0:00

This Mother's Day, celebrate the extraordinary women

0:02

in your life with a heartfelt gift

0:04

from Blue Nile. Whether it's for your

0:07

mom, a mother figure, or yourself as

0:09

a mom, find that perfect piece to

0:11

express your love and appreciation. Explore Blue

0:14

Nile's exquisite pearls and mesmerizing gemstones that

0:16

she's sure to love. Enjoy fast shipping

0:18

options like guaranteed free shipping in returns.

0:21

Make this Mother's Day unforgettable with a

0:23

piece from Blue Nile. Right now, get

0:25

up to 50% off at bluenile.com. That's

0:28

bluenile.com. Really

0:33

hope you enjoyed part two of Walking the

0:35

Dog with the wonderful Kate Thornton. Do

0:37

remember to listen to part one if you haven't

0:40

already and we'd love it if you subscribed to

0:42

Walking the Dog. Here's Kate

0:44

and Ray Ray. When you

0:46

were at Smash Hits, when you were at Smash Hits,

0:48

it was during that period that you,

0:51

I guess, sort of realized,

0:53

I feel, that one of your skills

0:56

or unique selling points is

0:59

you're very warm and engaging in people

1:01

like you. And that

1:03

likeability is sort

1:05

of a currency, you know.

1:08

Thanks. My move into telly

1:10

was not anything that I

1:12

instigated and I

1:14

went and telly to become a producer,

1:18

not to become a presenter. But presenting was the

1:20

gateway that was kind

1:23

of put before me by a really lovely

1:25

smart woman who'd contacted me. When

1:27

I was at Smash Hits, my job there obviously

1:29

was editor, but I was

1:31

really trying to turn around some very, very declining

1:35

sales, you know. So my job was to be the face

1:37

of the brand as well as in

1:40

charge of the brand. And you were also doing

1:42

things like you would have the Spice Girls would

1:44

come into your office and sing for you. All

1:47

of that stuff was brilliant, but I also had

1:49

to go out and do things like talk to

1:51

news at 10, become a commentator around popular

1:54

culture, to push the awareness of the magazine

1:56

so that advertisers saw us. And, you know,

1:58

it was about the big... of

2:00

the business, which

2:02

was a lot to get my head around at

2:04

that age, but with that came a little bit

2:06

of attention I suppose from other producers and I said

2:09

I suppose I was new and shiny it's like oh

2:11

who's the new 21 year old over at the Mashits

2:13

that is in the trade press like

2:15

the press because they'd written about me and you know

2:17

I suppose I was a bit of a

2:20

one-to-watch at that time maybe and then

2:22

people started offering me TV shows like loads of

2:24

TV shows not that I don't do telly I

2:26

don't do telly I'm an idiot so how dare

2:28

you and then this one woman just wouldn't

2:30

let it go and her name was fish Powell we didn't

2:32

know each other and she

2:34

was just quite relentless and I really liked that

2:36

in her and I agreed to meet her for

2:39

coffee and she was working we went and met

2:41

a Milbank at ITN and she was working for

2:43

ITV and she was like she went

2:45

look I'm gonna put this to you as a business

2:47

case magazines are dying and I

2:49

knew that right print sign

2:51

I knew that if you want

2:53

to be part of the future well that's where

2:55

she got me because I can't the FOMO is

2:57

terrible if I think I'm missing out on something

2:59

I'm furious which is why you know I've been

3:01

doing podcasting for five years before anybody else put

3:03

into it is like I'm gonna be the first

3:05

I'm gonna be at first I want to be

3:07

a digital person you know I need to I

3:09

need to throw the new stuff so anyway so

3:11

she said I'm telling you now digital

3:14

TV's about to launch right so it's coming in

3:16

here tell five tunnels right and she's like it's

3:18

coming it's coming fast if

3:20

you don't want to miss out on being part of

3:22

the future you need to get on board now and

3:25

she was doing this new launch time current affair show

3:27

for ITV and I said don't wanna be on telly

3:29

but I'd like to produce you have to be

3:32

on screen but you can also produce will teach

3:34

you everything and basically the show is called straight

3:36

up and they were looking for four

3:38

new faces to bring to ITV on a Sunday

3:40

lunchtime nobody watched it was up against EastEnders omnibus

3:42

when that was a thing and

3:44

we had to go in and generate our own story

3:46

every week shoot the film

3:48

cut the film book a guest off

3:50

the back of it and present the show live from the

3:53

studio so it was a crash course in telly she went

3:55

at the end of this summer you do 13 weeks of

3:57

this you all know whether or not you want to

3:59

be a TV producer and that's the opportunity I'm putting

4:01

before you and I was like pretty compelling

4:03

I'll do it. So I went in purely

4:05

thinking that at the end of this I would run

4:08

a you know I would walk away and go and

4:10

run a newsroom in a television outlet

4:13

of ITV news. I don't know I don't know

4:15

where I thought it might lead but I just

4:17

felt I had to be part of the future.

