud’s which freaks them out a bit –they all cry at the end of the day because they think they can take it home.

Friends: quantity or quality
Quality, there are far too many distrustful people in this world – I value trust and loyalty very highly. I’ve got friends all over the world - in London New York and in Australia, but I only have about ten really good friends. I’m a friendly person by nature but I’ve got a bit guarded.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs
I used to be til I drop but I can’t go all day any more. I don’t like long days of trawling shops and trying things on, I like the short sharp approach to shopping. When I see something I like I buy it in all colours.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested
I’m a bit of both but I love cooking in my own kitchen. I’m really good at proper roasts and I’m good at pasta with fresh ingredients and my Eggs Benedict is good which is quite impressive because hollandaise sauce is quite tricky.

Health: alternative or aspirin
Alternative. I go to a healer who lives in Gloucester and she realigns my energies, she’s fantastic. When I got my nose done recently I had no bruising at all – which was amazing. Ever since I was in rehab I don’t even like taking a Nurofen.

Décor: minimal or cosy
My chalet in Switzerland is very cosy and here in London I’m very minimal so I’ve got the best of both worlds.

Fashion: victim or setter
I wouldn’t call myself either of these things I think I’m just very enthusiastic! I suppose I’ve had my moments when it comes to fashion…

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it
To be honest I don’t really know because my cleaners put the bottles into a s[special box- I think they must be recycling, I hope they are.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle
I’ve never been in a gym in my life, I’m just naturally sporty. I’ve got very muscly arms which I hate and I’m sure they’d just get worse if I went to the gym. I trained as a skier for about 12 years and I think it just stays with you. I eat everything – to be honest it’s difficult to keep the weight on and it’s as hard as a person who needs to lose weight. I love tennis and dancing too.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe
I can’t even switch a computer on. It holds no interest for me. I have to send my ipod to someone who downloads all the songs for me and then sends it back, I wouldn’t know where to begin.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash
Intimate dinner I hate to be at a table with more than six people. I still quite like parties but hate big bun fights- I just don’t go all night like I used to.

Tara is launching the Baked Bean Amnesty where the public can come and dump their cheap imitation beans in exchange for Heinz Baked Beanz - the 'Original and best loved beanz. ' The Beanz Bucketz will be placed in various locations around the UK including Shopping Centres in Newcastle, London, Sheffield, Manchester and Birmingham.

Amanda Holden - Joy of fast cars and shopping

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Actress Amanda Holden, 35 lives with partner Chris Hughes, 34 and their daughter Lexi, 1 in North London.

Food : Always the same or always game?
I’m always game but I’m a vegetarian so I don’t try eat meat, but recently I have started eating fish. Within these confines I’ll try anything once, but not kangaroo’s anus. I was recently filming in Africa but that was fine because there was lots of fish available. While we were there my partner Chris had ostrich which he said was delicious.

Clothes: M&S or D&G?
I would definitely say I was more High Street. Even though I get lots of things given to me and lent to me, I am very practical and I still think, if I’m going to buy something designer it has to be a classic that will last me for years and years so I can justify it. But I am a terrible shopaholic so I will go into Top Shop and buy 20,000 items rather than 1 item. I am wearing a tiger print dress from Warehouse for £30 as we speak!

Holidays: Beach or piste?
Beach definitely. I have never been skiing. I want to but I’m definitely a beach girl although I like city breaks too. Ideally a city break with a bit of beach afterwards would be great. Chris will happily sunbathe but only for a couple of hours a day so we always have an activity to do as well.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
I’m very much right now. I am so impatient and if I want something I have to get it done immediately or I’ll just go mad.. I’m even worse now that I’ve got Lexi and I really always have to do everything very quickly. I’ve only got a certain amount of time during the day when she’s asleep or someone else is looking after her and I have to be organised so that I spend that time wisely.

Drink: Beer or Bolli?
Bolli darling! It is my favourite, I love my bubbly and when I go out with the girls that’s mostly what we drink, but with cassis to make it pink! I always used to have a glass of wine with my meal but my partner doesn’t really drink that much so I don’t really crack open a bottle of wine at home because it’s only going to be wasted. If we go out, I definitely have a glass of champagne and a couple of glasses of wine and maybe even a Baileys for afters.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta?
I’m Aggie and Kim, Chris is even worse – if they came to our house they’d have a job to find a speck even though we have a baby and two dogs. We have shiny granite black work surfaces and if he sees one fingerprint on it he goes mad and gets out the spray. Now our baby girl is crawling and her favourite thing is trying to climb up the fridge and she’s putting her handprints all over it. I love it because I watch Chris twitching because it used to me who would get a row if I left fingerprint marks on anything. So you could say we’re Aggie and Kim. We have help and we do it ourselves. -we clean up before the cleaners come because we don’t want them to think we’re sluts. I definitely have help with the ironing, I hate ironing.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver?
I am a bit of a boy racer – I have 6 speeding points at the moment. I love driving quite fast, but I honestly think we need to up the speed limits in our country, it will stop the traffic jams. I really love cars and I drive an X5 at the moment which is a beautiful car but to be honest Chris likes them more than me. My favourite car I ever had was a Morris Minor 1000 which I would happily drive but Chris insists that I have a safe car with airbags and everything else.

Money: Rainy day or live for today?
I’m live for today which is really bad. I love spending money. I try and save as well but I really think ‘Oh well, I could be dead tomorrow.’ I have always been like that and my Mum always says it’s a good job I made it to some degree in this business because she thinks I would have been in a debt collector’s prison by now. Even as a student I had two jobs at the weekend and a student grant to keep my Habitat and Heals habit going.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat?
We’re fortunate enough to have both. We have a very modern penthouse flat in London and a very cute, cottage in the country where everything is old-fashioned, and we just about have electricity. We have a TV in it but it’s teeny weeny. I love both.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella Deville?
Well I have to say Mary Poppins don’t I? I am though. I really let Lexi get into a mess and I play with her all the time and sort everything out at the end of the day when she’s gone to bed. I’m not too prissy and tidy when she’s around. I always liked children and this year in 2006 most of my girlfriends had babies so it’s a babyfest!

Friends: quantity or quality?
Quality, I’ve probably got about 6 or 7 close girlfriends who I see most of the time. I have a number of other friends who I can go out with at any point, but 6 close friends. I like meeting people but I think I have enough friends although there’s always room for one more if they’re special.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs?
Shop till I drop and then carried out on a stretcher. I adore shopping and that’s the first thing I did when I got back from South Africa I literally shopped every single day in Richmond, I went a bit mental in the shops because I’d missed it so much. Clothes shopping, house shopping, baby clothes shopping, Christmas shopping, I even love going to Waitrose.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested?
I’m a bit of both. Everything for Lexi I do organic and from scratch. With Chris I’m naughty and I either go to Waitrose or Marks and Spencer. I like to call myself a pinger; that is I heat things up in the microwave a lot.

Health: alternative or aspirin?
I’m willing to try both. If I have a headache I never just think “I’ll see if it goes”, I’ll take a couple of Nurofen but I am always up for anything that will help me get better I think,

Décor: minimal or cosy?
I would say I was cosy but my partner is minimal so it’s a real mix between us. My cottage is very cosy and our flat is very minimal.

Fashion: victim or setter?
I’d say I was a bit of a victim. I look in the mags and see what Victoria Beckham’s wearing, see what Sarah Jessica Parker’s up to and then nick it if it suits me. I recently went to Top Shop and they have loads of mustard and yellows in there at the moment and I really looked sickly and like a refugee in all of those things. Every time I go out I have to try different outfits on and Chris is my fashion adviser.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it?
I try and recycle some of it because where we live they very conveniently put bins and things but I don’t do it as often as I should.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle?
Jane Fonda. I train with Matt Roberts and he’s fantastic. We do a whole routine which involves running and boxing and a lot of sticking your bum up in the air to get it tight. He’s very enthusiastic and encouraging. I’ll probably see him once a week and run in-between times myself.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe?
I’ve got a Blackberry which I can’t live without and I can use that for emailing but I am absolutely crap at everything else. I’m good at putting up children’s pods and tents and playpens though! But I can’t do anything electronic and if my computer beeps back at me that’s me finished and I just turn it off. I never close Windows properly and I’m always in trouble for deleting stuff I shouldn’t have – I’m hopeless. It kind of interests me- websites like net-a-porter definitely interest me.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash?
I’d choose a big bash. I do love my romantic dinners with Chris but I love going out for girly dinners, Chris loves being in a big crowd of people too.

Kirstie Allsopp - Granny Clothes and long lunches make me happy

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

TV Presenter Kirstie Allsopp reveals her taste in clothes and a longing for a rural retreat.

FOOD: ALWAYS THE SAME OR ALWAYS GAME?
Always game. I have had pigs’ trotters and never again but short of monkeys’ brains or puppies I think I would probably try anything that wasn’t cruel. I was brought up very much in the tradition of if it’s there eat it - taste it and if you don’t like it put it to the side of your plate, but you were never to refuse anything.

CLOTHES: M&S OR D&G?
M&S100%. I live in M&S Autograph and I love mixing that with Alexander McQueen stuff. I was on Richard and Judy recently wearing a skirt that cost me £27. I wear clothes that suit me rather than who makes them but always basic M&S.

HOLIDAYS: BEACH OR PISTE?
Neither. I can’t lie in the sun because I’ve got very fair skin and end up looking like a lobster and ’m not a great skier, although I can ski, it[‘s just not my ideal holiday. I was in India in March this year with my Mother and that’s the kind of break I love.

COOKING: EXPERIMENTAL OR TRIED AND TESTED?
Tried and tested, absolutely . I have done experiments sometimes but I don’t have the artistic flair and confidence needed. I can do a really good roast chicken, a very good beef bourguignon, a decent chicken tikka masala, that’s it.

APPROACH TO LIFE: MANANA OR MAINTENANT
I think it has to be manana because there is a definite essential optimism about me; the element that tomorrow will always bring something new and fresh, tomorrow is another day, so it has to be manana.

DRINK: BEER OR BOLLI?
Bolli. It could be a Cava but it would have to be a sparkling wine, something with a bit of fizz. I can’t drink very much alcohol, I seem to have a bladder the size of a pea and end up going to the toilet all night. Everything in moderation - with the exception of shoes!

HOUSEKEEPING: AGGIE AND KIM OR WAYNE AND WAYNETTA?
Oh, Aggie and Kim 100%. No Wayne and Waynetta going on at all. I’m afraid it’s cushions plumped, sheets washed, towels washed. I keep my house very clean. If Aggie and Kim descended on me without any notice I would score 99%.

CARS: BOY RACER OR SUNDAY DRIVER
I am a boy racer but I think that I am a boy racer who has recently realised the dangers of speed. I’m slowing down these days. I drive a sensible old Audi, so a sensible car but quite a speedy driver.

MONEY: RAINY DAY OR LIVE FOR TODAY
Neither a lender or a borrower be is my motto. I don’t save that much but I don’t borrow either. I come from a large family and so there is always plenty to spend it on andI have 8 Godchildren and I love spending money on them

PROPERTY: URBAN CHIC OR RURAL RETREAT?
Rural retreat every time. I don’t have one yet but I’d love a place in the country one day – we can all dream. Urban chic only appeals Monday –Friday.

CHILDREN: MARY POPPINS OR CRUELLA DE VILLE
Oh, Mary Poppins. I’ve got 8 Godchildren and I love kids, I want to have 4 of my own.

FRIENDS: QUANTITY OR QUALITY
Quality I’m lucky I have got lots of friends. I have my 5 or 6 girlfriends from senior school that I’ve still got so in that sense it’s quality. But I’m lucky I’ve got lots of friends. I didn’t go to university so quite a lot of my friends I made in my adult life and I’ve been single on and off quite a lot and when you are single your friends are really important.

SHOPPING: ‘TIL YOU DROP OR AVOID AT ALL COSTS
I’m afraid it used to be shop ‘til you drop and now it’s avoid at all costs. There is nothing like the knowledge of having to buy 7 coats for putting you off shopping completely. Shopping is only fun if you see an item and you can’t afford it but you tell yourself to get it. It’s not fun if you absolutely have to purchase something.

HEALTH: ALTERNATIVE OR ASPIRIN?
Alternative - I’m a girl who believes in Arnica whatever anybody says and I am far likely to blow salted water up my nose than take a cold remedy.

DÉCOR: MINIMAL OR COSY?
Cosy, cosy, cosy

FASHION: VICTIM OR SETTER
Setter. I have always worn skirts my entire life since I can ever remember. I have never been fashionable and all of a sudden the kind of 50s, granny style that I have always worn has suddenly become fashionable and I am chuffed to bits. In 2 years time I’m going to be so unfashionable because the look that I wear is going to be so last year and I’m not going to care.

RUBBISH: BIN IT OR RECYCLE?
I try to recycle where possible. I recycle my shoes and clothes with my sisters and my Mother, we’re all the same size.

FITNESS: JANE FONDA OR MADONNA?
I don’t think Jane Fonda or Madonna I’ve got a Nigella Lawson approach to fitness. It’s a time thing. I have done Pilates classes and I would do them more often if I had the time but sadly I don’t.

TECHNOLOGY: GADGET MAN OR TECHNOPHOBE?
Gadget Man. I haven’t always been, I’m a self-taught gadget man. I’ve even got a phone that receives email and I’m quite into it all.

ENTERTAINING: INTIMATE DINNER OR BIG BASH
Intimate dinner every single time. My idea of heaven is having 8 people for lunch on Sunday, where everyone hangs around, the boys go and watch cricket, the girls gossip and then suddenly at 7 o’clock you realise you are cooking dinner for the same people who came to lunch because they are still there.

How to Buy a House by Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer, published by Penguin £12.99

Rachel Hunter - I will always be a beach girl

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Model and former wife of Rod Stewart, Rachel Hunter,37, lives in Los Angeles with her two children, Renee, 14, and Liam 12

Food : Always the same or always game?
No I’m always the same. I’m the sort of person who always sticks to the same things then when I see what others have ordered, I wish I’d ordered that too. I go to a restaurant in Los Angeles called Petros quite a lot, and they have this amazing peach, avocado, and shrimp salad and much as I want to order something else, I don’t want to be disappointed.

Clothes: M&S or D&G?
I’ve always been a mixture of both, but even more so now because there’s so little difference these days between designer and High Street. I love Top Shop – it’s one of the best things about coming to Britain. And my favourite designer right now has to be Stella McCartney.

Holidays: Beach or piste?
I snowboard occasionally but I don’t last very long in the cold, I’m not a big fan of it- give me a beach any day. I like lying on a beach but I also enjoy sailing and surfing. Anywhere with clear aqua blue water is my idea of heaven. I love St Barts, Tahiti, and Bora Bora.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
Well, I’ve changed a lot recently- not so long ago I would have been manana but I’ve made a real effort in the last year to get myself organised. I told myself recently ‘You know what, just get on with it’ and I feel much happier as a result. I’m very pleased with myself but it’s been a struggle.

Drink: Beer or Bolli?
Neither, I don’t drink alcohol at all – I’ll have water or an energy drink.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta?
I definitely like things nice and clean. I do have help but at the same time there’s something very satisfying about getting the Hoover out and washing the clothes. I love ironing. I do have someone who helps me but when I do it myself I get great satisfaction out of it.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver?
I would say I’m probably a boy racer but the funny thing is I hate cars. I treat mine pretty badly; I don’t know if I’m a typical woman, but I take no pride in it whatsoever, I just abuse it. But I do drive quite fast, I’m always in a hurry and the Sunday drivers really annoy me, I need to get to where I’m going.

Money: Rainy day or live for today?
Definitely rainy day. I always have one eye to the future. I used to abuse that, I went through a stage of absolutely going mental with shopping but then in the end you just realize that you can get the same stuff on the high street that looks good and you don’t have to pay ridiculous prices. I must say that it’s always nice to treat myself, shoes or a handbag but I don’t go mad.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat?
Can I be a beach girl? I love the beach and never want to live too far away from it. My house is very near a beach and when I was growing up in New Zealand I did too. It’s important to me. I like the greenery of the country and I’ve lived in New York but the beach wins it every time.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella Deville?
I’m definitely more Mary Poppins because isn’t that what every child want to have around them? But if I’m honest Cruella comes out once every six months.

Friends: quantity or quality?
Definitely quality. I think if you’ve got five really good friends then you’re doing really well I’m not someone who just gathers a whole crowd of people around me but I really think quality is important. I’m pretty sociable and enjoy meeting people but I don’t need to make friends with them.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs?
I try and avoid it all costs, the thought of walking round shops all day is hideous. My approach is to leave my credit cards at home and then walk away from something and if I want it that badly then I’ll go back- I never do.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested?
I’m adventurous. I love Jamie Oliver’s cook books because I think it’s it’s one of the few recipe books that you follow the recipe and in the end it tastes good and looks like it does in the book. I made the best Bananas and Bailey Bread Pudding for Christmas one year and it was just unbelievable.

Health: alternative or aspirin?
I’d have to say I’m more alternative but at the same time I think you have got to mix both together. When it comes to being practical like getting rid of a headache or period cramps, just take a pill- why would you not?

Décor: minimal or cosy?
I like my home to be interesting, not bland. I like bits and pieces all over the place that make people ask what they are, where they are from, but it has to be cosy. I have lots of throws and big comfy couches and really comfortable mats on the floor. I love being barefoot all the time so things that feel and look like you could just melt on them are important too.

Fashion: victim or setter?
I’m not a victim; I don’t know how to follow fashion. I just put on whatever is comfortable and that’s as far as it goes in the fashion stakes.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it?
I’m guilty, I bin it. Here it’s a bit easier with different coloured bins but unless it’s put right in front of me, I will just dump it. .

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle?
I definitely jump about, I love being active. I go to a spinning class about three or four times a week and then I do Pilates about three times a week. Spinning is great, very hard and you see a difference in your butt really fast.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe?
I s there such a thing as pigeon technology, because that’s me - I love it, I am completely fascinated by it, but I am a complete pigeon when it comes to using it. I can email and run round on the web and have a look at things but that’s as far as my knowledge goes.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash
I’m somewhere in the middle: I get intimidated at parties with people I don’t know; I am much more of a person who likes to be in a crowd as long as I know everyone. Ideally I’d have loads for friends round for a barbeque.

