S7 EP20: Carol Vorderman

WEBVTT
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Hello I'm Rob Beckett and I'm Josh Willicombe. Welcome to
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Parenting Hell the show in which Josh and I discuss
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what it's really like to be a parent which I
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would say can be a little tricky.
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So to make ourselves and hopefully you feel better about
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the trials and tribulations of modern day parenting each week
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we'll be chatting to a famous parent about how they're.
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Coping or hopefully how they're not coping.
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And we'll also be hearing from you the listener with
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your tips advice and of course tales of parenting.
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Woe because let's be honest there are plenty of times
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where none of us know what we're doing.
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Hello, you're listening to Parenting Hell with.
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Iris, can you say Rob Beckett?
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Rob Beckett.
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And can you say Josh Widdicombe?
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Josh Widdicombe.
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Well done.
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Well done. A lovely one there, Josh. Yeah, shall I
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read it out? Go for it. Hi, you sexy, relatable fools.
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Here is my 21-month-old Iris saying your name. So my
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partner and I love your podcast. I've been listening since
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Iris was born, November 2021. Since then, we've had another daughter, Ada,
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19 months younger than Iris. So we're now struggling through
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the madness of two under two. Listening to you always
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lightens the load and makes us laugh. Jess, I'm from Birmingham,
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but we now live in Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Oh, that's a strange bit of information. I'm from Birmingham
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and now live in Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Quite close, aren't they, those things? Yeah, it's sort of like,
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it's not too far, is it? It's a bit fancier,
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isn't it? But is it, or is it just a
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tourist destination? I don't know.
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I imagine on the outskirts it's got some absolutely bog-standard
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terrace three-bedroom housing that looks like it could be anywhere
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in the country.
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However, if you Google it, it looks so bloody Shakespeare. Yeah,
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so bloody Shakespeare. I went on an open-top bus tour
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of Stratford-upon-Avon. Yeah, who made you do that?
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Matt Ford.
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Matt Ford? When we was out gigging.
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And we ended up getting off at the Industrial Estate
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and having a Pizza Hut all-you-can-eat buffet.
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LAUGHTER It's what the bard would have wanted, Rob. It's
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what the bard... So did you see the pizza hut
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and you were like, fuck it, let's get off?
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Yeah, and to be honest, that was the only thing
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we saw because Stratford, I'd say, is big enough to
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wander around and get what you want from it.
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It's not Valencia.
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No.
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It doesn't need a sightseeing bus.
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No.
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I had a bus incident this week, Rob. Go on.
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So Tuesday... I was.
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Looking after my son. I was like, I'll take him
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to the cinema because he likes to go and... There's
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like the Hackney Picture House put on toddler cinema, which
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is generally just a few episodes of CBeebies.
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And it's a bit sort of carnage in there. It
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doesn't matter because they're all young kids. It's not like
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you're ruining anyone's... Well, last time when it was just
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him on his own, but yeah.
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Sure. I got him all hyped for the cinema and
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then the cinema wasn't on. They weren't showing it that day.
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But then I realised... You've got to tell him. No,
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the bit he likes about the cinema is getting the
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bus to the cinema, Rob. Right, okay. So I thought, well,
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I'll just get the bus. Yeah, okay. So I said,
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I'll get the bus to the park. And he didn't
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want to go to the park. He's bored of the park. Yeah,
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I just got the bus.
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Yeah.
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To the end of the line. And then got the
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bus back. And he liked it? He had the fucking
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time of his life, mate. My daughters keep saying, when
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can we go on a double-decker bus again? Yeah, we
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went upstairs on the double-decker bus. Yeah. He looked out
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the window. We went all the way to the end
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of the 277. Yeah. Got off. There was a park
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he then wanted to go to, which was fucking rough, mate.
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It was like....
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It's like, you know when you see someone who's like,
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in a film or something, who's got off the wrong stop.
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In New York, and you're like, you're a fucking goner.
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Everyone's staring, yeah.
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Yeah.
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And there was a park with two blokes that I
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presumed were doing a drug deal in it.
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Sure, absolutely.
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But actually, when we got up closer, one of them
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was trying to convert the other one to Christianity.
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It was quite a weird morning, all things considered. So
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we went to this park.
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Yeah.
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One guy was trying to convert another to Christianity. Absolutely.
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On the swings.
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And then we got... On the swings. And then we
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got back on the bus. And we just went all
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the way home. And it's honestly... He had the fucking
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time of his life, Rob.
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So my kids want to go on a double-decker bus
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because we live in the countryside and there's one single-decker bus.
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That comes like twice a day. So I'll have to
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drive into town. Maybe you should live in zone two, Rob. Yeah,
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but I'm going to have to drive into town. I'm
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going to say that.
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Your son and my children getting on a double-decker bus
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will lose its fun at some point.
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I don't know, Rob. There's a lot of yous on
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those buses. There's a lot of teenagers enjoying those buses, mate.
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So you're suggesting teenagers love buses more than it's the
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only way they can get about?
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And it's free travel. It's not free, but yeah. For
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kids it is.
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Oh, is it?
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Up to a certain age.
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But I just found out, basically, once you get to
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five or something, they've got to reply for their own
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Oyster card. But the Oyster card is free, but they
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have to have it. Because I used to just go, oh,
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let them through. But you're not supposed to do that
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once they get to a certain age. They're supposed to
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have their own. So my girls have got their own
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Oyster card, which they absolutely love.
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Yeah.
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I tell you what is bullshit, right?
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Yeah.
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Is every year to pay, you have to pay £ 10
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to tell Transport for London your car's electric.
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Do you?
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And then you have to pay £ 10 for the admin
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fee to go, it's electric. Even though the cameras can
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tell if your car's EULA's or not, it can't tell
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if it's electric.
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There's a bit of green on the number plate, mate.
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That's how everyone knows. This is.
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Anyway, it's turned into LBC again.
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Yeah, yeah. Sorry.
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You know, that's the problem as you get older, though.
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You just become miserable old men. That's the danger of this.
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Podcast, Josh. I'm trying not to be a miserable old man.
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Do you know how I'm trying that, Rob? Well, do
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you know what? Try harder. I was just saying I
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had a lovely time on the bus there and back.
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You're a happy old man. I'm a happy old... Do
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you know what I'm being, Rob?
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What?
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I'm trying to be more Carol Vorderman. Oh, lovely link that.
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That's what we've got now. She's very positive, Carol Vorderman.
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She said she likes young people and she is inspired
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by them and she's not afraid of them or resentful
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of them.
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And that's what we've got to be, Rob.
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True.
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Yeah, I agree. I agree with that.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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What are you trying to do the link to get
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into Carol Vorderman now? Or do you want me to,
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I've got a boomer story.
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I was going to read out. I don't know what
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to do. I've gone, I've gone too early.
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Yeah.
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I'd say you've gone too early with trying to get
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it into the guest.
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Yeah. That was an error of judgment. Let me do
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these boomers. Then we'll get into Carol Vorderman.
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Yeah.
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Morning, Josh and Rob.
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Have you listened to your recent episode about slipping parenting standards?
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As you have more children, I have a story about
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my dad. My dad had a game he used to
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enjoy when bored while carrying me as a baby. In
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a crowded area, he would shout catch and rugby pass
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me to another unsuspecting dad.
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No, no, no.
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His favourite place seemed to be after church while people
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milled about chatting. He says he enjoyed the thrill he
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got seeing the.
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Panic in their face. Of course.
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His justification is that he only did it to people
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he knew could catch.
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Fuck off. Fuck off.
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Although I argue the baby's very different to a tennis ball,
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safe to say my older siblings were never used as
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sporting equipment in his defence. His screening process must have
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merit as I was never dropped all the best mats.
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Even if it was like Ben Stokes, I don't want
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to throw my baby to them. Do you know what
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I mean? No. Even David Seaman, I wouldn't launch my child.
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Do you know how I would launch my child too, Rob?
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Carol Vorderman? Carol Vorderman. Carol Vorderman. And on the subject
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of Carol Vorderman... Oh, lovely stuff. I was going to
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do a parenting hack, though. Did you not want that?
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Yeah, on the subject of Carol Vorderman, she loves a
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parenting hack, and she'd love to hear what.
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She comes up with. Absolutely lovely. Hello, Rob and Josh.
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I've got a nice parenting hack for you and Carol Waterman.
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Oh, that's very forceful.
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Me and my husband have a special movie night TV
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in our bedroom, which we use to treat our two daughters,
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four and six, to a late night movie at the weekend.
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Oh, lovely.
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When actually what happens is we do their dinner an
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hour earlier, send them up to watch their movie and
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then get them into bed around the same time as
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they would be anyway. They think they're getting a special
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treat by staying up later and we get an extra
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hour's peace in the evening while they're cosy up in
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our bed watching a movie of their choice. I'm dreading
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the day they learn to tell time.
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Much love. Layla from Portsmouth. Enjoy it. Have you got
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a TV in your room, Rob? We do and I
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absolutely fucking love it.
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Yeah.
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Not even for bedtimes, you know what I do?
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What?
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It's got Sky on it, Josh, and I go up
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there to watch football when I pretend I'm doing something else.
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Oh, my word, Rob. And the other day I just
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laid up there and I watched Bournemouth play Chelsea. Lou went,
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what are you doing? I went, just a few things.
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I wasn't doing anything. Not one thing. Do you know
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who loves doing things?
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Who?
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Carol Vorderman. LAUGHTER I genuinely didn't know where that was going.
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That's how thick I am. Fucking hell. We'll stick you
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on the fucking numbers and letters, mate. Here we are.
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Carol Vorderman. We love Carol Vorderman. She's a really good episode.
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She's brilliant. What a woman. What a woman. Enjoy Carol Vorderman. Right.
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Thanks so much for doing this, Carol. We're very excited.
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Do you know what?
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I'm going to use the words we occasionally throw around, Rob.
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National treasure. Do you know what? Absolutely. Yeah. The second
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person ever on Channel 4, Carol Vorderman.
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Hello.
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Boom! There we go. Is that true? Is that a
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real fact?
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Well, Richard introduced it as one countdown to a new
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channel ends, so a new countdown begins.
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What a line.
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I know.
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It was a hell of a line.
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And then the next line was two from the top. Yeah,
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it was.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. And then when Channel 5 was opening up, because
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he was very proud. He was the first man on
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Channel 4, as he should be. And then he tried
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to persuade the then boss, Dawn Airy, who's wonderful, if
252
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he could also.
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Be the first person on Channel 5.
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I wrote that actually yeah I like that yeah you did.
255
00:10:00.250 --> 00:10:02.190
Well, I don't see why not, darling. I don't see
256
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why not. Yeah, but you're on Channel 4 every afternoon
257
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with me, Richard. Well, yes, but wouldn't it be lovely
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if I could also be the first person.
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On Channel 5?
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It would be so weird if he was just on
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Channel 5 for the first bit and then just went
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back to Channel 4 every week, like, for no reason. Also, like,
263
00:10:16.539 --> 00:10:18.080
it's quite a funny thing to sort of say out loud. Like,
264
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imagine if I did that, but to actually pursue it
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is madness, isn't it?
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LAUGHTER But that was him, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. Did
267
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you ever meet him, either of you? No. I never
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met him.
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What was he like?
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He was amazing.
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Honestly, I could do you an hour about Richard Whiteley,
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but you'd have loved him because he's a one-off.
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Yeah. You know, he's a completely one-off.
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And when we started, which was 41 years ago, I
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was like 21 and he would have been something like
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late thirties then. And he'd been on the local news program,
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which was called calendar for years and years and years.
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And he'd worked his way up to, he was like Mr. Yorkshire,
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00:11:00.649 --> 00:11:03.679
you know, And he used to host the calendar show.
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So he was a really good political journalist. And he
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was very much a Tory back in the Margaret Thatcher fan,
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you know. So he was quite pompous when we started
283
00:11:14.970 --> 00:11:17.710
in 1982. And it took about six years to like
284
00:11:18.029 --> 00:11:21.909
burst the bubble. But once we pricked his pomposity, or
285
00:11:21.929 --> 00:11:24.529
rather I had, that.
286
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Was when it just started to flow.
287
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Yeah.
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It was like.
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Come on writers you know and the stuff we got
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up to was was just wonderful it was just and
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funny proper funny you know you're like you too when
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you just you break down laughing and you just kind
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of then you go what the hell were we laughing
294
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at and all that we were like that all the
295
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.250
time I miss that I miss that a lot yeah
296
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I do.
297
00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:50.059
It must be the longest you've worked with anyone, right? Well, yes.
298
00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:53.139
It would have been 23 years. 23 years.
299
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Yeah. Blimey.
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Yeah.
301
00:11:54.779 --> 00:11:56.639
Do you still watch it and do the maths?
302
00:11:57.090 --> 00:11:59.029
Well, no. I mean, a lot of people ask me that.
303
00:11:59.110 --> 00:12:01.210
Oh, sorry, Carol. Fucking shit question, Geoff.
304
00:12:01.230 --> 00:12:02.830
You've done such a great role and then you've gone
305
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and done that.
306
00:12:03.750 --> 00:12:04.750
Sorry about him, Carol.
307
00:12:05.269 --> 00:12:13.240
It's a natural question.
308
00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:17.259
No, I don't know because it's 15 years.
309
00:12:17.059 --> 00:12:18.759
Since I was on it.
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And it's not anything to do with Countdown. It's just
311
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like life moves on, doesn't it?
312
00:12:22.710 --> 00:12:23.230
Yeah, of course.
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And you will find when your children get older, you go,
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life moves on.
315
00:12:28.289 --> 00:12:28.590
Yeah.
316
00:12:28.610 --> 00:12:29.009
You will.
317
00:12:29.169 --> 00:12:29.370
Yeah.
318
00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:31.879
Yeah. So how old are your children, Carol?
319
00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:37.750
Mine are 26, that's Cameron, and 31, Katie.
320
00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:40.870
So they are proper sort of grown-ups gone through education. Well,
321
00:12:40.889 --> 00:12:43.090
would you define that as a grown-up? I mean, I
322
00:12:43.210 --> 00:12:45.470
can only ask you two. Are you now grown-ups?