4:19

So the next thing I know you know as we're

4:21

going through my shits I find I find up as

4:23

well at the same time a couple of things were

4:25

kind of orbiting. So Jeremy

4:28

Langmead who's an amazing journalist at the

4:30

time contacted me again

4:33

because I you know I think it was oh she's the new shiny

4:35

thing and said do you want to come and work for

4:37

the Sunday Times? I was like yes

4:39

like I can't even spell but yes. I

4:43

was just so excited to go and work for one

4:45

of the best newspapers on the planet and

4:47

Mary Claire magazine quickly followed and they signed

4:49

me up as a contributing editor. So I

4:51

suddenly thought oh actually I'm I've

4:54

got this nice portfolio of work now where I did Bit

4:56

of Kelly, did a lot of great

4:58

print stuff. That's how I ended up stepping

5:00

into telly and then I went off

5:02

and I made this current affair show for the summer and

5:04

it was like me and Nick Knowles living

5:06

in a novital in Southampton he was one of

5:09

the other presenters. That's a documentary I'd want. Right

5:11

I was in the next room

5:13

to him listening to him twang his guitar all night

5:15

singing extreme more than words over and over. Um

5:20

true story and I had

5:22

a brilliant time I loved live telly I got the

5:25

bug we were on air we they kept

5:27

us on air the day Diana died that was that

5:29

was something that that turned my head in like

5:33

to be part of something that was

5:35

as seismic as that and to be

5:37

on air reporting it and uh to

5:39

be part of that team I just

5:42

thought yeah telly's telly for me. So

5:44

that's that's how I ended up in

5:46

telly. And UK it

5:48

has been said are partly

5:51

responsible some say for

5:54

candle in the wind being associated with Diana.

5:56

Well I played it yes I played it

5:58

that day because it was all I had

6:00

in my car that was sad and

6:02

slow. Everything else was just rave tunes from

6:04

Ibiza at that point in my life and

6:07

the music library was shut because it was a

6:09

Sunday. So yeah, yeah we played it. I don't

6:11

know if I was the first. People have said

6:13

you were though. People have said that, yeah. It

6:16

just seems like a horrible thing to sort of like

6:19

be all happy about. I don't think it's being

6:21

happy but I think what I would take from

6:23

that is an ability

6:26

to read the mood. Yeah.

6:28

Obviously a lot of people

6:30

I imagine still recognise

6:32

you from X Factor because that

6:34

was so huge that show. I

6:38

think what you've been doing, what I've been doing as long as

6:40

I have, it just doesn't go away. I've just

6:42

been doing it for so long now. I was

6:44

in a meeting a couple of years back and I

6:46

was referred to in this meeting like I wasn't there

6:48

really but it was very nice. I went, well you're

6:51

a heritage presenter and I was like, what does that

6:53

mean? And they

6:55

went, well just, you'll never not be known now. You've

6:57

just been doing it that long and I was like,

7:00

right, okay,

7:03

thanks. Like

7:05

alrighty. But

7:07

yeah, maybe that's just where I am. It's okay.

7:09

I have been doing it forever. People feel like

7:12

they've grown up with me and that's so lovely.

7:14

And they come over and they ask me how my

7:16

son is and they know his name and you know

7:19

they ask how my brother is getting

7:21

on with his firefighting and you know

7:23

you just become a professional

7:25

friend I suppose. So Kate, tell

7:27

me what it

7:30

felt like, that process

7:32

of being on the X

7:34

Factor and presumably it's like

7:36

sort of, it's a big steep learning curve

7:38

doing a show like that. Well yes and no

7:40

but I've had a run in at it on

7:42

Pop Idol. I've already done two

7:44

years of Pop Idol and I've

7:47

literally, you know, I've been doing the ITV2

7:49

show and then got promoted up to the

7:51

ITV1 show for X Factor. But I've been

7:53

watching the Masters at work, Ant & Dec.

