The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - Dynasty, Dallas & Shell Suits: Helen Brookes

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

We kick off Season 4 of The Phonebox Podcast chatting ALL things Dynasty and Dallas with over 40s fashion icon Helen Brookes. How I chose shell suits over JR Ewing and what the heck was a chain letter and why did it terrify us all?For more of Helen go and follow her on 40 Plus Not Giving Up Yet.For more of me follow @brummymummyof2 on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok and follow the @phoneboxpodcast account on Instagram for polls and nostalgic fun.If you have any guest suggestions, topics you would like me to cover email [e-mail] and be sure to tag so I can see where you are listening!Editing by Soundtruism.#80s #80smusic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600. Or visit connectsontario.ca. Select games only. Guarantee void if platform or game outages occur. Guarantee requires play by at least one customer until jackpot is awarded. Or 11 p.m. Eastern. Restrictions apply. See full terms at canada.casino.fandu.com. Please play responsibly. Welcome to the Phone Box Podcast. Happy New Year, guys. I hope you are well. I hope you had a lovely Christmas time.

It's season four. I can't believe we've done four seasons of this show. It's so fantastic. I can't believe we've done four seasons of this show. It's so fantastic. Your support is absolutely wonderful. We've got some cracking guests lined up. As per usual, if you have any suggestions of guests, please go and message me on Brummeat Mummy of Two or the Phone Box podcast.

I'd love to hear who you want on the show. We're also running some fab polls over there. I think we've just run favourite soap character of the 90s. So, you know, I'm not sure who's won us yet, but if it's not Bette Lynch, I'm going to be very disappointed. But we're coming back with a great guest. We've got the wonderful Helen. Hello, Helen.

I love you, Bette. In fact, I'm going to kick start with, who's your favourite soap character of the 90s? As you were saying that, I love Jeff jeff colby who's colby in dynasty he was so handsome obviously bobby ewing as well helen i didn't watch dynasty old as bobby ewing helena didn't watch dallas what the hell i'm so confused oh my goodness so i don't know i don't So I don't know where to go from there, I'm afraid. Is that the end of the podcast? Did we last two minutes? I hope that's it.

It was massive. Did you not ever sing Who Shot JR? What is Who Shot JR? How does it go? Is it a song? It's an 80s song. We sang it at school. I shot JR.

I shot JR from the back of my car. I don't know that. It's not like that, basically. But I think at the time, maybe down here. I don't know. If you have heard this song, please do message me. Yeah. And there were jokes about it.

Like, who shot? Oh, I don't know. There were jokes, basically. There were jokes. But I don't mean to out you, Helen. you were a tiny bit older than me just a few years it literally is a couple of years and maybe those couple of years with the Dallas and dynasty years was Joan Collins in them yeah oh no didn't watch it I mean like I have a haircut to show you that was basically modeled on Fallon from um the Colbys or Dynasty she looked

exquisite didn't work so well on me Grandad Rog if you're listening which is that's my dad he's my number one fan did why didn't you why didn't you let me watch Dallas and Dynasty dad why why was I watching Neighbours and Home and Away I feel like I've missed out on a trick did you watch Neighbours and Home and Away as well was it before yeah I do feel like they've missed out on a trick. Did you watch that as Home and Away as well? Was it before? Yeah, I do feel like that was Home and Away. They're more when I was like 17. So yeah, there was that age gap thing. Just that little tiny, tiny gap. So what year were you 14?

I've wrote this down. We have to write it down because it's so difficult to work out. I think it's 19, wait, yeah, it's 1989 because I was born in December. So I was born in December so I was born in 1974 so I mean maybe Dallas and Dursley were a bit kind of early teens rather than 14 I'm just talking general teens yeah so where did you grow up Brighton oh nice and it was a cool place to grow up really cool shops very diverse um are you still in Brighton now then I'm near and nask i'm about half an hour away in the middle of nowhere like they're out it's fine i'm happy i've got kids got no social life it's fine my mum

exactly my mum is actually from how's owen i was gonna say i could see how's owen out my window that would be a lie but how's owen is literally stones throw from me how no way how's owen's really really close i've got lots of friends that live in how's owen and it's where i go um to have like if i'm going for a hot chocolate with my friends how's owen is oh how nice it's quite it's also how's owen has got some nice like countrysidey bits as well some nice yeah plant hills and stuff over over that way um what was on your walls in your bedroom everything was wallpapers my parents agreed to let any wallpaper the room. It was all blue and white wallpapers.