323
00:12:45.649 --> 00:12:49.129
I'd say yes. Yeah, I think I am. I'm a grown-up.
324
00:12:49.429 --> 00:12:50.649
Do you, Josh? Yeah, I do.
325
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I'm 40.
326
00:12:50.889 --> 00:12:51.330
No. Yeah.
327
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Yeah.
328
00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:57.080
What happened there?
329
00:12:57.139 --> 00:12:58.899
Is that a panic in you, Carol? What happened there?
330
00:12:58.940 --> 00:13:01.220
It is, really. Because I think of Josh as like, oh,
331
00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:03.440
like baby face Josh, you know, like that.
332
00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:04.879
It's like, oh, baby face.
333
00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:09.289
No, he's rotten. He's like a raisin now. He's falling apart.
334
00:13:09.669 --> 00:13:10.490
How old are you, Rob?
335
00:13:10.509 --> 00:13:13.090
I'm 37. Oh, so you're a baby.
336
00:13:13.490 --> 00:13:13.830
Yeah.
337
00:13:14.009 --> 00:13:14.889
Yeah. So much younger.
338
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It is.
339
00:13:15.450 --> 00:13:17.429
Three years. Yeah. But is it?
340
00:13:17.940 --> 00:13:21.000
Well, I think being a grown-up is responsibilities. So a
341
00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.039
grown-up is when you have responsibilities. So it depends on
342
00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:25.509
what point in your life you have them. So if
343
00:13:25.549 --> 00:13:28.090
you've got two kids and a career you're really into,
344
00:13:28.169 --> 00:13:30.669
like 22, you have to be a grown-up from then, essentially.
345
00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:32.750
Yeah, you do. So it's responsibilities.
346
00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:34.820
Do you think it's the having the children?
347
00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:35.519
Yeah.
348
00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:39.000
Or someone to be responsible for?
349
00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:43.039
I think it's responsibilities. And then that normally comes, kids
350
00:13:43.100 --> 00:13:44.480
are the biggest responsibility you can have.
351
00:13:44.659 --> 00:13:46.960
They are a lifetime. I don't think career is that
352
00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.000
much of a responsibility. Even a mortgage ends at some point.
353
00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:50.240
Yeah.
354
00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:52.000
You know what I mean? Well, probably not at the moment,
355
00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:53.899
but it's supposed to.
356
00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.120
I tell you what I just watched, just talking about kids.
357
00:13:57.620 --> 00:14:00.519
Is there a Tyson Fury, At Home With The Furies,
358
00:14:00.620 --> 00:14:01.250
on Netflix?
359
00:14:01.419 --> 00:14:02.190
That was mad.
360
00:14:02.409 --> 00:14:03.669
It's amazing.
361
00:14:03.929 --> 00:14:04.850
It's crazy, isn't it?
362
00:14:05.070 --> 00:14:06.789
Six kids. Have you seen it, Josh?
363
00:14:06.950 --> 00:14:08.330
No. Is it unbelievable?
364
00:14:08.389 --> 00:14:11.889
If you haven't, they're remarkable. I've just fallen in love
365
00:14:11.909 --> 00:14:12.210
with them.
366
00:14:12.250 --> 00:14:14.639
I'd be quite happy to watch one of those shows, like,
367
00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:16.019
every week, you know, forever.
368
00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:17.450
Just seeing the kids grow up.
369
00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:19.600
Well, the mad thing is, though, there's, like, six kids,
370
00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:21.799
and they keep moaning about how mental and busy it
371
00:14:21.860 --> 00:14:24.440
all is, and that the house is crazy. And then
372
00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:26.000
they go, yeah, when they get to 30 and we
373
00:14:26.019 --> 00:14:27.779
don't send them to school anymore, I'm like, well, fuck it,
374
00:14:27.799 --> 00:14:30.870
send them to school. It's a lot of trouble of tradition,
375
00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:33.830
but if it's really annoying you, there's literally a school
376
00:14:33.889 --> 00:14:37.590
open all day. Just send them there. Or stop having kids.
377
00:14:38.110 --> 00:14:39.269
Six kids. Six kids.
378
00:14:41.110 --> 00:14:45.549
And I believe that Paris Fury, who's amazing, is now
379
00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:46.639
pregnant with a seventh.
380
00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:48.120
Bloody hell.
381
00:14:48.419 --> 00:14:49.100
And they're only young.
382
00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:51.039
We've had her on, haven't we? We've had her on here.
383
00:14:51.259 --> 00:14:53.460
I think they want 10 kids. They want 10 kids.
384
00:14:53.700 --> 00:14:55.100
That's the aim, yeah.
385
00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:57.769
Josh, your voice just went back to pre-13.
386
00:14:57.990 --> 00:15:01.110
His voice matched his face there.
387
00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:04.850
Do you consider your kids grown up?
388
00:15:06.860 --> 00:15:10.039
So Cameron and I still live in Bristol, which is
389
00:15:10.070 --> 00:15:13.690
where I am now, together. And Katie, she was living
390
00:15:13.730 --> 00:15:16.769
in Cambridge for about 10 years. So she's a research scientist.
391
00:15:17.289 --> 00:15:20.090
She's in London briefly at the moment. So I can't
392
00:15:20.169 --> 00:15:23.610
see unless and until she's a lot older with kids,
393
00:15:23.830 --> 00:15:25.429
her coming back to Bristol.
394
00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:27.740
Yeah. Oh, that's what you want, though, for her to
395
00:15:27.779 --> 00:15:28.059
come back?
396
00:15:28.100 --> 00:15:31.899
Well, yeah, I miss my Katie. But, you know, life
397
00:15:32.019 --> 00:15:33.419
is what life is, isn't it, really?
398
00:15:33.460 --> 00:15:34.480
It's difficult, isn't it?
399
00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:34.779
Yeah.
400
00:15:34.820 --> 00:15:37.159
So there's no grandkids at the moment? Katie and Cameron
401
00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:37.440
got no kids?
402
00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:39.720
No, no grandkids at the moment. No.
403
00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.970
Okay. And is that something you're excited for?
404
00:15:42.990 --> 00:15:43.049
No.
405
00:15:43.450 --> 00:15:44.129
Not really.
406
00:15:48.330 --> 00:15:52.029
It still happened when it happened.
407
00:15:52.269 --> 00:15:53.590
Yeah. Yeah.
408
00:15:53.629 --> 00:15:56.590
If she'd come home and said she'd obviously be excited, but... Oh, God, yeah.
409
00:15:56.870 --> 00:15:58.909
If she said, right, I'm pregnant with twins, I'm moving
410
00:15:58.929 --> 00:15:59.590
back to Bristol.
411
00:15:59.750 --> 00:15:59.950
Yeah.
412
00:16:00.049 --> 00:16:02.100
Because the easiest way for me to crack on is
413
00:16:02.220 --> 00:16:04.360
if I can just use you for four days a
414
00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:05.100
week childcare.
415
00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:05.679
Yeah.
416
00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.539
If that conversation happens, how do you feel?
417
00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:09.639
I'd feel all right about that.
418
00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:09.919
Yeah?
419
00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.649
Yeah, I would, yeah, because my mum... My mum was
420
00:16:12.669 --> 00:16:16.179
single parent. They divorced my parents when I was a baby.
421
00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:19.620
So mum had three kids, my much older brother and
422
00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:22.480
sister and me to bring up by herself. So I
423
00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:26.059
was born in 1960 and, you know, we were proper poor,
424
00:16:26.139 --> 00:16:27.299
like proper, proper poor.
425
00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:29.190
Hang on, you was born in 1960?
426
00:16:29.190 --> 00:16:31.289
Yeah, 1960. You're 60, you're not 63.
427
00:16:31.289 --> 00:16:31.509
You're 63.
428
00:16:31.490 --> 00:16:32.230
63 in December, yeah.
429
00:16:35.370 --> 00:16:37.929
You're not 63, Carol Vorderman.
430
00:16:37.970 --> 00:16:40.009
You're fucking Benjamin Barn. You look younger now than you
431
00:16:40.049 --> 00:16:42.470
did when you was 21. I don't understand how it works, Carol.
432
00:16:42.590 --> 00:16:43.289
Botox.
433
00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:44.269
Fair enough.
434
00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:45.940
Look close.
435
00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:51.620
Okay, medical intervention. I get it. That makes sense. Sure.
436
00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:54.340
But it's good. It looks good. Well, that's very kind.
437
00:16:54.919 --> 00:16:56.940
But do you think, though, those photos of you when you're, like,
438
00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:59.100
21 on Countdown, though, obviously because it's, like, the style
439
00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:01.679
and the grainy images and the clothes back then and
440
00:17:01.730 --> 00:17:02.169
the shoulders.
441
00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:04.269
You look older there than you do now.
442
00:17:04.289 --> 00:17:04.670
I know.
443
00:17:04.730 --> 00:17:06.450
I think a lot of that's the style, though, isn't it?
444
00:17:06.450 --> 00:17:07.190
Yeah. Yeah.
445
00:17:07.609 --> 00:17:08.609
And the hairstyles and stuff.
446
00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:09.569
The hairstyles.
447
00:17:09.829 --> 00:17:12.269
So you were 23 when you started Countdown.
448
00:17:12.269 --> 00:17:13.089
21 I was.
449
00:17:13.089 --> 00:17:14.690
21? Yeah, 21, yeah.
450
00:17:14.849 --> 00:17:15.789
Oh, my word.
451
00:17:16.089 --> 00:17:19.349
Anyway, sorry, it was probably 1960. We got sidetracked by
452
00:17:19.390 --> 00:17:19.869
the Botox.
453
00:17:19.910 --> 00:17:21.450
Born in 1960.
454
00:17:21.450 --> 00:17:24.579
So anyway, so then my mum remarried my stepfather when
455
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:27.339
I was about nine. So I grew up in North Wales.
456
00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:30.940
She says pointing towards North Wales, which means nothing to
457
00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:31.740
anybody watching.
458
00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:32.539
Yeah, yeah.
459
00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.160
So then when I graduated, about three weeks after I graduated,
460
00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.640
mum said, right, we're leaving Gabrielle, my stepfather, who I adored.
461
00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:40.859
Oh, are we again?
462
00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:43.809
And then she didn't let me go and see him again.
463
00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:48.089
So we moved to England at that point. So I've
464
00:17:48.109 --> 00:17:51.210
got my Cambridge degree and all of that. And then
465
00:17:51.650 --> 00:17:53.670
I just worried about my mum so much that.
466
00:17:54.339 --> 00:17:56.940
We moved to Leeds. I got the job on Countdown.
467
00:17:56.980 --> 00:17:59.319
As soon as I was able to employ her, I
468
00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.140
was 25. And so I employed my mum. And therein after,
469
00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:08.119
she worked for me and lived with us all through
470
00:18:08.140 --> 00:18:10.099
my marriage and everything until she.
471
00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:11.740
Died many years later.
472
00:18:12.380 --> 00:18:15.299
So we're used to, like my kids are used to,
473
00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:16.880
Nana being around.
474
00:18:17.289 --> 00:18:20.349
Right, so it's a real strong impact on their life, Nana.
475
00:18:20.390 --> 00:18:22.130
Yeah, it's a normal thing, yeah.
476
00:18:22.369 --> 00:18:25.009
When you say you employed her, was that off screen
477
00:18:25.029 --> 00:18:28.089
with a calculator giving the answers in your ears?
478
00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:31.569
Not my mother, no. No. Running the office.
479
00:18:32.089 --> 00:18:35.029
So she used to run my office for me, yeah.
480
00:18:35.710 --> 00:18:37.490
Oh, nice. Oh, wow, that's nice.
481
00:18:37.529 --> 00:18:37.650
Yeah.
482
00:18:38.269 --> 00:18:40.509
That's so nice. Were you a fun mum?
483
00:18:40.789 --> 00:18:41.470
I think I was.
484
00:18:41.869 --> 00:18:46.480
Although, so I was, how old was I? 31 and
485
00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.119
36 when I had the kids and married, very happily married.
486
00:18:50.700 --> 00:18:56.970
And at that time, my career was, Women my age
487
00:18:57.049 --> 00:18:59.589
were sort of the bow wave of you had to
488
00:18:59.650 --> 00:19:02.559
take all the crap, basically all the shit that everybody
489
00:19:02.619 --> 00:19:05.119
had to throw at you in order to sort of
490
00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:07.119
break through again and break through again.
491
00:19:07.259 --> 00:19:09.400
So you had to work, you had to.
492
00:19:09.329 --> 00:19:12.490
Like commit that that was your priority for want of
493
00:19:12.529 --> 00:19:16.160
a better word. So in my 30s, I worked all
494
00:19:16.180 --> 00:19:19.210
the hours God sent, you know, and it paid off. Literally,
495
00:19:19.269 --> 00:19:22.490
it paid off. But because mum lived with us, I
496
00:19:22.529 --> 00:19:23.789
didn't have to worry about the kids.
497
00:19:23.809 --> 00:19:25.049
They were always at home.
498
00:19:25.210 --> 00:19:25.549
Yeah.
499
00:19:25.809 --> 00:19:27.490
They weren't going elsewhere.
500
00:19:27.509 --> 00:19:27.670
Yeah.
501
00:19:27.829 --> 00:19:30.289
Well, going elsewhere, not that that's a bad thing, but
502
00:19:30.769 --> 00:19:31.519
it was just that.
503
00:19:31.930 --> 00:19:33.559
But they don't feel like they're being looked after by
504
00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:36.559
anyone else. It's sort of all in-house. It's extended family.
505
00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.140
And I had a nanny as well because mum was
506
00:19:39.259 --> 00:19:41.980
in the office too, so... But the nanny would come
507
00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:45.170
to our house. So there were plenty of people around.
508
00:19:45.269 --> 00:19:48.609
But I think in those days, you know, like the
509
00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:51.259
thought of going to the park Oh, my God. I
510
00:19:52.180 --> 00:19:54.089
did it about three times with the kids.
