Despite a broadcasting career that has featured a huge range of highlights, from presenting world-class sport to championing the environment and exposing sex trafficking gangs, Qasa Alom says he is especially looking forward to working in his home-town this month when he will once again be the host and MC for the Lexus Birmingham Opening tennis championship at Edgbaston Priory. A huge fan of tennis and no mean player himself, we caught up with the talented journalist just before the tournament featuring top British and international stars got underway.

Qasa explained: “I don’t get to work in Birmingham much so it’s a real privilege. There’s nowhere like home and the Birmingham Open is a top-class event with an amazing atmosphere and traditional pristine lawns. And because it’s in Birmingham you get a diverse audience. So many Brummies come from somewhere else in the world and they come up to me and say they love seeing me working on the tennis.”

FEAST OF TENNIS

A few weeks after his stint at Edgbaston Priory, Qasa will be switching his attention to that ‘other’ great feast of tennis when he presents the BBC’s iconic Today at Wimbledon programme. He says: “I am passionate about tennis. It’s a brilliant sport. One of those sports that you learn a lot about yourself. If you’re losing or something’s not working, you have to figure it out. It’s mental as well as physical.”

He adds: “My job in Birmingham is to ensure people enjoy the day. The working day is long. I do a quick work out first thing. Head to the Priory at 9am to research and make notes. Matches are from 11am, and at about 10.30 I head out get among the crowds. I think when people pay to go to an event there’s an excitement, a child-like energy. I like to share in that and mix with people. During matches I introduce players letting the people in the crowd know what’s going on. Then after the action there’s the amazing courtside interviews.”

TEENAGE OBSESSION

Qasa is British-Bangladeshi from the city’s inner centre. He went to King Edward VI Grammar School and says he has always been obsessed with TV and radio, first working with the BBC when he was just 15-years-old. He helped write and star in a short film called Obsession which he then reported about on for BBC Newsround. He began a full-time career in local radio and made a series on Stoke-on-Trent’s illegal sex trade which earned him the prestigious Gillard Award for original journalism and radio reporter of the year at the Midlands Media Awards. Qasa has been a regular TV newsreader on Midlands Today’s breakfast and lunchtime programmes and presented a debut half-hour documentary for BBC1 called The Books that Built Britain: Factories to Middle Earth in 2016. He followed that up with a directing debut about Muslim women in inner-city Birmingham in 2017 called Crossing Birmingham’s Invisible Borders.

In sport, Qasa is comfortable broadcasting on both TV and radio, regularly appearing on BBC Final Score for football, as well as presenting IPL Cricket programmes and hosting at Twickenham rugby. But tennis remains his first love. He says: “The beauty about tennis is there are loads of great players – some cope with the conditions or surfaces better. Some cope with wind, some enjoy grass. This means that the Birmingham Open should be really exciting and really difficult to predict.”

MUM’S SPECIAL CURRY

It’s not all work for Qasa though. He still lives in Birmingham and can often be found on a tennis court or cricket field – and when he gets the chance he never says no to his mum’s ‘special’ chicken curry! Of Birmingham he says: “I’ve always loved its parks. I have memories of the summer holidays, packing a picnic and heading to the Lickey Hills or Cannon Hill. And when I got older, going for long bike rides. The triangle around Edgbaston – Priory, Edgbaston stadium, Cannon Hill ­ is fantastic. And the food scene is brilliant, too. I love Chinatown. I head there for ramen or sushi. Just the best!”

Image by Matt Stronge

We’re not short of funny Brummies – indeed we’ve interviewed many of them in these pages – and here’s another home-grown talent doing brilliant things. Award-winning comic Hasan Al-Habib is more than a string of witty one-liners. He’s planning to turn some tricky subjects into lols in his upcoming Edinburgh Fringe show, Stuck in The Middle (East) With You while his solo debut tour, Death to the West (Midlands) was a sell-out.

Hasan performed at the Midlands regional heats of the BBC New Comedy Awards 2024, won the 2023 Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award and was a finalist at the 2022 Chortle Student Comedy Awards. Hasan also took part in BBC show Pilgrimage which aired last month.

COULD HAVE BEEN A NIGHTMARE…

If you haven’t watched Pilgrimage yet, we highly recommend. It’s a gentle but thought-provoking watch that follows a bunch of celebrities from different walks of life as they take on the Pilgrimage from Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire to Holy Island at Lindisfarne exploring their faith or lack of, as they follow in the footsteps of early Celtic Christian saints. Hasan had watched the show previously and since people he liked had taken part, including some comedians and fellow Muslims, he thought why not? This year’s bunch included Ashley Banjo, Hermione Norris, Patsy Kensit, Tasha Ghouri, Jayne Middlemiss and Ashley Blaker alongside Hasan.

He says: “I wanted to get an understanding of what faith means to the other people, particularly people of different religious convictions, or of no religious conviction at all. I wanted to understand how people without a particular religion operate on a day-to-day basis with regards to ethics and morality. I also liked the format. There’s no competition – no one’s getting voted off. Ashley (Banjo) isn’t up against Susan Boyle!” He adds: “We all got on really well. It could have been a nightmare so there was some risk involved. I thought they’d all be TV people and they weren’t.”

DIVINE LIGHT

Hasan, Ashley and Tasha became particularly close. Every morning Ashley spent time by himself reading the Bible which made Hasan think about his own practice. Hasan says: “He’s a very calm guy, and I wonder if that daily practice of reminding yourself of who you are in this world, what your role is, and how you believe you should live contributed to that. I really felt like I’d learnt something from someone of a different religion to me.”

The day the group reached Holy Island was moving not least thanks to huge shards of heavenly sunbeams breaking through picture perfect clouds. Hasan remembers: “There’s something about that place that’s just divine. The way the early morning light reflected off the sands as we walked across to the island was stunning. I remember Ashley Banjo saying, “guys, this is crazy.” You just understood in that moment why people would travel so far to come here.”

As well as the spiritual journey, Hasan says he’s enjoyed free tickets to see Diversity at the Palladium so that’s a bonus! What’s also a bonus is that Pilgrimage has in some way legitimised Hasan’s stand-up career in his parents’ eyes. They’re not against it exactly, more ambivalent, but recently Hasan was introduced to someone from the council by his mum as, ‘my son. He has a PhD and he’s a stand-up comedian’ which felt like a turning point. The doctorate in oncology from Cambridge is often lobbed in, but the stand-up was a new development.

BEST AUDIENCE

Hasan won the Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award a couple of years ago which meant a lot. He recalls: “It felt so nice to be recognised in my home town. It’s validation. Some great people won it before me and since.” The year after his win, Hasan played an absolutely packed show – the organisers tell us there was literally no more space in the venue and they were turning people away.

If you’d like to catch Hasan locally, he’s booked into the Birmingham Comedy Festival Presents gig at Moseley Folk & Arts Festival this year. The festival is just a week after the Edinburgh Fringe and normally Hasan wouldn’t book anything so soon after, but this one’s a bit special. It’s in his home town for a start and anyone that’s been in previous years will know it has a wonderful feel-good vibe that is a beautiful way to end summer. Hasan says Birmingham has the best audiences and in his mind, he’ll move back here at some point, but for now London’s home.

THE FUNNY ONE

Growing up in Birmingham was a bit of a mixed bag and school was a challenge at times. Being the only Iraqi in the classroom in the aftermath of 9/11 and the Iraq war meant he was bullied. Accepting some people just don’t like you, Hasan found that making them laugh improved the situation. He adopted a scientific approach to being funny and started to think about the mechanics of how to make people laugh. For instance, in the classroom Hasan would contemplate: “When George speaks he’s more likely to get a laugh than when Ben speaks. Why? Is it timing, social status, just being labelled the funny one?”

Teachers that should have known better targeted Hasan with questions like, what should we do with Sadam Hussain after his capture? When Hasan suggested he should be executed because he’d killed a lot of people the teacher said, “doesn’t that make you as bad as him?” It’s difficult to challenge a grown up in that position so Hasan accepted that was how it was.

On the plus side, Hasan still loves Birmingham – the accent, the humbleness, all of it. He cites Jack Grealish as an example of super humility. Stick with us. When an interviewer compared Jack to an encyclopaedia of football, he was quick to admit he didn’t know what that meant. Hasan says: “Most people would pretend they knew what it meant. When I was studying with a lot of posh people from the south, if there was a term they didn’t know, they’d pretend.”

FRONT ROW

Hasan still feels the fear going on stage, intensified by specific audience members. For instance, if one of his comedy heroes, Frankie Boyle and/or his parents were in the front row, that might be problematic. Recently Hasan auditioned for SNL UK which sounds like an odd experience. In a huge studio that seats 400 people, he had to do a five-minute set in front of five TV executives with a massive camera and just before he went on stage a runner told Hasan that the creator of SNL, Lord Michaels was watching live from the US.

Hasan didn’t get the gig this time but is thrilled the show has been a success and is giving young comedians a platform. He also says if you can’t handle rejection, it’s not the right industry for you.

Image credit: Nicky Johnston

High octane! That would be the perfect way to describe the days that preceded our interview with Suzi Perry. After fronting TNT Sports live TV coverage of MotoGP’s first bike race of the season in Thailand, Suzi faced the uncertain and potentially perilous journey back to the UK on the day when the US began its bombing campaign against Iran – then once home, she dashed to Molineux to cheer on her beloved Wolves to a dramatic win over Premier League champions, Liverpool.

“Wow, yes, it’s been what I guess you’d call quite a few days,” said Suzi, whose life has always seemed as fast-paced as the 200mph-plus racers she follows around the world – going right back to when she fronted BBC’s coverage of Formula One with the likes of the legendary Murray Walker. This year is especially notable for Suzi as she celebrates 30 years in broadcasting as well as completing a four-year house renovation which now sees her living opposite her dad in Wolverhampton. “It’s brilliant,” she says. “I can see what my dad is up to in his living room over the road as I look out of my front window. Ever since my mum passed away, I’ve wanted to keep an eye on him whenever I can.”

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

We spoke to Suzi in what qualifies as her brief ‘downtime’. Having landed from Thailand the previous day and been at the football a few hours later, Suzi had grabbed a quick nap, before presenting her hugely popular Gadget Show podcast. Minutes after wrapping up that, she found time for us. How does she do it all? “I’ve always been a bit of a live wire.” Quite some understatement!
She follows that up with an apology. “I’ve got a sore throat, sorry about that! It’s all the shouting at Molineux last night.” To say Suzi is a committed Wolves fan is another understatement. “When I was in Thailand, I really wanted to watch the Wolves-Villa game, but the kick-off was at 3am in the morning Thai time. I started off trying to get some sleep at 1am, but I was just laying there and couldn’t stop thinking about the game. So, I thought, to hell with it, and put the match on TV. Wolves won two-nil. Then when it was over, I phoned my dad to talk about it. So, no sleep! I was ruined the next day!”

Suzi’s MotoGP schedule typically sees her travel to the track on a Thursday, present live coverage culminating on race day on Sunday before flying home on the Monday. This year’s championship features 22 races, spanning the globe from Asia to South America, Europe (including the British GP at Silverstone in August), the US and Australia, and runs right through to mid-November. Fitted in between is the Gadget Show podcast which Suzi presents with Jason Bradbury. Suzi admits to being a ‘technology nut’ and was part of the original Channel 5 TV team for eight years, covering 17 series. She also presented Gadget Show Live at the NEC.

SPORT FOR CHOICE

Looking back on the highs of her 30 years in broadcasting, Suzi says: “Nostalgia is a weird thing. I don’t think anyone really understands time – some things that happened seem like they were just yesterday. It feels like only five minutes since my first broadcast when I was 27 years old back in the 90’s. I feel very lucky in all the things I have done, and especially lucky to have had my career in sports”

Suzi was born at RAF Cosford in Shropshire but raised in Wolverhampton, and has been a Wolves fan since a child. Her father was a music promoter, and Suzi’s love for live music has remained with her. Her break into the world of sport came in the late 90’s as a reporter for Sky Sports – previously she had worked as a fashion model and appeared in TV commercials. She then became the first permanent female anchor for BBC’s Formula One coverage, but when it left the BBC, Suzi returned to her love of motorbikes, joining BT Sport – now TNT Sports – as their channel ambassador and host to the MotoGP coverage. Suzi said: “I have had the good fortune to have travelled the world reporting from trackside and speaking to the biggest names in motorsport.”

Her CV isn’t just about motorsport though. Her credits include presenting at Royal Ascot, Wimbledon, the London Marathon, Trooping the Colour, the Olympics, the Great North Run and the Boat Race. In 2009, Suzi was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Wolverhampton University, and then in 2016, the university presented her with an Honorary Doctor of Engineering. In the same year, Suzi was also honoured with a Wolverhampton Famous Sons and Daughters Award, which she says still remains “very special”.

Earlier this year, Suzi was named as an ambassador for Wolverhampton Grand Theatre with a VIP booth in the Dress Circle bar named in her honour. Suzi’s first-ever job was backstage at the Grand, and now she joins fellow ambassador, Wolves legend Steve Bull, and singing star Beverley Knight who is a theatre patron. Suzi is also an ambassador with the Wolves Foundation charity, helping those in the local community.

SPECIAL MOMENTS

During an amazing career, Suzi says there have been many special moments. “Working with Murray Walker was just amazing – his energy was incredible. He is still the person everyone thinks of as the Voice of F1. Then there are the moments when those who become the greats of sport win their first championship – like Lewis Hamilton in F1 and Valentino Rossi in MotoGP. And I’ll never forget filming with Ewan McGregor for Sports Personality of the Year. He just loves motorbikes and when we filmed with him, he had just done Star Wars. He was so chilled and normal, drinking tea and eating a bacon sandwich. It was so special!”

Looking forward, Suzi says she’d like to do more radio and “something more with Wolverhampton” probably with the Foundation. “I love being here in the Midlands,” she adds. “It has so much to offer. I love the people. I love the food. I love its soul.”

From Midlands Today to the national news, Suzanne Virdee has been a fixture on our TV screens for decades and unlike much of the population, she knew exactly what she wanted to do as a young child. Aged just seven, Suzanne wanted to watch the news every day after school. Aged 10, she made newspapers and sold them to her family and would interview her parents on long car journeys such was her obsession. When the time came to decide what do post-A-Levels, Suzanne knew she didn’t want to go to university – she wanted to crack on with her career.

After much research on what she needed to do to get a foot in the door, Suzanne did her A-Levels in one year rather than the standard two, which was a lot of pressure. Then she began writing letters to potential employers which she describes as a massive learning curve which taught her to never give up. Suzanne remembers: “I got the qualifications I needed but it wasn’t easy getting a job. It was a slog. I was persistent – I carried on writing letters. A handful said no and the rest didn’t bother to get back to me.”

Suzanne’s dad suggested she should work for nothing, just phone up and ask the question. What did she have to lose? The Bromsgrove Messenger asked her to come in and Suzanne was off. It was her route into her dream job. She didn’t get off to a sparkling start as when she accompanied one of the journalists to the courts to cover a story on her first day, she blocked the editor’s car in the car park.

NO PLAN B

Suzanne then moved to the Solihull Times and when a staff member phoned in sick she was asked to write the entertainment pages gaining her first byline. The editor was so impressed he asked her if she’d like to be a junior reporter. Suzanne snapped his arm off. She says: “I had no plan B. I just had to keep going. I was lucky – I had no debt and my parents were supportive. They told me to just keep going.”

Broadcast journalism has made up the bulk of Suzanne’s career so far and it’s something she relishes whether that’s at a local or national level. The national news is fast-paced with heaps of pressure, editing your own packages in the back of a car on the way back to the studio, but Suzanne says nothing beats the Midlands. She spent seven-and-a-half years travelling up and down the motorway to work in London but she’s a Midlands girl through and through.

TRUSTED NEWS

Suzanne has interviewed many high-profile politicians and even prime ministers and says she doesn’t get nervous. “I make sure I’m informed and prepared. I’m here to find out things for our viewers – they want to know the answers. I also stay professional. It’s easy to get drawn into friendly chit-chat before the interview officially starts, but I prefer to keep a professional distance. I don’t want to start getting chummy.” The way people consume news has changed immeasurably since Suzanne embarked on her career and the rise of disinformation is alarming. Suzanne says: “Trusted news has never been more important and news organisations are trying to navigate their way through it. ITV and BBC are fighting disinformation. You have to hold your values.”

Suzanne has also dipped her toe in the book publishing arena sparked by an interview she heard on the radio over a decade ago that ignited a passion for reaching out to young women and girls. She explains: “I heard a man telling a female presenter that he thought the age of consent should be lowered from 16 to 13. I was fuming.” Suzanne started writing notes and contemplated and article or a documentary, but she thought girls wouldn’t watch a Panorama-style programme or the news but they still loved books. It’s not a book that lectures girls – it has a more supportive tone encouraging them to stay safe and recognise red flags as well as offering inspiration on making and reaching your goals. Suzanne was asked to do some work in schools and recalls one in particular: “In one school the safeguarding lead took me to one side and said, ‘we have a real problem here with the way girls and boys interact’. It became a passion for me.”

CALENDAR GIRL

Suzanne has recently said yes to being part of a charity calendar organised by Ladies First Professional Network – a national networking group which organises events and awards for inspirational female achievers. Suzanne says: “It’s about empowering organisations and supporting each other which struck a chord.”

The calendar will be stylishly shot featuring women aged between 18 and 80 years and it’s about boosting self-esteem and body image. Twenty-four charities will benefit from the sale of the calendar which will be released just in time for Christmas. Watch this space. Suzanne assures us there’ll be no strategically placed iced buns.

The calendar isn’t the most leftfield of Suzanne’s work. That was probably the day Hollywood came calling in 2018. The film, the Death and Life of John F Donovan was shot in Canada and starred Susan Sarandon, Kit Harrington and Kathy Bates among other big names. Suzanne played herself in the film and says: “I think I look an air stewardess from the 80s.  The set was meant to be a close copy of the BBC. It was a short and sweet appearance but so much fun. Still can’t believe Xavier Dolan wanted me to fly to Montreal to shoot it – but I am glad he did. All my friends thought I’d be rubbing shoulders with Kit Harrington, sadly not!” Whatever next…

Photography by Iza Korsak

Musician and broadcaster Soweto Kinch might have been born in London before moving to Birmingham aged nine, but he’s a Brummie through and through. He’s quick to condemn Robert Jenrick’s divisive and factually questionable comments about Handsworth and he’s a beacon of positivity about Birmingham, from its world class cultural institutions to its wonderful people.

Soweto has reached dizzying heights in career terms. He’s won multiple MOBO awards for best jazz act, a Mercury Music Prize, a British Jazz Award, Urban Music Awards and BBC Jazz Awards among others. He’s worked with our very own City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) as well as recording with jazz legends such as alto saxophonist Gary Bartz and trumpeter, Nicholas Payton.

He’s a regular on Radio Three with his Round Midnight show featuring jazz from all eras with live sessions and guests as well as platforming undiscovered talent. His Radio Four series, Rethinking Music explores the crisis in music education and what it means for musical life in the UK in the 21st century.

At the end of last year, Soweto performed Soundtracks of the Apocalypse at the Barbican with the LSO which will be released as a studio album in the spring. We suggest, the end of the world doesn’t sound very lightweight… Soweto explains that the meaning of apocalypse is also unveiling and the album has a twin approach – i.e. the world might be on fire but we’re unveiling hope. Of the current darkness in the world, he says: “There’s no doubt the global majority wants less genocide and less starvation, etc.”

CUMBERSOME SAXOPHONE

At a state primary school in London, young Soweto first picked up an instrument. He says the Eighties was a different time with a lot of funding for music in the state sector. Not so now. Once Soweto moved to Handsworth he attended private prep school, West House in Edgbaston where his music flourished followed by Bromsgrove School where there were many opportunities to further explore his musical studies.

Outside formal education, Soweto was immersed in the arts from an early age thanks to his father, Don Kinch who was a playwright and his actress mother. Soweto credits one of Don’s shows at the Edinburgh Fringe with giving him the jazz bug. The show featured Guyanese singer and instrumentalist Frank Holder and jazz dancer Will Gaines, and while Soweto wasn’t sure what it all meant, he couldn’t leave it alone and started seeking out more jazz. Before long he was lugging around a cumbersome saxophone.

The hip hop influence was spawned during the late Eighties and early Nineties and fusing the two felt powerful and exciting. Inspired by the likes of De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots, Soweto embraces both genres saying he needs both the directness and lyricism of hip-hop and the emotional expression of jazz.

RICHLY PRIVILEGED

While Soweto was privileged to attend great private schools, he feels like he was further enriched by his community in Handsworth. He says: “I grew up richly privileged. It was different to my Bromsgrove friends. They didn’t pass the pakora shop on the way home or go to carnival being exposed to African music. I had the best of both worlds.” He also began to question the idea of what society views as high and low brow.

Soweto credits the cultural centre in Handsworth with encouraging creativity. The centre ran a summer playscheme where, among things the kids were allowed to use the recording studio. It provided a place to meet, jam and create. The community was precious to Soweto which is partly why Tory-turned-Reform politician Robert Jenrick’s divisive comments about not seeing another white face and comparing it to a slum hit hard.

He says: “His comments about Handsworth were not properly explored. I’m a BBC presenter. I have a degree from Oxford. I lived across from a senior partner in a London law firm. He (Jenrick) must have walked past the Slovenians and the third generation Irish immigrants. It’s meant to trigger people and cultivate a race war.”

He adds: “For multi-cultural living cheek by jowl we’ve done a good job. At West House I got the Aston Villa bug from a Jewish school friend. We’d see our Asian Punjabi friends on the terraces. The idea that there are no-go areas in my city is ridiculous. These nefarious actors have no interest in reality.” Of the rise in racist anti-immigrant rhetoric generally, Soweto says: “I’m conscious that within my lifetime black people were being chased down the street. The US is terrifying. There seems to be amnesia at work. I thought we’d had these discussions and fought it.”

AMBITIOUS SWOT

When Soweto graduated with a degree in Modern History from Oxford he wasn’t hoping for a career in music. He says: “I was always an ambitious swot. I thought I would walk into a really great job – it was a different time.” Soweto looked into teacher training and applied for a research post at the University of Birmingham but was rebuffed due to lack of experience. He was then asked to perform with Gary Crosby’s Jazz Jamaica group in Singapore. Soweto recalls: “I couldn’t believe they wanted to pay me and I started to conceive music as a career.”

He has been tremendously cynical about the music industry not helped by a two-week stint playing in the Pop Idol big band which Soweto describes as incredible but the manufactured genre is not for him. Gary Crosby’s Tomorrow’s Warriors – a programme of nurturing talent – helped Soweto, giving him space to incubate ideas and work on things and the rest as they say is history.

COOL COLLABS

Soweto has collaborated with many great musicians and we wonder if there are any Brummie artists he’d like to work with. It turns out there’s a list as long as your arm which says a lot about Birmingham’s rich pool of talent. Names like Lady Leshurr, Mist, Sonnyjim, who he has worked with before but would jump at the chance to again, and his ‘very cool’ friend Xhosa Cole among others.

We’ve been interviewing talented Brummies for over 150 issues – that’s a lot of high-profile people. And there are some that stand out like Benjamin Zephaniah, Stewart Lee and Steven Knight and we’d put Soweto up there as someone who sticks with you. An all-round good egg doing great things and flying the flag in the best of ways for Brum.

At school, one of Amber Sandhu’s teachers told her to ‘put her voice to good use, just not in my classroom’. It turned out to be rather prophetic. Across radio and TV, Amber regularly presents for the BBC and Sky Sports and has worked on cricket’s sensational short format tournament, The Hundred since its inception. She also hosts many events and has taken on an ambassadorial role at the Wolves Foundation charity. Yet still, there’s an element of imposter syndrome.

Not being academic and attending a school that was rigorously so, Amber was a bit of an anomaly – her friends wanted to become lawyers and surgeons. While Amber was a successful sportswoman, playing cricket at county level, she says wasn’t an A star student. She was a chatterbox who loved her friends almost as much as she loved radio.

RADIO GA GA

Amber remembers: “Growing up I loved radio. Mum always had it on in the car and I never wanted to get out. It was magic like listening to friends.” With no connections in broadcasting, Amber says: “The BBC always seemed so far away from me – a girl from Wolves.” Amber studied Sports Science at the University of Worcester and lived at home. She volunteered at WCR FM where she learned her craft and worked in her local Tesco while studying.

At WCR FM Amber was shadowing some brilliant, retired presenters and says she owes her career to that place. Stuart Hickman was particularly helpful coaching and training her while on air. Amber started reading the travel bulletin but was asked to tone it down as she was a bit too cheery as she broke the dreaded news of delays on the roads.

Soon Amber was offered her own show – the chart show on a Sunday which progressed to Monday to Friday – all while studying and working at Tesco. Amber recalls: “I didn’t tell many people I was doing it. I didn’t have a plan aside from knowing this was what I wanted to do and I thought people might laugh.”

BBC LANYARD

When Amber graduated and found herself out in the big wide world, she was single-minded. She’d been applying to the BBC since she was 16 years-old with no luck, but undeterred, when an opportunity came up in production at the Asian Network at the BBC’s Mailbox building, she went for it. “There were a hundred applicants and as I’d applied so many times, I walked in not expecting to get it. Somehow, I did and I finally got my BBC lanyard! It was really cool walking into that building. I used to walk past it manifesting.”

Amber enjoyed an ‘amazing’ 12-month internship soaking up knowledge and learning all the time, but when Covid struck the BBC implemented a recruitment freeze. “I remember crying in the office. No one knew what would happen and I found myself freelance aged just 23. I think freelance can be great if you have contacts and I didn’t.” Amber got chatting to someone in the kitchen area and managed to get some work reporting on what was happening to people during the pandemic. “I was going around wearing a mask sticking a microphone through people’s windows talking to them about their experience and how they were coping.” When presenters at BBC WM radio started getting Covid, Amber was drafted in to cover.

WHIRLWIND MONTHS

Radio felt like Amber’s natural home. She says: “I never planned to do TV. I didn’t think I looked right for it and I loved radio and felt comfortable.” But when the Commonwealth Games rolled into town, Amber felt she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by. A job at Midlands Today came up reporting on the baton relay initially then The Games proper. Amber threw herself into the job with typical gusto. She says: “It was a whirlwind few months. I worked long hours learning as I went along, but the sun shone every day and it was magic.” One of Amber’s highlights was the late great Ozzy Osbourne performing at the closing ceremony. “It was such a moment. Just incredible.”

Amber has found being freelance and not having a consistent income scary at times, but the freedom and variety of jobs make up for that and she wouldn’t change it now. The breadth of work she takes on is impressive from live TV at Sky Sports News to hosting events and working on The Hundred. Amber was thrilled and stunned when she was approached by the Wolves Foundation in 2023 to become an ambassador. As a life-long Wolverhampton Wanderers fan it was a dream.

Amber explains: “The list of other ambassadors was impressive and I thought, ‘why me?’ I had imposter syndrome! I grew up in Wolves and I’ve always supported Wolves. I have such a connection to the club and I’m so proud.” Amber ran the London Marathon in 2024 in aid of the Foundation having only previously run as far as 10km. She ran in her Wolves shirt and raised £2,000 for the Foundation that works with local partners to shape and fund projects that promote lifelong learning as well as safer, stronger and more active communities.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Amber’s show reel is packed with brilliance and she says for the foreseeable future she’ll ‘keep climbing this crazy broadcasting ladder’. She would love to do some day-time TV – perhaps The One Show or This Morning, but ultimately Amber would like to carry on enjoying every day. She says: “I’m so lucky to enjoy what I do.”

Joan Armatrading describes her new classical work Homeland as “a love letter to Birmingham”. It’s a love than goes back more than 60 years for one of Britain’s greatest singer-songwriters, who arrived in the city from St Kitts as a seven-year-old.

“The lyrics talk about Birmingham. I’m an artist and I’ve travelled the world, but it’s great to have a home land such as Birmingham, hence the name Homeland,” says Joan. “Birmingham is open, warm and friendly and if you walk past someone you’ve never met and say hello, they’ll say hello back. It’s a fantastic place.”

Homeland is Joan’s new work for choir and orchestra premiered by the City of Birmingham Orchestra and Chorus (CBSO) at Symphony Hall on 7 December as part of the festive
Bringing the Light concert. The work is Joan’s second-ever classical piece following her first foray, Symphony No.1, which debuted at London’s Southbank Centre in 2023 to great acclaim.

RESILIENCE AND WARMTH

Joan said: “The guys at the CBSO came to the concert which I didn’t know. They obviously liked it because they asked me to write for them! Homeland is a piece that highlights the city of Birmingham and its people, reflecting the strong sense of community, resilience and warmth. It is a love letter to a place to which I am bonded and one I hold with affection and pride. Through both words and music, the piece weaves together the sounds, energy and rhythms of the city while reaching out into its vast surrounding countryside. This is Birmingham not simply as a backdrop, but as a living, breathing presence – an often-underrated landscape where industry and nature exist side by side in quiet beauty.”

Homeland is a choral piece with 100-piece choir, so “lots of voices” says Joan. At the time we spoke with her she hadn’t heard it with the full orchestra and choir but was due to at the first rehearsals and admitted she was feeling “very excited” at the prospect.

LOVE AND AFFECTION

Joan is best known for her hit song Love and Affection and as a multi-Grammy Award and BRIT Award nominee and Ivor Novello Award winner. After arriving in Brum as a child, Joan taught herself to play piano and guitar before becoming Britain’s first female singer songwriter to gain international success. Her songs have won her many admirers, from Bob Dylan to Arlo Parks. She is the first UK female artist to debut at number 1 in Billboard’s Blues charts and the first female UK artist to be nominated for a Grammy in the Blues category. She was awarded an MBE in 2001 and a CBE in 2020 and is a long-time supporter and trustee of the Princes’ Trust charity, mentoring young people.

Joan says of Brum: “After arriving at seven, I watched it change when I was old enough to be aware of it changing. It was actually a bit boring and industrial and nothing really exciting was going on. But it’s been opened up, you can walk around it without cars and the culture and creativity now is massive.”

EXPLORING STYLES

Speaking of her focus on classical music, Joan says that over the years she has explored many musical styles. For decades she has been writing, arranging, producing, engineering and playing all the instruments in her albums. She views that adventurous trait as one of the secrets to her popularity and longevity. “The people who were with me in 1972 won’t necessarily be with me now, so you have to bring on new people,” she says. “It’s nice to know I’ve touched people and allowed them to express themselves. Once after an interview, the interviewer said to me that he was inspired to go and propose to his girlfriend! There are babies named after songs, so lots of Willows and Rosies!”

Joan has been self-sufficient in career terms, which has meant that even during difficult periods like Covid she carried on doing what she does. She’s always been interested in technology, so we asked for her view on one of the hot topics of the day – AI and its impact on creativity. She said: “People get worried AI will take over everything. We should use it like we use other things. Remember you are a human. It’s fine to start the process with AI but not finish the process. You can’t prompt it to write a song for you.” Joan remembers when she first got a synthesiser and a friend asked ‘why have you got that Joan?’ “The inference was it might diminish the craft or was cheating somehow which obviously it wasn’t,” she says.

SECOND SYMPHONY

One of Joan’s proudest moments was graduating with BA Hons in History through the Open University. She studied on tour and while e-mail was available, you weren’t allowed to submit essays by e-mail – so she had to post work back from places like Australia and hope they made it. The last day of Joan’s tour was the last exam, so she hopped off a plane, got straight into a car and did the exam.
Joan is currently working on her second symphony. She says she always knew she wanted to write classical at some point. “One day I just started writing it – I hadn’t planned to that day, but it just happened. It’s not a million miles from pop. The big difference is I can’t sing what I’ve written. Classical is sung in longer vowels which pop people don’t do.”

Stu Deeley’s CV reads like a roster of top Midlands restaurants – Brockencote Hall, Simpsons, The Wilderness, Smoke at Hampton Manor and now The Warwick at Mallory Court. Stu’s been cooking for more than 16 years during which time his style has evolved hugely and now come full circle. Smoke at Hampton Manor was all about fire and cooking over coals but at Mallory Court’s newly titled The Warwick restaurant, Stu’s back to the classical techniques and flavour profiles of his early career.

He’s still finding his feet at Mallory and admits when he walked into the dining room he wondered whether he could do it. Stu explains: “It’s a beautiful dining room – wood panels, crisp tablecloths, sommeliers – really different to Smoke.” Mallory already has a great reputation and has had a Michelin star twice, but Stu’s job is to reinvent it from a food perspective.

He says: “As much as I’d love a star, it’s also about bums on seats – cooking for people who come here week in week out and for people who’ve followed me from Smoke or MasterChef.” The 10 acres of gardens are inspiring and with two gardeners on site, Stu’s spoilt with ingredients. He says head gardener Chris, came to him with a spreadsheet recently and asked him what he would like for next year which is the dream for any chef.

COOKING GEEK

Fight or flight is how Stu describes learning to cook. He says: “My mum was a terrible cook – she hates it when I say that! I was hands-on from the age of 11 or 12-years-old.” Work experience at Jonathan’s on the Hagley Road gave Stu a glimpse into a professional kitchen which he loved. He describes arriving at Jonathan’s on his first day: “I walked round the back of the restaurant and the sous chef was sat on a Yamaha 600 playing Nine Inch Nails and smoking fags. I’ve never been rebellious, but it appealed.”

He adds: “I’d been a bit lost with what I wanted to do – I wasn’t academic. Even now it takes me three business days to reply to an e-mail, so it was always going to be a practical career for me. The military style of the kitchen suited me.” As a young chef, Stu describes himself as a cooking geek preferring to spend Saturday night at home experimenting in the kitchen rather than going out. It paid off big time.

LEAP OF FAITH

Stu famously won MasterChef: The Professionals in 2019 but it was touch and go whether he’d enter the competition at all. He says: “It was daunting. I’m not an extrovert and I don’t crave attention. I’m just somehow good at what I do.” Stu decided he didn’t want to go through life thinking, ‘I’d like to do that’ and then putting it off until another day. At the time, his son Jack was roughly 18 months old and Stu wanted to set an example. He says: “I started to wonder what Jack would end up doing and I wanted him to have the confidence to just go for it whatever that might be, so I took a leap of faith. I thought, if I go out in the first round, I’ll become a plumber. If I get through, great. I never thought I’d win.”

MENTORS MONEY CAN’T BUY

Stu grew up in Bearwood never encountering an Anjou pigeon, black truffle or even a whole rabbit aside from at Pets at Home, so when he started working under Adam Brown at Brockencote Hall it was a bit of an eye-opener. Adam became a mentor to Stu and he deeply respected the chef. Adam’s generosity and teaching was intrinsic to Stu’s development. He stayed for two to three years before Adam told Stu he needed to be working in a Michelin-star restaurant. Cue Luke Tipping at Simpsons who took a chance, returned Stu’s call and gave him a trial.

Luke became another significant person in Stu’s life and development. Stu recalls: “I’ve been lucky. Real mentors like that money can’t buy. I’ve absolute respect for Luke. He’s caring, family-led and he looked after everyone, made sure the team was okay. He’s always in my corner.” Stu started at the bottom as a commis chef but caught Luke’s eye after cooking an impressive staff dinner and was promoted to chef de partie.

Simpsons is also where Stu met his wife who was the restaurant manager. Once babies were on the horizon, Stu needed to move on to earn more money essentially. Alex Claridge’s The Wilderness in the Jewellery Quarter provided that opportunity where Stu became head chef and had his first Michelin inspection in his own right. He didn’t get it that time.

BACK YOURSELF

It hasn’t all been high end restaurants and not all of them have been thriving. A stint at Jamie’s Italian was a bit different where they were doing ‘mega numbers’ and there was Loves in Canal Square which Stu describes as the epitome of a failing restaurant doing two-to-four covers a night. The current strains on the hospitality industry provide a significant challenge but Stu thinks there’s a fighting spirit in the Midlands food scene and people find ways to make it work. He says: “You’ve inspirational people like Glynn Purnell who are determined to keep people in jobs.” In this climate particularly, Stu says you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Is this good enough?’ and then back yourself.

NOT SO SECRET

When Stu clocks off you can find him either at MacDonalds at 1am for a quick fix or even better at KFC ordering a Dirty Louisiana Burger. When Stu and fellow MasterChef alumni Dan Lee are on the road indulging their ‘bromance’, they can’t get enough of it.

Stu says: “It’s got everything – good bread, fried chicken, hash brown, spicy mayo, gherkins, cheese, BBQ sauce. I make a right mess. I’ve started to keep a tea towel in the glovebox!” We’re sold.

Images: Danny Woodstock Photographer  

The Birmingham Comedy Festival returns this month with another great line-up featuring both established names and rising stars from across the UK along with the very best from the West Midlands. And one of this year’s star attractions is local lad Josh Pugh who won the festival’s Breaking Talent Award back in 2015.

Josh is now one of the region’s most respected and lauded comedy acts, but when he won the Breaking Talent Award in 2015, he was just a year into his stand-up career. Josh was an office worker in Coventry at the time and described his comedy as ‘alternative but with a foot in reality’. He was part of a top line-up that included Jack Kirwan, who later made a name for himself as Gary Powndland, so the win was an incredible achievement that he remembers fondly.

“I was well chuffed to win on the night, it was a great gig and everyone had a good one. Comedy competitions are always a bit weird – it’s art not sport at the end of the day so all subjective. At least with the Breaking Talent Award you’re gigging with people you’re probably mates with so it’s all a bit nicer.”

COMEDIAN OF THE YEAR

Josh went on to scoop English Comedian of the Year 2016, while his solo show Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh Chips And Beans, was nominated for Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Award 2022. He says: “Being nominated in Edinburgh was obviously great.  I’ve had some really tough Edinburghs – losing loads of money and getting no reviews or industry interest. But I’m so glad of them now because they taught me how to put a show together, so when a bit of spotlight did come on me, I was ready. The nomination was just a bonus I didn’t expect at the end of a great month of shows.”

One of the best and most loved comedians of the social media age, Josh developed a large and devoted fanbase who gorge on his frequent viral hit videos, such as ‘Inventing the four cheese pizza’ and ‘P*** up in a brewery’. His profile really started to fly during lockdown. He recalls: “I made a video and put it on Twitter, and it actually did okay. Then I did another one maybe a week later and then another the week after that. They all did well. So, I made the decision to do one every week for a year to see how it went.”

Refreshingly, his huge social media success isn’t down to some cleverly crafted strategy. “I don’t know about algorithms or formatting or editing. I just have a funny idea and do it.” says Josh “I don’t go chasing trends or ever have an idea of what’s going to do well really. I film it on my phone and stick it out – it’s fun.”

MAINSTREAM SUCCESS

From social media stardom to mainstream success, Josh has now made numerous TV appearances include Live at the Apollo, QI, Hypothetical, Unforgivable, Rosie Jones’s Disability Comedy Extravaganza, and Channel 4’s Paralympic Games coverage in 2024, as well as sitcoms Sneakerhead and Parker. On tour he’s supported the likes of Ricky Gervais and fellow Midlands comic Joe Lycett.