7:55

I mean like as an apprenticeship but equally

7:57

like Ant & Dec and I all knew

7:59

each other. from my Smash Hits days

8:01

and actually I worked really

8:03

closely with them at this sounds awful

8:06

at killing off PJ Duncan and rebirthing

8:08

Ant & Dec and

8:10

we did that with an inner photo shoot with Rankin and

8:13

we created the cult of Ant & Dec and

8:16

and you're laughing it's all true

8:19

I turned Dec's hair ginger by

8:21

mistake, it was literally blonde yeah

8:24

and then I put them on as the presenters of

8:26

the Smash Hits Awards it was their first live so

8:29

we did a lot of great work together

8:31

in that time. We all sort of grew

8:33

up together anyway. We did and we really

8:35

got each other and we got each other's

8:37

strengths and I you know I love working

8:40

with the boys and I loved learning from the

8:42

boys so I guess by the time I got

8:44

to X Factor there'd been no time to catch

8:47

my breath really it was just like get

8:49

on with it and enjoy it

8:51

which I did I did. Did you? Yeah

8:53

I did I enjoyed the I enjoyed the

8:56

honor I enjoyed the contestants I enjoyed working

8:58

with so much of the wider

9:00

team that I'm still in touch with now which is

9:02

lovely but yeah there are lots of good things that

9:04

came from it. Come on Ray!

9:07

Yay! Do you want mummy to carry you?

9:09

I mean he is trying to compete with grass that's

9:11

almost as long as and tall as him

9:15

little Ray. It's like you're

9:17

fighting your way through bamboo isn't

9:20

it? You said since Kate

9:22

and I respect you for being honest about

9:24

this because people so early on whenever they

9:26

leave shows yeah they say we're

9:28

going on to pursue new opportunities I'm spending

9:31

more time with my family yeah and what

9:33

I loved is that you said after you

9:36

left the X Factor you said I

9:38

was really stupid. Well I

9:40

was like I was

9:42

going off to do other things but they didn't

9:45

give me that. They wanted the headlines they wanted

9:47

the big story of the sacking and they got

9:49

it so then you know if you put that

9:51

out there and you throw somebody under that kind

9:53

of bath then you have to

9:56

live with the snapback so

9:58

did they just did you just get call saying that's

10:00

it because it happens in this job doesn't

10:02

it? Yeah much yeah yeah yeah and listen

10:04

it does happen in this job and it

10:06

happens time and time again and a lot

10:08

of the time it happens and people just

10:10

don't know about it because it's not as

10:12

public or as big a show but it

10:15

happens and you just have you know I

10:17

am NOT the first person to be fired

10:19

it certainly wasn't the last time either and

10:23

I think we have to try to take some of the shame

10:25

away from it it's not a failing you know

10:28

nobody know I know what happens on

10:30

the lead-up to that I know possibly why I was

10:32

that decision was made and I'm very proud

10:35

of how I represented myself in the run-up

10:38

to that decision being made I won't go into

10:40

the ins and outs of it because it's old

10:42

news now but fundamentally I don't feel like I

10:45

have you know doesn't

10:47

feel like a failing in my life at

10:49

all and I had a great time working on the

10:51

show for the time that I did and

10:54

it is I mean it's just so old

10:56

no 20 years and you said

10:58

at the time there but I did think

11:00

it was interesting looking back how you'd said

11:03

you'd been told to lose weight yeah

11:06

five which just my jaw hit the

11:08

floor yeah yeah that was a

11:12

television executive yeah and what did they

11:14

say they just said they offered

11:16

me an

11:19

all expenses paid to a retreat

11:22

where I could go and lose weight and

11:25

possibly get my freckles bleached because

11:27

they were quite annoying on camera I

11:30

told them to go and fuck themselves I'm

11:33

not doing it I'm not doing I'm a recovered anorexic

11:35

you wouldn't tell an alcoholic to go and have a

11:37

drink so I'm more fun with a pint inside them

11:40

you know it's the same and it's

11:42

wrong when I say I'm proud

11:45

of the way I represented myself yeah

11:47

that's why I'm proud of myself and

11:49

it alienated me and it made me

11:52

an easy target but it also made me

11:54

with my shoulders back somebody I could look

11:56

in the eye and be proud of and

11:59

that was and the

12:01

size of my brain and the

12:03

ability to drive a live show is always what

12:05

I wanted to be measured by in those circumstances,

12:08

not the circumference of my

12:10

weight. And you know,

12:14

I measure the world differently to people like

12:17

that person and that

12:19

person has daughters. Shame

12:22

on them. Shame on them. You

12:24

went on to work on Loose Women and you're

12:26

so brilliant on that case. I love that show.