511
00:19:54.150 --> 00:19:56.509
Push. Push.
512
00:19:56.930 --> 00:19:57.630
Push.
513
00:19:58.009 --> 00:19:58.210
Push.
514
00:19:59.819 --> 00:20:01.680
Welcome to my life. I hate the park.
515
00:20:02.019 --> 00:20:03.420
I hate the park.
516
00:20:03.819 --> 00:20:04.619
I hate the park.
517
00:20:04.779 --> 00:20:08.319
But back then, back in the 1990s, you weren't allowed
518
00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:11.299
to say anything other than you were a bloody Stepford wife,
519
00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.980
you know, and sort of apologised for having to go
520
00:20:14.019 --> 00:20:15.279
to work and all that. Right, yeah.
521
00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:19.240
And things have changed so rapidly now.
522
00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:20.539
So did you.
523
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:22.509
Feel like, did you get a lot of stick for
524
00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:24.970
being a career woman then and having a nanny and
525
00:20:25.009 --> 00:20:25.710
going to work?
526
00:20:25.730 --> 00:20:26.869
Yeah, quite a bit.
527
00:20:27.089 --> 00:20:28.730
And how did that manifest and how did it make
528
00:20:28.750 --> 00:20:29.089
you feel?
529
00:20:29.509 --> 00:20:34.490
Well, now I'm just really happy for younger women because
530
00:20:34.529 --> 00:20:37.029
they can go, no, I really want, like my daughter,
531
00:20:37.049 --> 00:20:38.730
it's going to sound a bit weird, but she's a
532
00:20:38.910 --> 00:20:44.700
research scientist. So she's a post-doctorate PhD in nanotechnology.
533
00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:47.079
God, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree there.
534
00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:49.220
That's the kind of job presumably you were headed to
535
00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:50.500
before Countdown.
536
00:20:51.180 --> 00:20:52.180
Yeah, yeah.
537
00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:56.940
Of course, we used to do maths every morning. when
538
00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.670
they were young really because I knew that particularly as
539
00:20:59.710 --> 00:21:02.690
a girl she'd always be asked and I was on
540
00:21:02.730 --> 00:21:05.430
countdown obviously at that time I knew as soon as
541
00:21:05.470 --> 00:21:07.869
she went to school people would be asking her maths
542
00:21:07.890 --> 00:21:08.710
sums all the.
543
00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:11.460
Time yeah the daughter of yeah.
544
00:21:10.740 --> 00:21:14.000
So just like you've got to teach your kids some dad.
545
00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:16.599
Jokes yeah Yep. Because I'll expect them to be funny.
546
00:21:17.099 --> 00:21:17.339
Yeah.
547
00:21:17.539 --> 00:21:19.839
Don't worry about that. Yeah. I've got one. Feel free
548
00:21:19.900 --> 00:21:21.980
to use it. Why does a squirrel swim on its
549
00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:25.259
back to keep his nuts dry? Hey! Job done. Yeah,
550
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.329
that's great. That's great stuff. I really like that. A
551
00:21:28.589 --> 00:21:30.829
little bit cheeky, but just enough. Something from your own saying,
552
00:21:30.849 --> 00:21:33.230
in fact, isn't it, Robert? Exactly. I don't mind using
553
00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:33.650
all this stuff.
554
00:21:34.950 --> 00:21:37.750
But you know what I mean, because the expectation on
555
00:21:37.789 --> 00:21:38.329
the youngsters.
556
00:21:38.789 --> 00:21:42.009
So Katie was always good at maths and everything. She's brilliant, actually.
557
00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:43.730
And so she went to Cambridge and then she did
558
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:45.859
all her degrees there. And then she did a PhD there.
559
00:21:46.339 --> 00:21:50.200
But point is, she's 31 now. And now I love
560
00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:50.960
the fact.
561
00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:51.720
That she can.
562
00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:56.619
she's she's just set up a startup company for a
563
00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.250
factory to be built in space don't that is complicated
564
00:22:00.369 --> 00:22:01.049
you really.
565
00:22:00.849 --> 00:22:03.569
Do you don't really understand what she's doing do you carol.
566
00:22:03.410 --> 00:22:06.789
No well i do oh you do it's how to
567
00:22:06.849 --> 00:22:12.430
explain it because it's quite about manufacturing protein crystallization in.
568
00:22:12.430 --> 00:22:14.829
Space in low earth orbit so.
569
00:22:14.690 --> 00:22:18.000
There we go absolutely yeah If my protein's not crystallised,
570
00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:18.720
I'm not happy.
571
00:22:19.779 --> 00:22:22.059
Are you annoyed, Rob, that someone's got there first? Because
572
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:23.480
that was your plan for retirement.
573
00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:23.799
Wasn't it?
574
00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:25.680
Yeah, I've been thinking about it. I've actually been trying
575
00:22:25.700 --> 00:22:28.440
to crystallise carbohydrate. There's not a demand for it.
576
00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:30.940
That's terrible. I've got a factory up there pumping out
577
00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:33.869
crystallised carb. No one wants it. Can't sell it.
578
00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:37.779
But what I love is that she can do that
579
00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:39.480
and there's no criticism of that.
580
00:22:39.569 --> 00:22:41.470
Now it's something to be admired.
581
00:22:41.930 --> 00:22:42.109
Yeah.
582
00:22:42.170 --> 00:22:44.089
Whereas, you know, on my life.
583
00:22:44.150 --> 00:22:44.430
Yeah.
584
00:22:44.450 --> 00:22:46.349
Well, the response would be, who's got the kids then?
585
00:22:46.529 --> 00:22:47.670
Back in the day, it would be like, well, if
586
00:22:47.690 --> 00:22:49.009
you're doing that, who's got the kids?
587
00:22:49.109 --> 00:22:50.630
Oh, gosh. Awful, awful, awful.
588
00:22:50.750 --> 00:22:55.339
And also there was no expectation on fathers to do
589
00:22:55.410 --> 00:22:58.059
anything with the children other than do like the good bits.
590
00:22:58.559 --> 00:22:59.380
You know what I mean?
591
00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:03.140
So whereas I love it now because where I live
592
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:05.299
in Bristol, in Clifton.
593
00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:07.609
Oh, very nice.
594
00:23:07.619 --> 00:23:11.450
Very nice. The vibe is just so.
595
00:23:11.289 --> 00:23:15.309
Relaxed and lovely. But there are a lot of couples
596
00:23:15.329 --> 00:23:18.450
your sort of age with young kids here now, whereas
597
00:23:18.509 --> 00:23:23.480
it used to be older people and children here. It's
598
00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:26.000
now got this lovely vibe. And what I love is that,
599
00:23:26.019 --> 00:23:28.240
you know, when I'm walking around all the time, is
600
00:23:28.279 --> 00:23:30.720
you see a lot of the young fathers like yourselves
601
00:23:31.180 --> 00:23:35.180
with their kids actually, you know, happily going and taking
602
00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.240
them for a walk or pushing the pushchair or, you know,
603
00:23:38.289 --> 00:23:38.670
with the old.
604
00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:40.950
What do you call them? I call them papoose.
605
00:23:41.190 --> 00:23:41.609
Papoose.
606
00:23:41.730 --> 00:23:43.109
A papoose, is it a papoose?
607
00:23:43.130 --> 00:23:43.250
Yeah.
608
00:23:43.670 --> 00:23:45.109
Yeah, yeah, it's a lovely word that.
609
00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:46.029
Yeah, it is a papoose.
610
00:23:46.089 --> 00:23:46.710
A papoose.
611
00:23:46.809 --> 00:23:48.730
And I love to see that because that wouldn't have
612
00:23:48.750 --> 00:23:52.109
been done. Even, you know, when my kids were young, that.
613
00:23:52.009 --> 00:23:53.880
Wasn't a thing. I like it.
614
00:23:54.019 --> 00:23:57.799
I love younger generations because I love their freedom and
615
00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:01.720
I love like their attitude to life. It's just, you know,
616
00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:05.720
the whole love is love. It's like, and, you know, oh,
617
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:10.549
my best friend's gay. And it's not even a subject matter. Yeah.
618
00:24:10.779 --> 00:24:13.400
Whereas our lot, you know, my age group is, oh, God,
619
00:24:13.420 --> 00:24:15.759
you've got to judge people, you've got to do this,
620
00:24:15.779 --> 00:24:16.369
you've got to do that.
621
00:24:17.309 --> 00:24:21.809
It's hard, it's tiring being judgmental. Oh, God. It must
622
00:24:21.849 --> 00:24:22.549
be exhausting.
623
00:24:22.589 --> 00:24:24.950
All those people who are like, you know, people go, oh,
624
00:24:24.990 --> 00:24:26.430
it's a principle, don't have principles.
625
00:24:26.450 --> 00:24:30.740
It's so much easier. I'm principle-less.
626
00:24:31.779 --> 00:24:34.660
I'm with you there. I'm so with you. Yeah.
627
00:24:34.900 --> 00:24:36.819
That's too hard work to have too many things that
628
00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:37.700
annoy you, isn't it?
629
00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:39.349
Isn't it? Isn't it?
630
00:24:40.380 --> 00:24:42.279
People get weighed down by stressing themselves out.
631
00:24:42.289 --> 00:24:45.490
There's that quote, which is angels fly because they take
632
00:24:45.509 --> 00:24:46.269
themselves lightly.
633
00:24:46.869 --> 00:24:48.349
Oh, I like that.
634
00:24:48.430 --> 00:24:51.289
And if you do that, life's a lot easier rather
635
00:24:51.329 --> 00:24:54.089
than trudging around. They always look like they walk heavy,
636
00:24:54.390 --> 00:24:54.990
angry people.
637
00:24:55.369 --> 00:24:56.430
Yeah, they do, don't they?
638
00:24:56.529 --> 00:24:56.730
Yeah.
639
00:24:57.009 --> 00:24:59.450
I can't be arsed with it. I just can't be arsed. Anyway,
640
00:24:59.470 --> 00:25:01.619
so it's lovely now and I think I'll be a
641
00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:02.019
good nana.
642
00:25:02.900 --> 00:25:03.299
I think.
643
00:25:03.539 --> 00:25:03.740
Yeah.
644
00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:04.319
Yeah.
645
00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:06.880
I think you'll be great. You've got a zest for life.
646
00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:08.539
Like so few people.
647
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:09.319
Really?
648
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:10.099
Yeah.
649
00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:10.660
I think so.
650
00:25:10.700 --> 00:25:11.019
Like that.
651
00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:14.180
It's so rare that someone says, I really like younger people.
652
00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:20.430
It's so rare that you hear that. You just hear, oh,
653
00:25:20.430 --> 00:25:23.069
the next generation are a disaster. They're awful.
654
00:25:23.089 --> 00:25:27.119
Oh, seen that in certain newspapers you know and columnists
655
00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:30.670
who really should get out more saying oh it's terrible
656
00:25:30.750 --> 00:25:33.950
and they think this i think it's bloody brilliant that
657
00:25:33.990 --> 00:25:37.750
they're you know like cameron's age group so in their
658
00:25:38.470 --> 00:25:41.309
20s and they go oh they're so lazy they're not
659
00:25:41.349 --> 00:25:43.210
lazy they've had to work a lot harder for their
660
00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:46.240
bloody gcses and a levels than we ever did you
661
00:25:46.259 --> 00:25:48.799
know they're not this they're not all these things that
662
00:25:48.819 --> 00:25:52.829
people say they are And also it's like this, oh,
663
00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.119
and they don't want to work hard because they only
664
00:25:55.160 --> 00:25:56.680
want to work five days a week.
665
00:25:57.289 --> 00:25:59.549
Hello? That's wise?
666
00:25:59.569 --> 00:26:02.869
That is actually wise.
667
00:26:03.460 --> 00:26:04.079
Wise?
668
00:26:04.700 --> 00:26:08.400
Like my life, you know, so we were the Thatcher generation,
669
00:26:08.420 --> 00:26:11.420
you know, so I was 18 when Thatcher came to
670
00:26:11.460 --> 00:26:13.890
power and it was all the time.
671
00:26:13.930 --> 00:26:15.230
Do you know the word yuppie?
672
00:26:15.250 --> 00:26:17.829
Yeah, of course. We're not that young. We're not young.
673
00:26:17.890 --> 00:26:20.769
Del Boy, isn't it? Young, upwardly mobile.
674
00:26:20.829 --> 00:26:22.690
Professional something or other, wasn't it?
675
00:26:22.730 --> 00:26:24.450
Hire, fire and perspire. Yeah.
676
00:26:24.470 --> 00:26:28.000
Yeah. So we were the generation of being the yuppies,
677
00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:32.480
I suppose. So my husband, Paddy, worked in London. It
678
00:26:32.539 --> 00:26:34.759
was the first time really that I'd sort of gone
679
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:37.299
down there. And it was the whole, you know, I
680
00:26:37.339 --> 00:26:40.000
work six days a week, like four hours a day.
681
00:26:40.019 --> 00:26:42.359
And others go, well, I work eight days a week.
682
00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:45.059
You know, I work like 27 hours a day.
683
00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:47.299
Sleep is for losers and all that kind of stuff.
684
00:26:47.319 --> 00:26:47.660
I know.
685
00:26:48.299 --> 00:26:52.109
Absolute crap and then when people started to get it
686
00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:54.509
I mean I you know worked hard probably too hard
687
00:26:54.589 --> 00:26:56.849
and then as we got started getting to like the
688
00:26:56.890 --> 00:26:59.769
age of 30 one after one they were going down
689
00:26:59.849 --> 00:27:01.089
like dominoes you.
690
00:27:00.910 --> 00:27:02.789
Know I had to be in hospital for a week
691
00:27:02.829 --> 00:27:05.039
with burnout you know and all that kind of thing
692
00:27:05.430 --> 00:27:08.259
Whereas now it's like, come on, what is life about?
693
00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:08.759
Yeah.
694
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:09.740
And that's what I love.
