The Phonebox Podcast With Emma Conway - Work Experience With 5ive!: It's Em Channel

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Who bizarrely did two weeks work experience with popsters 5ive? And is the first person on The Phonebox Podcast to ever pick Blur over Oasis? Em from 'It's Em Channel' that's who! We chat about snogging at school, boys called Darren and fancying Jason Donovan. Go follow Em on Instagram here, on TikTok here and subscribe to her YouTube here. Listen to Ultimate Kaos 'Hoochie Booty' here!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!#90s #90smusic #90sfashion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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enjoy the number one feeling winning in an exciting live dealer studio exclusively on fan duel casino where winning is undefeated 19 plus and physically located in ontario gambling problem call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. Hello everybody and welcome to this week's episode of the Phone Box Podcast with me, Emma Conway. How the devil are you? I am, oh when you listen to this my son might have left primary school. So whilst you listen to this imagine me lying face down on my bed, silently crying because I have come to an end of an era. And if you follow me on YouTube or Instagram or anywhere like that, you will have seen him for like nearly a decade. So this is a big deal. But at this moment, he's still at school. So I'm recording this, Emma. There's another Emma on the podcast. I'm in high spirits.

Welcome to the podcast. So we've got an Emma and an Emma. This could get confusing. This is like school. How many Emmas are in your class? Are you an Emma Louise? Yeah. Oh, she's an Emma Louise. What else would you be?

Emma Jane. Yeah, Emma Jane. Jane. We had a Sarah Jane and Emma Louise emma louise and my sisters are claire michelle michelle's was a very popular name so welcome to the podcast emma um you like you get you call yourself m i call myself m as well but do other people call you m or do you have to like enforce it most people call me em the only people that call me emma are my mum and my boss oh and my one of my friends as well but she does it i think she does it on purpose work it's really hard to get people at work to call you em i found when i was a teacher i found it impossible i would sign all my emails, Em. I would do everything, Em.

They would still call me Emma. And when I queried my boss, he said, because it's unprofessional, Em is unprofessional. Why? Yeah, but some other names are shortened, aren't they? And it's fine. Yeah. Like what?

Steve. Instead of Stephen. Yeah, exactly. Impossible. I'm going to tell you what. If I meet somebody and i get a bad vibe off them and they call me em oh it gets me heckles up oh yeah oh i'm like you call me emma you'll call me mrs conway okay emma em could you please tell everybody where they could find you

you can find me on youtube on instagram i've got a tiktok but i'm a bit you know i'm just i'm dipping my toe into tiktok i think your tiktok's great they always come up for me oh thank you um but it's just under it's m channel yeah and it's like fashion bit of travel what else that's about it isn't it like kind of like lifestyle yeah dog mom life uh yeah yeah more so I started doing plus size fashion that's when I started and it's just sort of evolved and I'd like do vlogs and just day-to-day stuff yeah you've got a podcast as well why do you not well oh it's a it's a vodcast vidcast vodcast it's a don't call it what the heck is a vodcast what's the cast so me and my friend kyla yeah um mckayla or mckayla talks on youtube um we started a podcast got ages ago well we've done many over the years

and it's just been a you know like a little bit of a hobby and we've just done a bit and then it's sort of gone away and then started a new one and we sort of said we we should do one, but just do it for YouTube rather than just like for people listening. People can watch it. So it's a vidcast, isn't it? A vodcast, vidcast. But we've called it Don't Call It A Podcast. Oh, sugar. And I just called it a podcast.

Dumb. No, no. But that's the joke. Because if we call it a podcast, we won't continue with it. No. Okay. Don't call it a podcast. I will leave a link to that in the description as well then um so everybody can go and listen to that right what year was it when

you turned 14 and where were you living 1995 good year yeah it was a good year fun year and i was living not far away from you in coventry oh good old car with the good old coven worst flipping roundabouts and driving in the what the heck man it's just a shocking so you were living in car um what was on your bedroom walls oh got posters of boy bands yeah obviously come on this is the boy bands whilst you're telling me the boy i'm i'm googling the top songs of 1995 so i can quiz you on them what boy bands were on your wall so boy bands i used to have well bad boys inc loved them yeah we've had many conversations about bad boys did you listen when i had them on the podcast yes Yes, yes. I tell you what,

I doubt he'll be listening to this. Matthew Pateman. I'm hoping he's not going to listen to this because I'm going to be very glowing about him. He was the same as Gary Barlow at that time for me. Oh yeah, we're talking like, and when I tell you that man

is the nicest man I've ever met in my life he will reply to my stories he'll like my posts i can well believe it yeah he is a joy an absolute what oh what i love i love him i love you back man if you're listening i just love you and i think you're an icon and you deserve all the success because you're absolutely great so you have who's your favorite bad boys in was it Matthew David David was my favorite mmm followed by Matthew yeah followed by Ali followed by two I'm sorry to put them in rank them in order I'm sure they're all lovely men but you know that when I was 14, that was like my David.