Rachel will crown the new Supermodel in the finale of C5’s Make Me A Supermodel tonight at 8.30pm

Road Not Taken - Carol Drinkwater

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

I had the most wonderful experience when I was in my early twenties and not long out of drama school. Two things happened that could have changed the course of my life. It all started when a friend I had been at drama school with landed a lead role in a film in Rome. He had a wonderful flat there and he asked me to come and stay with him while he was making the film. At that time the Italian cinema was very buoyant and Rome was buzzing. It was a very glamorous and decadent place to be.

I visited my friend on set and the director asked if I was an actress and before I knew it, he had given me a small, non-speaking part in the film, which was lovely. At the same time I met an Italian chap who was working on the film and I fell for him in a big way. We started to see each other, and it was all very romantic. I even used to write him poetry. I didn’t live there on a permanent basis, I came backwards and forwards from England to see both my friend and this guy.

The film then finished and my Italian friend started to work on Bertolucci’s film 1900 and he asked me to come and stay with him on location. At the time I was working for Granada in Manchester on a series called Sam and so I couldn’t stay with him on a permanent basis. We used to finish on Friday lunchtimes when we’d get our expenses for the week and I used to dash to get the train from Manchester to London and then on Friday evening I’d get a British Airways flight from Heathrow to Milan and then take the train to the film set. It cost me £28 return, which was a lot of money then and I used to go most weekends. I was obviously very keen on this guy and although he was much less keen on me, he was quite pleased to have me around.

The film had a lot of big stars in it, Robert de Niro, Burt Lancaster, Gerard Depardieu, and Donald Sutherland , and I got to know them quite well because I was hanging around.

Maria Schneider turned up to play a role in the film but for reasons I never found about, within a short period of arriving she had locked herself in a room and when she came out she left. There was a panic on set. Unbeknown to me, several people had suggested to Bertolucci that I do the role. He said that he’d noticed me around but wasn’t sure who I was. Then one Saturday he called me over and asked me and my boyfriend to have dinner with him that evening. I was thrilled. However my Italian boyfriend for some silly reason became all possessive and jealous and stormed off saying he wasn’t coming to dinner and I ended up going on my own. Bertolucci asked me if I wanted the role and I said of course I did, I’d love to do it. I explained that I was under contract with Granada but that I’d do all that I could to get out of it.

I came back to England and, despite my best efforts, found that I couldn’t shift my dates with Granada. I went back the following weekend and explained that I wasn’t going to be able to do it and had to turn it down. Meanwhile my friend was becoming increasingly moody and sulky and I was tiring of his behaviour and I decided to end it with him. I told him that same weekend that I wasn’t coming back.

It was in effect, two roads not taken at the one time. I had at one point even gone to the tiny island of Ponsa to meet the Italian’s family and so there was a stage when I thought it might get serious and my life may well be in Italy. I’m sure it would have been a good life had I taken that road but I have no regrets about it. I see his name at the end of film credits and he has gone on to be a big player in international films, but other than that I don’t know how his life turned out.

I don’t regret the affair splitting up, but I do wish I’d been able to take the part in the Bertolucci film. I spoke Italian fluently and may well have built a career in Italian films or been an international film star, who knows. It was undoubtedly a really glamorous, exciting time of my life. Looking back, somewhere inside myself I knew that my destiny lay in a Mediterranean country, I just didn’t know which one.

Carol Drinkwater: The Olive Season, £7.99 Time Warner Books

Road Not Taken - Chris Tarrant

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

My Dad was a businessman and for some reason I always knew that wasn’t the road for me; it never held any attraction for me. I did a degree in English at University but at the end of that I still didn’t know what I wanted to do. I did the usual kind of student jobs whilst thinking about it: night security man, hod carrier and was even a lorry driver for a while. I wasn’t unduly worried about having no direction because I always thought, “I’ve got a degree, I’ll get a proper job one day” and I was under no pressure from my parents at all.

The best temporary wage a graduate could get in those days was to take a job as a supply teacher. Bizarrely enough you got more money than the teachers who had a teacher training qualification and had a permanent contract. It seemed like a good option. I was sent to a school in New Cross in south-east London where I taught classes of forty 14year-olds which was very tough. They were what were called the ‘Easter Leavers’ which meant that because of their date of birth they could leave a term early. There was no chance of them taking GCSEs or staying on, they were just putting in the time. They just wanted out as soon as possible. Put it this way, there wasn’t much call for my great knowledge of Shakespearean tragedy.

I did think however that if I could get away from that environment then teaching may well be the road for me. I liked the idea of shaping young minds and thought it would be a worthwhile career. If I could find myself a nice girls school in Dorset for instance where I’d have nice long holidays and be able to go fishing regularly, then I felt that perhaps I had found my niche in life.

In the meantime a fellow teacher’s husband became a big drinking mate of mine. He ran the Central Office of Information Film and Television Unit, which used to do all the government commercials like “clunk click every trip” and the army one “join the professionals”. One day he said to me, “You’re banging your head against a brick wall teaching, why don’t you come and work for me?” By that stage I knew I couldn’t face another year of Easter leavers and I hadn’t actively sought another post elsewhere so I thought, I’ll give it 3 months and then see about applying to a nice school. Needless to say I’ve still never found that nice school.

I ended up staying there for three years at the end of which I was technically a TV director. I had some great trips while I was there - I filmed a British policeman in the Caribbean for three months and other good fun things like that. I enjoyed it all greatly but I knew that I was certainly not any David Lean and that ultimately it wasn’t what I wanted to do. In the course of this work I’d seen countless guys standing outside Westminster doing pieces to camera and I thought to myself “ presenting, that looks like a good job, not very hard work” and of course I was right and I’ve been doing it ever since.

If I’d gone to another school I believe that today I’d be a slightly mad headmaster teaching sixth formers the joys of English Literature somewhere in the south of England having a thoroughly good life; I’d have enjoyed that no problem. I liked the idea of teaching. As long as I had enough money for beer and fishing tackle I’d always have been happy. I certainly wouldn’t have thought, “I wish I’d been on television”. Funnily enough for a long time after I was on television my Mum would say to me, “Well you can always go back to teaching,” which of course I couldn’t once I’d done Tiswas. There’d be a riot.

There were definitely frustrations in the job because you had to tell children off for things which you actually didn’t really mind them doing but if you hadn’t you’d just have had a riot on your hands. I faired pretty well because of my height and because I was fairly likeable in their eyes. What amazes me is when I meet ex-pupils, big blokes of about 35 with bald heads and they say, “Hello, sir, how’s it going, sir” I think that’s fantastic.

Millionaire Moments is published by Time Warner Books £7.99

Road Not Taken - Susannah Constantine

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

I have always known that I wanted to have a family of my own and I love newborn babies and so I was delighted to learn that I was pregnant at the beginning of 1998. As the pregnancy progressed however I got busier and busier at work. Trinny and I had our newspaper column; we were writing our first book which involved a lot of work as we tried to get photographs together and as if that wasn’t enough we were also trying to set up our internet company.

My timing couldn’t have been worse. As the baby’s due date neared it looked like my longed-for maternity leave that I’d envisaged wouldn’t materialise. Had it only been me concerned I’d have turned down a lot of work but because there were others involved that was much harder to do. Also being self-employed, financially it was hard to say no to things and I found myself at this crossroads: I really wanted to be at home bonding with my gorgeous new son, that is after all what you are supposed to do after you’ve had a baby, not careering around from one meeting to another. Lots of people told me that I’d regret it- my doctor, my sister, other family members but in the end I decided that there was a lot at stake and that I had no option other than to go back to work when Joe was just ten days old.

I was taking my baby with me to meetings or, if that was entirely out of the question, I was frantically expressing milk before I left the house, pumping away like a heifer and leaving Joe with his nanny. It was absolutely crazy and of course my health suffered hugely as a result. Firstly I had the most awful panic attacks where I’d be sitting in these meetings watching the time slip by and desperately wanting to get home to see my baby and knowing that I’d be too late, that he’d be asleep. By January the most terrible post-natal depression set in and it was really frightening. It lasted until April and the scary thing is that I carried on working through all of it.

My poor husband had a hard time of it, as did Trinny too. If you are breast feeding your brain turns to mush, but the combination of breast-feeding and post-natal depression is disastrous for the brain and concentration is non-existent. Poor Trinny had to deal with that. She had to keep everything together with this idiot at her side, who not only had a huge wet patch on her blouse, but whom would regularly start a sentence in a meeting and then stop and say, “I’m sorry I haven’t the first idea what I’m talking about.” I didn’t add much value. She was amazing throughout it, a great support. She carried us both through that.

Looking back I don’t know how I ever managed to get out of all that. It was a very difficult time, but slowly I managed to pull myself back and of course Joe didn’t suffer at all, he was fine but I really regret not having chosen to take maternity leave because, in effect. I missed the first two years of my son’s life. It took me a long time to bond with Joe. But I don’t feel such regret about that; I just regret all the experiences I missed. It’s such a special time. I love newborn babies anyway and then to have your own and miss out on all those special moments is so stupid.

On the other hand, Trinny and I wouldn’t be where we are now had I chosen to take maternity leave. And where I am now is a pretty good place, we’ve got the series and the book and most importantly, I also get to be with the children for big chunks of the year.

I gained other things from the experience too; the most important being the ability to say no to people and when I was pregnant with Esme, my second baby, things were much different. There was no way I was going through all of that again. I set three months aside and it was so much more enjoyable and life was far easier. I now know where to draw the boundaries.

What Not To Wear published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £12.99

And they call it Brotherly Love

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Deany Judd explains why the sibling bond can be particularly strong between men and women

Ask a woman who doesn’t have a brother if she’d like one and most would say yes. Ask her why and she’ll become a little more vague. Of all family connections and emotional connections, the sibling bond is the least appreciated, despite the fact that it is very often the longest lasting relationship of our lives.
With an increase in life expectancy rates, we can expect to spend around sixty to eighty years of our lives with a sibling as opposed to some forty or fifty years with a parent. As the amount of time spent together increases so too does the interest in sibling relationships and whilst much has been written on the strength of the bond that can exist between sister, little has been written about the richness and rewards of the brother-sister relationship.

Christine Findlay from Blairgowrie, one of four sisters, would have liked to have had a brother, “I think he would have offered an entirely different perspective on a whole range of things: a refuge from the intense and moody atmosphere which can often arise in an all-female household; and an introduction to the male world, which, having gone to a single sex school too, was completely alien to me” Terri Apter, a social psychologist from Cambridge University who has studied sibling relationships reinforces this idea, “ The brother-sister relationship is one which extends the awareness of the other gender’s world. Girls learn a lot about the way men’s minds work and men, being very aware of the male world know that even nice guys can treat women badly. That’s why essentially it’s a protective relationship.

This is mirrored in the portrayal of sibling relationships in literature. Whilst literature abounds with sister- sister relationships, the protective element is the facet that is most often portrayed in books about the brother-sister relationship. Think Holden Caulfield and his sister Phoebe in Catcher in the Rye; Maggie and Tom Tulliver in Mill on the Floss. In real life too famous brother-sister relationships reflect this: who didn’t envy Marie that handsome, protective brother Donny, Warren Beatty and Shirley Maclaine, and most famously Princess Diana and her brother Charles Althrop. The protective nature of their relationship was clear in his eulogy when he said that they had recently recaptured the closeness they shared as children and that he wanted to “give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be able to call my sister”, Showing that when the rest of her family sought to hurt her, it was her brother who in the end was her most loyal and true supporter.

That is the nature of this relationship at its best. It lacks the competition and comparison that often exists between brother-brother and sister-sister.

Jackie Baird from Newlands in Glasgow has an elder brother and sister, “No-one understands me in the same way as my sister Doreen does. We’ve weathered lots of fights and disagreements, but she is a special friend. I can reminisce with her, laugh and cry with her. She’s great.”

“ The relationship with my brother isn’t as intense. Although my brother Gavin has been living in London for the best part of twenty years, our relationship has matured to be one of mutual understanding and great protection. One which, we don’t really have to work hard at. No matter how far apart we are and how little we see of each other, and despite I’m the one who always makes contact with him, I know he cares about me.”

When a relationship lacks a sense of competition that is when both parties give of their best and can truly nurture one another. Rare, yes but whilst many could think of nothing worse than going into business with a sibling, Anne Gloag and Brian Souter, the brother and sister team of the mullet-million bus empire Stagecoach, would disagree. In a biography the success of the company is attributed in no small part to their relationship. Souter says, “There is a natural energy between us, a synergy that is almost a genetic thing or whatever. If I wanted something done, I know that when she starts something she’ll always see it through. She has enormous commitment and energy.” He is described in the book as being “fiercely defensive of his sister”

Are they the exception to the rule or is their success unusual because the norm is for brothers to go into business together? The relationship between siblings in general can be complex. We spring from the same loins and grow up in the same household; giving us a shared history like no other. It is obvious that it is difficult to generalise on the subject because every one’s circumstances are different, the permutations of family make-up are endless; and are affected by other factors such as birth order, sibling rivalry and the relationship with parents, but certain principles about siblings can be defined.

Our siblings affect us from earliest childhood in a variety of ways. We learn from them and teach them, we envy them, we admire them, dominate them; we influence them, we hate them, we love them; in fact the foundations of later intimate relationships is laid during early life interactions with siblings. From them we learn how to argue, how to compromise, how to share, the importance of individual space, the need for company, and generally what is appropriate behaviour and what is not. All the time we are developing a sense of ourselves and this relationship continues to affect us throughout our life.

Research from Ohio State University shows that contact between siblings is highest between pairs of sisters and lowest between pairs of brothers, with brother-sisters falling between. They can be categorised in five ways: intimate, where siblings value their relationship above all others; congenial, a close and caring relationship but not to the exclusion of their partners or parents; loyal, where the common family history is what the relationship is based on, maintaining regular contact and attending family events; apathetic siblings feel indifferent towards one another and hostile, which is pretty self-explanatory. Of these it was found that the majority of people had a congenial relationship with their sibling. And, unsurprisingly, men had most to gain from this.

Elderly men with sisters are found to be more emotionally secure and less prone to depression, than those without sisters, whilst women with sisters were found to have a confidence lacking in women without sisters. Women’s ability to express emotions and their traditional role as nurturers underlies this relationship. Wouldn’t PrinceWilliam and Prince Harry be much better off if they had had an older sister?
Professor Anne Woolett, a psychologist at East London University reiterates this idea, “The key to successful brother-sister relationships lies with women, who are better at keeping in touch than men. Whilst alive, the mother in a family plays a key role in keeping the brother-sister relationship together. When older, the brother’s wife plays a pivotal role in the success of this relationship; if she doesn’t get on with the sister you can forget it.”

But the good news is that it’s never too late. As we get older our relationships can get better. Unlike friends, the relationship with a sibling can go through various peaks and troughs and because of shared history, survive. It has been referred to as an hourglass relationship - a strong bond in childhood, a tailing off in adolescence and young and middle adulthood and then, once your own family has been formed and a rounded adult with a clear sense of self emerges, there is a desire to reconnect with siblings. It changes because the players in the relationship alter so much throughout the course of our lives; and can change from outright hostility to the best of friendship.

As our circumstances change then we turn to people we’ve known all or lives; who know exactly where we’ve come from. The adult sibling’s role is to provide support for each other as our losses increase: the death of a partner, divorce, redundancy, whatever. The amount of help that siblings give each other during adulthood and old age is based on their childhood and adolescent relationships.
What is certain is that as we live longer the greater the need for strong sibling relationships. The bond is accidental; yet it has an amazing impact on who we become and what we are for the rest of our lives.

First Among Unequals

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Deany Judd wonders if our birth position within the family can help to influence our personalities in adult life.

Fred Macaulay tells a joke “Can you imagine being the third Attenborough brother round at Granny Attenborough’s at Christmas…. Lord Dickie, another great year…starring in two new movies and directing one. And Sir David saw you on television in the Serengeti with the new boulder camera…most interesting. And Neil! Neil the postman Attenborough!”

Despite the fact that siblings share the same environment, many of the same family experiences, and most often the same gene pool, the paths they end up following are often varied and diverse, with some being more successful than others. One reason for this may be because they are divided by their order of arrival: some are first born, some are middle children and some are last born. And although there is nothing we can do about it, many psychologists believe that our birth order affects not only our careers, but also our personality and our relationships in more ways than we think. Unwittingly parents treat their offspring in different ways, depending on the order in which they’re born and we in turn shape our self-image from this treatment, or at least our perception of the treatment.

Historically of course birth order was not so much a psychological phenomenon as a fact of life. The eldest son often inherited everything whilst the younger sons had to make their own way in life –this of course still holds true in royal circles today. History is littered with many an aimless younger sibling who has come to a sticky end through no fault other than the fact that he was the second born.

Whilst most people would agree that there can be no doubt that birth order must play a role in moulding personality, psychologists remain divided by the emphasis that should be placed on it. For many psychologists it is vitally important to know literally where someone is coming from.

Frank Sulloway, a Harvard historian and psychologist has spent 26 years researching his book Born to Rebel in which he concludes that first borns are conscientious and responsible whilst last borns are rebels and radicals. He found that firstborns have strategies to hand which younger siblings don’t: they are older and therefore have more status; they take advantage of their being physically bigger and tend to be more aggressive than younger siblings. They also identify with their parents in a way that younger children don’t and inherit their parents’ values. Thus the firstborn is conscientious, hardworking and does well at school – all qualities parents would value. “First borns are keen to please, they are conscientious, do their homework, generally do better at school and tend to be over-represented as academics and in who’s who,” he said in an interview. Interestingly he also found that first borns are more similar in personality to other first borns than they are to their own younger siblings.

Another psychologist, Kevin Lemann author of The Birth Order Book agrees with the importance of birth order and says that when a person is undergoing therapy, in order to truly understand them you have to find out where they come in the family. He adds that First-born children are pushed by their parents in a way younger ones aren’t and as a result are highly motivated to achieve. Because they are at the top in the family they have a need to be at the top in many situations and therefore gravitate to the top in their career. They have to work harder for success than younger siblings; they are perfectionists, organised, rule keepers, determined, self-critical. There is a pressure put on them that stays with them - younger siblings will give up on a task quicker than the first born. In terms of careers they are statesmen, bosses, leaders, directors, the Queen, Winston Churchill, George W Bush, Richard Branson, Hillary Clinton, Madonna, Victoria Beckham, Alex Ferguson, JK Rowling, Richard Emmanuelle – all are first borns.