12:29

And you've

12:32

subsequently, you've

12:34

carved out this brilliant, as you say, it's

12:36

a portfolio career. But also don't forget I'm

12:38

a single mum. That informs

12:41

so many of my decisions over the last 15

12:43

years. Right. Is kind of make it work with Ben. When

12:45

I get off of the job, I never go like, oh,

12:48

what is it? How, how much is it? I

12:51

go, where is it? What are the hours? Oh,

12:53

Ben, what is it? Like, you know, he has been

12:56

first and foremost in all

12:58

of my thinking. So that's why I've had

13:00

a bit of a portfolio career. And also,

13:02

I think that's the future. You've always struck

13:04

me as a real grafter. And I think that's

13:06

from your parents that I can remember must have

13:08

been shortly after. I've even been after you've left

13:10

Ex Factor. I can't remember what it was, but

13:13

I remember seeing your name. It was at

13:15

the point when you were a big, big,

13:17

big household name TV star. I

13:19

remember seeing your name in the Sunday Times. You've written

13:21

an article. And I remember looking

13:23

at it and I thought, God, I've got so much respect

13:26

for that woman that you've

13:28

never lost your head. You'd never thought I'm

13:30

a TV star. I'm not going for it.

13:32

And I thought, good on her. She's a

13:34

real, I'm a broadcaster and I,

13:36

I'm a gunfire. But listen, hey, you know,

13:39

hang on a sec. The Sunday Times. Yeah.

13:42

Like, that's one of the greatest publications in the

13:44

world. Yeah. And they still want me to write

13:46

for them. Even though I'm dressed in

13:48

a sparky dress on a Saturday night going, you know,

13:51

phone this number. So actually,

13:54

that's my, that's my privilege and honor

13:56

to still be in print Where

13:59

they take me seriously. The player for to enlist

14:01

because it to the semi getting lost

14:03

in all that kind of job hands

14:05

and signee for and it wasn't and

14:07

it with my job to retain that

14:09

my get to now is like. In

14:12

a sitting here is I asked to

14:15

sell. Very lucky I didn't do a

14:17

lot of things fly. Love someone. I

14:19

work really hard at them you do.

14:21

You do a broom full coverage on

14:23

loan and so would you. Been doing

14:25

five years even to have known car

14:27

and I'm I'm I'm. It's. So

14:29

great pay for flying a lesser

14:31

you very. Much.

14:34

For with people who very engaging

14:36

on you get fantastic guess I'm

14:38

it does feel was eavesdropping that's

14:40

consistent Everything nice rifle is I

14:42

wanted to fill out you have

14:44

pulled off a chair. At

14:47

the table Or on the sofa. This

14:51

Mother's Day celebrate the extraordinary women

14:53

in your life with a heartfelt

14:55

gift from Blue Nile. Whether it's

14:57

for your mom, a mother figure,

14:59

or yourself as a mom, find

15:01

that perfect peace to express your

15:03

love and appreciation. Explore Blue Niles

15:06

exquisite pearls and mesmerizing gemstone said

15:08

she served allows enjoy. Fast shipping

15:10

options like guaranteed free shipping and

15:12

returns make this Mother's day unforgettable.

15:14

With a piece from Blue Nile

15:16

right now, get up to fifty

15:18

percent off the Blue nile.com as

15:20

Blue nile.com. Ryan

15:23

Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. With the price

15:25

of just about everything going up during inflation,

15:27

we thought we'd bring our prices down. So

15:30

to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is

15:32

apparently a thing. Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium Wireless. I bet you get

15:34

30, 30, I bet you get 30, I bet you get 20,

15:36

20, 20, I bet you get 20, 20,

15:39

I bet you get 15, 15, 15,

15:41

15, just 15 bucks a month. So

15:44

give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45

15:46

up front for 3 months plus taxes and fees. Promote for

15:49

new customers for a limited time. Unlimited more than 40GB

15:51

per month. Slows. mintmobile.com. that

15:55

a circled white one class today i'm

15:57

an ivory weights and it as he

15:59

says two weeks here I interview hopefully

16:02

a really fascinating well-known guest and

16:04

I ask them three thought provoking questions over three glasses of

16:06

wine. I've literally written

16:08

my own dream ticket. This

16:11

is like I'm feeling out my ears with

16:13

the show that nobody would have commissioned from

16:15

me so I did it myself and

16:18

I'm so lucky that an audience follows it

16:20

and grows with it and tells their friends

16:22

and every year we get

16:24

bigger and stronger and we get

16:26

more and more access to great

16:28

guests. Like last week I just

16:31

recorded with Tim Peake. I mean like Tim

16:33

Peake. I had a right little

16:35

fan girl moment over that. Is it that

16:37

way? Yes this way. Yeah. And

16:39

I've got Jane McDonald coming on this Friday which

16:41

would just be... So what I've

16:44

done is I've set up this WhatsApp group with all

16:46

the girls from this women and all the production team

16:48

that worked with us during that time that

16:50

we were all on the show together and honestly this

16:52

WhatsApp group has given me like the whole show is

16:54

just going to be me playing in these messages to

16:57

Jane and getting her response to it.

