Meeting Your Heroes

steve wright

Things have been a tad crazy round here lately.

For instance, on Wednesday I was supposed to be writing a new WTFHIBD post for this blog but instead author Della Galton and myself were special guests on ‘Steve Wright In The Afternoon‘, on BBC Radio 2, talking about our book How To Eat Loads And Stay Slim

It was kinda momentous! I’ve listened to Steve for more years than I care to mention – in fact there was a period in my late teens where Steve inspired me to consider pursuing a career in broadcasting. This in turn led to me torturing hospital patients  in various Essex hospitals via hospital radio. If you happened to be in St John’s hospital during the late 80s, or Basildon Hospital in the early 1990s, I apologise profusely. Fortunately for everyone, like my ambitions of becoming an astronaut, a train driver or a fireman, I gave up on those dreams – Steve Wright on the other is still going strong.

Apparently Steve was keen to get us onto the show after reading the title of our book, and though the interview is quite quick – just over five minutes long – we still manage to discuss the concept of the book, how hunger really works, the mysterious oil diet, Della’s fat-free cooking principles, how to survive social eating, why diets don’t work, and why making lots of small changes does. Phew! But I’d have been happy just to shake the man by the hand.

If you’ve examined my Now List in any detail you’ll notice I have a section entitled ‘Sometime, maybe’ for those things that seem incredibly out of reach, but after Wednesday my dreams of having dinner with Imogen Heap, working with Steven Moffat, or appearing on Saturday Kitchen seem just a tiny bit more obtainable.

You can still listen to the interview over on the BBC website (or click the image below).


To listen to other radio interviews (and audio content) about How To Eat Loads And Stay Slim click here

How To Eat Loads And Stay Slim is available, now, in three formats.

My Now List

Last week I brought you up to date with what I’ve been spending my time and energy on. You’ll remember that I came clean and told you that my Now List has been pretty much untouched for many months. In fact, it wasn’t until reader Maria emailed me earlier in the week (asking me where she could find my now list) that I realised the last time I updated it was a almost a year ago. Shame on me. So, with apologies for the lack of punctuation and spelling here’s how my Now List – as of August 2012 – looks…

The Top Five!

  • Cornwall (booked for this September)
    • Visit the Minack Theatre (August – September)
    • St michael’s mount
    • Fowey
  • See ‘The Woman in Black’ – sit near the stage
  • Charmouth beach in Dorset (done some research, just need to find time)
  • Drive a tractor
  • Bridgenorth – looks like a nice place

Time Sensitive

  • Estuary Boat trip – see my house from the Thames (found a company that does it, but trips don’t run all year)
  • Proper narrow boat holiday through the countryside of Birmingham

Food

  • Master the following recipes
    • Dad’s Broccoli and Ham bake
    • Angela’s Ginger Cake
    • Chocolate Brownies
  • Go to a place that serves a different wine per course
  • Eat deep fried crickets or some other food from the night time food market in Beijing (best do this quick, before I turn veggie!!)

Experiences

  • Get to visit The Wilton (old war boat near to where I live. Not open to the public)
  • Get close to dolphins
  • And seals
  • And otters
  • bootle feed baby tigers
  • Go inside a lighthouse (I think I’ve found a lighthouse)
  • Enjoy the experience of living in warmer climate
  • Thai chi
  • Get friends round and play cranium
  • See the four-act version of The Importance Of Being Earnest
  • Visit the Houses of Parliment
  • Learn to Scuba
  • Go to the theatre and sit in a ‘box’ with a select group of friends
  • Learn to speak French
  • Learn to fence
  • Do a live cover of the Flight of The Conchordes song, Business Time (video below – visit the blog if you can’t see this in your email)

Someday, maybe

  • get myself on Saturday Kitchen as a featured guest (guess I need to sell a few more copies of the book first)
  • Dinner with Imogen Heap.
  • Work with Steven Moffet.
  • And Richard Curtis

Holidays / Places to visit

  • Enjoy the romance of Rome (previous trips lacked this essential ingredient)
  • Go back to Sorrento
  • Visit Portmeirion, north Wales
  • Visit Hong Kong
  • Go round the world (in a westerly direction)
  • Visit oregan
  • Visit the cook islands (and stay for a long, long time)
  • Visit the remote parts of france.
  • Skiathos – stay in a cottage somewhere inland? Away from the beaches. Hire a moped to get around.
  • Visit Jersey
  • Visit “Taiyou no tou” (it means “Tower(Statue) of Sun”). Banpaku Park, in Osaka.
  • Go to Madagascar
  • the cave temples of Ellora
  • Zion National Park
  • Saint-Paul de Vence – lovely place in france.
  • Monteverde Cloud Forest reserve, Costa Rica
  • Taktsang monestery, Paro Valley, Bhutan
  • Antuigua, lesser Antilles
  • Portofino, Liguria, Italy
  • Visit Tikal, Guatemala
  • Vieux Lyons
  • Machu Picchu
  • Dunnottar Castle – www.dunnottarcastle.co.uk/
  • Swimming with jellyfish in Micronesia  (video below – visit the blog if you can’t see this in your email)

Feel free to share your Now List in the comments section below

My Now List (Feb 2011)

In no particular order (and with apologies for the lack of punctuation and spelling) my Now List currently looks like this…

Experiences

  • See ‘The Woman in Black’ – sit near the stage
  • Get close to monkeys
  • And dolphins
  • And seals
  • And otters
  • Take my friend DD to see Imogen Heap
  • Enjoy the experience of living in warmer climate
  • tai chi
  • get friends round and play cranium
  • try a flotation tank
  • see the four-act version of The Importance Of Being Earnest
  • own, or have access to, a boat.
  • Drive a tractor
  • Drive a quad bike
  • Estuary Boat trip – see my house from the water

Someday, maybe

  • get myself on Saturday Kitchen as a star guest
  • Dinner with imogen heap.
  • Work with steven moffet.
  • And richard curtis

Holidays / Places to visit

  • Rome again
  • Go back to Sorento
  • visit Hong Kong
  • go round the world (in a westerly direction)
  • visit oregan
  • Visit the cook islands (and stay for a long, long time)
  • Visit the remote parts of france.
  • Skiathos – stay in a cottage somewhere inland? Away from the beaches. Hire a moped to get around.
  • visit jersey
  • Proper narrow boat holiday through the countryside of Birmingham
  • visit the minack theatre (August – September)

Food

  • make harissa paste
  • Go to a pop-up restaurant (supper club)
  • eat deep fried crickets or some other food from the night time food market in Beijing (best do this quick, before I go veggie)

Post your Now List in the comments section below