Memory Lane with Kerry Godliman and Jen Brister - S04 E06: Kate Thornton

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

"These lovely ladies would come in... Go on luv, give it a good rub, I've not had it washed for three weeks..." The brilliant Kate Thornton joins us this week to talk about her amazing life, her family, being a single mum, her first (amazing) job and much much more! Check out her podcast White Wine Question Time for more of this amazing woman - https://podfollow.com/wwqt/view Jen and Kerry talk about technology and Jen speaking fluent Korean... Who'd have thought... We are also asking for you all to DM us a photo from your life and we might choose it for our special 'Listener Episode'. - Send us a photo and description and we'll do the rest! Plus... Kerry's 2025 tour is on sale now - https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/kerry-godliman-tickets/artist/1866728 PHOTO 1: Allotment PHOTO 2: Young love PHOTO 3: Single mum PHOTO 4: Machu Picchu PHOTO 5: Buzz Lightyear PHOTO 6: My girls PICS & MORE - https://www.instagram.com/memory_lane_podcast/ A Dot Dot Dot Production produced by Joel Porter Hosted by Jen Brister & Kerry Godliman Distributed by Keep It Light Media Sales and advertising enquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Shop before they're gone. In-store online at Sephora.com. Hello and welcome to Memory Lane. I'm Jen Bristair and I'm Kerry Godleman. Each week we'll be taking a trip down Memory Lane with our very special guest as they bring in four photos from their lives to talk about. To check out the photos we'd be having a natter with them about, they're on the episode image and you can also see them a little bit more clearly on our Instagram page.

So have a little look at Memory Lane podcast. Come on, we can all be nosy together. I mean, that looked like it was going to... We were heading into dangerous water there, well, what it would end up being is that would be the intro, is you trying to work out and me watching and not getting involved. And then you trying to work with the 21st century generally. I mean, I don't know what that flap does, but I will figure it out. Flaps flip, don't they? That's what they do. They flip. Flaps flip. I mean, is it?

I mean, what else would a flap do other than flip? It's not, I mean it is flipping, but I don't know how it's going to attach to my laptop. Well, you have some good private time flapping and flipping around working that out, or we do it now as a sort of audio workshop. I get the impression that you. I don't mind. I'm just like, this is now content. I'm going to say that that flap's not flipping.

That's all I'm going to say. But we'll figure out there's a box here and it's got instructions. All of this. This just feels like a metaphor for life. there's instructions there are flaps and flips there's flaps and flips

I'll work it out I'm working out yeah I mean it's in Korean first which isn't helpful but do you speak Korean you'd be surprised to hear I don't actually

well I would have been surprised if you did because it would have come up I've known you a long time and if you spoke Korean you've never brought it up day one can you imagine if you just suddenly turn around no no I've always spoken Korean And then start speaking fluently in Korean.

Yeah, no, that would be. I feel like I was in an AI. Oh, I actually want to meet that, Jen. Who is that Jen Brister that knows how to speak Korean and why? And should we put it out as a rumour just generally? Like, just let's see if we can get it. You know, Jen Brister speaks Korean? Jen, Brista, she speaks Korean.

You know she went to school in New Maldon, big Korean community there. She just speaks Korean. She just doesn't bring it out because she doesn't need to use it much, but she does speak Korean. I went to school with a lot of Korean girls. Also, it's reasonable one? Two. I too.

Yeah. Yeah. Two Korean. And they taught you Korean? And you've never been to Korea. I've never been to Korea. You should go. You should go.

I'd like to put a little word out to Sujin Bay if you're listening. Do you remember when we were at school together? Wouldn't you like to put that message out in Korean? No, because I don't want to intimidate anyone. With my Korean. I think it's best to... How many languages do you have? I'm very fluent in English.

Yeah, one. And Korean, two. And some Spanish three. Yeah. Any other secrets? I can get by in French. Four. Quadlingual.

Let's say that. I mean, not if you heard my French, you wouldn't say that. Or indeed, my Spanish, if I'm honest. Chloe thinks I'm fluent in Spanish when I speak Spanish. I'm like, no. But that's just... Kind of like a thing you say about your partner. Oh, yeah, no, they've got all these skills when your partner bragging.

Yeah, yeah. She's got to. She's got up my game. Yeah, the reality is quite bleak. So up the game. Up it. I mean, I don't know what else. I mean, like, I would love to be one of those people.

Personality-wise, I think it would really suit me, actually. To be one of those people that would just go and then just suddenly start speaking French or Italian. Oh, it would really suit you. Wouldn't it suit my personality? I've got those vibes. I've got those sort of international European vibes, probably because I am half international. Exactly. And unfortunately, I can't meet that expectation, which is, which is on me, really. I should have spent more time studying languages.