With this niche of responsibility taken, the second-born has to carve out his own area in which to excel and please. “Younger siblings are more likely to accept radical innovations in science and social thought says Sulloway “They identify with the underdog. Most lost causes in history have been supported by younger siblings and opposed by first borns. They are far more likely to identify with their peers than with their elder siblings”

Lemann’s observations reinforce this. He has found that because middle children don’t have their parents all to themselves this gives them a sense of balance sometimes lacking in an elder sibling. They are good mediators and learn to co-operate through negotiation and compromise. They are flexible and generous, the peacemaker of the family. Socially they are well adjusted, having learned to mediate and they tend to have the most friends. However they can silently rebel against the family’s values and are most likely to move away from the family to establish a secure spot amongst their peers. They are well aware that they are often bypassed and upstaged by older and younger siblings. Middle children can also carry a sense of unfairness and can harbour a feeling of being squeezed – hence the term middle child syndrome. They do however make good lawyers, social workers and nurses. They are “people people” –Tony Blair, John F Kennedy, Yasser Arafat, Princess Diana, Fred Macaulay – all are middle children.

And then there is the last born. The last born is a show-off who enjoys the limelight; a charming rebel, often the family clown, creative, with a good sense of humour, a risk taker, is outgoing, questions authority and is an idea person. They can often doubt the validity of their perceptions because they’ve often been laughed at or not taken seriously. They are often late developers, live by their own rules and can be utterly selfish. They love to upset the applecart. Career wise they make great sales people, or caterers or anything creative but they definitely don’t live to work. They are to be found bungee jumping or scuba diving instead. They enjoy life. Famous examples include Andy Warhol, Steve Redgrave, Ewan McGregor, Tom Hunter and Carol Smillie.

So how much weight is given to birth order in personality? Of course there are a huge number of variables in the equation. And like all common ideas when put to the test there are always some people who fit into the equation neatly whilst others won’t conform. It must have an impact on personality but then so does gender, family size, social status and many other factors. Richard Woolfson, a child psychologist and author of Sibling Rivalry believes that of all influences on personality, birth order accounts for 30-40% - a very large factor. He says that there is strong evidence that first borns do best in life . “They tend to have longer marriages and greater career advancement, but they are also more likely to seek psychological help. “Second and third children have to be more self-reliant and flamboyant – they are the ones who dye their hair green. They tend to seek controversy and be more challenging.”

Many geneticists however would argue personality is far more to do with genetics than where in the family you come and disagree with the theory of the importance of birth order. They argue that the way you are within the family is not the way you act outside with your peers and that many younger siblings act like firstborns with their peers.

What is true is that it does affect family dynamics, is irreversible and is with us our whole life. Oh and incidentally, Fred, the third Attenborough brother is called John and is a successful businessman. Sorry to spoil the joke, but that’s first borns for you.

Waving Not Drowning

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

What’s the best way to escape from the children on holiday? By taking them with you. An activity -based break on an idyllic Greek island with on-site childcare is the perfect solution

There are many things people don’t tell you about becoming a parent. One of them is that holidays will never be the same again. It took a while for this to sink in however and year after year we’ve set off with high hopes of sunbathing, swimming, leisurely family meals and generally having a break. Of course it’s nothing of the sort, it’s simply the setting that has changed – children still need to be fed, nappies still need to be changed, and children have to be entertained. By the time we return we’re left wondering why we paid to do this. Well five years later we’ve found the answer – Mark Warner holidays.

Having just returned from a fortnight’s holiday in their beach club in Lemnos, Greece we feel a bit like a schoolgirl who’s pulled the best looking boy in the school and can hardly stop smiling. That’s because here’s a holiday where someone else changes the nappies, feeds the children and entertains them like they’ve never been entertained before.

There are many parts to the Mark Warner experience which go to making the whole such a resounding success with the entire family, but for us, having three children under the age of 5, it was the childcare which came out on top. Kids’ clubs on holidays are no longer a novelty but what sets Mark Warner apart is the quality of the childcare and the activities they offer, even for the very young. The clubs are divided into baby club, toddler club, mini club, junior club and Indy club for teenagers. Whilst the staples of face painting, treasure hunts and ice cream trips are there, the biggest chunk of the day is made up of watersports: canoeing, sailing, surfing, trips in glass-bottomed boats, water-skiing and swimming are all offered with expert tuition. Available from 9am to1pm and then again from 3-5.30pm by the time you pick the kids up, not only have they had a great time, but joy of joys, they’ve had their dinner too.

The difficulty with kids’ clubs is always getting the kids back in the afternoon, but by the time we’d been there a couple of days they’d made friends and were enjoying the fun-packed agenda so much they wanted to go back. However on the days they stayed with us that was great too, having had a morning to ourselves we were delighted to spend time with them.

At the end of every week the nannies hold an award ceremony when every child is awarded a certificate for something they’ve achieved throughout the week and the older ones put on a show, it’s all great fun. And the childcare doesn’t stop at 5.30. The nannies run a wonderful babylistening service in the evenings, checking the rooms every fifteen minutes for crying children. Every night ours were so tired after their day’s activities they slept soundly.

Mind you we were pretty tired ourselves with all this hitherto unknown free time. Whilst the kids were looked after, my husband was able to indulge a love of water sports that hasn’t been indulged for quite some time. Surfing, water-skiing, sailing- all with expert tuition- are on offer and included in the price. And while Sport Billy was sailing the high seas, I had the option of joining him, having tennis tuition or attending aerobics classes, which were run four times a day for those so inclined. I wasn’t. Basking in my new-found freedom, I did the sensible thing and read books on the beach. By the end of the fortnight his sailing and water-skiing had come on leaps and bounds and he even won an award at the weekly watersports and tennis award ceremony. I was sure I’d win an award for not getting wet in a fortnight – quite a feat.

Another feat I pulled off was managing to put on half a stone in a week, but the food is so good that that bit was easy. With all meals and wine inclusive in the price, we weren’t expecting too much but it really is excellent. Every meal is a buffet service so you can have as much as you like and most importantly, they cater for the usual children’s tastes – plenty of chips, chicken nuggets, fish fingers and the like. The wine, served until you ordered coffee, was very drinkable too. Before leaving we were worried that their policy of sitting guests together meant that we would be forced to sit with strangers in forced jollity, but this turned out to be one of the best things about the holiday. After a hard day’s reading it was lovely to mix with other people. However you have a choice and can sit together, which was welcome on nights when we weren’t feeling sociable and it’s ideal for single parents who have adult company in the evening if they want it.

Whilst pretty basic, the accommodation was certainly adequate. Air-conditioned and decorated in a simple Mediterranean style, we had a family suite, with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a fridge to keep the constant supply of bottled water cool. It was cleaned every day and considering the little time we were actually in it, was fine.

It was the staff and their attention to detail that set this holiday apart from others. Arriving at the airport in 80 degree heat, we were all handed bottles of water and once at the beach club the staff brought our luggage to the room, a welcome touch when you’re struggling with children, buggies and handluggage that despite all good intentions, has doubled since leaving home. Being a fairly small club, it means that within a short space of time, both staff and other guests are familiar and it’s one of the friendliest places I’ve been to. Cliched as it may be, if your children are happy you are able to relax knowing they’re having a great time and are being well looked after in a safe environment and that was borne out when at the end of the fortnight, the children were crying as they hugged their nannies. They weren’t the only ones.

Not Just Anybody: How the fit and fabulous stay that way

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Love is all she needs

Actress Amanda Donohoe, 43 worries about world peace but a good wine can lift her spirits

Murder City is back for a second series, what preparations are involved in such a gritty role?
It’s a difficult role to prepare for- I do the obvious things like research the tricks of the trade, but you can’t research a character, it comes from an instinctive place as a performer. I always try to find comedy in a dark moment.

The character D.I Susan Alembic is kind of straight laced compared to your other parts….?
Yes but -I don’t think any copper who’s been on the job as long as she has can be entirely straight laced because you see humanity at its worst and that can almost tarnish your soul.

Walking around naked in Castaway or playing D.I Susan Alambic which one is more you…..?
Well, in the privacy of my own home walking around naked is very me... but like all actors I love to step into a character I would never normally get to experience. It’s a great role involving moral dilemmas and having the ability to go on feeling good about people when you see the worst of them every day- that’s very intriguing.

Have you ever been on the receiving end of crime?
No, but some years ago my parents were involved in a horrible robbery which was extremely traumatic.

Stage versus Hollywood versus TV?
Everybody does everything now, -Kate Winslett in Ricky Gervais’ Extras has confirmed that. Hollywood does tend to make you a bit up your own arse, and eventually after living there for years I had to come home because creatively it was so stifling.

Do you miss anything about it?
The weather and the cheap petrol

In Hollywood, were you sucked into the whole fitness thing?
No. I did ballet from the age of 4 and was a gymnast for years so I’ve exercised a huge amount in my life and always known how important it was but never got it out of proportion.

Work up a sweat at the gym?
No, I just can’t be bothered any more.I have found a Pilates machine which I bought on QVC which is great because you can exercise lying down. I can’t handle the gym- all the people, sweaty bodies there’s too much weirdness for me.

Are you body confident?
Yes. I’ve never had a problem with body image. Thinking too much about the world’s problems and feeling impotent to do anything about them, that’s what worries me, not what I look like.

Would you ever consider a nip’n’tuck?
Never. I can’t stand the idea of intrusive surgery unless it’s a life threatening situation; I just don’t see the point of it. I’ve seen good face lifts and bad face lifts but I’ve never seen one that doesn’t look odd.

Ever been on a diet?
No. I love my food and I love to cook. I eat a lot of chicken and a lot of meat, all organic. Chicken soup, chicken and mash, chicken and rice noodles…

Anything off limits?
Processed wheat can’t be part of my diet which isn’t easy at all. I have to carry rye crackers and rice noodles with me when I travel. I occasionally indulge in a bowl of pasta because I can’t resist, but it’s absolutely not a part of my regular diet.

Any vices?
Yes, many. I smoke too many cigarettes; I have to give that up. That’s about my most evil vice but even then I smoke with a conscience: I smoke American Spirit cigarettes which only have tobacco in them, not the 360 other chemicals that they put in ordinary cigarettes. There isn’t anything virtuous about smoking though.

Have you tried to give that up before?
No, I’m a coward, but I have to face it, I have to get realistic about it.

Your favourite tipple ?
A good fine wine, I can spot a plonk a mile away and I won’t have it. I am much more interested in having one glass of a truly fine wine than loads of cheap drinks. It’s such a waste of time having a hangover I’m just not interested any more. I like the mellow feeling after a couple of glasses and that’s it.

Pop any pills?
Not vitamins, but I take a food supplement which is a blue-green algae that I buy online from the States, it’s a naturally occurring algae farmed off a lake and is an incredible superfood. NASA put money into researching how complex the properties of it were so that astronauts could take it into space and discovered all sorts of amazing things about it. I’ve been taking it for 5 years now and when I run out of it I really notice a difference in my energy levels.

The alternative route?
I have acupuncture to manage my stress. I think women con themselves into thinking that everything is alright when actually it isn’t and this stress manifests itself physically in the form of tight muscles, tummy aches or headaches, a myriad of different small ailments, that actually are very easily rectified by unblocking blocked energy

What keeps you awake at night?
I’m a great worrier. World problems keep me awake- we are divided, not united, and every great war was always fought over somebody believing that they were better than someone else and it’s our responsibility to teach our children that nobody is better than anyone else, we are all equal.

Anything lighter that keeps you awake?
Every actor, it doesn’t matter whether they are successful or not, always worries about the next job coming in. It’s always that and even when you are working you are still worrying about it. It never goes away.

Time out?
I’m not good at taking time off but I like to sew. I used to make clothes when I was younger. Years ago when the whole Adam and the Ants thing was going on, I made a couple of outfits for the band, that was great fun. I would love to do something with fashion in the future, but I don’t know what.

high or low maintenance?
I’m low maintenance and that comes from living in Hollywood where the conspicuous consumption around me made me feel quite ill. I can’t stand that - How many cars do you need? How many houses do you need? If we all lived a bit more simply, perhaps we wouldn’t have 6 million starving children in Africa. Or even the million children living in inner London under the poverty line? What is going on? The divide between rich and poor has just grown so massively out of proportion that it makes me very angry.

Can’t live without?
love and friendship.

Are you a risk taker?
Yes, always. In everything. My philosophy is no risk no change and no change is not a good thing.

The secret of a charmed life?
The secret is to know when enough is enough, that’s the secret of happiness. Understand your limits and develop compassion.

Exercise the soul?
On a daily basis. When you find yourself thinking mean thoughts or looking at someone with suspicion, basically you are looking in the mirror of your own fears. Look to yourself first and what you loathe about other people is usually what you loathe about yourself.

Who do you turn to in times of trouble?
Family friends and myself. We look too much outside of ourselves for answers, we forget that the obvious answers are right there, right inside us. Your intuition is absolutely worth its weight in gold and when your tummy turns over there is something wrong, tune into it and you would be amazed and see what a difference it makes.

Are you a loner?
I always have been, my sister is much older than me and I spent a lot of time as a child amusing myself. It’s stood me in good stead; I’m not needy.

Toy boy or sauve sophisticated older man?
An older man will have a certain history, often divorces and children in the background. Whereas younger men have much less baggage. Whether younger or older he has to be honest , I abhor liars. An honest, promiscuous man is worth ten liars. It doesn’t mean I would put up with it, it just means I know who I am dealing with.

If it’s raining outside do you put on your trainers or pour yourself a glass of wine?
I would put on my trainers, pour a glass of wine and go for a walk.

Murder City, ITV 9pm from 5th April

The nursery that never closes

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

A Glasgow childcare centre is one of only tow in the country offering 24-hour service, but Deany Judd asks what sort of parent would want to leave their child overnight

Like most nights 4 year old Lizzie Morrison has washed her face, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair before climbing into bed to have a story read to her. Nothing unusual about that. What is unusual however is where Lizzie is spending the night. She isn’t at home or staying overnight with friends or relatives. Instead she is spending the night at Harlequin Nursery, the nursery she attends during the day in the south side of Glasgow. Which makes Lizzie very unusual because there are only two nurseries in Britain which offer 24-hour care.

Ask any parent about their single biggest qualm about going out to work and the chances are they’ll mention the dreaded c word – childcare. Childcare at home or outside the home is at the heart of the decision. For those who plump for the nursery option there’s the drawback of the rigid hours they operate and, as many a parent can testify to, exceed those hours and the reception you’re met with can be somewhat chilly. But this clock–watching approach may well become a thing of the past with increasing numbers of nurseries introducing flexible hours. Instead of the rigid 8am-6pm hours they’ve operated in the past, many nurseries now operate from 6am – 8pm, or 10pm even in some instances. “We’ve just taken it a step further, it seemed logical,” says Angela Eakins, the enterprising 37-year-old owner of Harlequin and mother to Nicole, 7, and Jonathan, 4.

Angela opened Harlequin Nursery five years ago when looking for childcare for her daughter. “In my opinion the standards of childcare on offer at the time were very poor and that was unacceptable to me. I decided to set up myself and within 6 months we were full.” Last year Angela decided to expand Harlequin and bought an adjacent building. “At that point we canvassed parents’ opinion and asked them if we could do more to improve the quality of childcare we offered. The answer was overwhelmingly in favour of flexible hours”.

Flexible hours, yes. But is there a need for 24 hour nursery care? Isn’t it a bit, dare it be said, akin to putting your dog into kennels? “People no longer work rigid 9-5 hours and nursery provision must reflect that, I just stretched the flexibility to its limit. Our parents are medics, shift workers, employed in the catering industry, self-employed or simply single parents lacking in support. How many people do you know who works regular hours any more? Parents work late, work at the weekend and yes, are away from home overnight on business. Our hours reflect these needs. Explains Angela and laughingly adds, “Basically we’re the nursery that doesn’t like to say no.”

In the brightly painted rooms with the handcrafted beds, Angela explains that the standard of care is of the highest order. “ I have 31 staff working here and all of them are employed on a flexible basis, that is they must be ready to work extended hours when the need arises. When a child stays overnight with us, each child must have two adults looking after them, an adult in attendance at all times and another on the premises to provide relief. The charge for this is £35. That’s a lot of care and it’s always two people known to the child from the nursery.”

Picturing parents dropping the kids off on the way to the airport en-route to the south of France for a week’s partying, Angela is keen to emphasise that it’s not a hotel she’s running and she has imposed a 48 hour rule as the maximum time a child can stay at the nursery. “ People can’t simply pitch up and use it as a drop-off point when the babysitter’s diary is a bit full or they fancy a break. Of course we’d accommodate the odd social outing but if parents started to use the overnight facility regularly for these purposes, I might start to ask a few questions. I see this as an extension of our flexible hours rather than something separate. If parents whose children attend nursery have early-morning meetings in London or whatever they know we’re here. It’s great to be able to assure parents that we fit in with their schedules and not the other way round.”

Kerry Morrison from Pollokshields in Glasgow is one parent delighted at the introduction of 24-hour nursery care. She is a buyer for a high street retailer and her husband Mark is a corporate lawyer. They have a four year old daughter, Lizzie, who stays overnight at Harlequin on average about once a week.
“Before Harlequin offered this service juggling our working and family lives was a nightmare. My husband is from New Zealand and all his family live there. My mother is too old to look after Lizzie, although she helps out as best she can.”

Knowing how difficult it can be to drop your child at nursery for the day, what must it be like to leave them overnight? “ Both of our jobs involve a lot of travelling and we hated dragging her out of bed early in the morning,” explains Kerry. “ In the past we dropped her off at a childminder’s house but it was far from ideal as she had a family of her own and our work schedule became too intrusive in their lives. A live-in nanny would perhaps be ideal but the cost is exorbitant and being an only child we wanted Lizzie to interact with other children. The nursery is a home from home to her and she knows the staff really well. It’s made a huge difference to our lives,”.

According to national childcare charity the Daycare Trust, 40% of the British workforce are now parents with dependent children; 78% of women with children aged 6-13 work outside the home and the typical nine-to-five work pattern has been replaced for many by shift-working, longer hours and working at weekends.