16:59

And it just reminds me of tapping into everything

17:01

we've just discussed. God you're so lucky.

17:05

I've worked on some brilliant projects

17:07

with amazing people and

17:09

I feel like I've sort of kept the very

17:11

best of them. I was 50 last

17:13

year and I spent the whole year celebrating

17:16

with all of these pockets of people that

17:18

I've collected as my friends

17:21

along the way. Do you know

17:23

what? Out of anyone I've ever talked to I can honestly

17:25

say this. I would not describe

17:27

you as lucky. I would describe you as

17:29

someone who completely makes your own luck. More

17:31

than, possibly more than anyone else other than

17:34

that. I see you as someone who you

17:36

make things happen for yourself. Try to. Try

17:39

to. But also... No you do. Oh

17:42

thank you. But I also very much try to keep my ladders

17:44

down and take people with me and I think there is something

17:46

to be said to that. But

17:48

that's why you've lasted this long. Yeah. I

17:52

feel like I just reveled in this vast

17:54

of loveliness. I spent

17:56

the best of times and the best of

17:58

people that were from... all pockets in

18:00

my life from school onwards. And

18:03

it was like a world tour in

18:05

my head of all those brilliant

18:07

people and the projects that we were associated

18:10

with. I just had the best time. And

18:12

tell me Kate, with White Rhyme Question Time,

18:15

who are some of the guests that you've had

18:17

where you've sort of finished the chat thinking, God,

18:19

I've really learned from that. Oh my God, so

18:22

many. I mean, I've got over 300 episodes in

18:24

the back catalogue now. And what's lovely now is

18:26

like people might come in and

18:28

find the podcast because they go, oh, Pimpique,

18:31

or we had Princess Eugenie. People

18:33

were so interested in her. And then what

18:36

you do, as you'll know, with this podcast

18:38

is you can track how long

18:40

they listen for, who else they listen to. And

18:43

what I tend to find is that people come in and

18:45

then they stay with us for months because

18:47

they can just kind of gorge on this all you

18:49

can eat buffet of back catalogue, which

18:51

is great. And the shows are pretty timeless.

18:54

So many of my guests have taught me so much.

18:57

But also you have these moments and these opportunities,

18:59

I suppose. So Eugenie was great. And

19:01

I mean, I

19:04

really loved showing her to the world.

19:07

We didn't know each other. And I, you

19:09

know, one of the things I

19:12

said to her, can we just spool through your

19:14

Instagram? Because she posts her own pictures, right? And

19:16

she writes her own captions. And can I just drill

19:19

into the moments that you've chosen to share with the

19:21

world? Because I thought that was fair, right? She's opted

19:23

to put these pictures up herself. So maybe we can

19:25

get into some of the stories behind them. And

19:28

she was amazing. And I thought it was

19:30

a brilliant window into her world. And

19:33

then we talked about the female line

19:35

that she's from, all of these insomitable

19:37

women that form the spine of her

19:39

history. So she was great. Pimping

19:42

was just awesome. Yeah. Who

19:45

else have I heard that night? There was a lovely moment

19:47

when a mate of mine was just on

19:50

the precipice of just becoming huge.

19:53

And she'd been working away for years, West

19:55

End, Dazzle, and that triple threat, right? This

19:57

is a woman that can sing, make you

19:59

laugh. make you cry, she can

20:01

dance and then suddenly she

20:04

gets cast in one of

20:06

those, it's just a show that just suddenly she's

20:08

a global superstar now Hannah Waddingham. So

20:11

to be able to tell her story and

20:13

she said, so Hannah, but you've known her

20:15

before, haven't you? So Hannah and I met,

20:17

um, Hans and Outway is a

20:19

mate of mine had asked me to go and do

20:21

this charity thing one night where I had to volunteer

20:24

as a waitress at the Ivy to raise money for

20:26

the act of benevolent fund. So I was like yeah

20:28

sure. Um, so I went along dressed as a waitress.

20:30

I used to be a waitress, I loved being a

20:32

waitress and Hannah was there and she

20:35

came home, she went hi I'm Hans and Sven and she went

20:37

um everyone always says I

20:39

look like you, can we go selfie together? And I

20:41

was like, we do look a bit like each other,

20:44

like not, I mean she's gorgeous, but we've got this

20:46

small life and a big smile. You look really? You

20:48

look like you, Calvin. Yeah, so we did and that's

20:50

how we became friends, right? So

20:52

then we kept in touch and we met Art and

20:55

yeah, so we became mates and then

20:57

when she got Ted, so obviously she'd done things

20:59

like Game of Thrones which were really huge, but

21:01

you know she was dressed as an unsane shame.