I was all about David. I'm going to rank them now as well, which is really bad because we shouldn't do, because we're really like, you know, what is it? Not sexualize. What are we doing to them? We're treating them like pieces of meat. We're going to do it. I'm going to go Matthew number one, David number two, Tony number three, and Ali number four.

That was my dream line up who else apart from Bad Boys Inc I had some take that I had Boyzone I did love Boyzone Kavanagh do you remember Kavanagh oh god I love Kavanagh so much

I've still got records of his upstairs oh oh my god he was so handsome but then um then he was gay wasn't he and then I was like oh I didn't know that yeah no I didn't I wouldn't have guessed that either um I actually well I say met him he stood behind me at a gig once and it was actually it was Chris that went because we watched him in Big Brother do you remember he was in Big Brother years ago and it was actually Chris uh my husband that noticed him and he went have you seen he's behind us he did the whole don't make it obvious and then I like turn around and he was behind us

at a gig and I was like oh my god and my 14 year old self was like oh my god did he still look fit no I mean I didn't really fancy him as much just an older just an artist we're all older now aren't we yeah yeah I really like I think I was just flustered because it was like oh my god well well he still wouldn't like it because he likes men so oh you mean as in like your heart would okay no imagine you're young as and you would have been really excited but yes but not like you're older now and you're like oh yeah oh i think if i was walking around powerland and kavanaugh walked past me i'd be very excited that's the scenario i've got me and kavanaugh walking around Poundland,

or maybe B&M, and I'd be like, oh, it's Kavanagh. Yeah, I'd be quite excited. Who was your top fittest man that you loved the most out of everybody? Oh, God. Well, I was thinking. FanDuel Casino Daily Jackpots. Guaranteed to hit by 11pm with your chance at the number one feeling. Winning.

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Research and supply. See full terms at canada.casino.fandu.com. Please play responsibly. With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at at phys.ca when i was eight years old jason donovan was my dream man and i'm still it's still on my list to meet him i've never met him i've been to see him in a couple of shows and i've always thought right i'll go to stage door but he's never there have you seen did you see him in rocky horror because that's what i saw him in i've seen him in rock and horror joseph in the technicolour dream coat

yeah and it was like oh one day i'll meet jason i think he is touring though he's doing like um like a talk or something and me and my friend were like should we go we haven't bought the tickets yet but we just reminded i think you should definitely go. Him in double denim, but it's both white with a guitar and floppy hair. Gorgeous. Oh, yes. Yeah. Oh, what's the one where he's on the cliff with the guitar?

What's the one? Oh, yeah. Oh, ten good reasons to leave. I'll give you ten good reasons to stay. Oh, you're the only one I really have Too many broken hearts in the world

We got that An absolute certified bop He once did a little concert at Maryhill Shopping Centre and when I worked

in Dudley in Netherton and I went with a colleague to go and see him and he was just in a shopping centre just doing

a few songs lovely very shopping center tours i don't know people don't do that now no they don't yeah you used to get good people turning on the christmas lights yeah i i presume it might have been that i presume it might have been jason donovan turning on the christmas lights but they don't do stuff like that anymore why not bring it back yeah i know i can't remember the last time somebody turned on the christmas lights where i am oh we had phil mitchell once let's bring it back and let's make it be um blue worlds apart and kavanagh let's get we'd be there we'd be excited wow oh i love i loved um steve and dan from world's part oh do you remember code red yes oh good i'm glad somebody does remember i remember i don't remember their names actually

they weren't on my on my radar um right i've typed in top songs 1995 uk they have come up with some absolutely unhinged songs and i i truly believe that this is not the right list but i'm gonna go with it anyway uh-huh do we go for do you know what we'll do both we'll go for the unhinged list and then i'll do the official list okay on the unhinged list try and guess one of the top songs of 1995 on the unhinged list on the unhinged list i don't know i'm kind of thinking is it going to be something like Too Unlimited, No Limit or something? Oh, that's a great song.

