Archives for September 2010

I LOVE trains! Okay, so now you know I'm a total geek since I also love Star Trek, any form of sci-fi, science, astronomy and anything to do with space. Come summer I can even be found at airshows looking at Spitfires and Hurricanes.

Today it was a TOTAL pleasure to talk about the history of trains in the Berkshire area with my guest George Thomas, from the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway Society. I have four sons, so you'd think that by now I'd have a huge miniature railway set in the attic - but none of my boys were that enthusiastic about trains. So it's an idea I'm keeping for my retirement. I'll be found up in the attic, inside one of those layouts that has a cut-out in the middle for the controller, and I'll be co-ordinating complex timetables, painting models and stuffing steam capsules into beautifully crafted model engines. Geek heaven.

I love to doodle - I'm often to be found with a pen in my hand, drawing random pictures in odd moments. Who knows what they mean?

It turns out that my BBC Radio Berkshire colleague Phil Gayle is a bit of a doodler too. Andrew Peach caught him at it during the breakfast show this morning. Now, Phil was keen to tell us that this wasn't necessarily a picture of anyone at the radio station, but we smuggled the doodle out of the studio and here it is for all to see. It's got to be Andrew, hasn't it? Or maybe he was thinking of me?

Years ago, I had a rose named after me at the Chelsea Flower Show. It was a peach coloured beauty with a soft scent - and it was hugely flattering at the time - although every year, a zillion "celebrity roses" are named, and you wonder what happens to them, don't you?

When my rose was named, my proud dad bought up a load of them and planted them in the front garden. They looked wonderful for a couple of years, but then, as he put it, "they reverted to dog roses!" So, in the end, they were dug up and replaced with something else. Since then, I've wondered whether these "celebrity roses" are always dying off after a while, to make way for new flowers and new celebrities!

So imagine my shock when I found evidence that the Anne Diamond rose is still alive and well in Australia! I was Googling my name the other day, to look for a picture of me for a presentation I was doing aboard a cruise ship...(Hi to everyone from the Arcadia, by the way!)...and I found this picture which had been uploaded by a photographer in Australia.

Well, today one of my guests on the programme was Rosemary Hardy, who's an award winning horticulturist from Whitchurch in Hampshire. She said that lots of British roses do better in Australia; because of the way they are bred, they often fare better in hot, dry climates. She wasn't a bit surprised to hear that, while my rose has clearly had its day in the UK, it is still doing well down under. I wonder what's happened to the Selina Scott, the Felicity Kendal or the Joanna Lumley?

Was chatting to Baroness Shirley Williams today. Wonderful lady - and she has always been a fabulous interviewee. I last saw her when I was having lunch at the House of Lords!

I was the guest of a very special friend, Lord Cotter whose son is a presenter on BBC Radio Gloucestershire, used to be my producer at BBC Radio Oxford and is now a very dear friend. Lord Cotter has been a LibDem MP for many years, and was elevated to the Lords just a couple of years ago. It was great fun to lunch in such splendid surroundings.

On the table to my left was Shirley Williams, David Steel was just a couple of feet away, and David Owen nearby, too! I remember thinking, I like it here. Dame Diamond has such a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Shirley Williams, Michael Dobbs and Emma Freud were all on the show today - because they're part of the upcoming Henley Literary Festival this week. Great authors and brilliant speakers - if you can still get a ticket!

Also on the show today, I spoke to Dr Paul Edmondson from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. He joined me from the site of an archaeological dig in Stratford-on-Avon, investigating what remains of the great playwright's last house. I promised I'd include a link to their website on this blog - so here it is!

I am astounded that brothers Ed and David apparently put their filial love on the line to each bid for the leadership of the Labour Party. I'm sure they would both hotly deny that's what they did. After all, they come from the sort of family where politics is hugely important, and heated debate has always fuelled the family fire. Dad was a Marxist academic and philosopher and Mum is still a feisty Socialist - and the boys were always encouraged to enjoy political activism.

But, in this particular fight, one was bound to cost the other's dream - and it should never have happened.

My boys were talking about it all last night - and I reckon we all agreed that you can fight friends in politics but you should never fight a brother - or it will inevitably end in tears. It's just one of those relationships that is too important to endanger - and David and Ed have now endangered their brotherly love. I can't understand Mrs Miliband (come to think of it, any of the Mrs Milibands) allowing it. I fear for their first family Christmas, I fear for their family future. One son's dream should not eclipse the other's. It's just too painful.

And if I hear any more "holier than thou" attitudes over the NICE proposition to "bribe" obese people (and smokers, too) to take healthier options, I'll scream. NICE only just started talking about it this morning, and already, I have been hearing the most pretentious, inconsiderate, heartless voices moaning: "why should we be paying people to do what's good for them?" Yet again, patronising voices claim that "it's not rocket science, all you have to do is eat less and exercise more". Blah blah blah.

Yes, you can moralise about the obesity epidemic until you're blue in the face. But it won't do any good. Perhaps a little financial incentive is worth a try! You never know, it might work!

Just heard that the Anne Diamond show has been nominated for an award - in the Frank Gillard awards for local radio.

It's absolutely wonderful news just to be nominated, not just for me, but for the brilliant team here. Everyone at Radio Berkshire supports the show in all sorts of ways - like all of the newsreaders, reporters, producers, sports guys and yes, even the bosses! But special thanks to John Baish, Duncan and Marianne, John Hudson, Susanne, and Chris.

I'll be off for a couple of weeks when Phil Gayle and Henry Kelly will be looking after the show for me.

See you soon!

I met a wolf yesterday.

Berkshire is the home of the Wolf Conservation Trust, in Beenham near Reading, and I have always wanted to visit and see the wolves for myself. Founded in 1995, the Trust, through its ambassadorial wolves, supports education, conservation and research. Britain hasn't had wolves for a couple of hundred years - and surprisingly, there are no plans to reintroduce them, because we no longer have enough wild land in the UK. But in Canada, North America, Russia and many large parts of the European mainland, there are many packs of wild wolves doing well!

Scary? Yes, a bit. Because when you meet an ambassador wolf - who has been brought up entirely amongst humans - as I did, you're still very much aware that it's a wild animal. But beautiful too. As wolves should be, I guess!

You can hear what happened when I met the wolves next Thursday morning on BBC Radio Berkshire.

All the buzz today is of Tony Blair and his memoirs. I think I'll be popping out a buying a copy.

"Have you met him?" I was asked today. Many times. In the 80s (when I would never in my wildest dreams have picked him out as a future PM) he used to be a regular paper reviewer for me and Nick Owen on Good Morning Britain, coming into the studio in the first hour - before all the really important politicians and showbiz guests came in! Him and Paddy Ashdown (who used to wear silk shirts).

Love the bit about him not taking the kids with him to a barbecue at Balmoral - because his eldest son, Euan, was prone to speaking his mind!

I chatted to Edwina Currie this morning about the book. She came into Parliament the same year as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - and admitted that, though she first thought she'd give the book a miss, she's now intrigued! She called it a "misery memoir with a difference"!

At least, if we buy it, the proceeds will be going to the Royal British Legion, as promised last week. I wonder how much it will all be worth?