21:03

People couldn't see the gloriousness of her and then

21:05

Ted Lasso came along and it was just that

21:07

minute and that moment where it was

21:10

just a privilege to sit down. So she came

21:12

to my house in

21:14

an Uber, we got tipsy,

21:16

I called a curry and

21:18

we just downloaded her story and it was just

21:20

a beautiful thing as a mate to go like

21:23

this. Look at my amazing friend,

21:25

is she incredible? And you're all going to

21:27

fall in love with her and you have and

21:29

that's lovely. So that's a special

21:32

show, I guess. Honestly, Kate, it's such a

21:34

brilliant podcast and I really recommend people listen

21:36

to it because it is absolutely, as you

21:38

said, it's one of those things you listen

21:40

to one, it's a bit Pringles, it's

21:43

the Pringles of podcast and once you pop

21:45

you can't stop. Thank you. Because you say,

21:47

I want to hear another one. I mean

21:49

I spend at least a day researching each

21:51

guest and then writing It and

21:54

then I'll sit and listen to the edits a

21:56

couple of times before they get signed off because

21:58

I love it. It's my baby. If

22:01

I went up the anybody right now and said

22:03

to my poor cat you for an hour to

22:05

even I was let's see what's that. I'm really

22:08

busy. I've got a lot of and for other

22:10

things I'm sorry I haven't got time kids so

22:12

when semitic and Next tissue the luxury of that

22:14

point. The. Very least I

22:16

can days is put something

22:18

that is absolutely top notch.

22:21

In my area. And. You know and I

22:23

play that's the radio shows one a great tits

22:25

and like every time you might have something to

22:28

say. Oh don't say it

22:30

he says i mean you probably might not

22:32

get that from the thing to my shows

22:34

thoughts on this is your show on great

22:37

a great site aigrain I now have just

22:39

moved to as the opening some life one

22:41

for five of a Saturday afternoon on Guy

22:43

sits and then on Sundays I do have

22:46

really items have just started a new. I

22:49

could you can put forth it is a proper

22:51

of school taught count them so on find out

22:53

I say things like eleven device and it in

22:55

a number science of other and you'd and my

22:57

that the in a Bruno Brooks and they is

22:59

literally way themselves. A

23:01

Com Believe it All those years I

23:03

spend a such a thing Plan records

23:05

the make my own fault for say

23:07

an ingrown. I broke out of here.

23:10

I. Am A. Greatest Hits has been a

23:12

bit of a As As and episodes I

23:14

didn't see coming in my career. I got

23:16

called up to join the network by of

23:18

When Am I Old Nine his comrades Rick

23:20

Black so he's to run for the Pope

23:22

and he took me for coffee that listen.

23:25

Now. And we didn't have to embrace

23:27

that. He is like my oh see

23:29

I stand detainees he are not good

23:32

yes yes jenny pals here just he

23:34

brambles is the ass what at what

23:36

you hear another. About

23:39

it. And I do

23:41

know things. I've been doing stuff on and

23:43

off for years that radiates. Have a bridesmaid

23:45

brought was a bridesmaid. You know your thoughts,

23:47

a professional and I think that's your reputation.

23:49

The signal with me, the bride's you know

23:51

be seated on it is not what's wasn't

23:53

any thirty years now, but what. i mean

23:55

my eyes i suppose i don't see with

23:58

someone sulking if he does your role No,

24:00

listen, you know, I'm... And

24:02

everybody that I work in and around

24:05

are friends, you know, pretty much. And

24:08

I'm always thrilled when somebody lands a job, even if

24:10

I've gone for it, you know, much rather it go

24:12

to a mate than an asshole, you

24:15

know. That's the way I look at it. That

24:17

was so I just don't think I've got that

24:19

level of ambition that I once had. So you

24:22

think not? No, I'm far... I

24:24

think at this stage in my life, I'm far

24:26

more... interested

24:28

in being heard than seen. That's

24:30

what I think I'm at. And like, you know, I'm sure

24:32

you're going to try and wrap this up by saying, and

24:35

what do you think you'll do next? Fuck knows. Who knows?

24:37

What's lovely is what I've leaned into now. Oh,

24:41

I hate that expression. I can't believe I said that. Leaning

24:43

into this. It's just like, see

24:46

what happens. Yeah. Like, because none

24:48

of this stuff was planned. The only plan I had was

24:50

to come to London and be a journalist. Everything

24:52

that's gone beyond that has been other

24:54

pieces of decisions. And I'm OK

24:56

with that now, you know? Beyond

24:59

the podcast, that's the only world

25:02

I reside over where it's my

25:04

way or the highway. Not

25:07

that that's how I look at it, but you don't really have

25:09

control over. What do you think? OK,

25:11

there's a question I often ask people, which

25:14

is, what do you most

25:17

hope people would say

25:19

about you when you leave a room? And what do you

25:21

most fear they'd say about you? I'd

25:24

hope they'd say that she was nice. That's

25:27

it. And I would hate to say that. Anyone to

25:29

say that I wasn't. Yeah. And

25:32

I think, you know, I'm just coming out of, I

25:34

hope, oh, my God, I want to touch some wood.