Professor Cary Cooper of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology says that the culture of short-term contracts means many parents working late and beginning early. "With society becoming increasingly 24/7, childcare has to reflect peoples’ needs.” Surely then the onus is on the employer to provide childcare facilities onsite that match parents’ working patterns? “ That’s all very well for large companies with huge number of employees,” explains Professor Cooper, “but with the growth of small medium enterprises in Britain which employ fewer people, the likelihood of in-house childcare seems distant." He sees the problem arising from the mobility of the population. “In the past the extended family would have provided this care but with people moving away they now have to buy childcare and a support system. The provision of such services can only be good for those who need them,”

It’s certainly helped ease the burden of care on Marie Gourley from Giffnock in Glasgow who has two sons, Max, 5 and Jacob, 2 who attend Harlequin Nursery at the weekend. “My family is in the pub business and childcare for us in the past has been a nightmare. Weekends are the busiest time in a pub and we have no one else to ask. Although friends regularly say that they’ll gladly help out you don’t really like to ask.”

And so with Harlequin spearheading the campaign for flexible nursery provision across the country, is this 24/7 approach to childcare desirable or something we should approach with caution? Mary McLeod, chief executive of the National Family and Parenting Institute says the pressures on parents today can be huge. “The provision of high quality, affordable childcare is one of the biggest concerns affecting parents today. It is important for parents to feel that their children are in a safe and caring environment when they cannot be with them and a nursery can certainly provide that. There may be many circumstances where a child needs to spend nights away from home and if there are no relatives or friends who can help-and this may be the case for many people- then a 24 hour nursery could provide good a good temporary solution.” She sounds a note of caution however and warns that if parents need to access resources like this constantly, we would urge them to try and find ways of better balancing their work and domestic responsibilities.

And so with the onset of flexibility in nursery care it looks like the long faces and huffing and puffing of nursery workers which parents running late were met with will be no more; or at least they’ll no longer be because of your tardiness.

Time and Place - Jeremy Bowen

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Jeremy Bowen, 43 is one of the BBC's most distinguished foreign correspondents. He has reported from more than seventy countries, covering conflicts in the Gulf, El Salvador, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Croatia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Somalia and Rwanda. He reported from Jerusalem from 1995 – 2000.

He has won several awards including the Best News Correspondent at the 1995 New York Television Festival and the Best Breaking News report for his coverage of President Rabin's assassination in 1996.After two years presenting Breakfast News back in London, he now has a roving brief as World Affairs Correspondent.

He lives in south-east London with his partner Julia Williams and their children Mattie,2 and Jack 4 months.

Having worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC for 11 years, a job which involved reporting from more than seventy countries, I could hardly be described as a homebody. The last thing I was expecting therefore when I was appointed to the job of Middle East correspondent in 1995 and had to live in Jerusalem with my partner Julia was to feel homesick. .

We fully expected that there would be a period of adjustment but for quite a long time we found Jerusalem to be a very alien city. It was a job I had longed for and I loved that at once, it was so stimulating and I was busy all the time but in terms of quality of life living in Jerusalem was difficult.
For a long time I pounced on all things British, especially newspapers. I often had to drive past Tel Aviv airport and it was rare that I didn’t look at the British Airways planes and think to myself, “If I got on that I’d be home in 4 hours.” Returning from the UK I used to reach the check-in desk and my heart would sink and the whole security palaver at the other end got me down terribly.

Gradually however the feelings of dread lessened and I’d find myself driving up the hill to Jerusalem with its alluring lights and exotic smells and feel glad to be back. Inexplicably the place just slowly started to get under my skin. Jerusalem is a very exotic combination of things: if you face west the whole feel of the place is Mediterranean with olive trees, fruit trees and limestone; travel east from Jerusalem and within only a couple of miles you’re in the dessert so it has a very diverse but rich culture.

And as I got to know more about the history of Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Palestinians the more it pulled me in and all these things conspired until I realised that I no longer yearned to be in London -Jerusalem had me under its spell and I still believe there’s nowhere on the planet quite like it.

We lived in the west side of the city in a village called Ein Karem, arguably the nicest part of Jerusalem to live in. It is built around two river valleys which are wet in winter and dry in summer and with its old white and pink stone houses it is very like Tuscany, only hotter and was such a congenial place to live that it almost felt like being on holiday. Ein Karem was a haven from the city which was hot and dusty and the level of hatred between communities was at times exhausting. Returning from a stretch of work or even just a day’s work to Ein Karem was uplifting and put everything into perspective.

We lived in three houses in the five years we were there, but my fondest memories are of the last one we lived in because it was a happy time in our lives. It was a beautiful stone house with high vaulted ceilings. The main living area was a big square room which was about 15 feet high with lovely stone work and a sunken area where we used to burn olive wood. On the walls we hung some of the oriental carpets we’d bought there and had our furniture from London around us so it felt like home.

It was a great house for entertaining friends which we did a lot of while we were there. Jerusalem is in many ways a tribal city where people tend to stick to their own folk rather than mix and my tribe was other foreign journalists who we’d often have over to the house.

I really got interested in cooking at this time , perhaps because the restaurants aren’t that great but the houses are so lovely that we enjoyed cooking for friends at home better.

My most evocative memory is not of the house but of the garden where, because of the wonderful climate, we spent a lot of our time. I used to love to sit on the balcony that faced west which overlooked the garden with its palm trees and prickly pear trees and watch the sun going down and listen to the jackals calling in the hills around. There’s something unique about the light in that part of the world that is memorable too, it’s clear and bright in the middle of the day and by evening it’s soft and golden. When the weather is hot the stones of the house heat up and although there’s often a breeze in the evening, the house is still giving off heat, like a big stone radiator.

It was a wonderful time in my life –my job was very fulfilling and Julia became pregnant with our daughter while we were there too. My family visiting for the Millennium was very special too. It was fortuitous that what began as a difficult time for us turned out so well. Whilst in many ways it would be a wonderful place to live now with the children because of the weather, I don’t think you should try to replicate things, you have to experience different things in life.

Six Days, by Jeremy Bowen Simon and Schuster, £16.99

Life Choices Hermione Norris - I just can't shake off my rug fetish

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Hermione Norris , 38, one of the stars of Cold Feet, is married to TV executive Simon Wheeler. They live in West London with their two year old son Wilf.

Food : Always the same or always game?
I know what I like and I like what I know, but I am always game and will try anything really. John Thompson once brought a tin of rattlesnakes when he came to stay and we all tried a bit of that; I just heated it up in a pot. It tasted rather like chicken.

Clothes: M&S or D&G?
I’m a real mixture. I think Top Shop is fantastic and then I love the odd bit of D&G which I think is fantastic and I love a bit of Gucci. I have a really nice Gucci black coat which I have worn and worn and worn, so I have got my money’s worth from that.

Holidays: Beach or piste?
My husband loves skiing and we went in January which was great so I’m a bit of both I’d only been skiing once before but I really enjoyed it but I love a beach too. I travelled a lot before I got married and had Wilf which is just as well because our holidays have changed dramatically since we had him I’m really looking forward to him being old enough o travel to India and Africa. -

Approach to Life: Manana or right now.
I have forced myself to be right now but it doesn’t come naturally at all. Work is the only thing that I am probably organized with and administration is my idea of hell. I cannot stand it.I think you have to be more organized with children because that makes them feel secure - he always has his meals at the same time and his sleeps at the same time, and I feel quite strongly about that.

Drink: Beer or Bolli?
Neither. I’d much rather have a bottle of San Pellegrino water

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta?
My husband and I are both messy but I like a clean house I throw a lot of bleach around the place and I must admit I have help.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver?
I am a bit of a boy racer and have always loved cars. I drive a Mercedes. But in my opinion it hasn’t lived up to expectations -I fell for that advertising campaign, all that “Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?”, No, please don’t is the answer.

Money: Rainy day or live for today?
I’m Live for today. My husband tries to get me to rein in a bit but I am afraid I’m terrible.

At the moment I spend lots on baby clothes they have so many lovely things now and I can’t resist them.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat?
Again I love both. I grew up in London but we have a place in Dorset and try to get there as often as possible – there’s so much to do there, the beach isn’t far away and there are cows and pigs and farmyards and it’s very outdoorsy. I just love it.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella Deville?
I like to think of myself as Mary Poppins but I am sure Cruella creeps in there sometimes but on the whole I do love children.

Friends: quantity or quality?
Definitely quality- my friends go back a long way. People always say that you can count your good friends on one hand and I would say with me that’s true. I am always open to meeting lovely, new, shiny people. Occasionally in a job you make the odd really amazing connection with someone but it is true that you can have quite an intense time with people and then move on. I think beyond a certain age you just invest in the friends that you have.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs?
My idea of hell would be going to Oxford Street for a day’s shopping.
I don’t really like it to be honest. If I see lovely baby clothes I find that hard to resist but I’m not a shopper at all.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested?
My husband cooks, I’m truly terrible, just dreadful. I can cook roast chicken and that’s about it – poor Wilf.

Health: alternative or aspirin?
Aspirin, every time. I can’t be doing with all of that, just give me something to kill the pain I haven’t the patience for alternative medicine.

Décor: minimal or cosy?
I would like to be minimal but I am afraid I am probably more cosy. I have a bit of a rugfetish and collect them wherever I go and then I put them in the room and they never go. I have so many of them. My husband sings to me that “the rugs don’t work they just make it worse, but I know I’ll see your face again”, that Verve song.

Fashion: victim or setter?
Definitely not a victim. I just like things clean and simple. I know exactly what suits me and don’t deviate from that. If I saw an outfit in a magazine I can appreciate it and like it on that person but I won’t think “Oh I must go and make myself look like that,’because I would feel like an idiot!

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it?
I try and recycle and have recently gone on a bit of recycling mission – we bought new bins and try very hard to be good. I don’t think the Government make it easy to recycle I have to say, so it’s up to us.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle?
I am terrible I do absolutely nothing I used to do yoga and go to the gym but since I have had Wilf I have just keeled over really and can’t muster the energy. I plan to somehow find that energy again and get back into it.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe?
I bring shame upon the world of technology and am embarrassingly bad. I can’t email, I can text and that’s it.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash?
An intimate dinner with close friends any day of the week. I don’t hate big bashes but would much prefer to get together with close friends.

Hermione Norris is appearing in Kindness of Strangers , a two part drama series on ITV on 7th and 8th June.

Mary Portas - I closed my eyes to eat locust

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Fashion store guru and star of TV's Mary, Queen of Shops is 46, divorced and lives in West London with her children Milo, 14 and Verity 12.

Food : Always the same or always game
I’m very game and like new things in all areas of life. Years ago I was having lunch with a fashion editor in this great little restaurant and we both ordered locusts; we closed our eyes and crunched away. The great thing is my son is like that too and will eat anything – he ate snails when he was six so eating out with him is great fun.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested
I’m experimental and have loads of cookery books, I love trying new recipes. We have a great family dish which we all make together, we call it love chicken. It’s chicken with lemon, white wine and loads of garlic and ten minutes before it’s ready we throw in basil and we call that bit throwing in the love.

Clothes: M&S or D&G
That’s a no brainer -designer every time. After years of working in the designer arena you appreciate the quality and when you get older, longevity is key. I’ve got pieces in my wardrobe from the ‘90s I still wear. I always buy designer shoes and I always buy designer classic trousers. I’m very pro the English boys at the moment: Giles Deacon and Hamish Morrow I love but if I could only buy from one shop it would be Balenciaga.

Fashion: victim or setter
I’m neither, I would hate to be a victim – I passed on the whole Boho look. I have my own style, I like colourful bright statement pieces and of course I’ve often been told that I make too many statements!

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs
I very rarely spend the day shopping. When I shop with the children we split up: my son goes to a sports shop, my daughter to Top Shop, that’s the only way to do it but generally it’s not where I get my joy at all. I really enjoy shopping for my staff at Christmas- I take my time and choose something I know they’ll like. I go to Liberty’s which is always a pleasure to be in.

Holidays: Beach or piste
My ex husband takes the children skiing every year and they all love it. but I work at such a fast pace and my life is so full that I do not need any more kicks or thrills in my life. My favourite places are where I find peace – Seville is beautiful and Patmos in Greece I really like too. I love good wine so a holiday based round a vineyard would be great too.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
I never put things off I do things at once- I read an email,I answer it. I find it a difficult trait in others when they don’t do the same.

Friends: quantity or quality
Totally quality- in my industry I could be out with different people every night but I don’t do that, I’ve had the same two pals for over twenty years. We’re all completely different and work in different industries and are just great friends.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash
I prefer an intimate dinner preferably in a classic restaurant with great cuisine and fine wine. As a family we socialize a lot and our house is always busy, sometimes the children look round and say, ‘There’s no-one here tonight , what’s wrong?’ When the show is on I gather lots of different groups of friends and we watch it together; last week there were about 50 people from the office , this week I’ve got family coming.

Drink: Beer or Bolli
I loathe champagne but a red wine is always very welcome, a good glass of French claret is the best part of the day – I’ve got two children, I have to have a glass of wine every day!

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta
My house is very clean but that’s not really down to me, I’ve got great help. My mind is so mad and there’s so much going on around me that I need to have tidiness around me, clutter stresses me. I’m more than happy to roll my sleeves up and get on with it myself.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver
I was a boy racer until the children were born then I had to give up my Audi GT because their legs were practically in the glove compartment. I love sexy cars but I’ve gone very green and am driving around in a Prius.

Money: Rainy day or live for today
I’m pretty cautious with money. I would hate not to have any but at the same time I really like using it to enjoy life.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat
Both. I live in London but I love the country it’s where my soul truly sings –Thomas Hardy land. One of my best friends has the most beautiful house in the country and we’ve been going there for years. We just pack a lunch and walk for miles on end.

Décor: minimal or cosy
I hate that beige upon beige upon beige look -I could never live with that. I love colour and cosiness but not a chintzy look.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville
I can be both: last night is a classic example of my mothering. I got home about 7, shouted a bit at Milo for not revising enough, then we all had dinner. When I was tidying up, I saw the bananas were over ripe and we stood and baked banana bread together. I hope in balance, I’m a fun Mum.

Health: alternative or aspirin
I’d like to say I was completely alternative- I have explored acupuncture and regularly have a massage and reiki is wonderful too but when that headache appears I’m not going to start chanting , I reach for a tablet.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it
Driving to work this morning I noticed that we are the only house in our road with five recycling bins outside it waiting to be picked up, which pleases me greatly.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle
I’m pretty fit, I try to get to the gym three times a week or if the weather is good I run round the park. I enjoy being fit but I would never say that I enjoy the process. I hear people saying things like ‘that didn’t feel like five miles to me’ and I think, ‘It felt like it alright to me.’

Technology: gadget man or technophobe
I’m good on the internet and can email competently enough but cut and paste and things like that are beyond me. Shamefully I can’t even work the DVD player.

Mary, Queen of Shops is on Mondays at 9pm BBC 2, produced by Optomen.

Mariella Frostrup - Shopping's not my idea of fun

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Mariella Frostrup 43 is married to lawyer Jason McCue. They live in West London with their children Molly Mae18 months and son Danny 4 months.

Food –always the same or always game
In terms of eating at home, our repertoire is small. But when it comes to eating out, I will try anything, I love going places and finding new things and I am pretty eclectic in terms of what I will stick in my mouth. I went to an island in Indonesia once called Lombok, and we couldn’t really understand most of what was on the menu so we just took chances when ordering and I think we ate a lot of gristle and a lot of marrow and we were not quite sure what animal it was from. At the time we decided that as long as we could digest it, it was OK.

Clothes- M& S or D&G
One of the great things about being slightly in the public eye, is you get lent wonderful clothes and so if I have to go to a big do, then I will either make a big investment or do a bit of begging and borrowing, in which case my favourites would probably be Armani and Prada and Alice Temperley. If we are talking about day to day living, I’m absolutely High Street. When I was pregnant I was an absolute devotee of the Top Shop maternity range and the H&M maternity range. My happy-medium range is Nicole Fahri, and Margaret Howell which isn’t available in many places but there are lovely, lovely things in all my favourite colours, sludge green, sludge brown, beige.

Holidays – Beach or Piste?
Either really will do. But if it’s a beach it’s got to be a fairly deserted one and I am afraid the same is true of the piste. I like a bit of cross country skiing, but I am not a very gung-ho downhill skier.

Approach To Life: Manana or right now?
I’m both- I will have a period where I’m very active and everything has to be done at once and then manana sort of slips in for a few weeks and then I suddenly realise there are 400 things I have to do and then I go into little right now bursts again. I make lists when I remember to but I don’t live by them.

Drink: Beer or Bolli?
I don’t like champagne and I don’t like beer but I do love wine and the occasional vodka. I have a glass of red wine most days and I ‘m so used to being pregnant that at the moment just one seems like a luxury.

Housekeeping : Aggie and Kim or Wayne and Waynetta?
I aspire to be Aggie and Kim but in reality I am probably more Wayne and Waynetta. I have a lot of clutter that I keep threatening to get rid of but never quite get round to. And I do have help and she battles bravely against my worst nature.

Cars –boy racer or Sunday driver?
Instinctively, a boy racer but thanks to the two toddlers, a Sunday driver. Cars are important to me, I like a comfortable car and I like a decent engine on the motorway. I have a four wheel drive Volvo which seats seven, grandparents and children, but it’s totally useless for driving around the centre of the city. I am seriously thinking about buying an electric G whiz for getting around; first and foremost I suppose because of general guilt about the environment and secondly because they look really comfortable and sensible- and then when I am 60 I am going to get a sports car!

Money –rainy day or live for today?
Rainy day. I am very nervous about ending up penniless and forlorn. I do splash out every now and again I find it very hard not to splash out now with the kids. I find it very easy not to splash out on myself because I just don’t really want anything.

Property –urban chic or rural retreat?
Both. I live in London because of work and in a very metropolitan way in that we live in a sort of mansion block on the sixth floor. But we escape to Scotland where we have a little bothie up in the Ayrshire hills that we couldn’t live without. We go about every three weeks for long weekends and then for holidays and everything we go there.

Children –Mary Poppins or Cruella DeVille?
You would have to ask the kids. I would say Mary Poppins; they would probably say Cruella DeVille. I quite like children to be reasonably well behaved and not loud and obnoxious and so I ‘m quite strict but I really love my kids. I like my godchildren too but I don’t love children everywhere and anywhere:

Friends –quantity or quality?
I’ve got a lot of acquaintances and a very, very small group of girlfriends who I have had for longer than I care to remember.