Yeah, but there is still time, Jen. I mean, you've got loads of spare time to just pick up some languages. Boy, boy, have I got spare time? Hey, on that note, though, I ought to say, I am starting. a Spanish course to re-pick up my Spanish. So I'm fine. For ages, I've been saying, I haven't got time, I haven't got time. And then I thought, I'm going to be dead soon.

You're on the road. You're not going to be dead soon. You're going to be on the road soon. I'm going to be on the road soon. So I want to, and I'm going to see my family in Spain in April. And I want to be able to communicate with them in Pigeon Spanish. Because at the moment, if I went, it would be terrible. So I'm going in, I'm saying to my Spanish teacher, this is what I need.

And they say, yeah, I can help you get there. And I just said, I just want to look like I know how to speak a bit of Spanish. And they went, okay. All right, well, we'll focus on that. And that's it. That's what I'm doing. Well, that's very exciting. Well, you wait. By the time it gets to April, which is actually very soon, I will be able to...

April's next month. Yeah, okay, that's a lot of pressure, actually. I might need to take the breaks off. I mean, we're literally talking three and a half weeks. Okay. Well, look, let's say end of April. And then that gives me a bit more time. You put a lot of pressure on me very quickly, came.

Well, just dial down the Korean and dial up the Spanish. Just stop focusing on the Korean. I don't know why I got distracted by the Korean, but I have. It's the instructions for the camera. It's this manual. Yeah, it's that manual. Just lured you in. I really feel like you should be learning Japanese.

Frank, well, you know Frank's doing it. I assume that's why you're mentioning this. He's got his GCSE in May. I literally, when I was with my brother, he gave me two, phrases, I've now forgotten them, which was, um, this is good. No, I'll tell you what, listen, next, this, what I'm going to do for you? You're struggling with English now. What I'm going to do for you, Kerry Godleman, is I'm going to go away. I'm going to do my research because I actually had this down for quite some time. What were the phrases?

The phrases were, uh, my name is Jen and I live in Brighton. Right. In Japanese. In Japanese. I wish Frank was here. He would just be able to tell you that. Do you know what? Because, well, I'm going to have it. And then when I see Frank, I'm going to say it to him, he's going to be so impressed. In fact, I'm going to save it. He might actually correct me on my pronunciation. I don't think I'm pronouncing it correct. I don't really know. I don't, I don't have a Japanese. It seems like we're just watching you unravel. As a quadlingual person, we're now seeing you just totally unravel as a linguist. Yeah. Possibly. I'm.

moving into Japanese now and then I'm going to sidestep into Mandarin. You need to pipe down. You're just being too ambitious. I think, look, we're on that road, aren't we? We're over halfway, Kerry. You've got to have some ambition. No, you're absolutely right. But, I mean, you are on tour.

Why don't you just keep it manageable? I'm not on tour yet, thank God, because if I was, I'd be in trouble because I haven't written the show. Yeah, you're working on it, though, aren't you? You're working it, aren't? How's that going? I'm filling an hour. I'm filling an hour. Is that your blurb?

Jen Brister. Come and see Jen Brister. She can fill for an hour. She'll stay on stage. We can't promise that you'll enjoy it, but she will stay on stage. I've got a few. There's just a bit in the show

where I want to make it not heavy or like too much, but I want to make a slight political point. I'm finding that bit very difficult. You know, but other than that, the story. and the stupid things that I'm saying seem to be working okay.

And I've got two new stories. One of them hasn't quite got a punchline yet. It has like the whole story is funny. So there's joke, joke, joke through the story. But then the end of it, because it's a true story and as happens with a lot of true stories, it just kind of comes to an end.

So I've got to find a way to like give that a do-da-da-do. So you want to go, ha-ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha. In fact, so I'm thinking I might end on it. But at the moment, it ends on, Okay, that was interesting. So that's, you've got to, I feel like that's not enough in a show to be,

that's made, that is quite an interesting story. Thanks for sharing that, Jen. Something that you say in the pub rather than something you say on stage. Who are we talking to on today's episode, Kerry? Well, Jen, today we are talking to the joyous Kate Thornton. Oh, this was such a lovely chat. I could talk to Kate for hours and hours and hours. She's so easy to talk to.

It was like sitting around. I felt like we could have had a guy. glass of wine and this chat would have continued. It was so fun. And I knew she'd bring it with the photos. That one, I tell you what, that one of her dad and her on that train going up to match a picture. These are the kind of top draw anecdotes that I was after. Yeah, so we had a lovely chat with Kate. So sit back and relax this enjoyable conversation with the wonderful Kate Thornton. Girls, can you say something so I can check. Oh, there you go. Oh, brilliant. Oh, you can hear us.