So even the fitted wardrobe was wallpapers. No, no, hang on, hang on. The fitted wardrobe was wallpapered? It was. It was. It was wallpapered in this candy blue stripe wallpaper. Actually, I think for the 80s, it looked all right. Did it?

You had time in those days. You didn't have a phone to distract you. So I had cut out. I always loved collages. And I had loads of collages everywhere where I'd cut bits out of a magazine and I'd put them all over and stick them up. I loved a collage. In fact, I won an international collage competition.

Oh, my God, I'm so jealous. Have you still got it? No, but I've got the newspaper. I'll put it on the internet. I've got the newspaper with me and Jackie Edge. And it went to, like, some sort of gallery where I feel like Tony Blair might have won. That's amazing. No, it's not amazing.

The prize was they opened a Building Society account and gave me £5 for it. Wow. That's fantastic, isn't it? Amazing. What a prize. I think collage is very 90s. A lot of my photos from the 90s are all cut.

Are destroyed. Yes. My poor mum, she couldn't leave a photo. She couldn't leave a photo. I'd cut round it and destroy it, basically. There's lots of destruction. Even my picture, my cherished picture of me and Gary Barlow from back in the day is like cut.

I've cut all the way round it. Because obviously you were just getting it printed off, wouldn't you? You weren't getting like extra copies. That's it. Yeah. You didn't have like, I mean, I've got some shocking photos and like none of us have good photos. They're all very gorgulous.

My natural resting face is, oh, and actually much all the photos from the 18s and 18s. There was no good photos and my daughter has a lot of good photos of her and I say, shame on you. You need a period where you just look terrible in all your photos and you're waiting the anticipation of what are they going to look like did you ever pay for it to be developed in an hour I used to like triple print do you remember that no what's that triple print was where you got

the one big photo and then you'd have another one as well I bet that was expensive back in the day well it was by mail order it would come back by by two weeks and then you could cut out the pictures. So no, I think it was more expensive. Two weeks. Just imagine now, you're saying to kids, well, you've got to wait two weeks to see what the photo looks like. We don't know. Is it going to be black?

Have you put your thumb over it? Is there a light streak through the middle of it? We weren't sure. Did you have any posters up alongside your collages i don't think i did when i was 14 so we're thinking about age 14 it was only a little bit later that i got really obsessed with that and dead fandu casino daily jackpots guaranteed to hit by 11 p.m with your chance at the number one feeling winning which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do.

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Guarantee void if platform or game outages occur. Guarantee requires play by at least one customer until jackpot is awarded or 11 p.m. Eastern. Restrictions apply. See full terms at canada.casino.fandu.com. Please play responsibly. So, Angie, were those babies in a flower pot? I don't know, that was weird.

That was a weird time because I just put them all over my room and it looked like I was some kind of obsessive baby woman. I just thought them really cute. No, I think you're an obsessive baby woman yeah I mean I even got them on my university room which was really freaky I remember a boy that was a friend he just said this is really weird you need to take them down it's a bit scary um I did not look five times up your boys I fancied which was weird because I fancied pretty much every boy I

ever met but um I just didn't post this up with them. The baby's dressed as like a bumblebee or a baby dressed as a lamb in a basket. I fancied everybody and I still do. Yeah I still got that bit yeah. Did you go to an all girls school? Yes I did. Yeah there we go. There is the connection you go to an all-girls school yes i did yeah there it's kind of a synergy isn't it there we go yeah there is the connection you go to an all-girls school you become yeah you're right a little bit desperate you fancy all the boys so who was your school crush like your famous crush probably again jess colby and bobby ewings and dynasty and dallas it's a say cop press from the 80s and 90s it lost and it was very weird at that time wasn wasn't it? Because you'd fancy grown men. Whereas the one thing I like about my girls is they wouldn't,

they'd never fancy 20-year-old men. It just seems so wrong. No. And also like boys like Timothee Chalamet. Have I said that right? Or have I said it wrong? I have no idea. But yeah, he looks young.

So it seems normal. I felt like that was a real cringe moment. Chalamet. Chalamet. Chalamar. I'd be more concerned about the Timothee. Is it Timothee? Timothee. Chalamar. Chalamet. Chalamar. I'd be more concerned about the Timothee. Is it Timothee? Timothee.