Perhaps even more excitingly he’ll be back on TV soon with his own major Channel 4 sitcom, Stepping Up. The new six-part series delivers an original take on the modern family dynamic and is written by and stars Josh who plays… Josh, an over-enthusiastic stepdad bringing well-intentioned chaos to his new and previously harmonious family unit. On writing Stepping Up, Josh says: “I’m over the moon to be doing something that very few people get to do in their lives and make a sitcom. I live and grew up in a small town with step-parents on both sides, and I think it’s a huge untapped well of comedy. Lots of people in Britain are navigating the complexities of bringing up other people’s kids and I want to capture that in a really funny and authentic sitcom that is also hopefully financially lucrative.”

Josh was born in Nuneaton and brought up in Atherstone, where he still lives. He says: “I’ve lived in Atherstone all of my life and I love it here. I think Midlanders are great and it’s such a diverse place. The middle of the country is also a great place to live for a comedian as you do so much travelling and it makes all the journeys a bit easier. I think if I had started out in Devon, I’d have probably only done four gigs by now!”

ENGLAND CAPS

Off the comedy circuit, Josh is a passionate football fan who showed promising talent growing up before suffering difficulties with his vision and eventually being diagnosed as partially sighted. Reluctantly he gave up the game he loved so much before a friendship with John McDougall (the current captain of England Partially Sighted Men’s football team) proved massively important. He introduced Josh to partially sighted football and the passion was rekindled. He has since won more than 60 caps playing for England and even played in three World Championships. Josh often attributes his success on the comedy circuit to the determination, discipline and work ethic he learned from football.

Looking forward to his appearance at this month’s Comedy Festival, we asked Josh what audiences can expect  “Erm, essentially I will be filler at the end of the night while the judges deliberate on who should win the competition, but they can expect it to be good quality filler,” he joked. “Birmingham Glee Club has always been one of my favourite gigs, I don’t know exactly what set I’ll be doing on the night really, but my sets are usually a mix of old things that work and new things I’m trying to make work.”

That laugh. It’s deeply infectious and we spent much of our interview cackling sometimes for no apparent reason. That’s the thing with Rustie Lee. You can’t help but smile, often howl. She radiates feelgood vibes whether in person, on the phone or through the TV screen.

She’s also launching a podcast, A Recipe for Life, after which, she says her son might need therapy! She’s fronting a campaign by Smart Energy to get us all installing smart meters and undergoing safety checks of our energy equipment – sounds a bit dull, but Rustie somehow makes it seem like a hoot, regaling tales of her DIY mishaps. Unless it’s changing a plug, she now calls in the experts. Probably for the best.

Rustie has done some incredible things in her career. As well as cooking up a Caribbean storm on TV for years and hosting primetime show, Game for a Laugh, she randomly appeared in Duran Duran’s Wild Boys video, released an album in the eighties, sang with Cliff Richard on a bus for the Queen’s Jubilee which she describes as an honour and has appeared on an eclectic bunch of reality shows. She’s had her fingers in a lot of pies.

BEAUTIFUL HEART

Rustie lives in West Sussex now, but her heart’s in Birmingham. We spoke the day after Ozzy Osbourne’s funeral procession through the city which she watched on TV with tears in her eyes. She says: “What a beautiful send-off.” The way people came together and celebrated Ozzy sums up her hometown for Rustie.

She says: “People are warm and loving – just wonderful people. You can’t walk past someone without saying hello. It’s a nice little word. Birmingham’s changed over the years – there are more people and more cars but everything must change. At the core of Birmingham is a beautiful heart.”

The success of the Commonwealth Games was a source of pride for Rustie too during which she loved watching her city shine. She says: “It was phenomenal. Prince Charles as he was then coming to Birmingham and the bull – it was all just magnificent.”

GAME FOR A LAUGH

Rustie arrived in Birmingham from Jamaica aged four and went to Handsworth Wood Girls School and later to the College of Food and Domestic Science, where she graduated with distinction as a Master Baker. She worked in her family’s Caribbean bakery and later set up Rustie’s, the first-ever Caribbean silver service restaurant in Soho Road, Handsworth. It was there that she was spotted by BBC producers of the Pebble Mill at One show who invited her to showcase Caribbean food on the programme.

Rustie’s first-ever TV appearance was on Pebble Mill hosted by legendary comedian Eric Morecambe. Appearances on ATV (Central TV) followed before TV-AM came calling. She built her reputation as Britain’s No1 authority on Caribbean cooking during an eight-year residency on TV-am. Rustie then became the first-ever black presenter of a Saturday night prime time network entertainment show, Game for a Laugh.

WILD BOYS

As well as cooking and TV work, Rustie has a powerful singing voice. She performed in clubs around Birmingham in the eighties and was eventually signed by Stylus Music. She released an album in 1985 titled, Invitation to Party. Duran Duran had the same management which is how the Wild Boys video came about. Rustie’s face fills a TV screen sporadically throughout the video encouraging the band away from the darkness and into the light. She says: “I’m famous for laughing a lot and it’s basically just my face laughing on the TV.”

Recording the podcast has been a blast particularly when filming with her son. It’s essentially Rustie being Rustie interviewing people while she cooks. She says: “My son’s interviewing me at one point and I think I shocked him with some of the things I said. He needs therapy now!” If behind the scenes footage on Instagram is anything to go by, it will be a giggle.

Obviously. Rustie has also been working on a new live theatre show which takes on ‘An Evening With’ format incorporating lots of chat as well as music with Rustie singing some of her favourite tracks accompanied by a pianist. For now, it’s a tester in Portsmouth but Rustie says if it goes well, she’d love to bring it to Birmingham.

Putting Gladiators aside, Karenjeet’s sporting achievements are incredible. At 5ft 4ins she’s easily underestimated which she loathes, but she is mighty. Aged just 17, she found her powerlifting groove thanks to some coaching from her dad and went on to become five times all-England champion, five times British champion, Commonwealth champion and world record holder for the most bodyweight squats in a minute among other accolades.

She shunned the female stereotypes of her Sikh Punjabi heritage which sometimes puts a premium on quiet and dainty in favour of strength and determination and she’s now inspiring other women and girls to go for their dreams. Karenjeet was lucky to be born into a sporty family. Her twin brothers were national 400m runners and naturally, she wanted to follow in their footsteps, so she took up athletics and as the moniker Bullet Bains suggests, she excelled.

She says she knew about winning and losing from an early age which she’s grateful for. Her dad was a former body builder/lifter and while Karenjeet describes herself as academic and nerdy, she was also fierce and while studying in sixth form, she started lifting under her father’s tutelage. Initially Karenjeet wanted to lift to make her sprinting more explosive but once her dad had shown her the basic squat, bench and deadlifts, she was hooked on powerlifting as a sport in its own right.

STUBBORN DETERMINATION

Just three months after she started lifting Karenjeet’s dad entered her into a competition. Wearing school PE kit with no proper equipment and her brothers by her side, she won and within six months Karenjeet was British champion. It wasn’t all plain sailing as a serious injury set her back just as she returned from the Commonwealth Games which put her out of the sport for two years. Karenjeet was determined to come back and compete at the highest level which she did.

What’s also remarkable is that Karenjeet studied chartered accountancy at Durham University while training for and competing in the world championships – not your average university experience. She gained a prestigious scholarship to Durham from one of the big four accountancy firms of which only 60 are offered across the country.

ROAR OF THE CROWD

The call up for Gladiators was a bit secretive. In 2023 Karenjeet was sent an e-mail about a TV opportunity centred around a superhero programme. At this point Karenjeet’s Instagram presence was significant plus she’d been the subject of BBC One’s Extraordinary Portraits, so her profile was rising. She feels the producers had earmarked her for the show as they’re always on the lookout for potential talent.

One hundred people were put through their paces at the fitness trials with the top females selected. She says she’ll never take it for granted adding: “The roar of the crowd never fails to humble me. When I see Athena posters in the crowd it’s humbling. There are eight muscly women who are great role models. Strength is beauty.” Karenjeet was filming the third series in Sheffield when we spoke and is keen to point out that she is an athlete first and appearance second. All of the Gladiators are serious athletes. Among them are Olympians and champions in various arenas and they take their role seriously.

EYE OF THE TIGER

One of the things most precious to Karenjeet is the speaking she’s able to do in local schools in Warwick. She says: “The kids go crazy for it. I’ve overcome adversity and it’s hasn’t been easy so there’s a strong message to pass on.” She adds: “I’ve done this with nothing fancy. Training at home with weights made by hand by my dad – it’s all a bit Rocky!

“I’ve got hang tough rings in the garden and an array of equipment. There’s no sugar coating this. I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved through stubborn determination.” I feel she might get that from her mum who unusually took up athletics in her forties having missed out on the opportunities Karenjeet was able to grab with both hands as a child. Her mum throws javelin and discus.

Karenjeet is just as much about smashing glass ceilings and busting stereotypes as winning titles and breaking records. She coaches women online who want to get into fitness and break free from societal barriers that might be constraining them. She’s giving back in the best of ways.

Photography by William Hearle

Character comedian Lorna Rose Treen might not be a name you recognise yet, but with a second series of Radio Four’s, Time of the Week in the offing, a long run at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer, a bulging awards cabinet and a gig at the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival in Droitwich, she’s one to watch

Droitwich might not be as well-known as Edinburgh for its ability to pull in top comedy names, but this month, the big-hitters will descend on the town for the inaugural Rik Mayall Comedy Festival. When Redditch’s own Lorna was approached to take part, she jumped at the chance, not least because she’s a huge Rik Mayall fan. She says: “He’s a massive inspiration. Growing up, I watched what mum and dad watched and that was the Young Ones. I was far too young, but I loved it!”

Also inspired by French and Saunders, Ruby Wax, Catherine Tate and Victoria Wood among others, Lorna’s brand of funny is daft in the best possible sense. It’s no surprise that Ab Fab featured heavily in Lorna’s TV viewing growing up. The big character comedy energy comes through in her shows and TikTok videos which are very funny and silly.

BBC PARODY

Casting Sian Clifford of Fleabag fame in the Radio Four show, Time of the Week which Lorna writes with Jonathan Oldfield, was genius. Sian’s deadpan delivery squeezes every second of funny out of the script. The show lampoons Women’s Hour, a show which Lorna worked on for five years. She had been working on her Edinburgh show when she pitched the idea to a production company. One of the producers persuaded Lorna to take it to the BBC where commissioning editor, Julia Mackenzie commissioned it immediately. Sian Clifford came on board pretty quickly too. Lorna says she just got it straight away. It’s wonderfully bonkers, very British and perfectly sums up the randomness of Women’s Hour.

It feels like there’s more parity with men and women in comedy these days, but Lorna says while it’s improving, it’s still poor. She says: “Social media is amazing in the sense that so many women are doing comedy, but the live circuit is still predominantly men. There’s way more diversity online but more opportunities for men generally. There’s a rule at Mock the Week that you’re only allowed one woman. It started as you had to have a woman on each show and became you can only have one woman! There’s a way to go.”

LOW FILTER

As well as her CV, Lorna’s trophy cabinet is filling up. In Edinburgh in 2023 she won Funniest Joke at The Fringe – the first woman in 15 years to do so. She says: “It wasn’t even the funniest joke in my show, but industry wise, awards make a difference. After winning Funny Women, I got an agent, so that mattered, and competitions are useful if you do well. It’s also a bit odd though. It’s like saying, oh, you’re so good at being stupid!”

Lorna began performing at youth theatre at the Palace in Redditch. She remembers it was all quite serious, but she found her niche during an improv session. She explains: “My filter is quite low, I’m quite quick and because it didn’t have to be right, I slayed.” As a student at Edinburgh University, Lorna joined an improv group which sounds nightmarish to many people, us included. Lorna says: “Fear is the same as excitement. It’s terrifying but that’s a fun feeling. It’s like exposure therapy.” We’ll stick to writing.

WHOOPEE CUSHION

After graduation Lorna got a ‘proper job’ in journalism. The journalism part of job was ‘stimulating and curiosity led’ but the other half was office stuff such as admin which didn’t excite Lorna. She says she missed being out of her comfort zone and left the job to go to clown school. Lorna recalls: “My parents were incredulous. They couldn’t believe I was giving up my actual job to go to clown school. I was so poor. I spent my savings and worked everyday teaching English to French children.” It was essentially a theatre school with a clown master in his eighties. Lorna says: “It teaches actors to be more vulnerable on stage. There’s a playfulness, an innocence. When we did Shakespeare and Chekov, we did it through a playful lens. Then there was some pure clown stuff too like a pie in the face, whoopee cushion type stuff. It was life giving and joyful.” Alumni include Toby Jones, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter.

I wonder whether writing or performing is Lorna’s jam. She says: “I love the blend. Writing jokes for other people is fun but I get a special kick from being an idiot in front of an audience. My absolute dream is writing sitcoms.”

As festival season approaches, Lorna says, ‘it’s in her bones’ and she loves the local festivals as well as the obvious Edinburgh Fringe. The gig in Droitwich with Jonathan Oldfield is titled Midlands Child Syndrome and will be a ‘battle royale to the death’ in deciding which is best – East or West Midlands*. There are still tickets available at the time of writing but get in there quick.

*It’s West. Obviously!

First, a health warning. We really don’t do politics here at Brum Living Towers. Generally, it’s not our bag. We always like to write about the positives and, well, it seems to be a common complaint that politicians across the country are a bit out of touch with the very people that elected them. However, there’s always the exception to the rule – and that’s where Jess Phillips comes in!

The MP for Birmingham Yardley for the past decade and current Government minister at the Home Office, is one of those all-too-rare politicians who tend to speak their minds and actually say what the proverbial ‘man and woman in the street’ is thinking. What’s more, we can’t recall coming across a louder, prouder more upbeat voice for Brum in all our years covering the city. That vibe doubtless comes from the fact that Jess still lives less than 500 metres from the house where she was born and grew up. A true Brummie of the people, for the people then.

FORGET THE MOON

“The community I grew up in is basically still that same community,” she says. “It really hasn’t changed, and I haven’t either. We are one and the same and always will be. No matter what the future holds, for me it will always be here in Brum. This is where I am from, where I live, and will always be where I live! Yes, my job means I have to spend half my time in London right now, but I am a proud Brummie, through and through. I would never want to leave – even for the moon!”

We chatted with Jess after one of her regular constituency surgeries. The elephant in the room at the time was ‘The Bins’. With bags upon bags of rubbish piling up in the city streets due to the strike by the binmen, Birmingham was getting trashed by the national press in particular. Rats the size of cats, and so on…

Unsurprisingly it was a major talking point for those attending Jess’s surgery. And she admitted: “It’s a terrible issue that needs to be resolved, but I honestly don’t know that the council has any other choice. One thing I would say is that the coverage in the national press isn’t quite how it is in reality. Not every street in Brum is piled high with rubbish by any means. I fully recognise Birmingham is facing various terrible crises, but the average Brummie has a level of resilience that is phenomenal. It’s our super-power.”

POSITIVELY PROUD

You can tell from Jess’s tone that negativity irks her. She says: “It’s easy to not notice the positives.” She highlights how despite Birmingham’s financial problems and the wider issue of austerity, locally there has been progress with more people speaking up and portraying the good over the bad. And she cites the example of the number of TV programmes that talk about the city’s rich culture. All this positivity came to the fore when Brum spectacularly hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games. “The Games were amazing,” said Jess. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could have the Games and that brilliant weather every year!”

Jess grew up in Kings Heath, the youngest of four children. Her father was chief executive of the NHS Confederation and chair of South Birmingham Mental Health while her mother worked for the RSPCA. She went to King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls before studying economic and social history at Leeds University. Jess gained a postgraduate diploma in public sector management at the University of Birmingham and worked for the Women’s Aid Federation, responsible for managing refuges for victims of domestic abuse in Sandwell. In 2012 she was elected as a Labour councillor for Longbridge and was appointed as Birmingham City Council’s victims’ champion and also served on West Midlands Police and Crime Panel. She was elected MP for Birmingham Yardley in 2015.

STAYING FOCUSSED

She is currently minister at the Home Office responsible for safeguarding and violence against women and girls. “It’s an interesting fact, but the average tenure for a Government minister is 18 months, so I don’t think too much about ambitions,” said Jess, who as a child dreamed on one day becoming Prime Minister. “My ambition now is to do as good a job as I can until the next election,” she said. “I want to make sure I do a good job protecting the abused and vulnerable with the opportunity I have been given as a Government minister.”

Being the outspoken individual she is, Jess has had several high-profile run-ins over the years, the most recent being with billionaire and Donald Trump righthand man, Elon Musk over the handling of the child sexual exploitation case in Oldham. Musk, being Musk, posted rude derogatory comments about Jess on X which led to an avalanche of dangerous online misinformation about her.

Jess is keenly aware of the potential damage the Internet and extremist views can cause particularly to young people. “That’s why we should take every opportunity to make it safer and to educate,” she says. “I’ve raised two boys – a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old – in this era, so I am very aware of the risks. It’s up to parents, educators and regulators to act.”

She says her best memories of growing up in Brum are the “sense that the people on your street are your people” and the sights and sounds of the Birmingham Superprix, a single-seater motor race held through the city streets in the late 80s. “I remember the noise, so much noise!”

CHOCS AND CUDDLES

Jess revealed that by far and away the most common issues she deals with from constituents at her surgery involve homelessness and inappropriate behaviour. And she says that like most Brummies they are grateful for the help she and her staff can give them. “I’ve had people in my surgery today giving me and my team chocolates, flowers and even a cuddle!”

Jess has become a familiar face on TV not just for her expertise on political shows, but also for her sharp wit on programmes such as Have I Got News For You – she’s even presented one episode. She also revealed: “I get approached all the time to do all kinds of documentaries, but I can’t do that being a Government minister. Not now, no way!”

Maybe in the future if and when Government takes a backseat? But before even considering such a thing, Jess says she has one over-riding ambition. “To sleep more,” she says. We believe her…

With her big smile, sparkly eyes and positive energy, Lauren Oakley embodies the feelgood vibes of Strictly Come Dancing. In 2023 she was partnered with newsreader and novice, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and while they didn’t lift the glitter ball, Lauren moulded him into a decent dancer impressing the judges and winning over the audience. More than that, their friendship warmed the cockles and summed up the magic of Strictly. They’re still friends.

Having had such a positive experience with Krishnan, Lauren was naturally despondent when she wasn’t allocated a partner in 2024, but she rallied. She says: “I was really disappointed. You just want to give it your all, but I’m willing to watch and support and I always get on board with everyone’s journey.”

In a twist to Lauren’s Strictly journey she was picked to partner JB Gill part way through the series when an injury ruled Amy Dowden out. Sensitive to Amy’s disappointment Lauren says: “I felt sad and sorry for Amy – she wanted to see it through, and I think what she did was incredible. It felt like a team effort. I just tried to keep it positive.” Fortunately for JB, the chemistry with Lauren was instant, eventually pirouetting their way to a high-quality final while dishing up some of the show’s most memorable dances on the way, including a breath-taking samba and the most beautiful, Mary Poppins-inspired Viennese waltz.

IN THE GENES

Lauren’s mum was a dancer and ran local classes in Katherine de Barnes. Initially Lauren started having lessons with her, but soon switched as she didn’t want her mum telling her what to do at home and at dance class! By the age of seven, Lauren had a ballroom partner and was travelling to competitions around the country. She was in Liverpool four nights a week getting home in the early hours and catching up on sleep in the car. Dancing paused when Lauren started secondary school at CTC Kingshurst so that she could focus more on her studies.

She continued to take breaks from dancing throughout her teens, but Lauren always missed it and came back each time. Education was still important, and Lauren graduated from Nottingham with a degree in broadcast journalism. She says: “I ventured into journalism after graduating with not much success, so threw myself into dancing.”

Lauren joined the company at Burn The Floor – a live dance show that performs worldwide. Lauren recalls: “I travelled with Burn The Floor for nine years. I became a principal dancer and got involved with the creative choreography side too. It was a brilliant training ground for Strictly.” Lots of the Strictly professionals are Burn The Floor alumni including Alijaz and Johannes who Lauren met through the company. She also knew Amy, Kai, Neil and Katya through competing over the years, so she knew what to expect when she joined Strictly.

STRICTLY JIGSAW

The show’s producers are aware of the top dancers and are always on the lookout for potential new names. Lauren wasn’t messing about and took the initiative to approach the producers herself. The selection process was lengthy. There’s an interview, a screen test, a demonstration of teaching skills and an assessment on how quickly a dancer picks up pro routines. If all that works, it’s a case of fitting into the Strictly jigsaw. Thankfully Lauren did. She grew up watching Strictly and decided early on that she wanted to be part of the show, so she really is living the dream.

The only downside of Strictly, is that Lauren moved from her beloved Birmingham to Reading to be closer to London. She says: “I miss Birmingham but I’m married with four cats so it needed to be commutable.” She misses the city’s architecture, the canals and Sutton Park where she once got lost and says the city is ‘just vibing’ at the moment. As a proud Brummie, Lauren regrets missing the Commonwealth Games 2022 as she was touring and credits it, along with Peaky Blinders with giving the region a boost.

THEATRE KID

Lots of the pros tour in between series of Strictly and Lauren’s been on the road with Anton for his Anton du Beke at the Musicals show. During their show they both sing, and a little bird tells us that Lauren has a cracking voice. She modestly says: “There are four singers – two proper singers then me and Anton!”

Having said that, as well as dancing, Lauren attended Stagecoach Solihull as a child and says she’s still a theatre kid at heart. Her dream musical theatre gig would be Chicago. Years ago, Lauren’s nan took her to the cinema to see the film and she’s loved it ever since. She says: “I think I’m probably more a Velma than a Roxy. I would love that. I’m manifesting.”

More immediately, when we spoke, Lauren was still waiting to hear details of this year’s Strictly line-up -– whether she is part of the series at all and if so, if she’s been allocated a partner. It’s hard to see why she wouldn’t be, but we’ll set about manifesting just in case.

The news came as a bit of a shock. Afterall, who hasn’t heard of Simpsons? The first restaurant in Birmingham to earn a Michelin star. And who hasn’t heard of Andreas Antona. The man behind the legendary eatery, where good food became exquisite food and aspiring young chefs have been nurtured to become Michelin stars in their own right.

So, yes, the news that Simpsons is up for sale and that ‘The Godfather’ of this city’s burgeoning food scene is ‘retiring’ is hard to process. But as Andreas explained: “I’ve had a great run, I’m not getting any younger, and I still have many things I want to do with my life before my time is up.”

Let’s face it, it would be mean to protest too loudly his decision to hang up his apron after all he has brought to our city, lifting its profile from frankly what was a bit of a culinary joke to a dining powerhouse topped only by the capital for Michelin star restaurants.

FOODIE ROOTS

Andreas’s foodie roots began when he trained in Germany and Switzerland during his early years as a chef. On returning to the UK he worked with luminaries such as Anton Mosimann and Michael Quinn, former head chef at London’s Ritz. Having spent 35 years in the kitchen, he gave up cheffing to dedicate 15 years to running Simpsons followed by The Cross at Kenilworth which he took over in 2013.

Andreas said: “Last year, I marked 50 years as a chef and restaurateur, having started out at Ealing College in 1974. I feel lucky to have witnessed the boom and development of our industry into the wonderful profession it is now. Following a lot of soul searching, I’ve realised there is never a good time to retire, but when something from within is telling you to re-evaluate and enjoy life, family, friends, travel and golf, you need to listen. It is this realisation that has made me decide to sell Simpsons, the restaurant where my life as a chef patron began.

“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not one for standing still, and I will continue, albeit on a part-time basis, with my other interests such as The Cross and SOKO Patisserie for the near future. I’d also like to invest more time in projects close to my heart. Simpsons has a big place in my heart and a sale of this importance will take time. We have a fantastic team in place and I want to be sure that the buyer shares our passion to continue and build on Simpsons’s success.”

AWARDS GALORE

Simpsons has achieved three decades of culinary excellence with Andreas at its helm. The restaurant has held a Michelin star since 1999, alongside a host of other industry awards and accolades, including being recognised by PETA as one of the top 10 restaurants for plant-based dining. As such, Simpsons has established itself as a favourite dining destination for foodies and revolutionised the dining scene in Birmingham. Carrying on that legacy is front and centre for Andreas moving forward. “While I realise the time has come for me to unwind a bit, it’s vital that Simpsons carries on and goes from strength to strength. So, it will need someone with huge energy, commitment and of course talent.”

Resilience is a fourth quality which Andreas alluded to. “Times are very tough right now across the industry with a difficult trading environment,” he said. “Restaurants are a barometer of the country’s well-being, and we are going through it.” Never one to duck an issue, Andreas is happy to stir the pot when it comes to his views on how the nation is run by government.

“The whole nation has been let down over many years by politicians of all persuasions,” her says. “Let down through their interference in business which does more harm, instead of letting business get on with it. We are over-taxed and over-regulated. You want a growing economy? I could achieve that in two fell swoops – abolish the business rate system and reduce VAT to around four or five percent for retail and hospitality. As it stands now, everyone will have to actually reduce their payroll due to increases in National Insurance.”

YOUNG GUNS

Despite this criticism, Andreas is hopeful for the hospitality industry in the longer term. “I’m confident that good times will come again,” he said. “There are some brilliant young chefs out there. But we do need to create a broader appeal to get kids into the industry with more training programmes and apprenticeships. The problem is that government doesn’t look at hospitality as an industry, even though we are the third biggest in the country. They focus too much on tech, while our industry gets taken for granted.

“I knew at 15 that I never wanted to go to university, so I went to catering college. My generation wanted to make things better and we never took the industry for granted. I admire kids today, but I don’t sense the same camaraderie that we had. I was at the beginning of a great Birmingham revolution which became a golden era. Looking back on my career, I wouldn’t change anything.”

While Andreas is ‘officially retiring’ he says that “the Greek in me is to always carry on”. He adds: “I may have hung up my apron but you won’t see me shuffling around Sainsbury’s all day long or retiring to the garden. I will still be getting stuck in and involved ­– maybe through mentoring or consultancy.”

Of Brum in general, he says: “It looks buoyant, lots of cranes and plenty of building. There’s lots of different, ethnic restaurants and a great catering college. So, lots to be positive about!”

The first thing to say is the music is a bit of a departure from The Vamps sound and feels very ‘bandy’ – Bradley’s word not ours, but we know what he means. New album, The Panic Years has a rocky edge recorded live with a great band and particularly strong drums. Bradley says: “They’re honest songs. Writing this album was like a look back over the last 10 or 11 years and all the ups and downs. Hopefully people listening can relate to that.”

New single Always Like This features big drums and gritty guitars while the lyrics chart the angst of uncertainty in a relationship. The track was produced by Bradley’s main collaborators, the Grammy winner BOOTS (Run the Jewels) and Andrew Wells.

NEW AUDIENCE

Testing the new material out at a handful of festivals last summer was nerve-wracking but successful and appealed to new fans as well as The Vamps faithful. Bradley says: “I’m proud of it and I’ve now a huge appreciation for the work of solo artists.” Bradley says the solo journey has been a series of firsts. “I’ve enjoyed the process in lots of way and in others it has been challenging. You need to work out exactly what it is you want. It’s been interesting to think about what I want to sound like.”

While Bradley’s relishing the new, he misses his old band mates too. “They’re my best mates. We’ve been together for 12 years so it’s a bit different. I’m used to being at gigs and looking left or right and seeing certain people. That’s strange, but we meet up all the time.”

AMERICANA VIBE

As well as the sound, Bradley’s style feels a bit more edgy too with a distinct Americana vibe which he says is inspired by stars like James Dean and Bruce Springsteen – lots of denim and leather. This is quite a big change as Bradley says in the early days of the band, he didn’t consider his style at all. He recalls: “I look back and I’m wearing the skinniest of jeans with stripy socks and Doc Martins! Maybe it was cool at the time.”

Bradley comes back to Birmingham as much as he can. “I’ve done a lot of touring and I wrote the album in America. It’s really nice to come back home and chill out, turn the phone off and see friends and family – a bit of normality.” His commitment to Birmingham and his charitable nature led Bradley to become an ambassador at Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH).

He explains: “I had issues with my ears when I was younger and while I wasn’t treated at BCH, the doctors and nurses were incredible.” He adds: “It’s scary as a young kid to be in that environment and music can make a difference. I came up with the band and did a gig in the foyer. The kids came off the wards to listen and because of the way the foyer is positioned, lots of children who couldn’t leave their wards were able to watch too.” Bradley’s old baby grand piano now sits in the foyer which he sanded down then met some of the patients who decorated it with their hand prints. He always asks the staff if anyone plays it which the kids do regularly apparently.

Bradley also visits the hospital and meets the children periodically. He says: “It’s really tough going in but I’m always surprised. The kids are smiling. The staff keep them upbeat – they’re super-heroes. I just want to help where I can.” Bradley recently visited the hospital with the charity Singing Medicine who we’ve previously featured in the magazine and who believe in the healing properties of music and the power it has to lift the spirits. Bradley was taken aback with the positive reaction of the kids – some of them non-verbal whose joy was obvious.

BITTER SWEET

When we interviewed Bradley pre-Covid he was so excited about the gin bar he’d launched in Sutton Coldfield with his parents and his sister which they called Simpsons. Sadly, they’ve now closed the business, but Bradley says it’s bitter-sweet. He says: “We had eight amazing years, but it was the right time to say bye. Covid was a struggle for hospitality and things never really got back to normal. My parents can relax now and walk the dog!” Bradley would encourage everyone to support the city’s independents. “Not just bars and coffee shops, but so many small music venues have had to close thanks to Covid. We need them.”

Bradley will probably be in Australia when you read this, and he’s determined to see more than the inside of a hotel room this time around. He says: “We never really saw any of the amazing places we travelled to with the band. I remember going to South America and when I came home a friend asked me what Brazil was like, and I had no idea. This time round I’m taking time to see more.”

Is national treasure too much? We don’t think so. Mark Williams has achieved cross-generational appeal in the way that Julie Walters or the late Dame Maggie Smith have. Older fans will remember the Fast Show while Gen Z know him for the kind-hearted, Arthur Weasley in Harry Potter.

Then there’s BBC hit, Father Brown in which Mark plays the title character, and which is currently in its 12th series. That’s 130 episodes of the charming crime whodunnit which sees the bicycle-riding vicar exercise his talent for sleuthing.

GREAT STORY TELLING

Set in the Fifties and filmed in a picturesque village in the Cotswolds, Father Brown has a warmth about it. It’s like a mug of hot chocolate on a cold day. Mark puts the success down to focusing on great story-telling and the fact that the cast all really love doing it. He says: “It’s set in the Fifties, so it’s more polite and it’s cosy. That helps.” Mark says it was Father Brown’s curiosity and lack of judgement that appealed. He adds: “There’s lots of Father Brown in Miss Marple – he says things that other people don’t think are important.”

A carousel of guest actors enhances the show each episode and Mark says: “We are blessed with a wonderful set of guest stars every week! I love having new actors that bring such skill and energy to the characters. It’s one of my chief pleasures watching them work.” On making 130 episodes, Mark says: “I was feeling quite impressed by this, I thought there can’t have been many people who’ve played the eponymous character in a series for 130 shows. Then I read about Jack Warner who played Dixon of Dock Green 432 times, so that took the wind out of my sails a bit.”

A REAL TRIBE

Mark says that making Father Brown has enriched his life immeasurably. “There have been many friendships made, and we have quite a few children born during our time filming to cast and crew which makes us a real tribe. And I give thanks to G K Chesterton’s creation because Father Brown has kept me fascinated.”

The series was always going to be set in the Cotswolds. Mark says: “It’s close to Birmingham for a start, plus it’s easier to do period in the countryside. In a city, not so much.” The cast decamp to the Cotswolds for four months at a time working 12 hours a day. Mark’s only disappointment is that Father Brown doesn’t drive so he never gets to take retro cars on set for a spin.

He says: “Being close to Birmingham and Coventry which were the centre of British car production, we have this amazing resource of period motors. There’s a lot of ‘ooohing’ and ‘aaahing’ over the amazing pieces of machinery we get. Long forgotten names like Armstrong Siddeley, Alvis and Sunbeam. My problem is Father Brown can’t drive, so I have to make do with a bike. Not that I don’t love my bike. It’s a Pashley, made in Stratford with old-fashioned drum gears. It’s actually very good uphill which is a blessing.”

BIRMINGHAM BOY

Mark’s link with the Midlands is strong and he says: “Birmingham is part of me.” His grandad worked at Bournville. His other grandad was a sprayer at Austin while his nan worked at a chemist and his other nan worked in a convalescent home in the Lickeys. Mark’s parents benefitted from a post war education – they both went to grammar school. He remembers: “They were both brilliant at drawing. Mum went to art school while dad went to architectural school. We always had loads of books in the house.” Mark says his childhood was dominated by factories and that’s the biggest thing that’s changed about the region. He says: “Manufacturing was everything and then it wasn’t – almost overnight it wasn’t.”

With no thespians in the family, Mark began to find his feet on stage aged 11. He says: “I was in a school play and while on stage I thought, ‘I can do this’. I couldn’t add up or do much else!” From North Bromsgrove school Mark went to Oxford to read English. He says: “God knows how I made it there. I came from a comprehensive in the West Midlands – maybe they wanted people like me.” Once he got over the culture shock Mark threw himself into drama.

MR WEASLEY

Playing Arthur Weasley alongside Julie Walters in the Harry Potter films is probably Mark’s most recognisable role. He didn’t appear in the first film and when contemplating his role in the second, Mark went to the cinema to watch The Philosopher’s Stone to see what all the fuss was about. He says: “The place was packed, and I knew then it would be big.”

We asked Mark which of his roles he’s most proud of and he says he tries not to have a favourite job beyond the one he’s currently doing and then quotes Karl Lagerfeld. The enigmatic designer once said, “It is better to do than to have done.” Well, quite.

Ben Shephard says an unforgettable meeting with a 10-year-old ‘funny, giggly boy’ changed his life. “I was hosting an event for Seve Ballesteros Brain Cancer Foundation in 2010. Harry Moseley was the keynote speaker in front of over 1,000 guests at this huge event full of celebrities, professional golfers and millionaire businessmen. He had the whole room transfixed telling his story, and he had me in fits of giggles all night with his cheeky laughter and teasing.”

The TV personality known to millions as the presenter of ITV’s This Morning adds that for someone so young and facing such an uncertain future to be so full of joy, humour and wide-eyed enthusiasm was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. “He really did change my life,” said Ben, who was to become an ambassador for the Help Harry Help Others (HHHO) cancer charity, set up initially by Harry and carried on by his mum Georgie after the youngster from Sheldon passed away at the age of 11.

AMBASSADOR

While there’s nothing new about high-profile celebrities lending their names to good causes, helping to generate publicity and much-needed funds, Ben’s mission with Harry’s charity is different. It’s much more ‘hands-on’. As an ambassador for the charity, Ben has taken on countless personal physical challenges to raise money for HHHO as well as being the highly visible, always available frontman and champion at many events. These include the opening of the pioneering HHHO drop-in centre at Stechford which provides practical and help and support for more than 1,500 families affected by the impact of cancer on their lives.

The latest initiative which Ben is helping promote is the Club Harry’s #IamHarry Christmas campaign to encourage regular monthly subscribers to the charity. Ben said: “When Harry set up his foundation, Georgie and Harry asked me if I’d like to be an ambassador, and it was a very quick ‘yes’. Being around Harry was to feel alive to the possibility of anything. To be a small part of that journey was and still is a privilege. I love supporting everything they do in Harry’s memory, being a part of events and fund-raisers, joining challenges and generally sharing Harry’s vision.”
Ben has some serious roots in Brum going back years. Though born in Epping, Essex, he studied at the University of Birmingham where he earned a BA Honours degree in dance, drama and theatre arts – and also met his wife Annie.

BEST TIMES

He recalls: “I loved my time as a student. From life on the Vale in Halls to living in Selly Oak, it was the best time in my life. I met my best mates in Brum, my wife in Brum and having family roots there made it feel all the more special. The city has changed a lot since we were there. But the Dilshad in Selly Oak was our curry house. If we weren’t there at least three times a week we’d get withdrawals. We lived in The OVT in Selly Oak and after going to any of the clubs in town, if we didn’t visit Mr Egg, then the night wouldn’t be complete! Who doesn’t want egg and chips after a night out!”

Ben is still involved with the university as part of the alumni mentoring programme. He says: “It’s about offering advice, support and encouragement to undergrads. The students I’m working with are so motivated and far brighter than I ever was. I’m incredibly proud of my connection with Birmingham Uni and to be able to meet some of the students and see how much they are grasping that opportunity, and see what they are going through now, is a small reminder of my experience which started 30 years ago – it’s great but does make me feel very old!”

TV CAREER

Ben’s career in television began working as a runner for the Weather Network in Hockley. He went on to work as the host of Channel 4’s teen TV review programme Control Freaks, before becoming a presenter for MTV, Channel 4’s The Bigger Breakfast, Planet Pop, and Sunday morning show T4.

Now living in London, Ben says he loves returning to the city that has been such a big part of his life. “I really love walking around. When I came to uni they’d just pedestrianised New Street and now it’s incredible what they’ve done around the Bullring and city generally. It’s a great city and I still love the Jewellery Quarter, as that’s where I started work as a runner and got a taste for TV.”
Of the #IAmHarry campaign, Ben said: “The idea of it is to highlight the impact Harry has had – and is still having on those he met, inspired and more importantly supported. Whether a supporter, or a service user these people are all Harry’s.”

Joining Ben in supporting the campaign are fellow ‘famous Brummies’ and This Morning co-hosts, Alison Hammond and Cat Deeley. “Alison knows all about Harry and has met his mum Georgie on a number of occasions and both she and Cat are very proud Brummies,” said Ben. “Harry represents the very best of the Midlands so it’s very easy for them to hear about him from me and immediately want to lend their support to the #IAmHarry campaign.”

Who knew RuPaul’s Drag Race would become as career defining as it has for so many of the queens involved? Maybe RuPaul had an inkling but still, it’s been a remarkable worldwide hit. One of our fave Brummie entrants, Kitty Scott-Claus is riding the RuPaul wave starring in the Global All Stars version of the show.

All Stars involves 12 of the show’s favourite queens from around the world representing their countries competing for the Queen of the Mothertucking World title and a $200,000 prize. When Kitty was asked to be part of it, she was thrilled. She says: “It was so exciting. I loved it so much the first time around. I just didn’t want to jinx it. It’s like the Miss World of the drag world and the timing was just right.”

The show was filmed in October 2023, so Kitty has forgotten some of what happened which means she’s watching it almost like a viewer. “I can’t remember every episode and I’ve no idea what happens in the confessionals.”

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Working with queens from across the globe and therefore getting to grips with the nuances of different languages was challenging at times. Kitty explains: “I learnt that some words don’t translate! I called someone a cow and people were so offended. They thought I was calling her fat! Then I called someone thick, and they thought I meant fat. Nellenia from Italy called me a pig! Apparently in Italy it means sexy.”