Yeah. Oh, sorry, sorry. Sorry. I was, yeah, we're right. Yeah. We're right. Yeah. I love that we're all quickly just trying to get a few more emails out. Just quickly respond to that. I was literally just reading a message from someone just telling me how much they hate my stand-up. So that was a really good... Oh, my God. Isn't the internet great?

Yeah. Sometimes you open a message, you go, I don't know. An email? Well, not an email, like a message on some messages. Oh, social media? Oh, I mean, I get them a lot, but I just went, oh, there we go. Good morning. It's odd, isn't it?

I mean, I still believe, honestly, most people are lovely, but I do a live radio show every day for three hours, and there's this one guy called fucking arm. It's always one. There's always one. What does it do? It just texts me things like, I hate everything about you.

Hey, I'm sorry, but you're in his wank bank, big time. This guy thinks about you all the time. The only way he knows to get attention from you is by nagging you. But the thing is it goes through to a shared system. So like, you know, an hour later, Simon Mayo logs on and can see like, do it anyway. It's such a little of them, Jen.

Fuck them. I know. It's the oxygen. Yeah. And the thing is, once you do, once you are on a radio show and you go out regularly and you're part of a person's day. Yeah.

Listen to Kate at whatever time. Then you, it's like those people that tune in. I briefly did some presenting on six music. many years ago, years and years ago, like nearly 20 years ago now. And then I would get the same thing. I would get like at least three men going, this is six music has gone to shit since Jen Brister started presenting, who is shit?

And every single time I was on it. And after a while it went, oh, there you're Dave's back on. Yeah, yeah. At the beginning, you're like, no, you can't get offended by them. After a while, you're like, oh, yeah, yeah. This is about me. And, you know, with good reason, you'll probably just the, receiving end of somebody that nobody else will talk to.

So the anger just leads to pity. So it's only shit feelings. Exactly. Anyway, anyway, listen, I'm so sorry about my last minute.com. But I got it from work last night and literally just ran around the house and I thought, here was my thinking. If it's in a frame,

it obviously means something to me. I'll send Kerry pictures of things in frames. That's a good plan. You've basically got, you've got my living room, Kerry. I love that. But part of what we end up to, talking about sometimes is how people find the pictures because it's not easy for maybe,

you know, our generation because they are either in frames and on the wall or they're in boxes in their mum's loft or whatever. No, well, I've got photo albums, but I just end up many 20-year-olds have photo albums, Kate. No, exactly, right? It's all in the cloud. Yeah, and there was a load of stuff on the cloud, but I started clicking around when I got in and it was a rabbit hole I would never come out of. I would end up in some sort of hormonal nostalgia. And when my son got, when Ben, my Ben got in last night, I would have literally, you know, been like,

borden, thorning over him. I loved you, Dresden, Spous Light. Because the phone sends you a montage and you're like, Oh, yeah. They by the sea. And it keeps saying to me, stop saying, like, to people that you really miss me, I'm not dead. I'm not dead.

I mean, well, that's an interesting. I want to talk about that with you, Kate, because that is an interesting time in a parent's life, isn't it? I think particularly your mother's life, when your children, and it's really easy to go down the nostalgia thing, particularly with our phones, like our phones go,

this was you five years ago. And even like if you're, how old is your son now, Kate? So Kerry and I have children of a very similar age. We were like, moms in the park. Mum's at football Saturday morning with hangovers. Oh, yeah. That was rough, mate.

And there was a few like, you know, when you walk in, you just go, don't look. I had too asleep. No peripheral vision. And do you know what? There was always somebody like where we live, like, says that, you know, it seems to be a popular place for comedians to live. So Kerry would get all the chatty-cats on the touchlines.

Or if we were really lucky, Mickey Flanagan's son was playing in one of the other teams and we could just send them all over there. Like, you can see Mickey Flanagan's over there. Like, don't talk to us for really hon. over. That's what you need is you need another, what you need is a man.

Yeah, and Mickey was like, you know, Mickey could shut them down in his own sort of way and they'd go, oh, it's hilarious, right, Mickey Flanagan just totally blanked me. Whereas if we did that, they'd be like, rude, coward. Yeah. It's funny that, it's, it's always like a badge of honour

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Let's get into the pictures. This one, the first one. Yeah. What you can't see there is that we're stood on top of my dad's own compost heap at the allotment. And you know, like now we have these little compost bins. Forget that. We had a heap. Yes.