Chalamar. Anyway, him. He looks 12. Yeah. That seems reasonable for children, like teenagers, to fancy him. He does look very young. I mean, you spend a lot of time in the 80s because things were hidden so much in those days that you didn't.

I mean, I fancied George Michael. I fancied him so much, especially in those white shorts. And, you know, we wouldn't have known at that time. Nothing was open. So I remember the surprise when he was gay. And it was like, he was so brilliant because he just replied like, oh, but you all didn't know. Yeah, because nowadays you'd be like, well, yeah,

it kind of all really makes sense. But then it was like, oh, he's what? I got I'm absolutely shocked and he's nobody had a gay doll in those days

shorts and like little like diamondy jackets I did like Mark Owen and Mark Owen was quite quite looked quite young

yes but Shaken Stevens was one of my faves oh he loved Shaken Stevens loved him so much still do but I also used to get him confused with was one of my faves. Oh, he loved Shaken Stevens. Loved him so much. Still do. But I also used to get him confused

with Cliff Richard. Very different people. Very different people. Cliff and Shaken Stevens. But I, oh my gosh, I did a podcast with my sister before Christmas and we found out Shaken Stevens' real name and I can't remember if it's Andrew or Michael,

but it ain't, it ain't Shae. It ain't Steven. There's a fact for you. You know, there you go. The fun fact is it could be Michael. It could be Andrew.

I can't remember, but I know it's not Steven. Okay. So you have fancied those when you were in your all girls school, where were you in the hierarchy? Were you cool? Were you a nerdy? Were you,

where were you? I don't know. Particularly. It wasn't cool. Definitely. cool were you nerdy were you where were you kind of uh no particular definitely wasn't cool definitely wasn't nerdy because it was quite a bright school so um it's one of those schools where they can weedle out anybody that's not making the grades that way they get great grades so um i was kind of middle of the road on um the bright list in their school and then in the hierarchy i just wanted to be friends with everybody it's kind of a i i wanted everybody to like me and that's not fair i liked everyone as well so i just had friends all over that you know there was just i don't even i don't

think i would have even recognized that there was a hierarchy actually it's one of those looking back there definitely would have been but it wasn't something that I felt there was at the time yeah you just kind of bopped about between different groups that's kind of a nice place to be though isn't it it is it is I mean at a time it meant you didn't have one particular close friend at school but you know I'd hang out with my friends because um and then I made another friend else I had other friends outside of school as well so they're the ones that I would see at weekends and you didn't see your friends quite as often as you do now as the kids do now they see their friends all the time either on play dates or as I said play dates meeting up but kids my girls see their friends all the time either at

school or after school or on social media so you have that constant whereas we didn't get that you'd be lucky if you saw them once a week outside of school yeah I did do lovely long phone calls where me and my sister would absolutely row about who was going to be on the phone after six o'clock yes so we did a lot of that and also had a lot of pen pals yes I did yeah I used to write for you lot and I had a fringed pen pal I used to love that but um yeah we used to sit on the phone in the landing getting freezing always my mind was on the stairs with my mum trying to get past me with the washing that was my kind of and she was just stomping past and I was just like hunched up and then my sister's going get off it's my turn I never had a phone in my bedroom that I'd have loved to phone no way not been allowed that no way that would have been the dream I remember also I mean I remember everybody's telephone number

from around that time I remember all my friends telephone numbers I don't remember literally why I went into the kitchen two seconds ago but I remember the telephone numbers of all my best friends at that time I can still remember the telephone numbers of all my best friends at that time. I can still remember the telephone number of one of my first boyfriends. I shan't reveal it in case, I don't know, maybe his mum still lived there or whatever. Yeah, because I dialled it that often. And then I'd be like, hello, hello, Mrs. So-and-so, could I speak to so-and-so, please?

And they'd be like, yeah, and then they'd scream, she's a head-summer, but only guns. Yeah, it's such a nightmare when you Yeah, it's social, I think, when you think about it, the kids just don't know. Like, they don't, they have no idea. Yeah, they wouldn't have to speak

to anybody's mum to speak to anybody, would they? No. They'd just contact them. Oh, we sound like two right old ladies. I don't even know that they're... Oh, I mean, it's good, though. I'd quite like it

if I could screen my girls' calls. I'd be like, I'd put them right to the test as well. Yeah. I don't, do you know what, though? I don't think my mum was ever screening my girls calls I'd be like I'll put them right to the test as well yeah I don't you know what though I don't think my mum was ever screening my calls I just anybody could have phoned to be honest and she was just like that's to be fair my mum was like anyone yeah yeah I do I do miss the pen pals we should perhaps get it started again but then I don't know we used to um

put sellotape over the stamp so you could reuse them did you ever do that no I didn't even know that was possible yeah so you put the sellotape over the stamps and then when it gets to whoever nicola and wherever she could just rub off the uh that's amazing gosh that's really trampy wow it's incredible really isn't it yeah we used do. So you'd have like the one stamp that would just be in circulation. Did you ever do friendship books? No. So friendship book. So friendship book.

