Spinning Plates with Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bonus Episode: Janet Ellis

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

This is an extra special bonus episode in partnership with the lovely team at Clarks. Thanks to Clarks, I have brought my mum, Janet Ellis, back for this special shoecentric chat! We talked about the excitement of buying your child’s first pair of shoes, and we happily admit that we very much share the sentimental gene, as we have kept all our children’s ‘firsts’. My mum even has them on display as you go down the stairs to her kitchen. My Ma also shares her memory of a Clark’s badge that she got as a child - I think they should bring those back - they are very sweet!!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.

Hello, I'm Sophia Lispector and welcome to Spinning Plates, the podcast where I speak to busy working women who also happen to be mothers about how they make it work. I'm a singer and I've released seven albums in between having my five sons aged 16 months to 16 years, so I spin a few plates myself. Being a mother can be the most amazing thing, but can also be hard to find time for yourself and your own ambitions. I want to be a bit nosy and see how other people balance everything. Welcome to Spinning Plates. Hello, well this is rather lovely. So this is an extra special bonus episode of Spinning Plates, and it's brought to you by the wonderful team at Clark's who are for growing feet in safe hands and this is a really special thing I've never actually done a special episode of Spinning Plates before and I've also never had a guest return before but

seeing as Clark's spoke to me about the idea of having an episode to chat about all things early shoes and memories of Clark's from my childhood how I found taking Mickey for his first shoes I thought who better to talk to than my own mother so I spoke to my mum who is known to other people as Janet Ellis for one of the first episodes of the podcast I ever did so this is way back in 2020 that we sat down and spoke together and I absolutely loved it um it's funny when I had the idea to do the podcast at all so speaking to you know working women who are also mothers of course I was going to speak to my mum it's such a natural thing and I got so much of my take on how to be a working mum from

my own mum but actually I got so much more than that from sitting down with her I thought it was going to feel a little bit weird interviewing my mum but actually it just felt really lovely and honestly if my granny had been alive when I started the podcast I would have had her on the podcast like a shot there's so many things I spoke about my mum that you wouldn't really necessarily talk to your mum about if it's not in a sort of slightly more like formal setting well certainly not for me anyway I was fascinated to hear about her relationship with work how she felt about having me how she felt about being a mum it's just not something we've really gone back and spoken about you know what it's like your relationship stays in the present tense so

much and of course you reminisce but you don't necessarily sort of go a bit more deep than that so anyway if you've got you know if you've got relatives older bigger generation relatives bigger older generation relatives um I'd really recommend having a little chat about them and how they felt about I don't know big milestones in their life maybe whatever you think is a good launch pad I definitely think the conversation with my mum thanks to the podcast has become something that I think about quite a lot and so on that note it was a total joy to invite her to come back to the podcast to talk about first shoes so I really do remember going to Clark's a lot when I was small

and I remember I remember certain things like I remember my first school shoes I obviously remember taking my brother and my sister because I was quite a bit older than them so I was eight when Jack was born so I think when I was about 10 we took Jack to the local clerks and he got his first little pair of shoes and of course then my feet were still growing so I would have been getting shoes all the way through that and I always was very excited about getting new shoes I've managed to sustain my love of new shoes ever since thanks to my passion for my shoe collection I've managed to sustain my love of new shoes ever since, thanks to my passion for my shoe collection. I've actually kept a lot of shoes of mine from when I was a teenager, and I've also kept all the school shoes and little tiny shoes that my boys had. I mean, honestly, if you've got

like small little shoes, they just take you right back. I've got a bag in the attic of things I can't part with from their babyhood, and their first clock. She was definitely, definitely in there. So what do you need to know? Right. So my mum, so she has me and then my brother and my sister. I think my mum is best known as being a TV presenter. She used to present Blue Peter, the big children's programme in, so it's still going now, Blue Peter. It's one of the longest running TV shows. I think Blue Peter is the longest running children's show in the world. I'm going to say that. I'm pretty sure that's correct. So that was when I was small, my mum was doing that. And she's a trained actress and still does lots of broadcasts. So she'll do radio, she'll do presenting. And she's also written books. So the