That had steam coming out of it. Totally. Yeah, yeah. Totally. And then you'd bag it up and share it with the rest of the family. So they could get on, because everyone grew vegetables and everyone, like, everyone's back garden. And maybe it's like a post-war thing. Maybe it's a working class thing.

But all of our family, as far as I can remember, grew their own. So it was just a thing. Really? Did you have, this was a classic thing that I remember, we didn't have the veg patch. But did you used to have a regular bonfire? where you just burn shit in the back time. Just burn shit. Yeah.

I don't know what was going on in our house. Not tires, no. No, but just bits of, I don't know what was going on. But I'm not going to lie. People did walk horses up and down my nan street. What century did you go up? What do you mean walk horses? We didn't.

Collecting scrap. Oh, like a rag and bone man. We had a rag and bone man. We had a rag and bone. And he had a horse and cart. That's bizarre. Isn't that I think about it. Yeah.

It's the only time I think I ever saw a horse. Yeah. I grew up in Cheltenham, which is the home of racing, right? But we never went to the races because it was just, you know, probably a bit beyond our pockets. You know, for example, a lot of my family worked at the races, but we didn't go to the races necessarily. But so the only time I really saw horses was collecting scrap. And now it's really funny when you say to people, oh, yeah, I'm from Cheltenham in Gloucester. They just, there's this also my assumption that, you know, you're quite posh.

And just, we're just not. Yeah. So what was it like growing up in Cheltenham? Like given that we're... You all are very happy in that picture. It just... So that's my mum and my brother. So, and we're from a big family.

Like, so in as much as like a wider family. So there's like, there's like hundreds of us. Oh, really? Well, yeah, there's quite a lot of cousins. There's, you know, mom and dad are from big families on either side. So like on a Saturday, go around to my nun and granddad. And they were literally a two up, two down. But there would be like,

five siblings, no, four siblings, four siblings with their partners and then their kids. And I think there would be about nine kids, but we just all be stuffed into this time. Yeah, right? And then for the kids, my nan would buy a box of broken biscuits from the limb bar, right? I mean, like, you know, just, and then they'd all just sit in the front room on a Saturday afternoon and we'd have to be quiet when the pools were being announced just in case we'd won. We never did. and then watch the football results come in,

a bit of grandstand. But everybody, right, would sit around those, those, like, gas fires that you could literally get like a skin rash from and smoke, but with no windows open. That was our youth.

And I'm making it sound terrible. No, really. It was joyous. It was so happy. I mean, like, just you mentioning grandstand, and the entire afternoon was made of going, Manchester United One,

Queensburg Rages, Nill. Yeah. And if I hear Motherwell now, I just go straight back to the living room and the smell of Embassy number six with half a custard cream in my hand. But I fought my cousin, you know, toothed in there or four. I hope you got the bit with the cream on it, not the other bit. Sometimes, but, you know, literally you'd punch it out of their hands. So what was it? What were you like growing up, Kate?

I mean, as a youngster growing up in Shelton. Oh, probably a massive pain in the ass. I wouldn't have wanted me. me and Kerry of chair because girls are odd work aren't they especially ones that I mean I think it all it you know it's paying off now in later life hopefully I'm a great daughter I'm really helpful I try to be like you know a value add in their life but I don't think I was for a long time and what do you mean when you were a kid like a child is a child I was a child I was all right it was very studious were you and like yeah if I got my head into something like I was I was quite committed you know like so I was a child I was a child I was a child I was a child I was a child I was all right I was very studious. I was a It was a thing where we lived, ballroom dancing and Latin American. It's interesting actually because I do a podcast, Kerry's been on, Jen, I would love to have you. I had an attendee back on yesterday. We were talking about ballroom dancing.

But when I was a kid and when he was a kid, Len Goodman was our judge. Oh, really? Oh, wow. That's wild, isn't it? Because who knew? So for me, it was ballroom dancing for my brother, my brother, my uncle, Brian. used to deliver pig feed in an HGV and my brother was obsessed with like lorries

and trucking and the radio. He had yorky bars. Like he was a proper, he had a status quo album. He was fully fledged, right? Okay. He would spend his weekends delivering pig feed around the Cotswolds

with my uncle Brian eating yorky bars. And then as a treat at the end of his shift, right? He'd get to wash the lorry. That was the treat. I thought the yorky bar would be the treat. No, he loved that, yeah. Then he'd share the yorky bar with Brian. then I was equally as committed to my ballroom dancing,

but no boys would dance with me. So my cousin Samantha from over the road used to have to be my dance partner, and I would make her do all the boy stamps. And did you have all the gowns and everything? You had all the gear. But we were quite skin. Well, we were quite skin. So I was explaining to Anton yesterday, we'd buy them second hand.