Of RuPaul, Kitty says she’s in awe: “RuPaul is like God – the biggest icon and the show has opened so many doors.” The eight-time Emmy award-winning host and executive producer says: “The world is not ready for RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars. Twelve queens representing their home countries raises the stakes to a whole new level. Plus, the international mix of charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent will, pardon my French, blow your fucking minds.” Quite. Resident judge Michelle Visage features along with choreographer Jamal Sims and a rotation of stars from across the international franchise.

COOK OFF

As well as Drag Race you might have witnessed Kitty’s successful stint on Masterchef which was a surprise for all involved, not least Kitty. She says: “I got the call from my agent, and I said, ‘what? Have they got the right person?’ I got to the fifth round, and I’ve never felt pressure like it. I’d much rather be on the runway than be given half-an-hour to cook a dish from whatever it might be – in drag as well! It was so hot.”

Despite the outfits being uncomfortably hot, Kitty reckons the mentality of dressing up helped. She explains: “I feel like Barbie. I put on the outfit and I can be anything. So, for Masterchef, I’m not a cook but put on the outfit and apron and I can be.”

BIG BONED

Living a drag queen’s life means late nights working in clubs which is not the healthiest of routines. Kitty’s well documented weight loss of a staggering eight stone was prompted by a chance meeting with a personal trainer. She recalls: “I met him at my hairdresser’s 40th birthday party. He made fitness seem easy, accessible.” Kitty stopped drinking alcohol which was a big step.

She says: “I thought it would be difficult. Working in clubs I just couldn’t imagine doing it without drinking. I’d get drunk and eat McDonald’s, consume about 4,000 calories and feel rotten in the morning, but it hasn’t been difficult at all.” Kitty has completed a half marathon and has just signed up to a marathon. She says: “I was a chubby child. I was chubby at theatre school. I just thought that was me – big boned, but no. Now my size 30-inch jeans are baggy!”

THEATRE KID

Kitty grew up in Sutton Coldfield in a family of six children and was always performing and making people laugh. Theatre and performing was not what the family was about, and Kitty says her siblings all have ‘normal jobs’ like accounting, construction and her sister is training to become a midwife, so she was a one-off at home, always wanting to make people laugh. Kitty studied musical theatre at Mountview Academy of Theatre and while there she never wanted any of the male roles always hankering after the part of Chicago’s Roxy Hart or Elle in Legally Blonde.

Of her home town Kitty says: “I love Birmingham so much. The queer scene is the best, full of love and support. When I performed at Birmingham pride it was like coming full circle and I just love the Brum sense of humour.”

We were lucky enough to read an advance of Adrian’s book Curious Columns ahead of the writer’s appearance later this month at Stratford Literary Festival, and even luckier to then chat to the man himself. The book is essentially a collection of Adrian’s Guardian columns and being a regular reader of the column, it’s funny to see them written down in one place – it accentuates their wild randomness.

The randomness is a major part of the column’s charm – a dislike of bending down one week, the death of his father the next. It’s amusingly observational, like a newspaper column version of a Peter Kay stand-up routine, but Adrian says it’s not an easy process: “I’ve to submit a thousand words every Wednesday and for the last four years I’ve given them a heart attack. Sometimes I try to get ahead and start on a Monday, but I lose the thread by Wednesday, so it’s always a bit last minute. The important thing is when you think of something, you’ve got to jot it down.”

EMBARRASSINGLY PERSONAL

Compiling the book has meant going through all his columns and cutting them down by roughly 50 words in order to fit the book’s format. Adrian says: “It’s a look back at your body of work if you like. Going through the columns, I realise some of them work, some of them don’t but they all benefited from being trimmed. I also realised how much I write about dad dying – it’s amazing how often I mention it. I mention both mum and dad a lot actually.” He also realises a lot of his musings are ‘embarrassingly personal, some of it absurd’. One column recalled a bout of repetitive strain injury caused by continuously stirring polenta for 45 minutes.

Adrian credits the column with meeting his wife. It was just after the ‘dislike of bending down’ ramblings were published that he was invited to meet the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. She liked what he was doing, and the pair are now married. Adrian says Katharine is particularly understanding of the chaos of his ADHD brain.

He talks about the diagnosis which came five years ago. He’d been tested previously, and the results came back with a wishy-washy, ‘you might have it, but you might not’ conclusion that came with a £1,500 price tag. He says: “It felt like private medicine gone mad!” When he was finally, properly diagnosed lots of things in Adrian’s life began to make sense.

UNDERSTANDING PARTNER

He’s keen to point out that the notion that a diagnosis plus medication means all’s well is false. He explains: “That’s not the case. You’ve to put in the hard work altering the way you approach life. It’s hard, boring and repetitive. You have to figure out how to deal with it, how to finish one job before starting another. I have an understanding partner but also one who’s able to draw a line and won’t accept coming home to a bomb site.”

He adds: “I might have ADHD but I still have agency. My biggest conclusion is that the diagnosis has been important but not existential. I would still have been functioning and earning a living.” Adrian goes on to say: “The problem is most people don’t get a diagnosis. Kids are failing in school or ending up in prison. Prisons are full of people with ADHD.” Adrian talks more about his ADHD in numerous of his columns with his usual dry, humorous twist.

Despite the extensive writing I think of Adrian as a broadcaster, but he says he always thought he’d be a writer. “When I meet people who say, ‘I saw you on the telly or heard you on the radio’ – that’s nice, but when people say they read the column it’s another level – that people bothered to read it really means something.”

FULL CIRCLE

Adrian’s first writing gig was work experience at the Stratford-upon-Avon Observer where he says he learnt a lot. “It’s much harder being a local journalist than at the BBC. You’ve got to work hard to find the stories rather than them coming to you.” Despite living in London, Adrian will always feel connected to the Midlands. He says: “When I arrive at New Street, I get excited by the familiarity of it. I’ve strong roots in the Midlands. My mum’s in Hagley and I wonder sometimes what’ll happen when she’s not here anymore. What then?”

Adrian’s love for West Brom is well documented. He says: “I love the West Brom Smethwick area. It has a sense of itself.” Of the wider region he says: “The restoration of the canals is a massive thing. The improvement around the Jewellery Quarter is quite something plus we’ve got the countryside on the doorstep. The Clent Hills is just beautiful.” And he adds: “In an era where it seems you have to show off – like Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow saying they’re the best cities on earth – we don’t do that. I like it.”

We had no idea what a brilliant champion of the Birmingham comedy scene and of budding comics Jo Enright was until now. She’s been curating a monthly night at Glee for 11 years called Roughworks which allows comics to come and try out new material. She says: “I found more and more comedians coming out of Birmingham, so I approached Glee. The scene in the city is healthy, supportive, uncompetitive and unpretentious and there’s respect from the industry.”

Birmingham Comedy Festival kicks off in various venues across the city next month which Jo will be part of. She’s performed at the festival several times, sometimes she says accidentally! When we chatted, Jo was getting over Covid while deftly dealing with a seven-year-old in the background. She probably felt pretty rough, but you wouldn’t know it.

Charming, generous and full of love for Birmingham, Jo was a joy. Not cracking jokes like some of the comics we’ve interviewed – we like a gag as much as the next person but there was something refreshing and gentle about Jo. It could have been down to Covid and perhaps ordinarily she’s shoehorning jokes into conversation, but we doubt it.

WHO’S WHO

Jo’s CV is like a roll call of who’s who in the comedy world. As well as stand-up, Jo has worked extensively with people who recognise her ability to play a character. Stand-up was a sideline initially but after three years she went full-time. Jo became friends with Peter Kay bonding over their working-class backgrounds and Irish families. She says: “We could relate to each other’s worlds.”

The friendship led to work on That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights. “People could see that I could do character, so it caught their attention. I’ve worked with Steve Coogan, Johnny Vegas, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, so stand-up opened doors for me.”

Jo has done a lot of TV work too and I wonder if she prefers stand-up or screen? She says: “TV pays better than stand-up and as a freelancer a lump sum is welcome, but it’s somebody else’s line, somebody else’s creation. TV is always good to have on the CV and I enjoy the variety, but when I’ve done some TV I can’t wait to get back to stand-up.”

Jo credits being a bored teenager with a very funny best friend for igniting her comedy spark. They began writing sketches together. Jo went on to study A-Levels and then was unemployed. She discovered a drama group for unemployed people in Handsworth run by Malcolm Cleland. He was keen to bring his skills to people who wouldn’t normally have access to that kind of education.

Jo says: “He trained us for a year and got us into good shape to go and audition. I got a place at Middlesex Poly and as part of the drama course there was a module on stand-up.” The assessment was a five-minute set. Jo had a glass of wine and went for it. She says stand-up is more than telling jokes. It’s a craft. Jo became fascinated by the use of drama, acting and storytelling and inspired by “excellent comedians like Richard Pryor, Robin Williams and Victoria Wood”.

BRUM CENTRAL

London beckoned and Jo worked in the capital for 14 years. She says: “The big thing for stand-up comedians is stage time. Can I get enough? London offered me this at the time. Apart from Glee there were two clubs in Birmingham. As the city’s scene has developed you can stay around the Midlands successfully. I still work in London and test new material but there’s no need to live there anymore.”

Jo cites local comedians like Janice Connolly and James Cook as pushing the envelope for the Midlands. They both teach courses on being comedians. She says: “It’s affordable and people get a taste of stand-up.” She talks of Joe Lycett boosting the city’s profile trying out new material at Glee and choosing to film Late Night Lycett in Digbeth. There’s Alex Egan running three new material nights in the city as well as James nurturing fresh talent not to mention up and coming comedians like Eric Rushton who won the Sean Lock Award and Josh Pugh who has a lot of momentum. Jo says it’s not just a great time to be in comedy in Birmingham, but the creative industries generally are thriving.

COVID CRAFTING

It hasn’t all been a barrel of laughs though. Obviously, things went quiet during the pandemic although Jo managed to rally and make the best of it. She says: “I’d just done a toiletries ad campaign which sustained me financially and a Radio 4 series before lockdown.” As well as writing and putting out more stuff online, Jo began crafting to while away the hours. She says: “I stayed creative. I wrote a lot and became a crafter – a knitter.”

Jo knitted a lot, ranging from children’s shoes to Valentines Day hearts. She put the hearts on cards with the message ‘lockdown love’. One lady bought 15 to send to her friends. It sort of sums up our view of Jo – overwhelmingly kind. We’re not sure it’s a sentiment we’ve associate with comedy in the past, but she says of fellow comedians: “You rarely come across anyone who’s arrogant in the industry. It’s a vulnerable job and we’ve all had knock backs so there’s a camaraderie and respect.”

Jo’s the sort of person who restores your faith in humanity at a time when it might have been bashed a bit. A good egg and a very talented one at that.

We chatted to fast bowler Issy Wong as she prepared to pull on the distinctive Birmingham Phoenix shirt for the fourth time. Kicking off on 23 July, The Hundred has become a firm favourite in the sporting calendar attracting record crowds and giving the sport a massive boost as well as raising the profile of the women’s game thanks to its unique double header format. Issy explains that the format wasn’t part of the original plans for the tournament, and we have Covid to thank for that.

The pandemic meant that the launch of The Hundred was delayed for a year allowing for more time to get it right. The double header format which sees men and women competing back-to-back was only mooted then. Women play first followed by the men in the evening slot which is one of the most successful parts of the tournament in our view.

It means the women have equal billing with the men and both games are televised on the BBC. The stars of the women’s game including Issy have become household names. Of the packed grounds Issy says: “There’s no better feeling than those crowds particularly at a home game. No one knew what it (The Hundred) would turn into. It’s amazing. Also, TV coverage on the BBC is massive making it accessible for more people.”

GOOD VIBES

Issy got an inkling of the tournament’s potential early on when she did a stint commentating on the opening game at the Oval just two days before the Phoenix’s first game at Edgbaston. She says: “The crowd was roughly 12,000 strong and when Mady Villiers hit a six they went nuts. I just thought, ‘wow!’” Inspiring youngsters has been a brilliant by-product of the rise of the women’s game and Issy points out it’s just as important for boys to see strong female role models in the game as girls. She says: “Boys looking up to women is just as powerful as inspiring young girls.”

When Issy got into cricket, there were no high-profile female players aside from trailblazer Rachael Heyhoe-Flint. Issy remembers being super competitive as a small child and in the playground. She always wanted to be hitting the ball the hardest or throwing a ball the furthest – whatever the sport she wanted to win. An after-school club was Issy’s first taste of cricket which she took to straight away.

She progressed to local club level and aged nine was encouraged to trial for Warwickshire which was successful. As well as at county level, she’s enjoyed success regionally and nationally for teams including Southern Vipers and Central Sparks. Issy found out about her Central Sparks contract on her eighteenth birthday which meant she left school and became a professional cricketer.

WORLD CLASS

Generally, Issy thinks Birmingham punches above its weight in terms of sport. She says: “The connection to sport in the city is strong. We’ve got world class athletics, football clubs, Warwickshire cricket.” She also recalls the magic of the Commonwealth Games in 2022 at which T20 cricket debuted. Issy says: “Walking into Alexander Stadium which I’d regularly been to as a kid watching Diamond League athletics was amazing.” Playing as part of Team England at the Games was a pinch me moment. Issy recalls: “At one point Sophie Eccleston whispered to me, ‘You’ll remember this for the rest of your life.’”

When Issy’s not playing cricket, she’s watching football in the flesh or on TV and in particular her beloved Liverpool. It’s a family thing which she was introduced to at just six-months-old wrapped up in the stands – her sporting hero is the club’s former striker, Fernando Torres. Cricket has meant she’s missed two Champions League finals which her family travelled to.

WINNING WAYS

Ambitions for the Phoenix this year are high. Issy says: “The vibe at Phoenix is good. We’re going into the tournament giving it a shot at winning. Last year we didn’t win a game but lost the middle five by just 15 runs, so close.” In our view, the biggest winner in The Hundred is cricket. If you’ve never been to a game, you’re missing a trick. The atmosphere is electric and the pace of the game is lively and explosive. We’ve been every year since the launch with our kids in tow and we’ll be donning our tangerine caps again in August willing the Phoenix to win.

In 2018, we interviewed Lucie Shorthouse for our Young, Gifted and Brummie series. At the time she was winning awards for her West End debut as Pritti Pasha in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and was keen to get stuck into some juicy TV roles.

Six years on and she’s doing that with bells on. The second series of hit Channel 4 comedy We Are Lady Parts kicked off in May, and an altogether more serious affair, BBC One Scottish police drama, Rebus is airing now.

The adaptation of Ian Rankin’s gritty Inspector Rebus novels was created by Gregory Burke in which Lucie plays DC Siobhan Clarke (Shiv) alongside Richard Rankin (no relation to the author) as John Rebus. The show is enjoying excellent reviews with probably the most meaningful feedback from Ian Rankin himself who described the show as ‘terrific’.

FLAWED AND MESSY

The six-episode series has brought Rankin’s books up to modern day with a younger Rebus – one who’s still flawed and messy just younger. Lucie plays Rebus’s newly-appointed partner – she’s not only new to the force, she has come through an accelerated pathway which middle-aged men in police dramas always seem to take umbrage with. What’s more, she’s not Scottish and she’s a woman, so there were a few barriers for Siobhan to breakdown, but Lucie assures me: “She finds her groove.”

Shot in Scotland last summer, Lucie says Rebus was ‘lovely to film’ and despite the gritty nature of the programme, the cast and crew had such a laugh it could have been a comedy. Ian Rankin was on set a few times and while he was supportive there was a moment at the screening where Lucie had a wobble about whether he’d like it or not. She needn’t have worried.

MIDLANDS LILT

Lucie says her parents used to watch the original series, so she was aware of the Rebus books, but hadn’t read any. She says: “I read a bit of an extract of the original so that I could understand the world I was stepping into, but I didn’t want to go too far in as the portrayal on screen might be different from the books. I wanted to get it right. Ian Rankin books are part of the Scottish social fabric so there was a bit of pressure.”

While Lucie would have been open to doing a Scottish accent were it required, she’s pleased that her natural Midlands lilt is on show. She says: “I think it’s great that a Midlands accent is more commonly heard on TV. I hate to say it, but it’s become a bit trendy. Stephen Knight’s Peaky Blinders and Your Town have helped, and the BBC and Netflix are now investing in Midlands voices.”

HOME SWEET HOME

When we talked in 2018 it felt like Lucie’s career was just taking off, so Covid hit at an awkward time professionally. She says: “There were three years of work time I didn’t get to capitalise on. In one way it was nice that everyone stopped. There’s so much competition for roles and during Covid we were all on a level playing field.”

She adds: “We Are Lady Parts was ready to film in 2020 so I knew I had that plus on a personal note I moved back to the Midlands just before the pandemic and had green spaces and family close by. If I’d been living in a box in London, it would have been different.”

On moving home to the Midlands, Lucie thinks it’s ideal. Aside from being close to family, Lucie enjoys the convenience of the location. She explains: “Rebus was filmed in Scotland, Henocalypse in Liverpool and I can be in London quickly, so as an actor it’s ideal.” Lucie has lots of friends who’ve been pushed out of London due to the cost and she says in your late twenties you think about what you really want and make some changes. She’s always encouraging friends to make the move to the Midlands!

CLICKY FINGERS

In 2018, Lucie had said she wanted to be successful but not famous. I suggest that might be getting harder, but she says she really doesn’t get recognised. She can still pop to Aldi looking rough no bother. Her character in Lady Parts wears a full niqab so that probably helped. Lucie says she’d like to become something she calls a ‘clicky fingers actor’ which means instilling an ‘ooh what have I seen her in?’ reaction in audiences.

It tends to mean an actor is working regularly so is familiar to viewers but flying just under the radar of crazy attention. She says: “I’ve been hunted down on social media a few times and people have sent me lovely messages but other than that I’m not really recognised.” If we catch up with Lucie in another six years, we have a hunch that might just be different.

If you didn’t watch the 2018 Commonwealth Games final in which England triumphed over Australia, what the heck were you doing? It was tear-jerking, pride-inducing, an epic match and sporting moment that will go down in history. England captained by Ama Agbeze were brave and brilliant.

Participation in netball rocketed after their win and it’s something Ama will cherish. She says when she thinks back and visualises that match it’s almost like watching the action unfold from above. She explains: “I love that moment. With the final, the last bit feels like a drone watching from overhead. It was the culmination of years of hard work. When I’m 90, I’ll still have that feeling. It warms my heart.”

Going back a bit, it’s quite remarkable that Ama played for England at this level at all as she was dropped from the team, told she wasn’t very good and that her age was an issue. She was 30 at the time. Ama says she thought long and hard about whether to carry on but eventually made the decision to travel to Australia and play in their second-tier development leagues – each state has its own league and the standard is comparable to the Birmingham League.

Ama excelled, winning player of the season among other accolades. It didn’t go unnoticed by the England set-up and selection followed. When she got the England call-up, she says: “I decided to come back even though they didn’t really want me. People were surprised.” Ama’s very matter-of-fact and not at all bitter. She says: “High performance sport is brutal. The reality is tough.”

CAPTAIN SENSITIVE

Back in the England fold Ama became captain which she has mixed emotions about. “As a captain I tried to be more sensitive to other people. There’s very little time to give feedback during a match, so it has to be direct and specific.” With no time to sugar coat feedback, Ama says the coaching staff could be harsh as they tried to convey a message clearly and swiftly. Knowing the team and how different players dealt with that, Ama would pick up the pieces boosting the players that needed it.

She says: “One of my things is outcome focused. How can you get that person to play well? Make it about them. Occasionally I’d take people to one side. It was a difficult role, but I think I was good at it.” She adds: “It’s completely different from being just a player. You’re not part of the management team influencing decisions at that level and you’re not just a player. I think I learned to deal with it well.”

MAGIC BIRMINGHAM

When Birmingham 2022 rolled around, Ama was initially disappointed not to be competing. She thought how special it would be to recreate the team’s success on the Gold Coast right here in front of a home crowd, but in the end, she was pleased not to be playing. It was a different experience, but Ama was involved in a way that allowed her to enjoy it and soak up the magnificence of the city in that magic fortnight.

Ama says: “To play at home in that environment would have been amazing. I was on the board of the organising committee, so I felt part of it. I wouldn’t change it now. As an athlete you don’t always get to attend the opening and closing ceremonies depending on your playing and recovery schedule. It’s essentially sleep, eat and train.” Ama had media work around the Games for the BBC as well as her organising committee role and was able to immerse herself in the atmosphere. She says: “The festival that ran alongside the games celebrating the arts as well as sport was magnificent for the city.”

INWARD INVESTMENT

Passionate about the legacy of the Games, Ama is keen to shout down the argument that that hosting them contributed to the financial failures of the city council, which is blatantly untrue. She says inward investment thanks to the Games has been huge as well as increased jobs and apprenticeships. She says: “We fought to keep £70million in the region as well as equipment which has gone to local schools and clubs.” She also says that it’s testament to Birmingham that we already had facilities so didn’t need to start from scratch, such as Alexander Stadium.

Ama’s also passionate about getting kids into sport and recognises that we have a problem nationally. She says: “Sport is seen as an add-on with PE once or twice-a-week. It should almost be as important as maths or science. It enables a child to be so much more, boosting physical as well as mental wellbeing. We need to give children the opportunity to thrive.”

NEXT STOP

While Ama has naturally found it difficult moving on from the niche world of professional sport, she’s busy and loves the variety of her many roles, some sport-related, many not – global head of Inclusion at BUPA for instance.

Spending most of her time in Birmingham, Ama has a husband from New Zealand who’s living in Norway, so she travels a lot too. While she hasn’t completely ruled out coaching in the future, she doesn’t see it on the horizon although she does talk of a potential shake-up of the netball super league which could create a Birmingham franchise.

You might know Siân Brooke from hit BBC One series Blue Lights of which series two is about to air. But in truth it could be from any number of performances on stage and screen. Siân has starred in an impressive clutch of top TV shows, including Apple TV’s touching and funny series Trying, as well as Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch in which she played Holmes’s evil sister, Eurus which the Telegraph described as ‘a star-making turn’.

Then there’s HBO’s House of Dragon as Queen Aemma Arryn and Deidre Young in Amazon Prime’s Good Omens alongside David Tennant. There are theatre credits as long as your arm too including not least Ophelia in the RSC’s Hamlet, plus numerous radio dramas.

A LITTLE GIFT

In a crowded cop show genre, the first series of Blue Lights pulled in an impressive average audience of 6.4 million. It enjoyed critical acclaim and was nominated for best new drama at the NTAs and voted one of the best TV shows of 2023 by Radio Times. With the second series about to start and two further series confirmed by BBC Studios, Siân says: “I love working on this show. The script is a little gift.”

She adds: “The characters are fully formed. The writing is just brilliant and by page three of the script I thought ‘I have to play this character.’” The trainee officers from series one including Siân’s character Grace, have grown up and shaken off the rookie status a bit. In series two their world expands tackling criminal gangs and all the complexities of that.

Siân says the success of the show has been ‘delightfully overwhelming’ particularly given the volume of police dramas available and adds that it’s impossible to be certain you have a hit on your hands even if you think the script is a winner and the performances are strong. She says: “You just don’t know how something is going to land. You could have all the ingredients, but for whatever reason it might not catch fire. Thankfully this caught on quickly and people really responded to the characters. It’s a bit different from other cop dramas. The characters are inexperienced, flawed and fallible so perhaps it’s more human.”

LOCAL SUPPORT

Growing up, Siân benefitted from a thriving local amateur dramatic scene which sparked something in her and gave her the acting bug. She spent a lot of time at Sutton Coldfield Operatic Society and Lichfield Youth Theatre and found both to be brilliantly supportive. Without the encouraging words from some of the older members, she might not have auditioned for the National Youth Theatre or later RADA.

Although Siân is not from an acting family – funnily enough her dad was a police officer and her mum a teacher – she says both her parents had a real appreciation of the arts and were always supportive of her hobby-turned-career. She remembers being ferried around to wherever she needed to be as a youngster to audition and perform.

The audition for the National Youth Theatre which was held at the Rep was a big milestone and Siân says she was ‘petrified’. She was successful. Applying to RADA felt like another huge step – one that she says she wouldn’t have had the guts to go for without a pep talk from one of the women at her local am-dram group. Again, she was successful and off she went to London.

Siân’s experienced a bit of imposter syndrome not least because there weren’t many Midlands accents in the public domain at the time. She recalls: “It was all RP. You didn’t hear a Midlands accent on the telly, but I just thought, sod it! I actually got my first job at the Royal Court in part because of my accent. It’s much more normalised now.”

The role that has stretched Siân more than any other was Eurus in Sherlock – an evil character with multiple personas. “Having to be so many characters in one was a great opportunity and a lot of fun but a real challenge too. The character also had zero empathy so that was really hard.”

MIKE LEIGH

One of the highlights of Siân’s career so far was working with director Mike Leigh reviving his 1979 production of Ecstasy at Hampstead Theatre in 2011. The original starred Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent so there were some big shoes to fill. Siân played Jean, a character who puts on a good face while hiding unknown depths of desperation and received rave reviews. The British Theatre guide described her as ‘the star of the night who shows great delicacy and feeling in portraying Chekhovian Jean’.

Having enjoyed such a wonderful introduction to the arts at a local level, Siân worries about funding cuts. She says: “There are great creative hubs in the Midlands, but I worry about the state of funding. The regions are desperate. Would I be able to pursue the career I’ve had if I was starting out now? I really don’t know.”

You’ll have to forgive Aktar Islam if he’s looking rather star-struck these days. Already the holder of one coveted Michelin star, he’s just become Birmingham’s first-ever recipient of two stars. Not bad for a lad whose background was one of poverty and struggle, and who was kicked out of school at aged 13.

Chef Aktar puts those difficult years down to his success today. And those humble roots may also explain why his first reaction to his Indian fine dining restaurant Opheem being award two stars in the new Michelin guide was one of shock – in the nicest possible way.

“While Michelin inspections are kept incognito, when you already have one star you know you’re on the radar, but you’re never told what the outcome is,” he said. “I think everyone could see from my reaction that receiving two stars was a surprise. That doesn’t mean I was surprised we achieved it – we push every day to be better. We deliver excellence.”

ALWAYS STRIVING

That drive to be better and the best can also be traced back to Aktar’s youth. “I came from a poverty-stricken background, I was kicked out of school at 13,” he explained. “When the world writes you off you either surprise everyone or do what they expect. I chose to surprise people. I think it’s about personal character – you either want to be the best or you don’t. I’m always striving to be better every day.”

He went on: “Receiving two Michelin stars is an incredible experience and feeling for me, my family and the team – and the city, actually. I’ve had so many messages and cards. Andy Street [the West Midlands mayor] who I’ve known for years and who has supported the restaurant as a paying customer has been very kind. The level of recognition is great.”

Aktar is one of Brum’s elite chefs – alongside the likes of Glynn Purnell, Adam Stokes, Luke Tipping, Richard Turner and Brad Carter – who have elevated the city to Michelin-star status. Aktar’s love of food began when he started learning to cook with his Bangladeshi mother in the family kitchen in Brum.

FINDING FREEDOM

After working in a number of restaurants, Aktar said: “In 2016, I decided I wanted freedom from the restaurant group I was working in. I felt exploited and suffocated. Now, I’ve created an environment where no one feels exploited. It’s a safe environment. A large part of our budget is spent on training and development knowing that people add value to our business as well as being the best they can be. If they leave, we know we’re sending good people out into the wider hospitality industry.”

Of his own growing experience, he says the kitchen was the only place that he felt ‘ultimate freedom’. “With my knives, pans, meat, fish, vegetables, herbs, spices and creativity, I felt free from constraints. The more I learned, the more I realised there was to discover, and the more I cooked, the more barriers I broke, both personal and culinary. And that’s where you’ll find me. No duty. All pleasure.”

Aktar’s past CV includes notable TV appearances, including winning Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word and the Great British Menu, which he later returned to as a judge. Bringing through the next generation of potential Michelin-star chefs is incredibly important to him. Much has been spoken and written about the recruitment crisis which the industry has been facing. He says: “No one’s immune to that. When I meet up with other chefs, we talk about it. About getting the right people in the business.”

QUALITY NOT VOLUME

Of Opheem’s success, he says: “Our business has always been well-subscribed to. We have the shortest opening hours in the city – we’re about quality not volume. Our two-star status might push waiting lists further into the year. Having said that, we’re also accessible – two-course lunch for £50. It’s not elitist, but it is unique.”

He added: “We’re nowhere near finished, always evolving, ever-changing. Opheem is a world class experience. We’re still on a journey – we’ve got more incredible stuff to do. We blow our guests’ minds, that’s what we do. It’s instant gratification when you watch the wonderment on guests’ faces. Their eyes light up and they wonder how you’ve made a carrot taste like this. We try and take ingredients and make them unique.”

And it’s this passion for perfection that has brought Birmingham its very first two Michelin star restaurant.

The trademark black cap and thick rimmed glasses are ever-present. As is the London accent which has turned “How you doing?” and “You take care now” into catchphrases of one of the most popular – and possibly surprising – TV shows ever. But don’t be fooled by the genial East End twang of the front man of BBC’s Repair Shop. Jay’s heart is well and truly in the Midlands, with both his business interests and his home rooted here.

Jay moved to the area nine years ago, the result of a time when his life was proving anything but a success after a youth charity he set up went bust, together with his first marriage. With nowhere to live, he ended up by chance in Wolverhampton where he filled up his car with petrol and slept a couple of nights on the back seat before deciding he might as well stay here.
Since that fateful decision Jay has gone from strength to strength, thanks to a series of top TV shows, led by The Repair Shop, the renovate and restore phenomenon which has won a TV BAFTA award as well as the royal seal of approval when King Charles appeared in a special episode.

MADE IN THE MIDLANDS

Last October, Jay also presented a three-part TV series, Midlands Through Time, which explored the secrets of his adopted home, uncovering the truth behind the likes of the Staffordshire Hoard, Lady Godiva, Wedgwood, the famous Black Country dialect and the Balti.

Now, Jay’s teamed up with comedy and acting legend Sir David Jason for David and Jay’s Touring Toolshed, a 15-part series which recently launched on BBC2. The show sees the twosome hit the road to help members of the public, professional makers and enthusiasts take their crafts to the next level. Sir David admits to having a keen interest himself in crafts and tinkering, so he and Jay make the perfect team, and the chemistry between them is obvious from the first minute of the first broadcast

The series sees them park up their toolshed at UK air shows, steam rallies, county fairs and vintage festivals to meet some of the UK’s most talented crafters, makers and tinkerers – as well as people who could use a little help! It’s a kind of Repair Shop with all the bells and whistles on wheels, if you like, which also includes visiting local enthusiasts whose hobbies have taken over their lives.

Jay described the shows as “one of the best” he’s been involved in. “People come to us who have a particular problem or stumbling block within their craft, and then we team them up with an expert that allows them to go home with a skill that they can continue doing’” he explained.

DREAM COME TRUE

Jay described working with Sir David as “a dream come true”. He added: “Imagine watching him as you’re growing up and then imagine you’re able to work with him. Are you kidding me? There was a moment where I just looked over my shoulder and I’m like ‘oh, that is really Sir David Jason and I’m having an ice-cream with him. Wow!”

While now firmly a man of the Midlands, Jay was born in Brent, North London and raised in Hackney, East London. After leaving school he worked as a labourer and in factories before enrolling at a university as a mature student studying criminology. It was only then, at the age of 31, that he was diagnosed as dyslexic with the reading ability of an 11-year-old.

The charity, Out of the Dark, which he set up to train disadvantaged young people in furniture restoration lost its funding which is when he became homeless. But as he settled into a new life in the Midlands, TV producers saw a short film about the charity which led to his work as a presenter, and eventually to his role fronting The Repair Shop. His move also saw him set up Jay & Co, a social enterprise to support disadvantaged and disengaged groups which Jay describes as “modern furniture restorers which takes old pieces, injects them with invention, and creates something which gets people talking”.

BRUM SWEET BRUM

The business follows Jay’s own love for the skills used in furniture repairs which he taught himself and picked up from master craftsmen and women along the way. “It’s called upcycling now, but I’ve always done repairs. Growing up in a poor family we had to do that,” he explained.

Jay’s Touring Toolshed is the latest in a growing number of TV credits which has also included the likes of Christmas Strictly Come Dancing, Celebrity MasterChef, a documentary about learning to read at 51 and a radio appearance on Desert Island Discs. As well as meeting with King Charles, Jay was made an MBE in 2021 for his services to craft. And in 2022, he married his second wife.

“I’ve lived in the West Midlands since 2015 and I love Birmingham and the Black Country – it’s a place I’m proud to call home,” he said. “Everyone thinks of Cadbury’s chocolate, canals and Peaky Blinders when you say Birmingham and those things are true but also there’s so much more. Without the West Midlands, the history of the UK, indeed the world, would not have been the same.”

Last summer, Birmingham honoured one of its favourite sons, legendary rock star Ozzy Osbourne by naming the giant robotic bull from the Commonwealth Games after him. Following a huge swell of public support, it was then moved to its permanent home in New Street station. And wife Sharon – one of showbiz’s most outspoken women – was there for the official opening.

“I was overwhelmed” says Sharon “The bull is such a magnificent structure. It’s just amazing to think how many people that walk through New Street station every day will see Ozzy the bull. It’s such an incredible honor for Ozzy that the public voted to name it after him.”

It seems that all roads in Birmingham will eventually lead to an Osbourne. Alongside the bull and the Black Sabbath Bridge & Bench that was opened in 2019, there are now further plans to open a memorabilia museum in the city. “We’re preparing to sign for a building that will house the museum with an attached coffee shop,” explained Sharon.  “As soon as we do, we will announce the location and timeline for its launch. The museum is going to have memorabilia and multi-media from Ozzy’s career from the 1960’s to the present. Exhibits will include stage clothes, music gear, awards, vintage posters and photography, immersive video and audio displays as well as Ozzy’s personal artwork and so much more.”

OZZY GIVING BACK

It’s not just the memorabilia that people can enjoy. The Osbournes plan to provide facilities on site where local artists can perform and where fellow musicians will provide lessons to local kids who aren’t able to afford music classes. It’s a remarkable gesture to provide a platform that will give so much back to the city that Ozzy loves. But it’s obviously fast becoming a region that Sharon can’t get enough of too – as she’s back in town at the end of this month.

For one night she’ll be appearing at the Alexandra Birmingham with her show, Cut the Crap, where she’ll answer anything you could possibly want to know under the direction of journalist and TV’s Loose Woman, Jane Moore. Ever wanted to find out what makes Sharon Osbourne tick? Now’s your chance.

“This show is really about my life story,” says Sharon. “I’ve certainly lived a lot of life in my 71 years so there are a lot of stories to tell. Plenty of ups and downs, good luck and bad, too. It’s not all been wine and roses. I love hearing other people’s life stories. But I’d never buy a novel, I only buy biographies. I don’t like made-up stories. Mind you, I don’t think anyone could make up my story.  My life has been like a Jackie Collins novel – or so I’m told.” Does she think she attracts drama? “Yes, I do. I think it may be because I’m a bit eccentric so it must follow me around. I’m a magnet for drama.”

SPEAKING MY MIND

Is she a woman for regrets? “Sure. To have regrets is a part of life and growing. I often think ‘if I could only do that again’ but you can’t. So, all you can do is try to make sure you don’t do whatever it was another time. Not that I always succeed.” So, what does she regret professionally? “I’m someone who’s always said what’s on her mind. And then it’s gone. But other people won’t let it go. They don’t like confrontation and they don’t like it when I challenge a situation.”

Outspoken she may be but she’s also loving and loyal and hugely protective of husband Ozzy and their three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack. Life is about to change with the Osbournes moving from Los Angeles back to their Buckinghamshire home. “It’s time to come home,” said Sharon. “I look at the years I’ve lived in LA as being permanently on holiday. But America is changing. It’s becoming more scary. I still feel very English. I’ve never felt American. More of my adult life has been spent there but I’ve never acquired an American accent. But I’m British and I want to come home.”

Will Buckinghamshire be their forever home or could the family ever be tempted to move to the Midlands and Birmingham specifically? “Never say never” said Sharon. “It’s now a cosmopolitan city; young, active and vibrant with so many great restaurants, all while still holding on to its sense of history. One thing I’ve learned is that you can never plan your future. We love Buckinghamshire, but Ozzy’s soul will always be in Birmingham.

FEELING THE LOVE

She thinks it will help Ozzy to be UK-based. He was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2003, which went into overdrive following a fall five years ago. Such was the damage to his spine that he’s now undergone five major surgeries. “Once he gets home, and feels the love that’s here for him, that will be very healing,” said Sharon. “And the grandchildren can come and visit. It’s not like he’s never going to see them again!”

Ten years from now? “Well, I hope I’ll still be alive – and Ozzy, too. There are no outstanding goals, nothing left to prove. I’ve done it all. I’ve lived one helluva life. Now, I just want to spend important time with my husband.” But after a pause, Sharon admits: “I do like a mission, though. I’ve always got to be doing something…” You can say that again!

As a child growing up in Birmingham, Alison Hammond says a highlight of her year would be going with her mum to see a Christmas panto. “It was one of the things I loved – and still do,” she says. Never ever in a million years did the star of This Morning and the Great British Bake Off think that one day she would actually perform in panto, in front of her home audience, in her favourite theatre.

But, as in all the best festive fairy stories, dreams do come true. And this year an ‘emotional’ Alison is assured of the biggest cheer of the night and a rousing, excited and rapturous welcome when she steps onto the stage of Birmingham Hippodrome in Jack and the Beanstalk.

“It’s amazing to be doing panto in Birmingham, the place where I grew up,” said Alison. “All my family and friends are here and to know that after each night’s performance I can go home to my own bed is like everything! I’ve done nine pantos in my time in very various places, but I’ve always had a dream of doing it in Birmingham, purely for the fact that I’m home. So, this is like I couldn’t be more thrilled. Plus, the Hippodrome is the first theatre that I’ve ever been to with my mum. It’s definitely a super special moment for me.”

PIECE OF CAKE?

Jack and the Beanstalk is a lovely way to round off what has been a magical year for Brum’s bubbly, bundle of fun after becoming the nation’s favourite fronting morning TV, hosting top TV awards shows and becoming the co-presenter on Bake Off. Yet, despite all her success Alison remains totally grounded and true to her roots in Brum – she recently presented an awards evening at Midlands Air Ambulance and says she loved every minute of helping the vital local life-saving charity.

In the panto, Alison plays the Spirit of the Beans and is looking forward to giving the audience some real surprises. “I’m expecting to, hopefully, come out of a cake because obviously I’ve been doing Bake Off,” she joked, adding: “If I can be delivered to the audience coming out of something, whether it’s a cake or something else, that would be very exciting!”

