As any mother of teenagers knows, life is a daily struggle to preserve some vestige of coolness in the face of the implacable scorn of youth. A while ago, though, I knew I had finally done something to make my girls proud. I was lucky enough to be invited by Galaxy chocolate to interview the wondrous Claudia Winkleman. Galaxy is Child 2’s choc of choice, and the entire household’s favourite staple food, and Claudia Winkleman has long been our heroine as the witty host of It Takes Two. As both girls have taken ballroom dancing lessons for four years (though Child 2 has just given up) we are always glued to Strictly at the weekends and love the clever, behind-the-scenes, gossipy but warm flavour of Claudia’s show. Plus she wears great outfits and as for her shoes – as Craig would say, they are ‘faaaaaabulous, darling’.
In a step which will only endear her further to the entire nation (well, the females anyway – the men are her slaves already) Claudia has become the face of Galaxy and is spearheading its massive giveaway of one million books, by authors like Katie Fforde and Ian Rankin (have a look at the wrapper next time you’re scoffing some Galaxy to get the full details, or see the facebook page www.facebook.com/galaxy).
So we got together with some other lovely bloggers for a good chat about the close relationship between curling up with a good book and noshing plenty of chocolate. Have a click on the vdeo if you’d like to see more of our talk. It doesn’t work too well on my computer, and I’m hoping it won’t work too well on yours either, as the camera seems to dwell a bit too lovingly on my many chins, and also it’s been edited to look a bit as though Claudia is interviewing me, rather than me hanging on her every word. Anyway, we did have a lovely chat and here are all the answers which didn’t appear on the tape:
1. Claudia’s dresses from Strictly all come from Topshop and she tries to make sure they cost under £50 so they are reasonably affordable for everyone – I thought this was really public-spirited and sweet.
2. She really is a voracious reader and is very well informed about books. One of her favourites is Macbeth! And her children love Roald Dahl.
3. Yes, she is very pretty in the flesh and yes, she does wear a lot of makeup. She has lovely big grey eyes, which I think would sparkle more with a bit less snakey black eyeliner. I had to resist the temptation of saying, ‘go and wash some of that off,’ as I do to my girls! Mind you, who am I to talk? As you’ll see if you get the video to play, I look completely washed out. Maybe we should have swapped looks.
4. Claudia crackles with intelligence and is very funny – but I wondered if she is a bit shy? I got the impression she hides a bit behind the eyeliner and the fringe. Come on out, Claudia – you’re beautiful just the way you are.