But this was like a very take that fan kind of thing. Right. So you'd have a little book, right, and you'd write your name and address in and you'd be like Mrs. Barlow living at wherever in Yardley and you'd send it to your pen pal and then she'd send it on to her pen pal, and it would go all the way around, and then the book would get sent back to you, and you'd have, like, a little book of, like,

30 new pen pals you could write to. That's actually dead cute, but what a faff. What a faff. And also, they were all called, like, Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Owen. They were all called. My goodness. I remember chain letters. Do you remember chain letters you have

unlocked a memory what what is a chain letter remind me awful they were awful they still wind me up because back in those days we were really superstitious weren't we and um yeah i'm really pleased my kids aren't superstitious but i literally believed everything about the fact that i was sagittarius and i believed that I was going to meet a man that was this thing. Oh boy. And the chain letters were something along the lines of, if you don't send this on to five people, you're going to die. And it was just awful. I used to be very brave and just stop them right there.

Was it a letter that came to your house? Or was it a letter that we got in school? Why can I remember the word chain letters, but why can't I remember the ability of what happens? I can't remember that. I might even be confusing it. No, I'm fixing it. You're not.

You're not. You're not. Please, somebody out there, remind us of what a chain letter is because I can't remember if it was something you did in school. Maybe if they came to our house, that is terrifying. Yeah, it's terrible. I do remember actually seeing recently some Instagram stories and some younger people have put up, yeah it's terrible i do remember actually seeing recently some instagram stories and

some younger people have put up share this or something awful's gonna happen to you on their stories and i was like this is a load of shit this is a chain i'm so sorry i keep swearing and you can swear that's fine this is a chain letter but i need to when i get off i'm going to google what chain letters are um they sound maybe i've just completely repressed it okay so we've talked first crush what i want to hear is your first snog in brighton there was a nightclub called the top rank which would have a teenager that seems crazy now because i have a 14 and a 16 year old and they would not go clubbing but as age 13 we'd go clubbing but this was of course it was like that then it was weird so basically uh i would go in and downstairs would be for the 13 year olds and if you were 18 you were allowed

upstairs my sister was five years older than me so i would just go up with her id and um yeah there was a a man there boy there one time and um i ended up snogging him outside and I remember he smelt a bit like he obviously wasn't strong on the old spice or whatever it was uh and I hated it it was horrible but did you feel like you just ticked something off the list and then you're like right done it now yes exactly that was what it was a little dirty snog they used to have underage discos and stuff didn't they I used to go to one at the dome so you would be allowed in but then to be honest from 14 I was just going to normal yeah exactly I mean I always looked older than I um I always looked older by being tall and so uh just went clubbing I look at my my my Erin now who's 13

and the thought of her being able to go clubbing in a year terrifies me because she looks still little how that and also we weren't using highlighter or concealer or anything we were just bopping up with our faces how were they letting us in they just didn't care did they i had to be male concealer actually and i would push it on without rubbing it in so it was a i just like and literally put it on and it was a stick it's like a pan stick that and the max factor pan stick and uh i remember my dad once seeing me and he just went what on earth have you done and i probably just looked like a panda because i thought the lighter the better the lighter the

better under the eyes to be fair though i look at my highlighter now I put on so much highlighter I am like glowing I actually really like it I think it's really good do you know what my girls love a bit of highlighter but I put it on their nose I put it on my nose now look you don't see my nose I won't do that I won't do that but I look very dull in comparison now except for my shiny forehead but yeah Erin puts loads of highlight on but yeah clubbing was just it was just to help what what kind of clothes were you wearing because you're very stylish so what's your instagram account so everybody can go and follow you um so it's 40 plus not giving up yet and uh i do mainly i just do try on showing the clothes and

