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Lliana Bird is a writer, broadcaster and co-founder of the charity Choose Love. She describes herself as a butterfly flitting from flower to flower. She was also the longest employed female DJ - for 16 years - at Xfm and then Radio X as it is now called.
Lliana and her partner Noel Fielding have two girls, Dali and Iggy, aged 2 and 4, and Lliana told me how their house might be described as over-stimulating by some, with constant music, curated mostly by Noel but increasingly by the children, and with art being created on giant canvases in the kitchen, with paint splats everywhere.
Lliana's first children’s book ‘Baboo the unusual Bee’ has just come out in paperback. She revealed that she actually wrote it while breastfeeding and she’s now working on the stage show version of it.
As my mum would say: "She's no slouch"!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Sara Pascoe is a stand up comedian who I particularly love. She now has two little boys after a long period of trying for a baby, including IVF.
She spoke honestly to me about how she can remember being in a liminal head space for a long time while trying for a baby, and acknowledges she was 'horribly spiky' about parenthood before she had her boys, realising now that it was self-protection and a coping mechanism.
She shared that she recently had a phone call from Robbie Williams who she idolised as a teenager, and how that made her feel like god, manifesting her teenage desires in her 40s!
She also told me that if she was Prime Minister she would limit everyone to 2 hours screen time per day and that she reckoned we'd all secretly like her for it!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Hollie McNish is a poet who tours the country performing her poems. She says the whole of the UK is full of amazing theatres and bookshops.
I love Hollie's writing, the way she looks at motherhood, and how she always stand up for her small person, which I feel is empowering for them both. I was delighted when she offered to read one of my favourite poems of hers during our chat.
Hollie told me how she books her own gigs, which impresses me a lot. She said that she loves travelling around Britain performing her poetry, and how her 12 year old daughter often comes along to her gigs. Most of the time this has worked well, but of course we had to compare notes on a couple of the times when taking our children to live gigs has gone spectacularly wrong...!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Steph Douglas is a mum of three who founded the gift company Don't Buy Her Flowers ten years ago. I’m a repeat customer of the website when I want to send a friend some TLC if they don’t live round the corner.
Steph explained how the idea for her company came about when she received 8 well-meant bouquets following the birth of her first child - and felt she now had something else she had to look after, as well as her newborn!
Steph told me how she and her husband also had something unusually tough to contend with during her first pregnancy, as her husband Doug was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was just 14 weeks pregnant.
I loved hearing about Steph's own childhood, growing up in a busy household of 6 children. She told me how one of her favourite periods was when most of the now grown up children had returned home after first relationships had failed, and they were all back, living and eating at home, having loads of banter, and would all go out to a club together after their parents had gone to sleep. Something she said I can maybe look forward to after my 5 have initially left home!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ashley James is a presenter and DJ who first made her name appearing briefly in Made in Chelsea. On instagram @ashleylouisejames has a huge following amongst 25-35 year old women and she frequently posts about being a mum of two little ones, and about other women's issues.
Originally from the North East, you would never know that from Ashley's accent. She told me about her extraordinary school days, and very tough adolescence, after she won a scholarship to an all boys boarding school.
Ashley is mum to 1 year old Ada and 3 year old Alfie and although she wasn't focused on becoming a mum, she shared with me that it's surprised her that it's something she feels really good at. We also talked about Ashley's difficult first birth and her subsequent prolapse and vaginismus. She continues to use her media presence to talk about such difficult issues as she knows it helps many other women going through similar problems.
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Ayalah Bentovim - known as Sister Bliss - is the woman behind Faithless, which she created in 1995 with Rollo Armstrong, Jamie Catto, and the legendary Buddhist rapper Maxi Jazz.
Maxi died in 2022 and Ayalah talked to me about how she’s managing to keep him as part of the show, as they prepare to go on tour for the first time in 8 years.
We also talked about how she took her son Nate on tour as a baby and how he adapted so brilliantly to life on the road, with Faithless.
Nate has just turned 18 and Ayalah shared with me how he still keeps her grounded even if she’s about to go on stage in front of thousands of people. This is definitely something I can relate to!!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Reshmin Chowdhury is a sports broadcaster who’s had a love of football since she was a little girl.