Appearing alongside Alison will be regular Birmingham panto favourite Matt Slack. Alison said: “Matt always makes me laugh. I’m expecting some TikToks, if I’m honest with you, with all the cast and crew and hopefully the front of house. We can do some fun TikToks. But mainly I’m just hoping that everyone comes and enjoys the panto and gets as much out of it as we will.”

FIRST NIGHT NERVES

Staying with the Bake-Off theme, we assume appearing live will be a piece of cake for a This Morning veteran like Alison?  “Oh, I like that question,” she said. “A piece of cake? Should it? Not necessarily. I still get nervous with live television. I think this is even more nerve-wracking as you see the audience in front of you, right in front of your face. You’re going to see their reaction. If a joke doesn’t land, you will know that it doesn’t land.”

And she adds: “I still get nerves and I will definitely be nervous to do this at the Hippodrome. But what’s great is I have got a bit of experience of doing panto before, so I will definitely draw upon that experience. But also, oh, my God, I’m in Birmingham. I could go shopping every day. I’m right by the Bullring. I just can’t wait. It’s brilliant. I’m having a break from work, really. I’m having a break from This Morning. I’m having a break from Bake Off – and I’m just at home!”

VEGAS? BROADWAY?

Recalling her childhood, Alison remembers the joy of sitting in the audience watching pantos in Brum. “My mum used to take me every single year, so I’m definitely a panto veteran,” she said. “To be honest with you, the one thing I’m a little bit disappointed in is that I’m not going to be watching a panto this year because it’s like our tradition. Every year, we always go on Boxing Day to watch it. It’s going to be weird that I’m in it! But what I’ve decided is I’m going to get all the family, all my mates to come on Boxing Day, watch me, and hopefully it will still feel nice the fact that everyone’s there. I’ve been told that I’m going to look very, very glamorous. Lots of sparkle, lots of lovely, beautiful make-up. I might even have some seriously glittery gold chainers. You never know.”

So, is Alison tempted to venture beyond panto and do some more theatre? She’s quick to respond with a loud laugh: “No. Like I said this is a dream that I really wanted to fulfil. Once I’ve done the Hippodrome – the Birmingham Hippodrome, for god’s sake! – there’s nothing more to do really, is there? Vegas? Broadway? I think with everything, with presenting This Morning to hosting Bake Off, I’m already living a dream. It’s amazing. I’m so grateful and so honoured to be doing all of it. It all makes me feel very emotional…”

Chris Tarrant is the Midlands schoolboy who grew up to become one of TV’s biggest stars over five decades. But all the while, he’s kept a cheeky secret from the world – which he reveals here for the first time!

It was a risky question to ask Chris Tarrant, who in his earlier life had been responsible for the iconic slapstick kids’ show that was Tiswas. “‘Tell us something about yourself that we won’t find anywhere on Google!”

We all know about Chris the tip-top radio DJ, and Chris the main man for 16 years of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Phone a friend anyone?)  So, we asked the question, and after a brief pause, followed by a “well that’s an interesting ask”, Chris was ready to reveal one his best kept secrets – and we should have expected that it would be suitably crazy. “How about I tell you that I can take my pants off, without removing my trousers,” he said.

Really? “Absolutely,” he replied. “It’s a trick that I learned when I was at school, and I’ve only ever seen one other person do it – and that was Mr Bean.” We thought better than ask Chris for a demonstration! And we also steered cleared of probing further whether the school in question was King’s School, Worcester, where he was a boarder before graduating in English later from the University of Birmingham (his son is also a product of the uni, by the way).

LENNY HENRY

Safe to say, the magic-pants trick is not mentioned in Chris’s new book, It’s Not a Proper Job, which has just been published in paperback and looks back at his 50 years in showbiz. Not so much an autobiography though, says Chris, more a recounting of some of the amazing people he has got to work with and know well. People like fellow Brummie legend and Tiswas partner in crime Lenny Henry. And the wild and wacky things he, and they, got up to in the Seventies hit show, which started off being just for kids but rapidly became hugely popular with grown-ups too.

Before you reach for our e-mail address to inform us that Chris isn’t a born-and-bred Birmingham boy, after all his years working in the city for the old ATV network which produced Tiswas, he considers himself a fully adopted Brummie – as do we. He has a star on Birmingham’s Walk of Stars and was made an honorary citizen of the city.

Chris says: “I’ve always had a real affinity with Brum and Brummies. It’s a wonderful city with really generous people. I know the popular opinion is that Brummie humour is a bit odd but I think it’s really warm and somehow self-deprecating. I get back to the city as often as I can. I was there not so long ago to meet up with some old mates, like Jasper Carrott and Nick Owen, at a tribute celebration to ITV’s local presenter Bob Warman who retired last year after 50 years. It was a lovely occasion with some great memories and people. I owe everything that has happened in my career to my start in Birmingham with ATV and Tiswas, and I’m very proud to have my star on my own bit of pavement on Broad Street in Brum too.”

EATING FROGS

Chris actually began his broadcasting career as a newsman. “It was all very serious stuff, covering the Midlands for the ATV Today programme,” he says. “I got the job after writing to loads of TV companies with the classic line: ‘I am the face of the 70s, this is your last chance to snap me up.’ And despite that crass line, believe it or not a couple of the TV companies came back to me, and I liked ATV best.” After being given the task of reporting on many of the left-field ‘human interest’ stories (man eating lightbulbs, man eating live frogs, man walking for charity with four ferrets down his trousers, etc) Chris was picked as the perfect potty candidate for a new kids’ show called Tiswas – and the rest is history.

“They were great times,” he recalls. “As were my years working at Capital Radio and on Millionaire.” Chris fronted the quiz show for 700 programmes, attracting a peak audience of just shy of 20 million viewers – numbers today’s TV planners can only dream about – before deciding to step away in 2014.

BEAR FACTS

“I decided I had kind of had enough. I know everyone works hard, but over many, many years, I had worked bloody hard with very early starts and long days – from the beginning with Tiswas, through being on radio and then with Millionaire. With everything really. I have not retired as such, but lockdown made me think of things in a kind of sombre way. I said to my missus Jane, all the filming budgets have been cut. Then I began to think, well I’m not going to die from this new Black Death afterall and started thinking I’d like to do some different things.

“I’ve just done something with Alan Titchmarsh and I’m writing a new book, believe it or not it’s about bears! Last year we did this thing in Alaska to prove how close you can get to polar bears. They’re amazing creatures and I’m fascinated with bears. And of course, there’s all the attention on them because of the effects of climate change on their habitat.”

The title of Chris’s book, It’s Not a Proper Job, perfectly sums up his view of his career and life. He says he’s enjoyed “every single second of it”, whether it was mucking about with Lenny Henry, Sally James, Spit the Dog and a Who’s Who of guests on Tiswas, broadcasting for so many years on radio or ‘asking the audience’ on Millionaire.

“I’ve been bloody lucky to do what I’ve done,” he says.

If, like us, you became completely obsessed with the Lionesses’ world cup campaign, you can’t have failed to notice former England stalwart Karen Carney’s smart analysis as well as her lilting West Mids accent. Not ones to pass up an opportunity to chat to an inspiring Brummie, we got in touch.
Karen grew up in Solihull and is a lifelong Blues fan – our MD is a Villan so it was touch and go whether this piece would run! She admits she didn’t get a choice coming from a massive Birmingham City family and says that from birth, her support for the club was ‘non-negotiable’. “We’re all Birmingham City through and through.”
Of course, it wasn’t a given that Karen would play the game – most people cheer from the sidelines after all, but once she’d kicked a ball, she was hooked. She says: “I was totally obsessed. I was the only girl that played and I remember a teacher saying, ‘the little one’s quite good’. On the back of that potential the school started a five-a-side team and we won a trophy.”

FAVOURITE PLAYER

Holiday camps followed and her love for the game grew. Every birthday, Karen received a new BCFC kit as well the Brazil version. She remembers: “We didn’t have much money, so it was a fake Brazil kit for a while!” Aged eight years, young Karen was treated to a mascot experience and walked out onto the pitch in her beloved Blues kit with her favourite player, Steve Claridge and rather prophetically, she got to do some pitch side punditry with big headphones and a microphone. She recalls: “It was wicked!” Karen made her debut for Birmingham City ladies aged just 14 going on to play for Arsenal, Chicago Red Stars and Chelsea as well as representing her country from 2005 to 2019.
Karen’s success is tinged with a bit of sadness as her big sister, who’s 12 years her senior loved to play football but at the time, there wasn’t a place for her to play. She got involved with football regardless becoming a fantastic ambassador for the sport coaching and refereeing, but Karen knows her sister would have relished the opportunities she’s enjoyed. Not that it’s been easy for Karen, but at least playing the game was an option.

HARD GRAFT

Having to contemplate a way of earning a living while playing football was tricky. Karen left home at 16 on a scholarship to Loughborough University. She says: “I’m from a proper working class family, not academic – smart but not academic. University wouldn’t have been on the cards without football and sport.”
After Loughborough, Karen started interviewing in Birmingham city centre for receptionist roles. She remembers: “I came home and said to my mom ‘I don’t want to do this. I want to go to America’. I worked hard in the gym and in the park and got drafted to Chicago Red Stars.” Karen moved to the US for two years on a professional contract coming back to BCFC.
Media work cropped up quite randomly during a period of injury at Birmingham City. She says: “Women weren’t really in the media commenting on football, so I credit Blues and Radio WM for having the foresight. I started to cover games while I was injured and learned quickly that preparation is key in live TV and radio – anything can happen.”

POST MATCH

Karen says she’s attacked everything she’s done with ‘passion and hard work’ and that’s certainly evident off the pitch as well as on it. Post her playing career, she’s flourished. As well as her visible TV work and sports journalism she’s gained a masters and an MBA, she champions women’s sport at every opportunity, not least chairing a significant Government review looking at the unique challenges faced by girls and how to overcome those.
She works as a business consultant and a speaker and does it all with warmth, humility and gratitude. She’s the ultimate female role model of which, thankfully, there are a number in football today. Karen says: “If you asked my sister who her female role models were in football, she wouldn’t have had one. My 16-year-old niece could name lots.”
Despite now living in London (we’ll overlook that), Karen will always call Birmingham home. “I’m just so proud of the people in general and I’d like to do more stuff in the city – not necessarily football related. I want to help Birmingham any way I can. I always want the city to thrive and want the best for it.”

Seeing the sky, the trees – and feeling a lot more like herself. That’s how the supremely talented singer-songwriter Jorja Smith described her decision to move back to her hometown after spending years living and working out of London. And the catalyst for returning to her Walsall roots was her new album Falling or Flying which releases this month.
Jorja explained: “I started going back to Walsall before I began working on the album, then when I finished it, I realised how much I actually missed being home and how much I needed it. I’m definitely a small-town girl and a Walsall girl in particular. I think I was just too overstimulated and too overwhelmed by London, so it’s nice to be able to just see the sky and some trees now.
“I feel a lot more like myself and that I have a life here. In London it’s just too much. It was the album that brought me home though, as it was mostly produced by my friends DamDam, who are a duo from there. I linked up with them originally when they had a studio in Birmingham, then they moved to London so we worked there too, but all roads led back to Walsall!”

INFLUENCES

Now aged 26, Jorja has been writing songs since she was 11 after her father, himself a former musician, encouraged her to have piano lessons as an eight-year-old. She grew up listening to reggae, punk, hip-hop and R&B and says she was inspired by Amy Winehouse’s approach to song-writing about social issues.
Jorja earned a music scholarship at Aldridge School where she learned to play the oboe and studied classical singing before taking music at A-Level. At age 15 she was uploading videos of herself singing cover songs on YouTube and was scouted by a manager who could see her potential. After graduating at 18 she moved to London where she continued writing songs and working as a barista.
In 2016, her debut single Blue Lights sampled Dizzee Rascal’s song Sirens and racked up more than 400,000 plays in a month on streaming site SoundCloud. Two years later her debut album Lost & Found was released to critical acclaim, peaking at number three in the UK album chart. In the same year she won the Brit Critics’ Choice Award. And in 2019, she was named Best British Female Artist at the Brit Awards and was also nominated for a Grammy Award.

WOMANHOOD

Jorja said: “My Lost & Found album was me around 16 to 20, while this new one is me at 24 to 26, so I’ve stepped into womanhood. I’m a lot more sure of myself and I’ve got more things to say, with less observations and more actual lived-in experiences. I’m still in the early stages of womanhood to be fair, but I’m definitely more confident in who I am now. I’ve always loved experimenting with different sounds and ideas, so I’m even more up for doing that kind of thing. This was the first time I made an album after already making one before, so I had learned so much already, but there’s now so much more I’ve learned that I will definitely be taking on to my third album whenever that is.”
We suggest that the new record feels like it could be a real statement of who Jorja is? “I never have an agenda when I’m making tunes, I just like singing and jamming,” she says. “There’s no concept or themes, but I guess there’s a lot of self-realisation as every song ends with a full stop, like very abruptly and just like *that*, which wasn’t planned either, so it’s all very definitive and very much where I am right now. So, without it being a deliberate statement, it is.
“The title, Falling or Flying, is how I felt both in my career and in my life, I literally didn’t know if I was falling or flying. They’re both completely the opposite, but also so similar for me in that I didn’t know if I was doing good or bad. It’s also a reference to me and my personality, as anyone who knows me knows I have no middle ground. No half-measures!”

PUBLIC EYE

After being in the public eye since she was a teenager, Jorja says that in recent years she’s come to realise how naive and confident she was in the beginning. While she’s still super-confident on stage, she’s more cautious when it comes to things like this – interviews and photoshoots! “I think it comes from always having people’s eyes on me. It’s weird though, as nobody teaches you any of this and there’s no handbook. You just have to figure it out yourself as you go along. I’ve been lucky that I’ve met some good people who’ve been there before and been able to get some good advice, but at the end of the day, you just need to work it all out for yourself. I feel like I’m still not finished growing up, to be honest. I’m still only 26!”
Jorja highlights the pressure that so many artists are put under to perform not just in the studio or onstage but also on social media. She said: “I’m fortunate that I’m not on a major label where there’s a lot of pressure to be on social media every day. I have a funny relationship with social media, actually. Again, it’s all or nothing with me, as sometimes I’m all over it and happy to be posting things, then some days I just cannot be assed with it and won’t go anywhere near it, even if I should be doing something!”

EXCITEMENT

Jorja has some launch shows for the new album coming up which she is excited about, as well as the prospect for a full tour. She says she loves playing shows the most because then she can see what impact her songs have. “If people are singing along, if they’re smiling or crying and just how they are enjoying themselves. That’s when I know I’m not falling, I’m flying! I absolutely cannot wait to tour. I don’t have dates yet, but they’re coming I promise you. I’ve never been more excited to get onstage and let people hear what I’ve been working so hard on these last few years.”
Jorja has worked with artists, from Drake and Calvin Harris to Stormzy and Loyle Carner, and says there’s so many more people she’d love to collaborate with. “I’m always scared to say them out loud in case I jinx it! But Frank Ocean, 100 per cent Frank Ocean. I absolutely love him.” But she adds: “As much as I like plan things I’m very much never looking too far ahead, like I’m definitely not thinking about five or 10 years in the future. I’m very much about being in the moment, seeing what happens and hoping for the best!”

Images credit Natasha Pszenicki

Our chat with Ayo was lengthy – he talks a lot and at lightning pace. Brimming with energy and enthusiasm, much of it for Birmingham, he’s a doer with plans and a desire to make things better. He’s the embodiment of that wonderful Jack Lemmon quote, send the lift back down. Well, elevator, but you get the drift.

Ayo’s established in his career and has a foot in the broadcasting door, so through his production company he’s connecting young people starting out with the channels and professionals he has a relationship with. He’s keen to change the landscape of the industry giving more women and different ethnicities a leg up too. He tours British universities with his lecture Finding Your Voice inspiring students to be broadcasters or performers in the TV industry whatever their background. A good egg we’d say.
Ayo’s CV is massive and varied and too long to go into in detail here but it takes in Blue Peter, award-winning documentaries, sports presenting and reporting, podcasting, current affairs, writing for the likes of the Telegraph, Huffington Post and BBC Radio 4 as well as enjoying ambassadorial roles with charities Street Child United and Crisis. He also mentors young people in Birmingham through The Prince’s Trust. Phew.

FEVER PITCH

Ayo arrived in Selly Oak from Nigeria in 1990 aged eight and remembers seeing snow for the first time. He recalls the city feeling richly multicultural which he took for granted. He says: “I studied in Sheffield which is also multicultural but nothing like here. Birmingham’s a different gravy.” The love for his hometown is strong so when Birmingham won the Commonwealth Games bid, Ayo pitched hard to be involved in the BBC’s coverage.
He recalls: “It’s very rare for a major sporting event to be in your home city, so yes, I pitched the head of sport at the BBC.” Little did he know the corporation’s head of sport had already earmarked plans for Ayo during the Games, not least his own BBC3 show. Ayo remembers the energy of London 2012 and wanting the same for Birmingham and says proudly: “That’s what we executed. We gave it the authenticity it deserved and the buzz in the city was insane. Normally we don’t shout loud enough but there was a pride in everyone’s eyes.” In terms of legacy, Ayo’s keen for local communities to benefit. He says: “Birmingham 2022 felt like a community Games. I used to run at Alexander Stadium as a child and to see it now is magic.”

PARTY ATMOSPHERE

Birmingham Festival is looking to harness the spirit of the Games to mark the one-year anniversary. The 10-day festival will be a celebration of the city, so naturally Ayo jumped at the chance to get involved. He will host the opening event, A Thousand Welcomes, on 28 July in Centenary Square. Ayo’s hoping the festival will showcase Birmingham through a Birmingham lens – a celebration of multiculturalism and a real party atmosphere. He says Games mascot, Perry the bull is due to make an appearance as well as potentially the real star of the Commonwealth Games, the mechanical bull who’s officially been named Ozzy in tribute to Brum’s iconic rocker Ozzy Osbourne.
It’s set to be a heck of a 10 days that will boldly showcase Birmingham’s talent and reputation as a world class destination for major events. Raidene Carter who was involved in the cultural events in the run up to the Games, is the festival’s creative director. She says: “I am immensely proud of the Festival. We have pulled together a programme that highlights the breadth of talent in the city. All that’s missing is the amazing Brummie turn-out – last year we saw that audiences in Birmingham are the best! They’re relaxed, up for fun and so welcoming to visitors from outside the city. The excitement is building and we hope the warm weather will hold so that people can really make the most of the creative and welcoming site.”

QUALITY OF LIFE

Of the city generally, Ayo’s full of enthusiasm for the way it’s changed in recent years. He says: “It’s starting to fulfil its potential.” He thinks the brain drain has reduced and the creative industries are thriving, so there’s little reason for young people to leave the city to pursue a career.
As well as career prospects, Ayo thinks the quality of life, the space and access to greenery all impact the decision to move and stay in Birmingham. “This city has it all,” he says. Amen.

In just over a month’s time, social media and TV reality show star Ashley Cain will climb aboard a one-man kayak and set off on a solo mission that is arguably the toughest and most dangerous adventure in the word. The 1,000-mile Yukon challenge starts in Canada and finishes in the Arctic Circle. Ashley has a time-limit of 10 days to complete the paddle but being the sort of bloke he is, he’s confident he can do it in seven or eight days – or who knows, even quicker. Assuming he doesn’t meet any bears on the way!

There’s no hiding place on the Yukon 1000. It’s Ashley, his sea kayak, a paddle, a tent, sleeping gear and whatever food and provisions he can carry. That’s it. No one to bail him out if he gets into difficulty or danger. “People have died doing this,” he says. “This is the toughest challenge I have ever taken on.” And Ashley has taken on some big ones – from successfully competing in TV’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, to completing five marathons in five days, climbing western Europe’s highest mountain, the 16,000ft Mont Blanc, and cycling 1,700 miles across the Continent– all in one month!

Goes without saying that Ashley is super-fit, yet it’s not the desire for iron man looks and power that drives him on. It’s the memory of his late daughter and wanting to make her forever proud of her father.

KIDS COMMITMENT

All the challenges and targets – in fact pretty much everything that Ashley does in his life every day – are for Azaylia, who died aged just eight months from a rare form of leukaemia in 2021, and for children like her. During Azaylia’s short life, Ashley and his partner Safiyya Vorajee raised more than £1.5million for specialist treatment in Singapore. After she passed away, Ashley set up the Azaylia Foundation as a tribute to his daughter and which aims to raise awareness, action and money to fight child cancer.

Ashley said: “We are committed to advancing early diagnosis and new treatment availability in the UK, while at the same time supporting children fighting cancer by helping them access treatment not covered by the NHS. We want to change a system that considers childhood cancer to be rare, and as a result, has been underfunding childhood cancer for too long. For under 15-year-olds, there are five new cases diagnosed every day, and four deaths a week. That does not feel rare, not to us, not to the families impacted, and not to the communities around them. Yet childhood cancer receives less than three per cent of cancer funding because institutionally, it is still considered to be rare.”

Ashley, 32, is a former footballer who played for Coventry City, Luton Town, Oxford United, and Mansfield Town before injury forced him into an early career change. As an MTV reality personality, he starred in Ex on the Beach and has appeared on The Challenge game show and BBC’s Go Hard or Go Home. He has modelled for clothing brands and has a hit podcast Fierce Minds, Kind Heart.

STRONG WORDS

Besides preparing for the Yukon 1000, Ashley has also been penning his first book, fittingly entitled Strong, which is published this month. He describes the book as a Beauty and the Beast memoir, charting the story of Azaylia from her birth, through her fight for life and his own struggles since her passing. Struggles which he revealed led him at one point to contemplate suicide.
While Strong is a moving tribute to his daughter, it also throws into focus the practical and positive mindset that Ashley now embodies, tying his emotional and physical grief into his extreme challenges in order to provide inspiration and comfort to others struggling with loss and other mental health challenges. Ashley said: “The time with Azaylia was the hardest time of my life, but it was also the most beautiful. She allowed me to be the best of me and I hope the book does her justice.”

With his footballing background, Ashley says his fitness had always been about speed and power first and foremost. “I’d never been into endurance,” he said. “I didn’t like doing that kind of thing. But being at Birmingham Children’s Hospital with Azaylia the only break I got was an hour or so, so I spent that time by going for a run round the city to clear my head. When I lost her, I had to write a eulogy and said that while we had been confined to a hospital room, now I wanted to take her around the world and raise awareness of child cancer in as many places as I could.”

The Yukon 1000 more than fulfils Ashley’s pledge – and he’s under no illusion how tough it will be after completing a hard 24-hour, preparation event. “I’m aiming to paddle for 18 hours a day,” he said. “It is really dangerous as I am totally on my own, totally unsupported. If I am in grizzly bear territory, that’s it! I am mentally preparing myself for the fact that I may not be coming back. I want to show just how much my daughter and the cause of helping children with cancer means to me.”

FIGHTING FUND

Ashley’s commitment has seen the Foundation launch the ground-breaking Azaylia Childhood Cancer PhD Fund which aims to help create the next generation of medical leaders in childhood cancer by offering fully-funded PhDs in paediatric oncology in partnership with leading UK universities and hospitals. The Foundation has already committed nearly £300,000 to co-fund the first two PhD candidates through a partnership with the University of Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, with an immediate ambition to help fund up to 10 PhDs across the country within two years.

Ashley said: “Birmingham Children’s Hospital was like a second home through that time with Azaylia. The wonderful nurses and staff were incredible and while we can never thank them enough, we can try to give as much back as possible.”

As we said earlier, everything Ashley does is driven and influenced by the love for his daughter, including his TV work. He explained: “There are a lot of things happening for me this year which I can’t talk about right now, but I only do things that fit in with my purpose in life. If it doesn’t fit, I turn it down.”

Even Ashley’s striking long beard is down to Azayliah. “When we were in hospital, I grew it and as it got longer Azayliah would touch it, grab it and even rub it with her little feet. I wanted to keep my beard because she touched these very hairs on my face. I don’t trim it and I don’t shape it.”

In 2022, Noreen Khan bounded onto the stage at the opening ceremony of Birmingham’s triumphant Commonwealth Games with the likes of Joe Lycett and Lenny Henry to introduce the world to our great city and launch what turned out to be a joyful few weeks for the Midlands and beyond. She also hosted some of the cricket at Edgbaston, so she was really in the thick of the action. She recalls: “Everything was just brilliant – the weather, the atmosphere – it  was just a great few weeks.” Amen.

You probably know Noreen’s voice more than her face as she’s been on the airwaves for 13 years moving to Birmingham from London in 2010 with her show on the Asian Network. She immediately fell in love with the city, so much so that when the broadcaster asked if she’d like to move back to London, she declined. She says: “I was in London for six years, but I just love Birmingham. I lived in Moseley for seven years and now I’m in Edgbaston – the wrong side! I can walk to work from home and the reservoir is just gorgeous.”

RADIO GA-GA

Getting into broadcasting is notoriously tough, but Noreen says despite the competitive nature of the business, she never felt in competition with anyone. Driven by a passion for music and radio and inspired by trailblazers like Sara Cox and Zoe Ball, she just got her head down. She volunteered in radio stations and focused on being the best she could be rather than battling with other people and the hard work paid off.

Despite this penchant for hard work and determination, Noreen’s also a qualified yoga instructor which perhaps keeps her grounded. A few years ago, she recognised she was neglecting her physical health, so started practising yoga and put wellness and mindfulness front and centre. She has no plans to teach yoga – the qualification was more for her personal development. And this is the thing about Noreen. Most people, if inclined might do some yoga. Noreen studies it and gets some qualifications. At school, she learned oboe and violin. Lots of people leave the music career at primary school. Noreen later toured Mexico. Nothing’s ordinary, so anything’s possible.

‘OUR STORY’

Naturally, Noreen veered towards TV as well as radio and credits include BBC2’s wonderful Back in Time for Birmingham which is part of the hugely successful and inventive Back in Time series. The Brum version is slightly different as not only does it focus on a specific place but a specific group of people, in this case South Asian and their experiences from settling here in the Fifties to present day. The stories from people, some of them just teenagers at the time, who experienced the hardship of arriving in a new world and the barriers they had to overcome is breath-taking – the language, culture, inequality, racism, finding work, missing loved ones, even the climate. It’s a real eye opener and well worth a watch. Noreen is proud of the show and feels it’s important. “It’s relatable, it’s our story. It’s what our parents and grandparents went through and highlights the real struggle of the South Asian community.”

FUNNY BONES

Not content with radio and TV, Noreen loves the stage too and tours with female stand-up group, Ladies of Laughter. They describe themselves as ‘kick ass comics certain to leave you in stitches’. Noreen says: “The shows are unique. The norm in stand-up is still mainly men of a certain age and colour. Ladies of Laughter not only champions women, but women from every background and we’ve had some big names like Judi Love and Shazia Mirza.” I suggest stand-up sounds terrifying and the stuff of nightmares, but Noreen says it’s not dissimilar to hosting. She explains: “When you’re hosting, there can be delays which means you have to fill time and interact with audiences. That’s a great grounding for stand-up so comedy never felt strange or scary. You have to hold the audience’s attention and make them laugh so it’s a natural progression.”

Noreen has no plans to head to the likes of the Edinburgh Festival. Once the pinnacle of the comedy scene, the festival is now generally recognised as less relevant than a time pre-social media. Not the first comic to question the financial investment involved – one of Noreen’s friends has spent upwards of £20,000 on rent and shows at Edinburgh – she feels there are increasing ways to reach audiences and build a following online. The reliance on a talent booker is diminished. Inspired by comics such as Shazia Mirza and Paul Choudhry and back in the day, Good Gracious Me, Noreen says: “Representation matters. Brown people doing comedy such as Goodness Gracious Me was revolutionary.”

Combining TV and comedy would be the ideal scenario – perhaps a panel show or comedy quiz. Noreen says: “I’m hoping my break will come.” But you know Noreen’s doing more than hoping – she’ll be grafting and putting in the hard yards to make it happen and we reckon it’s just a matter of time.

We last featured Birmingham-born Helen George back in 2015 when she was one of the stand-out stars of Strictly Come Dancing (many of us thought she should have gone all the way and won the thing!). She eventually waltzed her way to the quarter-finals and she certainly hasn’t rested on her laurels since with a very high profile start to 2022.

The season finale of BBC’s hit-series, Call the Midwife, has just aired with the climax being the long-awaited marriage of her character, 1950’s midwife Trixie Franklin to Matthew. And she’s also been in her hometown starring in the multi award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. Helen plays Anna Leonowens in what’s widely regarded as one the greatest musical of all time with an incredible score that includes Whistle a Happy Tune and Shall We Dance.

Starring alongside Darren Lee, Helen, 38, has stepped into the role made famous by Deborah Kerr as the British schoolteacher who is hired by the King of Siam to educate his many wives and children. “I’d been wanting to do a musical for a while,” she says, “and I was waiting for the right one to come along and just couldn’t say no. It’s just such a classical musical theatre part.”

FINDING ANNA

She had enjoyed the show as a young girl, so it was a wonderful opportunity to take the lead role. “I went to see the show when I was seven or eight when I was growing up in Birmingham,” she says. “I haven’t gone back and watched the film because I needed to find Anna myself, and I hadn’t realised how many songs she sings. I knew them but I hadn’t quite figured they were all together in this show.”

The show is a gloriously lavish production that’s been brought to the stage by an internationally renowned creative team under Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher (South Pacific/My Fair Lady/To Kill a Mockingbird). As part of a record-breaking UK and international tour, the show enjoyed fantastic reviews from its five-day stint at the Alexandra Birmingham.

As for Call the Midwife, Helen has been in the show since its first episode in 2012 and has become one of the drama’s best-loved characters, so filming Trixie’s big day was an incredible but exhausting experience. “It was a long day and we went over our schedule by about an hour-and-a-half. But it was also a beautiful day. There was a real sense of occasion. And it was lovely that all the cast got to be together.”

‘THAT’ DRESS

And of course, there was THAT dress. Inspired by a Givenchy campaign starring Audrey Hepburn, Helen looked stunning in the vintage, high-neck gown that she reportedly didn’t see until the day of filming. “It was a beautiful photograph of Audrey looking demure and gorgeous with this small pillbox hat on her head, and a long veil. Trixie’s version was loosely based around that.”

It wasn’t until she was 15 that Helen, originally from Harborne, was bitten by the acting bug. The daughter of a politics professor and a social worker, she had previously been into athletics and wanted to be a long jumper before deciding that instead she’d be the first female football manager of her favourite football club Aston Villa!.

The Edgbaston High School student changed direction again after appearing in a production of Les Miserables and from that moment her heart was set on becoming a musical actress. She attended regular lessons at Brockway Morris School of Dance and became a junior associate at Birmingham Royal Ballet. Her bedroom wall had pictures of her favourite dancer, Covent Garden ballerina Dame Darcey Bussell. Helen worked in a local florist to earn money to go to Birmingham School of Acting and then the Royal Academy of Music, where she trained in musical theatre.

HAPPIEST TIME

Singing engagements followed which saw her perform at the Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Arena, singing backing vocals with Elton John. Her acting credits include Hotel Babylon, The Three Musketeers, Scar Tissue, Doctors and Hollyoaks, plus theatre roles in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman in White, Into The Woods, and High School Musical.

But Call the Midwife changed everything and has made Helen the huge nationally-recognised star she is today. But despite the fame, Helen is adamant that her happiest time will always be the days spent in Brum – “as a child playing in my parents’ garden, which they still have, and where my daughters play, swinging on my swing that my dad made for me”.

Photography by David Reiss 

What’s Love Got To Do With It? is due out next month and stars some seriously big names – Emma Thompson, Lily James and Shazad Latif. Made by StudioCanal of Love Actually and Bridget Jones success, you can expect tears, laughter, feel good vibes and goose bumps galore. It’s got the lot.

The plot follows Zoe played by Lily James, an award-winning documentary maker, as she follows a new subject – her childhood friend Kaz played by Shazad Latif as he progresses through the process of an arranged marriage. Mim plays Kaz’s brother Farooq, and is he’s thankful for the film for two reasons. Mainly because it represents a shift in diversity in mainstream film but also because it came along at a time during lockdown when the ability to make money just stopped, so this was a ‘big rescue’.

WORK ETHIC

You’ll know Mim from BBC One crime drama Informer which also starred Paddy Considine, Nabhaan Rizwan and Bel Powley, but he’s been working in TV and radio consistently for the last decade. He made his screen debut in the 2014 short film Daytimer directed by actor Riz Ahmed and was a regular on BBC1Xtra and BBC Asian Network.

He appeared in 2016 short film Shia Sunni which won a BAFTA Children’s Award and played the leading role in British comedy horror Freehold alongside Mandeep Dhillon and Javier Botet. He also appeared in Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul on BBC2 alongside an eclectic bunch of celebrities including Adrian Chiles, Fatima Whitbread, Edwina Currie, Amar Latif, Pauline McLynn and Dom Joly who took on a historical pilgrimage and were encouraged to chat about their faith along the way.

In 2018, he found his father who’d been absent his entire life in BBC Three documentary, Finding Dad in which Mim spent 18 months tracking down his biological father taking him ultimately to Pakistan via his birthplace in Cradley Heath. While he didn’t get the Disney ending he craved and there were lots of unanswered questions, Mim did find his father and a resolution of sorts and unexpectedly felt a strong connection to Pakistan feeling at home instantly. It’s been a whirlwind.

SILVER LINING

When Mim got the script for What’s Love Got To Do With It? he was wondering how he would continue making a living during lockdown. Mim said: “Work stopped completely. I’m not from a privileged background and couldn’t see a way of making money. My agent sent the script through and I really connected with it. It was a silver lining.” The audition needed to be done at home thanks to lockdown and Mim duly recorded and sent off a tape hoping to hear positive news.

He got the part and started shooting during lockdown. Five Covid tests a week, plus masks and face shields between filming became the norm. The cast and crew just cracked on with it grateful to be able to work. Mim is over the moon with how the film’s turned out and describes it as ‘absolutely beautiful’ and an important story exploring arranged marriage and particularly how that affects the man.

STORY TELLER

Going back to Mim’s lack of privilege, he glossed over getting his first job at the BBC initially as though it was nothing, but he’s being modest. He studied Broadcast Journalism at Leeds University then worked hard to get his foot in the door. Competition for BBC jobs is fierce and he didn’t have the luxury of being from that world or having connections in broadcasting. Hard work, talent and determination got him through the door and has kept him working and adapting constantly.

He’s versatile as demonstrated by his broad mix of work and loves telling stories whatever form that takes, so writing during lockdown felt like a logical next step alongside acting. Like lots of people, Mim had time to evaluate life generally during the pandemic and he began writing in earnest. He won’t say what he’s writing yet. He could tell me, but he’d have to kill me which leads nicely onto Mim’s dream role – James Bond. While he reckons he’s a bit young right now, we’d watch this space because honestly, anything is possible.

Being one of the celebs on the new series of ITV’s Dancing on Ice could well be the biggest challenge of Darren Harriott’s life so far. The Oldbury boy, who grew up listening to garage and grime and was part of a teenage gang before gigging his way around pubs and clubs to become a stand-up comedy star, views slipping and sliding on two wafer-thin pieces of steel as well out of his comfort zone.

For starters, Darren’s feet are so big that he’s had to have figure skating boots made especially. That means he’s been training in ice hockey skates which are very different, so he feels he’s already fallen behind the other celebrity stars.

Darren said: “My Dancing on Ice partner Tippy Packard made it to the semi-final last year, so no pressure. I’ve got the dance moves and the rhythm, so we’re just going for it. Everyone thinks ‘oh there’s the comedian. He just wants to make jokes.’ No, I like learning new skills and doing well so I’m going for it.”

WEIGHT FOR IT

Darren is dropping weight while training. He’s been doing intermittent fasting eating between the hours of 2pm and 10pm and he’s lost 20lbs since August. “I feel lighter on my feet,” he declares. He’s also doing his usual strength training six days a week – an hour of weights followed by 20 minutes in the sauna to soothe aching muscles. “I would normally do cardio too, but the skating training is enough on that score.”

As well as the skating itself, Darren – who likens his presence on the ice to a “graceful fridge” – says he finds the judges and the public vote daunting. “There are some massive stars that will get the fan votes, so we can’t be mediocre.” There’s a lift in the first performance and the dreaded head banger on the cards too. “It’s nerve wracking,” he adds. “This is live TV in front of millions. I think if any of us stumbles or messes up it will shock everyone and put the fear of God into us.”

Dancing On Ice is just the latest appearance on our TV screens for Darren, who seems to be popping up all over the place. After eight years in London, Darren says he will be moving back to his hometown this year. He says of growing up in Oldbury: “It was quite peaceful – working class but peaceful.

COMING HOME

“There was a random mad window cleaner who would clean the windows without being asked to and then ask for money. Everyone paid him, but it was a bit mad. I’m moving back because I miss the familiarity of the place. It’s time – I want more space, maybe have a family and a garden. A garden! I don’t even have a balcony in London.”

After lockdown, Darren’s career started to take off with lots of TV. “I love TV, but I never expect it to continue,” he says. “I feel like I can always make money doing stand-up but TV might disappear. Hopefully the comedy won’t disappear because I’ve got nothing else! Some comedians used to be doctors or have qualifications – I don’t have any skills to offer.”

In his earlier years, back before a career in comedy was on Darren’s radar, he was involved in a local gang. It all started innocently enough – they wanted their own T-shirts, branding and sense of belonging. But over time they started carrying knives and one night the other members turned on Darren, beating him so badly he woke up in hospital on New Year’s Eve and knew it was time to get out.

BOUNCING AROUND

He went to college and started doing stand-up comedy, supporting himself by working as a bouncer – not always the most exciting work, often directing traffic in a hi-vis jacket. Aged 17, he saw a flyer promoting a local variety night. It went well and he began gigging regularly. “It takes up your whole life. I spent seven years going as hard as I could gigging all over the country. I’d travel to Newcastle for a 10-minute gig and travel home again. It was wild. Digbeth coach station was my friend.”

Darren saw comics like Joe Lycett who started out at the same time who were flying and thought, ‘that could happen to me’. He moved to London, aged 26. “I was still living with my mum, so I needed an excuse to move out really. In London you can gig every night of the week, so the opportunities were easier and plentiful.”

Fast forward to today and Darren is a familiar face as team captain on Guessable, which is currently filming its fourth series, and as a series regular on The Outsiders for Dave hosted by David Mitchell. He is also co-host of Love Island: Aftersun. Other TV includes Britain’s Best Takeaway with Sara Cox, British as Folk, host of Live at the Apollo and Dog Ate My Homework, plus appearances on Backstage With Katherine Ryan, All Star Games for Comic Relief and Great British Bake Off Extra Slice among many others.

FALL GUY?

Darren also starred in Real Dirty Dancing presented by Keith Lemon and Ashley Roberts which aired on E4 in 2022 and saw celebrities competing to recreate iconic routines from the film – a surprisingly absorbing, completely binge watchable show. He says: “I’d never seen the film. I watched it and liked it. I like to challenge myself, so I thought, ‘yay, I’ll do that. Sure.’ They were a friendly lot, but we took it seriously too. We really tried. In honesty there was more time filming VTs to camera than learning the moves – it wasn’t Strictly. We learned to dance on grass in a field in Norfolk.”