Anita and what was his name? Ray. Ray. Ray and Anita. I had an uncle, Ray. Ray and Anita. What classic names. No, that's not on the unhinged list.

That would have been a good one, though. Yeah. I don't know. I'm trying to think because 1995 was kind of like wasn't it like the start of dancey music as well i'm gonna give you an unhinged list because you're never gonna get this and i don't i don't know what what tom foolery google is playing on me we've got two ultimate chaos songs right i forgot about that show a little of an hoochie booty

it's not right we then got i need you by juice with lisa in who used to be married to at mcpartland then we've got d reem but not with things can only get better with shoot me with your love what the hell's that and then we have got unchained melody melody by jerome yeah by robson and drone so that one i think is plausible i what uh what what money are chaos paying to google to get on the top what are they doing what are they doing now actually google them what are they doing now okay okay i'm just going to read them out so we've got a number five top selling best-selling singles of 1995 think twice by celine dion oh beautiful love that love that for me poor old celine she's oh do you see the documentary i haven't seen it but i and my sister says it's very sad yes lean if you're listening we love you we love you we're sending you all of our strength.

Number four, Bat for Goodbye, Take That. Oh, yay. That was, I remember them, like, what would the word be? Not releasing it, like showcasing that song on the Brit Awards. We recorded it, we wound it 7,000 times to write the words down. That is, got your lipstick mark, salon, your coffee cup. My sister has got a, did she buy the mug? They were selling mugs with that on.

Oh, lovely. Number three, Up on the Roof, Robson and Jerome. Up on the roof. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Yeah. with robson and jerome up on the roof yeah no you have to marry her one of them who would it be robson or jerome oh god yeah he didn't even robson robson okay chill out number two gangster's paradise oh i know all the words to that don't make me do it. Go. Don't make me sing. Don't make me sing. Go. She's shy.

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life. I realise there's nothing left. No, I'm not singing anymore. I think we should release it as a single and I'll be Michelle Pfeiffer in it and you could be Coolio. Coolio, excellent. And you'll just be singing and I'll be sat Pfeiffer in it and you could be Coolio Coolio excellent

and you'll just be singing and I'll be sat on a chair in a leather jacket like looking a bit like oh my god I'm a tough teacher from the bad streets and number one

we're back to Robson and Jerome Unchained Melody A White Eclipse of Dover gosh special for the nannas the thing is I remember most of those songs

apart from Ultimate Chaos I can't remember the Ultimate Chaos songs apart from ultimate chaos i can't remember the ultimate chaos of songs you know can you um i think it went i mean i think i do i think it went who chair who's your booty i'm sure that's how it went i'll leave a link in the description so you can listen to i think it went who chair who boogie. Oh, that's what it went like in my head anyway. So we've covered the top songs. Excellent. I mean, I think it's a diverse list, isn't it?

It's different. It is diverse and it is different. And Robson Jerome, the chokehold they had on the nation really was quite extraordinary. Oh, was 1995 the Blurvie? 1995 was the Blurvie Oasis. Yeah. Which one did you go for, Blur or Oasis?

Well, do you know, obviously I liked all my boy bands, but I feel like 14 was like the age where I was like starting, starting to like get into my indie music, you know? Blur. Blur. What's Blur? Oh, my God, Emma, I think you're the first person that's chosen Blur. Really? I need a klaxon I need a

I've asked this question so many times you're the first person to have chosen blur I need to make a t-shirt or give you a crown and blur won so you actually were right everybody else has chosen a racist fascinating I just really like their music

and you fancy down yeah obviously I need to I'm going to have to write that down and remember it because everybody else has chosen Oasis this is a thrilling day for me so you had posts in your bedroom, you liked your boy bands you were going into indie music

any other kind of music you really liked? theatre stuff I was always really into theater music and stuff yeah um yeah when jason donovan went into uh jason who's technically a dream player oh any dream will do and i think the 90s was peak laymiz time it was peak there was like a double cd i remember and i listened to that on repeat and i think i had an andrew lloyd weber best of and i memorized all of that as well because i was so cool but yeah but i feel like i was kind of i'm still always very into my pop music