25:36

Every time I say this, I then fall into a

25:38

hormonal nightmare. But I feel like I'm through the worst

25:40

of my perimenopause. And for a long time, over

25:43

the last two or three years, I

25:45

really worried that I wasn't representing myself

25:47

well. Why? Because I had no control

25:50

over my emotions, my anger, my sadness,

25:53

my ability to cope, my ability

25:55

to remember things. I just lost

25:57

me. Yeah. So I think I spent a lot of time.

26:00

I was a lot of times really worrying about what

26:02

people would say when I left the room because

26:04

I didn't like who I was and why would

26:06

I expect anybody else to. Do you

26:08

know what? The thing is, all

26:10

those things that you've said, they've

26:13

always been defining characteristics of mine.

26:15

So that's why perimenopause

26:17

didn't worry me. So this is just

26:19

how I am all the time. I'm

26:21

always crying, can't regulate my emotions, lose

26:23

things, forget things. People say, isn't it

26:26

awful perimenopause? And I'm like, welcome to

26:28

me. Are

26:31

you quite a, I

26:34

think you're very, quite an

26:36

organised, controlled person. I

26:38

think one of the words I would use

26:40

to describe myself is very capable and I

26:42

became incapable and I lost myself

26:44

horribly. And at the moment I'm on a

26:46

really good run where I felt like me

26:48

for at least six months and I don't...

26:52

Oh, what's that? That looks like Nos,

26:54

is it? What's Nos? That's Nos,

26:57

that's what the young people have. Nitrous

26:59

oxide. Is this like chem sex I

27:01

don't know about? Jesus man,

27:03

there's a whole world going on that I don't

27:05

know about. I thought of you

27:07

as quite a rock and roll of beater. I did, but

27:09

I don't know what's that called Nos. Nos

27:11

is the nitrous oxide. Listen, I love the

27:13

beater but I'm a controlled freak. But

27:16

you don't take drugs. I don't, it's not my bag.