695
00:27:09.779 --> 00:27:12.220
You know, what is it that would give me the
696
00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:15.839
happiest life and where I can help people, which apparently
697
00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:21.500
is called being woke and is a bad thing, according to.
698
00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:22.740
What can I do to help?
699
00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:26.519
Can I ask you about a very progressive part of
700
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:26.980
your life?
701
00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:27.559
Yeah, go on.
702
00:27:27.700 --> 00:27:29.720
Which I've talked to you about. Well, not me personally.
703
00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:31.839
I was there when you talked... We were on Radio
704
00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:33.680
2 together. You talked to Zoe Ball about you.
705
00:27:33.700 --> 00:27:35.309
We were on with Zoe, weren't we?
706
00:27:35.349 --> 00:27:39.289
Yeah, about your relationship status and how you run that.
707
00:27:39.569 --> 00:27:40.730
I think that's brilliant.
708
00:27:40.950 --> 00:27:42.470
Yeah.
709
00:27:42.650 --> 00:27:45.069
Well, it's also, I mean, got partly to do with kids.
710
00:27:45.170 --> 00:27:49.829
So I don't want to settle down again. At the moment,
711
00:27:49.890 --> 00:27:51.930
I mean, it might be different when I'm 75. I
712
00:27:52.089 --> 00:27:54.069
might think I can put up with someone. But at
713
00:27:54.089 --> 00:27:55.650
the moment, that's not what I want to do.
714
00:27:56.349 --> 00:27:57.210
Can't get up the stairs.
715
00:27:57.269 --> 00:27:59.069
It'd be quite good to have something to lean on
716
00:27:59.130 --> 00:28:03.200
at eight o'clock every night.
717
00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:05.960
That time is to come, but it's not for now.
718
00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:09.849
So what I have done for, oh my God, well
719
00:28:09.900 --> 00:28:12.960
over 10 years is, is I use a system which
720
00:28:13.019 --> 00:28:14.380
I call my special friends.
721
00:28:14.700 --> 00:28:14.920
Sure.
722
00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:19.549
So they are men. I really like, really like me.
723
00:28:19.829 --> 00:28:23.490
And then, you know, we have an extra bit of whatever, whenever.
724
00:28:24.009 --> 00:28:25.190
And everyone's single.
725
00:28:25.309 --> 00:28:25.589
Yeah.
726
00:28:25.609 --> 00:28:26.670
That's a key part of it.
727
00:28:26.809 --> 00:28:28.930
And everyone's on board with the setup.
728
00:28:29.309 --> 00:28:32.049
On board with it. And it's just nice.
729
00:28:32.230 --> 00:28:35.589
Yeah. Because, you know, Some I see more often than others.
730
00:28:36.470 --> 00:28:38.980
But they're like interesting people who I really like anyway.
731
00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:40.019
They'd just be friends.
732
00:28:40.380 --> 00:28:40.660
Yeah.
733
00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:40.960
Yeah.
734
00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:42.779
And you don't have to have an argument about buying
735
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:43.559
a new fridge with.
736
00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:45.480
Oh, God, no. It's just a joy.
737
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.309
I think we should get the Zanussi. Oh, fuck off.
738
00:28:51.230 --> 00:28:53.210
I forgot you hate Zanussi, Rob. We don't want to
739
00:28:53.250 --> 00:28:55.630
get into that. Oh, yeah, don't get me started on that.
740
00:28:55.990 --> 00:28:56.680
That and smeg.
741
00:28:56.740 --> 00:28:59.880
Has he had a problem with his ice cube makers?
742
00:29:00.019 --> 00:29:02.200
I've got no issues with Zanussi. I just picked it
743
00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:04.980
because it was a funny word. That was it. I
744
00:29:05.079 --> 00:29:06.119
thought it would get a bigger laugh.
745
00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:07.980
Funny words are funny, though, aren't they?
746
00:29:08.019 --> 00:29:10.609
Yeah. Well, yeah, sometimes you pick the funniest one. I
747
00:29:10.630 --> 00:29:12.789
liked when you picked up on papoose as a good word.
748
00:29:12.970 --> 00:29:14.430
Yeah, I love a good word.
749
00:29:14.809 --> 00:29:23.460
Gusset is a funny word but they're lovely words and
750
00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:26.079
it is about that like zanussi is a funny.
751
00:29:25.859 --> 00:29:28.099
Word isn't it yeah it's just funny yeah if you've
752
00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:30.400
got to pick one smeg and zanussi if you're trying
753
00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:30.849
to pick a.
754
00:29:30.789 --> 00:29:32.960
Fridge yeah but i think smeg's almost too much of
755
00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:34.789
a comedy word do you know what i mean like
756
00:29:34.789 --> 00:29:35.289
zanussi's a.
757
00:29:35.299 --> 00:29:36.740
Yeah, smeg's too loaded.
758
00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:37.059
Yeah, yeah.
759
00:29:37.180 --> 00:29:40.099
So Zanussi, if I said, like, a Samsung fridge... Yeah,
760
00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:40.609
that's not as funny.
761
00:29:40.619 --> 00:29:41.569
That's not as funny.
762
00:29:41.690 --> 00:29:43.509
It's not the same hit as Zanussi.
763
00:29:43.529 --> 00:29:45.690
No, we had zero reaction from most of them.
764
00:29:45.829 --> 00:29:46.250
Exactly.
765
00:29:46.349 --> 00:29:51.369
Yeah, bonus. Actually, you judged me even though I was
766
00:29:51.410 --> 00:29:53.829
using that as an example. I respect that. Do you
767
00:29:53.869 --> 00:29:56.319
pass– do you– I tell you into words and numbers
768
00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:57.759
and stuff. So did you pass a lot of learning
769
00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:00.480
onto your kids? Like, were you into that kind of thing?
770
00:30:00.539 --> 00:30:02.740
Yeah, I've just got to the point– well, no, I've
771
00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:05.539
always been the same, actually. I'm interested in the things
772
00:30:05.579 --> 00:30:09.200
that I'm interested in, and I'll pursue those literally to
773
00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:11.720
the ends of the earth. But then there are some
774
00:30:11.779 --> 00:30:12.660
things I'm just.
775
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:14.509
Not remotely into.
776
00:30:15.109 --> 00:30:17.710
And then over the years I've thought, right, okay, be
777
00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:22.460
civilised about this, Carol, like pursue an interest in classical music.
778
00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:25.200
And then I'll do something for like five days and
779
00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:29.559
I think, nice, I'd rather like go and watch Loud Aircraft.
780
00:30:30.329 --> 00:30:31.430
Because that's what I'd rather do.
781
00:30:31.490 --> 00:30:32.509
Yeah, you're into aircraft.
782
00:30:32.549 --> 00:30:34.670
Or I'd love to go and see a car race.
783
00:30:34.910 --> 00:30:37.230
You've got a flying licence, haven't you? Yeah.
784
00:30:37.630 --> 00:30:38.690
So, much as.
785
00:30:38.990 --> 00:30:40.869
Where would you go for loud aircraft, by the way?
786
00:30:40.910 --> 00:30:42.950
Sort of just near to an airport and listen?
787
00:30:43.170 --> 00:30:45.109
No, I tell you. So, air shows.
788
00:30:45.170 --> 00:30:48.109
I've been around the world to air shows. And it's great,
789
00:30:48.130 --> 00:30:51.799
because I love screaming. I really fucking love screaming, right?
790
00:30:51.819 --> 00:30:54.180
There's something about screaming.
791
00:30:54.200 --> 00:30:56.240
Just walk through Lewisham late at night, then rather than
792
00:30:56.279 --> 00:30:56.839
going around.
793
00:30:57.200 --> 00:30:59.490
Which is like, it's a joy.
794
00:31:00.059 --> 00:31:03.160
And you can, when they're allowed aircraft, you can really,
795
00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:05.009
really go, which is why I like going to like
796
00:31:05.089 --> 00:31:08.789
rugby games, you know, big, big games, big events.
797
00:31:08.890 --> 00:31:11.539
I love that. Where you can just like let rip.
798
00:31:12.329 --> 00:31:13.279
And nobody hears you.
799
00:31:13.309 --> 00:31:15.710
Yeah, you don't get out of the proms, do you?
800
00:31:15.910 --> 00:31:19.000
No, I did go to the Albert Hall. Again, this
801
00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:21.339
isn't like going on classical music for a second.
802
00:31:21.460 --> 00:31:22.339
It just is for me.
803
00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:23.180
It's just not your thing.
804
00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:25.700
It's just not my thing. So I went once and
805
00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:26.750
you know where they finish.
806
00:31:26.809 --> 00:31:28.589
All right, I'm going to trip myself up with the
807
00:31:28.630 --> 00:31:31.670
words here. they finish one bit of what they're performing.
808
00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:33.269
And then obviously they all have to go.
809
00:31:33.779 --> 00:31:36.140
And I'm like, oh, amazing, amazing.
810
00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:38.960
And that's the bit where you're meant to be completely silent.
811
00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:42.099
Yeah. The fake endings in songs as well. They build
812
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:43.059
it up like it's done.
813
00:31:43.559 --> 00:31:45.359
And I'm on my, and I'm like, oh.
814
00:31:46.259 --> 00:31:52.180
Brilliant. Oh, Vorderman was in making a show of herself
815
00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:53.230
again with a shower.
816
00:31:53.750 --> 00:31:56.430
Oh, I know. I know. Being judged.
817
00:31:56.450 --> 00:31:56.750
Yeah.
818
00:31:56.769 --> 00:31:59.549
So now I just do the things that I like.
819
00:31:59.710 --> 00:32:03.299
And luckily my kids, you know, Katie particularly, I suppose,
820
00:32:03.339 --> 00:32:04.539
with the science and everything.
821
00:32:05.140 --> 00:32:06.940
We like the same things. So that's good.
822
00:32:07.259 --> 00:32:09.039
And what does Cameron do? Did he go down an
823
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:12.309
academic route as well? No, because Cam was... Well, he
824
00:32:12.329 --> 00:32:16.650
did in the end. But Cam was a special educational
825
00:32:16.690 --> 00:32:17.769
needs child.
826
00:32:18.210 --> 00:32:22.059
So he was literally off the scale dyslexic, off the
827
00:32:22.099 --> 00:32:23.819
scale ADHD.
828
00:32:24.200 --> 00:32:26.099
I don't think he's on the spectrum, but he might be.
829
00:32:26.140 --> 00:32:26.660
We don't know.
830
00:32:27.019 --> 00:32:30.390
And... So when he was about six, there wasn't a
831
00:32:30.430 --> 00:32:33.730
school that would take him really. So I eventually, yeah,
832
00:32:33.829 --> 00:32:36.579
I eventually, because what happens is when they're like that,
833
00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:40.200
you know, from when they're young, that there's something that
834
00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:44.980
isn't the same as with other children, with the learning.
835
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:47.509
So I would go through, you know, when they're dead
836
00:32:47.529 --> 00:32:48.690
young and you do the phonics.
837
00:32:49.049 --> 00:32:49.329
Yeah.
838
00:32:49.630 --> 00:32:52.490
So it's like muh for mummy. It's not M, is it?
839
00:32:52.490 --> 00:32:54.569
It's muh, muh, muh, muh. And I'd get him to
840
00:32:54.630 --> 00:32:57.049
write it, you know, like almost a hundred.
841
00:32:56.789 --> 00:32:59.680
Times, muh, say muh, muh.
842
00:33:00.619 --> 00:33:03.980
And then literally five seconds later, and there would only
843
00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:06.400
be one letter on the sheet of paper.
844
00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:09.019
And I'd go, and what's this letter? And he'd look
845
00:33:09.059 --> 00:33:09.579
at me and.
846
00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:10.420
Go, eh?
847
00:33:11.740 --> 00:33:12.529
Or ah?
848
00:33:13.009 --> 00:33:13.789
Yeah, yeah.
849
00:33:14.250 --> 00:33:18.670
Or yeah? It just wasn't registering. And I thought, well,
850
00:33:18.710 --> 00:33:20.230
I can take him out of school and I can
851
00:33:20.450 --> 00:33:22.509
homeschool him and give up my work and all of that.
852
00:33:23.029 --> 00:33:24.750
But then I knew that I didn't have the skills
853
00:33:25.130 --> 00:33:28.039
to teach a child with special educational needs because there's
854
00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:29.420
a particular.
855
00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:29.569
Way of teaching him.
856
00:33:29.990 --> 00:33:33.009
So in the end, I found a place called Fairleigh House.
857
00:33:33.150 --> 00:33:35.730
We lived in central London then for about five years.
858
00:33:36.410 --> 00:33:37.269
And he went there.
859
00:33:37.529 --> 00:33:38.430
All right.
860
00:33:38.609 --> 00:33:39.809
And that changed him.
861
00:33:40.029 --> 00:33:43.299
And was that a special educational needs kind of institution?
862
00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:45.240
Yeah, but it was a private school.
863
00:33:45.299 --> 00:33:48.079
So it's a passion of mine, really, because kids who
864
00:33:48.099 --> 00:33:50.099
are in the state system, and there was a piece
865
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:54.000
out yesterday, you know, 60% of them aren't getting any
866
00:33:54.420 --> 00:33:58.349
SEN care now because the budgets have been slashed so much. Yeah. Yeah.
867
00:33:59.059 --> 00:34:01.660
So he eventually went to another school and I kept
868
00:34:01.700 --> 00:34:04.940
them in the private system, but he was bullied. A
869
00:34:05.099 --> 00:34:08.619
lot of these kids are bullied, a lot. But eventually
870
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:11.639
he went to, he did his GCSEs, then he did
871
00:34:11.659 --> 00:34:14.260
his A-levels. He didn't do brilliantly in them. But then
872
00:34:14.280 --> 00:34:17.349
he went to a local in Bristol now, like a tech,
873
00:34:17.730 --> 00:34:19.449
we used to call it a tech school. And he
874
00:34:19.489 --> 00:34:21.510
went there for two years, got a distinction. With that,
875
00:34:21.590 --> 00:34:24.710
he went to University of West of England, UWE we
876
00:34:24.730 --> 00:34:28.070
call it in Bristol, and got a first in animation.