um but starting to really think oh indie music is quite cool isn't it i want to be a cool kid yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and Oasis and Blur were fab weren't they lived a little bit a little bit 90s indie okay what kind of school did you go to and where did you fit in the hierarchy well I went to many schools because I did move around a lot because of my parents job we had to move quite a bit um so I was always the new girl at school um which wasn't a bad thing because I think it I made friends quite easily um but I feel like I was um whenever I said about school I always call myself a floater well I mean that's a big turd Em that's a big turd that's what I was I feel like

whenever I turned up at school because I was mostly the new girl everybody already had their cliques didn't they really have their friends or whatever and I had to slot in somewhere but I was always in the middle I was always like friendly and bubbly and tried to get on with everybody but I was never a cool I was never in the cool group I was never in like you know the nerdy group or whatever I was always just in the middle and a bit of a floater. I talked to everybody. I like that. Just like bopping around, keep your head down, keep out of trouble.

Just keep, keep, yeah, keep on the, yeah, I like that. I shan't call you a floater. Butterfly. Butterfly is better than a floater. Yeah, lovely. Yeah. That's better than a floater. Who was your first crush apart from jason donovan anybody

else brings mine you can use real people if you had like a real crush at school oh yeah i was gonna say do you want my first crush like yeah can i guess his name because i'm gonna pick 90s names i'm just gonna guess them was it mark that seems i'm very nice no no what was it you're gonna keep getting okay um mark jason no what else what else was a real jamie no oh what else is a real nick no i'll tell you go on darren oh my Oh, my God. Why didn't I guess Darren? That should have been literally first. We all had a Darren. I had a Darren in primary school.

Always a Darren. I'm not worried I've owed you a second name, but, you know, Darren. But he, do you know why? My mum and dad used to run paper shops. Do you remember Four Boys, the news agents? No. Oh, okay. Well, they used to manage them and that's why we moved around quite a bit and um he did a paper round

at my dad's shop and uh I loved him I loved him did you ever speak to him or was it just love from afar oh every so often yeah and then sometimes um one of the paper boys didn't turn in so I had to do a paper round and I used to have to do the papers. But, you know, when you do the inserts, you know, you've done like the magazines and the papers. And before you take it. And I used to be like, he's there, he's there. But he also was in my school as well. So I used to see him at school in some of my classes. But I was always like, Darren.

Did he have floppy hair? Yeah, curtains. Oh, Darren with floppy hair yeah curtains oh it's darren with floppy curtains doing bloody papers an absolute hunk we i would have been in love with darren i need no further information no it was a dream it was a dream did you ever snog darren or was it just a love and required yeah i had a mark with floppy hair that was unrequited. And I never actually spoke to him, yeah. So that was pretty dire.

Okay, let's talk first kisses. Oh, okay, yeah. What was it like? Wet. Wet and sloppy and disgusting. Wet and washing machine-y. Where were you and how old? I was 13 and it was at school.

You snogged at school? Yeah. Where would one snog at school? Like down the bottom of the field where no one could see you. Yeah, because I went to an all-girls school, so I don't know what people would do. You were just snogging on the bottom of the school field. Yeah, just snogging at the bottom of the school field, yeah.

Well, you've already said his name. Mark. It's got to be a Mark. It's got to be a Mark. Yeah, yeah. And did you date him or was it just a one and done i think for like two days yeah and then you kicked it off you're like well it's quite a long time isn't it yeah that's you i'm supposed you weren't engaged to be honest i mean i think i still am jesus did you ever formally break up because if not i think i've told this apologies if i have told this on the podcast before but i had a holiday romance with a boy called stewart another great name and um we

saw each other a couple of times and then he just stopped taking my calls he just stopped he ghosted me he absolutely ghosted me stopped taking the calls and there was no like phone or instagram like that was it you wouldn't well i ain't gonna see him ever again but i did see him again i saw him about 10 years later when i had another boyfriend and i really really was torn with going up to him again you know as if we were still going out with each other because he never formally ended it i thought i could just be like just pick it up but i didn't i just side-eyed him and tough i'm still going out with him really yeah cool never he never ended it he just goes boy boy so mean man i know this is this stop being mean um what is your because you're known for fashion, I want to know your biggest fashion faux pas.