So I would probably be like this sort of 12-year-old girl in some sort of dead ballroom dancer's dress that smelled like shit. But it had to be taken into Fit me, but it had like, I didn't even have boobs then, but it had like cone boobs. And I had this sort of, at the time EastEnders had just died. And I don't know what the, I was thinking, but I really liked the haircut that both Michelle Fowler and that Butcher had. Yes. So I had the short crop.

So I just looked at home. I looked like a sort of a child going to a fancy dress party as a midlife divorcee having a crisis. But to be honest, though, in your. defence. I think we all did. I think we all looked like that in the 80s. I came across a picture of me and my friend Tara. We were going to the theatre one night so we dressed up and we both had perms and awful perms. Yeah. Like sort of the front and loads you know they're back. Yes. We wore baggy shirts with belts around our waist pulled tight. So you kind of had that gathered. And pixie groups. Yeah. And we looked like two middle-aged women going down the bingo.

Yes. And we were about 14. Yes. With frosted lipstick. Frosted eye shadow or rimal. All the makeup smelt. Yeah. Something I used to think it was like, is this whale fat or something?

Like, what am I putting on? There was no skincare to speak of, you know, palms with the rage. Do you know what's interesting, right? A couple of weeks back, I did this on the radio, actually. We went for Sunday lunch just around the corner from where we live, Kerry. And my son's mate was there. And I kept saying to him,

Theo, your hair looks so different. Like Theo, like, your hair's, I've never known your hair that curly. In the end, you don't know, it was more second palm. Palms are back. I couldn't believe it. And crimping. I saw a young, yeah, so where I live in Bryton, I've seen a couple of, like, you know, kids bobbing about with crimped fringes.

Yeah. Nothing else is crimped apart from their fringe. That's ridiculous. That's crazy. And it's a fast track to dead ends. Come on. And I tell you, another writer passage in my childhood was our Jill, my auntie Jill, had a hairdressing salon, the beauty box.

And then when I'd clock off there, I'd go down the road to my Auntie Jill's to do my shift, shampooing, setting, and sweeping. And all of us did that. All of us have worked there. So the permian, the permian I was pretty much hands-on on, because it would be my job to take the rods out, neutralise. Do you remember the elastic bands and the smell of it? And the little Rizzlers that you wrap round the ends.

Yeah. Like Rizzlers. Yeah, they were like Rizzlers, weren't they? And the setting lotions, like, you know, you'd get these lovely ladies that were coming and, you know, they'd get in the base and it would be like, can you shampoo, shampoo Muriel, please? And I get Muriel in the basement and she, oh, give it a good rub, love. I've not had it wash for three weeks.

Yeah. Get your fingers in. Get your fingers in. I remember those ladies. And they're like, no, go on. Go right in. Go right in. Yeah.

I get it now. It's probably like the most relaxing thing that's going to happen to the next three weeks. They haven't been touched. That's what's happening right there. Let's move on to your next picture. Which one's next? Is this the wedding one? This is my mom and dad on their wedding day.

That's such a lovely picture. They met as teenagers. So my dad was my mom's family's paper boy. And yeah, and everybody had jobs, right, in the family. So my mum, as the eldest, had to go and get the meat for the day before she went to school. So as she would be leaving the house to go off to the butchers, he would be delivering the family newspaper. And that's how they got chatting. And that picture there is them on their wedding day.

And my mum's 17. Oh, gosh. Wow. That is so young, isn't it? And my dad's 19. But on the same day that they got married. So they got married in the afternoon. And in the morning, my dad's sister got married to her husband, Brian.

And this year they've celebrating 60 years And we're doing a big joint party That's amazing Yeah 60 years is insane Isn't it? And they still hold wild Oh my God They're still really like each other They're still loving and they're just

Yeah they're just really cool And like my dad It's a rare thing isn't it? It's so rare And like growing up I remember I remember not being aware of what like Misogyny or sexism was until I went into the working world because I just wasn't around at home.

Like my dad and my mum were a partnership. My dad worked nights, my mom worked days. They split the workload in the house. My dad ironed, cleaned, cooked as much as my mom did. And I just didn't know that it would be like that. And then you go into work and you're like, what is this? What are you?

And then it's like, oh, oh. So I just look at that picture. And it's the kind of one thing that I've never nailed in life is that successful long-term. Not many people have. I mean, it is a rare thing. And also it's very of their time. People get married that young.

People don't really do that now, do they? No, they don't. They don't. I mean, it's not going to be wrong. They both drive each other mad at times as well, but they love each other. They love each other more than they're irritated by each other. Well, that's just so lovely.