Growing up in a large and close Bengali community, she told me her childhood memories are of being the only girl, surrounded by boys, watching football on TV.
Reshmin’s drive to break into the world of sports presenting was very strong - much to the surprise of her teacher Mum and accountant Dad - and she is proud to have made it, although she feels it shouldn’t have been that hard. Her parents were very supportive of her dreams and we talked about how difficult it was losing her Dad 3 years ago, and that he was always the person she would pick up the phone to speak to after a big match.
Reshmin shared how her children hold a mirror up to all her faults, including losing her temper. She says she’s working on this and I’ve asked her, when she's solved that one, please share the answer with me too!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nina Tame is a counsellor and a content creator. I started following her on Instagram because I love the way she educates non-disabled people in a light-hearted way.
Nina was born with spinal bifida, and has four children. Her third child was also born with spina bifida. His arrival helped Nina accept her own disability much more, and also helped her own mum come to terms with her complex feelings, including guilt of having a disabled child. Incidentally, I spoke to Nina when she had recently lost her mum and we talked about her difficult journey of grief and the huge support of her other half, Jase.
Nina is a great storyteller and made me laugh while telling me how awkward platform lifts at theatre venues feel. But the message beneath the story was that what disables her all over again in life, is not the disability but it is inaccessibility or other people’s attitudes.
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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I first came to follow Joanne Hardcastle (@hardcastletowers) when she was a contestant on the fourth series of Interior Design Masters, which is one of my favourite TV shows. Joanne's husband Tim encouraged her to apply for the show and she says it was the first time she had ever put herself first, and she loves her new found 'me-time'.
Joanne lost her mum at the age of 17 and had a strong urge to become a mum herself, and she has been open about having 6 miscarriages during her motherhood journey. She now has 3 grown up daughters, the youngest being her foster child. She spoke to me about the journey of building up trust with her foster daughter and how she has taught her children not to be frightened of conflict and to know that adults aren't always right.
Like me, Joanne loves colour and vintage interior design, including collecting childhood treasures such as Sindy dolls. She has documented on Instagram, the intricate furnishing of an amazing dolls house which she claims not to play with... but she clearly does!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Kirsten Lane is a freelance music supervisor who negotiates the deals that make it possible to put music into films, TV and adverts. She was the music supervisor for Saltburn and so that is how we met. She is now part of Murder on the Dancefloor’s journey and helped make its inclusion in the film’s soundtrack possible, naked dance and all!
We talked about the importance of music in changing the atmosphere, and she sees it almost as another character on screen.
Kirsten told me how she had made her career work, alongside bringing up two children, often as a single parent. Sometimes she had to fit her freelance work into the little pockets of 20 minutes that you have when your children are babies, and then late into the night when they were asleep.
We realised we have shared the same experience over the past months when Murder has become unexpectedly popular again - both Kirsten’s teenage children and mine have been momentarily impressed by their mothers, when they’ve heard Murder being played on Tik Tok and by their friends. What a wild ride!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Anne Twist is a first time writer and a long-term philanthropist who has two very succesful grown up children. Her eldest is podcaster and writer Gemma Styles, and her youngest is the singer, Harry Styles.
I spoke to Anne, not long after she’d become a grandmother for the first time, which sounds like a very special feeling indeed. She’d also just published her first children’s book ‘Betty and the Mysterious Visitor’.
We talked about Anne’s lifelong battle with shyness, the pride that she feels about the adults that both her children have become, and how she gets so much pleasure from looking around at people while they are watching Harry perform on stage.
We also talked about how Anne has wing-walked to raise money and awareness for Parkinson’s. And I tried to persuade her to do a double wing walk and a loop the loop with me in the future! I’m genuinely up for it.
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Rachel Jackson is a jewellery designer whose work I particularly love. We even collaborated with on a necklace design once.
She discovered her passion for her career while solo travelling in South America where she made a good friend Ali in Brazil and then spent 2 months living with his mum Cinderela (yes that really was her name!) who taught her how to make jewellery. 6 weeks after she returned to the UK Ali was killed in a plane accident which made Rachel feel how fleeting life is. She then gave up a well-paid job in TV to pursue her dream of designing and selling her own jewellery. She started with a stall in Spitalfields market, earning very little, and worked up to selling to Liberty and Selfiridges. She often collaborates with charities which gives a meaning and a story to each piece of jewellery.