Maybe my silky Adidas T-shirt. Do you remember those? The Adidas T-shirts, they were very, very silky, no? And they had the name in place and on the front and the stripes, obviously. Oh, yes. Yes. You know, they're quite, yeah, and they had lines on it. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah. Yeah. And they were very shiny and staticky, weren't they? Like, they literally stuck to. What would you wear it with? What would you accompany it with? Jeans. Jeans.

Oh, lovely. Cream jeans, I remember, were a big thing for me i feel like a cream jean with that top and maybe some sort of chunky shoe yeah from dulcis oh lovely dulcis a chunky shoe from dulcis cream maybe a belt and that top yeah i can see it yeah i remember my shoe my most chunky shoes from dulcis and i just zip oh i had a pair of kickers as well oh fancy yeah i remember thinking i need the kick i need kickers for school because everybody had kickers didn't they you know yeah people like it's my school was more like docs so there docs. So it was a doc mart in kind of school. But I also had some like fake docs, some fox.

Some fox. Some fox. And they were from Dulce's. They were from Dulce's. I had a fake NAF NAF jacket. Of course you did. Was it NAFCO 54 or was it just fake NAF NAF? Yeah, off the market.

Yeah, we all had them. I don't know if you remember. It was quite a craze when i was at school but you remember head bags right but you remember using the head bags as a pencil not the big massive one but as a pencil case so they did these little head bags they were small yeah and everybody had them as a pencil case was it a bit triangular yeah yeah i feel like i'd like that now i feel if i went into i can't go into paper chase because it doesn't exist well where do we buy stationery from nowadays i don't know why we got it from walworths didn't we we were young so if i went to wh smith's now and i saw that head of pencil case maybe in like a pastel pink or some sort of like pale blue i'd buy it no i love it yeah head bags i never had a head bags i had a puma bag but i

really wanted a head bag oh i loved my head bag was yours? Well, mine was pale blue with the white on the side, white things like the zips on the side. But my best friend had the black one with the bright pink piping and like the teal size. And I was like, oh. Yeah, my bag was a black Puma bag and that had bright pink. I feel like it was like a head bag, but cheaper but I was I wanted a head but I ended it with this and it was fluorescent I had that in year seven and I remember thinking oh I've really

made it I've really and this bag was massive but yeah I did want a head bag and actually I think I'd own a head bag now if I went if I went into a sports shop with the kids and they were going oh I need a bag for PE and I saw a head bag I'd be like what about one of them they'd be like no you weirdo um Chris bought me one for a birthday years ago I don't know where it is I think it's like in a storage basket somewhere I know it's terrible post it to me I'll have it um what was your biggest fashion like love that you'd wear now? That I'd wear now? Yeah.

Oh, God. I don't know. What would I wear now? Maybe the shoes from Dulces. Yeah, maybe. They're all coming back, you know. All those kind of shoes are all coming back. Oh, the belts are back, aren't they?

The, what are they called? Like, the round ones. The bohemian style ones. And i saw a thing the other day what did i see the other day where someone was um like saying about these belts but also they were like and the owl necklaces are coming back do you remember that it's from the i've got i've got an owl i feel like an owl brooch the belts i went into a shop the other day that i've never been into before not sure i'll go in again because it was not for me was not where i was with my very slim 13 year old i think it might have been three people but i went in and all the models had those

buckle belt things on and i even filmed a video i must put it up and i thought gosh we really are going back in time going back in time yeah i don't know maybe i'd wear the clips maybe the butterfly clips i'd wear again possibly erin's got everyone's got a pack of them they're they're quite they're quite cute um but the the buckle belt no and i have mentioned this on the jodie marsh belt top many a time where she just had the two and And as I always say, if I message my sister now and said, because me and Claire are going to see Carl Kennedy next week off of Neighbours. Stop it. He's my weird crush.