Shopping – till you drop or avoid at all costs?
I try to avoid shopping because I really don’t enjoy it. If I have time to kill when I am on a work trip or something like that, when I’ve got time that doesn’t really count because I couldn’t be doing anything constructive in it, then I might shop. But my idea of rest and relaxation is not to go shopping. I don’t mind car boot sales and antique warehouses, but only if I am looking to furnish somewhere.

Cooking – I think we have kind of covered this, experimental or tried and tested?
I have completely forgotten how to cook since I had the children. I used to really enjoy it, and actually be quite good, but both times I was pregnant I literally could barely boil an egg but luckily my husband took over. When I do cook -and I am slowly coming back to it- I do a very good Bolognese. I really like all this sort of French navarins and stews, with lamb that falls off the bone and things like that, but I haven’t done it for a while, so I feel a bit guilty about even pretending I do.

Health - alternative or aspirin?
Alternative– I don’t take much medicine because I am lucky enough not to be ill very often. I try to be alternative with the kids too but it depends what’s wrong with them.

Décor –minimal or cosy?
Cosy. I would like to be minimal but I think I’ve realised I’m not gong to change now. My house has big sofas, colour everywhere, books, and paintings; there isn’t a sleek line in sight.

Fashion - victim or setter?
Neither. I desperately try to keep up but it takes me about two years to wear something that’s fashionable just when everyone else is starting to stop wearing it, that’s when I buy it. I know what suits me now, until I was about 35 I spent an absolute fortune on clothes because I only had myself to look after and I had a disposable income, but since then, I have got better things to spend my money on. I’ve got a picture of me when I was 14 wearing a pair of flared jeans and a polo neck sweater and sadly, I am still wearing the same outfit. So I think I’ve given up.

Rubbish –bin it or recycle it?
I recycle and I’m quite good; I am as good as the local council in whichever given area it is. I am not good enough to pile everything in the boot and drive off to the dump or anything.

Fitness –Jane Fonda or Jim Royle?
I am not Jane Fonda- I really hate exercise classes, gyms any venue for fitness - but I have always been a big walker and for me at least has been good enough. I walk to my office every day and I walk my daughter to school every day and on a nice day I will walk into the west end and at the weekends. Part of the joy of Scotland is that we walk a lot.

Technology –gadget man or technophobe?
Technology doesn’t interest me; I am forced to use it because of the nature of the world today. But I think that life was a lot less stressful, certainly before email, because I seem to spend most of my life replying to emails that I really don’t need to be replying to. Everyone expects an answer five minutes ago. Leave me alone – I do think that that should be my epitaph - leave me alone. I use a computer but really I use it like a word processor. I have got an I Pod that my husband very sweetly gave me for my birthday last November and it’s still in its box and I can manage a digital camera because that means I don’t have to buy film which makes life easier.

Entertaining – would you prefer an intimate dinner or a big bash.
Intimate dinner every time. I have a big bash every now and again but by choice it would be an intimate dinner.

Mariella Frostrup is presenting The 78th Academy Awards live and exclusively, Sky Movies 1, on Sunday 5th March, 12.05am. Oscar Highlights, Sky One, Monday 6th March, 10pm.

Myleene Klass - I panic if I can't see a skyscraper

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Tv presenter and musician Myleene Klass, 27 lives in South London with her fiancé bodyguard Graham Quinn, 30.

Food : Always the same or always game?
I’m always game when I’m abroad. I have tried everything from fruit bats in the Seychelles to a goat curry made only of entrails in Sierra Leone. It’s not something that I would ask for on a menu, but when you are out there and its part of somebody’s custom then you just get on with it really. But I am really quite boring when I am here because I know the restaurants I like to go to and I suppose I do go for the same things. But if I do see something on somebody else’s plate that looks appetizing then they better hold on to it because I do have Gadget arms with my fork.

Clothes: M&S or D&G?
I’m a mix of the two. I think a designer bag, good shoes and a High Street T shirt is ideal. I’m very lucky as I have a cousin who works in Gucci so I am always in there and because of the work that I do I get a lot of designs sent to me. At the same time you don’t need replicas of each other whether you wear High Street clothes or designer and I really do agree with mix and match. I do think though that it’s very important to spend a lot of money on sunglasses, that’s one thing that gives it away.

Holidays: Beach or piste?
Beach every single time. I don’t like being cold, I know everyone says you can get a tan if you’re up on the slopes and I have even seen women in bikinis going down the Alps but no, it’s not for me. I recently went to Rome and I’m going back again very soon I enjoy that kind of break a lot it’s a real treat just to catch up with all the books that I haven’t had a chance to read.
The Seychelles is absolute paradise. The Maldives is my favourite place so far.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now?
It depends. My Manager thinks that I am a cat under the bed if I don’t want to be gotten hold of. But I don’t agree, I think I like to get things out of the way and I hate when I have to wait for other people to do things, when they’re manana.

Drink: Beer or Bolli?
I don’t drink at all any more so neither. I used to drink but I didn’t like the taste so I don’t bother.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta?
Aggie and Kim. You could eat your dinner off my floors. I do it myself, I don’t even have a dishwasher because I like to handwash all my dishes.
I’m one of these people who hosts a party and then grabs a plate out of a person’s hands and has it washed and dried before they know what’s happened. I am not fanatical it’s just that I worked really hard to get my flat and to get the beautiful things that I have.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver?
Boy racer. I drive fast. I love cars, I just recently got a new one actually, my fiancé bought me one so he could watch the football in peace. It’s an Audi A4 convertible and I love it. Cars are important to me and I don’t like hesitant drivers- But I can’t park to save myself.

Money: Rainy day or live for today?
Money burns a hole in my pocket, if I’m shopping and I see something I like there’s nothing that will put me off buying it. But I have been sensible too and invested in flats, bricks and mortar, because my dad insisted on it. I go to what I call the Bank of Gray – my fiancé Graham, he’s always good for a fiver or a tenner.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat?
Urban chic all the way. I love living in the city. We recently discussed moving out and I got quite panic stricken at the thought of not being able to see a skyscraper or a Starbucks, much to my fiancé’s horror, he was born in Ireland. But there again I grew up in Norfolk, you know, I had enough of the country for long enough and I like the buzz of the city, I like the vibrancy. I like the pace.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville?
Mary Poppins, I used to teach children, and I’d really like some of my own. I’m getting married to an Irish man and it’s inevitable that he wants thousands of them. I am a godmother, and I was very nervous when I first looked after him on my own, literally to the point that I had to stop myself from getting a mirror to check if he was breathing. I really would love kids because

Friends: quantity or quality?
Quality every single time. I have got friends that I have remained friends with since school and from music college days and there are very, very few people that I have made friends with recently. In fact, I think there’s only a couple. I don’t pick friends up very easily. Its nothing to do with mistrusting them or anything, but you do need to give friends your time and really be there and there have been a few events in my life where I have been lucky ( although at the time I thought I was being unlucky) enough to find out really who my friends were at an early age.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs?
Shop until you drop. I can go all day and then all night. I like to go on my own just so I don’t bore people too much and then I like to meet up with a friend and get their opinion or my sister, she’s very good. Basically it isn’t who I will go with, it’s who I won’t go with and I will not go with Graham under any circumstances any more. It takes away the whole shopping experience. He fusses, he gets bored, he literally says things like, ‘you’ve got 15 minutes left and then I am going.’ No one should have to shop under those circumstances.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested?
Tried and tested. Beans on toast, pasta and salmon and that’s it. I enjoy baking, cooking I don’t understand. It just seems like too much of a challenge to get everything done on time, the idea of crushing a clove -it just doesn’t excite me.

Health: alternative or aspirin?
I am neither. I am quite cynical when it comes to alternative medicine and I don’t mean to be but I just can’t help it. And if I take an aspirin I will have to be dying literally, I will have to be in such a lot of pain. I try to stay away from both. I know its ridiculous but I blame my dad- he didn’t want me to be one of those people who pop pills for no reason, so I try to avoid all medication.

Décor: minimal or cosy?
I’m quite minimal actually. But I think that’s because I live in the city – cosy wouldn’t fit. My flat is all neutral colours with lots of cushions and candles, Graham says I’ve gone over the top and am turning the place into a church but I think it makes the place homely.

Fashion: victim or setter?
I would say I don’t have the courage to go out and experiment as say someone like Kate Moss does, but I do look at what’s going on but I hope I have my own style.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it?
I recycle it. Its not the easiest thing round here I think we should get on to the Council because you have to walk all the way down to the bins which are literally on the other side of the park, but I still make the effort to do it.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle?
Probably Jim Royle at the moment. I used to be quite Jane Fonda, when I was doing a lot of West End shows and jumping around when I was in a band but I decided I had got too old for lycra and recently I have just been sitting watching Big Brother every night. When I’m in the mood I skip in my living room and I do kick boxing.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe?
Put it this way, I can find my way round a recording studio comfortably.
I’ve got a show on the radio and I have to work a lot of equipment when I’m doing that which makes me nervous, but I get by. I do like my mobile phone and my ipod but when anything goes wrong I just haven’t got a clue.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash?
An intimate dinner every single time. Just myself and Graham would be perfect - I love to see how his day has been. I’m good at organizing parties, I did a surprise birthday party for Gray recently and I‘ve got my sister’s hen night coming up which is a big surprise as well. But if I am at the centre of the party I get really embarrassed.

Myleene Klass stars alongside Sarah Greene and Lesley Joseph in The Vagina Monologues
For further information and to book tickets for dates in Brighton, Bromley and Richmond please visit:
http://www.vaginamonologues.co.uk/

Life Choices Jemma Kidd - Heaven is a beach in Barbados

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

International Make-Up artist Jemma Kidd, 31, lives in Notting Hill Gate, London with her husband Arthur, Earl of Mornington

Food : Always the same or always game
I must be the only person in the world who actually wants to eat what health supplements tell you to eat. I love brown rice and vegetables. There, I’ve admitted it. The thought of going to a wild gastro restaurant where I would have to eat deep fried pigs’ trotters terrifies me.

Clothes: M&S or D&G
I’m an M&S girl disguised as a D&G queen. I do enjoy having designer numbers to make me feel special but I also have a wardrobe full of High-Street gear. I used to shop a lot when I was younger but now I love vintage clothes –if it’s different and unique I go for it.

Holidays: Beach or piste
I do enjoy skiing but I’m not an adrenalin junkie an any shape or form, besides, heights make me dizzy and I’m naturally lazy so just roll me onto the beach and let me snooze in the sun. There’s a beach in Barbados called Fowl Bay which is where locals go and hardly anyone knows about it and it’s just my idea of heaven .

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
How I wish life could be manana- Every time I say manana, there’s someone to bully me into making it right now. I try to be organized or at least pretend to be but it’s more of an organized mess. I’m very good at dealing with money and paying bills but I’m not so good at things like returning calls.

Drink: Beer or Bolli
Alcohol makes me poetic:
Give me cold beer on a summer’s day
But the rest of the year, it’s Bolli all the way
When I was younger I drank a lot more than I do now. I enjoy a really good glass of red wine but not every day.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta
I like to think my house looks as if Aggie and Kim have just breezed through but I worry that in reality it’s more as if Wayne and Waynetta stayed over… I have fits and starts where I do housework all day and then it just builds up, but to be honest I’d much rather get someone else to do it.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver
My sister Jodie brings out a boy racer side in my otherwise Sunday driver personality…She loves driving fast and with her or others who love cars, it can be quite fun but left to my own devices I drive slowly and carefully, I don’t like speed. I drive an old BMW which is very comfy and safe. I appreciate nice cars and enjoy them.

Money: Rainy day or live for today
Live for today- If you’ve got it, spend it, if you haven’t… well, money doesn’t really cheer anyone up on a rainy day anyway. I’m not extravagant with money because at an early age I was told only to spend what I have and I’ve stuck to that. I work freelance and have good and bad months. If it’s a good month I can go nuts and if it’s not a good month I reign myself in.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat
I’m both. Tuesday – Thursday urban chic, Friday – Monday, rural retreat; I love the balance of the two. My house in London is really modern and minimal and is ideal for working from home. At weekends it’s all comfy sofas roaring fires and pyjamas which we can stay in all weekend. If I absolutely had to choose between the two, right now it would be urban chic; I don’t feel ready yet for the full time country retreat.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville
On a good day I’m a spoonful of sugar, on a bad day maybe I might start eyeing up the Dalmatians…When I was younger I was quite scared of children and used to stiffen up around them but now I have so many nieces and nephews that I’ve started to relax around them , they’re very funny and great company but it still doesn’t come completely naturally.

Friends: quantity or quality
That’s easy. Quality. And my friends are the very best – I couldn’t live without them. I went to live in New York for two years a few years ago and I made myself go out and meet people and I ended up making really good friends but again it doesn’t come naturally to me, I’m not an open book.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs
The best thing about internet shopping is it takes longer to drop if you’re sitting in front of a computer… I can keep going for hours – but top tip: avoid making bids on ebay at 3am for large items you later notice need transporting from the Shetland Isles

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested
I love cooking but it’s still of the brown rice and vegetable variety, except for a really special occasion when I push the boat out and roast a chicken. We eat very plain food and so I don’t need to experiment very much, we end up eating the same thing all the time.

Health: alternative or aspirin
Both. I have no problem popping pills while my acupuncturist puts in pins...

Décor: minimal or cosy
Cosy, but not cluttered; modern without the minimal. Above all it has to be comfortable.

Fashion: victim or setter
Well obviously I like it if other people see me as a setter – but that’s only because they don’t know what little horrors I keep hidden in my closet. I used to work at what I looked like a lot more and tried all different styles but now I know what works - I’m Conservative but with an edge to it. I’ll take a simple outfit and perhaps maybe add a trendy jacket or accessory. It’s too time consuming and expensive to keep up with different looks.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it
With my new make up range I’ve become more aware of the environment and I try to do as much as I can - plastic, bottles and paper I am very good at. We have to look after the planet

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle
Right now I make Jim Royle look like a gym bunny, but I swear come New Year I’m going to make Jane Fonda seem like a couch potato. I’ve got very lazy I used to do Pilates, swim, go to the gym and horse ride but now when I finish work I just want to rest. I’m going to get a new dog and walk it in the park for an hour every single day.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe
I love gadgets. I’m like my Dad and must have whatever is the new thing, I buy it and then the novelty wears off and I abandon it until the next new gadget comes along.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash
Intimate dinners. When you have to do big parties professionally, you long for quiet times with the people you love.

Jemma Kidd’s new make-up line, JEMMA KIDD MAKE UP SCHOOL is available in Selfridges London tel: 0870 8377 377. The full Colour line will be available nationwide in leading Boots stores tel: 0845 708 090 or from www.boots.com, www.jemmakidd.com

Lulu - I'm learning to chill out more

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Singer and actress Lulu, 59, lives in West London. She has a son Jordan 31.

Food : Always the same or always game
I’ve been very adventurous in the past and regularly ate offal as a child but I’m now only adventurous with breakfast- I always start with warm water with lemon followed by espresso and then I vary it from this great French bread called poilane which I have with hummus or porridge in the winter and several times a week I have eggs. My friend Suannah Constantine introduced me to fantastic home made muesli which I love too.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested
I love the fact that we have so many great chefs around these days we’re drowning in cook books. Jamie Oliver I like because his stuff is easy to follow, he’s a cook rather than a chef. I’m not particularly great in the kitchen, my son Jordan is a great cook and I’m good at helping him- I’m particularly great at ordering other people around. I like robust food - roast chicken and watercress soup I can rustle up with no problem.

Clothes: M&S or D&G
Both – it’s cool to mix and match, head to toe designer is so passé. I like Top Shop H&M and Zara on the High Street and when it comes to designers I don’t hold back – I love Alexander McQueen a bit of Chanel and Stellla McCartney and Scottish designer Graeme Black.

Fashion: victim or setter
I have occasionally been a victim and perhaps at times I was a setter too. I still have lots of women telling me they love what I’m wearing which is a such a lovely thing to happen. I’m passionate about fashion to the point that when I’m in a shop I give people advice whether they want it or not.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs
I don’t like shopping now it drives me crazy. I’d rather be doing other things I like working with stylists and buying on the internet or sometimes just making phone calls to designers.

Holidays: Beach or piste
I actually love both but I cannot bake on a beach anymore, instead I sit under an umbrella and enjoy the heat from a distance. I love the South of France and I’m just back from Arizona which I love probably because I’m a Scorpion. I don’t ski every year but nowadays it’s more about après ski or just poodling down the mountain. I have friends who get dropped from helicopters and have to ski their way home– no thanks.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now
I’m a doer but I’m trying to be more relaxed and chill out a little more, but some things can’t wait and the key is to know what can wait and what can’t : I’m good at delegating.

Friends: quantity or quality
Quality – I can make acquaintances very easily but I only have a handful of friends who are very important to me. I have a tremendous sense of loyalty to people and tend to stick with people.

Entertainment :Intimate Dinner or Big Bash
Both work for me – the occasional big bash I love but I hate throwing parties myself, I much prefer going to other people. I really enjoy a dinner party too, at my house is good but of course at a friend’s house is even better.

Drink: Beer or Bolli
I love Laurent Perrier pink champagne and I enjoy a glass of wine with my meal. I don’t have a glass every day because often I don’t get to sit down and enjoy a meal, I have to grab it on the run, but if I’m sitting down then I’ll enjoy a glass of wine.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta
I have help in the house and like to be clean and tidy. From the minute I could afford help, I didn’t hold back but I’m not averse to scrubbing a floor if it needs it. I helped my Mum in the house from a very young age.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver
I’m a boy racer and I love the independence a car gives you. The two door Bentley is beautiful but I wouldn’t have one- I got rid of my gas guzzler two years ago it’s important to be ecologically aware, it’s not right to drive a huge car in the city. I couldn’t quite go for the G whiz; I needed something sexier so I went for the Mini.

Money: Rainy day or live for today
I’m a little bit of both; I hate worrying about money, I hate talking about it or thinking about it but I want to make sure I’m looked after in my old age - I have professionals who deal with it all.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat
Definitely city -I have never had a country house when I was married I should have done it but the time has passed. I now just go to friends’ houses.