A field is an infinitely easier environment than ice, however. So, what can we expect from Darren when he glides into the spotlight of Dancing on Ice? “Unless I get a pair of skates big enough for my size 14 feet, I may be dancing in my socks,” he jokes. “My family are already making bets that I’ll fall on the first episode!”

If you’re a fan of Apple TV’s brilliant Emmy award-winning comedy series Ted Lasso, (we are!) you’ll already know that one of the show’s best-loved characters is Mae, the no-nonsense landlady at the local pub at Richmond Football Club.

Played by Brum’s very own Annette Badland, Mae has captured the hearts of fans of the show which since launching in 2020 has become a bit of a comedy cult classic. Featuring American comedian Jason Sudeikis in the title role, it tells the story of an American football coach as he struggles with managing fictional Premier League soccer team, AFC Richmond. The show has proved to be a hit in the US and over here, with the much-anticipated third series due to be screened in 2023.

In more than half-a-century of acting in theatre, TV, film and radio, it’s safe to say that Annette is more than a little pleasantly surprised that she has become one of Apple TV’s shiny ‘new things’ as he calls it. We’ve interviewed Annette before, back in November 2019. At that time, no one in the wider world knew of Ted Lasso. Obviously, Annette did as she was working on the launch show and first series – but she was keeping ‘mum’, which is par for the course with actors sworn to secrecy on their new forthcoming projects. She would only say that she was working on an ‘exciting new project’. She explains now: “I got invited to audition and went to a casting director and went on tape – and they liked me, so I very luckily got invited to join the cast, and it has been just wonderful.”

THRILLING TIMES

Annette’s character, Mae, runs the Crown & Anchor pub in the direct style you’d expect from a landlady at your local. “She owns the place and she owns the space,” explains Annette, who is thrilled at the success of Ted Lasso.  “The pub is a great environment for storytelling and for showing how people interact and can connect with one another. And the show has just grown with people telling each other about it and anticipating the next episode and series. It’s a thrill to be involved with it.”

Pubs are no stranger to Annette – but in a good way! Despite having a career that really does qualify her for ‘national treasure’ status and which has seen her perform in a Who’s Who of our greatest theatres, Annette is probably best known to millions as the evil aunt Babe of the Queen Vic in TV soap EastEnders. Other top TV roles have included Dr Who, Midsomer Murders, and Bad Girls.

Despite becoming such a well-known face, Annette has stayed true to her roots in Brum, which was highlighted when she was appointed a patron of the Old Rep – the theatre where she first fell in love with acting as a child in the audience. She is also a big supporter of local charities, having abseiled off the Dunlop building for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and completed a 22-mile charity swim for Diabetes UK. “I was happier in the water than suspended from a high wire,” she admits with a chuckle.

AMBULANCE HEROES

She is also a supporter of Midlands Air Ambulance and explains: “I lived on a road overlooking Edgbaston Cricket Ground when I was young. Coming home from school at the age of 12, I was badly run over. I remember the car approaching me and trying to jump backwards then getting into the ambulance with my mother beside me, I had flown over the top of the car, landing behind it, breaking the windscreen on the way.”

The left side of Annette’s face was badly damaged, with her nose split open and a gaping hole pouring blood near her mouth. The handle of a basket she had been carrying had penetrated her leg and she had serious breaks to both legs. Annette remembers: “When we got to Birmingham Accident Hospital, which no longer exists, they thought my mother was also injured because she was covered in so much of my blood.

“The ambulance men and hospital did crucial and complicated work on me and I have enormous gratitude and allegiance to them. As I say, the hospital no longer exists but we do have Midlands Air Ambulance. Thank goodness for all their skill, devotion and endeavour – helping people in extreme physical and emotional distress to survive and their loved ones to have them for longer.”

Incredibly, 50 years after the accident, Annette says a piece of the car’s windscreen emerged from her knee while she was on holidaying in Majorca. Now, that’s a story to tell the locals down at the Crown & Anchor…

Ellie Simmonds says being part of Strictly Come Dancing 2022 is the hardest thing she’s ever done. Really, no kidding? “Absolutely,” says the golden girl of swimming. “I’ve never done anything before that’s so challenging. At the end of rehearsals and the shows each week, I’m exhausted and I ache in my body… everywhere!”

None of which prevents Ellie in the slightest describing Strictly as her most exciting time. She’s having a ball – a glitter ball. “I can’t express really how much I love it all,” she says. “I love the dancing, I love the dresses, I love the whole Strictly team, the whole experience. I wouldn’t change anything. And most of all, my pro partner Nikita is just the most incredible person and has become my greatest friend. All the other celebrities taking part are amazing too – it’s true when they say that Strictly is one big, happy family!”

HIPS AND SHOULDERS

We caught up with Ellie for a chat in a brief break in rehearsals as she prepared to dance Salsa in the following weekend’s live show. “It’s all about the hips and Cuban vibes, pushing my body to its limits and with my feet on Nikita’s shoulders – that’s scary,” said Ellie.

Rehearsals are 9 to 6 and full-on every day leading up to the live shows. The Brummie Paralympic star and Nikita were in London to get some advice from choreographers who specialise in the dance. And their tips certainly worked, as Ellie and Nikita sparkled and shimmied across the ballroom floor on the Saturday night, drawing high praise and marks from the judges. Voters watching at home obviously agreed as Ellie sailed through the results show to the next round.

“The support I’ve been getting is amazing,” said Ellie. “I’ve never danced before and obviously we’ve had to figure out and work round the height difference. I think people have appreciated what we’re doing. Being with Nikita every day, our personalities just click so well. I have all my trust in him.”

YEAR TO REMEMBER

Strictly is the icing on what has been a brilliant year for Ellie. She presented an amazing TV documentary on dwarfism which both enlightened and challenged by taking us on a number of deeply personal journeys and confronting some uncomfortable issues. Then came the successful Birmingham Commonwealth Games – Ellie was on the Games board of directors and a key member of BBC’s daily coverage team.

“Yes, it’s been an amazing year,” said Ellie. “Since retiring from swimming I’ve been going onto the next chapter of my life. It was especially amazing to be part of the Commonwealth Games – and I’m still involved in the legacy charity to continue the good work started by the Games themselves.”

You’ll have probably noticed that Ellie says ‘amazing’ quite a lot. “It’s amazing the effect Strictly has on people,” she said. “I asked someone where the nearest supermarket was because Nikita and I wanted something for lunch and we didn’t know the area. The guy turned around and then jumped out of his skin and shouted ‘Oh my god, it’s you!’ It was amazing!”

SIMPLY SMASHING IT

Telling people like Ellie that they are inspirational can come across as a bit naff, condescending even. But in her case, it rings true. When I told her about a brilliant comment piece written in the Guardian newspaper by Cathy Reay in which the disabled author revealed her pride in Ellie for “smashing prejudices”, Ellie said: “Really? I didn’t know about that! That’s so amazing. When you’re on Strictly you get swept up by it and you can forget the impact you can have outside the bubble. It’s not just about us, me and Nikita, it’s great for the dwarfism community as a whole.”

Ellie’s biggest Strictly fans are her parents Steve and Val who said they were worried at first when she decided to do the show. “We were a bit concerned how she would deal with the intensity of it, but deep down there was a real sense of pride that she was breaking down barriers again and showing anything is possible,” said Steve.

PLANS AFTER STRICTLY

Ellie plans to continue pushing the narrative once her Strictly journey ends. She was in the middle of working on another ITV documentary which was put on hold temporarily. “The programme will focus on disability and adoption,” Ellie revealed. “A really high proportion of children in care have disabilities – and I ask, why is that? We look into the issues and I follow social workers to find out more.”

But before that, Ellie had her fingers crossed that her time on Strictly would go on… and on. “I take each week as it comes,” she said, “and I’m enjoying every minute of it.” Whatever happens, Ellie is sure of one thing – she will always ‘Keep Dancing!’

Softly spoken and thoroughly lovely, Joe Fraser’s demeanour hides a steely determination that saw him come back from a ruptured appendix just five weeks before the Commonwealth Games and a fractured foot a fortnight before the Games to win three gold medals. It’s been a hell of a year. Joe also won two golds at the European Championships in Munich in the all-round competition and parallel bars and there’s still the World Champs to come later this month.

The last time we caught up with Joe in 2017 he was featured in our Young, Gifted and Brummie series having just won his first senior title when we referred to him as a ‘plucky teenager’. He was modest about his ambition and grateful to Max Whitlock and Louis Smith for inspiring him.

MAGIC MOMENTS

Now older and wiser and a household name himself, he’s the one flying the flag for the sport and showing young kids what’s possible. There’ll be children all over the land emulating Joe somersaulting over the sofa just like he used to do. A word to the wise – Joe’s mum swiftly enrolled him in the local City of Birmingham club possibly for the sake of the settee, so if your child is a bundle of back-flipping energy, you never know how it might turn out.

The Commonwealth Games in Birmingham was still a dream when we talked to Joe five years ago with the bidding process in full swing. This year, we all got to experience the full force of the city’s spirit on display for that magical summer which even as a mere spectator was a joy, but to compete in a home Games was something special for Joe. He describes it as a ‘rollercoaster of emotions.’

He says: “There were so many obstacles that could have prevented me from even competing like a ruptured appendix and a fractured foot, but it was a home Games and I knew how much I wanted compete. Walking away with three gold medals made me so proud. I might have wanted to achieve more but given the circumstances and the things I overcame, I outdid myself.”

DREAM TEAM

He adds: “The Games have done wonders for the city and it’s going to continue as we try to show the amazing legacy of what sport and people coming together can do. We’ve such an amazing community here. That was one of the reasons I was so desperate to be part of it. I was so ecstatic to be out there with friends, family, team-mates, teachers coming to watch and support not just me, but the rest of the team and all the other nations.”

Team work as well as individual performance seems key to success in gymnastics and there’s no tighter knit bunch than the England boys. Joe partly credits them with helping to pull him through the injuries. He says: “Our team spirit is unmatched. We’ve trained together for so many years that I class them all as my brothers. To be out there on such a huge stage doing it for each other, there’s no feeling like it.”

He adds: “I love this sport so much. The people that believed in me most with my injuries prior to the Games were my team-mates and it said a lot about the people I was associating with and how much belief they have in me. I don’t think I’d have been back being the gymnast I was at the Games without them.”

INTENSE TRAINING

Speaking of training, it’s just six weeks before the World Championships when we spoke, so training is intense. Joe says: “We’re working towards world championships so we’re getting ready for training camps and training competitions to get us prepared for it. We do two sessions a day – a few hours in the first session then ticking over in a second session. When one of us is struggling we’ve got each to get us through. We’ve got team targets and individual targets that I hope we can all achieve.”

A lot of time away competing and training means that when Joe’s at home he’s relaxing with friends and family. “Because I’m away a lot I like to spend time with loved ones when I can maybe bowling, playing pool or watching a film and just enjoying the company I’m with. I love that and I always will.”

Joe’s ambitions go beyond medals. “I aim high for things outside of the gym too. One thing I’m really passionate about is increasing participation in gymnastics and I’m working on how I can make a difference to the sport.”

Watch this space. For now, we wish Joe and the rest of the team all the luck at the World Championships in Liverpool.

Confession time: I only realised author Mark Billingham had a Brummie background and was therefore fair game for an interview when Googling previous cover star Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham of SAS: Who Dares Wins – see the May issue. Once I’d cottoned on to the author’s Moseley roots, I went full fangirl and contacted his agent. Rat up a drain-pipe springs to mind.

Back in the day, Mark’s novel Rush of Blood got me through a couple of jetlag induced sleepless nights in Australia. Totally absorbing, impossible to put down and mildly disturbing, so not exactly soporific, but it’s all I had. I’ve since read loads of Mark’s books although admittedly I can only manage two on the bounce before indulging in a bit of light reading to break up the darkness.

LUCK AND HARD GRAFT

Despite being a crowded genre, it was always crime for Mark. He says: “It’s what I read and loved. My maths teacher used to get bored of his own lessons and would read Sherlock Holmes to us. I was gripped.” Mark actually inserted the teacher, Len, in to one of his books, killing him off with a cricket bat! In such a crowded space Mark says that standing out takes hard work and luck. “There’s always an element of luck. With my first book, the right agent came along at the right time. The book was well published as in it had money spent on it in terms of marketing, design, and so on.”

A book a year is the deal with his publisher Little Brown who Mark’s stuck with throughout his career. He compares shifting publishers to a ‘footballer jumping around for a bit more money. It’s short-term thinking’ and he’s never been tempted. On producing a book every 12 months he says: “I write full time so there’s no excuse not to write a book a year. There are people writing in their spare time with proper jobs and that must be tough.” Having said that, Mark finds writing every book tougher than the last because his aim is to write something better.

Relaxing after a day in the head of a twisted killer often isn’t ideal. “I can’t really switch off. I’m always writing a book – even pushing a trolley in the supermarket I’m still working things out in my head. The smallest things can inspire. It might be a tiny story in the paper that triggers something.” He adds: “If I’ve spent three days writing in the head of a depraved killer, I am able to leave that behind. It’s like acting really – I’m in someone else’s shoes.”

COMEDY VERSUS CRIME

Tom Thorne, the main protagonist in many of Mark’s novels started off as a bit part in his first book, Sleepyhead in 2001 and wasn’t really meant to go anywhere else, but in a meeting or as he calls it a ‘beauty contest’ with some big wigs from a publisher trying to woo him, he was asked if it was a series, so he just said yes and there began Thorne’s development. Nineteen books later and Thorne’s heading to the back burner for a bit although the latest in the series, The Murder Book is out now.

Mark doesn’t give much away except readers can expect the ‘return of an old friend and the return of an old enemy.’ He says: “It feels like a good time to hit pause on Thorne. I’m writing a new series that’s funny. It’s more daunting in a way. When writing crime, we’re shocked by the same things, where as comedy is subjective. If you tell 10 people the same joke, nine might just stare at you.” The first in the new series is due out in 2023 and Mark reassures us it still features ‘a copper’. Over a decade since Sleepyhead, Mark can still feel unsure about his place in the writing world. He says: “I still get imposter syndrome. I’ve got this creative doubt and always think I’ll get found out.”

Stand alone novel, Rabbit Hole was nominated for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The book, which Mark wrote in lockdown is a claustrophobic novel following Alice, a police officer trying to solve a murder in the psychiatric ward where she’s a patient. Billingham was the inaugural winner of the prize in 2005 and won it again in 2009. He reckons any author that says awards don’t matter is probably lying. “Awards are always lovely. It’s like reviews – if a writer says they don’t care about reviews they’re probably lying too. If a book gets 10 reviews – nine good and one slagging it off, it’ll be that one I focus on.”

SHAMELESS SHOW OFF

When Mark was doing stand-up in the Eighties, he felt the same. “The audience might have been laughing apart from one guy that wasn’t and it’s that guy I would focus on. It’s human nature.” Performing is something Mark gets a buzz from initially triggered by drama at school in Moseley. He says the applause he enjoyed after a successful performance as the Artful Dodger spurred him on: “I largely loved school, but it was easy to get lost if you weren’t excelling academically or at sport. I was always average at those things. I did okay academically especially English, but I was firmly second team rugby. However, I’m a shameless show off, so drama gave me an outlet. When the audience applauded, I just thought, ‘this is fantastic’.”

Mark stayed in Brum studying drama at the University of Birmingham where he launched a theatre group called Bread and Circuses touring the Midlands. Post-graduation he got himself an Equity card and took himself off to London. “I played coppers weirdly. I did a stint in Juliet Bravo, the Bill and Dempsey and Makepeace. My finest hour was Crossroads. I played a doctor who gave Benny an ECG!”

When acting jobs slowed down Mark began stand-up travelling the world until he had a young family which made globetrotting tricky hence the writing. While Mark misses the buzz of stand-up, he’s found a new route to the stage via his band, Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers in which he sings and plays guitar. Playing covers about crime of which there are a lot apparently, Mark happily gets his performing fix. “There are six of us, all crime writers and mates. There are three proper musicians – I’m not one. We’ve done lots of shows and played Glastonbury where we just looked at one another thinking, ‘how did this happen?’”

On Brum, Mark suspects he wrecked his taste buds as a student eating curry every day in Balsall Heath and practically lived in Cannon Hill Park in the summer. Now, when he’s back in the city for events and brings other people he makes clear that this is his town before immediately getting everyone lost as it’s changed so much ‘for the better probably.’

Denise Lewis has experienced some special moments in her life. Winning her first competition as a young athlete at Birmingham’s famed Birchfield Harriers athletics club. Pulling on a GB vest to represent her country for the first time. Winning gold medals in the heptathlon at the Olympic Games, European Championships and Commonwealth Games. Standing on the top step of the podium as the national anthem rang out.

Then, after retiring from competition, moving to the TV commentary box and watching other British athletes follow in her footsteps. And not forgetting receiving an OBE from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Each treasured, never-to-be forgotten. Now, Denise is preparing for another once-in-a-lifetime occasion right here in her home city.

Denise is in no doubt that Thursday 28 July 2022 is going to be up there with the best as Birmingham becomes the focus of the world with the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, watched by a global audience of more than one billion people.

RICKETY TRAIN

“I trained four times a week at Perry Barr throughout my childhood. I remember getting the rickety train in from Wolverhampton and now look! Hosting the Games in Brum makes me feel emotional. It’s fantastic for the region and I’m so excited.”

She added: “It’s so special for any athlete to take part in the Commonwealth Games but even more so to see the Games come to your hometown. I am so proud to be part of the celebrations and see how excited everyone is for the Games to come to Birmingham. The support and energy are amazing and I know all of the Team England athletes cannot wait to look into the crowds and see the supporters in team colours. I, for one, will be proudly cheering them on and can’t wait for the Games to start.”

We caught up with Denise as she helped open the huge Games Megastore where merchandise for all the competing nations is on show. (Safe to say, the mountain of England kit pretty much outweighs the rest!) Above the Megastore is a glass box housing the BBC studio where Denise and her TV colleagues will be covering the Games. It’s the perfect setting for any proud Brummie with the backdrop of city landmarks such as the Library and Paradise. It’s also the hub for the hundreds of media from around the world camped in Birmingham for 11 glorious days of sporting competition.

FEELGOOD FACTOR

“It’s all a big deal,” said Denise. “This will really amplify the region and sports. There’ll be 200 hours of TV coverage! It’ll be 11 days of feelgood festivities, both cultural and sporting, so I hope people will really embrace it. Athletes dream for a home Games. I didn’t have the opportunity. I missed the London Olympics and Commonwealth Games in Manchester, so when gems come along like this you need to savour them.”

Born in West Bromwich to Jamaican parents, Denise grew up in Pendeford, Wolverhampton and attended Regis School in Tettenhall, which later became King’s Church of England School. The school celebrated its famous pupil by building a £1million sports hall named in her honour. She joined Birchfield Harriers, based at Alexander Stadium when she was 12 and after going on to win national titles she won heptathlon gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Denise is also a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, European champion and double World Championship silver medallist. She was the first European to win the Olympic heptathlon. Also winner of multiple sportswoman of the year awards, Denise has become a familiar face on our TV screens, commenting on British athletics and attracting a new following when she took part and got to the final of Strictly Come Dancing.

Denise said: “Athletes have demonstrated enormous resilience, and resourcefulness, finding new ways to train as all of our lives have been impacted by the Covid pandemic. They have shown unwavering grit and determination to keep pushing towards their goals. Everyone is looking forward to witnessing once more the power of the Games to change lives as we celebrate the best of the Commonwealth right here in Birmingham.”

A few years ago, tenor jazz saxophonist Xhosa Cole was part of our Young, Gifted and Brummie series showing some serious promise having just won BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year. The tenor has since established himself as one of the leading jazz saxophonists and composers in the UK. He was crowned Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year (2020), has released his first album titled K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us and toured the UK. He’s performed alongside the likes of Monty Alexander and Courtney Pine as well as a soloist for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Xhosa’s releasing an album later this year that’s been two years in the making although it’s actually more than an album – it’s a celebration, a study almost of musical identities and expressions of blackness.

EARLY DAYS

Growing up in Birmingham, Xhosa started playing tenor sax at Andy Hamilton’s Ladywood Community Music School. He went on to play in the Birmingham Schools Symphony Orchestra, Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra, National Youth Jazz Collective and National Youth Wind Orchestra and benefitted from a number of the city’s community outreach arts programmes including B:Music’s Jazzlines. He attended weekly classes and summer schools – he was at the very first one in 2012 and hasn’t missed a summer school since. Xhosa was inspired by some of the world class tutors and guests at Jazzlines such as multi-instrumentalist Percy Pursglove and singer Sara Colman and he’s keen that students coming through the programme today receive the same level of support he did, so once he’d outgrown Jazzlines as a learner he started mentoring.

COULD DO BETTER

Of his experience growing up he says: “I had a multi-pronged experience with different organisations coming together in Birmingham for which I’m very grateful. I think it’s important to give back to young people – it’s the only way for me. It’s a balance – I benefit too and it’s one of the reasons I’m back in the city.” Xhosa thinks that Birmingham could be doing better for young talent currently though. He says: “This city benefits from a diverse community and therefore lots of different types of music, but I do feel there’s room for more support. Music funding, in particular for music tuition and music services has been cut. There needs to be systems in place to expose children to all kinds of music and give them opportunities like the ones I had. I’m a success story, but it’s harder now. There are plenty of people with raw talent trying to make things happen that would benefit from more support.” The notion of giving back generally feels like a notion that older musicians might arrive at after decades in the business, but it’s at the heart of what Xhosa wants to do now. The impact of a young cool musician at the top of his game mentoring you must be huge.

FAST TRACK

Winning BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year meant that Xhosa’s career took off quickly. Sure, he’d probably have got to where he is regardless of the accolade, but it certainly put him on a fast-tracked path. It would have been easy to get carried away, but Xhosa’s maturity kept him rock solidly grounded and rather than accepting everything that came along, he carefully considered his options. He’s not about fame and fortune, but about growth and continued learning. Unusually, Xhosa took K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us on the road for a 23 date tour with his quartet made up of trumpeter Jay Phelps, drummer Jim Bashford and his fellow BBC Young Jazz Musician finalist, James Owston before recording the album which he says enhanced the record immeasurably. It was Xhosa’s first taste of a major tour and it was a valuable experience through which he, and his fellow musicians grew. “We pushed and supported one another exploring different areas musically which meant that when we got to the recording studio we’d built up such trust and understanding that we were free to accomplish things we probably wouldn’t have without that experience.” The debut also featured guest artists and fellow brummies, saxophonist Soweto Kinch and pianist Reuben James.

Luckily, touring before recording also meant that Xhosa completed the tour before Covid impacted live performance. He says his lockdown experience was mostly positive and he had a ‘half decent time’. He moved in with friends in Derby and they spent their time studying, rehearsing, reading and eating together.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The next big thing is the album release in November. Titled Ibeji, it’s a work featuring percussionists from the African diaspora and came about after Xhosa’s proposal to collaborate on six duets with world class percussionists won him the Peter Whittingham award. Featuring Jason Brown, Grammy award winner Lekan Babalola, Mark Sanders, Corey Mwamba and Ian Parmel among others, Ibeji explores a huge range of styles drawing from traditional Yoruba roots of West Africa. Xhosa has spent hours with each collaborator playing and listening and says the work is particularly important to him and is looking like an epic collection of pieces.

Cover image: Billy Billingham photographed by Glyn Dewis www.glyndewis.com, youtube.com/glyndewis

If you can’t swim, are afraid of heights and tend to walk the other way when you see a spider, you’ll probably be watching the new series of SAS: Who Dares Wins with me from behind the sofa. Set in the searing heat and brutal terrain of the Jordanian desert, candidates taking part in the ultimate reality TV show are enduring the kind of challenges, physical and mental, that members of the military’s elite Special Forces are trained to deal with and overcome as part of the job.

And driving the civilian recruits to the edge of exhaustion are the Directing Staff (DS) team, including ex-Special Forces instructor Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham. “The show gets harder and tougher for the candidates with every series,” said Billy when we talked shortly before the new series launched on Channel 4. “We take people to the depths of their mental and physical fears, to confront them and deal with them – we like to call it turning mass destruction into mass reconstruction, peeling back the layers and as a result making them better people. It is all about the people.”

DARK SPACES

Billy, who grew up in Walsall and now splits his time living in Hereford and the US with his American wife, added: “On the show we help people through the dark spaces in their lives. Every person who takes part comes away a better person. Mind you, if someone needs to be told they’re a prat, I will tell them they’re a prat!”

On a scale of one to 10, Billy says SAS: Who Dares Wins is around a seven for its realism to the training that UK Special Forces have to go through. The new series is especially demanding being set in Jordan where Billy underwent Special Ops training himself. Looking back on his youth, he admits that he “went rogue”. Living on a tough estate in Walsall his mum and dad couldn’t control him and he was in constant trouble with the police and gangs and was even stabbed in the back at the age of 15.

Things started to change for the better, he says, when he tried to steal from an old man who instead of reporting him gave him his time and befriended him. With encouragement, Billy started boxing which laid the foundation for the resilience and routine required by the military. The experience, he says, proves that everyone needs someone to give them a second chance in life.

HOSTAGE RESCUES

Billy joined the Parachute Regiment in 1983 and served until 1991 holding various roles, including patrol commander for operational tours in worldwide locations He joined the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1991 as a Mountain Troop specialist and was responsible for planning and executing operations and training in the likes of Iraq, Afghanistan, South America and Africa.

He led a number of hostage rescues and was awarded an MBE by the Queen and received the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery. Billy is a certified Special Forces instructor. His other skills make for an impressive CV – Counter-Terrorist Sniper instructor, Advanced Evasive Driving instructor, Tracking, Jungle Warfare and Navigation instructor, Demolition and Sabotage instructor, skiing Instructor, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Abseiling and Ice Climbing instructor, Combat Survival and RTI Instructor and Counter-Terrorist instructor.

After serving 20 years in the SAS, Billy became a bodyguard and looked after celebrity A-listers such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sir Michael Caine, Jude Law, Kate Moss, Hulk Hogan, Russell Crowe and Tom Cruise.

RELUCTANT STAR

He admits his role in SAS: Who Dares Wins almost didn’t happen. For a man who has spent his life taking on new challenges, Billy was reluctant to join the DS team when the first series of the show was being planned. “I had done some bits of previous TV work, but I didn’t like the idea of the show to be honest. As soon as they said the word SAS, I said I’m not interested as all the previous stuff on TV which was supposedly based around the SAS was so cheesy. So, I didn’t take part in that first series. The TV people kept approaching me though and sent me copies of the shows – and I thought to myself ‘I wouldn’t mind doing this’. And I’ve kind of grow into it ever since.”

The show has proved a huge hit with viewers and is such compulsive viewing that it has spun off American and Australian versions as well as the hugely popular Celebrity SAS series. Billy stars in all formats and has earned the image of being ultra-tough and competitive but also sympathetic on occasions in the show’s mirror room – the space where the DS confront candidates who are struggling or have other issues.

He says he found the mirror room sessions the most difficult to handle initially because being put in front of the camera and having to talk rather than be out in the thick of the action all felt a bit alien to him. The fact that he is now a recognised face from the show has also been tricky to deal with at times. “People come up to me now and know who I am but sometimes it can be difficult,” he says.

“One thing I don’t like at all is being stared at. I was with my wife at the airport in New York and there was a huge guy staring at me. He didn’t stop, so I went up and confronted him and told him I didn’t like that he was staring. He just said he was sorry but wasn’t I the guy off the TV?”

BIGGEST REGRET

Life now for Billy couldn’t be more different. From being in the SAS and not being able to tell anyone, even family, what he was doing around the world, he is now free to show and share who he was, and is, on TV. Of his time in the SAS he says: “Obviously it was tough and I could have died several times and been captured but you just have to push yourself to go that bit further. Everyone is stronger than they think they are.”

Being a TV personality has made Billy’s own children “very proud” he says. He’s not one to dwell on the past but admits that his biggest regret is not having had the time to see his kids grow up. “I was all over the world, in places like the Balkans and the Middle East and the family suffered,” he says. “My kids are wonderful and we get on great – and now I have grandchildren and I am making up for all the time I missed with my own kids by giving them as much of me as I can.” Billy was away from home so much during his time with the SAS that he wanted his kids to know why dad had been missing, so he wrote a book. Titled The Hard Way: Adapt, Survive and Win, it was published in 2019 and quickly became a top-seller. In the book, Billy reveals his ‘no BS’ approach to his time in the military.

DON’T BE A DICK

‘No BS’ equates to three rules which Billy says everyone should follow. First, tell the truth and accept the truth. “Some people are just too scared to tell others the truth,” explains Billy. Second, take it on the chin and bounce back, but don’t keep making the same silly mistakes over and over. Third, be a good person. Or as Billy put it: “Don’t be a dick!”

Not surprisingly with his background, Billy says he is “always looking for a challenge”. So, how about breaking the record for the highest-ever parachute jump? “It’s been something I’ve talked about doing for some time as a science project” he says. “And I’m hopeful we will finally go for it this year.”

With the motto ‘Who Dares Wins’, is there any doubt that Billy won’t make the ultimate leap into the record books!

A star in the making was how Michelin star celebrity chef Marcus Wareing described Dan Lee after tasting his food. Praise indeed from the notoriously hard-to-please judge of BBC’s Masterchef: The Professionals as the talented young Brummie cooked his way to winning the title.

Since lifting the coveted trophy, Dan admits that ‘the world’s gone kind of mad!’ He’s been inundated with all sorts of offers of work, which he says is really overwhelming. While he’d rather not go into specifics so he keeps all options open, he’s equally clear that he’s not rushing to dive in after his TV success. He’s going to take his time to make sure he makes the right choices moving forward.

“I’m a really enthusiastic person, so the danger is that I’d want to have a go at everything and I’d end up doing the wrong thing,” explains Dan. So, he’s taking a deep breath and enjoying his success before setting off on the next stage of his culinary journey. Mind you, he’s set himself clear goals that he is adamant he will achieve. For starters, opening his own restaurant in Brum and having a truck serving proper, authentic high quality street food at affordable prices.

FIRST MOVES

The first tentative moves towards his goals had just started when we spoke. “We need to find the right location for a restaurant,” said Dan, who has had conversations with the boys who run Digbeth Dining Club about his various ideas. “One thing’s for sure, the restaurant I open will be right here in Birmingham,” said Dan. “This city is my home, where my roots are and it’s where I want to be.”

Dan’s journey to Masterchef champion has had plenty of twists and turns and ups and downs. He grew up in Brum from a Chinese father and English mother and went to Hall Green Secondary School. His grandfather owned a Chinese takeaway, so he enjoyed Cantonese dishes, while his British grandparents were feeding him stews and bacon sandwiches. While food loomed large in the family background, Dan says he had “no interest in food whatsoever!”

He’d set himself to find a career that would fulfil his passion to travel the world. “I decided I wanted to be either an archaeologist or an architect as I thought they’d give me the best options to travel,” he says. “But after about six months studying in sixth form in Solihull, I decided it wasn’t for me. I had a job at Next in Solihull and when I went for my next shift they said it had finished as I was only on a temporary contract. So, suddenly I had nothing!”

OFF THE RAILS

After that, Dan says he “went off the rails and messed around on the streets a bit”. He signed on for benefits because he couldn’t get a job and part of the requirements for receiving help was to speak to careers advice. “They suggested I should go along to an open day at Birmingham College of Food where I cooked three pasta dishes – and that was it. I knew this was what I wanted to do. That moment changed my life.”

Dan decided to use food to travel the world. “My first job was in New Zealand and I booked a one-way flight. It was a bit of a gamble as all I had was a couple of hundred pounds. I worked for Millennium Hotels and Resorts who had other properties, and I worked my way around. I’d get to go to ski resorts in Europe and various other places. I wasn’t paid much and after some seasons abroad I came back and worked a bit in the UK.”

One of the places Dan got a job was cheffing at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. “I worked all hours I could to pay off the debts which I had run up abroad,” he explained. “Then I decided I wanted to go to Thailand and worked in a Bangkok restaurant to learn about Thai food. Someone there knew someone in Singapore and I eventually went there and joined Michelin-star restaurant Table65.”

A return trip to Brum in 2019 lasted longer than Dan expected due to Covid travel restrictions and that’s when he decided to apply for Masterchef. Dan fought his way through the competition rounds, overcoming some heart-stopping moments along the way – such as serving judge Gregg Wallace with seriously undercooked chicken!  But the final proved to be no contest as Dan wowed Gregg, Marcus and fellow judge Monica Galetti with his three-course menu.

WINNING MENU

A starter of Singaporean chilli crab with deep fried bao bun, crab salad, nashi pear, salted egg yolk, squid ink tuille, soft shell crab tempura, and a crab and chilli oil was followed by a main featuring another Singapore streetfood classic – chicken and rice. Dan’s interpretation included a chicken breast stuffed with thigh meat flavoured with sesame and pan dan, choy sum in garlic and chilli, chicken infused rice with garlic and ginger, a chilli sambal and a chicken broth. Dessert was a smoked hay treacle tart with pickled ginger, shisho leaf and clotted cream ice cream.

Dan said: “As a kid growing up in Birmingham, I would never have dreamed that one day I’d be successful doing this. Being involved in food never crossed my mind – I didn’t even know what an avocado was when I was 16. What has happened now is all a bit of a whirlwind for me. I’m doing lots of full-on pop-ups all over, working in places as far flung as Verbier in Switzerland and I’m doing one next week in Cornwall.”

Dan is a huge supporter of the investment being made by the city council in developing Birmingham and a big fan of the burgeoning food scene. “It’s great to see different independents popping up,” he says. “I think that the pandemic has seen people prepared to try and taste new ideas, but I don’t see many people doing food the way I do it with my mixed background of Cantonese and English food.

FOOD FOR ALL

“I love Michelin star meals, they are a treat, but that food is not accessible. I believe that really good food can be accessible to everyone, you don’t need to pay so much money for it. The street food culture has been growing here in the UK but it is getting a bit pricey. My goal is to provide the real quality street food that’s authentic and really affordable.”

Still only 29, Dan says winning Masterchef has brought more offers of help as he plans his new restaurant. “I’m going to take my time and make sure the place we end up with is the right place with the right vibe” The project will see Dan team up with a close friend who he worked with in France and who is currently a head chef in Wales.

He adds: “Masterchef proved to be an amazing opportunity. Marcus, Monica and Gregg are huge names in the industry, so there was huge pressure, but I loved every minute of it. Now I can’t wait to move forward with all the things I want to do and achieve.”

Inspirational is a word that comes to mind when talking with Dan. And he has found time to inspire students at the place where it all started for him. He recently returned to University College Birmingham to talk with the talented young chefs who will ensure Brum continues to produce world class cooks.

After the highs of holding aloft the Masterchef trophy, Dan was happy to share the experience of his own journey in what he admits was “an emotional” homecoming.

A good friend of Birmingham Living has a theory about what makes a ‘real’ football fan. Forget all the fancy-dans who get ripped off to watch the Premier League, he says. It’s the ‘lower’ divisions where you’ll find your true supporter. The kind of follower who’s watched their club struggle to survive for years, always living the dream, hoping against hope that one day their United or Town will get a taste of glory. Someone just like him, in fact!

While Jacqui Oatley is a self-confessed Wolves (Premier League!!) addict, knowing all there is to know about the Wanderers, she’s also completely clued-up on all things EFL (English Football League). She has been going to EFL matches for more than 30 years and spent 19 years reporting on them!

Jacqui lives and breathes footie at all levels – and that especially includes the growing appeal of professional women’s football which she started championing years before the relatively recent breakthrough in widespread press, TV and media coverage.

HIGHLIGHTS

This season Jacqui is one of the faces of the EFL, fronting the league’s popular weekend highlights show on Quest TV. She is also a regular commentator on Women’s Super League matches and on-the-spot reporter for Sky’s legendary Soccer Saturday show, having previously appeared on BBC’s rival Football Focus. While not a big fan of labels, it’s Jacqui who broke the ‘glass ceiling’ as the first female football reporter on BBC TV’s Match of the Day.

Wolverhampton-born and growing up in Codsall, her love of football began as a child watching and playing – the latter being a challenge for a girl at that time! After graduating from university, she gambled on swapping a career in intellectual property for journalism, covering various levels of football for local radio, BBC WM, BBC Radio 5 – and eventually television.

GAMBLE

“I realised that I wanted to do something in sport and was going to have to take a gamble and start all over again,” she said. “Covering my first match, I thought… yes, this is it!” Her breadth of sports knowledge extends beyond football to presenting ITV’s coverage of professional darts and she has also worked at the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Olympics.

Until this season one of Jacqui’s passions was her weekly Molineux View podcast with The Athletic on all-things Wolves, but sadly that was unexpectedly dropped. But as you have seen, she has many other projects to keep her busy. At the forefront is the ongoing challenge to improve women’s football and the opportunities for young girls to take part more easily in the sport – a determination and drive which helped earn her an OBE from the Queen for services to broadcasting and diversity.

CAMPAIGN

“I got into football as a young teenager and at the time, I looked around and couldn’t find any clubs anywhere near me,” she explained. That wasn’t the case when the time came for her own daughter to follow suit. Yet, Jacqui says there is still a lot of work to be done, which is why Women In Football, of which Jacqui is a founding member, launched #GetOnside last year which aims to get organisations and individuals to think what they can do in a practical way to ‘improve the landscape for women working in football’.

The campaign has already won the support of some of England’s biggest football clubs, while the FA has pledged to invest in 1,000 clubs to grow the girls’ game at grassroot level. Jacqui recently said: “There is still a large percentage of people out there who think football is a game for men and that we don’t need women involved.

“When a woman has an opinion on a football match and expresses that on TV or radio, it can spark vile abuse purely based on their gender on social media. So, you still need to have a thick skin as a woman working in football.”

If you’re lucky enough to be in the audience of the man who The Times calls “the world’s greatest living stand-up” on Sunday 13 February, you might just be in for a sweet surprise! Solihull’s finest, Stewart Lee, is making his long-awaited appearance at the Hippodrome after delays and postponements due to Covid, and he says he is tempted to shower the audience with confectionery. “Thoroughly sterilised, of course!” he adds.

Crazy? Maybe! But Stewart is looking forward to returning to the place where, as a kid, he watched panto and enjoyed all the wacky treats that come the audience’s way from some of theatre’s most colourful characters. (Mind you, we’re pretty sure that the idea of lobbing a pick ’n’ mix of Quality Street, Heroes, Celebrations or whatever into the stalls was said with tongue firmly in cheek!)

What is certain is that Stewart’s Snowflake/Tornado show, delayed from last year, will delight fans and bring back memories of early years in Brum when his love of both music and comedy were formed. “The first music I ever saw was all in Birmingham, obviously,” said Stewart.