But that's great for your formative years, isn't it, Kate, as you're growing up, to have that security and your parents, knowing that they feel that for each other. And that gives you a sense of security. So totally. It gives you, I always say this to my mum. It gives you guts, actually. Because, you know, I was from a small town where, you know,

I had quite big ambitions for myself, I suppose, in terms of where we lived and what I saw around me. So, like, for example, I didn't know what a career was. Everyone had jobs, but not careers. And I think that's endemic of so many people who were raised through working class. Yeah, that's a class thing. Yeah, totally.

But my mum and dad never, sort of went, yeah, that's not what we do. They were the antithesis of that. So, you know, when I was told at school to sort of manage my expectations, my dad flew up to the school and tore a strip off the teacher. How dare you?

If, you know, if she wants to walk on the moon, she might because she could. And why wouldn't she? If she wants to run this country, I back her all the way to giving it her best shot. Don't tell her no. Like he was, you know. That is amazing.

That is amazing. Yeah. So I always felt that, you know, I could trot out into the world. and try my hand at whatever it was I wanted to do. And what did you want to do? What was this? I wanted to be a journalist.

I wanted to be a writer. Yeah. And that's how I started. And I just thought, well, you know what? If it doesn't work out, the worst that will happen is I'd go home. And that's not a bad thing. Yeah. So, okay then.

So that's what they gave me. And like, even now me and my brother, we still talk about the one argument we remember my mom and dad having. And it was when my mom was probably peak menopause. And my dad left the house to go and walk. around the block. That's the only time we ever remember them arguing. I'm sure they did, but they kept it from us. At home was very harmonious. And that was something I, as a parent myself, was like, that was the one rule I wouldn't break. Our house had to be calm and happy. And when it

wasn't, I had to make tough decisions. And I think I sent you another picture of me with a very small, my little Ben in the background. Yeah, that's a great picture. And I just thought that really sort of, without sort of putting him in front and center, just that picture really illustrates. My experience is as a young mom, which was, you know, that was taking at a photo shoot where he wasn't supposed to be there. My childcare fell through. Just go chuck him in the back of the car. We'll make this work. And that's what we did. We made it work because, you know, I became a single parent when he was 20 months old. Right. Because I didn't want him to be. in an unhappy home.

And that pitch was taken just around that time. Having your mum and dad and your great family must have made that decision a tiny bit less daunting because you just knew you were in a family and you weren't going to be raising him totally alone.

Totally, although they live sort of three hours away. They're very much your support, aren't they? Oh my God, yeah. I could, you know, I cannot praise enough that they will drop everything for us and certainly for him, you know, 100%. And that's been unspoken, unconditional,

and never taken for granted at all. But I think I knew, because my mum and dad are sewing it together, that even when my dad turned around and I was making that awful decision about, you know, going at a lone as a parent, when my dad sort of said, you can't stay, Kate, this, you know, this is not going to work unless there's fundamental change.

it was almost like he'd given me permission and I sort of needed it because I thought I aspired to his family values so highly but I also really aspired to giving my son a calm, happy, harmonious home and I think... And you?

Yes, absolutely. Until this year, from that point, from when that photograph was taken to this year, as we speak today, all of my career decisions have been entirely informed

by the hours of the job. Right. And can I make it work around then. And actually, once I used that as my sort of North Star, it was very easy. So I just did stuff that worked around being present in his childhood. I think that is a, I relate to that a lot because I think it made making decisions much easier once I became a parent. It was much more like, well, does this work for me as a parent? There wasn't any of that. You know, just take a risk, living the magic. It's like, right, what time do I finish? Can I be there to pick them up by six? Like, you know,

You know, things like, you know, at one point I was, I was approached about doing breakfast television. I was just like, it's a no. I just, I can't, how am I going to do that? Impossible. You can't do it. It's not what I wanted. I didn't want to,

and we've not to take him to school. Oh, and listen. Yeah. That stuff, you know, when I, ever am on a shoot and you talk to crew and whatever and they're out and you're just like, I don't know how you do this with kids. It's a genuine challenge, you know, it's, it. Genuine challenge. Yeah.

And listen, I was really lucky that I had the ability to say, I'm being going to pass on that, but thanks. You know, would I love to have done a live daily news breakfast show? Yeah, but just not then. Let's move on to your next photo, Kate. I just thought, I just tried to get a picture with as many of us in as possible, right? Oh, that is a great picture. It's so great.

That is such, what's going on? Is that All Saints? There is some All Saints. There's a Samson Elthway in there. Yeah. So this is like my gang. Like this isn't, these are my,

what a gang? Can I be in your gang? Yeah, you are. Absolutely. Right, I'm in. You're in.