Décor: minimal or cosy
I like very clean lines but not the clinical zen look, that’s too cold. I prefer a minimal approach but with sensual furniture thrown in. My house is monochrome at the moment with lots of beautiful furniture and splashes of colour thrown in.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella deville
I’m somewhere in the middle of those two, I love children and wish I had had more.

Health: alternative or aspirin
Both, I do what is necessary. I would like to be totally holistic but it’s not practical and I think they both work very well together, it’s just a case of getting the right people.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it
My son has been fanatical about recycling since he was nine years old so I’m ahead of the game and it’s very important to me.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle
I’m in the middle. I’m definitely not Jim Royle but I definitely don’t do Madonna’s regime either. I work out three times a week, I walk the dog and I’ve started doing dance classes which are great fun, we do hip hop jazz and salsa. I don’t run any more because my knees have given up and at the moment I’m in the gym a lot too, I think it’s good to vary it because exercise bored me rigid but it’s just necessary.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe
I’m quite good. I have a Blackberry and I email and text all the time. I know my way round the internet no problem and I use a web cam too. I need to be up to date it’s vital to keep up.

'Lulu's Time Bomb products are available exclusively on QVC and at www.lulusplace.co.uk

Twiggy - I love to create unusual outfits

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Actress and model Twiggy, 56, is married to actor/ director Leigh Lawson and her daughter Carly is 27, and his son Jason is 30. They live in London.

Food : Always the same or always game?
I think on the whole I am always game, my only big no-no is that I don’t eat lots of meat. I eat chicken and fish mainly I am not as adventurous as Leigh I have to say, He will try anything but if it looks OK and it’s vegetarian, I will probably give it a go. I think the scariest thing I ate years ago was in Paris when I was very young; I put a whole chilli in my mouth, and bit on it. My face went red and my mouth was on fire. We had to leave the restaurant I felt so terrible.

Clothes: M&S or D&G?
What a question for me, what can I say? I obviously do love M&S and I think most of us have shopped there; it has been a constant in our lives. I know most people will find this hard to believe but I have never bought high priced designer clothes because I don’t approve of how expensive they are. Not because I am mean, but I would rather give that money to my kids or spend it on something else. I like funny little boutiques which are quite hard to find now. I’ve got amazing things that I’ve bought from all over the world that don’t cost a lot of money. One of the best jackets I have I got in LA at a garage sale and it was $25.

Holidays: Beach or piste?
Beach, beach, beach. I can’t ski, my legs are too thin, they would snap! The last thing I want to do is go on holiday and come back in a cast. I don’t like the idea of going somewhere and being freezing cold and anyway I am too old to learn now. My idea of heaven on holiday is to rent a private villa, read lots of books and go out for good meals. I love Italy, Majorca and Mauritius.

Approach to Life: Manana or right now?
I have to get it done; I can’t bear things hanging over me. I like having control over my destiny and my life. I tend to be a bit bossy with my family- I think most women are actually, especially if they have had kids. I am pretty organized.

Drink: Beer or Bolli?
Bolli – I love champagne but my new favourite drink, and again they are just slightly lighter, is all these sparkling ones that they are not allowed to call champagne, like Cava and you can get some fantastic ones. I have just found a new one, funnily enough, at Marks & Spencer’s, it’s a rose Pinot Grigio from Italy and it is so delicious. It’s the most beautiful colour as well, its very, very pastel pink. I never drink spirits, I don’t like them except the occasional Marguerita, but then I have to watch when I stand up because they make me drunk. I always have a glass of wine with dinner- dinner without a glass of wine would be very boring.

Housekeeping: Aggie & Kim or Wayne & Waynetta?
It’s awful, it’s a bit anal but Aggie and Kim I am afraid. I don’t like dirt or mess. I am lucky because I have a lady who helps, she comes twice a week and does all the heavy stuff, but I do my bit too; I clean the loos no problem. I couldn’t live in a mess; my husband would hate it too.

Cars: Boy racer or Sunday Driver?
I am a Sunday driver most definitely. It’s something to do with my age, but I think nowadays you have to be a defensive driver because there are so many loonies out there. My big hate is driving on motorways with those great big lorries. They drive too fast and too close, I hate it. Unless I have to, I avoid motorways and I pointblank refuse to go on the M1, it’s terrifying. I’ve driven the same Mercedez car for the last twenty years and am very attached to it.

Money: Rainy day or live for today?
I’m rainy day, I think when you have got children you have to be. You have to plan ahead and get your finances in order.

Property: Urban chic or rural retreat?
We are very lucky we’ve got both and I love the contrast; I love the buzz of cities. London is fantastic and when I go to New York and see the Manhattan skyline it always makes the hair at the back of my neck stand on end. But I also love the countryside, especially near the sea. We have a retreat in a lovely village, I couldn’t be too isolated. The idea is that we go there to relax and switch off. When we’re there I make bedspreads and curtains and I have all these jigsaws I want to do too.

Children: Mary Poppins or Cruella Deville?
I am Mary Poppins, Cruella Deville is horrible. I only have one daughter but then when I met Leigh he had a son, so we became a two child family. He also had a stepson so occasionally there were three. They are great fun and you learn things from them. Teenage years do get complicated but I think the best advice I could give to anyone approaching teenagers would be to talk to them all the time. Some things you might not want to hear but if you close that door and refuse to listen, I think that’s when the problems start.

Friends: quantity or quality?
Quality definitely. We are not big socialisers, our favourite way of socialising is having a few friends over to dinner and cooking. When I do a new project there are usually one or two people I stay in touch with. I met my oldest best friend when we were 18 and even though she lives in LA now and I live here, she’s still my closest friend.

Shopping: ‘til you drop or avoid at all costs?
My daughter Carly and I can shop for a long time, not quite till we drop but pretty close. I even enjoy food shopping and I’m especially thrilled when I see how much organic food is available now, that’s very important to me.

Cooking: Experimental or tried & tested?
I love cooking, so I think it has to be experimental. I really enjoy Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson’s recipes. We love to eat good food and I really like to eat fruit and veg that is in season. I like cooking fish, and I do really good Mexican food which comes from living in LA way back; it blows your head off.

Health: alternative or aspirin?
I think a bit of both. I don’t like taking medicine and tend not to but if I do get sick and I cant get rid of it I’ll go to the doctors and get it checked out. I try I to avoid antibiotics but if I get a sore throat that wont go, I take them.

Décor: minimal or cosy?
Cosy, cosy cosy. The place we have in the country is Georgian and we have had the complete joy of getting it back to the original. My husband is brilliant at buying antiques and junk. Some of our most wonderful purchases have been things that we have got for a few pounds, that’s the fun of it. In our London place it’s all Victoriana; I’ve still got all those lovely old Biba little satin lampshades with the fringes and it’s all done in velvets with candles everywhere, It’s like stepping back in time.

Fashion: victim or setter?
I presume I am a setter; I certainly was in the 60’s. I have always been obsessed with clothes; I love putting weird things together. I am sure everyone has been a victim at some point, although I have never worn culottes which I think are a great mistake for anyone.

Rubbish: bin it or recycle it?
I try to recycle as much as I can but really you can only do as much or as little as your council allows you to do.

Fitness: Jane Fonda or Jim Royle?
I am certainly not Jim Royle but not as fanatical as Jane Fonda. I always do some form of exercise depending if I am working or not. If you are doing a show, that’s exercise in itself. I have just finished 8 weeks in Brighton doing a pantomime and I have never been so fit in my life, or as exhausted, two shows a day dancing and singing, that keeps you fit! If I am not actually doing a project, I will either go to the gym or if I am abroad and its warm and sunny I swim, I always try to do something and I would love to learn ballroom dancing.

Technology: gadget man or technophobe?
I’m a technophobe. I learned to text about a year ago which made my daughter very proud but I had had my phone for about fours years. I’ve also learned to email and use the internet but I don’t like it. We have a secretary so she does most of it, but when she’s not around the thought of sitting on a computer for hours absolutely bores me rigid.

Entertaining: Intimate dinner or big bash?
I hate parties. I hated them when I was 18 and I still hate them. People get too drunk and you get stuck with a bore. Intimate dinners combine all the things I love – socializing cooking and good wine. I don’t like having more than 8 for dinner otherwise the table divides and it’s really nice all having the same conversation.

Twiggy stars in Elevenses on Thursday 30th March at 2.15pm on BBC Radio 4

The Meaning of Life - Santa Montefiore

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

My Philosophy
In order to be happy in life I think it’s essential to live for the moment rather than always planning ahead. like many people I find it very hard to do this and am always telling myself that when we move house I’ll be more settled, when I’ve got my next book written that’s when I’ll be really happy, when I’m on holiday I’ll relax a bit more and perpetually it’s when, when, when. It’s something I really have to try to control.

Work in Progress
Perhaps the nature of my work means that I do need to be thinking ahead to some extent. I have a deadline every March and this year my son Sasha was born in March and I didn’t write at all throughout the summer so it’s been fraught trying to catch up. As a writer however I believe that if I don’t enjoy the bit I’m writing the reader won’t enjoy reading it and so I concentrate very hard on giving it my all.

Parental Input
My father is very wise and has always had a huge influence on me and my life and this is one of his mantras too but unfortunately I’ve always found it harder to put it into practice than he has. My saving grace is that I’m aware of my impatience and try to rein myself in because some distant part of me knows that material things – new dresses, holidays, moving house, none of these things in themselves bring happiness.

Back to Basics
I’m at my happiest when I’m at my parents’ house in the country where I grew up. I go with my husband and children and no nanny, no emails, no distractions. Walking in the bluebell woods and a beautiful blue sky with the people I love, that’s what makes me truly happy.

Seen and Heard
we’ve all got a lot to learn from young children and their approach to time – they have no concept of tomorrow or even yesterday- they don’t hang onto emotions as adults do, they cry and then a moment later they’re laughing , nor do they live in the past either the way many of us do. They force you to stop whatever you’re doing and pay them attention.

My Guru
Winnie the Pooh’s my new guru, he’s a great example of how to live life -in The Tao of Winnie the Pooh which I’m reading to my daughter at the moment he says “sometimes I sit and think and other times I just sit” and if we could do more of that I think we’d all do better.

The Swallow and the Humming Bird by Santa Montefiore

Kate Garraway - Meaning of Life

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

My Philosophy
I think my philosophy in life is developing as I go along but I do hold very dear two things in life: to try to enjoy the moment and the great line from It’s A Wonderful World, you can never be poor if you have family and friends.

Right Here, Right Now
I think the stresses of life can be so overwhelming that many of us forget to enjoy the here and now. Of course we should treasure the past and we have to plan for the future to some extent but doing something simple like stopping and telling yourself it’s a beautiful day brings you right back to the moment.

This is something I have to work at but I’m getting better at it. My job means that I get to do a lot of amazing things and meet great people but very often that is marred by the pressure I feel, the worrying about the fact that it’s live or that the interview is going to go well. When people say things to me like ‘it must have been great being at the Cannes Film Festival’ and all I can remember about it is this constant furrowed brow I had, I feel bad. I now really endeavour to tell myself, ‘this is stressful but if I didn’t want to be here then I wouldn’t be here.’ It’s a wonderful opportunity and I now try to look on it as excitement and adrenalin rather than stress and pressure. It does help. It’s also important to keep things in perspective, after all it’s hardly life threatening.

Choices
I do believe that in life we make many choices and when I’m struggling to get out of bed at 2.30am I remind myself that I chose to do it and then I just get on with it. I think that applies in a broader sense, we are all where we are from choices we made and whilst at times it feels like we don’t or they may feel like bleak choices, as long as you make the choice rather than let life come at you then it makes things better.

I didn’t have a clear idea in life of what I wanted to do, I’ve always just made the best job of whatever I was doing and I think that very often leads onto other things. I think too many people have a fixed idea of where they are going in life and sometimes the dream is better than the reality. It’s far better just to take things as they come at you and the older I get I think just take a deep breath about most things and they tend to resolve themselves. When you’re young a problem that lasts for a day seems like forever whereas the older you get and the more crises you have you discover that life is tidal, fortunes come and go.

Friends and Family
Friends are really important to me and always have been and I’m fortunate because I have lots of good friends. It’s funny because when you’re young you want to be the same as your friends whereas the older you get you appreciate and celebrate the differences in your friends; they fulfil the many different aspects of my personality. I often think if I got them all in the same room they’d be utterly bewildered at how they came to be my friend.

It is important to treasure family life too and I’m really blessed with a great family, they’ve always been very supportive of me they’ve always been there for me and I hope the other way round. I want to treasure family life because you don’t know how long you’ve got with everybody, how long everyone will be fit and healthy and able to do what you enjoy doing together.

Presents GMTV Today Monday-Thursday, 7-8.35am

My Philosophy - Kay Mellor

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

I have a couple of philosophies that are important in my life but the one I hold most dear and which has helped me the most is one I read about ten years ago and it is don’t examine people with a microscope, examine them with a telescope. We all have faults and you’re only setting yourself up for disappointment if you examine everything someone says or does too closely, none of us bear up to that kind of scrutiny. Yet we’re all guilty of it “he said this, she did that, she really hurt me” only leads to hurt. Rather than analyse people’s motives, it’s much easier to just let go and not have high expectations of other people.

The best thing about this philosophy means you’re never disappointed because you accept people for who they are rather than who you want them to be and that in turn makes you a happier person. We all seem to have very high expectations of other people these days; we have some kind of mental checklist for a husband, our mothers, our sisters and we go through it and tick each quality off and are then surprised that some people don’t quite come up to our standards, but I think this is a dangerous road to travel.

I have friends who wouldn’t be friends had we looked at one another through a microscope rather than a telescope. We’ve all gone through difficult patches in our lives and at those times weren’t good friends but we’ve come good and as a result of my philosophy I’ve been able to say to myself ‘this isn’t a good time for them and that’s why they’re acting the way they are.’I am still friends today with people I went to primary school with and I think that’s because I don’t expect a lot from them and in many ways in life the less you expect the more you get.

Of course this hasn’t been an easy philosophy or one that I’ve had all my life, it’s much easier in the heat of the moment to fire a hurtful retort back at someone but when you step back you view it all rather differently. I have learned to do this and certainly apply it more than I did. I think it’s a philosophy that comes with maturity.

Emotionally I’m very close to my family, I just try really hard not to judge them, to apply the telescope philosophy to them too. Recently my daughter told me she was going on holiday with her friend for a fortnight, leaving her husband to cope with their son. When she told me her plans I immediately thought, “That’s not on, her son will really miss her, a fortnight is too long” and then I thought “What are you doing Kay? So what? Why can’t she just do that and go and have a good time, it’s obviously all right with her husband, what has it got to do with you?” and I think if we all did that a lot more we’d do well.

I extend this philosophy to myself as well; I don’t think it’s healthy to examine myself too closely, I certainly don’t stand up to close scrutiny and would much rather give myself a break ; it’s like reading a script the more you read it the more flaws you’ll find until eventually you’ll find a great big gaping hole.

It’s interesting because it’s in complete contrast to my job which is to look at people under a microscope. My writing has made me more aware of people’s frailties and the fact that essentially we’re all weak. When I wrote Band of Gold, which is about women working in the sex industry what I was trying to say is that they’re women first before they’re prostitutes which is more important. The same with Between the Sheets where the character Peter is a womaniser. When I was younger I would have condemned a man like him outright whereas now I feel sympathy for him and like him even. I’m far more likely to say “Oh, I wonder why he’s done that? What’s been going on in their lives that has made him do that?” and that’s what I try to show in my work. But in my personal life I don’t examine motives in such detail, I try just to accept people without probing too deeply. And so there’s a real conflict between my approach to work and my approach to my personal life- perhaps I’ve subconsciously adopted this philosophy as a way of achieving a balance in my life.

It’s an approach that has got me into trouble because it does make me more sympathetic to people portrayed one dimensionally in the media and people get very angry at me because they think my views are too lenient. Despite that it’s a philosophy I would like to pass onto my children and my grandchildren too because I think in the end it’s a philosophy which results in an enriched sense of happiness.

Fat Friends , ITV New Years Day 9.30pm

Road Not Taken - Brian Blessed

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Acting was always my first love but it wasn’t something a working class boy from Yorkshire did for a living in those days. I left school at 15, as most people did then and worked as a plasterer and even an undertaker’s assistant during the day and went to amateur dramatic classes in the evening. Eventually I won a scholarship to the Bristol Vic Theatre which was unheard of in those days for a boy from my background.

I had a lovely time there and met a singing teacher called Nell Moody who was in charge of Welsh Opera. On meeting her I told her that I’d rather avoid singing classes if I could because I wasn’t very musical and perhaps instead I could do more movement classes. I was told pretty quickly that this was not possible at all and that in her eyes singing was the finest training possible for the voice. She looked at me and assured me that with my build I’d be very good at it and she was absolutely right. Within 6 weeks I was singing Wagnerian tenor which was unbelievable because with my build I should have been a baritone.

A very short while later, the world famous opera company La Scala Milan came to the Hippodrome Theatre in Bristol with top opera singers Nicolai Gedda and Birgit Nilsson. Having access to such people, Mrs Moody asked them if I could come along one morning and sing for them which they very kindly agreed to. Unbelievably, I ended up singing with Birgit Nilsson, the great soprano. They were astonished by my voice and both said I must give up acting at once and go straight away to La Scala Milan and that within 3 or 4 years I’d be the leading dramatic tenor, not lyrical tenor, in the world.

What an opportunity, to be offered this chance at only 19 years old, but I knew instinctively that I couldn’t do it. I said, “You don’t understand, acting is a must with me. Good, bad or indifferent, I must do it. Opera I love, but it’s not a must,” and so I declined it.

It was a shame because I was enjoying the singing so much but I knew it wasn’t for me. I’ve always felt very guilty at turning it down and although I’ve had one or two singing parts in rep and of course in Cats, one of my remaining dreams is to record Bizet’s The Pearlfishers and sing the tenor part and the baritone part and combine them on the one track and surprise people with the range of my voice. In a sense I’ve assuaged my guilt by doing Mrs Moody’s training for two hours every day and that’s the reason why my voice is so distinctive and strong which I use in my acting so it’s been a part of my success.

My life would have been very different had I taken that route. I would have a broader European and cosmopolitan education which I think a lot of British people lack and I‘d have travelled a great deal more, but I’ve made up for that with my expeditions to Everest. I’d certainly have been 3 or 4 stone heavier that’s for sure- when you‘re an opera singer your face and head gets larger to harbour the voice, cavities in your head open up and you develop what I call a tenor face.