877
00:34:28.190 --> 00:34:28.610
Oh, wow.
878
00:34:28.650 --> 00:34:31.309
Yeah. And then he went up to Dundee and got
879
00:34:31.429 --> 00:34:35.760
his master's in video effects. So he works in that
880
00:34:35.820 --> 00:34:36.380
kind of area.
881
00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:38.340
Oh, amazing. Oh, brilliant.
882
00:34:38.659 --> 00:34:42.159
But it just takes longer for those children to get
883
00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:44.630
through the system because the system is not, you know,
884
00:34:44.710 --> 00:34:48.050
education is my passion and the system just is not built.
885
00:34:48.590 --> 00:34:51.820
The system is built for a particular kind of child,
886
00:34:52.449 --> 00:34:53.760
which is the majority child.
887
00:34:54.219 --> 00:34:54.500
Yeah.
888
00:34:54.539 --> 00:34:55.900
But it's not built for that.
889
00:34:55.920 --> 00:34:57.159
I was not that child.
890
00:34:57.440 --> 00:34:59.380
And I went to a state school and it was
891
00:34:59.420 --> 00:35:01.239
weird because I'm 10 years older than Cameron, but there
892
00:35:01.260 --> 00:35:03.010
wasn't really a name for it apart from he's not
893
00:35:03.030 --> 00:35:04.889
very good at reading. And so I'd be taken off
894
00:35:04.909 --> 00:35:07.750
for special reading lessons, which is already marks you out
895
00:35:07.869 --> 00:35:09.489
as you have to go over there.
896
00:35:09.630 --> 00:35:09.829
Yeah.
897
00:35:10.110 --> 00:35:12.789
And what I found, even then I found the grading
898
00:35:12.909 --> 00:35:14.530
was the book was so big.
899
00:35:14.550 --> 00:35:19.230
Yeah. And I was like, I can see the words.
900
00:35:19.289 --> 00:35:20.730
I just don't know what they mean. I don't know
901
00:35:20.750 --> 00:35:23.550
what to fucking make them think. I just remember this
902
00:35:23.630 --> 00:35:24.840
massive fucking book.
903
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:27.480
You know the things you put in car windscreens in
904
00:35:27.539 --> 00:35:30.519
Spain so they stop getting off? It's like that, with Biff,
905
00:35:30.579 --> 00:35:32.980
Chip and Kip written as big as me head. And
906
00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:34.360
I said, well, I know that, because I know it's Biff,
907
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:37.000
Chip and Kip. And then what I used to do is,
908
00:35:37.019 --> 00:35:39.139
because I couldn't read it, I'd make up the story.
909
00:35:39.420 --> 00:35:40.949
I'd look at the pictures and make up a story.
910
00:35:40.969 --> 00:35:42.179
And then they're like, no, that's not the words and
911
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:43.610
all that. And then it just turns into an argument.
912
00:35:43.639 --> 00:35:45.650
But in the state system, there's not really much. I
913
00:35:45.889 --> 00:35:47.449
think it must have got better, but there's not much
914
00:35:47.489 --> 00:35:49.090
allowance for that kind of thing.
915
00:35:49.309 --> 00:35:49.429
Yeah.
916
00:35:49.449 --> 00:35:51.389
Because what it is, I think there's that thing where
917
00:35:51.429 --> 00:35:53.969
people say, oh, because it's like that, they're not intelligent.
918
00:35:54.210 --> 00:35:55.130
But that's not the case.
919
00:35:55.210 --> 00:35:56.070
It's not the case.
920
00:35:56.389 --> 00:35:58.909
You can't express it the way you want to because
921
00:35:58.929 --> 00:36:01.070
the system designed for the majority of people.
922
00:36:01.269 --> 00:36:01.409
Yeah.
923
00:36:01.570 --> 00:36:03.170
And then all of a sudden your label was thick.
924
00:36:03.190 --> 00:36:05.349
And then you tell yourself you're thick, even though you're not.
925
00:36:05.750 --> 00:36:08.070
You just can't express yourself. I found a way to
926
00:36:08.110 --> 00:36:11.449
express myself in stand-up. And because I couldn't read very well,
927
00:36:11.469 --> 00:36:13.280
I used to struggle with reading out loud. That was
928
00:36:13.320 --> 00:36:15.940
my biggest fear and stuff. Anyway, so I wrote a
929
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:18.820
book about class called A Class Act. And I wrote
930
00:36:18.840 --> 00:36:21.300
it all myself, no ghostwriter. And the whole thing's about
931
00:36:21.539 --> 00:36:23.840
trying to tell myself I can write it and don't
932
00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:25.719
listen to that voice telling you you can't. And it
933
00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:27.179
went well, wrote it, and I loved it. And I
934
00:36:27.179 --> 00:36:29.539
went and did the voiceover for it. had a complete
935
00:36:29.579 --> 00:36:31.260
panic attack because I had to read it out loud.
936
00:36:31.559 --> 00:36:32.320
Seriously?
937
00:36:32.340 --> 00:36:34.199
But I thought I'd sort of dealt with it. But
938
00:36:34.219 --> 00:36:36.989
then I got, I went away, calmed myself down and
939
00:36:37.010 --> 00:36:39.510
did all my breathing. And I can feel myself even
940
00:36:39.550 --> 00:36:42.590
now getting triggered by it slightly because it's something.
941
00:36:42.349 --> 00:36:43.309
That affected me.
942
00:36:43.349 --> 00:36:46.469
But just by doing that, it enabled me to go
943
00:36:46.530 --> 00:36:47.869
back in and calm myself and do it. But it
944
00:36:47.889 --> 00:36:50.110
was a real, I was battling against a 35 year
945
00:36:50.489 --> 00:36:55.429
narrative of, you're thick, that's not for you, which is
946
00:36:55.469 --> 00:36:58.239
not true. It's just something your brain tells you and
947
00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:00.440
you've been told as a kid. So I think talking
948
00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:02.619
about it more now, and like you say with Cameron,
949
00:37:02.659 --> 00:37:05.940
he's managed to go off. And luckily for you guys,
950
00:37:05.960 --> 00:37:08.739
and obviously you're a great parent, he got access to
951
00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:12.210
different education. But potentially if he'd been born into a
952
00:37:12.210 --> 00:37:14.889
different family, he may not have had that access to
953
00:37:14.909 --> 00:37:17.829
those things to enable him to get to where he's got,
954
00:37:17.869 --> 00:37:20.869
which is finding something he's passionate about and being really.
955
00:37:20.730 --> 00:37:21.550
Good at it and excelling.
956
00:37:21.570 --> 00:37:25.519
But- There's definitely a gap between different school systems and
957
00:37:25.579 --> 00:37:26.900
the support they offer massively.
958
00:37:27.079 --> 00:37:27.619
There is.
959
00:37:28.280 --> 00:37:31.920
It's something, you know, in 2010, I built an online
960
00:37:31.960 --> 00:37:33.480
school called The Maths Factor.
961
00:37:33.539 --> 00:37:35.820
It's still running now. So it's for primary school kids
962
00:37:36.489 --> 00:37:38.010
and it works. It just works.
963
00:37:38.050 --> 00:37:40.070
So they have like an anti-carrel video and then it's
964
00:37:40.110 --> 00:37:41.989
all very colourful and all this. They have like little
965
00:37:42.030 --> 00:37:44.809
avatars and then they have to do their practice and blah, blah.
966
00:37:45.369 --> 00:37:48.449
But I found, so in the first lockdown, you know,
967
00:37:48.690 --> 00:37:50.949
the schools were fundamentally closed, weren't they?
968
00:37:51.530 --> 00:37:52.730
And we went free.
969
00:37:52.849 --> 00:37:54.829
So we used to be two pounds a week.
970
00:37:54.869 --> 00:37:56.750
We're now one pound a week. But we went free
971
00:37:56.789 --> 00:37:57.329
to everybody.
972
00:37:57.369 --> 00:38:00.409
And we had half a million children registered with us
973
00:38:01.090 --> 00:38:05.719
during those like four or five months. And the number
974
00:38:05.820 --> 00:38:10.380
of special educational needs children who just came alive to maths,
975
00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:14.099
because of it made me realize that I'd put a
976
00:38:14.280 --> 00:38:18.400
lot of what I'd learned about teaching Cameron into it.
977
00:38:18.670 --> 00:38:22.210
So don't miss out a single step. You know, don't
978
00:38:22.289 --> 00:38:25.159
assume that kids know what you're doing. Point it out
979
00:38:25.199 --> 00:38:28.320
in the visual learning. It's key, I think, for kids
980
00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:32.000
with SEN. So it did get better, Rob, because I've
981
00:38:32.019 --> 00:38:36.019
done a lot with various governments over the years with education,
982
00:38:36.340 --> 00:38:39.280
and it got better. And now it's a lot worse
983
00:38:39.300 --> 00:38:40.239
because of funding.
984
00:38:40.260 --> 00:38:41.000
Right, yeah.
985
00:38:41.019 --> 00:38:44.800
A lot worse now, yeah. And it's hard for parents.
986
00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:48.469
Sometimes these kids are waiting. Up to two years just for,
987
00:38:48.809 --> 00:38:51.869
you know, an analysis to say they need extra lessons.
988
00:38:52.269 --> 00:38:53.610
Was it difficult as well for you?
989
00:38:53.650 --> 00:38:57.510
Because obviously you've got one child who's naturally into it
990
00:38:57.610 --> 00:39:01.269
and away and it's your eldest child. And then for
991
00:39:01.309 --> 00:39:03.389
poor Cameron, he's not only having to deal with this,
992
00:39:03.429 --> 00:39:05.219
he's looking at a sort of a 1% kind of.
993
00:39:06.539 --> 00:39:08.719
academic individual goes off to Cambridge, you know, that sort
994
00:39:08.760 --> 00:39:10.199
of elite, it's quite a.
995
00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:10.860
Jump, isn't it?
996
00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:14.039
And difficult for confidence when you're seeing that happen in
997
00:39:14.099 --> 00:39:14.460
a house.
998
00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:14.599
Yeah.
999
00:39:14.929 --> 00:39:17.230
And I think it's difficult for parents, you know, that
1000
00:39:17.309 --> 00:39:19.949
is a parenting hell. You know, I was a kid
1001
00:39:19.969 --> 00:39:22.429
who just went to school and it just all went
1002
00:39:22.429 --> 00:39:25.050
in super bright and went off, you know, a year
1003
00:39:25.150 --> 00:39:28.690
early and all of that. And Katie was similar. So
1004
00:39:28.730 --> 00:39:32.610
it was like, and Paddy, their father, my husband was
1005
00:39:33.050 --> 00:39:33.739
super bright.
1006
00:39:34.260 --> 00:39:38.539
So it was like, well, I don't understand. I didn't understand.
1007
00:39:38.699 --> 00:39:42.519
Obviously over the years I've learned an awful lot and
1008
00:39:42.699 --> 00:39:45.920
it's a bit of a passion now because I understand
1009
00:39:46.099 --> 00:39:48.619
just how difficult it is. And that is a parenting
1010
00:39:48.659 --> 00:39:52.090
hell when you, have no experience and you have no
1011
00:39:52.190 --> 00:39:56.650
help with it because you love this child so much.
1012
00:39:56.690 --> 00:39:59.050
You know, you'd want to swap places with them. You know,
1013
00:39:59.090 --> 00:40:01.289
you want to go through the hell for them.
1014
00:40:01.550 --> 00:40:02.320
Yeah, of course.
1015
00:40:02.340 --> 00:40:04.579
You don't want them to suffer in any way, but
1016
00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:05.280
you can't.
1017
00:40:05.820 --> 00:40:06.099
Yeah.
1018
00:40:06.179 --> 00:40:07.699
And you don't know what to do.
1019
00:40:08.019 --> 00:40:10.880
And some of the parents themselves had the same problems.
1020
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:11.119
Yeah.
1021
00:40:11.139 --> 00:40:12.599
So they wouldn't know how to help because they didn't
1022
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:14.699
get it sorted themselves. My dad didn't read a book
1023
00:40:14.719 --> 00:40:17.050
till he was like 38. My mum gave him the
1024
00:40:17.230 --> 00:40:18.070
book of Adrian Mole.
1025
00:40:18.090 --> 00:40:18.230
Really?
1026
00:40:18.610 --> 00:40:20.769
You know, so like it was sort of like, you know,
1027
00:40:20.789 --> 00:40:23.030
he still writes in capital letters, you know what I mean?
1028
00:40:23.090 --> 00:40:26.230
Like stuff like that. So it's sort of, it's difficult.
1029
00:40:26.309 --> 00:40:29.389
So is it genetic or is it random? These special
1030
00:40:29.489 --> 00:40:30.210
educational needs?
1031
00:40:30.570 --> 00:40:34.889
It's partly genetic. It's partly genetic. I think dyslexia, they say.
1032
00:40:35.309 --> 00:40:36.809
But you know they go oh well.
1033
00:40:36.760 --> 00:40:40.460
You know whatever the percentages of the day are dyslexic
1034
00:40:40.480 --> 00:40:42.619
but there's a huge range of it rob as you
1035
00:40:42.659 --> 00:40:46.199
know yeah from people who might reverse a b and
1036
00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:49.099
a d for instance you know because they look similar
1037
00:40:49.139 --> 00:40:52.940
but it changes on the paper and to someone who
1038
00:40:53.079 --> 00:40:56.099
just the letters are just dancing in front of them
1039
00:40:56.679 --> 00:41:00.320
and there was um So Cam, it's really interesting because
1040
00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:02.010
he goes online now and there are all sorts. And
1041
00:41:02.050 --> 00:41:04.219
he came up with and showed it to me. I'll
1042
00:41:04.260 --> 00:41:06.929
try and send it to you actually. A link to something.
1043
00:41:07.150 --> 00:41:10.570
And it was somebody explaining what it's like to be dyslexic.
1044
00:41:11.010 --> 00:41:12.809
So it says here is, and it's just like a
1045
00:41:12.849 --> 00:41:13.469
little video.