last decade has seen her release two works of fiction and she's currently working on a third she's a brilliant writer um i've really enjoyed reading her books they're both quite different the first one was called the butcher's hook and it's all about a a murderous teenager in 1700s london it shows definitely what goes on inside my mum's mind when no one's watching and then she shares it with the world through the written words and so we sat down round at mine to have a chat about our family and how we are with memories and stuff and keeping little knickknacks from all different drop points throughout your life which yes does include our first shoes uh the shoes that jack and i had when we were small are in little boxes as you go down to the kitchen and my mom's house. So you see where I get my sense of style from now, yeah, because you hear me talk about my

cluster a lot, I know that. I'm trying to think, is there anything else you need to know before you hear us chat? I mean, I mentioned a Christmas present I bought for a friend of mine called Carolina. I don't think she listens to the podcast, so she's not going to hear, and I'm pretty sure I didn't mention what I bought her, so that's a's a good thing but anyway I think you're going to really enjoy this and I'm really really happy that Clark's invited me to do this bonus episode because it's always a joy to sit down and talk with my mum and we did manage to stop giggling for long enough in between having our chat that I think you will get a good gist of how our relationship works and also how passionate we are about about memories actually and about marking things.

And we're both quite sentimental. And I'm not the only one who keeps things from childhood. You wait till you hear what she's kept from Clarks from when she was small. Over to you, Mum. So you may have heard that we've partnered with Clarks over the last few months a very happy collaboration and recently I took my little one Mickey to their Kingston store to get a look at the new school shoes because you started reception alongside their amazing kids range well I did get a little bit distracted because they had some amazing styles and a whole range for me as well

and I had to stop myself on the day it was all about Mickey but isn't it great to know I can shop one brand for all of us my favorite kind of shopping and Clark's as a brand has almost 200 years of perfecting their products and they've taken these learnings into its first shoe offering because we all know your child's first shoes are just so much more than something you put on their feet they are memory makers they are journey takers. And they mark that moment. You realize your baby is no longer a baby. They are a toddler. So for this special bonus episode, who better to chat to you about some of these memories

other than my mum. So she's been through it all with me, my brother Jack, my sister Martha, and she's been on the journey with me and my kids. So the grandbabies too, because I've had them all from Sonny down to Mickey and Clark's and it turns out my mum started out in Clark's shoes too so this is a lovely way to catch up and talk all things Clark's and fursuit memories well welcome back to the podcast mum thanks for having me we haven't spoken since the episode we

recorded three years ago imagine that imagine if the only way I knew what you were doing is because we had a podcast together occasionally. Wow, I'm sure stranger things have happened. Stranger things have happened. How is your career going? I hope it's all right in the music business. It's been up and down, but yes. Keep going, darling, keep going.

Everything been all right with you? You're a very talented amateur. Just keep going. Thanks, Mum. Now, honestly, in all seriousness seriousness the episode that we did right at the beginning i think it was maybe like only the second or third one i'd recorded and it's still one of the ones i get mentioned to me the most is it yeah and i'm really glad we did it actually because it sounds um like a bit of an odd thing to sort of have a conversation that's a bit more structured.

But actually, I think there were so many things we spoke about that we hadn't really spoken about outside of it. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. That was my memory too, that it was a chance really, without interruption, small people in the house, and actually big people too, and life generally, a chance to really explore some of the things that we know we think and we were comfortable with, but we don't say aloud very often yeah it was really lovely yeah i've thought about it a lot since and talking of little people um so as you know at the moment podcast is sponsored by clarks

which is lovely because actually as soon as they became involved with the podcast i was like it's so perfect it's a big part of my life already but also it was something that I know we shared when I was little absolutely and my childhood too I was actually a member of the Clark's Lucky Shoe Club I had a badge I've been trying to find it it'll be somewhere you know the house is a bit busy um yeah it was a sort of silver horseshoe with a red fill-in which said Clark's Lucky Shoe Club on it and then dangling from the bottom of the horseshoe were a little tiny pair of silver shoes. That's adorable.

It was lovely. Actually, that's a good badge. It's a really good badge. Lucky Shoe Club. Clark's Lucky Shoe Club, yeah. That's adorable. They were part of my childhood too. That's lovely.