I don’t think I’d have been any happier had I taken that road; there’s a great inflexibility with opera, artistically you give the same performance every time, and there isn’t a lot of laughing involved. It would have frustrated me. I’m very philosophical about these things though because things happen in a certain way in your life because they can’t happen in any other way. “If” is a waste of time. I’ve had a great life. The greatest danger in life is not fulfilling your dream; we all have our Everest.

I Claudius, DVD released by BBC Worldwide

The Two of Us - Gavin and Scott Hastings - Rugby stars turned boardroom brothers

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Gavin Hastings, 45, lives in Edinburgh with his wife Diane and their children Adam, 10 and Holly, 8. He is Chairman of Platinum One, a sports marketing and hospitality agency.

My memories of Scott when we were young are pretty hazy but I do have lots of memories of the four of us being taken out for lots of long walks, holidaying up north and because we were four boys, playing sport pretty much non-stop.

When Wimbledon was on we played tennis, when it was The Open the golf clubs were out and when the World cup was on we were in the back garden for hours on end. We must have eaten my Mother out of house and home.

I think it would be fair to describe us as a sporty family: my father played rugby and is still a great golfer but I would say it’s my Mother we get our tenacity from; she played a lot of hockey and golf. She’s a determined and strong woman and I think her influence rubbed off on us a lot.

I would never say that I’d been friendly with any of my brothers when I was growing up; that would be stretching things a bit. We just co-existed. We shared a room early on but then were lucky enough to have a room each and that allowed us to have our own space. We were two years apart at school and so we had our own friends. I do remember Scott coming into my room a lot and messing up a pile of beer mats I had and my poor Father having to smooth things over between us. When he was as big as me he’d try and have a go at me but my tactics were to keep out of the way.

He was always boisterous and a bit of a troublemaker. All you need to know about him as a child is that he let a rocket off in the kitchen when he was about 10 and we were all ducking for cover as this thing careered round the kitchen, bouncing off the walls. My Mother says that if she walked down the road with the four of us and stopped to talk to someone, Graeme, the eldest brother would wander off, Ewan the youngest would hang around, I’d stand still and not move and Scott before very long would be in the middle of the road.

It wasn’t really until we started playing rugby together that we became friends. I don’t recall having any great ambition at a young age, it was just a gradual realisation that if I kept going eventually I’d be able to play for my country. I was aware that Scott was talented and that in a matter of time he’d maybe get the chance too.

The day we both played our first cap for Scotland was truly wonderful, not just because I shared it with Scott, but because I managed to do my job pretty well that day which was a source of great satisfaction. I was very happy for all my brothers and my Mum and Dad, they must have been very proud. My parents travelled far and wide to watch us both play - four years in succession to Australia and New Zealand.
Not only did Scott and I play our first cap together against France but remarkably 8 years later we played against France at Murrayfield again and won our 50th caps together. When you think of missed games due to injury that we each had at different times, the chances of that happening are very slim.

I never felt like we were in competition with one another because we played in different positions and always had a common aim. Rather it was great to have a brother to share all these experiences with; it was the cementing of our relationship. We both share a love of Scotland and pride in Scotland. Having travelled all over the world we both appreciate what a great place it is and so and it was a natural progression when a few years down the line we decided to work together to try to promote the country and its people.

It’s never felt to me like a big brother/little brother relationship. We’ve worked together now for seven years and in all that time I think we’ve given one another an ear bashing only half a dozen times. It happens so infrequently that when it does happen we know it must be deserved. I’ve always respected him. I’m not a confrontational person, if something has to be said it’s said and then we move on, neither of us huffs or bears a grudge.

Because we see each other every day we tend not to socialise regularly with one another, we have our own friends and the challenges that having children bring, but I think that’s healthy, neither of us wants to live in the other’s pocket.

Of course he’s not perfect- I shared a room with him in the summer and I’d forgotten how bad his snoring is; I lasted about four hours before I had to get up and go into another room.

I admire a lot of his qualities, and would say he has a great capacity to light up a room. He’s a very positive person and I’d like to think I am too. We’re also both gregarious and love talking to people. He’s great company and always up for a bit of fun but Scott is probably more outgoing than me and certainly has the capacity to let himself go a bit more than I do. I tend to go to more functions than Scott and so when he does go out he really enjoys himself.

In many ways he’s a big softie –he’s always happy to cuddle up to his family and is very understanding of them and their needs. We’re both great family men and our families are very important to us. I’d describe him as an all round good guy and having played rugby and now worked with him in such close quarters, we don’t need to say a lot to one another, we have an understanding of what the other is thinking; we’re a bit like an old married couple.

Scott Hastings

Scott Hastings is married to Jenny and they live in Edinburgh with their children Corey, 14 and Kerry-Anne, 10. Scot is a director of sports marketing and hospitality agency Platinum One

The Hastings house was always incredibly busy when we were growing up, there was always something happening. If we weren’t outside playing on our bikes, or swinging a golf club, or kicking rugby ball around we were in the games room we had playing darts, table tennis or snooker. We were all pretty obsessed with sport.

With four boys it was boisterous and there were always scuffles breaking out. I fought the most with Gavin because all big brothers are bossy and Gavin was no exception. He was always a leader and we’ve always been competitive with one another. My dad had to break us up- there would be bleeding noses, the works, but you very quickly grow out of that stage and decide it’s all a bit pointless.

Even though it was a big family we were fortunate enough to live in a big house with a great big kitchen where we spent a lot of time but there was enough space for us to have our own privacy and that made us all quite independent of one another.

My main memory of Gavin was of him being very conscientious. He was hard working at school and always very focussed- if he had a project to do he’d focus on it 100% until it was finished. If he took up a new sport he’d dedicate himself to it until he got good. He was always trying to lower his golf handicap and trying to improve his kicking. I think it was himself he was in competition with rather than anyone else and at the end of the day those qualities shone through; he always tried to lead by example.

Following in Graeme and Gavin’s footsteps on the rugby pitch always worked to my advantage. When I went for trials and said my name was Hastings, it helped. I was conscious of the fact that above me were two brothers who were exceeding and that made me want to follow suit. When I went to my first Edinburgh Schools under 15 trial I wasn’t selected which spurred me on.

We both went for a trial for Scotland at the same time and when the news came through a few days later that we’d both been selected it was just phenomenal. The press went crazy and of course it was in the days when everyone was an amateur, so we had a great celebration in the pub that night.

Our rugby days were when our friendship really kicked in. We shared so many experiences not just playing for Scotland but touring with the British lions together. We both played in the backs and talked a lot about how we could improve our game. Funnily enough despite all that time we spent together I would say it’s only in recent years that we’ve opened up emotionally to one another and that has taken our friendship to another level.

We’re a natural fit; we complement one another. I’ve worked with Gavin for 7 years now and we’re both ambitious to see the company do well. I think we both know that we bring different things to the party and we work to our strengths.

I hope that there’s an element of fun working with us. We both hugely enjoy our job. Gavin has a very dry sense of humour and although I tend to be more jovial than him, he does have his moments and occasionally a more colourful character appears when he lets himself go and we call him Andrew Hastings- that’s his real first name.

We’re both good with people although Gavin can be abrupt at times and isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers. I’m more sensitive than he is and looking back, I sometimes wish I’d been a bit harder in certain situations. I express my feelings easily and would happily give another guy a great big hug. Gavin probably feels the same but would maybe find it harder to show that.

In terms of the business I’m more methodical than he is and more interested in the detail of things than he is, I prepare meticulously which he doesn’t do. In cricketing terms – he’s the batsman and I do the scoring. He’s more gung-ho than me but maybe that’s a good thing.

There aren’t too many things that annoy me about him, there are far more things that I like about him: he has a great ability to engage with people on all levels and has a good circle of friends. We do have a go at each other occasionally, but then it would be abnormal if we didn’t.

I would describe Gavin as a passionate man. He’s passionate about his family, his business and there’s no-one I know who is more passionate about Scotland. In many ways he wears his heart on his sleeve and is a great ambassador for this country. He’s a bit of an iconic figure.

Wake up to Mother's Choice

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

The option exists in England, so why is there no private maternity hospital in Scotland asks Deany Judd?

Living in Britain before and for the duration of her pregnancy, when it came to deliver her baby Madonna beat a hasty retreat to Los Angeles decrying facilities in maternity hospitals in Britain as “old and Victorian.” Presumably she had checked out the private maternity facilities in England, such as The Portland Hospital, the biggest private maternity hospital in England, before reaching her decision. Just as well she didn’t check out the private facilities in Scotland - there aren’t any.

Looking through The Portland Hospital brochure it’s no wonder so many women choose to have their baby there: it has 106 beds, all in luxuriously appointed private rooms with en-suite facilities, television, radio, a comfort cooling air conditioning system, a nurse call system and a telephone with direct dial facility. In other words, what in an ideal world, every woman who has just delivered a baby should have.

However we don’t live in such a world and it’s only the seriously wealthy who can afford this. To stay at The Portland for three days costs in the region of £3000 for a normal delivery; £4000 for a caesarian birth. Add to this the consultant’s fees for ante-natal care and the whole business is beginning to look as if it’s only within the reaches of a select few.

Yet The Portland is not unique; there are private maternity hospitals in Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and most big cities in Britain. In Ireland it’s the norm for professional people to pay for maternity care. In this area Scotland is lagging behind. It is not possible to have a baby in Scotland and stay in private facilities thereafter.

Certainly ante-natal care is available privately, that is you can see a consultant obstetrician in a private hospital before the baby is born. But once the baby is born, delivered by the NHS, you cannot opt out of the NHS system and pay for the luxury of a private room with en-suite facilities, decent food and more intensive nursing care.

Private medicine is a thorny issue. Something you either believe in or don’t; the argument of a two tier system being the one most often raised against it. Whatever your opinion the fact remains that choice is limited in this area in Scotland when it’s not elsewhere in the country. And whilst most decent people would argue that everyone should have the same options, well, life’s not like that; ability to pay enters every aspect of life: schooling, travel, healthcare, and housing to name but a few. So why no private maternity facilities in Scotland? It was not always so.

In Glasgow alone there used to be three such private maternity hospitals: the Park Nursing Home, The Kelvin Nursing Home and St Francis Nursing Home, where many a woman enjoyed the rest and cosseting for at least five days before returning home. It was all very nice for the mother, but the medics involved viewed it rather differently.

One senior consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Glasgow remembers those days with horror. “You were on call almost permanently. It was very difficult to make any kind of social arrangement because you obviously didn’t know when a woman was going to go into labour. The difficulty too was that most women who saw you privately for ante-natal care believed that you would be at the birth, no matter what. You couldn’t possibly have been at every birth, but many women had difficulty understanding this.”

In Glasgow it was the opening of the Queen Mother’s Hospital in 1964 coupled with advances in medical techniques that effectively heralded the end of private maternity hospitals. The facilities in the Queen Mother’s were next to none: anaesthetists and paediatricians on call night and day, lots of single rooms as well as wards, and of course the excellent paediatric facilities on site. The introduction of the epidural, a spinal injection which freezes the body below the waist making childbirth less painful, requires an anaesthetist to administer and private maternity hospitals would therefore need to have an anaesthetist and a paediatrician on call 24 hours a day; not a cheap option. All things considered, there was no longer the need to go private.

That was thirty years ago. Advances in people’s expectations and standard of living would suggest that there would have been a rejuvenation in the private option; that many women could afford and would desire private facilities if they were on offer.

Opinion amongst those who know remains divided. A senior consultant obstetrician in Glasgow says the main reason in his opinion there are no such facilities in Scotland is because the NHS in Scotland works far more efficiently than the NHS in England. He even goes as far as to say “When Nye Bevan envisaged the NHS, the way it works in Scotland comes pretty close to that. We’ve shorter waiting lists, more beds, better funding and more consultants per head of population than England. There simply isn’t the same need to go private in Scotland.” Perhaps borne out by the fact that only 6% of the population in Scotland has private medical insurance compared with 27% in England.

Yet another consultant obstetrician in Edinburgh who sees patients privately for antenatal care says that there is no doubt in his mind that if private post-natal facilities were on offer in different parts of Scotland there would be a high take up. He adds that the subject has been raised on several occasions in the recent past but is so politically sensitive that it never gets past the discussion stage. He sees around ten women a year for private antenatal care and if that figure is multiplied by the number of consultants involved in private obstetrics, it would suggest that there could be a demand for private maternity facilities.

Dr Peter Copp of GP– Plus in Edinburgh, the only private GP practise in Scotland agrees “I do not doubt for a moment that there is increased demand for private healthcare in Scotland, in particular a demand in pay-as-you-go healthcare.” He adds “I provide private ante-natal care for a number of women who prefer to see a GP consistently throughout this period of time and where there is an opportunity to discuss all their concerns without feeling rushed or ‘bothering’ a busy doctor.”

Tracy Grabiner, who lives in the south side of Glasgow has three children “It seems very odd that there are no private maternity hospitals in Scotland. Whilst the NHS provided an excellent service when I had my children and it was very reassuring to know that if anything went wrong expert help was at hand, it would have been nice to have had the choice to stay in more luxurious surroundings. Especially if the money to pay for it was put back into the NHS and everyone would benefit.”

Laura Macfarlane from Milngavie adds, “ I saw a consultant privately before my children were born but what I really wanted was the use of private facilities once the baby was here. This is a time, above all others, when if you can afford it, you would want the use of private facilities. I don’t understand why, if it can be offered in London, it can’t be offered here”

Gordon Masterton, Chairman of the Independent Hospitals Association, says it’s more complicated than this. “The two cannot possibly be compared. London has a much bigger population as well as people travelling from all over the world to use its facilities. Scotland simply doesn’t have the demand.” He explains “There is no private insurance available for having a baby, it is not the same as private medicine. It must all be paid for out of the individual’s pocket, making it a very expensive business. He continues “The service provided by the NHS for women in labour is next to none. If anything goes wrong, either with the mother or the baby the personnel and expertise are on site to deal with it. That would not be the case if a private maternity hospital was set up without this back up.”

Surely then a middle way is the answer; a private wing or floor within an NHS Hospital, whereby there are private facilities on site with the expertise of the NHS as back up if needed. Importantly the money spent on such facilities would go straight back into the NHS, thereby benefiting everyone. Such is the practise in many hospitals in London. One such is St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington which has a private wing, the Lindo Wing, where Prince William and Prince Harry were born. A typical stay lasts for three days and costs in the region of £3000. There is no conflict between private patients and NHS patients because they are in separate buildings and there are no queues in obstetrics anyway, so nobody feels hard done by.

So what of the immediate future? Does the NHS have any such plans for maternity hospitals in Scotland? Well, it would appear not. The new Princess Royal Maternity Hospital being built on the Royal Infirmary site in Glasgow is due to open in May 20001 with 122 beds, all in 4 bedded wards. What would Madonna think?

Buying abroad with a little help from your friends

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Pooling resources with friends or family could be the ticket to that second home, says Deany Judd
“It’s an odd thing to say, but it’s made us feel quite different about the future-we have a sense of purpose now that we hadn’t even realised we were lacking.” says Kim Peatfield, a 39 year-old PR executive who, along with her TV executive husband Tristan, has bought a holiday home in La Rochelle in the Vendee region of France. Nothing unusual in that. What is more unusual about their purchase is that in order to fulfil their long-held dream of owning a house in France, they pulled their resources with Tristan’s step-brother Simon and his partner Amanda and bought the property between them.

The Peatfields have holidayed in France for several years and on their return every summer have discussed and explored the possibility of owning their own place. However, there has always been a shortfall between what they wanted to buy and what they could afford to spend. “We happened to mention to Simon and Mandy that we were going to France with the purpose of looking at properties and they said they’d be interested in buying with us. We were thrilled because it immediately doubled the amount we had to spend and therefore the standard of property available to us”

After just two days of driving around the Vendee region they decided to buy a beautiful 150 year-old farmhouse in need of some renovation but which was structurally sound. It cost 120 000 Euros and so far the renovation has been minimal but all costs have been two ways , including the cost of the French lawyer’s fees. That was last November and since then the Peatfields and their two children, Oliver,8 and Isabella, 3 have spent an idyllic Festive break as well as the February mid-term break at their new property whilst Amanda and Simon, due to time restraints haven’t yet even visited it.

And that’s of course where such an arrangement comes into its own. With many people restricted to two perhaps three holidays a year, it makes a lot of financial sense to buy a property together and divide the running costs.

Fanny Blake, author of A Place in the Sun, thinks that whilst sharing the purchase of a property with either friends or family is a great way of gaining a foothold on the second home property ladder, it’s imperative that it’s thought through properly. “If you are buying for example in Spain or France many of the inheritance laws are very different from here and so that makes things complicated. It may be advisable to set up a company in this country and then buy the property through that.” explains Fanny, but she’s more concerned that what may appear at the outset as a trivial matter may in time become a bigger issue, “Can friends come and stay? Where can both parties store things? What about food left in the fridge? How is the property going to be decorated? These are the things people fall out about. I think in theory it’s a great idea but the smallest details need to be thought through and addressed, a kind of pre-nuptial agreement that covers every kind of possible outcome is vital.” she warns.

The Peatfields recognise that there could well have been areas of conflict with their arrangement, but believe that as long as there is a basic trust in place everything should run smoothly. “There has been no problem with the division of time spent at the farmhouse to date and we don’t really expect there to be because we all lead such busy lives. The décor of the house has been the one area where we’ve all had to compromise; Simon and Amanda have more of a minimalist taste and we are more flamboyant, but we’ve reached a solution in which everyone’s happy.” Kim is adamant however that she wouldn’t have considered such an arrangement with anyone other than family, “There has to be absolute honesty between the parties and I’m not sure that exists with friends to the same extent that it does with family.” says Kim.

Clothing agency owner Jack Devji , has had no such qualms about buying a property with friends rather than family. The 44 year-old owns a beautiful house in trendy tropical island Koh Samui off the coast of Thailand with friends Warren Bradshaw and Chirag Patel. “Warren has been the driving force behind it all. We go to Thailand a lot together and he’s always pushed for us to buy our own place there. Although I loved the place I never really saw the benefit of owning somewhere out there, but basically he’s just worn me down and last May Warren put some figures together and it all made sense. He then persuaded Chirag to come in on it too which made it even more affordable.” says Jack.