He's my weird crush. Can I come? I love him. He is performing at a library at the end of my old street. How weird. You're more than welcome to come. A library at the end of my old street. How weird. You're more than welcome to come. A library at the end of my old street. By now, by the time people listen to this,

I'll try and put it on Instagram. Yeah. But if I messaged my sister now and said, what are you going to wear to Carl Kennedy? She will simply buy that, a Jodie Marsh belt top, because that is our standard answer. Jodie Marsh belt top for everything. Oh, it's not jeans and a nice top. No, Jodie Marsh belt top. everything. Oh it's not jeans and a nice top. No Jodie Marsh

belt top and if it was if I was going for a wedding she'd send the wedding picture of Jodie Marsh in her wedding belt top because that's what the reference is. However Jodie does she ever pop up on your TikTok Jodie Marsh? No I think I've got her on my instagram because she owns a farm now yeah she looks after animals she looks so happy like the other day she just was like like bottle feeding foxes and i thought oh what a life what a life she wasn't she was in a boxes in a belt top but i would have really liked to have seen that um okay so what was your biggest teenage flop um i think it's got to be related to hair and i think it's got to be when I went in and I asked for the posh spice cut and I hated it with short or bob which one you well I wanted the bob but I just got with

the short it was terrible I feel like if I could if I could show you a picture but I don't even think I've got any photos from that time because I was anytime there was a camera around I was like get it away from me um I cried I really cried did you were you polite to the hairdresser yeah I was gonna say were you polite were you like would you like it then oh thank you oh it's ever so nice see you again soon and then you go out and you just cry all the way oh god I sobbed it was horrible it was like well she's just you know they've just recently had their 20 well yesterday wasn't it the 25th anniversary whatever and they posted a picture of her hairdo from her wedding basically that short do i had that yeah imagine imagine and i can imagine because i had the same haircut so i can imagine it because i saw it on my own head i'm physically sorry i had it i was going

for more claire from steps so i was yeah i had very very very short hair to the point was maybe it shaved even at the back whoa but like like the very short hair very very very very short hair maybe like I was trying to be a bit indie as well um I didn't hate it I didn't cry but when it grew out which it did very quickly it didn't look right it just and then actually growing the thing out completely was really hard work yeah especially because they're all different everything's different lengths isn't it yeah it was really hard I remember I had that haircut the posh bite haircut and I had a black oh my god I loved it a black leather jacket you know when she's wearing the larger jacket just done up and like a black pencil skirt and I thought I was posh spice oh take me back and I probably

thought I was really fat then and I bet I just was thin and gorgeous and beautiful and you just hate yourself don't you you do you remember when I don't know if you did it but I remember I used to do it where it was a a suit jacket um yeah suit jacket and trousers or whatever and like a little tiny top and and did you ever have the dark rimmed glasses with like colored lenses i'm thinking a bit like an appleton sister that seems like what they would have worn yeah i had purple satin suit from top shop uh with a wonder bra with a dry monty cloth and yeah i think i might have had those sunglasses maybe with like yellow they ain't they're not stopping the sun from getting to your eyes no do you know what i've got some here i know people

for the purpose of the you know people can't see them but i feel like i haven't got the exact but i feel like they're coming back in fashion hang on is that nickel apple turn or is it hi hi yeah it's me but they look really nice they were that they weren't that nice color they were like a yellow yeah they were yellow and they weren't this size no that's smaller but but i got these and when i put them on i was like oh my god i've instantly taken myself back to the 90s because i used to have something similar i actually really like them but yeah back in the day when you put them on you went a few questions that i need to know you can never hurt me so and like everyone in the show was like what she did oh is that the car after that god

okay so what was your um biggest teenage success um my biggest teenage success was working for fives management oh my god yeah there's silence because my mouth just hit the goddamn floor one why didn't you open with that one when i said to you where can people find you why didn't you say yeah i'm here there and everywhere and i used to work with five why didn't you open with that oh I don't know I just didn't think about it I'm sorry I should have shouldn't I you should have done because I'd have been like hang on I'm going to do this what you ready this really is right yeah it's gonna no no look look at the fireworks come in I'm so excited tell me everything in minute detail go okay I'll tell you everything so when I was in college I did media studies and I wanted to be a music journalist that was my dream I wanted to be the editor of smash hits that was my