how they look like and things like that but um it's actually really lovely that i can get my own clothes now because when i was 13 i had a paper round to pay for my cna clock house nice um i had a paper round and then i worked in a cafe and when i worked in uh i worked at the local great hound stadium in the restaurant and lied about my age to be able to do that so i did everything I could to get the funds to be able to buy clothes my mum and dad didn't buy it for me or unrate their wardrobe so um my style was very very odd it would be grabbing stuff in the wardrobe sort of from the charity shop or from down the market or see an o'clock house so quite a mix so it sounds like you still

loved fashion then yeah I must have done I must have done many I hadn't found myself quite yet but uh I remember one that was pretty uh I remember grabbing my dad's string vest his Mark's expensive string vest and putting it over a black t-shirt and thinking I look oh that easy uh and I really didn't I looked like I was wearing my dad's street mask. I thought I looked like a punk. I think, do you know what? I think you did look like a punk.

I'm going to rewrite your herstory and say you did look like a punk. I feel that there must have been a trend because I once had a vest and wore it over a T-shirt as well. Yeah. So we must have seen someone somewhere wearing a vest over a t-shirt i think it was the bangles i think it was the bangles i'm sure it was i'm sorry i found my i found this reaction my bangles album oh lovely this was amazing i mean like yeah i'm sure that susan uh forgotten her name that one she's ananna Hoff. Susanna Hoff. Oh my God, yes. So like basically, have you seen her now?

She's like even more exquisite than she was then. So gorgeous, yeah. She probably wore a string vest in a kind of ironic fashion. I reckon it would have all been like a bit off the shoulder maybe. Oh my God, I've got a vest on, look. Oh my goodness, lady. I've showed it and I am actually wearing a vest today, but like because it's cold.

It's not a string vest. Shall I show you what vest it is it's even worse it's like a real old lady that's all right a stream vest has got to be worse surely I mean what's the point of a stream vest it was just for style so was that your biggest fashion faux pardie thing well a few I had quite a few so um I had a bomber jacket from the market that I thought was fantastic. That was a suede bomber jacket. We also had, so Converse were in. Converse trainers got really, really fashionable. So I couldn't afford the real ones or I couldn't afford them. And then I bought some down the market, but they didn't have my size. And I remember the guy selling me a bit and I tried mine.

I basically was a size seven shoe and I bought a size 10 shoe. What? You must have been like a flipping clown flopping about. Honestly, I can't imagine what I look like because I've got no matter what weight I am I've always got quite skinny legs and at that time I had skinny legs with a little shape on the top I must have looked like a golf club basically these massive boots so I could hardly walk in there I let alone dance I used to go to the club wearing them I bet you loved them yeah I did love them at the time I I remember my mum saying, that looks ridiculous, Luna. What are you doing?

And I just thought she didn't understand. She didn't understand. I want to wear Converse, fake Converse, funverse. I had fake Converse with Batman and the Joker painted on them, also from the market. That was a nice look. Some of the fake ones be um you know the inside bit would be on the outside the converse round bit would be on the outside and then that'd

be how you could tell because it looked like you're wearing the boot on the wrong foot yeah fake commerce i got a lot from the market wilton market that was the market in erdinton i had a fake i had like a bros jumper where their faces were like cartoons but they look like they've been like melted so that was a nice one um I had a I had a few I had a few bits and pieces what's one thing that you would wear now from back then that you would like be like oh oh I actually when I was a bit older when I was about 16, I got really into violet fur coats, leggings and bikers. And I still wear those now. I love them. But that was a little bit older at the age of 13, 14. I can't say that anything I would have worn would have still been okay

now. Did you ever have a shell suit? No, I didn't. Can't believe you didn't get one of them from the market. A nice flammable shell suit. I mean, that is where, you know how old are you i am 46 so yeah so that's three years old and maybe does make a difference so the three years so we have established a scientific experiment three years equals you either a shell suit person or you watch dallas and dynasty that's actually that's it if there was an experiment and there was some sort of like time... Pie chart.

Pie chart. I don't understand what the pie chart would say. Maybe a slight overlap. If there was a chain letter about... Yes. We'd have the first letter would be like Dynasty and then it would move on to Shell Suits. That's what we established in this. But I feel like Dallas and Dynasty is better than Shell Suits.

I think it's... I think we'd actually be good off all right suits I think so I think we've actually got off alright what kind of music were you into so you liked the bangles what else did you like this is when I went out to the attic to try and find the photos lovely found my record of ethics

that's cool enjoy this trip because it is a trip I loved that it was mixed because I had an older sister so I'd get all her stuff as well. Now, I don't know what age this was, but I can still listen to this now. Musical Youth. Let me tell you now. Musical Youth, the members, I think there's only a couple RIP remaining.