They paid £64000 for their home and have spent a further £6000 putting in a pool and decorating it. “We have this beautiful home which cost us £25000 each. It costs about £1000 a year to maintain and we split that too. Everything is set out legally and we all spent Christmas there together.” Like the Peatfields, the décor could have been a stumbling block but none of them has allowed it to be; they simply left it to one person and they’ve all added bits and pieces when they’ve been out.

For Jack the beauty of it is twofold: “I’m glad Warren talked me into it. It feels different having your own place abroad and it’s been a good investment too. Property prices in that area have risen by 20% since we bought and I’m not sure we’d have seen the same return for our money in London. Our plan is to hang onto it for a while, enjoy it and then buy some more property out there. We couldn’t possibly have got property in Europe or America for the same price, nor would we have wanted to.”

The pitfalls of ownership of a property with friends and family may be too great for some people but that doesn’t necessarily preclude them from the benefits of joint ownership. Former airline captain Steve Last set up the Ownergroups company in 1980 when he started co-sharing holiday property in Europe and the US with BA crew colleagues and others. It appeals not only to those wishing to buy a share in a property but to those who have already bought a property abroad, but find that their pattern of use is changing and that they no longer want the responsibility of full-time ownership, yet are reluctant to sell up.

The Ownergroups Company brings like-minded people together and they draw up a group plan in which the property becomes the principal asset. All participants then have an equal equity share with the same rights, and an equal amount of occupation time. They agree on a suitable working arrangement in a shareholder’s agreement, which is tailor-made by the company to suit the group members for each particular property, according to local laws and the high/low seasons of the location.

Thereafter groups have the option to manage their own affairs, such as settling accounts, insurance, local taxes and utility bills, while organising property maintenance, improvements or additional enjoyment purchases such as a car or a boat. Alternatively they can contract these management tasks to The Ownergroups Company. The obvious advantage of sharing costs in this way is that it allows purchasers to use a far more luxurious property than they would have been able to afford if they had bought alone.

“Co-ownership at all levels is normal amongst people owning boats and planes. Like interests attract like,” says Last. “Potential areas of friction such as organising usage – where two people might want the same week or month are covered in the shareholders’ agreement, where we have a unique allocation process that in my 20 years’ experience has always provided a satisfactory solution.”

Potential and current group shares on offer at present through Ownergroups Company vary from an eighth share in an alpine chalet with four bedrooms at £25 000; a fifth share in a fishing lodge in Galway in Ireland for £75 000; and a quarter share in a quite magnificent 4 bedroom villa in Sandy Lane in Barbados, complete with two staff and a car for £570 000, amongst others.

Although it is not uncommon for people to get into groups with friends and relatives, who will feel that a very formal set-up is unnecessary as they all know one another, Last would strongly advocate treating the initial set up as if it were done between strangers. “Any purchase of this kind must be viewed as a long-term investment, and people's circumstances can and will change. With the best will in the world, one cannot avoid such things as illnesses, financial and family changes, which can lead to changes in the membership of a group, or the need by some members to make such changes. This inevitably means that either the group has to accommodate people who were not party to the original set-up, or to the group itself disintegrating, often with a degree of acrimony. If it is set up to take account of this from the beginning then such problems can be avoided.” He explains.

But acrimony is the last thing on Kim Peatfield’s mind as she sets off for a two-week break in their newly acquired property, “The euphoria of a holiday is short-lived but when you own your own place you talk endlessly of your plans for the place and just feel differently about holidays. I haven’t got over the excitement of owning such a great place.”

Children's Parties Come of Age

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Mothers are under pressure to turn their children’s birthdays into elaborate and expensive affairs, says Deany Judd

“But what’s your theme? You’ve got to have a theme. Everyone has a theme. ” insisted my friend when I mentioned my daughter’s imminent birthday party. “ But she’s only four, she won’t know any better.” “You’ve missed the point.” Thus was my introduction to the cut and thrust world of children’s parties.

In my ignorance I had pictured inviting eight or so of her friends to the house, a party like the ones I had both gone to and hosted when I was young ; where a quick game of farmer wants a wife, in and out those dusty bluebells and pass the parcel would while away the first hour. Then it was through to the dining room where a veritable feast of mini sausage rolls, cheese on a stick, ham sandwiches and a much admired birthday cake with the birthday girl’s name and age on it and a pink ballerina on top awaited. On the way out a piece of birthday cake and perhaps a pencil with a rubber at the end were thrust into your hand. I should have known just how much things had changed when another mother at the nursery handed me a book entitled, How To Make Your Toddler’s Birthday party A Success.

This is an unrecognisable and in many ways, ugly world. A world in which grown women have been reduced to tears in public when the booked entertainer didn’t show. When grown women have almost come to blows at the school gates over the date of their offspring’s party. Children are ignorant of all this of course; the blame lies squarely with mothers.

And it doesn’t matter what the woman’s circumstances, she’s as guilty as the next. The first category is the woman who, when she worked, was considered to be a force to be reckoned with. Having given up her career to stay at home to look after the children, what better opportunity is there than her child’s birthday party to show her friends what a good mother she is, how she’s embraced this mothering lark with great gusto. The career mother n the other hand hasn’t the time to organise the party and so throws money at it, with no expense spared. Whilst the mother - earth type, who never had a career as such, is intent on putting the other mothers to shame by making everything, from the cake to the bloody napkins and sees this as her annual opportunity to show everyone that, well, she might not have cut it in the business world, but by God this is her true calling. Obviously the more money spent on the party the better the mother you are, so it’s important to get it right. Either way the winners are the children and those in the party business. And children’s parties are big business.

Firstly that theme. It would appear this is a must, and everything from invitations, to tablecloths, napkins, cups, party bags and even thank you notes must adhere to this. Themes such as pirates, outer space, the wild west, the circus, seaworld .Or better still Barbie, Barney, Toy Story, Action Man or whatever film has just come out. The theme must extend to the food too; no ordinary chicken nuggets or sandwiches can be served, no they must be shaped to tie in with the theme. Hence if your theme is seaworld, well, your chicken nuggets can be fish shaped and so on. Don’t forget to go completely over the top with the birthday cake too. If possible don’t go for the supermarket ones, they’re only about £7 . No, much better to order one from a speciality cake shop and much more original too. These are only about £30, not much when you consider what’s at stake.

Once you’ve settled on a theme then you must settle on a venue and this is where your mothering skills can really come to the fore. Don’t even think about your front room, that won’t do at all. No-one but no-one has a party at home any longer. It must be held at a venue of some sort and the more upmarket the better. Don’t dismiss top city hotels or the option of a limousine as a mode of transport to and from the party.

Local hotels and halls will do but try to make up for it with the food, the party bag and the entertainer. These are the areas in which mothers can really shine. It is not unusual these days for party bags to include gifts that cost more than the present you brought to the party. We’re talking at least a tenner in most cases. You shouldn’t stint in this area because this is what is important to the children and, although in the scheme of things that hardly matters, it will make your child popular at school on Monday. Keep food for the children simple: pizza , chicken nuggets or burgers served with chips. What does matter is what nibbles you lay on for the mothers you are hoping stay. No expense should be spared here; smoked salmon is always acceptable served with a medium-dry Chardonnay, if in doubt, call in the caterers.

When it comes to booking the entertainer, leave no stone unturned. The choice ranges from the traditional magician, clown or puppet show, to a company that comes to your party armed with dressing up outfits. Most entertainers charge around £50 for an hour or so, again the key is to have an act that’s a wee bit specialised. So how about an Egyptian belly dancer? Hilary Thacker of Edinburgh will come to your party and belly dance, dance the dance of veils and then teach the guests to do the same. However, she’s not so keen to do boy’s parties, finding that they tend to lark about more.

This will do for pre-schoolers but once they are older you must up the ante and really push the boat out. We’ve dropped the theme and are now talking outings. But not the cinema and then McDonalds, that’s very old hat. Something a bit more imaginative is required here. Now is the time to be a bit more select with the invitations too, make this party a little sought after and it’s very helpful when fitting into the hired mini-bus. So what are we talking about here? The choices? Local health clubs run football parties, trampolining parties and fit kids’ parties. Football stadiums hold football parties, potterers hold pottery parties, equestrian centres hold pony parties, swimming pools hold swimming parties, bowling alleys hold bowling parties and the very latest for girls , beauty salons hold beauty parties. It’s never too early to teach young girls the importance of manicures and facials. One Company, Absolutely Fabulous, in the south side of Glasgow has recognised this and now holds Little Princess parties. This involves mini manicures, nail polish, a make-over all whilst drinking a glass of Appletize ‘champagne.’ - apparently very popular with 8 year olds.

The trick of course is to be the first to have the pony party or the Little Princess party. Once they’ve been to one, well it doesn’t quite have the same kudous. It would look like you were simply copying. Instead try to think of new and as yet unchartered territory in the world of children’s parties. A good source for this is America where all new things originate. Popular at the moment there are ranch parties, with rodeos; spa parties where girls go to health farms for the day and have several treatments; and a mini zoo party, where a company bring the animals to your venue.

It seems only a matter of time before we witness the Caribbean party, when a group of friends are taken abroad for a fortnight’s holiday, or the ski holiday where 5 intimate friends learn the difficult art of skiing in the Alps or the jeweller’s party when you are taken into Mappin and Webb and allowed to select a large diamond of your choice. That’s my kind of theme.

Hilary Thacker Egyptian Belly Dancer 0131 229 9400

Absolutely fabulous 0141 616 4000

Children’s Parties Do’s and Don’ts

Do

Enlist the support and presence of as many family members as possible. Great Aunts, Uncles, Second Cousins, wheel the whole lot out. It gives the impression that you’re part of a big happy family as well as being someone everyone wants to befriend.

Label the presents your child receives as they arrive. It would be awful if you thanked the wrong person for the wrong gift and left them feeling inadequate at the true gift they gave.

Fall at the last hurdle. Fill the party bags to the brim. No matter how good a party you’ve had, in the world of the children’s party it’s the last impression that count.

Don’ts

Dance at all, in any shape or form. Don’t even so much as sway. Your children will never forgive you.

Complain if the party organiser puts your child out of a game. Instead cheer and support those left in the game. It all adds to the impression of you as a well-adjusted mother.

Bring a video camera. It smacks too much of this being a big event in your social life. By all means hire a company to video the proceedings, but don’t do it yourself. Much better to mingle

Parenting: Loneliness of the stay at home mum

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 -1:00:00 GMT

Mothers stuck at home know one place they can go where they will be guaranteed plenty of fun, friendship and advice, says Deany Judd

How do you hold a cordless phone in place whilst you talk on the phone and get on with jobs around the house at the same time? What celebs could you easily punch in the face? Does your bra always match your knickers? Anybody want to buy a Burberry checked trouser suit for your dog? How often do you change your bed sheets?

Answers to these and every conceivable question you can imagine are available in the talk section of the parenting website Mumsnet. Not run of the mill parenting questions, granted but then Mumsnet isn’t a run of the mill parenting website. Browsing through a few of the many other parenting websites that were set up in the wake of the technological boom, it is quickly apparent that these have resulted in serious parents taking their role even more seriously. They’re all a bit, well, worthy. Log on to the talk section of Mumsnet and not only will you be there for hours but you will in turn shriek with laughter, cry at people’s day to day problems and marvel at the very strong sense of community that exists between its 17000 members.

In 2000 journalist Justine Roberts, 36, spent a miserable holiday in Florida where the child care on offer was appalling, “It was such a waste of precious time and money. I started to think that it would be wonderful if there was some kind of forum where mothers could share their experiences of holidays. Then I thought that if it worked for holidays it would work for other products.” She set up Mumsnet with fellow ante-natal class members, television producer Carrie Longton, 38 and radio producer Rachel Foster,37. Although it is not yet and may never be a great financial success, it’s something they’re all very proud of.

“We very quickly realised that the chat element was the key focus, what people want is advice from other mothers, people going through the same thing. Experts are all very well but they tend to give you only one piece of advice whereas on Mumsnet within minutes you’ve got you get twenty peoples’ advice. Even if someone can’t tell you how to get your child to sleep 12 hours a night they can say they know how you feel and sympathise with you and that’s invaluable,” explains Justine. The chat element of the board has all but taken over and now accounts for 80% of its traffic.

The beauty of it and perhaps the key to its success, is that everyone posts under anonymous names and so you might find yourself getting advice from Melsy, Tigermoth ,Soupdragon or wickedwaterwitch which seems somewhat strange at first but that anonymity means that there is no subject that can’t or indeed hasn’t been discussed. “What I love about it is that you can go online and find really serious conversations or threads as they’re called, entitled “Well it’s finally happened, he’s left and I feel like shit” or “Mum is dying and I feel so helpless” beside “Has anyone got an epilator and is it any good” to “Chlamidia is the new Kylie” a current thread about what people have called their children,” says Soupdragon, a Mumsnet member. On a Friday or Saturday night a thread will often appear entitled “the bar is now open” which conjures up a lovely image of women all over the country, kids finally put to bed, on a virtual night out.

“Funnily enough I don't see mumsnet as a website but as a kind of 21st century equivalent of the extended family and community which modern lifestyles have eroded,” says GillW

The membership is made up almost equally of part-time , full-time working Mums and Mums who stay at home too, so the whole spectrum is there and that brings a balance and civility to the whole community. “it’s not unusual to read a post asking about what steriliser to buy and someone will post a response saying “this type and incidentally I’ve got one you can have, what’s your address?” The spirit of Mumsnet is very much of giving as well as taking.” Roberts explains.

The members agree. “I love the diversity, seriousness and also banality of the threads. I have posted on everything from "Shall I go to see Mum's body at the Chapel of Rest" to "Am I Dirty?" a thread about laundry habits which provoked much comparing and confessing. I've made some real friends here and being anonymous helps enormously - no one judges you by your dress sense, weight, or the size of your house,” says MO2 , “Above all it makes me laugh because over half the women on here are hysterical.”

Whether the subject of the thread is serious, lighthearted or controversial, the wit of the women online can be startling, “Purely by dint of their postings, not any research we’ve done, I would say our members are highly educated” says Roberts. Looking at some of the threads which start off as serious postings “do you let your child eat unpaid for grapes as you go round the supermarket?” which very quickly degenerates into a Monty Python-esque sketch with contributions of a calibre that would put many a comedy writer to shame no one would disagree with her. Mumsnet Rhapsody, a take on Bohemian Rhapsody, where a dozen or so members contributed line by line at startling speed is another example of the intelligent wit in board:

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy..

Caught in a school run

No escape from domesticity

Force open your eyes

Look up to the skies... and Scream

I see a little silhouetto of a brat

Scaramouch scaramouch will you drink your bl**dy tango

But it’s not just a laugh, many serious issues are dealt with too- child abuse, domestic abuse, marriage breakdowns, alcoholism; the whole gamut of life’s problems has been dealt with but always where possible with humour. There has even been a virtual birth as one mother went into labour on line and the midwife was two hours away. After lots of advice the thread went quiet and then her husband came on saying he’d delivered a baby daughter and both were well. Recently the Mumsnet community rallied round a member whose thread read that her estranged husband failed to show up for his daughter’s birthday leaving her distraught. For the rest of the week the girl was opening presents from the birthday fairies.

The sense of community and caring it engenders is a recurring theme for all members on what it is about it that makes them so devoted and addicted in some cases .On one recent thread a woman posted that her marriage had become routine, the sex was boring, she’d met someone she fancied and she was thinking of having an affair. Everyone gave her lots of advice, largely along the lines of think twice you may regret it. A couple of days later she posted a message saying “Oh God, my husband’s read it, what will I do?” Two hours later she came back on and posted that they had just had the best sex they’d had in years. Virtual cheers all round. “Sometimes it feels like I'm playing a part in, or reading a novel with so many interesting and funny characters,” says MO2

Many Mumsnetters have taken things a stage further and gone from a virtual night out to a real night out and meet ups have taken place all over the country and in as far-flung places as Geneva, Spain and Auckland which seems ironic in light of the fact that its biggest appeal lies in the anonymity of its members,. For Justine , Carrie and Rachel these meet-ups are truly amazing, not only because it seems somewhat ironic that people use the internet because they’re so short of time and then they want to meet up but because they have taken on a life of their own, “I’ve been along to a couple and after the initial awkwardness of introductions with these nicknames, everyone talks away like they have known one another for years. I think you always have something in common with another mother, that’s the point” explains Roberts. .

Of course initial trepidation is natural and something every mother attending a meet-up for the first time feels, “When I went to my first mumsnet meet-up my husband called me about 10 minutes after I'd got there to ask whether I had in fact discovered a bunch of lorry drivers with a fetish for mothers... Luckily I had just found 7 like-minded mums, we had a great time, had a load of drinks and I found two new friends within half a mile of my new house,” explains Countessdracula who says that Mumsnet is the fourth most important relationship in her life .She has real friends but they don’t have the answer to everything nor are they involved in her day to day life.

It must be quite a risk to go to one of these meetings, the expectations must be enormous, wasn’t she a bit worried that it would change things? “It was great and no, it didn't change anything for me, except for the better in that I now know what some posters look like .When I've met people there's an immediate intimacy, since we've all revealed so much of ourselves here; the conversations are just real life extensions of threads At one meet up a woman leant over the dinner table and said "so, should I sleep with this guy at work?" I'd never met her but she felt she 'knew' me and vice versa.”

For others the experience was a bit odd to “At a meet up I was talking to someone about my dog, they said "what sort of dog is he" and someone else chipped in "no, her dog is a girl!" says Mumsnetter Marthamoo “Whilst I enjoyed it, there's something about the net that means you can get down to the nitty gritty of what you need to ask when that might be more tricky in person.”

The reasons for attending are as varied as the Mums who go with one Mum admitting that she’d gone along to the arranged venue but hadn’t joined the Mumsnetters, instead watching from afar, revealing that she’s much shyer in real life than she is on Mumsnet; that her mumsnet postings are the person she’d like to be. Whilst another Mum explains “ I was just naturally curious to meet people I knew so much about, however going round this pub realising I didn’t know where the mumsnetters were meeting and saying hopefully to random groups of strange women ‘Hi, I’m squirmyworm’ has to rate amongst life’s more ludicrous experiences.”

That and walking about the house wearing your baby’s tights on your head, which is, incidentally, how you keep a phone strapped to your head.