Rachel has two children, Herbie aged 6 and River aged 10. Her husband took a year out of his job to do the lion's share of the child care when they had their 2nd baby, enabling Rachel to grow the company at a crucial time.
Like me, Rachel doesn't really feel she's a baby person but particulalry loves the feeling of being increasingly needed now, as they are getting older. Unlike me, she's an excellent planner and always has plenty of activities sorted out for the weekend. When we spoke, I had a Bank Holiday of nothingness ahead, so I rather envied her good planner trait!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Natalie Cassidy is familiar to us all from EastEnders where she's been playing Sonia since the age of 10!
When we met she told me about her love of growing up on a TV set, where age meant nothing and her best friend was June Brown, who was 50 years older than her!
Natalie is a mum of two daughters, Eliza and Joanie. My heart melted when she described how she and her husband Marc met when Eliza was just three, and he said he'd fallen in love first with Natalie and then when he met Eliza, he fell in love again.
Natalie's about to turn 41 this week. She already has one podcast 'Off the Telly' which she co-hosts with actress Joanna Page and she's just launched a solo podcast 'Life With Nat' which immediately went to number one in the podcast charts!
We talked about how grateful we are that we didn't have social media as teenagers and we revisited our teen love of culottes! Also I tried to invite myself on her podcast to talk about teenagers and phones. I have no shame!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Bat For Lashes aka Natasha Khan is a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and a mum to a three year old.
She has just brought out her 6th album and this one is inspired by the birth of her daughter and is called The Dream of Delphi.
She was pregnant in LA during Covid and the album recalls how she reconnected with nature during that time, reflecting the landscape of the city, mountains and the desert. She's now separated from Delphi's Dad but explained they are still best friends and happily co-parent together.
We spoke about how she felt about becoming a mum later in life and we talked about that special liminal moment when you have just given birth and it dawns on you that you are moving from who you were into who you are going to be - a transformational moment.
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Vicky Gill is the Wardrobe Lead for Strictly Come Dancing, amongst many other things! We first met when I appeared on the show in 2013. She is passionate about merging fashion and performance. I can vouch for the fact that she is supremely talented at making costumes that people can dance in - and her sparkly leotards are still part of my onstage essentials today. But as a mum of three she was also great at sharing glimpses of normal family life with me, which you very much appreciate when you are on the Strictly juggernaut!
When we spoke, Vicky had just finished Dancing on Ice and was about to start work on the Girls Aloud tour. She is a very busy woman.
Vicky and her husband are from Newcastle originally but live in London, and as their family support network is far away, she descibes their stiuation as 'us against the world'. She is hoping her children - now in their teens and beyond - don't choose the creative careers which she and her husband have (between you and me, I don't think that's working so far!) but she says she just wants them to feel happy in their skin.
Vicky prides herself on being a problem-solver - both in her working life and in her parenting. And sometimes the worlds have collided - as when she was working with Girls Aloud just after her daughter was born, when she found that nappy cream comes in handy for getting boob tape off!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Michelle Ogundehin is best known as the head judge of Interior Designs Masterclass on BBC 1. It’s a programme I am utterly addicted to, and I was therefore delighted to have been asked to join as a guest judge for semi finals week, this week (TX 23/4/24). I have been a fan of Michelle’s expert eye when it comes to interiors for a long time, having devoured every issue of Elle Decoration published during her time as editor in chief from 2004 to 2017. I love her approach to homes and how they make you feel, always taking into account the link between our environment and how it affects our mental health.
Off-screen, Michelle is a devoted single mum to her 10 year old son. She became a mum later in life, after years of trying, and her journey included IVF and four miscarriages. She says her son is the best thing that has ever happened to her.
We talked about her worries about becoming a mum due to her own mother not being maternal or loving to her.
She told me how she has recently been ‘album-ing’ her life and also that she believes that what surrounds us at home affects us.
I finally tested her boundaries when I mischievously suggested she should let her little boy draw on his bedroom walls, just as my mum let me!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Heather James is best known to us all as the mum of Deborah James, the beautiful bowelbabe, who I interviewed for Spinning Plates 3 years ago. That was the year before her premature death at the age of 40, from bowel cancer.