They play rounds by where I live all the time. The pub, the King's Head, that used to be where I used to go like 15 years ago, every week. Am I a star? They'd have the time. The pub, the King's Head that used to be where I used to go like 15 years ago every week. Am I a show? They'd have the musical. I should get them on the show they'd have one of the musical youth people up there singing.

Honestly, I loved them and they came on the radio the other day and it just made me so happy because it brought it back. It was like part of the Dutchie

but I liked the other one that went oh yeah and then they're going to give you up. I don't know if I know that. I'll have to listen. Yeah.

I'm going to try and sing it, but no, I'm not. It just... I should get the man for musical use. Never Gonna Give You Up. Also, I think when I went to see the Commonwealth Games, the ending, and they had loads of... Was it the ending or the starting of the Commonwealth Games? They had like brummy, famous singers come on.

We've not got very many. So on it was dexys midnight runners oh well we love dexys my dad see that was actually more my sister's favorite song and wherever she went we had i think we had musical youth we had apache indian remember apache indian i think we had oh you didn't wind your body or wiggle your belly. Oh, my goodness, yeah. I love that. That is definitely the one where you really can't sing along. Oh, we also had Pato Bantanon.

Come back, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye. All the classics. All the classic films ended with Ozzy Osbourne. Very good start, if you ask me. Absolute bangers. Ocean Colour Scene is also from Birmingham. So it's all very, like, 80s and 90s around here. So do your girls, do they have record players?

Would you give them your records now? Or would they be like, what the heck is this? Actually, one of them has. So yeah, I don't really know. So this, I didn't even know I still had this because my mum and dad died five, six years ago and I put everything up in the attic, but I try not to go in there

is it brings everything back actually this was lovely to go back and see it and there are a few things i should be throwing out but uh still can't bring myself to but uh i don't think the girls i mean the girls their playlists are very pleasantly 80s and 90s as well because i think maybe they hear it on tiktok now and uh so quite often their music, their play used to be played. My husband and I can sing along. Oh, so it's nice to collect it. So are you glad you grew up then? Or do you wish you were growing up as a teenager now?

I don't know. I think there's so many things that were really great about that time, but it wasn't like I was particularly happy. I think there's a lot around the social media and all of that these days that's considered to be bad, but I do think it's really lovely as well because it makes them connected. And it makes them maybe more sure of themselves in so many ways because they have their friends to connect with.

I think the body positivity movement, it's very good for our kids it's very good and i wish that i'd had that then because back in the 80s and 90s if you weren't a size eight fitting into levi 501s there were no other jeans to wear and i couldn't i couldn't wear jeans i have to wear men's jeans i used to wear my dad's marks Mark's and Spencer's jeans because Levi 501s looked dreadful on me. Plus they'd stay, they'd stay the thighs on the back. I remember lying on the floor. Do you remember when they used to say

sit in the bath in your jeans as well? So they'd be like. Yeah. And you'd lie on the floor to sit back. It was just thrush. Permanently. That's how I spent, I remember lying on the floor

and like could not breathe. And it was the pain. You would just get in those Levi's jeans yeah yeah a lot of good there's a lot of good things that um I could happily put away from the 80s but there are things that um I think my girls miss out on we used to read a lot we used to write a lot we got bored you know even now talking to you and we're saying oh we're gonna have to look this up isn't it amazing you wouldn't know you have to live forever not knowing what shaken steven's real name is you know so um it's amazing now that i will literally stop i'll plow to the side of the road have a quick look on my phone to check something um and they've got so much at their

fingertips but actually maybe it's too easy for them in that respect because we used to go to the library to go through the index cards to find things and I used to love reading and my girls but they don't love reading and why would they and one of them's getting more into it now why would they love reading when they've got their phones with you. Yeah they've got so much like when you have to do um i don't did you go to university yes so i i'm sure you were there when you had to hand write your you'd hand write your um essay you would be doing on a computer you'd have to actually go to you'd have to go to the library now yeah oh if i write like a quiz like a slightly lengthy christmas card i'm like oh this is a bit yeah much yeah and we used to spend hours like perfecting