27:18

It's not like to go out and lose my head

27:20

is my idea of hell. Because

27:23

I'm quite a controlled person. Are

27:25

you? Yeah, probably. Are you quite

27:28

very neat and tidy? Yeah. Are

27:30

you? Yeah. To the point where

27:32

it can be. Oh, it's too

27:34

clear of taking. Yeah, massively. Like colour-coordinated

27:37

wardrobe, all that shit. But I'm okay

27:39

with all of that now. And

27:43

I'm okay with, you know, and I've learnt to

27:45

be very forgiving of the last few years. So

27:47

like, if you are listening to this and you

27:49

met me over the last three years, if you

27:51

were the traffic warden that I shouted at for

27:53

no good fucking reason, just because you were just

27:55

doing your job in Brexton two years ago, I

27:57

still lose sleep over it. You know, that's where

27:59

I'm... I've had a rough couple of

28:01

years and I talk about it because I think we

28:03

should. I'm certainly not sat there

28:05

going, I'm the only person to have ever been through

28:07

this. I also think it's really nice for

28:10

other people to hear that it

28:12

passes. I'm not saying it's passed, but at the

28:15

moment I'm having a good run and

28:17

I'm just grateful for that. Kate,

28:20

are you a very direct person? Yes,

28:23

but highly sensitive. That's a contradiction, isn't

28:26

it? So, yeah, highly

28:28

sensitive but very direct

28:30

and blunt, which is, you

28:32

know, quite toxic to me. Hashtag

28:36

stay toxic. I also think I

28:38

have learnt this, I've learnt to laugh at myself

28:40

now, which probably helps. Yeah,

28:44

yeah I am. And

28:46

so, with the directness, so

28:48

you don't have a problem, for example,

28:51

saying to someone, say you've got to prop your upset

28:53

with a friend or they've hurt you, I'm

28:56

the one that gets sent in to do those jobs,

28:58

like in our group. I'm the one

29:00

that's like, if there's

29:02

an intervention, I have to be the one, yeah. So

29:05

if you have to say, listen, I'm

29:07

going to have to tell you something, so and so

29:09

is really upset with you, do you not get the

29:11

fear? Yeah, oh, gotcha, but you still have to, like,

29:13

friendships are not built on just good times. Like,

29:16

life is, all the important

29:18

stuff that you learn in life comes out of the

29:21

awkwardness, the difficulties, the uncomfortableness,

29:23

it goes right back to, you know,

29:25

lying on the floor looking at that

29:27

girl's ankles, right? That

29:30

wasn't comfortable, but it

29:32

made me into a resilient

29:34

person. So I extract

29:36

the money from that. And it's the same

29:39

with those moments, and I've got real friendship tears, it's

29:41

not just about being there for the glory moments, it's

29:44

about being there for the difficult

29:46

conversation. My most successful relationship, I've

29:49

been with my friends in frat, last night, one of my girlfriends, Chiara,

29:52

she's out there to watch that group, and

29:54

she's just watched, she's just got to the

29:56

end of friends with her son, who's in

29:58

the middle of the night. She was like 10, 11, cash. And

30:03

she just put a group together and she

30:06

went, 30 years before being friends, girls. We've

30:08

been through everything that they've watched in Britain

30:10

and we have, right? How lucky are

30:12

we to have one another? And

30:15

that message group just pinged all night and all

30:17

morning and even on the way here. And

30:20

it just felt like

30:22

the best hug. And

30:24

we put so much importance against

30:27

romantic relationship, childhood

30:30

torment that we talked about today. We

30:32

touch on all of these other things

30:34

that are either extremely high or extremely

30:36

low. But forget about this beautiful middle

30:38

ground, which for me has been friendship,

30:41

predominantly female friendship, not to the

30:43

exclusion of men. But my

30:45

girls are like, they're my muscles. They've

30:47

kept me strong. And we will all

30:50

grow old together in a retirement home

30:52

called Percante de la Casa, which is

30:54

named after our favorite margarita. And

30:58

we will laugh and hold hands and see each

31:00

other out of this world, just as we sort

31:02

of held each other's hands across this life. And

31:05

I think that's, you know, yeah,

31:08

they are some of the most extraordinary

31:10

relationships I've ever had. I'm proud of them.

31:13

Okay, I think you're such a nice woman.

31:15

Oh, thanks. Really old, right, man? Really, man.

31:18

I didn't give you a compliment just because

31:20

I wanted to. Did you? It

31:22

sounded so awful. No, hold my guard.

31:24

I think you're such a nice woman. Would you hold

31:26

Raymond Raleigh does a shit? You're

31:30

very well loved by some

31:32

pretty amazing women because

31:34

I'm a bit obsessed by your friendship group. Yeah,

31:37

I mean, I'm obsessed by my friendship group. Because

31:39

it's these women, like I can't tell how to

31:41

wait for a good friend of yours, isn't she?

31:43

In my leading class and the Appleton sisters. Emma

31:46

Bunton. Emma Bunton. Love sea. But

31:49

there's a squad of us, like Lisa

31:51

Faulkner, Angela Griffin, Judy Graham. Like, they're

31:53

just fucking brilliant women.

31:56

And they're a lesson on

31:58

legs. in any

32:01

moment that you need them

32:03

in life. You know, they'll be there for

32:05

you on the dance floor, they'll be

32:07

there for you next to you in your hospital bed when

32:09

you've given birth prematurely and bring you a car seat. I

32:11

mean, they've done all of those things for me and more.

32:16

There are some of my greatest loves, yeah.

32:18

We so loved having you on this

32:21

podcast. It's been absolutely, it's really

32:23

given me a lovely energy for the rest

32:25

of the day. Oh, that's nice. And Kate,

32:28

what do you think about Raymond? Can you tell us before you

32:30

go? I think that when you go on holiday, I have to

32:32

go after him. That's what

32:34

I think. Now that you like me. Yeah,

32:37

can I have the dog? Do

32:40

you really like him though? Anyway, next episode of

32:42

Walking the Dog. Hello, welcome to Walking the Dog

32:44

with me, Kate Thornton. Emily's

32:46

locked up in a basement where I've left her. Thanks,

32:49

dinner. I

32:53

really hope you enjoyed that episode of Walking the

32:55

Dog. We'd love it if you subscribed and do

32:57

join us next time on Walking the Dog wherever

32:59

you get your podcasts. Hey,

33:16

marketers. Want a matchmaker to set

33:18

you up with your perfect audience? Well,

33:20

look no further. Get intimate right

33:22

away with host red sponsorships with Acast.

33:25

Use Acast's self-serve ad platform to search and

33:27

partner up with a podcast or two from

33:30

our network of more than 100,000 shows. Have

33:34

them sing your praises in their own words and

33:37

get their listeners ready to be wooed into

33:39

loyal customers. It's the ultimate

33:41

loving endorsement. Book host

33:43

red sponsorships with Acast. Head

33:46

to go.acast.com/closer to

33:49

get started.