WOMBLES OF BINGLEY HALL

“I saw the Wombles live at Bingley Hall in about 1973, which was where Symphony Hall is now, and it turns out years later that inside the suits were some pretty amazing musicians – Chris Spedding for Colosseum and the Sex Pistols, Clem Cattini from the Tornados, Robin Le Mesurier, and the bassist from Lou Reed’s first solo album. The first gig I ever went to under my own steam was Madness at the same venue in 1981, which was brilliant, although when I met Chas Smash from Madness he said all he could remember was loads of Nazi skinheads Sieg Heiling! Strange times to be a teenager.”

The comedian, writer and director, who was one half of the radio duo Lee and Herring, alongside Richard Herring in the mid-90s, says he first knew he wanted to be a comedian after seeing Ted Chippington, an early anti-comedian, at the old Powerhouse in Hurst Street. “He made me think stand-up could be whatever you wanted it to be and I would never have thought I could do it if I hadn’t seen him.” He added: “I also saw lots of pantomimes as a kid with my gran in Birmingham and was lucky enough to catch the final outings of lots of old music hall and variety stars doing their bits in pantos – the Crazy Gang, and Jimmy Jewell’s stooge Eli Woods. I even saw Max Wall doing Krapp’s Last Tape at the Mac.

“Most of the comedy I saw was opening for bands, as the early alternative comics did in those days –Phil Jupitas supporting Billy Bragg, and Peter Richardson from the Comic Strip opening for Brum legends Dexys Midnight Runners at the Hippodrome. Dexys just get better with age and I am going to see them in 2022, 40 years and one day after I first saw them. It was very brave in those days for a Brum band to so conspicuously own its Irish connections.”

TURNING THE TABLES

Stewart went on: “A big thing for me was somehow seeing a performance artist called Anthony Howell at the Art Gallery in about 1984. He moved furniture around for an hour, first with the lights on, and then in the dark. I started off thinking it was stupid and by the end thought it was brilliant. I think it was a big influence on my own work to this day. It was called Table Moves. Maybe one day I will get fit enough to move furniture and ask him if I can revive it!”

Stewart says his love of theatre beyond comedy also came as a teenager “taking the X50 bus to Stratford-upon-Avon for the £5 standing seats and seeing loads of Shakespeare that really inspired me”. And an interest in art was born from seeing Nicholas Monro’s statue of King Kong in Manzoni Gardens – both of which are gone now. He says: “I wrote a film about the statue and Birmingham punk band the Nightingales, called King Rocker, which is out on DVD soon. I liked Trewin Copplestone’s relief bull sculptures on the old Bullring but I think they are now lost too. And the Ansells sign in Digbeth that filled up with illuminated beer. Now I realise Birmingham is full of amazing public art – the Edward Burne-Jones stained glass windows in the cathedral for example. I don’t think I really appreciated the city properly when it was my home.”

Like all of us, Covid has proved a huge challenge to Stewart and his comedian wife, Bridget Christie with his scheduled 2019/2020 tour on hold for two years. “I lived off savings, now disappearing,” he says. “Hopefully it will all be up and running in 2022. We were lucky. We had a home and weren’t in immediate jeopardy. I did the home-schooling in the first half of lockdown and Bridget actually achieved a lot with various writing jobs she has never had time to finish properly before.

MESSIANIC DELUSION

“But although we were all physically ok, lockdown, for everyone I think, exposes a lot of mental fissures that none of us have properly made sense of yet. And I think everyone is dangerously disillusioned with the government, even people that voted for them.”

Stewart has a reputation for going into areas which can be challenging and controversial but he makes no apologies. Asked if it is important that any of his projects make a statement of some kind, he says: “Increasingly, yes, as it seems an incredible privilege to be allowed to talk, against the odds, and I am increasingly aware that people do find a degree of comfort in the work, although I understand that sounds like a messianic delusion.

“Lots of comedians can’t afford to ‘say’ anything and the current culture secretary Nadine Dorries has made explicit her opposition to comedy that comments on politics. It would be problematic for someone’s career to say liberal things in the current climate. I have huge admiration for a lot of young online comics – Rosie Holt, Alasdair Beckett-King – who do liberal political stuff even though currently it represents a mild form of career suicide.”

REDUCED TO TEARS

So, what makes Stewart laugh and who are his personal heroes? “The comedians that can reduce me to tears are Northern Ireland’s Kevin MacAleer, Harry Hill and unsung genius Simon Munnery, but Daniel Kitson, Nish Kumar and my wife Bridget also switch my brain on and make me laugh,” he says.

And what gives him the greatest enjoyment and satisfaction – comedy, writing, music? “Stand-up comedy is the best,” he says. “Something where there is the least amount of other people to deal with, where you can make changes in the moment in a reactive way, where the transactional relationship with the audience seems honest and immediate and uncontrived, and where the rewards are instant. But who knew that basing your career on people coming to a room would end up being so difficult!”

Kitty Scott-Claus has a mantra we could all do well to adopt: “When a once in a lifetime opportunity comes along, I don’t want to waste a single second not living my best life.” That big chance came for Kitty on Season 3 of the hit TV show, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK – and she did indeed grab it with both perfect manicured hands, making the final, and with her flamboyant, joyous, funny personality, becoming something of a national treasure in the process.

The series turned the drag queen who grew up in Brum into an instant favourite, and although she ended up not quite taking the winner’s crown, Kitty says her Drag Race journey was everything she could have dreamed of – and then some. “I had the absolute best time as I allowed myself to be in the moment and enjoy every twist and turn. I’d previously auditioned for Season 2, but I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason, and I’m so pleased the stars aligned and I got my spot on Season 3. I felt like a winner just getting on the show in the first place, I have friends who audition year after year so just knew I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by.”

ALL-TIME HERO

The show also allowed Kitty to rub sequins with one of her all-time heroes, RuPaul. It was like a dream come true, said Kitty. “Just look at Ru’s career! TVs shows, music, films spanning decades; it’s something I definitely aspire to mirror in my own career. The show does a fantastic job of telling real queer stories and bringing them to the mainstream. What I find so inspiring about the show is that you’ll always find someone you relate to –no matter your gender, sexuality, colour, beliefs.”

Kitty grew up in Sutton Coldfield as Louis Westwood, one a family of six children and remembers being a kid who was always showing off, always singing, dancing and doing impressions. “Whenever my parents would go to parents’ evening they’d get told I needed to concentrate more on schoolwork and less on making the class laugh. I never listened, and here I am today making people laugh!”

The family wasn’t performance focussed at all. “They all went to uni and did serious subjects like engineering and accounting,” said Kitty. “I went to drama school and did musical theatre. But I never wanted to do the boring boy parts. I wanted to be Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, or Roxy Hart in Chicago, or Glinda in Wicked. The busty blondes!”

Kitty added: “I loved growing up in Birmingham. To me coming into the centre of town was like an escape from the dull school life growing up, it was so exciting. I went to school in Sutton, then Walsall and then Lichfield, so I moved around a lot. I loved school but I loved it for the social side, seeing friends. I hated actually having to do the homework. I was never bullied in school, but I was always aware that I was different to everyone else, everyone else has aspirations of working in business or making millions – I just wanted to make people laugh.”

CHEERLEADERS

That obvious talent as a youngster to entertain was embraced by Kitty’s parents who decided that stage school would be a good destination. “They knew they had a flamboyant, overdramatic, attention-seeking child,” said Kitty. She started taking speech and drama lessons in primary school and always lived for the school plays, then attending stage school on Sundays, getting involved in local youth theatre groups before going to London for drama school at age 18.

Kitty says of her parents: “They are so, so supportive. I really couldn’t ask for a better team of cheerleaders. They’re so proud, especially now coming off the back of the TV show. After musical theatre school, I sort of fell into drag completely organically after graduating, it just sort of happened.”

Like all of us, Kitty has struggled to face the challenges of the Covid pandemic: “When the pandemic first hit there was one morning when literally every single gig I had booked in for the foreseeable future got cancelled. Before Covid, I was lucky enough to be working and supporting myself as a full-time queen and then to go from that to absolutely nothing, no means of income for the foreseeable future was terrifying. The pandemic has taught me again to grab every opportunity life throws at you, because you never know what’s going to happen in the future – so take the gig, have a camp time and crack open the prosecco!”

Pandemic permitting, Kitty has big plans for her future. She says: “The coming year is going to be huge, I’m touring all over the country and then have the official Drag Race UK tour in the second half of the year which will be fantastic. Who knows what else I’m allowed to say at this point, but watch this space because the world is about to get a hell of a lot more Kitty in 2022. I would love to get into presenting ­– who knows to be honest, in my head I’m the next Tess Daly!”

There’s not a lot in showbiz that Rustie Lee hasn’t seen or done. The proud Brummie with the huge laugh and even louder personality has quite some CV – cookery TV, reality TV, breakfast TV, game shows, acting, singing, panto… she’s even been one of the Loose Women and popped up with the Strictly gang, as well as on Celebrity Gogglebox!

But Rustie’s far from done! As if to prove there’s still lots left in the tank, she has just filmed a show that even by her standards, is a bit ‘out there’. A kind of Come Dine With Me meets Who Do You Think You Are? “This is a bit of an exclusive for you,” Rustie roars with laughter as she reveals she is taking part in a new Channel 4 series called DNA Diners which will hit our screens in March.

In the show, Rustie hosts a dinner party for a group of people, one of whom is related to her – but which one? Get the right answer and there’s cash to be won by the lucky contestant. “I’ve just finished filming and it was so much fun,” said Rustie. “I think people are going to love watching it.”

HAVING A GOOD TIME

Fun is Rustie’s middle name. You get that feeling when talking to her that her career has always been about more than just the money. She really is one of those celebrities who loves giving people a good time while have loads of fun herself – and making a nice living too, of course… And then there’s that trademark booming laugh!

As well as making others laugh, Rustie is never shy about laughing at herself. “Oh my god, yes, on Strictly It Takes Two, I couldn’t help embarrassing myself – as always!” she said. “I was appearing with the wonderful Rylan Clark and some of the Strictly celebrities and dancers. We all had those paddle things to hold up as to who we thought would be appearing on the show next – and I managed to reach down and pick up my mobile phone by mistake and hold that up instead. I was just chatting so much and having such a good time, I didn’t pay attention to what I was doing. So embarrassing, but everyone fell about and we all had a great laugh.”

Like most of us, Rustie is a huge Strictly fan and when we asked if she’d like to appear on the show as one of the dancing celebs, she let slip another ‘exclusive’. “One time, I was actually up to be on the show,” Rustie revealed. But she didn’t quite make the cut. “It’s all about them getting the mix of celebs right for the series and I wasn’t quite what they wanted at that time,” she explains. Her appearance on Strictly follow-up show, It Takes Two, was such a big hit with viewers that Twitter was awash with calls for Rustie to be made one of the full-time presenters. “Oh my god, yes, I’d love to be presenting it,” she says. “Please, my love, tell the producers that people liked it when I was on there. It would be just wonderful!”

GMB TRIBUTE

The day we spoke with Rustie it was only a few hours after her great friend, dancer and entertainer Lionel Blair had passed away, aged 92. Rustie had just appeared on Good Morning Britain to pay a very personal tribute. She had worked many times with Lionel and they had struck up a great rapport. “He was a very endearing man and a real gentleman,” said Rustie. “It made me think about my mum who passed away at 87. Mind, my grandmother lived until she was 106 – and even then she thought she was too early to go! Fingers crossed I can make it to a good old age – and keep my marbles at the same time!”

Rustie grew up in Birmingham after arriving in the city from Jamaica aged four to be reunited with her parents. She went to Handsworth Wood Girl School and later to Birmingham College of Food and Domestic Science, where she graduated with distinction as a Master Baker. She worked in her family’s Caribbean bakery and later set up Rustie’s, the first-ever Caribbean silver service restaurant in Soho Road, Handsworth.
It was there that she was spotted by BBC producers of the Pebble Mill at One show who invited her to showcase Caribbean food on the programme. Rustie’s first-ever TV appearance was on Pebble Mill hosted by legendary comedian Eric Morecambe. Appearances on ATV (Central TV) followed before TV-am came calling. She built her reputation as Britain’s No1 authority on Caribbean cooking during an eight-year residency on TV-am. Rustie then became the first-ever black presenter of a Saturday Night prime time network entertainment show, Game for a Laugh.

LOOSE WOMEN

Her recent TV appearances have taken in morning TV, game shows, reality TV and causing fun and controversy on the hit day-time programme, Loose Women. Rustie’s career is not just television. She has appeared on stage in many West End national tours, including South Pacific, Smokey Joe’s Café, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and more than 15 pantomimes. Recently, Rustie took part in the Lunch and Laughs tour with the likes of Lisa Maxwell, Claire Sweeney and Kate Thornton which included a date in Birmingham. Afternoon audiences were treated to a glass of fizz, lunch, shopping, prizes and the girls presenting their own version of Loose Women with singing! “It was all about people forgetting all their worries after a horrible 18 months and having a good laugh,” said Rustie.

In another celebrity first, Rustie has teamed up with actor Christopher Biggins, fitness guru Derrick ‘Mr Motivator’ Evans, celebrity astrologer Russell Grant, model and actress Linda Lusardi and Britain’s Got Talent finalist and musician Jean Martyn for Bingo All Stars – a unique online bingo experience.

BINGO CALLER

Rustie said: “Andreas, my manager – as well as my other half – set up Bingo All Stars and every week I come together with the other celebrities and we have a great time with people playing on the site. It’s been a lovely thing for people to enjoy especially during Covid.”

Rustie is incredibly proud of her Brummie roots and says that despite moving six years ago to West Sussex – “to be nearer my son who lives in Bournemouth, my other half’s friends and nearer to work in London” – she will always be a Birmingham girl first and foremost.

“Wherever I go in the world, Birmingham will always be my home,” she says. “I’m like a stick of rock. Cut me in half and you will see Birmingham running right through me!”

We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve interviewed talented Brummies who have been inspired to explore a life they might have discounted if it weren’t for a stand-out teacher. It’s possible they’d have found their way regardless, but maybe not. Lolita Chakrabarti for instance, wasn’t from an acting family and didn’t visit the theatre. A school trip as a teenager was Lolita’s introduction and she was totally hooked from the get-go. She recalls: “That teacher was instrumental in getting me into theatre. She took us to the RSC and the West End among others. I remember when we were studying Shakespeare, we went to see Richard III which blew my socks off.”

While Lolita had performed in public speaking competitions at school, acting was another story. The idea of it as a career was a bit of a leap that her father thought she’d grow out of. However, once Lolita had secured her place at RADA and it became more than a hobby, her dad was thoroughly supportive.

The body of work Lolita has amassed is a stunning array of accomplished acting roles as well as superb writing projects. Not least Hymn at the Almeida. The play, initially live streamed thanks to Covid, opened to actual audiences in July, moving and delighting in equal measure. Tender and heartfelt, and also starring Lolita’s husband, Adrian Lester alongside Danny Sapani, Hymn tells the story of two strangers that meet at the funeral of a man who, it turns out, is the father of them both. The play charts the friendship and the bond they build as their lives become intertwined. The writing is sensitive and well observed while Adrian and Danny as Gil and Benny bring chemistry with bells on – remarkable given strict social distancing had to be observed. Lolita adds: “I’m so grateful to the Almeida for being so inventive and able to make it happen.”

Covid hit the filming of the BBC hit Vigil too. Lolita says: “We filmed the first three episodes in Glasgow then we were stood down and filming halted. Acting stops for nobody, so it was very new.” Filming picked up again five or six months on, but it was different. “Normally filming is sociable, but there were protocols in place. Everyone was separate. I’m very grateful it worked, but it was very strange.”

LIFE OF PI

This month is a biggie for Lolita as her adaptation of Yan Martell’s celebrated novel, Life of Pi opens at Wyndham’s Theatre. Lolita enthuses: “I just loved the book and have such affection for it. Yan Martell was very generous and gave me free reign really.” The trailer shows off the drama of the story with some inventive staging and superb puppetry. Also, this month, Lolita stars in Show Trial on BBC One. Created by Ben Richards, Show Trial is a five-part drama that explores how prejudice, politics and the media distort the legal process.

Although obviously linked, acting and writing are two different jobs with very different time frames. “It’s like having two careers. They both have demands. I’m in a position now where I can tell the stories I really want to write and accept roles I really want. I’m not complacent about it because it hasn’t always been that way.” It was a bit of boredom between acting jobs that led Lolita to writing in the first place. “I’d tried pottery and was hopeless at that, so I started writing short stories. Then I enjoyed it and thought about trying to make them better. I did this for quite a few years, then I sold a short story for a bit of money. It wasn’t a plan.” The timing and commitment differ wildly. “Writing can take years and completely hooks me. With acting you’re hired sometimes two weeks before and you’re in.”

BRUMMIE ROOTS

While Birmingham isn’t physically home anymore, it still feels like home to Lolita. “I have such fond memories. I don’t have family here anymore, but Adrian does, so we still have that link.” Lolita is now an Associate Artist at The REP and it was in Brum where, as teens Lolita met Adrian, so there’s shared nostalgia too. By their early twenties Lolita and Adrian had a production company together and while they might not have set out to become acting royalty, we’d hand them that crown. A multitude of awards between them for both writing and acting plus recognition in the Queen’s honours list for services to drama – Lolita received an OBE earlier this year – is all well and good, but more impressively they are the only couple to have both appeared on the cover of Birmingham Living. Bravo.

Rock ‘n’ Roll. That’s what we need more of, says Glynn Purnell with an extra note of enthusiasm in his voice. Not that he’s thinking of slicking back his hair, donning those blue suede shoes and picking up a Fender. We mean, come on, he’s got enough on his plate as chef, restaurateur, children’s book author – and now a leading light in a new initiative in the Midlands to uncover the next generation of great chefs. Today’s Glynn searching for tomorrow’s Glynn, you could say!

But to be successful, the Michelin-starred Yummy Brummie believes it’s vital to speak the same language as a new generation and push their motivational buttons to inspire them to want to go into the food industry as a career choice, rather than as an after-thought. And to do that Glynn is convinced the image of working in a pro kitchen needs tweaking.

“We’re talking to the Love Island and computer gaming generation,” he said. That means they want to be excited, challenged and work in a business that is perceived to have a big helping of ‘celebrity cool.’ Glynn adds: “Of course working in this industry is hard, but so is every job. The problem is we don’t sell the hospitality industry very well to young people. We tend to bang on about the hard graft and working all hours and having no life outside the kitchen.

FISHING IN NORWAY

“Well, I’ve been in the business for 32 years now, left school with no qualifications, and it’s been fantastic. I have a great life, great family and have been to some amazing places around the world – like fishing in Norway and seeing the Black Mountains of Morocco. For goodness sake, I’ve even met the Queen – and Paul McCartney. How cool is that! We need to show youngsters what you can achieve with commitment and motivation and give the business some real rock and roll. It’s not a case of being a bottle washer in a kitchen for life!”

Glynn is teaming up with fellow high-profile chefs Aktar Islam of Opheem and Alex Claridge of The Wilderness as key members of a new working group launched with West Midlands mayor Andy Street and University College Birmingham to tackle the jobs and skills shortages facing the hospitality sector and encourage youngsters to come into the business.

Glynn said: “We are going to be getting youngsters to come to our restaurants, look around and explore, talk to all the staff. Go into the kitchens and see what a restaurant really does. Get them to see what happens front of house because that is another very important, exciting and different side to the industry.”

SATURDAY KITCHEN

While all businesses have suffered in the pandemic, the impact of lengthy lockdowns on hospitality has been particularly brutal. During that period, Purnell’s produced home meal boxes to keep things ticking over. In ‘normal’ times, Glynn would be busy at his restaurant but also touring the country attending food festivals and making appearances on TV cookery shows such as BBC’s Saturday Kitchen. The shows and TV dried up with the pandemic – his appearance at last month’s Solihull Food Festival was only his second event in 18 months. Glynn will be making his ‘comeback’ as a guest on Saturday Kitchen this month. “I really missed all the festivals and it was really hard to have to sacrifice them.”

He adds that the pandemic presented other opportunities though. “We did the food boxes from the restaurant and I had time to look at lots of ideas for menus. I was also a volunteer delivering NHS prescriptions for 15 weeks to people on what was my old paper round as a kid.”

He also recently released his second children’s book, Arnold the Alpaca, following the success of The Magical Adventures of Whoops the Wonder Dog, published in 2018. Arnold the Alpaca is aimed at primary school aged children and tells the story of a brave alpaca who mistakenly gets chosen by shorted-sighted farmer for his sheep farm. Arnold has to learn how to fit in with the rest of the flock at the farm by using his differences to his advantage.

Glynn says it was hugely enjoyable process to write his second children’s book. “I still remember the vivid images from the magical worlds of my favourite authors when I was younger. Having three children of my own, aged between 10 and 16, I have learned what enthralls and engages children. I got very involved in Arnold’s adventures even though I was writing them!”

Glynn started penning the book in March 2019 after being inspired by watching a short film on Saturday Kitchen about a turkey farm in Berkshire which had a herd of 10 alpacas protecting 24,000 free range turkeys from being attacked by foxes.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENTS

Back at his restaurant, Glynn says bookings and life is returning to normal. “People want to mix and meet and go out for meals together, so we are seeing things picking up.” His concern is what happens once the initial surge to eat out again passes. “It’s where we are come January and February. I would ask people who want to spend money to support the independents – because unlike the big chains, once the independents have gone, they’re gone for good.”

Glynn says he is excited about the prospect of finding and developing new young stars for the future as part of the mayor’s scheme. “I can tell you for sure there are definite opportunities for young people to come and work at Purnell’s with new sites planned to open.” He revealed he is aiming to open a pub in Henley-in-Arden in February.

“I want to help people create a good life of their own. If I can do it, they can do it,” he says.

Every time Moeen Ali pulls on an England cricket shirt he says he does so with “the greatest sense of pride”. Growing up it was his dream and he believes every youngster should be inspired to believe that, just maybe, one day they can achieve that same feeling, regardless of sex, colour or creed.

Inclusion is what it is all about for the man known affectionately by teammates and fans simply as ‘Mo’ – or if you’re on the opposing side by the nickname ‘The Beard to be Feared’. His attacking style of batting and bowling has made him a role model for thousands of young budding cricketeers, especially right here in his hometown.

That star status meant Mo was one of the faces of the Hundred – the exciting new limited overs cricket competition launched this summer which sees batters meet rappers and cricket go from slowbiz to showbiz, complete with flashing lights, fanfares and fireworks.

HIGHS AND LOWS

As captain of Birmingham Phoenix, Mo has enjoyed a unique opportunity to bring the sport to a significantly new, much younger audience. The Phoenix, both men and women’s teams, have played their home games to an Edgbaston packed with the noise of cheering families. And Mo thinks that is just what the sport, and society in general needs after a summer which has seen the highs of the England football team reaching the final of the Euros, followed by the lows of the shocking racial abuse handed out on social media to the soccer stars after they were beaten by Italy.

A long-time outspoken campaigner for equality and inclusion, Mo has strong opinions on what happened on the likes of Twitter and Facebook. “It’s a total disgrace actually. I think Gary Neville said it, it comes from the top and he’s completely right,” he says. “I mean, I know that Boris Johnson said two things previously and Priti Patel has said stuff as well. It’s a difficult situation because it is a minority doing the abuse, but the minority is still a large number and that’s the problem and it’s too blatant. We as athletes and people who stand against racism really need to stand up and be brave and really call people out.”

SCHOOLS ARE KEY

Mo is fully behind calls to remove the anonymity racists enjoy on social media. “Revealing their identity is part of the answer for sure,” he says, “but I think that the problem needs to start to be dealt with in schools in my opinion. Most of the racism stuff comes from the home, so it’s the parents or the grandparents, etc. And this is no way shape or form just the white people I am talking about, it’s everyone, so black, Asian people, they can be just as racist and even worse at times.

“Schools need to educate their children from an early age about racism. Even though they shouldn’t need to, we just don’t know what has been taught to children at home. One thing’s for sure, there is obviously a problem in society. In the Euros it is disappointing that we lost in the final, but actually it wasn’t a bad thing because the real truth and dirt came out. After one week the footballers are heroes and then within a day, within a game actually, they are zeroes and they are getting abused. In a way it was good lesson that we lost because the real dirty tricks came out of it.”

Mo isn’t naïve enough to think that the education system can just add the subject of race and racial equality to the curriculum without Government help. “You have to fund the schools properly. We are going past that stage where we are talking about race problems and actions need to be taken now. We spend so much money on other rubbish, we need to spend money on this and the projects needed and face the ugly truth that racism exists in society.”

FAST AND FUN

As we talked, Mo was busy preparing for the next Hundred match and he spoke of the thrill of having supporters back in the ground cheering the team on. “To be honest, it’s been amazing so far. The fact that there are so many youngsters in the ground enjoying the new format, as players we are all loving it,” he said. “And people I know who have come to watch the game, have said there is something about the format that they love too. It’s obviously faster and quicker and things like that which is great.

“I feel like it is really going to take off. It will become a big tournament and I think the women’s side of it in particular will be even greater. The fact that you can access a tournament from a young age is something that youngsters can really get into. I was thinking yesterday how maybe in 10 or 15 years’ time, the same kids that watch us now will be following the team home and away. A little bit like football actually. You’d have your Brummies following their Birmingham team.”

After the excitement of the Hundred, Mo was looking to turn his attention to a packed schedule for England, culminating in the T20 World Cup being held in the UAE and Oman. Mo is one T20’s stars and is looking forward to helping England become 20-overs world champions to add to their One-Day 50-overs title. But before then, he is hoping to win back his place in the Test team in the five-match home series against India which he believes will also be the springboard to selection for the Ashes series which is slated to start – Covid permitting – in Australia in December.

TESTING TIME

At the time of writing, Mo hadn’t made the cut for the first two tests against India, but was hopeful of getting picked for the remaining three Tests by returning and playing well for his home county Worcestershire and impressing the England selectors. “I know I can do well in Test cricket, I have done before,” he said. “Test cricket is still the pinnacle and it is still my dream to play again for England in the Tests. When you play for England it is an absolute honour and before when I took my break it was because I felt like I was playing a lot of cricket generally and it was quite a tough period for myself, but now I feel I am getting back to my best and playing well.

“Likewise, I really miss Worcestershire. I always get a fantastic reception when I play there. I haven’t really played that much for Worcester to be honest because of my England commitments. It would be nice to play in the Test series and also play three or four matches for Worcester and entertain as much as I can.”

Like the rest of us, cricketers have had to cope with the challenges of the Covid pandemic. Mo contracted the virus in 2021 while on tour with England in Sri Lanka and says he has never felt so tired and run down and wouldn’t wish the virus on anyone, regardless of age. “The family has all stayed safe,” he said. “My parents had Covid, my wife and kids have been fine. Obviously, I had Covid in Sri Lanka, which is good really because if you’re going to get Covid it’s best to get it away from home.

“When you are home you are home, and in terms of the pandemic you are isolating or whatever. It does mean you get time to spend time with the family which maybe previously you wouldn’t. But then when you are away, it’s normally for a period and that’s difficult because of what’s happening in other countries. So, it’s been good and bad but hopefully what we’ve all been experiencing won’t be for much longer.”

Noisy neighbours. Alistair McGowan has a lot to thank them for. After piano lessons at the age of seven, Alistair became bored with the constant practice and by the time he was nine had given them up to do more ‘interesting’ stuff ­– like making people laugh. Years later, after making his name on TV and in theatre as one of the nation’s favourite comedians and impersonators, along came the noisy neighbours. Cue Alistair’s rediscovery of the keyboard.

“The neighbours were so loud, I had to think of some way to drown out the racket,” he explained. “I had a piano sitting there looking at me and I was inspired to play again and to make more noise so I couldn’t hear the neighbours anymore!” The upshot was a ‘new career’ for Alistair resulting in a number one classical album and one-man shows offering a mix of piano playing and comedy with suitably hilarious anecdotes.

NERVE-WRACKING

With the pandemic now beginning to fade in the rear-view mirror, Evesham-born Alistair is bringing his unique mix of classic comedy and classical music to his home region in person with The Piano Show at the Lichfield Festival on Friday 16 July. “In a strange way, the pandemic has meant I have had some welcome time off after years of non-stop working,” he said. “It’s given me a chance to recharge and practice more on the piano and plan my show. Coming back after such a long break to appear in front of a live audience will be nerve-wrecking though for sure.”

Alistair is best remembered for the BAFTA-winning TV show The Big Impression, in which he impersonated everyone who was anyone in the early Noughties. He has worked in theatre and appeared in the West End and at the Royal Shakespeare Company and has twice played Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion. He received huge critical acclaim for his performance in the title role in An Audience with Jimmy Savile.

His piano ambitions reached new heights in 2018. Having gone back to the instrument at the age of 49 (after reaching Grade 2 as a nine-year-old), he released The Piano Album – playing 17 short pieces by the likes of Satie, Liszt, Field, Chopin and Mompou – through Sony Classical. The album reached number one in the classical charts. The Piano Show, sees him play13 short pieces, mingled with stories about the composers and his trademark stand-up comedy and impressions.

GREATEST GIFT

“I like playing short, romantic and light classical pieces. I like jazz too, but I don’t really have the ability to play jazz,” said Alistair. “And I don’t compose music or anything like that because I don’t have the knowledge to do so. I guess I would say that my enthusiasm for playing the piano is my greatest gift. Lots of people have said that my show inspires them to go back to playing again because I make mistakes when I play. It’s not perfect but they see that if I can play to a reasonable standard, so again could they. I do signings after the show and I love to hear what people like about the show and the music and how I can improve it.”

Alistair says there were two main motivations for creating The Piano Show. The first was going to classical concerts and not being inspired by what he was hearing. “I wanted to hear shorter, lighter and more romantic pieces.” The second, he admits, is “being a terrible show-off”.

Near-neighbour of 20 years – though not one of the noisy ones! – broadcaster and writer Gyles Brandreth, dropped by to hear Alistair’s piano playing. “He said I should combine the playing with some stories and comedy, and the show went from there.”

INJURY TIME

Returning to the piano in earnest has had some unexpected challenges, though. “Because I have come to the piano late in life, I have had quite a few injuries” said Alistair. “I’ve had to have injections in my arms and dress my fingers because they have become so painful. Now though, I have a very strict teacher and she has ordered me to practice less. The big thing in your mind after coming back after the pandemic is would people want to come to the show. There is a certain amount of trepidation as I prepare for the Lichfield Festival but I just have to stop the demons coming into my head.  As a stand-up comic you get used to tripping over your own words, and it is the same with playing. You can get trapped in a piece. But making mistakes is all part of the show and I know how to get around them.”

Alistair says he “couldn’t believe it” when his album hit number one. He believes the kind of music he plays would be perfect for a classical music talent show. “A bit like The Voice,” he says. “It is a great sadness that no one has created such a show.”

Maybe The Piano Show could be ideal for TV instead? “I would love to do something similar on TV with the piano,” said Alistair. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to introduce people to the likes of Bach and Chopin while also mixing in some comedy as well?”

We certainly think it would be a winner!

British number one and local lad, Dan Evans is riding high battling with the best in the world as he prepares for the grass court season. More than just troubling the top seeds, the number 26 ranked tennis star looks right at home most notably getting the better of Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo Masters. So what’s changed?

We last caught up with Dan in 2015 when he hadn’t been in such sparkling form as he recovered from a knee injury. It turns out, Dan says there’s been no epiphany, it’s the day-to-day hard work and consistency that pay off and translates to a match situation.

Of all the sports, tennis has probably been one of the least affected by lockdown restrictions getting back to playing competitively pretty quickly. Battle of the Brits organised by Jamie Murray in Roehampton which pitted two teams of top British talent against one another revealed a camaraderie among the Brits that we haven’t seen before – think Davis Cup Final and then some.

TACHE AND BANTER

There was plenty of good-humoured banter which naturally a moustachioed Evans was right in the thick of and the fierce competition showcased not only the talent, but the joy of tennis. Dan says: “The aim was to boost the game and inspire the next generation to play and I think it did that.” Sure enough. According to the LTA, between May and July last year, court bookings in parks and public spaces were up by 372 per cent on the previous year.

Dan’s not just British, he’s a proper proud Brummie who still trains at his boyhood club, Edgbaston Priory when he’s in the region and is sponsored by local fashion designer Luke Roper who provides his kit. It was actually squash that peaked Dan’s interest in sport initially playing with his dad aged just seven. But once he got to grips with a tennis racket, it was obvious that was his game.

Aged 10, Dan moved his training from Solihull to the top facilities at Edgbaston Priory which took his game up a notch. He says: “Priory’s a great club as are the people. Growing up if you knew sport, you knew Edgbaston Priory. It’s iconic. Whenever I’m back they let me use the courts. The last time was probably before the US Open.”

SMALL TALK

At 13, Dan moved to Loughborough to live with a host family while training at the LTA’s academy at Loughborough University. Of that time, he says: “I was not the best aged 14 or 15, in fact I was probably the worst. I was smaller than the others but I always thought I was pretty good and in the end I was the best.”

We chatted on the morning of Dan’s third round match against Alexander Zverev at the Madrid Open which he was really looking forward to. “It’s not often you get to play in the Magic Box.” Zverev won, but the margins were so tight it could easily have gone Dan’s way. Beating the best in the world is something we reckon Dan will have to get used to. He says he’ll never forget beating Djokovic and is particularly chuffed he was able to do it at the Masters.

It’s not all popping Champagne and patting yourself on the back mind you. He explains: “Obviously on court it’s physically and mentally tiring, but when you win a match like that there’s more to deal with off court. There’s more press to do, more attention, more messages, but you’re still in the tournament and have to focus.”

WIN OR LOSE

Dan’s not grumbling just illustrating it’s a newish scenario to deal with while keeping your head in the game. He says he’s always been decent at losing which sounded a bit odd at first, but he explains: “In a tournament there’s one winner and maybe 31 losers, so it’s essential to be good at it.” The Covid restrictions at tournaments haven’t affected Dan much, in fact he says because players and their teams are all in the same hotel, it’s had a bonding effect.

In terms of the next few months, Dan says he doesn’t really have expectations although he says he’d love to do well at Wimbledon and is looking forward to getting on the grass. There’s no rest in the calendar, so it’s pretty non-stop playing and travelling and Dan hasn’t seen his family since January, so coming home will be a highlight.

We’ve agonised over a snappy Evans alternative to Henman Hill and Murray Mount and we can’t think of one, so we’re getting behind #EvosArmy Are you with us?

Widely considered one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s artistic director Carlos Acosta had to be forcefully coerced to try the artform by his father who wanted to save him from a slippery slope of skipping school and low-level theft.

Carlos says all he really wanted to be at the time was Michael Jackson and his dance style was more street than stage. He recalls: “We lived in a rough part of Havana where people just didn’t do ballet. I’d started skipping school and stealing, so my father forced me into ballet to pull me away from the crowd I was involved with. I hated ballet initially. I thought it was just nonsense and so slow. I wanted to break dance in the street with music blasting.”

PIVOTAL MOMENT

Despite his reluctance, Carlos found he had a talent for capturing movement when he put his mind to it. The day the National Ballet of Cuba rolled into town and Carlos watched them perform was a pivotal moment. “They were athletic and cool and made it look effortless. I started to work hard and utilise my time better and it paid off.”

Carlos began to get noticed by directors. He bagged a place at a ballet camp in Switzerland and started to shine. At 16 years old, Carlos won the coveted Prix de Lausanne. He says: “I looked different. I had a big afro with these skinny legs, but I became a ballet dancer. Ballet changed my life.”

Carlos was principal dancer at the Royal Ballet for 17 years and has had a celebrated career. His role at Birmingham Royal Ballet was a bold move, but one he relished. “I took the challenge when it came along. I can help the company be more representative and more diverse and pass on the knowledge I’ve acquired. The expectations of ballet have shifted. The core ballets like Swan Lake will never go, but we’re introducing new ballets too. Twenty-first century ballet looks different. It’s important we don’t rely on yesterday and we strike the right balance.”

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Guiding BRB through the challenges of the pandemic has been tough, but Carlos says the unity and togetherness across the arts community in Birmingham has been heart-warming. “I’ve had so many meetings with different organisations and the narrative has been ‘what can we do to get through this collectively?’ That’s been wonderful.”

BRB’s natural home is the Hippodrome which has been shut, so navigating new ways to reach people has required fresh partnerships, creative thinking and embracing digital. “We were in uncharted territory. The pandemic accelerated taking shows online and generating revenue that way. We’ll probably do more going forward. You can play with the camera with an online show getting right in among the dancers. It’s interesting.”

Even the previously simple tasks of bringing the company together to train and perform is a challenge with regular tests, bubbles and reduced casts. Carlos made a short online film during lockdown titled Empty Stage – his moving rallying call to all those affected by the ban of live audiences. “There’s a danger we will lose a generation of young dancers coming into the profession as well as damaging the careers of dancers who are in the prime right now with nowhere to perform.”

NEW RELATIONSHIP

The company has coped by delaying some things and streaming others always with contingency plans as the situation changes so quickly. Forming a new relationship with the Rep with the Hippodrome out of action has been key too. Carlos says: “The Rep has different characteristics to the Hippodrome. It’s more subsidised which has allowed for more activity. We’ve formed an alliance as a result of the supportive conversations in the city I talked of before.”

Keeping dancers inspired and their minds active at home has been a priority. “I’ve considered a number of things to lift their spirits. I’ve brought world class names to do virtual classes for my dancers. We’ve had sessions from someone in Brazil I’ve worked with previously as well as a wonderful teacher from the Paris Opera.”

CURATED BY CARLOS

The arts are more important than ever during tough times and Carlos is keen to bring people joy. Thankfully, live performances at the Rep will begin again in June. As well as an adapted production of Sir David Bintley’s family classic, Cinderella, there’ll be a triple bill titled, Curated by Carlos which will feature the world premiere of City of a Thousand Trades, an abstract ballet dedicated to Birmingham – a love letter to the city.

Of the return of live audiences Carlos says: “To be able to present work to audiences again will be a huge relief. It is over a year since the theatres closed and a year later than planned that these two new works, which I am very excited about, will make their premieres. The programme illustrates what I want this Company to be and highlights our commitment to diverse talent.’

Presenting Good Morning Britain, hosting a new hit game show, instigating a campaign to encourage Covid vaccination among the BAME community. All in a week’s work for Adil Ray. Oh, and we almost forgot, plans well advanced to bring his famous alter ego, Citizen Khan, to the silver screen.

If the pandemic has driven most of us into enforced exile, the comedian, actor, presenter and writer could be said to have stepped up a gear or three – while of course fully observing all the lockdown rules. It feels like Adil’s been on our screens more than ever, in large part due to the ITV gameshow Lingo, which aired in January and February and proved such a success in attracting nearly two million viewers that a new series has now been commissioned.

