Anne Diamond Feed

Can you take the heat

2015-06-02T11:46:36+00:00

Do I really need to give temperatures in Fahrenheit any more when I read the weather forecast on the BBC? I always do, bur to be honest I am not sure why. Somewhere ingrained into my broadcasting training is the mantra that you need to give temperatures in both Celsius (or is it Centigrade?) and Fahrenheit because older people still think in F rather than C. But, of course, that belief might have been true thirty odd years ago but it possibly is not now!

Certainly that’s what listener Peter thinks. He sent me an email saying he felt rather patronised - because he feels it’s a misguided nod to “older” people. Peter added: "Don’t believe your colleagues if they tell you that older people prefer it. I am over 70 and have many friends of a similar age. We are all able to cope with Celsius temperatures and find it condescending to suggest we cannot. After all, we managed the change to decimal currency without a problem and nobody talks about half crowns, sixpencies and threepenny bits any more!”

Point taken.I shall deliver the forecast from now on just in C. Until someone from a remote department somewhere within the BBC turns up at my studio to pull me back into line. I’ve delivered two forecasts thus already this morning. Just waiting for the knock on the door.

Living in harmony

2015-06-01T11:02:27+00:00

Choirs are blazing like wildfire in our patch - literally hundreds of local people are joining them. Berkshire author Gill Hornby has even found that community choirs, rock choirs, gospel choirs and jazz choirs are great fodder for a novel. In her book: “All Together Now”, she casts a lively bunch of characters who recognise that the one thing that might brighten up their lacklustre town is a sense of community pride, something they’ve lost. Their high street is half empty with too many businesses closing down and the place seems to have lots its heart. Until, that is, they get together to start singing. Then some find love, a new life, happiness and harmony!

A very good friend of mine found love when she joined a community choir in London. Yet others who regularly pop in to my BBC Radio Berkshire show extol the virtues of joining a choir. Gill reckons that, in the olden days, we used to unconsciously bond as a community by gathering every Sunday in church and singing together as part of a religious service. Now few and fewer people go to church, it’s something we don’t even know we’re missing - but we are. And that void is now being filled with the sudden explosion of community choirs. She reckons community singing is a profound human need - and I agree! Local choirs are a huge force in our society and I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t crow about them!

Chelsea Old!

2015-05-20T13:54:26+00:00

I cannot get over how utterly exhausted I still am from my day at Chelsea Flower Show. My legs ache all over, and my eyes still burn from having grit and dust blown into them at high velocity from the high winds, plus my feet got cold and wet in the horribly dreary rain. I was beginning to wonder just how old I really was, until I got back into BBC Berkshire today and found that the rest of the team (who are considerably younger than me) were feeling similarly knackered! All in all, it was a tiring day but how splendid at the same time. Never fails to thrill - and to make your own garden seem absolutely inadequate! And well done to all our local garden designers who seem to have won yet another batch of gold medals!

Second-hand phobias...

2015-05-14T08:13:08+00:00

My four year old son, Jack has a love/hate relationship with insects. He remains fascinated by them and desperate to discover which ‘garden animals’ he can find when we’re busy gardening. But in the same breath, he seems uncomfortable around spiders and any insect which moves quickly.

So you can imagine how apprehensive I was when he got an invitation to a birthday party for one of his classmates which involved getting up close to insects. The day came and the class of four and five year old’s sat expectantly in a semi-circle opposite a line of cloaked cages. Jack remained engaged but showing no emotion whatsoever.

The first insect came out (a stick insect). His interest was pricked further and he demanded to hold it, even though it was more interested in climbing up his arm (at what would normally be too fast a speed for Jack). He smiled and laughed at how it was tickling his cheek.

Then out came a tortoise. My son couldn’t get a hold of him quickly enough – prizing him out of his handler’s grip and asking all sorts of questions about his appearance (the tortoise not the handler).

I briefly looked away to reset the camera on my phone. I looked up and my heart sank. Sitting on my perfect little boy’s tiny palm was a tarantula. I’m not bad with insects. I remove 95 per cent of the spiders from our house as my husband and two sons run screaming for the hills. But spiders with leg hair are simply unpleasant. They have large abdomens and they weave webs that resemble Christmas bunting. I stifled a scream. Jack was captivated, fascinated and most of all….completely calm.

The lesson that day came courtesy of the tarantula’s handler, Owen. Who, looking around the room of silent, grinning youngsters simply uttered: ‘Proof that phobias come from parents, not children’.

Reaching Out...

2015-05-13T13:55:38+00:00

Some people in life simply leave you feeling humbled.

This morning I spoke to Dr Kate Yarrow, founder of the charity Doctors For Nepal. Kate worked in the country back in 2008 for Medicins Sans Frontieres and was so inspired by what she saw there, that she decided to do something to make things better.

The charity she went on to found now helps to train doctors from (often remote) Nepalese communities. They can then return to those areas and practice, helping the very people they have grown up around.

Eight thousand people were killed in the first Nepalese earthquake three weeks ago. Dozens more have died in the more recent quake yesterday. We’ve heard a number of stories from the Nepalese community based here in Berkshire over the last few weeks. Stories of anxious waits, of terrifying escapes and of long days helping those in need. I am often left amazed by the strength of the human spirit in such circumstances.