Heather explained how she is grieving but working. Not only working in her day job as a gymnastics teacher, but also doing everything that Deborah would have continued with - including campaigning to highlight April as Bowel Cancer Awareness month.
Deborah spent the last weeks of her life at her mum and dad's house in the summer of 2022 surrounded by her family. Heather and her husband Alistair found themselves looking after Deborah and, to everyone's surprise, hosting Prince William when he came to their garden to make Deborah a Dame.
Heather talked about caring for Deborah when she came home to die, but said Deborah's zest for life - and campaigning - meant that far from going quiet, it was a busy time of fun, outings, a book, a rose and of course, a Damehood.
It struck me that Heather is everything you would hope to be, as a mum in such a dreadful circumstance.
She is planning to life life to the full, as Deborah wanted her to. And we spoke, just before her son's wedding where the entire family were planning to party and celebrate just as Deborah would have done if she were still here. And speaking as someone who witnessed her 40th birthday party in full swing, boy, did Deborah know how to party!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Natasha Bedingfield is a New Zealand-UK singer and songwriter who started out in the business at a similar time to me. Another shared link is that we are both currently on a new adventure with songs we brought out originally in our early 20s! How's that for a coincidence? We've each been on an unexpected and exciting journey with our old songs... both because of recent films. The film 'Anyone but You' featured Natasha's 'Unwritten' which originally charted nearly 20 years ago. And my adventure has been because of 'Murder on the Dancefloor' being used to great effect in 'Saltburn'.
Natasha talked about her place in her own family's politics, where her brother Daniel was the first to get into the music industry. Natasha had to fight to pursue her music career; in her family's eyes, that 'place' had already been taken by her sibling! (Sidenote: Daniel's debut single 'Gotta Get Thru This' kept Murder off the top spot in the charts 22 years ago - not that I'm holding a grudge or anything, Daniel!)
Natasha has a little boy who is now 6. When he was 2, he was taken seriously ill with a spontaneous brain abscess He had to have two surgeries and was in hospital for 5 weeks. Thankfully there was a cure and he is fully recovered, but the time he was in hospital was obviously an extremely difficult period for Natasha and her husband. Natasha remembers having to perform a gig while her son was still in hospital. She shared how terribly difficult that was, and how in a room full of small talk she would suddenly blurt out 'My son's in hospital!'.
On a lighter note (pun intended) Natasha and I talked about how having a baby changed our singing range - for the better! And we agreed that we are both really enjoying the new ride with our old songs from the early 2000s.
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Trinny Woodall is the CEO of the beauty brand Trinny London - she's an entrepreneur, businesswoman and author.
She became a household name in the late 90s when she teamed up with Susannah Constantine to present the TV makeover show What Not to Wear.
Last year she published her book Fearless about how to find your style and boost your confidence.
She has a 20 year old daughter Lyla, who she describes as joyful, and she told me how, without her own roadmap to motherhood, she found a way to bring Lyla up, with the help of a wonderful woman called Jenny,
We had an honest and fascinating talk in the attic room of her home in West London, which doubles as an office and a dressing room, full of colourful clothes.
Trinny has just celebrated her 60th birthday and is as vibrant and fun as you could hope for. We sat there together, in our pyjamas, just after she'd shown me her microneedling tool, and I really understand why people open up to her and tell her their innermost secrets!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Michelle Kennedy is a tech entrepreneur and businesswoman. She is CEO of Peanut App, and mum to two young children, Finlay and Nuala.
Michelle started her working life as a corporate lawyer and became interested in tech when she worked for Badoo and then Bumble.
She set up Peanut after she gave birth to her first child and felt lonely and isolated.
Peanut is an online community for women, as Michelle says, at 'seismic stages' of their life including fertility, pregnancy, motherhood and menopause. It's a place where women can come and speak honestly with other women going through the same stage of life as them, and she feels it acts as a social barometer of which issues are important to women.
I certainly wish it had been around when I had my first baby. And I look forward to watching Michelle's plans unfold for creating a space for young girls to talk about their challenges in their teen years... Little me could have done with that too!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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