our handwriting as well as you'd have to write so you'd be making your handwriting how you wanted it now lots of the girls used to do that I never was very good at it and I was the last person to be allowed to move to pen at my school but you'd still perfect it and then you'd spend time doing those things like you'd write the boy's name out and then you'd write your name out and you'd crisscross it out wouldn't you and work out how many percentage the person loved you do you remember that no but it sounds brilliant but all this time to doodle and waste time but they don't I don't think they have time to do that because they'll be spending time with all the other stuff that they get to be connected yeah it is a yeah I used to have a pencil case and I just draw little pictures on it

and it would all be like, so-and-so loves so-and-so and certainly like little peace signs or little hearts. I also remember I went through essays of handwriting and doing hearts over my eyes. That was kind of, that must have been frustrating for my teachers. That was the thing as well. So like, I remember you didn't, yeah, you didn't draw all the time because you didn't have

anything else to do so i remember my mum even when i was very little we got the um freeman's catalog which was exciting because you wouldn't have shops online of course and um i used to sit and draw in in a red biro all the lips on the ladies like the lips to make them look prettier to give them red lips and my evil big sister said to me oh you know you should do this and she showed me how to color in all the nipples of the underwear shots but also the pubic area to give them I'm so really young anyways this is a cornbread this is probably well basically in those days the guy used to come back and pick up the cat's log

a lot of money and I remember my mum going to pick it up I had no idea and the man picked it up it flew open on the underwear section and there's all the women having nipples and pubic hair where I'd drawn them in because I'd been bald I had nothing else to do and this by the way I was drawn them in because I'd been bored. I had nothing else to do.

And this, by the way, I was about 14. I was younger than 14. And my mum, after that, not long after that, we moved house. So I wonder if my mum just couldn't type anymore. Your mum was like, well, that's that then. We're going to have to move. We never bought from Dreamers again. Yeah, they used to come back and collect it,

like the Avon catalogue and stuff, didn't they? They'd come back and collect it. I wonder if they still do that now. I don't know. I feel like they used to come in like a bit of plastic but yeah you draw another back in my day that would have been 1981 so that was a long time yeah if you could go back and um tell Helen something age 14 what would you tell her you'll find you'll find yourself stop worrying just be happy uh also try and find something exercise is not hideous try and find something that makes you feel good because I never used to exercise and it's I hated it I honestly hated it I wasn't any good at anything and at my school if you't brilliant at it then you know what was the point

for the PE teacher in teaching you and although I used to ride my bike a lot that was a lovely joy for me because I couldn't get around a bike I never found exercise as a way of not ever from losing weight just by being happy and giving those endorphins a go so I wish I wish I'd known that because back in my day nobody went to the gym even jogging was considered a little bit crazy oh the only thing that my mum went through she did um aerobics like aerobathon aerobics yes she went to she went I think she went to like Butlins and did like an aerobics weekend once. That's amazing. Amazing at Butlins as well. Actually, I do remember this again when I was 17.

Chironetics or chaesthetics or something. And also we all started doing the Cindy Crawford video then. Or Jane Fonda. I remember they'd wheel out. It saved the PE teachers. Like, I can't be arsed to teach you today. Then trundle out. Could you imagine now?

Trundling out the telly. Do, do, do, do, do with the video. Popping in the Jane Fonda and you'd be doing the Jane Fonda. That's a boxing at your school. That's freaking. I mean, we used to watch Mr. Motivator. He's still going. Oh, my God.

He looks exactly the same. I like his workouts. That actually, his workouts are what got me into exercise. Mr. Motivator. I need to get him on the podcast. You do. Mr. Motivator looks the need to get him on the podcast. You do. Mr. Motivated. He looks the same as he did back then.

He really does. But that's exercise for you. And therein is the lesson. Okay, where can my lovely listeners find you on Instagram? I'm the same. 40 Glass not giving up yet. Okay, well, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. And guys, thanks so much for listening.

I'm thrilled to be back with season four i cannot wait for you to listen to some more guests they're going to be live each monday but of course you can listen throughout the week and there's three other seasons to catch up on so go back and catch up let me know what you want me to talk about i think i'll do a special maybe i was going to do like a valentine special with my sister because i know you love episodes with her also going to try and get Grandad Rodger on because I'm sure he has got a lot to say for himself so thanks so much for listening guys and I will see you next week for another episode bye Helen bye thank you FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling We'll be right back. exclusively on FanDuel Casino, where winning is undefeated. 19-plus and physically located in Ontario.

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