The will of Dr Kate Yarrow to really change things in Nepal, not just in the short but in the long term is inspiring. She is also offering practical help on the ground and is waiting to fly out to Kathmandu now to lend her support.

It’s warming to hear that such people are willing to donate skills that are sought after the world over. They are an example to all of us and a reminder of what it means to be an incredible human being.

A grandmother's dilemma...

2015-05-08T08:30:00+00:00

There’s a lot of claptrap being spun by the rumour mill about how the Royal family are being elbowed out of seeing their new (great)/grandchildren, Prince George and Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. It’s reckoned by the press and the gossips that Kate and William do see much, much more of Grandma Carol Middleton than spending time with Charles and Camilla, and the Queen and Prince Philip. But they add that Prince Charles has been moaning that he hardly sees anything of Prince George, and is worried he’ll never see Charlotte. Whether or not it’s true, it’s certainly a fear that’s shared by many paternal grandmas and grandpas. Don’t they say that if you’re the mother of sons, when they marry, you lose them? But if you’re the mother of daughters, when they marry, you gain sons. Is this true? And therefore, as the mother of four sons, should I worry I’ll never see my grandchildren? Advice please….

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

2015-04-22T07:38:34+00:00

Faithful companions in life often take the form of a partner, a family pet or maybe even a teddy that you’ve had since birth. One of mine is my hairdryer – or should I say ‘was’. After twelve years of faultless service, it finally blew it’s last breath at 7.03 this morning. I am in mourning. Yes, it had lost its back plate, therefore allowing all manner of things into the electrical gubbins inside (including some of my hair as it happens, which led to its demise). It was also littered with souvenir scuffs from various house moves and it’s plug was a little withered after having me stand on it numerous times in the morning rush.

But here’s why I got so attached to that little electrical appliance. It was a Christmas gift from my parents. It blew my hair straight on the night that my husband proposed to me in the Dominican Republic. It blew my hair dry on my wedding day and came with me half way across the world on my honeymoon (admittedly to be left untouched in the case because it was too hot and humid to even consider blow drying my hair). It was in my hospital bag when I had my first son (and believed, stupidly, that I might have any time to do my hair with small children). So, it’s been through some pretty big life moments and has survived long beyond the years I predicted for it.

RIP my faithful companion.

Big footed Ladies

2015-04-15T13:22:51+00:00

During the filming of Titanic, Leonardo diCaprio used to make fun of co-star Kate Winslet’s feet. That’s what she admits – because she has, for a woman, rather large feet. Leo used to call them her “canoes”. They’re a size 9. But that’s nothing, compared to other “Bigfoot” lady celebrities, because Sandra Bullock’s feet are size 9.5, Angelina Jolie a size 9, Elle MacPherson an enormous size 10 and Jerry Hall a whopping 10 and a half! As if that’s not surprising enough, on Sky News this morning, presenter Eamonn Holmes asked the ladies around his newsdesk to confess the size of their feet – and they were all 9s and 10s. So what’s going on? And are men’s feet expanding too?

Shrinking Food

2015-04-15T08:31:49+00:00

So it’s true that Wagon Wheels are smaller than they used to be! What’s even more scandalous is that lots of other chocolatey treats and confections are shrinking in size whilst not shrinking in price. It’s given us a whole new word – “shrinkflation”. For instance, Cadbury’s chocolate fingers are now going to be two-fingers fewer per pack from now on. What’s more, a bar of Dairy Milk contains less grams of chocolate than it used to – but we poor consumers don’t realise it because they’ve changed the shape, and rounded off the corners! Choccy truffles are apparently much smaller than they used to be, and a box of creme eggs used to contain six, now only holds 5 eggs. Many of the confection companies claim they’re cutting down on the calories for the sake of the country’s waistline. Hmmph! And it’s not about profits in a world where cocoa beans are soaring in price?

What's in your milk bottle?

2015-04-02T14:31:08+00:00

Milk. Everyone has a view. We all hated those third-of-pint bottles that we were made to drink every morning at school. Then, when Margaret Thatcher stopped school milk, we demonised her as the Milk Snatcher. Then we were prevailed upon in government adverts to “Drinka Pinta Milka Day” but subsequently told by the slimming industry that if we wanted to lose weight and make our hearts healthier, we should give up dairy. Now, we’re being told that all those years of trying to like skimmed milk have been to no avail – because actually (according to some nutritionists), full fat milk is good for us and it was wrong to give it up. So what do you do in your house? I’ve spent years weaning myself onto red top milk, and low-fat yoghurt. Was it all a useless crusade? Your thoughts on milk?

Nominate a neighbour

2015-04-01T14:51:08+00:00

I don’t know about you, but it drives me nuts, when I’ve ordered something online or from a store, I just KNOW they’re going to deliver it when I’m out. Then, again and again, they attempt delivery at the same time – giving me no way of informing them that I actually work for a living, and need to opt for a mutually agreed time. Then, after they’ve made three attempts, they ask you to come and get it from a delivery centre miles and miles away. It’s so frustrating, it puts me off online shopping! Today, Royal Mail reckon they’ve got a solution by asking you to nominate a neighbour, but will that work? Or is that Royal Mail just passing the buck?