1046
00:41:13.889 --> 00:41:15.110
Here's a paragraph.
1047
00:41:15.170 --> 00:41:18.010
And I can't remember the subject, but let's say it was, oh,
1048
00:41:18.050 --> 00:41:21.670
I went to town to do some shopping. It's very simple.
1049
00:41:22.289 --> 00:41:25.610
And it was about three sentences. And then it just said,
1050
00:41:25.929 --> 00:41:28.909
and this is what I see. And the letters were
1051
00:41:28.949 --> 00:41:32.889
jumping around, literally. And the words were reversing. They were
1052
00:41:32.909 --> 00:41:34.929
all in the same sequence, if you know what I mean.
1053
00:41:34.969 --> 00:41:37.059
But they were like, Jesus!
1054
00:41:38.559 --> 00:41:42.400
Whoa! And Cam said, yeah, that's what I see. Wow.
1055
00:41:42.420 --> 00:41:43.599
That is what I see.
1056
00:41:43.739 --> 00:41:46.820
So what does he do now to read? Does he
1057
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:50.300
still see that? Or has he learned techniques to stop it?
1058
00:41:50.539 --> 00:41:55.800
It's always about strategies. Everything is about strategies, even with ADHD.
1059
00:41:55.880 --> 00:41:56.960
He forgets people's.
1060
00:41:56.699 --> 00:41:57.280
Names, right?
1061
00:41:57.300 --> 00:42:00.579
He can't remember people's names, which I know is relatively common.
1062
00:42:00.619 --> 00:42:02.760
But as an example, so he has.
1063
00:42:02.949 --> 00:42:03.679
A whole technique.
1064
00:42:03.719 --> 00:42:06.150
If he sees someone in the street, of what he
1065
00:42:06.269 --> 00:42:09.610
asks them to get clues as to who they.
1066
00:42:09.789 --> 00:42:11.389
Are and how he would remember them.
1067
00:42:11.429 --> 00:42:16.440
But it's strategy, strategy, strategy. And he's really brilliant at it.
1068
00:42:16.500 --> 00:42:18.320
I think he's going to put some on wine, actually.
1069
00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:21.000
Because they're just simple. But you must have that, Rob,
1070
00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:22.159
the strategies.
1071
00:42:22.579 --> 00:42:24.619
Yeah, so if I meet someone, I'll be.
1072
00:42:24.639 --> 00:42:28.309
You're incredible with names, Rob. Like when we did live shows,
1073
00:42:28.389 --> 00:42:30.650
you knew everyone's name in the audience at the moment.
1074
00:42:30.969 --> 00:42:32.289
When you come back to someone, you knew.
1075
00:42:32.190 --> 00:42:35.300
All of them. So I can't take instruction at all.
1076
00:42:35.320 --> 00:42:37.460
So if someone sits me down and explains, this is
1077
00:42:37.500 --> 00:42:39.500
what we're doing today, I'm looking at them and I'm
1078
00:42:39.559 --> 00:42:41.460
trying so hard, but it just sort of flies through
1079
00:42:41.480 --> 00:42:44.130
my head and out. Whereas if you show me, if
1080
00:42:44.150 --> 00:42:46.610
you physically show me or there's an image of it,
1081
00:42:47.250 --> 00:42:48.489
I can take it from that.
1082
00:42:48.530 --> 00:42:49.949
So if I meet someone.
1083
00:42:50.570 --> 00:42:53.010
I'll add something so if I met Josh today I'd
1084
00:42:53.030 --> 00:42:54.829
be like Josh red and white stripe Josh red and
1085
00:42:54.849 --> 00:42:57.309
white stripe Josh so that what I've done is put
1086
00:42:57.349 --> 00:42:59.650
in the image of Josh not the name of Josh
1087
00:42:59.670 --> 00:43:02.210
so when I think of Josh I think of a
1088
00:43:02.250 --> 00:43:04.280
man in that red and blue top there sat there
1089
00:43:04.429 --> 00:43:06.909
yeah and oh that's Josh because I've attached it to
1090
00:43:06.949 --> 00:43:09.519
something so for you now I'll just think of Carol
1091
00:43:09.559 --> 00:43:11.440
books and all the books because yeah there's all those
1092
00:43:11.480 --> 00:43:14.159
Britannia books behind you it's quite a striking image yeah
1093
00:43:14.599 --> 00:43:16.300
So that when I'm thinking of your name or I
1094
00:43:16.340 --> 00:43:18.559
see you again, I'll see you. But then I'll see
1095
00:43:18.579 --> 00:43:20.800
the books come behind you, as it were, in my
1096
00:43:20.860 --> 00:43:22.360
mind when I meet you again and stuff.
1097
00:43:22.380 --> 00:43:23.340
Yeah, I understand.
1098
00:43:23.539 --> 00:43:24.320
So, yeah.
1099
00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:27.989
And if I try and understand anything, I create a
1100
00:43:28.030 --> 00:43:30.090
visual image of it, which I think to help me
1101
00:43:30.110 --> 00:43:32.550
in stand up, because to try and make a joke,
1102
00:43:32.570 --> 00:43:34.550
get over the line, you're painting a picture of what
1103
00:43:34.570 --> 00:43:35.550
you're doing and how you're.
1104
00:43:35.409 --> 00:43:38.289
Doing it and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really interesting.
1105
00:43:38.309 --> 00:43:39.389
So I paint a lot of pictures.
1106
00:43:39.429 --> 00:43:43.059
So when I'm doing crowd work, I'll see someone and
1107
00:43:43.079 --> 00:43:44.840
I'll get their name and I'll remember what they said
1108
00:43:44.860 --> 00:43:46.119
and what they're wearing and where they're sat.
1109
00:43:46.139 --> 00:43:48.400
So in a gig, it's great because they don't move. Yeah.
1110
00:43:49.300 --> 00:43:51.119
I know where they are, you know, and stuff like that.
1111
00:43:51.710 --> 00:43:53.650
But a lot of mine is just coping strategies I
1112
00:43:53.670 --> 00:43:56.309
didn't realise I was doing that is basically winging it.
1113
00:43:56.670 --> 00:43:59.730
So like, you know, I don't really... If I was
1114
00:43:59.789 --> 00:44:01.210
too much of a script, when I first started in
1115
00:44:01.230 --> 00:44:03.760
award ceremonies and I had all the auto cue, that
1116
00:44:03.800 --> 00:44:06.380
was hard. But then I'd sometimes just talk really quick
1117
00:44:06.420 --> 00:44:07.860
or if I couldn't say a name properly, I'd say
1118
00:44:07.900 --> 00:44:09.239
it quick and put a joke in at the end
1119
00:44:09.320 --> 00:44:10.760
quickly and stuff like that. So a lot of it
1120
00:44:10.980 --> 00:44:12.760
was sort of charming my way out of it as
1121
00:44:12.840 --> 00:44:15.199
opposed to directly dealing with it. But yeah, so you
1122
00:44:15.219 --> 00:44:17.449
just have lots of different strategies and stuff. But there's
1123
00:44:17.619 --> 00:44:20.969
so many different types of it. It's not just... B
1124
00:44:21.030 --> 00:44:23.349
and D's getting swapped around or letters missing. It's sort
1125
00:44:23.389 --> 00:44:26.289
of the way you take in information and process it
1126
00:44:26.329 --> 00:44:26.730
and stuff.
1127
00:44:26.869 --> 00:44:28.190
I find it fascinating.
1128
00:44:28.210 --> 00:44:32.500
Just you describing that is, is really fascinating because your
1129
00:44:32.579 --> 00:44:37.539
powers of visual memory are probably a damn sight higher
1130
00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:39.000
than Josh's than mine.
1131
00:44:39.059 --> 00:44:43.280
I'm awful at names, but like in a gig situation.
1132
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:43.539
Yeah.
1133
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:45.929
So when we were doing the parenting hell gigs, But
1134
00:44:45.949 --> 00:44:47.130
you're just not using a strategy.
1135
00:44:47.150 --> 00:44:48.550
But I had to use a strategy because I'd know
1136
00:44:48.610 --> 00:44:50.710
no one's name because I'm not listening most of the time.
1137
00:44:50.769 --> 00:44:50.989
Yeah.
1138
00:44:51.289 --> 00:44:53.090
So we do the Parenting Hell gigs and Rob would
1139
00:44:53.130 --> 00:44:55.110
bring up someone for the first half. He'd be like, well,
1140
00:44:55.150 --> 00:44:57.150
you would say that Mary. And I'd be like, fuck,
1141
00:44:57.170 --> 00:44:59.690
I can't remember that person was called Mary for love
1142
00:44:59.710 --> 00:45:00.349
nor money.
1143
00:45:00.570 --> 00:45:02.510
But then that's helped me in stand up because a
1144
00:45:02.949 --> 00:45:04.250
lot of people go, how can you go out there
1145
00:45:04.269 --> 00:45:06.030
without a script? I've never had a script because I
1146
00:45:06.050 --> 00:45:07.909
never wrote it down and I don't write it down.
1147
00:45:07.929 --> 00:45:08.989
Do you write anything down?
1148
00:45:09.300 --> 00:45:09.760
No, nothing.
1149
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:12.320
So you're about to do a new show in, say,
1150
00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:13.039
a year or two.
1151
00:45:13.059 --> 00:45:15.820
Yeah, so I've got notes in my phone of things
1152
00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:18.340
that maybe... For example, I've sent my cats to the
1153
00:45:18.380 --> 00:45:20.690
vets and he went, I'm going to give him this injection.
1154
00:45:20.710 --> 00:45:21.389
I said, what is it?
1155
00:45:21.409 --> 00:45:23.869
He went, it's leukaemia, right? And I was like, why
1156
00:45:23.889 --> 00:45:26.909
giving it leukaemia? No, it's a vaccination, it's leukaemia. If
1157
00:45:26.989 --> 00:45:29.630
I give it to the cat, he won't have leukemia.
1158
00:45:29.650 --> 00:45:30.829
I was like, oh, how much is that?
1159
00:45:30.849 --> 00:45:32.260
It was like 80 quid. I went, can I have it?
1160
00:45:33.909 --> 00:45:34.750
Just in case.
1161
00:45:34.949 --> 00:45:37.110
So I'll literally have a bit of paper cat leukemia
1162
00:45:37.670 --> 00:45:39.530
and I'll go out and just tell that story. And
1163
00:45:39.550 --> 00:45:41.300
then over time I'll add to it, but it's all
1164
00:45:41.340 --> 00:45:43.320
in my brain. I'll never write all of that out.
1165
00:45:43.949 --> 00:45:46.460
You know, I've got routines, five, six, seven minute routines.
1166
00:45:46.500 --> 00:45:47.960
And once I start it and I'm in the rhythm
1167
00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:50.500
of doing it, I can just remember it all. But
1168
00:45:50.519 --> 00:45:52.840
that's because I couldn't read it off very well. So
1169
00:45:53.099 --> 00:45:55.699
I've learned to remember it. and deliver it so when
1170
00:45:55.719 --> 00:45:58.280
I go on stage now I went on the gig
1171
00:45:58.320 --> 00:45:59.760
for nine months I had some stuff written on a
1172
00:45:59.780 --> 00:46:01.880
bit of paper but the gig went south as soon
1173
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:04.179
as I got the paper out I'm better off in
1174
00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:07.440
the moment going off the energy and just trying to
1175
00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:09.199
connect with people and stuff and it's obviously it's not
1176
00:46:09.219 --> 00:46:12.699
a fully formed routine but it's getting away little moments
1177
00:46:12.719 --> 00:46:14.730
that I think are funny and then I remember them
1178
00:46:14.750 --> 00:46:17.809
so I don't have any paper but that's because For me,
1179
00:46:17.929 --> 00:46:20.090
holding paper in front of people and talking is my
1180
00:46:20.110 --> 00:46:20.769
worst nightmare.
1181
00:46:21.590 --> 00:46:23.599
I'd rather walk out with nothing.
1182
00:46:23.780 --> 00:46:25.000
If you said to me, I can sit in a
1183
00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:28.460
hotel room for five hours now and write out a
1184
00:46:28.460 --> 00:46:30.869
10 minute stand up set, or I can stand up,
1185
00:46:30.929 --> 00:46:33.349
walk through a door. There's a room full of people
1186
00:46:33.429 --> 00:46:35.909
and I do that 10 minutes now. I'd take that option.
1187
00:46:36.269 --> 00:46:37.030
Fascinating.
1188
00:46:37.070 --> 00:46:38.969
I'll go mad after five hours in a hotel. That
1189
00:46:38.989 --> 00:46:42.179
would be my hell. I'd say, please, please. I'd beg
1190
00:46:42.219 --> 00:46:44.599
them to go on now and do it rather than
1191
00:46:44.619 --> 00:46:45.320
wait that five hours.
1192
00:46:45.340 --> 00:46:49.800
And is that what's going on in the hotel room? No. What, like...
1193
00:46:49.900 --> 00:46:56.849
You're just masturbating. After seven weeks, she's got no energy. No, yeah.
1194
00:46:56.869 --> 00:46:59.889
So writing something, I feel like I've got to do something.
1195
00:47:00.250 --> 00:47:02.289
So I feel like I need to write all that
1196
00:47:02.409 --> 00:47:05.610
out or think about what to say. But I find
1197
00:47:05.650 --> 00:47:06.909
that I'll just overthink it.
1198
00:47:06.949 --> 00:47:09.840
I'll get anxious. I'll get stressed. I'll worry about it.
1199
00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:12.179
And I do think as well, what I'm trying to
1200
00:47:12.199 --> 00:47:15.679
achieve is a verbal response. You know, I'm talking. So
1201
00:47:15.699 --> 00:47:17.699
why would I write something down that I'm eventually going
1202
00:47:17.719 --> 00:47:20.239
to say out loud? It never needs to hit the paper.