Well, actually, when I took Mickey, it did kind of like join up all the lines because, you know, my eldest is now, Sonny's nearly 20. His first shoes were Clark's. And I remember getting a little photograph, a little Polaroid of him in his first little shoes. They were little maroon shoes. Those kind of toddler ones where they're very soft and squishy. They're as wide as they're long, aren't they? Exactly.

That's true. Those little square shoes. And they're like really soft and bendy so that their feet, when they're sort of pudgy and finding their way, can still do all the rolling and getting their balance and i guess they would have been my first shoes too oh they would definitely were yeah and it's it's a funny thing i think putting a child into shoes for the first time because obviously you know it's wonderful when they start walking absolutely amazing that is the thing that everybody celebrates rightly and nowadays we'll be documented on film and i'm sorry we haven't got any film like that. But I assure you it was a big moment when you got up.

But there's something about saying you're ready for shoes, which is the beginning of your journey into the outside world. And it's so lovely to be able to literally, literally put those little feet into professional hands. Because if I was measuring you for shoes, you know, I wouldn't know how to do it or whether, you know, what the gap needed to be at the top, even what sort of shoes. And it's so good that that thing that you want for your child,

which is to put shoes on and then actually then forget about their feet. Know that those shoes can take them down the road or up a tree and, you know, safely by your side is really lovely. And thank goodness we have something like that. And it's synonymous with that sort of care. And down the years, you know, from you and to Jack and Martha,

your brother and sister, to all five of your boys, you know, safely entrusted with a pair of shoes. But then in the best way, you can forget about it. You know, they are safely shod for a while. And I've always thought with with small children particularly you know if if their shoes fit and they're going to be happy you know there's nothing worse than wearing ill-fitting shoes and you're never going to get that with clarks which is great also you want kids to associate getting their feet measured

and getting new shoes is a happy thing not something that's going to be uncomfortable or they're going to be forgotten about. Absolutely. And I'm glad that Clark's made such a fuss about first shoes because it is a big deal to you. So it's nice that it's sort of shared with the people that are measuring them and all of it. You spend a long time carrying your children when they're small and suddenly you're going to put them down onto different surfaces

and alongside you on pavements and roads and getting in and out of public transport. You know, it's a big deal. It is a big deal. And I guess also there's so much of a thing about the tradition of, you know, the little shoes we'd had when we were small. I know you've got mine and Jack's and Martha's at home still. And how they're all worn and all the little scuffs and everything.

And then, you know, I've quite often taken pictures of the boys' shoes when they're all kind of lined up and you've got from big to small or little shoes. There's something about the character that goes into a shoe that's kind of unlike anything else they put on, really. It's such a measurement, isn't it? I mean, it's like the marks on the back of the door when kids are growing. Yeah. Their feet growing is also, you know, inescapably a mark of them getting older.

Yeah, it's so true. I mean, I think I have a memory of getting shoes clark shoes when i was small that weren't just my first shoes they were like patent party shoes party shoes that's always a big deal yeah that was a big deal in fact i remember really well having my feet measured i can still so the one we used to go to the local one to us when i was small was the one where you had like the electronic that machine that always felt really exciting in richmond yeah but now when mickey went the other day and i think for all the kids actually they've just used the little ribbon one where you know the top thing yeah and i can still remember having my feet measured and just thinking please let them

have grown please let them have grown so that i could get to have new shoes but the patent ones were real the patent were a real dream pair. And actually, I still love a little patent shoe that's got a little buckle. And I had those, like little Mary Jane patents when I was little. My dad used to score the underside just to make sure I wouldn't slip in them. That's so sweet.

It was very sweet, yeah. But yes, and it completes the look, doesn't it? It really does. You know, what's a party dress or a party outfit without a bit of patent yeah still think like that it's so true and i think you know when you're small you're quite often i mean i think quite a lot of the things i would wear might be things that you'd said oh this is nice that's nice and you put them on you don't really think about what you're wearing on your front when you're getting dressed

you just look down at your feet a lot don don't you? So I can really clearly remember starting school, actually, and looking down at my feet as we walked out of the hall from the First Assembly and thinking, these are big girls' feet. It's really clarified. I can't remember what public event it was, but we took you to something which was quite momentous. And you seemed to be enthralled with it, absolutely enthralled. You were really, because there was something on the ground. I think we were reading bouquets of flowers,alled you were really because there was something on the ground i think we were reading bouquets of flowers let's say

so there was something on the ground definitely and you seemed incredibly interested in what was going on and then i realized you were actually looking at your shoes you were just looking at your shoes and that's fair enough but uh yeah yeah obviously you were very interested in current affairs and everything mostly it was that day. They must have been new. They must have been new. Because there's also something with putting children into the next size up as well, where the shoes just look impossibly fresh, don't they? And you know they're going to see them through all sorts of escapades.