Moving Home

2015-03-23T11:06:16+00:00

Doesn’t surprise me at all that Laurence Llewllyn Bowen has had to swallow his pride and give his Cotswold farmhouse the magnolia makeover he’s always dreaded, in order to sell the pile.

His style has always been Marmite. Over the top and pretentious, and downright smothering to many. At the same time, lavish and luscious to others. That’s why his house, whilst gorgeous and traditional on the outside, is a bit of a multi-coloured nightmare inside – with all of the bits you’d expect from LLB – like chandeliers, velvet cushions galore, daring drapes and lugubrious wallpaper prints, even in the kitchen! So it’s been a no-brainer that he’s had trouble selling it. Apparently, in over a year, he’s had no serious buyers. So what’s he gone and done? He’s taken out most of the ornate furnishings and given it what’s reported as a magnolia wash.

Phew! That’s better! I predict it’ll sell quickly now. It’s a lesson many have to learn. That no matter how much you love your house, and admire your own decorating style, it probably won’t appeal to prospective buyers. You have to anonymise a house to sell it – so that the buyer can envisage themselves living there. That, and the fresh smell of baking in the kitchen, and lots of indoor plants and mirrors, placed feng-shui style.

Giving up

2015-03-11T14:10:40+00:00

How do you get someone to give up something, like cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, or, quite simply, too much food? If we become the second country in the world to sell ciggies in only plain packaging, will it really make smoking less attractive to young people? And what exactly gets them smoking in the first place? And if, after years of being brought up in an anti-smoking household, your youngsters do start smoking (and yes, that’s happened to me), is it really up to the government to do something about it, in the form of tighter restrictions on an entirely legal tobacco industry?

These were points put to me on yesterday’s programme by a listener called Henry who was himself anti-smoking, but defended the industry’s right to carry out their business – saying it was up to us, and not up to the government, to decide whether or not to buy their products. He even made the point that the revenue brought into government by the tobacco industry far outweighed the cost of smoking related diseases to the NHS.

So how do you really get people to make good decisions about how they live their lives? How does the marketing and advertising industry lead our liev? And is there a way to counteract the awesome power of advertising? I’d love your view. I wonder wether we rather too often call upon government to influence our behaviour when we should be doing it ourselves.

Food memories

2015-03-10T13:32:39+00:00

Been indulging in a bit of tasty nostalgia this morning… There’s a new programme coming out on TV next week called “Back In Time for Dinner” in which a family from London have their house transformed back in time – to the Fifties, then the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Not only are they required to live according to those times, but to shop, cook and eat appropriately. That means going back to the days of the kitchen with no fridge – and eating the National Loaf (do you remember?), bread and dripping for breakfast and cow-heel pie for dinner. And what about the Sixties, with the advent of Kellogg’s cereals, the tv dinner and Vesta beef curries and chow mein? The Seventies, a decade so well known for its total lack of style, heralded the age of the Pot Noodle, The Pop Tart and fondue parties.

Did you realise that the average British family got their TV before their fridge? Most of us had elementary tellies by 1958 but didn’t get our fridges till the mid Sixties. And what exactly was the appeal of the eye-level grill? I guess it was just so you could watch your bacon sizzle without breaking your back. And whatever happened to potato Smash and Angle Delight? Are they still around? And more to the point, should they ever come back? I never thought I’d ever see a Sodastream again in my life, yet they’re now selling like hot cakes. And I even hear rumours that the hostess trolley and the Teasmade are making a return… I just wonder what exactly will be the nostalgic food of our decade?

Changing the world one word at a time

2015-03-04T13:42:17+00:00

Today I met a really remarkable and inspirational young man called Dean Young who’s a shop supervisor in Slough, but who should have a new career as an ambassador for adult literacy! Dean is suddenly famous, after featuring in a recent episode of Mary Portas’ Secret Shopper programme on Channel 4. On air, in front of tv cameras, Dean was forced to admit he’d got to the grand old age of 31' without being able to read or write. It's something of which he’s always been ashamed, and has spent his life covering up. At school, he used to deliberately get into trouble to avoid handing in written work, or he’d use his charm to avoid confrontation.

Nowadays, he’s a Dad, and longs to be able to read his own children their bedtime stories. But all of that changed, when Mary Portas got him some tuition. Dean says he enjoyed every minute of it. He can now write notes and shop signs, and can do some basic reading – and he’s determined to go on learning. He’s got bags of personality, and strongly believes now that illiteracy is nothing to be ashamed of, and he’s rather glad the cat is out of the bag. In fact, it’s all made him a local celebrity.

The adult literacy campaign would do well to embrace Dean as their ambassador. He’s bold, he’s brave and he’s got the gift of the gab. I reckon he’d appeal to thousands of people like him who, through no particular fault, have ended up without the basic skills of reading and writing, and spend their lives hoping they’ll never be “found out”. Dean is already a bit of a star – and his bright light should be used to help others. Come on, literacy people, give him a job.