1203
00:47:20.619 --> 00:47:22.199
The closest I can get it from my brain to
1204
00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:25.170
my mouth, that's the link. Because it's a conversation with
1205
00:47:25.210 --> 00:47:27.989
the audience that they don't reply to. So for me,
1206
00:47:28.010 --> 00:47:30.889
it feels odd to write something down that's going to
1207
00:47:30.909 --> 00:47:33.889
be said eventually. You're adding a written element to something
1208
00:47:33.909 --> 00:47:37.550
that's verbal. And actually, I deliver stuff better and create
1209
00:47:37.590 --> 00:47:40.559
better stuff when I'm excited and feel like it's fun
1210
00:47:40.599 --> 00:47:43.000
to do. But sitting for five hours waiting... will just
1211
00:47:43.179 --> 00:47:44.940
take all my energy away and yeah that's how i
1212
00:47:44.980 --> 00:47:47.659
work but everyone's different you know and are.
1213
00:47:47.619 --> 00:47:49.280
Your kids how old are your kids rob.
1214
00:47:49.320 --> 00:47:51.320
Mine is seven and five nearly eight and six in
1215
00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:52.360
a couple of months have.
1216
00:47:52.260 --> 00:47:56.139
They shown any signs of dyslexia or anything like that.
1217
00:47:56.280 --> 00:47:58.860
Not really they seem to be fine my eldest slightly
1218
00:47:58.880 --> 00:48:02.000
a bit more anxious and not super confident but once
1219
00:48:02.059 --> 00:48:04.550
she gets a confidence up or with the right people
1220
00:48:04.590 --> 00:48:06.949
she's full of beans so i've noticed that slightly but
1221
00:48:07.349 --> 00:48:09.110
no not really and the youngest has only just started
1222
00:48:09.130 --> 00:48:12.190
reception so we've not seen it fully yet but um No,
1223
00:48:12.210 --> 00:48:14.409
not really. They sort of seem to be on it
1224
00:48:14.429 --> 00:48:16.690
at the moment. There's nothing that's striking in that sense.
1225
00:48:17.190 --> 00:48:21.929
But my youngest has definitely got an energy problem that.
1226
00:48:21.150 --> 00:48:23.719
I've got where she just like has to scream.
1227
00:48:24.090 --> 00:48:26.400
Where my eldest has fun and messes about. But like you,
1228
00:48:26.440 --> 00:48:28.119
I think we might have a similar thing where I'd
1229
00:48:28.139 --> 00:48:29.659
quite like to go to an air show so I
1230
00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:33.000
could just scream as a jet went over.
1231
00:48:34.019 --> 00:48:37.119
It's fascinating though, what I find with schools and the
1232
00:48:37.159 --> 00:48:41.639
education system. I've written various reports about maths education and
1233
00:48:41.780 --> 00:48:44.159
everything comes from the university. So they go, right, if
1234
00:48:44.179 --> 00:48:47.409
you're going to study chemistry, you're going to study maths, obviously,
1235
00:48:47.489 --> 00:48:52.389
or engineering or whatever. The university decides what those kids
1236
00:48:52.510 --> 00:48:56.190
need to have studied for A-level. So that's how the
1237
00:48:56.429 --> 00:49:00.590
kind of the A-level is set. So then they go, oh,
1238
00:49:01.170 --> 00:49:03.550
the A-level, right. In order to do the A-level, this
1239
00:49:03.610 --> 00:49:07.280
is what they must study at GCSE, including maths. all
1240
00:49:07.320 --> 00:49:10.539
the stuff that most kids never need, trigonometry, a lot
1241
00:49:10.579 --> 00:49:13.460
of simultaneous equations. Of course, you need all that if
1242
00:49:13.500 --> 00:49:15.730
you're going to uni, but you don't need it if
1243
00:49:15.769 --> 00:49:18.250
you're going up to age 16 and so on. So
1244
00:49:18.389 --> 00:49:19.969
everything sort of tracks back.
1245
00:49:20.780 --> 00:49:21.760
From there.
1246
00:49:21.780 --> 00:49:21.860
Yeah.
1247
00:49:22.380 --> 00:49:26.210
And that, I think, is fundamentally wrong, you know, because
1248
00:49:26.230 --> 00:49:30.289
kids are forced into doing stuff, which actually is, you know,
1249
00:49:30.349 --> 00:49:32.130
people say to me all the time, why do I
1250
00:49:32.170 --> 00:49:35.250
need to know, you know, the tangent to a circle
1251
00:49:35.369 --> 00:49:37.280
is perpendicular to the radius?
1252
00:49:37.440 --> 00:49:37.960
You don't.
1253
00:49:39.840 --> 00:49:42.480
I agree with you. I don't. That's something I found.
1254
00:49:42.539 --> 00:49:45.320
So I was really good at maths, like in my head.
1255
00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:45.699
Yeah.
1256
00:49:45.900 --> 00:49:48.449
That was something I could do. I could still do that.
1257
00:49:48.949 --> 00:49:53.250
Sums really easily in my head and I remember getting
1258
00:49:53.329 --> 00:49:58.639
to GCSE and thinking that it just doesn't doesn't relate
1259
00:49:58.679 --> 00:50:00.739
to my life at all anymore do you know what
1260
00:50:00.760 --> 00:50:03.840
I mean despite them making it the side of a
1261
00:50:03.900 --> 00:50:07.440
cake that I'm measuring with these two triangles this doesn't
1262
00:50:07.480 --> 00:50:11.340
make any sense in my life anymore so that's when
1263
00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:14.429
I I moved into kind of artsy areas anyway like
1264
00:50:14.710 --> 00:50:17.530
English and stuff but that was when I became quite
1265
00:50:17.570 --> 00:50:19.230
kind of disinterested in it, I think.
1266
00:50:19.630 --> 00:50:19.929
Yeah.
1267
00:50:20.449 --> 00:50:22.510
And I think that's a lot, you know, with parents,
1268
00:50:22.590 --> 00:50:24.929
I mean, talking about parenting hell, a lot of parenting
1269
00:50:25.010 --> 00:50:28.610
hell comes... from having to teach your kids maths and
1270
00:50:28.929 --> 00:50:32.769
using different sort of algorithms, really, different processes to find
1271
00:50:32.789 --> 00:50:35.329
the same answer, you know, for subtraction, for instance.
1272
00:50:35.369 --> 00:50:38.590
So, you know, ours used to be carry one, pay
1273
00:50:38.710 --> 00:50:39.190
one back.
1274
00:50:39.230 --> 00:50:41.190
We used to say, which meant one ten, you know,
1275
00:50:41.210 --> 00:50:44.969
if you're doing like a long subtraction. Whereas now there
1276
00:50:45.050 --> 00:50:47.489
is decomposition. So they take the top number and they
1277
00:50:47.510 --> 00:50:51.300
put a line through it and eight tens will split those.
1278
00:50:51.159 --> 00:50:53.980
Into seven tens and one ten and all that. And
1279
00:50:54.260 --> 00:50:56.920
parents go, I hate maths anyway. And now I don't
1280
00:50:56.960 --> 00:50:58.039
even know what they're doing.
1281
00:50:58.599 --> 00:51:00.380
And the child always goes, we don't do it like
1282
00:51:00.400 --> 00:51:02.960
that anymore. You know, and it becomes, I know this
1283
00:51:02.980 --> 00:51:05.880
because thousands and thousands of parents over the years have
1284
00:51:06.059 --> 00:51:06.539
told me this.
1285
00:51:06.599 --> 00:51:07.780
It becomes a hell.
1286
00:51:07.840 --> 00:51:10.880
Yeah. Well, luckily for me, Lou's a history teacher and
1287
00:51:10.940 --> 00:51:12.300
I just tap out. I go, you're a teacher.
1288
00:51:12.320 --> 00:51:12.550
Yeah.
1289
00:51:14.050 --> 00:51:16.789
You've only done history in secondary school, right? Yeah, I know.
1290
00:51:16.809 --> 00:51:19.690
But then surely you're closer to it than me. You know,
1291
00:51:19.969 --> 00:51:20.869
come on, take this.
1292
00:51:20.989 --> 00:51:21.710
I'm out.
1293
00:51:22.050 --> 00:51:22.780
Yeah.
1294
00:51:23.010 --> 00:51:25.280
But I mean, I love that you two are doing
1295
00:51:25.300 --> 00:51:25.780
this show.
1296
00:51:26.119 --> 00:51:26.539
I love it.
1297
00:51:26.659 --> 00:51:28.719
I mean, and it's funny. And obviously all the things
1298
00:51:28.739 --> 00:51:30.360
you go, oh my God, I had to go to
1299
00:51:30.400 --> 00:51:32.119
the park. Oh my God, I had to do that.
1300
00:51:32.590 --> 00:51:35.429
But it is a thing. And particularly, like you just said, Rob,
1301
00:51:35.469 --> 00:51:38.329
you know, your wife had a career. Josh, the same.
1302
00:51:38.429 --> 00:51:41.150
You know, it's like women have careers. People have houses
1303
00:51:41.190 --> 00:51:45.110
and kids and everything. And both parents are largely full-time
1304
00:51:45.159 --> 00:51:48.039
working now, which is you're the first generation where that's happening.
1305
00:51:48.059 --> 00:51:48.579
Yeah.
1306
00:51:48.619 --> 00:51:51.239
That wasn't the case in my generation. So it's like
1307
00:51:51.579 --> 00:51:54.460
all these things to learn, you know, new things to learn.
1308
00:51:54.559 --> 00:51:55.699
I was going to ask as well, like you've got
1309
00:51:55.739 --> 00:51:58.260
such a sort of positive outlook and sort of, like
1310
00:51:58.280 --> 00:52:00.550
not only like positive about stuff, but you're like, you
1311
00:52:00.719 --> 00:52:03.730
move with the times and very modern thinking rather than like, no,
1312
00:52:03.769 --> 00:52:04.929
this is the way we should do it and stuff
1313
00:52:04.949 --> 00:52:06.989
like that. And I feel like you were treated quite
1314
00:52:07.030 --> 00:52:09.510
badly by the press, like when you moved on from
1315
00:52:09.570 --> 00:52:11.889
Countdown and stuff like that, it almost felt like because
1316
00:52:12.110 --> 00:52:14.289
you were the first sort of, One of the first
1317
00:52:14.309 --> 00:52:16.690
sort of famous women on telly to sort of be
1318
00:52:16.730 --> 00:52:18.760
on telly and be famous and have a proper skill.
1319
00:52:18.949 --> 00:52:19.219
Yeah.
1320
00:52:19.300 --> 00:52:21.579
Rather than just being that classic, like, here's the lady
1321
00:52:21.619 --> 00:52:23.860
that brings on the part. You were doing something that
1322
00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:26.179
needed an expert brain to do. And it was almost
1323
00:52:26.199 --> 00:52:28.139
like the press was a little bit suspicious and annoyed
1324
00:52:28.159 --> 00:52:30.329
with you for that. And then when you moved on,
1325
00:52:30.360 --> 00:52:32.199
it was like they sort of were like, ah, now
1326
00:52:32.219 --> 00:52:34.780
we've got her almost. Now she's gone and someone else
1327
00:52:34.840 --> 00:52:37.070
is coming in. And I always strike me as very
1328
00:52:37.130 --> 00:52:40.510
quite graceful. full and gracious in that moment and like
1329
00:52:40.530 --> 00:52:42.289
you say you you cracked on me for other stuff
1330
00:52:42.309 --> 00:52:44.730
you do loads of telly you've got your maths courses
1331
00:52:44.769 --> 00:52:46.869
and yeah things like that and have continued to have
1332
00:52:46.949 --> 00:52:49.510
a brilliant career for the last 15 years since you've
1333
00:52:49.550 --> 00:52:52.000
not been on it like how did you find that
1334
00:52:52.019 --> 00:52:53.880
especially it's like you know like it was a career
1335
00:52:53.920 --> 00:52:56.179
woman and they were sort of jumping on you as
1336
00:52:56.579 --> 00:52:58.099
and stuff like did that affect you.
1337
00:52:58.280 --> 00:53:01.119
Yeah, I did find it hard, but again, it's like,
1338
00:53:01.420 --> 00:53:04.619
you know, the ageism for want of a nicer word,
1339
00:53:04.659 --> 00:53:07.059
but it's rife in my generation.
1340
00:53:07.099 --> 00:53:08.820
It's still rife in my generation.
1341
00:53:09.139 --> 00:53:11.760
But what we have now, so when I was 39,
1342
00:53:11.760 --> 00:53:14.949
I talk about this actually in the year 2000 as
1343
00:53:15.010 --> 00:53:19.590
an example. So in this century, the year 2000, I
1344
00:53:19.630 --> 00:53:22.230
was age 39 and I went to the BAFTAs and
1345
00:53:22.250 --> 00:53:24.610
I wore a short blue dress and it was all
1346
00:53:24.710 --> 00:53:27.269
over front pages everywhere. Oh my God, oh my God,
1347
00:53:27.289 --> 00:53:30.440
I remember it. And it went on for about a year.
1348
00:53:30.460 --> 00:53:35.679
The BBC made a special Kilroy about it. Daily Mail, obviously,
1349
00:53:35.739 --> 00:53:39.010
you can imagine. The question was not, should somebody wear
1350
00:53:39.050 --> 00:53:42.630
a blue dress? The question was, it wasn't that short,
1351
00:53:42.789 --> 00:53:45.010
but it was, you know, the question was, should a
1352
00:53:45.070 --> 00:53:48.739
woman of 39 wear a dress above the knee?
1353
00:53:49.360 --> 00:53:50.360
Bloody hell. Oh, my God.
1354
00:53:50.719 --> 00:53:53.880
That's in the year 2000. That's mad. That's not like
1355
00:53:53.940 --> 00:53:54.739
my mother.
1356
00:53:54.760 --> 00:53:56.980
Because you were so famous, though. You were just used
1357
00:53:57.039 --> 00:53:59.090
as anything. Oh, women are doing something different now. And
1358
00:53:59.110 --> 00:54:01.159
you were used as the poster woman of it because
1359
00:54:01.300 --> 00:54:01.909
you were there. Yeah.
1360
00:54:02.429 --> 00:54:03.269
So all of that.