So true. But there they are, just for a moment, box fresh. I think that's why I struggle. Well, certainly the little shoes, their first first shoes i've still got all of them and actually sunny is packing his boxes ready to move to your house that's true he is yeah and um he found the little picture from his first pair of shoes from clocks oh little do you remember them the little red maroon i do yeah the big velcro cross at the top they were i suppose because it was my first kid so the first shoes was like a really big deal Do you remember them, the little red maroon ones? I do, yes. The big Velcro cross-up at the top. I suppose because it was my first kid,

so the first shoes was like a really big deal to me, but I remember those really well. And actually, when Mickey got his first shoes, I don't know if you remember these, Clarks had just done a little range with Disney, and he had ones that had Mickey Mouse all over them, and one side was red and one side was yellow. Yeah.

They were so sweet.'s it i mean they can be they can be playful too because you know they're going to fit and be comfortable and see them right through so the fact that they really thought about what the child's going to think is great there's nothing dull about this even school shoes that's true they have such a sense of purpose make you feel like you're ready for the next stage that's true I mean I think I think you and I in particular have got quite a similar style with our homes and that we both like a lot of trinkets around from like all across all the big milestones of things that have happened there's a lot yeah and and like you uh first of all there is a lot of stuff but I know what it

all is and each thing has to hold its place for me. It has to serve as a memory or a nice moment or something that's really special. I moved around a lot when I was a kid, as you know, so I think part of it for me is definitely the fact that it would take them a long time to get me out of that house now. It really would. It really would. But also that you can keep things from your childhood

or from my childhood, you know, that just occasionally resonate. And it's the same with those little shoes are like that, actually. You don't go and look at them every day. You and I are not building shrines. But we're equally going to a place where you think, yeah, that's part of me, too. That's part of our story. And I think that's really lovely. Ideas.

Well, I think it means you sort of bump into different versions of different aspects of your life all the time so you'll be like oh that was that thing from seven years ago that's from 10 years ago that was from when I was small and it's all kind of you can kind of revisit all those things in a glance it's the rings of a tree isn't it yeah concentric circles it's really nice to be so nurtured it is and actually um I mean we're now sat in the room where we're going to be having Christmas talking of It is. And actually, I mean, we're now sat in the room where we're going to be having Christmas, talking of...

That's the good thing because I didn't actually know whether I was coming for Christmas. I'm going to take this recording as my invitation. Thank you. As if I'd get away.

Oh, sorry, what date was it? You know, I actually, honestly, I ordered my first Christmas present today. Did you? Yeah. Wow. That's a head, isn't it? You know, I actually, honestly, I ordered my first Christmas present today. Did you? Yeah. Wow. That's ahead, isn't it?

Even for my standards. Actually, it was for Carolina. Oh. Yeah, she complimented me on something and I was like, okay. Because I'm trying to keep my memory of actually buying presents when I think of it. That is a good thing. Because normally at Christmas I just get round to, I think I'm on top of it and then I get to about a week before and I realise there's loads of stuff I've forgotten,

so I'm just trying to, yeah, be more... Well, because we have a tradition of not just, obviously, what we might call main presents, but also tree presents, which is something my parents started, actually, because when I was little, I think they were both aware of the longer between Christmas lunch and whatever happens next, which is usually, I noticed, Christmas supper, you know, just when you think you can't eat anything else,

here comes the sandwich. But that longer for kids goes on forever, doesn't it? Definitely. And obviously you're playing games and somebody might go and watch a film. But my parents started this thing of tree presents. So it started with your parents? Yeah, yeah. I thought it was before them. No, as far as far as i know wow so i'm only second generation yeah and uh it was just a tiny

thing you know tiny thing to unwrap it about tea time just to keep the lovely present opening it's like a cracker present almost isn't it exactly but you have to be able to balance it on the branches of the tree well i've as you know i've given up on that because ever since the famous year when grandpa my dad hid a present so successfully on the tree it was never found oh i've had that i have that every year it's usually daphne's my mother-in-law which will look deliberate but it's not i have always brought her something and just go where have i put Daphne's present? They're on there, Daphne. So, yeah. So I, as you know, keep them in a little bag.