I mean, like, so these, just like these phenomenal. Yeah. Wow. You've got a great gang. They were brilliant gang,

right? So this was taken in Tamasin's kitchen on one of her birthdays. And like tomorrow, I'm off for the weekend with them all because one of us is turning 50. And we're all, buggering off to Paris, which would be amazing.

These women have been like my love stories for 25, 30 years and I'm really proud of that. Yeah. And what they bring to my table and hopefully what I bring to theirs. And how giddy I am at the thought of getting out of work tomorrow, getting on a Eurostar, and being in their company for 48 hours. Yeah, that does sounds really. You're going to have a great, I love Paris. The best. It's just the best.

What a city to be in. And there's never not something to do. No, right. And walking around. Yeah. And automatically it elevates our trashy behavior by just being somewhere so classy. You know what's better than the one big thing? Two big things.

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or your teacher mentions that thing I'm a bob. Need to pick me up. Snack back to reality with Tim's new craveable wraps available in Chipotle or Ranch, plus tax at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. There's only one picture we haven't talked about that, that's your dad, but is that your dad with you there? Where are you in that? Yeah, so this, this is, where? we are is really the significance, but you can't really see. But I love the picture because look

how happy is. Look how happy you. Look how happy you both are. Oh, it's so happy. So this was in my late 20s and we were on the Orient Express coming back from Machu Picchu. Oh, wow. How amazing is that. My big joke, sorry to make, but my big joke with Ben about this next chapter, all the stuff we've been talking about is I'm calling this chapter my Machu Picchu years. I always call it my match. I'm going to match a picture. And whenever we talk about what next, I go, it's match a picture. And then you just did that and said that.

Right. Tell me. Tell me. So in my 20s, late 20s, I had the best job in the world. And, you know, people are always slightly, I can see when people say, what's the best job you've ever had? They always want me to say, I don't know, like, you know, X factor or whatever. Honestly, the best job I ever had was that job that was doing there.

I was a travel reporter for the BBC. And basically, for a good chunk of me, my late 20s, every other week, I would pretty much be on a plane going somewhere. Oh, what? What a thrill. Yeah. At that age as well. And it changed everything.

It changed the way I felt about the world, the way I see the world, the way I understand the world. And, you know, I'd never done uni. I'd never done the gap year or the, any of that stuff. So this was my gap year, I suppose, gap years. And honestly, it was transformative. And I got to take my dad on one of the. those shoots and it was still to this day one of my most treasured memories.

So the way they do it is I think I was hosting a show at the time called Holiday 10 Best, so the 10 Best destinations to go and do adventures. This was supposed to be 10 best world heritage sites or something like that. Anyway, so prior to that, I said to my, they said, would you like somebody to do the film with you? And I was like, oh my God, my dad would absolutely love this. Dad, do you want to come to? So he books time off from work.

You know, my dad at that point was still working. He was working nights in a factory, making components for landing crafts, right? Never been anywhere like it before. And I said, the thing is, Dad, I've got to go out ahead of you and make a film in the Galapagos Islands, Phil. So I'm going to be flying in. I mean, this was my life. Can you believe? Oh, my God.

It just sounds wonderful. Doesn't it, right? I was living my best midlife in my 20s. And so I said, I'm going to be in the Galapagos Islands. And then they're going to fly me in. and I'm going to meet you in Ecuador. And they're going to fly you in from, you know, Birmingham. And then we'll travel up.

And what we were supposed to do is the Inca Trail on foot. But in the Galapagos Islands, I was doing a piece to camera. And I was on this beautiful remote. I mean, everything was remote there. There were all these seals around me. And I was trying not to walk into the seals. And I walked into a boulder and I broke my foot. Oh, no.

I broke my toe, my toe. Right. So I was hobbling. And we were in the Galapagos Islands. There's, you know, there's no access to a hospital necessarily, not until I get back to the mainland. So I was like, oh, shit, we need to rethink this. Anyway, the walking trail became a great train journey. So we go up to Machu Picchu. I meet my dad.

And we go up to Machu Picchu in a, Kerry, you've got to do this. I'd say, do this over the Orient. Do this. Over the Orient Express. This is far more visually, like, oh, my God. There's a glass-fronted train that takes you up to Machu Picchu. So we just, we had the front row seats and we sat there and you go through the most extraordinary terrain. And I can still now, I'm still on that train.

I could go back there like that. Oh my God. And so can my dad. Yeah. And then we get to Lima and Machu Picchu and, you know, my dad, bless him, you know, try to eat a guinea pig and all of that stuff. You know, you know, but we were, it's, it was so special to go somewhere that felt otherworldly. That was a different culture. That just sounds wonderful.