Kate Thornton bye I wanted to be the editor of smash hits um so I studied really hard and as part of one of the modules uh it was like, you know, create a magazine. And so I was like, right, I am going to try and see if I can interview some boy band members, you know, because that was my thing back in the day. And I was really ruthless if I think about it. I used to ring up record companies regularly, like BMG. Hi, can I speak to Louis Walsh? Hello. I work for the college magazine here's me bigging myself up there is no college magazine but you know i'm creating one um i just wondered if you had any um members of blah blah blah that i could interview and yeah i got i kind of

befriended a pr lady at bmg and she was the pr for five and she got me into, it was just a rant, like fluke thing, I also got sent some other stuff, I think I remember getting like the first Westlife CD and poster that was signed because they were on their record label and I was, you know, oh this is exciting, but at that point I was into my indie phase, so I was like excited but also like, oh play it cool because I'm getting into indie stuff anyway um she was like five's PR and she said would you like to come and work at the management company just do like um just to do some work for them and I was like okay I'm literally dying my face is melting off right I need to and I've got to ask some more questions

okay one how old were you 17 to where were you living at this time Coventry still 17 year old in Coventry and you were doing all this over phone because we didn't have yeah no more button yeah no mobiles it was all over the analog phone um yeah and then I I had to um get it past my mum and dad and they said yes yeah very trustworthy um I went to their management company which was safe management I don't even know if that still exists but they were managed by Chris and Bob Herbert you know Spice Girls manager yeah and i went to their offices so i got the train from we also need to know what you were wearing i really want a full 90s image oh my god what was i wearing what was i wearing i don't remember would it have been jeans yeah jeans and a nice top jeans

and a nice top lovely not a jody marsh belt top a halter neck yeah did you not with no bra i bet because we didn't have to wear bras yeah no bra okay so i've got this no bra jeans chunky shoes getting on a train from coventry to go and work with five yeah so i got on the train and i remember pulling up at sunningdale station which is in surrey so how i navigated i mean i can't even remember what trains I got. I must have got two trains or three trains. And I was picked up by Bob Herbert and abs from five. Are you fine off your chair? Are you all right?

I don't understand. First of all, to get to bloody Surrey, you'd have had to go from Coventry to Birmingham, from Birmingham to London, from London to Surrey. I don't know what time your journey started you must have left the house at like five o'clock in the morning to do all this to get there yeah no no why was this manager and abs picking up a 17 year old girl in a halter neck top from Surrey this is weird isn't it but it happened in danger it happened I just and then what did you do and then I went and I worked at their management they put me up and I worked yeah yeah yeah and I worked I worked in their fan club for how long like two weeks it was like a work experience thing

but yeah two weeks in their fan club but as part of that I suppose if you could call it college work experience if you like you know um but as part of that I got to go around with them as well and I remember I went to the BBC and I went to the National Lottery when they were performing there um yeah it was very surreal if I think back I think god I was very surreal. If I think back, I think, God, I was 17 years old and I was doing all this stuff. I don't think I had a mobile phone. I didn't have a mobile phone. You wouldn't have had a mobile phone.

It could have ended in a very bad way, this story. Being put up in a hotel by fire for two weeks. Okay, so you've gone to the National, not National Trust, you've gone to the National Lottery, you've gone to the national and not national trust you've gone to the national lottery you've gone to the bbc day to day you were seeing them in out right i've got several questions number one who's the nicest um who was the nicest uh scott number two who is the fittest rich really number three did they all get on there was a few arguments i saw they were quite bickery number four on your last day did you just go see you later then lads and that was the end of that yeah this is this is a netflix if you're listening and i know you are picking up and make a film about this.

It's not Anne Hathaway. Not old lady Anne Hathaway copping off with young M in a halter neck top from Coventry being shoved in a hotel with one of her friends. Did any of them try and cop off with you? No. No. I don't think I was a very fit 17 year old yeah you were fitting your whole neck top man they're not going to give like they're not going to take you to the

national lottery if you're not fit this is an absolutely thrilling story i love it did you have any photos from them days yeah i do oh i've got a photo of me holding an mtv award actually somewhere actually i don't think i'll bring that up because I don't think I have much eyebrows you know when you pluck your eyebrows too much would you show us and put a heart over your face and I will do it and I'll put somebody else

the MTV award that is like wobbly yeah do it and I'll superimpose a picture of Nicole over your face I think this is one of my favourite stories this is a great story along with superimpose a picture of Nicole Atherton over your face. I think this is one of my favourite stories. This is a great story, along with, I did another podcast with a man called Robert,

who once, he was in madly in love with Mel B, and he saw her coming out of the cinema when he was like 15, and he met her and had a chat. But because there was no social media or phones or anything, there was no photographic evidence. If you were doing that now, you could have been TikTok-ing it every day. Oh, I could have, couldn't I? Yeah.