“I grew up watching game shows and quizzes,” said Adil. “So, I’d always wanted to do a gameshow, and I remember saying to my agent a couple of years ago, God, I’d really like to have a go at doing this. So, we met a number of broadcasters and production companies to see what they had in development and we came to this one called Lingo, quite recently actually and it happened really really quickly. And it’s just a brilliant experience. I always thought in my head that there are two things I would love. One, to do a quiz show that would allow me to have a bit of fun and secondly, didn’t have any quiz questions. And this is it. It’s just so simple to play along.”

EVEN LASSIE CAN PLAY IT

The premise of Lingo couldn’t be simpler with a grid, a letter and then guess the word. “The kids can play it, the parents can play it, the grandparents can play it – even the dog can play it! Well, maybe not the dog, unless it’s Lassie. Lassie could probably play it,” said Adil.

With most of the nation at home because of lockdown, more of us than ever have been watching TV and Adil is more than aware that we could all do with some escapism and fun in our lives. Of his own experience during the pandemic he says: “You know it’s been tricky for everyone hasn’t it. It’s been so difficult for so many people. We all need reminding that there are people much worse off than we are. Those people who have lost close ones, loved ones, who have not been able to attend funerals. People who were struggling already financially with jobs and family problems. People in other parts of the world that don’t have the NHS like we have. Before the pandemic we were pointing fingers at minorities and we were dividing ourselves as a society and maybe this is one thing that can bring us together.”

PUSHING THE JAB

Like most of us, Adil found not being able to see family and friends the toughest part. Not real sacrifices, he says, but hard nonetheless. “The big thing is to learn to connect with yourself a little bit more. For instance, I got to spend time in my garden and doing some gardening and that kind of thing. It’s really important to be able to reconnect with yourself. I’ve been doing a bit more cooking at home, so I’ve tried to embrace it a bit.”

With Covid vaccines now available, Adil has been leading a big push to get Britain’s ethnic minority communities to have the jab. Research shows a greater reluctance among the BAME community to have vaccinations, so Adil led a new video campaign to encourage take-up of the coronavirusvaccine. Adil was joined by the likes of presenter Konnie Huq, London mayor Sadiq Khan and cricketer Moeen Ali in the five-minute clip which was broadcast across TV channels and on Twitter entitled, If You Could Save Someone’s Life.

COOKING UP A STORM

Adil says the pandemic has really focussed his mind on his own well-being. “It has definitely made me think to look after myself more physically and mentally. I don’t think I will ever stop trying to chase work, it’s a bit of thing, it keeps me going, keeps me sane to a certain extent. That will never stop, trying to work, trying to write something, trying to act, trying to present. Alongside that I’ve got to concentrate more on my health and wellbeing, watch what I eat. I started running last year and I want to keep that going – it’s slight harder in the cold winter months!”

One way Adil finds to relax and unwind is to get in the kitchen. “I absolutely love cooking,” he says, “but not in a competitive way! I don’t think I could ever do Celebrity Bakeoff or Masterchef. Never say never, if they pay well and I’m looking for work, who knows in years to come…

“I find cooking therapeutic and calming. A few times over lockdown I’ve Zoomed friends and we’ve shared curry recipes. That’s just brilliant.”

Born and raised in Yardley and having started his career with the BBC Asian Network, Adil has always been proud of his home city. He says: “I live in the ’burbs of Birmingham now, so I don’t get into the city centre so much but I’m aware of all the plans for the city’s redevelopment and they look fantastic. The big question is what will survive the pandemic? What’s the state of the economy going to be? Are some of the restaurants going to survive? Are some of the big companies that are going to move to Birmingham still going to do that? We are just going to have to wait and see.

PROUD OF BRUM

“I think Birmingham just needs to continue to be proud of itself and not over-compete with other cities. Just be Birmingham. I know that there’s a financial requirement that cities have to redefine themselves but let’s hope we can hold on to our identity, our culture and all the things that make Birmingham very unique.”

He adds: “The city’s arts and culture scene is really important and I think there’s a real worry that as we go through a recession and economic downturn, things like arts and culture can be the services that are worst affected when really they should be the ones that are promoted the most in many ways. They are the ones that allow people to tell their stories, to create narratives and represent communities and groups that need attention. And there are people’s livelihoods at stake.

“There are people in Birmingham who do great things. I am taking on an ambassadorial role for Create Central (the West Midlands trade body set up to help the region’s film, TV and games industries) which I was involved in from its inception. It’s really important we support creative industries, support story-telling in the region and help everyone achieve their goals.”

CALLING OUT RACISM

Adil also continues to be at the forefront of calling out racism having spoken about the abuse he has suffered both as a child growing up and as an adult and the online trolling suffered by BAME presenters on TV. He says he believes there are some promising signs in fighting the abuse.

“I think we are definitely becoming more open as a society to discussing things which is absolutely the fundamental but there’s two things here. First, I think that the problem with the racism debate is that unfortunately we are in a situation where certain media personalities or media companies are desperate for an audience, whether that’s in print, online, on radio or even on television. So, they allow certain controversies and certain theories and views and opinions to be aired and allow polarisation which is a real problem. That needs to be addressed.

“Also, the issue of racism, can’t be one for black people to deal with. It can’t be one for brown people to deal with. It has to be something for white society to deal with and address because if we want real equality you can’t have black people and people of colour fighting race and talking about race for the rest of their lives because that in itself is discrimination. We need black people to be politicians, to be working in commerce, to be creators, to be finding the next vaccine or to be finding the next ground-breaking invention. We don’t need them holding placards and fighting for black lives matter for the rest of their lives because that surely is not what we’re trying to do. That has to come from non-black people. The change has to come from there. And that is what I think we’re still waiting to see in a wider general way.”

CITIZEN KHAN RETURNS

Turning back to entertainment, what is coming according to Adil is more Citizen Khan. “Citizen Khan is dear to me and I know to a lot of people in Birmingham, and we are working very hard to try and turn it into a film,” he says. “It’s tricky at the moment because of the film industry and cinemas finances but we are confident we will get there.

“Hopefully a Citizen Khan film, partly set in Birmingham with Mr Khan going on a bit of a journey – I don’t want to give too much away at this point – could be really fun!”

During the first lockdown with uncertainty about the Tokyo Olympics growing, athletes across the globe got their heads down and trained as though it was on. Jazmin Sawyers was no different. She says: “We kind of knew what would happen but couldn’t stop the intensity of training just in case.” When confirmation of the postponement came, initial disappointment was replaced with a steely focus.

Jazmin explains: “I was forced to re-evaluate and decided actually, it meant I had a whole extra year to prepare – a whole year to get better and work on weaknesses. I set myself specific goals linked to the process, how to approach the first round among other things.” Working with a sports psychologist has helped too. Jazmin says: “Given as athletes we’re all around the same physical level, it’s mental attitude that can make the difference.”

Elite sport opened up after 14 weeks of lockdown but Jazmin’s coach was in America – ordinarily she’d be training in Florida with 20 other athletes, who she misses. Travel restrictions meant Jazmin was home alone in blighty and when we spoke she hadn’t seen her coach since February 2020. She says: “I take video footage and send it to him. Obviously, I’d love to see him and my training buddies, but it is working. I have been working with a UK-based coach on technical stuff too which has been good.”

BAD BANANA

Living in Loughborough close to the British Athletics base means Stoke-born Jazmin has had easy access to facilities and physios which helps. A successful British Championships in September where Jazmin came away with gold medal with a jump of 6.69 metres would suggest it’s going well!

Aside from intense training and competing, Jazmin’s found time to make the iconic banana bread all be it a ‘bad’ one. She’s had a crack at sourdough like the rest of us, learned how to sew and spent time cooking virtually. Of her lockdown activities Jazmin says: “Sourdough made me realise I’m not ready for a dog or kids. I can’t even nurture a sourdough starter! I learned sewing from YouTube and TikTok and accidentally made a dress and I did lots of virtual cooking with my nutritionist and a bunch of athletes.”

The big focus now is getting to the Olympics scheduled for later this year. The plan is to go back to America to train if travel restrictions allow. Jazmin trains hard four days a week which involves intense track and weights, she has two active recovery days including activities like cycling and yoga and one rest day on a Sunday. A psychologist makes sure she turns up for training in the right frame of mind to maximise sessions as well as tackling what to focus on when things are tough. It’s a job, but one that Jazmin worked toward for a long time.

THE VOICE

She says: “For as long as I can remember I’ve enjoyed sport. I loved to win and hated losing. As soon as I realised sport could be a job, I wanted it to be my job.” Aware that it won’t be her job forever, Jazmin embraces all the opportunities that come her way off the track too. Music is a big part of her life – you might remember her audition on The Voice with a nervous Dina Asher Smith supporting from the wings. She also recorded the official anthem of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. TV work is something Jazmin relishes too. She says: “I love broadcasting whether it’s panel shows, red-carpet hosting or presenting. My strategy is to say yes to opportunities. I’m not going to be competing forever.”

The Commonwealth Games 2022 in Brum is something Jazmin is super excited for. “Glasgow felt like a home games, but in the Commonwealth Games we compete as the four home nations, so it wasn’t strictly. I am so excited about Birmingham. Apart from the fact that there’s no better crowd than British crowd, it will be great for the city and so many people that don’t normally get to come and cheer on in person will be able to. It will be really special.”

CREATE A HABIT: We asked Jazmin what advice she would give a non-athlete who wants to be fitter and thankfully it’s not rocket science. She says: “Most people think you have to go running or do some sort of intense training when really you just need to find something you genuinely enjoy. Just move. A 20-minute walk three times a week is better than killing yourself running flat out. That just squashes the enjoyment. We’re under-exercised as a nation. Movement isn’t a punishment, it’s a good thing. Just find something you love and form that habit.”

Photography by Tom Wren

Twelve years ago in Brum when a mate suggested getting dolled up and performing Amy Winehouse, little did Baga Chipz know that by 2020 she’d be a household name. On the back of a stellar run on Ru Paul’s Drag Race in which she came third, Baga has rocked TV shows like Masterchef and Celeb Karaoke as well as having a packed diary of live shows which commanded a tidy fee before Covid put the kybosh on that of course.

Next year looks big for Baga. There are collaborations, more TV shows, music and commercial deals on the horizon, so you’ll be seeing a lot more of the self-styled tart with a heart. Baga began her career performing every Monday night for £100 at venues like the Nightingale and the Village before moving to London where she took to the stage at the Two Brewers in Clapham and bagged a residency at the Admiral Duncan.

POT TO PISS IN

The name, Baga Chipz was born in Brum. She explains: “I was having a drink in a pub in Birmingham when this fella came up and started flirting with me and my mate. I said: ‘Why do you want a burger when you can have me, prime steak on a plate?’ And he said: ‘Prime steak? More like a bag of chips!’ Well, you can’t get more British than a bag of chips can you?”

It sums up Baga’s style of drag perfectly – more kiss me quick and all the lols than slick make-up and production, which is one of the reasons why auditioning for Drag Race was a bit of a punt that she didn’t really think would come off. Baga got the call from the show’s producers to say she’d earned a spot on the legendary show while watching her beloved Corrie. She recalls: “I was in total shock. I’m more Lily Savage than Ru Paul, so I didn’t think it would happen.” She adds: “I’m working class, I’m from a rough council estate. We didn’t have a pot to piss in when I was a kid, so my act and my character is rough as arseholes.”

FANCY A BREW

Baga made friends for life on Drag Race and regularly works with fellow contestant and ultimately the show’s winner, The Vivienne. From their hysterical podcast, Fancy a Brew, and Netflix YouTube series, We Like to Watch, to their joint nationwide tour show, they’re infectiously naughty. The Vivienne describes their partnership as ‘the Ant and Dec of drag’ and most nights they were performing or filming pre-Covid.

Coming third on the show was the ideal for Baga. She says she got all the exposure of being in it for the long haul without the pressure of winning and she got much further than she ever thought she would. “I thought I’d be on for a week, maybe three max. Every week was a surprise. I was just myself and I’m an absolute tit, so that helps.”Obviously 2020 has been impossible for live performers and Baga reckons she’s lost roughly £250,000 through cancelled shows and projects, but she’s not grumbling.  She says: “I can’t moan. There are people who haven’t got jobs.” Baga knows what it’s like living from paycheck to paycheck. Before Drag Race, that’s the situation she was in.

LOLLY FOR LOUBOUTINS

“I used to live off what I earned. Drag Race changed things financially. “I’ve bought a house in the Midlands and I’m not worried about money.” Baga admits she got carried away when she first began to earn a bit. She says: “I went a bit wild at the beginning. I went from no pot to piss in to buying Louboutins. I spent £8,000 in Manchester then went to Harrods when I got back to London. Oh, I got it all. I’ve calmed down a bit now.”

As comfortable in a nice adidas track suit as full drag, Baga says she’s ‘basically a common as muck trollop’ whose make up is more middle-aged woman than a three-hour stint in front of the mirror. She’s all about the entertainment and lols and says being a performer is the most important quality for a drag queen, that looking good isn’t enough to stand out from the crowd or make the audience howl.

Look out for Baga on your screens in the new year. As we write, it’s a we-could-tell-you, but we’d-have-to-kill-you scenario, but keep an eye on Channel 4, ITV2 and BBC3. She’s busy.

At some point, it’s going to hit me, Ian Bell admits. The Warwickshire and England batsman, for so long the mainstay in both winning teams, isn’t talking about a 90mph bouncer bowled by the likes of Aussie great, Glenn McGrath. Rather, he’s being realistic about the impact of retiring from the first-class game.

For now, though, he sounds as chipper about spending more time with his family and helping out with jobs around the house as his batting looked when he was at his best. And, as all cricket lovers know, Ian Bell’s best was a splendid sight to behold!

Time to declare an interest here. As a big fan myself, particularly of the red ball game, I’ve had the privilege of watching ‘Belly’ bat live several times for both club and country. I remember fondly, the times he strode to the crease for England and supporters could bet their next bottle of Bollinger that he’d deliver a high-class, high-scoring, innings. (Even when he missed out and went for a rare, low score, he did so with that elegant style that marked him out as a great player.)

ASHES HIGHLIGHTS

His most cherished moments, he says, include being Man of the Series in the 2013 Ashes against Australia where he scored three centuries. Yet by far his greatest memory was being part of an England side which claimed the Ashes down under. As for his life-long club, Ian says he has been “lucky enough to win every trophy there is to win” with Warwickshire. The highlight was scoring 100 and captaining the side to victory with a Man of the Match performance in a Lord’s one-day final.

But this year, time finally caught up with Belly’s body. Although still only 38, the latest in a series of operations which kept him out of action in 2019 “meant I realised this year that I couldn’t physically perform anymore at the level which I wanted and expected to play”. He announced his retirement in September, before his last red ball match against Glamorgan – where he was given a guard of honour by both sets of players and just missed out on a farewell, fairytale century, hitting 90. His final appearance was in a T20 match for Birmingham Bears.

NO REGRETS

Ian says: “I’ve left playing with no regrets. I’m not emotional about it. I have always tried to stay level-headed through all the highs and lows that happen in a career for any sportsman. I gave everything to the game and I know for sure that each time I played I didn’t leave anything in the tank.”

Ian grew up as a young boy in a sports-mad family, regularly watching Warwickshire play when the likes of the great Brian Lara and Allan Donald graced the Edgbaston pitch. “I played as many sports as possible as a boy.” he says. “But at age 14 I started to realise that I was really good at cricket. I played out of my age group and did well playing against 18-year-olds.” A mere two years later, he made his first team debut for Warwickshire, and the rest is history.

Through his glittering career, Ian played 118 Tests, 161 one-day internationals and eight T20s for England and was part of five Ashes-winning sides. He scored 26 centuries and 81 fifties across all formats for his country. At Warwickshire, he won two County Championship titles, a One-Day Cup and the T20 Blast over 21 years.

COACHING HOPE

“Cricket has been a huge part of my life so yes, of course, I want to stay involved in the game and I’d really love to be involved in coaching somehow,” says Ian. “But what I don’t want is for the likes of Warwickshire to give me a coaching role just because I was an ex-player. I want to be given any coaching role because I have earned it.” Ian was involved in the England Under-19s set-up last year as says he “thoroughly enjoyed” it. There’s also the possibility to get involved potentially in some TV work. “TV isn’t really me but it would be nice to do some bits and pieces,” he says.

“I feel it is important after so many years in cricket to take a bit of a break from Warwickshire and do things which I haven’t been able to do much over the years – like the school run. I’ve been incredibly lucky that my wife, Chantal, has been supportive of my career and been very strong for all of us. As a player, especially as an England player, you are away from home for long periods of time. That can take its toll unless you have a really strong ongoing relationship.”

Retirement could also present Ian with more time to indulge another sporting passion – his love of Aston Villa. “I look forward to spending as much time as I can watching more of the Villa – though the way things are right now with the pandemic, that’ll have to be on TV. It’d be nice though to maybe go to the Villa training ground, do some training and watch how they coach their players. There are always things you can pick up from good coaches in any sport.”

THE GREATEST?

Ian certainly seems to have the right make-up for a coaching role. “I’ve always handled pressure and criticism as a player in a balanced way. One of my strengths is that I am quite resilient and I never take anything personal. I guess I was lucky because during most of my time with England there was no Twitter, so you could only read criticism of you if you looked at a newspaper!”

The final question of our interview was a predictable one, but it had to be asked nonetheless. Who’s the greatest player Ian’s ever played against? Despite facing Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, it was only at the very end of their careers, says Ian. So, his top pick is Australia’s Ricky Ponting. “I saw him at his best when he was superb batting against people like Andrew Flintoff.”

Radzi Chinyanganya’s CV is a scorcher featuring BBC stalwarts Songs of Praise and Blue Peter alongside a nail-biting run on Ninja Warrior UK, presenting at both the winter and summer Olympics, the US Open and the World Snooker Championships. With a children’s book set to launch in January, he can now add author to the bulging list of achievements.

Radzi’s book, Move Like a Lion, is aimed loosely at children aged six to 11 years and encourages youngsters to move in a way that’s non-competitive and imaginative. As a sporty child, Radzi used his prowess to make friends – he went to seven different schools and moved house six times, so he had a lot of experience of fitting in.

He says: “I used sport as a way of communicating. If I could make it to break time, I could show people I wasn’t bad at most games and use it to make friends. Meeting children through Blue Peter made me realise that’s just not the case for everybody. Sport can exclude as much as include and there are some children that dread PE.”

ARE YOU A PRESENTER YET?

Move Like a Lion features exercises modelled on the natural movements of animals which lets children explore life in the animal kingdom while getting the heart pumping. There are no motivations in terms of how exercise makes you look, it’s all about enjoying the experience. Radzi says: “Rather than an end goal, it encourages children to look at the flowers along the way.” Having never written a book, he approached DK to get their view and they loved it. Due out in January, it’s something that Radzi is proud of.

Before getting into TV, Radzi studied economics which didn’t fill him with joy and he knew he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life doing it. People would come up to him on a weekly basis in the street and at the gym and ask him if he was a presenter. He’d help out in his mum’s dance school for certain events where one of her friends would ask the same question. “She’d say, ‘Radzi are you a presenter yet?’ which I found slightly annoying because deep down I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

BIG BREAK

In November 2010, Radzi bit the bullet, made a show reel with a camera at university and spent every day e-mailing people and arranging meetings. He did a lot of work for free at various events like the Olympics and Paralympics as well as interning at shopping channel, QVC. Radzi remembers: “I earned just enough interning to pay the train fare, hostel and food.” He also did a stint on Big Brother, was a mascot twice, commentated on netball and volleyball and worked at CBBC for free.

Then came his big break when he was asked to do a screen test for Wild on CBBC which involved having a giant Gambian pouch rat perched on his head. Radzi is petrified of two things – sharks and rats, but he hid the fear and got the job. The Blue Peter gig followed soon after which was Radzi’s dream growing up. He said: “If you asked 10-year-old Radzi what he wanted to be when he grew up the answer would have been Blue Peter presenter. Whether you’re nine, 19 or 90, you know Blue Peter and it just makes people smile.”

GLASS CEILING

The experiences Radzi enjoyed through Blue Peter are varied and in some cases breath-taking, like his exhibition routine at the World Gymnastics Championships with a giddy Beth Tweddle and Matt Baker looking on and throwing himself out of a plane with the RAF Falcons, but it’s the small moments that please him most. He explains: “When a child comes up to me in the street and says I’ve grown my hair because of you that’s special. It was such a privilege. Bucket list just doesn’t do it justice.”

Long term, Radzi wants to contribute to making societal change, particularly in education, and is an advocate of levelling up. “My mother was and is implicitly supportive, but it’s not the case for everyone. I’d love to see a re-imagining of the education system where the glass ceiling is removed. Seventy-five per cent of the country’s Prime Ministers have come from one school where tuition fees are greater than 50 per cent of the population’s salary. That’s a sad indictment.”

He adds: “There needs to be more emphasis on life skills in schools – cooking, paying bills, interview skills – things that help you flourish. Pupils need a grasp on the world we live in to thrive.” Radzi appeared on Question Time alongside the likes of Ken Clarke which was a bit daunting. He says: “I’d just landed from covering the Pyongyang winter Olympics when I got the call. I watch Question Time every week and always feel that it’s a shame no one looks like me, so I had to do it.”

BLOKE WITH A MICROPHONE

When Covid-19 hit and lockdown became a reality, like lots of people Radzi lost work – he was supposed to be in Tokyo covering the Olympics as well as the World Indoor Athletics Championships and the London Marathon, but he’s fairly philosophical about it. “My mum’s worked in the NHS for 40 years and I’m acutely aware of the challenges, so really, who gives a monkey’s about a bloke with a microphone?”

Radzi moved back to Wolverhampton to be with his mum during lockdown. He says: “I shoehorn two things into every interview, Wolverhampton and my supportive mum. I love being from the Midlands. Would it have been more convenient for a career in TV if I had parents with a six-bed house in Kensington? Yes, but growing up in Wolverhampton has shaped me and therefore laid the foundations, so I’m grateful. People don’t tend to shout about Wolverhampton, but I love it.”

If you haven’t watched Apple TV’s first scripted project from Europe, Trying ,you’re missing a heart-warming, amusing, uplifting trick. The stars of the show, Esther Smith and Rafe Spall, have chemistry in spades and the entire thing feels natural and believable and therefore really moving. We caught up with West Mids lass Esther who describes crying and laughing in equal measure when she first read the script that turned out to be her dream gig.

Launching a show just as lockdown kicked off wasn’t ideal for Apple TV, but as it turns out perhaps it was a silver lining, a captive audience? Reviews have been knockout with healthy viewing figures. Trying is the tale of a thirty-something married couple, Nikki (Esther) and Jason (Rafe) struggling to have a baby and deciding to embark on the adoption process and all the emotion and tension and closeness that comes with that.

Once Esther had mopped up her tears after reading the script, she decided she really wanted to play this character. She says: “The chemistry read with Rafe was really important. It’s basically two characters for eight episodes and viewers need to believe the relationship. It’s essentially about a couple in their mid-thirties learning to understand themselves.” Safe to say, the read through went well and they got on brilliantly from the off. Filming in the sunshine largely on Hampstead Heath was pretty dreamy and right now Esther says she’d give a lot to be back there with actual people!

HELL OF A PROCESS

Infertility and adoption are not topics often dealt with in this way – it’s as funny as it is moving – and Esther has received some lovely messages. She says: “It’s one hell of a process and I think it’s important to highlight stories and subjects that don’t get a light shone on them. I’ve had some gorgeous messages from people who’ve gone through it.” The filming of the next series was due to begin last month, but there’s a certain pandemic ruining the schedule.

Esther’s Stourbridge twang is still recognisable although she says it gets more obvious when she’s had a few drinks! “It is more subtle now. I’ve lived in London for so long, but there’s a freedom in it. It’s who I am.” In her first TV job Esther read the script in her natural accent and it just felt right. She says: “Nobody batted an eyelid, so I just stuck with it. Regional accents are embraced so much more now and I think it adds a richness to your work. It’s like pockets of the country showing how great and how different they all are.”

Esther did four series of Cuckoo with Greg Davies which was set in the Midlands. She says: “It was such a joy. A funny mad family. Greg was great and I got to work with Helen Baxendale who I’ve been a fan of since Cold Feet.” Esther also played Delphi Diggery in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and more recently Kat in the award-winning Parliament Square.

DANCE AND PANTO

Growing up, Esther was into dance and local panto. She was a member of the operatic society in Stourbridge and performed occasionally with a local theatre company. She wasn’t from a family that was into the acting world and never really thought it could be a career. “I’d never seen a play before I went to college. I didn’t know I could do plays. Then one of the directors at college said, ‘I think you could do this’ and it planted a seed. I might have got there in my own way, another way, but that was a moment. It set me off on that path.” Esther says without that push or validation it would have felt out of reach. How would she have got a London agent? That, along with lots of other questions might have become barriers.

Esther isn’t fazed by the inconsistent work that comes with being an actress – rather the opposite. She explains: “There’s something thrilling about not knowing what next year will bring.” Obviously the uncertainty of lockdown adds another dimension particularly for theatres and Esther worries about the future for them. She says: “It’s crippling and really sad. I think it’s a necessary artform that collectively allows you to take yourself out of it all. That bit of escapism that we all need. I miss it. It’s depressing.”

We get the impression Esther is a doer. She’s taken the opportunity in lockdown when she should have been on stage in Chichester to ‘develop her own ideas’. She’ll say no more than that, but it’s very intriguing and I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Esther Smith.

Have you ever wondered what George Clarke really thinks about some of the homes that feature in his TV shows. After all, how often have you said you love someone’s taste in wallpaper or paint only to feel like throwing up once out of the door? The architect and presenter has an amazing ability to turn your average messed-up semi into the coolest dream home on the street. And where most of us would give up at the thought of knocking down a wall, George absolutely relishes picking up the sledgehammer and getting properly stuck in.

Part of his appeal is his down-to-earth style which has made shows like The Restoration Man, George Clarke’s Amazing Space, Old House New Home and Ugly House To Lovely House hugely popular. Behind the matey persona though is a serious and passionate professional who has worked with some of the biggest name in the architectural business.

As well as providing the rest of us with great entertainment and thought-provoking ideas, George is also a champion of producing better-designed new homes for people to live in – and better young architects to design them. That’s why he jumped at the chance when offered a visiting professorship at Birmingham City University.

FUTURE LIVING

The four-year Design for Future Living course began last September and sees students develop knowledge of how new understandings of the home, digital technologies and creative design can help shape the places where we live.

George who will make regular visits to give lectures, work with the students and share advice – via digital link during the coronavirus crisis – says he is honoured by the new role. “Birmingham School of Architecture and Design is a really forward-thinking institution and I know a lot of academics there and they are really like-minded. Birmingham is currently experiencing a massive amount of change and it is great to be part of that in a positive way. The city was at the heart of the industrial revolution, so why can’t it be at the heart of Britain’s housing revolution?

George is in no doubt that a huge change is needed in the way we design and build our homes. He’s hyper-critical of the millions of boring boxes being churned out by the country’s biggest building companies – not just how they look but also the lack of quality and sense of creating a proper community. And in case you think it’s easy for a celebrity architect to find fault, we should point out that George grew up around building sites – both his grandfathers were builders. “Where other lads were playing with Lego, I was experiencing the real thing.”

DESIGN TALENT

He says: “The quality of new-build in this country is shocking, presenting the lowest form architecture. The big house builders have a knack of making Government feel like they are doing them a favour. But in reality, this country has huge home design talent and we should be building truly wonderful new estates. Instead what we are getting from the big builders is scandalous. Good architecture is good whether it is old or modern. It’s all about what is appropriate for the location and building a proper community.”

As we spoke, George was juggling filming new series of Amazing Spaces, Restoration Man and Ugly House to Lovely House with setting up his own home building company to address the need to produce better, unique new housing in the UK. The move, he explains, is something he has been working on for several years after “deep conversations with a number of landowners”.

While not copying the highest profile builder in the land, George admits he has huge admiration for the new community of Poundbury, created by the Prince of Wales on Duchy of Cornwall land outside Dorchester in Dorset. Due for completion in 2025, Poundbury houses nearly 6,000 people in a new town which also features more than 180 businesses and has been widely praised for reviving low-rise streetscape which also incorporates local design features.

MORE TREES

George said: “I just came off the phone to the Prince of Wales Foundation to talk about many things relating to good quality new homes. These include not just the housing itself, which people must want to live in and enjoy, but also creating a proper community which they feel proud to be part of and care for. Poundbury has fantastic building rules, for example about how many trees must be planted in the landscape. Despite being more traditional in style, it’s all about homes being designed for 21st century living. We don’t live in the past.”

George is adamant that it’s not the size of company that’s the problem with homebuilding in the UK. “Just because a company is big doesn’t excuse it from producing great design and quality. There are many examples in other areas of big companies which are to be admired for their product design – companies like Apple to name one. House building should be just as high quality and original.”

INFLUENTIAL VOICES

Since teaming up Birmingham City University, George has had conversations with important and influential voices involved in the future direction of Birmingham, including West Midlands Combined Authority and the mayor Andy Street – who he said he met with “over a few drinks”. He added: “Birmingham is a fantastic city and with HS2 approved there will be a staggering demand for new housing. So for me, that housing has to be done well for the area.”

One thing that George says he never wants to hear in any discussion about new house building is the word ‘units’. It sums up everything that is impersonal, mass-produced and poor quality which he is pledged to fight – whether that be on TV, in the lecture room or with his own grand plans to deliver the best homes possible.

AJ Pritchard is known to millions as the boyish, good-looking pro dancer from Strictly. His brother Curtis shot to fame in Love Island and then the Greatest Dancer. Individually, the two brothers who grew up in Stoke and learned to dance at classes in Brum, are hugely talented. Together they are planning to make an even more formidable TV team in a splash which they hope will see them become the ‘new Ant and Dec’. Quite an ambition!

We caught up with AJ just before he shocked millions of Strictly fans by announcing he was quitting the biggest show on TV for the next stage of his career with Curtis. The brothers had been touring the UK together in their new AJ Live show before the coronavirus lockdown struck, forcing them to postpone and reschedule the final four dates for later in the autumn.

Fortunately for the brothers, they were able to bring the show to their hometown Stoke and the Regents Theatre before the virus kicked in. “Coming home is awesome,” said AJ. “We both have such great memories of growing up in the place and also attending dance class in Birmingham. This is where we developed our passion for dancing which we had always had right from a very young age.”

HAVE A QUAD BIKE!

AJ says he knew he would become a professional dancer as early as he can remember – despite what his dad Adrian, himself a highly regarded professional dancer and teacher, told him. “He said ‘you will never dance – and here’s a quad bike instead!’, explained AJ. “But by the age of 12, I had made it clear that I was going to dance and become a proper dancer. While other youngsters were playing sports or computer games, I was dancing. My dad obviously helped me tremendously, as he did Curtis, and we went to dance classes in Birmingham.”

Like all youngsters who turn raw talent into a big success, AJ had to put in the hours and make sacrifices to reach his goal. “There was lots and lots of travelling back and forth to lessons in Birmingham and to a studio in Solihull. Then there were all the competitions I competed in. It was all hard work but I loved it and I made loads of friends along the way too.”

TRUE CHAMPIONS

Together with local dance partner Chloe Hewitt, AJ represented Britain in dance competitions around the world, winning the National Youth Latin Championships for three consecutive years between 2012 and 2014. A year later, the duo became British Open Youth Latin champions and European Youth Latin champions. An appearance on TV’s Britain’s Got Talent saw AJ and Chloe reach the live semi-finals. Bosses at Strictly Come Dancing were looking for an exciting, new home-grown pro dancer to join the show and called AJ in for an audition. The rest is history as he became one of the most popular stars on the BBC show, reaching the semi-final in 2018 – believe it or not, his first and only appearance in the last four!

AJ’s decision to quit Strictly came as a ‘bolt from the blue’, according to TV bosses. They were said to be surprised and shocked – understandable in view of how AJ had become a mainstay of the show. Of Strictly he says: “I’ve loved my time on Strictly. It’s an amazing entertainment show. Strictly allows everyone to see dance in its pure form being performed by celebrities who have never danced before but who become great dancers as the series goes on. It’s a huge workload for everyone – the celebrities, of course, but also the pro dancers who are having to teach, rehearse, choreograph, perform and bring out the best in their celebrities.”

TAKING A TOLL

In the end the 18-hour days, strung out over more than six months of the year for the past four years confirmed AJ’s desire to take his TV career in a new and different direction. He happily says that leaving Strictly means he can now avoid performing his ‘dance from hell’, the samba. “I love doing the tango and pasodoble,” he adds. “But the samba is my own personal nightmare!”

Having become such a familiar face on our screens, a more permanent move into TV presenting seems the obvious course for AJ – he’s already done daytime slots with Lorraine Kelly on ITV’s Lorraine show. Now he’s keen to expand on that, saying: “I want to do lots more daytime TV and maybe have a game show and my own show.”

He says he would love to bring an all-singing, all-dancing ‘Bruce Forsyth Saturday night feel’ to TV and, together with brother Curtis, emulate the success of Ant and Dec. Despite deciding to say goodbye to the nation’s favourite Saturday night show, it feels like we will be seeing plenty more of AJ in the months and years ahead. As they say, watch this space!

Gardening expert, internationally renowned landscape gardener and multi-award-winner. Chris Beardshaw has done it all, travelling the world designing gardens from China to Chelsea. But next month he is returning to his roots in the West Midlands at the beginning of a new and exciting mission.

Known to millions for appearing in hit shows such as Gardeners’ World, Hidden Gardens, the Flying Gardener and Beechgrove Garden, the Pershore College, Worcestershire-trained master gardener is looking to give back to the region where he grew up as he becomes the official ambassador to the RHS Malvern Spring Festival, which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year.

“I know, I know….” says Chris, tongue-in-cheek. “Becoming an ambassador of an organisation can often be seen as getting a reserved parking space and a nice lunch. But this is not what being ambassador to the Spring Show means to me. I’m aiming to use this unique role to bring about some real changes to what is already a wonderful event – and hopefully make it even better!”

GOLDEN BOY

Chris has been a regular at the show for more than two decades. Along with the Chelsea Flower Show, it is one of his highlights of the year. He designed his first show garden at Malvern in 1999 and has since been awarded 13 RHS Gold Medals and six times Best in Show. “To be asked to be an ambassador for my local show is a real honour,” he says. “I have been involved in gardening events in the UK and around world and I am really looking forward to flying the flag for the show and helping to attract gardeners and plant lovers from throughout the UK to come and visit us. I am working with the show’s team in the development of some interesting new ideas which will confirm Malvern as the best family day out in the gardening calendar.”

Chris is trained in Landscape Architecture and Horticulture. His enthusiasm for plants, good design and the desire to work in harmony with the natural landscape and wildlife is reflected throughout his work. He set up his successful design business more than 18 years ago and he works with private and commercial clients on a wide range of projects across the UK and internationally.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

Two of his key aims are to encourage more young people to become interested in gardening and to make it more eco-friendly. “My role at Malvern is a wonderful opportunity to encourage both of these,” he says. “I’m so familiar with the show and have seen it from all angles, growing up and visiting as a student at Pershore College and taking my own students there since. Growing up just a few miles away from the showground, I have wonderful memories of Malvern as an inspirational place to visit.”

He adds: “When they asked me to become ambassador, I told them that I just don’t want a badge and a parking space, I want to influence the show and encourage them to look at a range of plant materials and support bio-diversity opportunities for gardening by highlighting best practice and materials.”

Chris says that as a ‘green profession’, horticulture and garden design needs to look at itself more critically. He explains: “One of the things that is embarrassing is that our own children are much more critical of the way we treat the environment than we are. We must change that by educating people – and that’s where I see my new role with Malvern fitting in.”

GETTING GREENER

He gives an example of one small but significant change. He wants every exhibitor and grower at Malvern to use only non-peat growing compost. He’s also championing a clampdown on the use of plastic – whether the bags used in the floral marquee, or the pots and containers plants are sold in. He also wants to see an end to the use of the green foam used in flower arranging.

“Malvern is a wonderful show, the country’s first major show of the year, and it makes it feel like spring has really started. I will be using this year’s show for careful observation. Then moving forward I will be feeding in my ideas for changes and improvements for greater sustainability and bio-diversity.”

As well as returning to the Midlands, Chris is busy on some new TV work. When we spoke he was due to start filming a new series of Beechgrove Garden for BBC2 which will screen every Sunday through to the autumn. He and his team are also working on various garden projects around the world and he continues to lecture at universities in Europe. He has lectured in the past at Birmingham University and says he would “love to go back”.

He adds: “It’s important to me that we harness the optimism of youth and allow it to flourish moving forward so we have gardens and gardening that’s constantly getting better for the environment.”

Reuben James cut his teeth at Brummie institutions the Yard Bird and the Jam Factory before progressing to Ronnie Scott’s in London where an encounter with Sam Smith changed his musical trajectory. As well as touring with the singer for six years, Reuben has collaborated with the star co-writing the title track from Sam Smith’s album The Thrill of it All as well as Him among many others.

He’s performed with Joni Mitchell, opened for Alicia Keys at the Dubai Jazz festival and collaborated with Disclosure, Honne, Callum Scott and Tom Misch to name just a few as well as selling out Birmingham’s Symphony Hall last November. Lauded as Britain’s best young jazz pianist by the Times, Reuben is now carving out his own vibe with the launch of a new EP this spring on the back of the success of his first solo EP Adore last summer. Expect a heady mix of jazz, soul and RnB.

GRAMMYS & OSCARS

Learning violin and piano from the age of four, Reuben knew he never wanted to do anything else. He attended Birmingham Conservatoire every Saturday morning and gained a scholarship to the prestigious Trinity College of Music in London. Reuben built a name for himself and became a regular at Ronnie Scott’s which is when he got the call from Sam Smith’s people. They toured the world together not once but three times and recorded Lay Me Down and Latch together. Reuben says: “It was surreal. It happened so quickly. The Grammys, the Oscars, all of that.”

Happiest on stage performing, Reuben is now busy growing his own legend. Playing with and collaborating with big names has led to this point and Reuben feels he’s been moving through the stages of his musical career to discover his sound. The writing process is organic rather than structured and differs depending on whether Reuben’s writing for himself or for someone else.

Inspired by everyday events, Reuben’s writing is very personal when writing for him, but not so much when writing for other artists. He says: “When I write for someone else, I’m more of a therapist.” Reuben describes his current work as ‘sonically groove based’ and an extension of what he’s been building through the years. For a period of time Reuben was writing either straight pop or straight jazz, but his current sound is an amalgam of the two genres with RnB thrown in for good measure.

LA BECKONS

Reuben’s time is split between his home in Birmingham and LA where his girlfriend lives and ultimately where he can see himself laying down roots. Reuben moved back to Birmingham from London because he found the capital anxiety inducing whereas his home town is more relaxing. He never moved to London because he felt he needed to in order to make a breakthrough. He says: “London was about figuring out how to be an adult and learning life skills as much as anything else.” In Birmingham he’s enjoying spending time with family and friends and he’s excited to see the music scene doing so well. “I love Birmingham. It’s home. The music scene is thriving. Jazz and RnB in the city is fantastic.”