And when we went up to film at Matripeachia, and it's like working with the BBC, certainly back then, it's a passport to anywhere. So you turn up at Matripeachia and they let you in before anybody else gets in. So you go super early. You're like there for sunrise, right?

Wow. But you've got the place to yourself. I mean, that just sounds like completely a once in a lifetime kind of experience. And also to be able to take your dad as well. Yeah. And then when we, you know, after we left and we wrapped, they were like,

So we're going to get the train back. And we were just thrilled to be out for thinking of like getting back on that glass front of train. And they were like, oh, no, it's a different train this time. And they surprised us with the Pullman. They kind of Orient Express, I suppose. Yeah, yeah. One of the same, I'm not sure. And we just, it was just spectacular.

Oh, my God. That just sounds amazing. To the most perfect time away with one of, you know, one of my most favorite people. And it's the only time my dad and I have ever gone away. done something like that just the two of us. So for that, it will always be really special as well. Of course. Absolutely. And like you said, you've got that forever now. That's in your heart forever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So great. Okay. That's so lovely. And now you've set Kerry up for

matcha-peachu years. I don't think my dad would fancy you. I'm thinking take Ben. Take your husband. It's just bypassed Ben. Take your husband. Yeah. much for coming on. Pleasure. Pictures were wonderful. Thanks ladies.

It's been a pleasure. It's so nice to come on somebody's podcast and just answer the questions. Yes. And not be the ones after. Yes. You can just relax. Honestly, it's a different experience.

It's nice. And also it's about you, Kate. It's nice to share the load as well, like to have you two to like bounce off of and, you know, you two must love that working in as a couple. Oh, it's much easier having co-hosting than because like you said, you've got to do it on your, you know, hold it on your own. Although I've got a lot. a nice one tonight.

I'm coming home after the radio show and I've got Kelly Cates and I'm excited to talk to her. Oh, fun. She's going to be the new host of the match of the day. Oh, brilliant. Her and Gabby Logan, the first woman.

So Gabby's on. We've done her. Gabby Logan's great. Have you done her one as well? Yes. We're doing each other's podcast. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, but it's like, because what I said, do you know what? Gabby met up, well, shut up now because I know you've got a guy. But it was like the other day, Gabby said, you know, and she made a really good point. You know, when people go,

No, everyone's got a podcast now. She said, nobody ever says, oh, there's too many books in the library. No, that's a really good point. There's too much music. Yeah, no, exactly. It's just, it's reframing how you look at them. And also, just you don't have to listen to all of them. It's like, this expectation of, now I've got to listen to another one.

It's like, yeah, you don't. And honestly, the joy they give me, you know, like being on the road now starting this tour, it's like they are companionship. They really are. Totally. And once you've got one and you're like, oh, I love listening to this person. I love the way they interview and I love the way they talk to someone. Then they're your friend on the road.

Particularly as comedians because we spend so much time. So much time alone. So they are really important for that. Oh, good. You know, and I get it because I listen. And I think what's really good with, because I do white one question time. So my show is, you know, Kerry, is I invite a guest on. We have three thought-provoking questions, which we digest over three glasses of wine.

and it's been going for six years now so I've spent the last six years immersing myself in extraordinary people's lives and there is something really thrilling about that and there's like 400 episodes there now of just like some of life's most interesting, fascinating characters in some sort of way

I was think, you know, when I'm long gone my son will have back to listen in on. Yeah. Oh my God, that's so true. There'll be like a library of you. I don't want my kids. I don't know if my kids will want to listen. Yeah, I actually know. now I'm worried after the things I've said on top of them.

Actually, now I'm thinking maybe we need to go through and like edit. Do look. A legacy edit. That's something that we need to do is a legacy edit. Who's going to be your, who's going to do the editing for you, Kate? You need to have someone and go, right. I know. You're going to be my, you need to listen to all of these and start editing before the kids.

Oh my God. Don't. Do you imagine listening to all of them? There's like, only 500 hours of conversation. A couple of years worth of listening. They'll be fine. What is that? Yeah. I haven't had Carol Voldemann on yet. Maybe she can come on and do the maths for me. Oh man, she's such a legend. Get her on. What a legend? Please have her on.

Thank you, Kate. Kate, thanks so much. Pleasure ladies. Calling all book lovers. The Toronto International Festival of Authors brings you a world of stories all in one place. Discover five days of readings, talks, workshops and more with over 100 authors from around the world, including Rachel Maddow, Keturo Isaku and Kieran Desai. The Toronto International Festival of Authors, October 29th to November 2nd. Details and Tickets at Festival of Authors.ca.

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