It's just one of those stories, though, where you're like, oh, I want to tell the grandchildren. I love it. I want to tell my grandchildren. It wasn't even me. You know, as soon as Stephen walks through the door today. You're going to tell him? Wait till I speak to my sister. When I'm meeting my sister at Carl Kennedy next week,

I'm going to be like, you'll never guess what. you know what i actually saw her on tiktok the other day because i showed it to chris so five are now three aren't they oh yeah so they're now three um but they'd still do gigs and somebody's hired them to perform at their wedding and i was yeah and i said to chris i said you know we're gonna renew our vows in a few years. Five bad boys with three bad boys with the power to rock you. Yeah. Which three is it? It's Rich, Scott and Sean.

Actually, do you know what? Sean was actually really nice too. Well, that's nice. I like Jay. That is my most favourite teenage success story. That might be. Oh, wow. wow yeah you're really coming in hard with the blur and that worked for five jeez these are like 90s dreams okay um are you glad you grew up then or do you wish you were growing up now

oh i'm glad i grew up then yeah 100 i feel like having no social media back then, I think, is a blessing. It's a blessing and a curse, I suppose, if you think about it, because obviously social media is an amazing thing, but also a pressure for youngsters, I think. And so, yeah, I definitely feel like having no social media back then was better I prefer it was just a simpler time I think it was a simpler time but I'm sad there wasn't a TikTok series of you being on work experience with five that that that the world needed to see you in a car going to the national lottery in a hall I saw some very weird things though so not with like fan things and don't get me wrong i i have been part of the like you know going around and

i know you got you have as well being right following bands and all that kind of stuff and so i guess when you think about that element of like safety thing like did your mom and dad know where you were when you were following they my mum and dad my dad they do listen no they didn't know where i don't but don't not not in like a i not that they didn't care but i think they just completely trusted us they were just like all right okay yeah yeah exactly and so it was just a very different world wasn't it back then and we were just very trusted to just go and do what we what we liked really strange if you could go back to em then what would you tell her um what would i tell her

i would tell i'd go a bit deep actually i was ready i i would tell her to not worry about appearances for a start just be be who you are you know but also spend more time with family like even though I spent time with family I feel like because I've lost quite a few members of family quite early on I feel like if I could go back in time I would be more like maybe not go and do half and a quarter of the things that I did well the five thing I still would have done but but just spend more time quality time with the family making those kind of memories you know yeah the thing is if you went back and told a teenager that they would be like absolutely not I'm going back that's like a real the benefit of hindsight like if I said to Erin

right we're not going to go see Taylorlor swift what you're going to spend time with your nan and granddad she'd be like what absolutely not what yeah you wouldn't be able to we wouldn't be able to tell any ourselves anything because they just look at us and go your old ladies snore off because teenagers are fools um i have thoroughly enjoyed you bringing first of all never mention ultimate chaos on a podcast that's good um the fact that you voted for blur well that's revolutionized my life and the five story i always do a poll on my phone box podcast instagram account i am going to do a poll the best i'm going to do the best songs of 1995 and i'm going to put a few rogue ones in and then on spotify if you listen on spotify there's like you can always do like

polls on there i'm just going to do um favorite five songs or should i do favorite five songs or favorite jason donovan songs oh oh stop i know. Or a bit of both. Fine. Do you know what? I think we've done Jason and Kylie before, actually. I'm going to go your favourite five song. I think the winner will be... Baby, when the lights go out. Oh, God, that's a good song.

I do love a five mega mix though at a wedding. Yeah. Oh, if you, if you're my, I'm at a wedding, there's a five mega mix or an S club mega mix or five Alice club, like an S five mix.

What the hell? Get down tonight. Oh yeah. I love it. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast. Um, be sure everybody to go and check her out and go and watch the vodcast i will leave all her links in description below and i will see you um soon for another podcast guys and also go and check out my instagram

because somewhere i i'm hoping i've maybe posted a picture of me and carl kennedy i'm manifesting that that has happened and i in my manifestation, he's got a hat on. I feel... I'm totally coming. Are there any tickets left? I'm coming. The library, of course there is. I think it's like cowboy music.

Are you going to do line dancing? Please do some line dancing. I don't know what it is, but I know my sister will be absolutely thrilled. Right, guys, see you again next week. Well, listen to you next week. No, you listen to me next week. Maybe not. See you later, then.

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