A nice Christmassy bag, but just to make sure. Because I couldn't bear not being able to give a present. Do you want to know something funny? That is the bag you brought the three presents around in, I think. Oh my God, can I have it back?

That's so useful. I've literally had that bag on the floor since last Christmas. So useful. I would only say that's fair enough. Obviously, listeners can decide otherwise. But I think, jolly good, I'll have it back then. Sometimes I play a game where I'll put something down and I'll just see how long it'll just stay there for.

I leave a Christmas decoration up every year somewhere. Oh, you mean like I've got baubles on there somewhere. Yeah, because I used to do it almost to tease John because obviously he went along with all this but I would say that his Christmas decoration fairy was not as present as mine.

But I would just try and leave a present up or sorry, a decoration up. Yeah, actually I'm struggling to find I normally do have a bauble I can't see it on there but that is definitely the bag for Christmas Day.

I know where mine is at home. I'm doing it now. It's only me in the house. I'm still doing it. In there, I think I've got tree presents in that bag. I'm going to re-wrap them, put them on the tree. Fair enough. Fair enough. Fair enough. Oh, because actually, you and I are both quite maximalists. Oh, hello, Titus.

Titus the cat. Cat has arrived. Christmas cat. No clocks on you, I noticed. They should do shoes for cats. I would love that. That would be so funny. You would definitely buy them. My first feline shoes.

I think even though we have a lot of stuff, we know where most things are. I know where you have our old shoes, for example. Yes. The little baby shoes that you kept on the way down to the kitchen. Yep. On the side.

Yep. But I do think you should try and hunt that. I'd really love to see your Clark's Lucky Shoe Club badge. I will definitely try and find that. Yes. That's special. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think you should pin it on your coat now. You still have lucky shoes. Yes. And it would probably fetch more than a Blue Peter badge these days. Let's not test it. I'm not selling these ones anymore. I've stopped that now. Oh, thank you, Mum you mom oh what a pleasure oh thank you so much to my mom for coming over to have a chat with me about all those lovely things

i really hope she finds her badge um that sounds adorable I could totally picture it and it's just like my mum to remember it in such detail she's got a photographic memory don't you know and thank you so much to Clarks for partnering with Spinning Plates for the whole podcast and for letting me do this extra special bonus episode it really has felt special and it's been really lovely to look back on some firsts and memories it's made me want to go and find all the pictures from my kids childhoods from when they got their first shoes and actually I have pictures obviously from Mickey's from his first shoes but also more recently from visiting the Kingston branch of Clark's and getting his first school shoes and if you want to recreate

any first pictures with your kids well Clark's have a really good filter and enables you to take a photo either in store or at home and then you can share that special first and you can share with your friends and your family and yeah they've got a filter for you to help you do that and do remember shop clark's first shoe collection now or you can book an appointment for an in-store fitting at clarks.co.uk loads of lovely shoes for your little ones on there and yeah this has just been an absolute joy i've really loved doing a bonus episode and I've really loved having another chance to sit down with my mum and record a conversation with her because as you could probably pick up on we do

have a very close relationship and we do talk to each other all the time and we share a lot of the same well we saw a lot of the same interests a lot of the same aesthetics in terms of our style and our homes and the things we like, but also similar laugh and we're always giggling. So I hope we've made you smile too. And lots of love. And I will see you for the first episode of series, oh my goodness, 12 in about a month's time. So in the meantime, be good to yourself

and keep your suggestions coming in at future guests. And thanks so much for you for lending me your ears and giving me your time. Thanks to my mum for talking to me today. And thanks for Clark's for giving us the opportunity. Lots of love all. Thank you.