1361
00:54:03.449 --> 00:54:06.949
And then, oh, all sorts of nonsense headlines that they
1362
00:54:06.969 --> 00:54:07.539
just make up.
1363
00:54:07.630 --> 00:54:09.949
Oh, my God. It's just a blue dress. It's not even... Yeah.
1364
00:54:10.030 --> 00:54:12.929
It was above the knee. So it was like, and... Oh,
1365
00:54:12.969 --> 00:54:13.690
my God.
1366
00:54:13.750 --> 00:54:17.840
So... What I found now in the last, like talking
1367
00:54:17.860 --> 00:54:20.239
about Special Friends, for instance, if I'd done that five
1368
00:54:20.300 --> 00:54:23.179
or 10 years ago, I mean, I still am called
1369
00:54:23.260 --> 00:54:26.719
all sorts, but I would have been called in the headlines.
1370
00:54:26.739 --> 00:54:28.820
Like cuckoo, crazy.
1371
00:54:29.199 --> 00:54:31.909
Oh, well, worse, far worse, far, far worse.
1372
00:54:32.269 --> 00:54:34.889
But what I love now is, you know, being in
1373
00:54:34.909 --> 00:54:41.630
my 60s, is that there are generations below now who go, oh, fantastic.
1374
00:54:42.809 --> 00:54:44.250
You know, let her do what she wants.
1375
00:54:44.349 --> 00:54:47.719
Whereas when I was younger, those generations didn't.
1376
00:54:47.739 --> 00:54:50.059
That was a middle finger for Voldemort to the listeners,
1377
00:54:50.079 --> 00:54:52.739
just so they know. Yeah. Because they can't see it.
1378
00:54:52.739 --> 00:54:54.840
It was a very aggressive middle finger.
1379
00:54:54.860 --> 00:54:58.969
It was very impressive. With a fully painted nail.
1380
00:54:59.630 --> 00:55:01.550
There's a noosey written on it.
1381
00:55:04.309 --> 00:55:08.480
So what I love now is that younger generations like
1382
00:55:08.500 --> 00:55:10.219
your own go, why not?
1383
00:55:10.360 --> 00:55:10.500
Yeah.
1384
00:55:10.539 --> 00:55:10.659
Yeah.
1385
00:55:10.760 --> 00:55:13.980
You're not harming anyone. But that didn't exist.
1386
00:55:14.219 --> 00:55:18.130
That generational thought didn't exist.
1387
00:55:17.949 --> 00:55:19.130
When I was younger.
1388
00:55:19.170 --> 00:55:21.369
So that's why I I mean, you know, from my
1389
00:55:21.769 --> 00:55:24.659
50s onwards, I love it because I've got people in
1390
00:55:24.719 --> 00:55:28.420
the world now who think like I do rather than
1391
00:55:28.519 --> 00:55:32.300
always being a bit, you know, my ambition was to
1392
00:55:32.340 --> 00:55:34.880
be an RAF fighter pilot. That was all I ever
1393
00:55:34.920 --> 00:55:37.800
wanted to be. But women weren't allowed to be, you know,
1394
00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:40.039
until I was well in my 30s and obviously too
1395
00:55:40.119 --> 00:55:42.849
old by then. But it was how it was. And
1396
00:55:42.889 --> 00:55:45.369
that's what's so joyful about it now, which is one
1397
00:55:45.389 --> 00:55:48.469
of the reasons now why I'm forever in the gym.
1398
00:55:48.510 --> 00:55:50.889
I've still got my gym kit on now. And I'm
1399
00:55:50.949 --> 00:55:54.510
really into, like, health. And one of the reasons is
1400
00:55:54.650 --> 00:55:59.170
that I enjoy, like, the company I have now more
1401
00:55:59.269 --> 00:56:00.929
than I did back then.
1402
00:56:01.010 --> 00:56:03.389
And I've always had a good time, but I feel
1403
00:56:03.510 --> 00:56:05.849
freer now than I've ever felt, really.
1404
00:56:05.869 --> 00:56:06.550
Oh, that's amazing.
1405
00:56:06.719 --> 00:56:07.550
Yeah, which I love.
1406
00:56:07.739 --> 00:56:09.469
Thanks so much, Carol. It's been a joy.
1407
00:56:10.090 --> 00:56:13.219
I genuinely speak so brilliantly, and we've had such a
1408
00:56:13.219 --> 00:56:16.440
good conversation. This is the first time we've ever not
1409
00:56:16.860 --> 00:56:18.079
seamlessly put in the plug.
1410
00:56:18.159 --> 00:56:18.340
Oh, yeah.
1411
00:56:19.500 --> 00:56:20.969
Which is your own.
1412
00:56:20.949 --> 00:56:26.610
Fault for being too good a conversation, Carol. Your new
1413
00:56:26.650 --> 00:56:28.659
quiz book, Perfect Ten. Just tell us about that.
1414
00:56:29.380 --> 00:56:32.039
Perfect Ten. Before I tell you about that, just one thing,
1415
00:56:32.059 --> 00:56:35.719
going back to you, Rob, and dyslexia. Did you know.
1416
00:56:35.460 --> 00:56:38.900
There's a very famous Sunday Times journalist called A.A.
1417
00:56:39.059 --> 00:56:39.480
Gill?
1418
00:56:39.659 --> 00:56:40.519
Yes. Oh, yes.
1419
00:56:40.980 --> 00:56:42.099
Yeah. So A.A.
1420
00:56:42.179 --> 00:56:47.289
Gill was, you know, known as a sort of superlative critic,
1421
00:56:47.329 --> 00:56:49.929
wasn't he? I mean, he slagged us off all the time,
1422
00:56:50.210 --> 00:56:52.329
but he did it using such wonderful language, he kind
1423
00:56:52.369 --> 00:56:52.909
of didn't mind.
1424
00:56:52.929 --> 00:56:54.489
I met him.
1425
00:56:55.630 --> 00:56:59.449
Years and years and years later and he he sort
1426
00:56:59.489 --> 00:57:01.449
of took one step back as soon as he saw
1427
00:57:01.489 --> 00:57:04.050
me because he he thought i was gonna hit him
1428
00:57:04.090 --> 00:57:06.590
for all of the bad stuff he'd written about quite
1429
00:57:06.610 --> 00:57:11.199
the opposite and he said oh i read about your
1430
00:57:11.340 --> 00:57:14.380
son this was years and years ago i went oh
1431
00:57:14.400 --> 00:57:18.059
yeah he said i'm dyslexic i'm hugely dyslexic and we
1432
00:57:18.119 --> 00:57:21.800
used to talk on the phone a.a gill couldn't write
1433
00:57:21.820 --> 00:57:24.889
and physically couldn't write he used to.
1434
00:57:24.909 --> 00:57:27.210
Phone through his copy to someone didn't he.
1435
00:57:27.210 --> 00:57:29.429
Used to phone his copy through he said i've had
1436
00:57:29.449 --> 00:57:31.769
the same pa for over 20 years i phone the
1437
00:57:31.789 --> 00:57:35.449
copy through i've never met her yeah i phone the
1438
00:57:35.469 --> 00:57:36.869
copy through she.
1439
00:57:36.750 --> 00:57:39.429
Types it up and that's what i send and that was.
1440
00:57:39.349 --> 00:57:43.579
A a girl wow you know Yeah. That's incredible.
1441
00:57:43.719 --> 00:57:44.400
Quite amazing.
1442
00:57:44.500 --> 00:57:46.880
That's amazing. I never knew that. So once again, you've
1443
00:57:46.900 --> 00:57:49.860
managed to stop your book being plugged here, Carol. Yeah, sorry.
1444
00:57:49.909 --> 00:57:51.889
This is a book that you can't see.
1445
00:57:51.909 --> 00:57:54.110
Perfect 10. Come on, quiz book, perfect 10. Talk us
1446
00:57:54.130 --> 00:57:54.769
through it, Volders.
1447
00:57:55.050 --> 00:57:55.949
Okay, so.
1448
00:57:57.849 --> 00:58:01.150
In January, I began a new podcast, which I spent
1449
00:58:01.190 --> 00:58:04.349
about a year with our little team putting together because
1450
00:58:04.389 --> 00:58:08.030
it wasn't a big... quiz podcast and we thought oh
1451
00:58:08.090 --> 00:58:10.329
pub quizzes and general knowledge and all of that anyway
1452
00:58:10.630 --> 00:58:12.909
we tried a few different pilots last year and i
1453
00:58:12.909 --> 00:58:14.989
was going no no it's not right it's not right
1454
00:58:15.369 --> 00:58:18.750
so we came up with perfect 10 it's 10 different
1455
00:58:18.809 --> 00:58:21.110
kinds of questions so one of the rounds is a
1456
00:58:21.139 --> 00:58:23.659
memory round where you listen to about 30 seconds of
1457
00:58:23.679 --> 00:58:25.840
stuff then i ask you a question one's a riddle
1458
00:58:26.079 --> 00:58:28.860
one's like audio clips and you've got to get the
1459
00:58:28.900 --> 00:58:30.039
well-known phrase or saying.
1460
00:58:29.880 --> 00:58:31.579
From that kind of thing right.
1461
00:58:31.900 --> 00:58:34.599
Or karaoke, which is you hear a little bit of
1462
00:58:34.619 --> 00:58:36.760
a song and then I'll ask you a question about
1463
00:58:36.800 --> 00:58:38.300
the next line in the song.
1464
00:58:38.739 --> 00:58:39.000
Yeah.
1465
00:58:39.039 --> 00:58:41.880
So it's not general knowledge. It's not like The Chase
1466
00:58:41.900 --> 00:58:43.400
will be and all those other huge shows.
1467
00:58:43.659 --> 00:58:47.019
Yeah. So the podcast came out and it's now, I believe,
1468
00:58:47.500 --> 00:58:50.280
I'm told, number one in leisure, number one in games.
1469
00:58:50.300 --> 00:58:51.659
There we go. Nice.
1470
00:58:51.909 --> 00:58:53.610
And number two in mental health.
1471
00:58:54.050 --> 00:58:54.849
Oh. Oh.
1472
00:58:55.010 --> 00:58:55.349
I know.
1473
00:58:55.369 --> 00:58:57.610
All the other ones are fucking droning on though, aren't they?
1474
00:58:57.630 --> 00:58:59.610
This one's a bit of fun. It's karaoke.
1475
00:58:59.670 --> 00:59:00.800
Karaoke, exactly.
1476
00:59:00.800 --> 00:59:04.769
What's the podcast called, Perfect 10 it's called perfect 10
1477
00:59:04.769 --> 00:59:08.679
10 questions 10 perfect answers all done in 10 minutes.
1478
00:59:08.780 --> 00:59:11.449
Oh yes please that's my kind of podcast but beckett's
1479
00:59:11.550 --> 00:59:12.429
on board.
1480
00:59:12.230 --> 00:59:16.230
Exactly and it's a different one monday to friday.
1481
00:59:15.909 --> 00:59:17.409
I'm on there i'll have that and walk in the
1482
00:59:17.449 --> 00:59:18.309
dog i'll smash her.
1483
00:59:18.250 --> 00:59:23.159
Away So the book, which is out in September, is
1484
00:59:23.219 --> 00:59:25.679
that basically. It's lots and lots of quizzes and it
1485
00:59:25.719 --> 00:59:28.380
gives you a few bits of detail after. But it's
1486
00:59:28.460 --> 00:59:30.480
a hardback and I think a lot of people want
1487
00:59:30.519 --> 00:59:32.610
to buy it as Christmas presents and so on.
1488
00:59:32.619 --> 00:59:35.420
Do you know what that is? Stop listening now, Teresa Watts.
1489
00:59:35.480 --> 00:59:39.460
That's what you're getting for Christmas. That is absolutely nailed on.
1490
00:59:41.059 --> 00:59:42.460
She'll love that. She loves a good quiz.
1491
00:59:42.539 --> 00:59:43.400
Yeah, it's a good quiz.
1492
00:59:43.519 --> 00:59:47.050
Carol, it's been an absolute joy to talk to you. Oh, thanks, Carol,
1493
00:59:47.090 --> 00:59:49.360
so much. Thank you so much for doing it.
1494
00:59:49.369 --> 00:59:51.550
Oh, and you too. Thank you.
1495
00:59:51.769 --> 00:59:53.929
It was a pleasure. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Carol.
1496
00:59:53.969 --> 00:59:55.429
Good luck with the book. Thank you so much.
1497
00:59:55.530 --> 00:59:56.949
Thank you. Lots of love.
1498
00:59:59.659 --> 01:00:02.940
Carol Vorderman there. What a woman, Rob. I love Vorderman.
1499
01:00:03.039 --> 01:00:05.760
I knew I loved her before, but now I'm in love. Oh,
1500
01:00:06.000 --> 01:00:08.739
just a great, great human being. Love her.
1501
01:00:08.900 --> 01:00:11.079
Yeah, she's great. She's good value as well. She's so
1502
01:00:11.500 --> 01:00:13.059
carefree and chilled out.
1503
01:00:13.099 --> 01:00:15.079
Great value. Got a bit serious in the middle, though,
1504
01:00:15.099 --> 01:00:17.420
which I think is good sometimes, isn't it? I loved it.
1505
01:00:17.639 --> 01:00:18.260
I loved it.
1506
01:00:18.460 --> 01:00:20.889
Genuinely, Rob, it was brilliant hearing you chat like that.
1507
01:00:21.570 --> 01:00:23.690
And I always thought it would take Carol Vorderman to
1508
01:00:23.730 --> 01:00:24.369
pull that out of you.
1509
01:00:26.590 --> 01:00:27.150
That was great, though.
1510
01:00:27.309 --> 01:00:29.409
Thank you very much for listening, guys. And we'll see
1511
01:00:29.449 --> 01:00:31.369
you next time. Get yourself Perfect 10.
1512
01:00:31.369 --> 01:00:33.400
Perfect 10. See you then. Oh, it rhymed.
1513
01:00:33.719 --> 01:00:34.119
Right, bye.