It would be a natural progression to move to LA. Aside from his love interest, Reuben just loves the way of life. “It’s sunny every day. You have the best songwriters and producers in the world there. I do yoga, eat salad. I just love it.”

Reuben has worked with some amazing names and his list of collaborations is like a who’s who of music royalty, but I wonder if there’s anyone else on the wish list. He says: “Stevie Wonder, Brandy Carlisle, Aretha Franklin if she were still alive and Beyonce would be cool.” Preferring the quirky little venues to large sprawling stadia – although clearly he wouldn’t say no – he likes to be right next to the audience and ‘feel the people’.

The future is clearly bright and for now Reuben is just focusing on writing great music that as many people as possible get a chance to listen to.

Actress, TV comedian, stand-up, artistic director. Quite a CV that Janice Connolly’s got. But despite appearing in the likes of Coronation Street and Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights and founding a successful theatre company, Janice will forever be known for her unforgettable debut on TV – as Mrs Barbara Nice.

“Barbara as in Streisand, Nice as in the biscuits,” she said, introducing herself to BGT judge David Walliams. In trademark yellow mac and clutching her bag for life (“one of 49 – I’m never going to die!”) the middle-aged mother-of-five from Kings Heath proceeded to have the live audience in stitches with her one-liners and was an equally big hit with the millions watching on TV.

“I’d been thinking about doing BGT for a while, thinking shall I go for it or not? I finally thought, just do it, have a go. So I did. I wanted the chance for more people to see Barbara Nice – and I think I proved that if you are wondering whether to do something or not, you should just do it. There’s nothing to lose.”

BRILLIANT BRUM

While BGT shot Janice to overnight TV sensation, she had been working steadily across a range of artistic disciplines for many years and was well known and respected by many in the business. Barbara Nice just put Janice’s genius in front of a national audience. “I have always been an actress as well as a comedian and get involved with lots of different things, I’m even doing a kids’ programme in the future,” she says.

Having lived in Birmingham for many years, Janice says: “I was born and brought up in Stockport so I would never have the cheek to say I am a Brummie but I think it’s fair to say that I am an adopted Brummie. Birmingham is a brilliant place. It’s relaxing, inclusive and a very low-macho place to be. I love it here.”

Janice came to Birmingham to study drama at Birmingham Polytechnic, now City University. In the early 1970s, she performed at Birmingham Arts Lab off Summer Row and over the next couple of decades was part of the Birmingham independent music scene, regularly playing at the Fighting Cocks in Moseley.

PETER KAY

In 1984 she became founder member of Birmingham Women and Theatre company and is still heavily involved as its artistic director. Based at the Old Lodge in Queensbridge Road, Moseley, the company is committed to social change through new theatre and drama. This year it will be staging a special performance at the Rep on the eve of International Women’s Day on 7 March. In 2017, Janice was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s New Year Honours in recognition of her contribution to community arts through her work with Women and Theatre.

Janice’s first major break came in the late 1990s, when she was spotted playing Barbara Nice by Peter Kay in a competition for new acts. She went on to appear in several of his television shows, most notably playing Holy Mary in Phoenix Nights. She says: “Being in Phoenix Nights was one of those life-changing experiences. The show was so loved by people and touched so many lives. It was a privilege to be part of it.”

Janice explains that Barbara Nice came about because “I wanted to do stand-up comedy and thought I needed a character to make it work as at the time I thought I was a bit old to start in comedy stand-up. That’s funny looking back on it considering how old I am now! “

KIND THOUGHTS

She adds: “I thought a mother character would be perfect. I wanted to have a character that was kind to audiences too. At that time stand-ups had the persona of being unkind to audiences and taking the mickey out of them. I wanted to be different.”

Far from making Janice’s diverse professional life even more complicated, stardom on BGT has actually made it easier, she says. “After BGT is became clearer what work I could do and maybe some that I couldn’t. Generally it meant I wouldn’t have time to play smaller venues so much,” she explains.

Janice is touring Barbara Nice around Britain throughout 2020 as well as continuing her work to raise the involvement of local people in theatre. One of her projects is a Barbara Nice ‘older person comedy course’ for the over-50s. She explains: “ The aims is to get people together, create a group and then put on a show.”

Nice idea, Janice!

MAKE A DATE: Join Women & Theatre at Birmingham Rep on the eve of International Women’s Day on Saturday 7 March as they celebrate the launch of their new podcast and book through live readings and discussion, hosted by Janice. Tickets from £6 at https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/podcast-and-book-launch.html 

Barbara Nice is running her running free stand-up community comedy course for people aged 50+ until Monday 30 March at the Brandwood Centre, Contact info@womenandtheatre.co.uk or 0121 449 7117 for details.

If Carlsberg made proud, inspiring, salt of the earth Brummies, Richie Anderson would be the one. Anyone doubting this great city should spend 20 minutes with him before swiftly realising Birmingham is, in fact, the centre of the universe. Despite spending most of the week in London for Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 morning show, there’s no place like home and on a Friday afternoon as the train pulls into New Street station Richie’s ‘heart still skips a beat’.

He says: “I love London, but it’s not home. Birmingham has a warmth to it and even on a grey gloomy day it still feels nice. People are smiling and there’s a sense of humour and that smell.” If you’re wondering what that smell is, Richie says it’s ‘bready, foodie’. We suggest that might be the food hall at Grand Central rather than an intrinsically warm Brummie aroma, but you know…

BEST LIFE

Balancing his Saturday morning BBC WM slot with Radio 2 every weekday, Richie is absolutely living his best life. He says: “I have the two best jobs. I have to ask myself how this has happened at times.” Growing up in ‘concrete jungle’ in Smethwick was a far cry from receiving RTS Awards and hob-nobbing at the BRITs, but Richie has his feet firmly on the ground. “I’ll be at the BRITs and while everyone is sipping Champagne, I’ll have a pint of Bathams! I’m not even sure the people drinking Champagne like it. It’s just what you’re supposed to do.” On a date with his partner Dean, you’re more likely to find them in Wetherspoons than a Michelin-starred restaurant. “I’m a big one for coupons! When I go out in London I nearly have a heart attack!”

Concrete jungle is indelibly part of Richie. He remembers everyone going into one another’s houses and playing out all day on the broken swings in the park. Richie’s mum worked hard and his dad was a white van man and he says there’s a ‘realness’ that his upbringing instilled in him that he’s so proud of. And he’ll never ever lose the Brummie lilt. “I’m so proud of my accent and love that you can pinpoint me in the country. People know where I’m from immediately.”

OLD BOOT

After studying media at college followed by journalism at the University of Leeds, Richie bagged a week-long work experience spot at BBC WM. It was the week that Rover went bust which meant the place was buzzing and resources were stretched. When there was a call for someone to get down to the Longbridge plant to cover the story, Richie threw his hat into the ring. Initially people were a bit dubious about sending the work experience boy, but Richie persevered and shone.

“I love this city and I really cared about what was happening which I think showed. I just got stuck in chatting to people and set up loads of interviews.” One week turned into three months which turned into one year, etc. He says: “I was like an old boot that no one could get rid of!”

Richie’s own show on BBC WM was the first of his ‘pinch me’ moments which led to presenting on the One Show and Children in Need among other projects and ultimately led him to Zoe Ball. When Chris Evans left the Radio 2 Breakfast Show Richie got a call from his agent saying they were interested in him joining Zoe’s show.

ZOE MEET

The two met at the Hospital Club where Zoe was getting ready for Strictly It Takes Two. Richie recalls: “I remember waiting for Zoe in a hotel room feeling really nervous, but she arrived and flung her arms round me and was so lovely. We basically chatted about Strictly.” They got on like a house on fire and Richie was called back to do a demo in which the pair’s magic was obvious and Richie got the gig. “I was driving down the Hagley Road when one of the bosses from Radio 2 called to say I’d got the job and I just cried.”

Richie has met some big names – the morning we chatted guests included Robbie Williams, Jamie Cullen and David Walliams – but none will top his favourite guest of all time and his hero, Scary Spice Mel B who naturally arrived with a tiny dog and didn’t disappoint. “She was amazing!” Richie remembers putting on Spice Girls performances in the playground of his school, Uplands in Smethwick. He’s still a massive fan of the band and literally has the t-shirt – he’s wearing it.

For all the lols, there’s a serious side to Richie too. He’s completed numerous challenges for Children in Need like a gruelling 250-mile bike ride and a 24-hour karaoke. Inspired to do his bit after visiting local bereavement charity Edward’s Trust and Sandwell Young Carers as well as meeting children on a sickle cell ward, Richie felt he had to contribute. He says: “The bike ride was particularly tough. It sent me on a roller coaster. I cried about 85 times, but it was those charities and those children that kept me going.”

COMING OUT

Richie’s short film for the One Show in which he came out to his football team-mates was an important piece of television that won an RTS award. “I’ve always played football, but I’ve actually left teams and moved on in the past when I thought team mates might suspect I was gay, so this was a big deal for me.”

He adds: “I’m so proud of it. The response has been amazing and if it makes even one person feel like it’s going to be okay then it’s worth it.”

In terms of what’s next, Richie is just revelling in his very awesome present. Having said that, there’s a Birmingham Mayoral election coming up. Richie for Mayor? Just saying…

No TV and with only classical music playing on the radio at home meant that when rock ’n’ roll landed it was like lifting a lid on another world for Dave Hill. He launched himself into the scene in a big way and managed to convince his parents he should pack up his job and pursue a career in music. The next hurdle was the extravagant outfits of glam rock that his father was less than impressed with.

It was the home-made nature of the outfits that his dad struggled with, including the famous Metal Nun costume that Dave wore on Top of the Pops when performing Cum On Feel the Noize among many others. Of his home-made creations, Dave says: “One day I had this idea of a silver outfit. I bought a long black ladies coat and sprayed it silver with the paint you spray cars with. I thought it was great, so I put it up against the door in our council house and it left an imprint of the shape of coat. Dad went mad!”

EVER THE SHOWMAN

The inspiration for the costumes came from watching American films at the local cinema as well as entertainers from Vaudeville such as Max Miller. Dave recalls: “I knew that you had to be noticed and special. I still wear great costumes today. It’s still about dressing up for a show for me. No platforms mind you as I broke my ankle in the seventies, but I still rock out for sure. You can’t hold Dave Superyob Hill down!” Dave’s dad was mightily relieved when a professional stylist came on the scene and he could kiss goodbye to the make-shift design house at home.

Embarking on another tour we wonder if still playing that song ever gets tedious. “No, I don’t ever get bored. It’s part of so many people’s lives. It is popular because it means so much to people across the world. Look to the future will always be here in the hearts of people.” He adds: “I enjoy playing every Slade song. We have so many that every song I play in the set is a big hit. Not many bands have that and I’m thankful we do. When you finish a show on Merry Christmas Everybody the audience goes home still singing the songs and feeling the Noize!”

MY WAY OF LIFE

At 73 years of age, Dave didn’t think he’d still be touring, but he has never viewed Slade as a job, more a way of life. “When you do something you love people recognise that and they see me having a great time on stage, so they join in for the party and remember their happy times.” Proud to still be in the music business, Dave has always loved to travel, meet new people and hear the fans stories and memories. He says: “Life is for living and having something you love.”

A published author as well as glam rock legend, Dave’s memoir, So Here It Is, was published in 2017 and documents his upbringing in the Midlands post war. Of those years, he says: “We had bombed out houses to play in. We felt very safe being out in the woods and fields – a different time to now. There wasn’t much money but there were nice people. Life was simple and then rock ’n’ roll arrived – my world and purpose in life. The guitar was new. I just wanted to play it because pop stars like Elvis, Duane Eddy, Hank Marvin, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry played one.”

MAGIC MELODIES

The fact we’re still listening to old tracks is testament to the greatness of the melodies. Dave says that back then the lack of technology and other forms of entertainment meant that music was everything. “The songs had great melodies and we fell in love to music and danced to it, there were no computers or mobile phones but a lot of imagination and the TV to look at.”

Dave’s music knowledge is vast and he’s always on the look out for new talent, but if he needs a lift, it’s the oldies he harks back to. “I stick on Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis, The Beatles Number Ones or The Shadows. My upbringing was special. We had the best music and melodies to learn from. Just like Slade songs they don’t go out of fashion, they’re great to play and make people happy.”

A ‘family man’, Dave’s managed to stay grounded through the years despite the success and he’s pretty philosophical about it. “I love people and I like to connect with them. We are all the same in this world. We all have gifts and mine is music and entertaining. When you make people happy you don’t withhold from yourself, it’s a two-way feeling and on stage is where it happens. Off stage I’m just Dave who likes to chat to people.”

Better known as feisty nurse Ayesha Lee in BBC One daytime drama Doctors, Laura Rollins was thrilled when she got the role which meant filming in her home town, not least because it meant using the beloved lilting Brummie accent.

Laura won a Royal Television Society award for acting performance last year and is regularly nominated in the British Soap Awards. With some big storylines coming up, life on the soap is great. As well as the sort of show where you ‘earn your stripes’, Laura gets to live with her parents from Monday to Friday when she’s filming travelling back ‘home’ to London at the weekend.

CUSTARD FACTORY

Laura’s route into acting began at youth theatre in the Custard Factory, aged nine, of which she says: “It was weekly, free and completely accessible. So good.” Soon after, Laura was offered a coveted place at the Carlton Junior Television Workshop under Colin Edwards which she says was a great place to develop skills at a young age.

A stint in Demon Headteacher on kid’s TV aged just 10 and numerous commercials as well as work on stage at the REP followed. Laura says she was always into performing and dance, particularly ballet was a big part of her life. She’s modest, but in her youth she was a junior associate with the world-class Birmingham Royal Ballet for a time which is an incredible achievement.

Not certain if she wanted to go down an acting route, Laura studied English and Theatre at the University of Leeds before going to drama school in the capital. While Laura says there are some great drama schools in the Midlands, she trained in London partly because at the time there was a bit of stigma and some pressure to cast actors from London. She says: “It’s starting to disappear now. There’s a massive talent pool in the Midlands.”

PULLING A SICKIE

Doctors was on Laura’s radar before the part of Ayesha came up. Laura says: “It’s a Brummie based show and I just thought ‘I want to do that!’” A friend told Laura the show was looking to cast a feisty nurse which she thought had Laura’s name all over it. Her agent promptly put her up for it. Laura was called on a Thursday to come in for an audition the following day with six scenes to learn. “I pulled a sickie from work and remember pretending to be ill all the way to the audition in case I bumped into a colleague.”

A recall the following week on a bank holiday meant cancelling plans much to the annoyance of her boyfriend. Laura remembers hoping it would all be worth it. She performed four scenes and had to wait a week for a decision. It turns out it was worth it. “My mum loves it too, so that’s nice!”

HEAVYWEIGHTS

The hours are long and intense shooting 25 pages of script per day, but Laura’s relishing it and learning so much. Playing the death of Ayesha’s mother was particularly challenging emotionally, but allowed Laura to dig deep and use her skills. Working with heavyweights like Jan Pearson and Elizabeth Walsh is incredible too. Although it’s a cliché to say it’s like a family, the cast sounds pretty close and love exploring Birmingham together. “There’s so much going on in the city. I’m big on dance so the DanceXchange appeals a lot, but as a cast we like to try out new restaurants. Adam’s is obviously great and Original Patty Men does the best burgers and craft beer and Digbeth Dining Club is so cool. There was nothing like it before DDC even in London.”

CRIME DRAMA

Speaking of which, weekends which are usually spent in London are becoming increasingly time spent in Brum with Laura’s DJ boyfriend actively looking for gigs in the city. “He loves it! Could there be a relocation on the cards?!”

It’s hard to look beyond Doctors right now, but Laura’s keen to do more TV. She says: “There is such great TV at the moment and I’d really love to do a crime drama. There’d be more time, so you’d be shooting three pages a day rather than multiple episodes, so that would be different.”

One of Laura’s heroes is Toni Collette who is currently rocking Netflix hit Unbelievable. “Toni Collette is an absolute powerhouse in Unbelivable as is Merritt Wever who plays the young detective. She is so subtle, but so powerful at the same time.”

As a seven-year-old, Annette Badland fell in love with acting after seeing her first stage performance at Birmingham’s Old Rep. It made such an impression on her that she says she knew from that moment that she would be an actress.

After the family home moved from close by Edgbaston cricket ground to Tamworth when Annette was aged 12, she saved every penny she could from her pocket money to get the train into Brum by herself so she could follow her love of acting – and Shakespeare in particular – at the historic theatre. “I got the train as often as I could,” she says, “but not as often as I would have liked!”

HONOURED

A few weeks ago, the childhood experience came full circle when the star of countless TV, stage, film and radio roles returned to the Old Rep to be honoured as its new patron. And Annette was as thrilled to receive the accolade as any acting award. She said: “The Old Rep was so important to me when I first fell in love with theatre and acting, so I was utterly delighted, surprised and honoured to become a patron. It is really important to me as I was born and bred in Edgbaston, so Birmingham is my home town and my beginnings.”

Olivier-nominated actress Annette is best known for her roles in Doctor Who, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Cutting It and most recently Midsomer Murders. But for millions of fans of the BBC soap EastEnders, Annette is most associated as Aunt Babe, the devious and villainous relative of the Carters at the Queen Vic.

WICKED ROLE

She chuckles as she accepts that despite a lifetime of acting at the highest level, she is most often recognised as Aunt Babe. “I’d worked before with the executive producer of EastEnders and he said he wanted to find a part for me in the show,” Annette explains. “Babe started out as an ordinary kind of character but her wickedness just grew and grew as it went along. She really ended up being rather unpleasant! EastEnders was the first non-finite drama I had done – there’s no real beginning, middle or end. With a soap, you never know as an actor what is going to happen next.”

Annette remembers how she came to realise at an early age that she had what it takes to entertain an audience. “At a parents’ day my class chanted my poem and I found that I could make people laugh. I could be a clown in the classroom and I took part in all the school plays and dramas.”

COMING HOME

After attending drama school in London, Annette joined Sir Ian McKellen’s Actors’ Company before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. Her career reads like a Who’s Who catalogue of theatres – she has appeared at most of London’s most famous playhouses, including productions this year at the Globe.

Her TV CV is equally impressive – as is her radio résumé – covering drama, comedy, sci-fi and soaps. As we spoke, she was grabbing time between filming for a new ‘secret’ series which should be completed early this month.

Work often dictates that Annette has to be in London but she still finds plenty of time to ‘come home to Brum’. “I’ve still got my parents’ house just outside Birmingham,” she says. “I am a regular visitor to the city. Coming home is me being me, relaxing and walking in the countryside. I get back just as often as I can.”

STILL DREAMING

As the a patron of the Old Rep, Annette joins fellow patrons Brian Cox, Toyah Willcox, Brian Blessed and June Brown and has been dedicated a seat in the auditorium – Stalls, Row F Seat 7. She took her seat during a special visit after being welcomed at the stage door by the Old Rep team, who led her on a tour around the building to reminisce about her time at the theatre.

Annette’s dedicated seat has a plaque that reads: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it”. Are there any dreams left for Annette to fulfil we wonder? “I’ve always fancied playing Lady MacBeth but it has just never happened – not yet, anyway,” she says.

Rugby fans will be glued to their TVs as the World Cup gets into full swing this month ¬– and England supporters will be hoping that the men wearing the red rose can match the heroics of the famous 2003 winning team. Among those cheering loudest will be England and Midlands legend Neil Back who was a key member of the side that claimed the sport’s biggest prize.

Neil spoke exclusively to Birmingham Living just before the 2019 tournament kicked off in Japan – the first time the World Cup has been held in Asia. And just like the player we all know and love, he was direct and to the point with opinions and predictions.

“For the first time since 2003, England look like they have what it takes to go all the way,” he said. “Every World Cup brings back memories of that great time I had with the team when we won the trophy in Australia, but this time it really feels like this group of England boys can match what we achieved. And the tournament is unique this year because of the venue – the first time the World Cup has been to Asia.”

LEADERSHIP

Neil says that as a player in such a high-pressure competition all you want is for the fans, the media and the nation as a whole to get behind you and support you. He explained: “The England coach Eddie Jones is the only person who selects the team – no one else, not the so-called experts or the media. So we should always support who he picks and respect his judgement. If we all come together, everyone is confident and moving in the right direction.”

As well as unity, leadership is also a must-have if England are to succeed in Japan, says Neil. “I’m not just talking about the coach and the captain. You need many leaders in the team, not just one or two. In 2003, Martin Johnson was the captain but if you look at the players, there were multiple captains and leaders.

“Today’s England have a front five who can all handle the ball, the team has a blend of power and subtlety in general play and the kicking game – but leadership is crucial when the going gets tough. And there will be ups and downs and big tests during the course of a tournament when so many games are played so close together. In an intensive competition like the World Cup you really need two squads that are capable of winning because you have to make changes along the way.”

BLOND HERO

Home interest in the World Cup is not all about England. “Wales are ranked number one in the world and they are a huge danger to England,” said Neil, who also placed New Zealand and South Africa among the favourites to hoist the famous Webb Ellis trophy.

Born in Coventry, before moving to Solihull and now living in Leicester, Neil remembers being inspired to take up rugby as a kid after watching the exploits of top players. His hero was Jean Pierre Rives, the French powerhouse forward who earned legendary status as ‘the blood-stained’ hero of Les Bleus. “With his mop of blond hair always streaked in blood, I felt like I was just like him – I had a lot of blond hair back then I promise you – and he had a similar build to me, being a bit short! I was always prepared to put my head in where it could get hurt, so I always had blood streaming down my face.”

Neil chose rugby over cricket which he also played to a high level as a youngster and even though his whole adult life has revolved around rugby, he still has a passion for ‘the gentleman’s game’. He said: “I went to the Ashes test in Birmingham and even though the result ended up not being what we wanted, the city was buzzing because of the cricket. And what about England winning the cricket World Cup, that was just awesome.”

INSPIRING

English success, whether in cricket, rugby or football, are what inspires the next generation, and Neil has seen this happening first-hand. After 25 years in the game as a player and then coach, he now devotes some of his time to visiting and coaching in schools. “Unlike in my days growing up, the tech age is providing so many other things kids can do – they can play sport now on a computer screen if they want to. But despite all this, there are some great junior rugby clubs in the Midlands and success by England at the World Cup can only encourage and build on this.”

Neil is a regular speaker at hospitality and other sporting events and his lifestyle these days means he can now devote more time to his family. “I know every husband says it, but my wife is truly amazing. We’ve been married 21 years this year and she has had to sacrifice so much to my rugby career. Six years ago I decided it was time to really prioritise my family and kids.”

OPPORTUNITIES

With a daughter in her second year at university and a son who has just started at Nottingham Forest’s football academy, Neil says he tries to make sure they have every opportunity to achieve their goals and create their own paths in life. “My heroes are my mum and dad who gave me all the love and support and opportunity possible,” he said. “I want the same for my kids.”

Neil’s personal motto is “never fail through lack of effort” which we think is the perfect mantra that England’s players should adopt to bring home the ultimate prize at this month’s World Cup.

BACK2FITNESS: Back2Fitness is Neil’s three-phase, 12-week programme created for men and women whose fitness has dropped off due to other commitments such as work, family or injury. Details at http://www.back2fitness.co

Steven Knight hasn’t exactly put Birmingham on the map, it was pretty cool already for those in the know, but Peaky Blinders has given it global appeal in spades. This month, Digbeth’s historic streets and alleys will be transformed into all things Peaky in the first Legitimate Peaky Blinders Festival. Expect an influx of tweed, significant swagger, cast members, a Q&A with Steven himself and a top music line up across five stages. Primal Scream, Anna Calvi and Mike Skinner are along for the ride among others. There’s also a ‘very special secret guest’ due to appear who Steven refuses to reveal when we chat, but he assures us ‘it’s good’. We believe him. You see where Peaky Blinders is concerned, people just say yes.

ALWAYS DIGBETH

Steven was approached about the event by festival director John Empson and thought it sounded like a winner. There was never any conversation about where in Birmingham it should be held. It was always Digbeth. He says: “I love Digbeth and nowhere on the planet would fit the bill more.” After all, it was one of the Peakys old stomping grounds.

The best people in each area of the festival are involved such as immersive theatre specialists Dank Parish as well as Rambert who’ve created a bespoke Peaky Blinders ballet for the event, so fans are in for a massive treat. But did Steven ever in a gazillion years expect this level of global fandom and critical acclaim – let’s not forget the 2018 BAFTA win for Best Drama against some top-notch competition among a plethora of other awards? He says: “No one could have predicted this success. I met a Peaky Blinders fan in Panama who told me he was working to save up to go to Birmingham!” Netflix has catapulted the drama across the globe.

UNCLE PEAKY

A family connection to the real-life Peaky Blinders set the wheels in motion for the worldwide phenomenon. Steven explains: “When I was a kid in Small Heath I’d hear stories about these gangs. Dad’s uncle was a peaky blinder and he was terrified and in awe at the same time. Kids like to glamorise things and it sounded like the wild west to me.”

We’re up to series five and I wonder how the writing stays fresh? “I always had a destination in mind which helps. We start at the end of the first world war and take it to the beginning of the second world war,” explains Steven. So, series seven will be the last. He adds: “With TV there’s so much time to tell a story. There’s 30 hours of screen time with Peaky, so it’s almost like writing a novel.” The cinematic quality of Peaky is incredible and its dark, brooding styling is integral. “There is a house style for Peaky. It’s like heightened reality and the cinematic feel is partly down to the fact that TVs have changed. Fifteen years ago screens were crap. Now most people have big, flat screens that look great, so you can create more cinematic shows.”

BOOKIE MUM

Steven’s a proper Brummie with a strong connection to the city. As well as his Peaky ancestry, his mum was a bookies runner in Small Heath and remembers carrying a basket of washing down the street as a child into which hopeful punters would hide their bets which she’d then drop off at the book maker. He champions his home town not only through Peaky. “Part of the intention of Peaky was to push Birmingham. Historically it was the workshop of the world outperforming Chicago and Detroit in terms of output. Times have changed and I wanted to change the media perception. There’s no reason we can’t excel in terms of technology and media.”

Steven’s aiming to launch affordable studio space in Digbeth which he compares to Lower Manhatten’s Tribeca before its rise thanks to its creative vibe. “People are doing their thing in Digbeth and exciting things will follow.” He adds: “Studio space is like gold dust. What people in the industry need is good space, great infrastructure and a willingness to close the odd road for filming.” Birmingham’s got the lot. Steven reckons HS2 will be massive for the city. He says: “Forty-nine minutes from London puts Birmingham in the equivalent of zone 5 in the capital.”

AND ANOTHER THING…

Of course Steven is more than Peaky Blinders. After graduating in English Literature he did a bit of copywriting followed by comedy which he says teaches you to be disciplined. He created Who Wants to be a Millionaire now a worldwide franchise. Other work includes thriller Dirty Pretty Things, Locke starring Tom Hardy, Serenity with Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey and TV smash, Taboo among many other projects.

For now, Steven’s focused on his home town and is hugely excited about the festival. What makes Brum so beloved? He says: “The city is the people and the people here are great.” Amen.

Jasper Carrott is back doing what he loves best – making people laugh and playing golf. Two years ago to the month after a ‘piece of pure luck’ saved his life, the Brummie legend is fighting fit again and testing his body and mind in two of the most stressful environments, on the stage touring and on the tee swinging.

We last interviewed Jasper in Birmingham Living in early 2013. Back then, he was on the road with his Made in Brum tour which celebrated Birmingham’s rock and pop scene. This summer and autumn he is touring again, criss-crossing the UK with fellow Brummie, best mate and rock legend Bev Bevan, of the Move and ELO fame, on their Stand Up and Rock gigs. The tour – which sees Jasper back with a new stand up show alongside the Bev Bevan Band and with special guests including 60s star Geoff Turton from the Rockin’ Berries – has received rave reviews from the critics.

STAR-STUDDED LINE-UP

This month, Jasper will be in the Midlands indulging his other passion for golf when he joins a glittering line-up of stars from the world of entertainment and sport at the Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship at Nailcote Hall, Warwickshire. Until his illness two years ago Jasper was a regular at the celeb-am tournament which runs alongside the pros’ Par 3 Championship. He says he is delighted to be back on the course and he is sure of a huge welcome from the 10,000-plus spectators who pour into Nailcote Hall for the tournament each year.

As well as Jasper, the line-up at Nailcote includes British world champion athlete Kriss Akabusi, former Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman and iconic boy band members Brian McFadden and Keith Duffy. Also taking part is news presenter Dan Walker, ex-England cricketers Steve Harmison and James Taylor, Strictly professional and Dancing On Ice champion James Jordan and Coronation Street actor William Roache. Hosting the tournament is golfing legend Tony Jacklin.

Returning to the golf course seemed impossibility back in 2017 after Jasper decided to get what he thought was bad indigestion checked out at his GP after over-the-counter remedies failed to ease his chest pains. He underwent two lots of emergency surgery to clear an artery in his neck and a quadruple heart bypass at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Ever since, Jasper has been using every opportunity he can to urge people to “get checked out” by their GP if they think they have a health issue, no matter how minor they believe it to be.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

“I’ve been a very lucky person,” he said. “I was fortunate that I went to the right place at the right time. If anyone has doubts about a bit of pain, don’t ignore it. Even though the NHS is under so much pressure, they will still get you checked out. My heart bypass came completely out of the blue because playing golf and having run marathons I assumed I was as fit as a fiddle. But health can change as quickly as turning a light switch on and off.”

A career that has spanned five decades first started when Jasper became resident compere at the Boggery Folk Club in Birmingham in the mid-seventies. There he discovered his talent for comedy and his inability to sing. The rest is history.

A stalwart of the British folk club scene, his comedy single Funky Moped shot to the top of the British pop charts in 1975, establishing him as a household name overnight. The flipside was his take on the legendary Magic Roundabout, a record still sought out today by a whole new generation of fans.

WALK OF STARS PRIDE

Jasper’s career has seen him earn awards and accolades, including one his most cherished – his own ‘Star’ on Birmingham’s Walk of Stars. “I was incredibly honoured and very humbled to be acknowledged,” he said. “I am so proud to be a Brummie. We live in the greatest city in the world.” He has also won BBC TV Personality of the Year, a gold medal at the New York TV and Film Awards and been named Midlander of the Year. He has received a British Comedy Lifetime Achievement award and was presented with an OBE by the Queen.

Two years after his heart surgery, and now aged 74, Jasper shows no real sign of easing up. He admits he still loves gigging 50 years since he was hosting and performing songs at the Boggery. When he’s not performing, writing material or spending time with his family, you’ll likely find him at the gym or on a golf course somewhere.

A Brummie who has always chosen to stay in Birmingham, he is immensely proud of his daughter Lucy Davis’s achievements alongside Ricky Gervais in The Office and in the blockbuster movie Wonder Woman. He admits that his health scare has made him reassess life in his seventies. “It made me take stock of everything I’ve done in the last 20 years and how there’s a load of stuff I can still do in the next 20,” he says.

The countdown is on to one of the Midland’s biggest summer sporting occasions – and local lad Stuart Broad is well and truly fired up and ready to go. The English pace bowler has his sights set on dishing out some pain to the Aussies when Edgbaston cricket ground hosts the first Ashes test starting on 1 August.

The sight of Stuart is like showing red rag to a bull as far as the Australians are concerned. He’s not only reserved some of his most damaging bowling performance for their batsmen over the years, he’s also earned himself a controversial reputation – prompting the-then Australian coach to urge their supporters to hound him and ‘make his life hell’ when England toured Down Under.

ELECTRIC EDGBASTON

The reception Stuart received was vitriolic and threatening, and while the Edgbaston crowd will give the Aussies some stick for sure, it will be loud and boisterous rather than aggressive and abusive. Edgbaston has been picked by the English Cricket Board for the first of the summer’s five Ashes tests exactly because of the intense, raucous and partisan support the Birmingham crowd always delivers on big occasions.

Stuart said: “Edgbaston is our loudest ground in England. The atmosphere erupts right behind us as a team. You can never underestimate how much that lifts the team. You only have to look at our record there. I can’t wait to get there and take on the Aussies!”

This Ashes, the chances are that the Edgbaston air will be filled with less-than-polite language from the packed stands for the Australians’ returning batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith, who were banned for a period after the infamous ball-tampering scandal in a test match against South Africa in 2018. “It’s going to be lively, that’s for sure,” said Stuart. “The Edgbaston crowd is already raucous and they are going to let Smith and Warner know what they think of them. They won’t let them forget it for sure.”

THE BOO BOYS

As previously mentioned, Stuart is no stranger to controversy himself. In the 2013 Ashes series he refused to follow cricket’s ‘gentleman’s rule’ of walking when caught off a thick edge while batting. England went on to win the game by 14 runs and Stuart’s action incensed the Australian players, leading to their head coach calling him a cheat and urging crowds Down Under to boo him in all future Ashes games. “It was tough to face all of that, yes, but weirdly enjoyable,” he remembers. “I’d prepared for it and actually felt myself thrive on it. My view was, if they didn’t rate you as a player they would just ignore you, so I took it as a compliment.” The episode shows what a fierce and uncompromising competitor Stuart is, while being totally charming off the pitch.

Stuart has no doubt about his best Ashes memory. “Regaining the Ashes at Trent Bridge in 2015. The Saturday morning, only 40 minutes of play, but the feeling of our team taking that final wicket on my home ground in front of family and friends was special. So that winning moment is ahead of my eight for 15 two days earlier as my greatest Ashes memory.”

Following in the footsteps of his England cricketing father Chris Broad, Stuart’s county career began at Leicestershire in 2005, before he moved to his current home of Nottinghamshire in 2008. His test career highlights include that eight-wicket in an innings haul and scoring 169 in a record-breaking 332-run partnership with Warwickshire batting legend Jonathan Trott against Pakistan.

BELFRY PRIDE

Despite not playing for either Warwickshire or Worcestershire his ties with Birmingham and the West Midlands have always been strong. He is brand ambassador for Warwickshire’s famous Ryder Cup home and resort, The Belfry, and has contributed in his role with evening and charity match events and promoting The Belfry’s highly-regarded PGA Golf Academy.

“I am delighted to be a Belfry ambassador given the resort’s unrivalled history and heritage,” he said. “As for the course? It’s history, it’s a challenge. Incredible shots have been played by incredible players and special moments in the history of the game, and we, as amateurs, get the chance to try and replicate them. Amazing. You’re lying if you say you haven’t tried to hit the tenth green in one. What’s more, it is such a warm, friendly and welcoming place to visit. Every member of staff wants you to enjoy your experience, and they really add to it.

“When I’m on the golf course my mind concentrates on a different skill to cricket. So I escape the pressures of cricket, using new techniques, facing new challenges. The challenge of The Belfry is exciting. It’s my dream for Tiger Woods and my dad to play Phil Mickelson and myself. And Phil & I win, shaking hands with dad and Tiger on the 18th green at The Belfry after I just got up and down to win.”

A keen fan of football as well as golf, Stuart’s personal heroes include Nottingham Forest and England hardman Stuart Pearce, while he is a big admirer of rugby’s former England and Leicester Tigers legend Martin Johnson. When it comes to cricket, there is only one man – and that’s Australia’s fast bowler Glenn McGrath. “These are my heroes because they all played with a special passion and spirit,” says Stuart.

As for playing his favourite sports, Stuart says: “Golf is definitely the toughest to play! Each sport has its moments. Imagine the pressure being over a six-foot putt to win a Major having worked all your life for that moment? Incredible. Then imagine a 95mph Mitchell Johnson bowling every ball at your head in front of 99,000 at the MCG with a test match on the line. Every top flight sport tests you to the maximum.”

Right now though, Stuart is fully focused on his cricket in what is a huge summer for England’s players and fans alike with the World Cup preceding the five-test Ashes series, which runs through August and into mid-September.

It’s our year, it’s written in the stars,” says Stuart. “Joe Root – Sports Personality of the Year 2019. You heard it here first.”

If you have any preconceptions about soap stars leave them here because Ali Bastian isn’t that. The Doctors actress formerly of Hollyoaks and The Bill fame is warm, clever, insightful, grounded, thoughtful and slightly awkward – in the very best of ways. More likely to be crafting pots out of cement or walking her dogs in the Lickey Hills than courting paparazzi, Ali is a breath of fresh air.

Having said that, she likes a red carpet shindig as much as the next girl and is thrilled to be nominated in the Best Actress category at this year’s Soap Awards later this month for her role as practice manager Becky Clark in BBC soap Doctors. Ali said: “I haven’t been to the soap awards for years, so I’m looking forward to that. It’s a huge celebration.” An opportunity to catch up with old chums too.

SETTLING IN NICELY

As a recent starter on Doctors – which has received multiple nominations this year, including Brummies Laura Rollins and Ashley Rice – Ali lives in Birmingham Monday to Friday for filming and is in London at the weekend. She said: “It’s a new bunch of actors and a challenging role, so I feel like I’m finding my feet. We have a fantastic crew and although it’s a bit of a cliché it is like a big family.”

Previous practice manager Lorna gave Ali the lowdown on Brum and the best places to see, eat and drink, although this isn’t Ali’s first time working in the city. She says: “I’ve really good memories of Birmingham. I came here for Agatha Christie at the New Alex and Chicago when I stayed in the city centre. This time I’m settled further out close to the Lickey Hills which I didn’t even know existed. I have two dogs so it’s great for walking. Culturally, Birmingham is brimming too.”

DREAM WEDDING

Ali’s husband, actor David O’Mahony, helped her settle in but he’s back in the capital now. She explained: “He’s started in Mamma Mia, so he’s anchored to London, but it was lovely to spend a bit of time here while I settled.” Their wedding earlier this year was a star-studded affair in London followed by a dreamy honeymoon in the Maldives. Ali recalled: “We’d spent a lot of time planning, dreaming and imagining what it would be. It was such a good day.”

Growing up in Berkshire, Ali knew exactly what she wanted to be. She begged her mum to take her to dance and drama classes and loved it so much that she attended drama school full-time for a few years. “I always knew what I wanted to do. It was a huge part of my life. I got my first job aged 10 and learnt on the job.” Unlike many child stars you read about, Ali managed to navigate the unusual lifestyle successfully. She said: “It would have been incredibly easy to get swept up in it all, but I’ve always had really strong support at home which I suppose keeps you grounded. I feel very lucky.”

HELL OF A PACE

In terms of Ali’s favourite genre of work, she enjoys the whole spectrum of media. She says: “When I do a lot of film I can’t wait to do TV and vice-versa! I guess variety is good. On the TV set we work at a hell of a pace. You get to know the crew and a shorthand develops. It’s great being part of a team and every day is a pleasure although I love theatre too!”

Downtime as an actor when things are quiet must be tough. Ali manages to handle it by letting her creative side continue to flourish. “There are quieter moments as an actor and over the years I’ve had those, but I think it’s what you do with those moments that matters. Rather than wondering if the phone will ever ring again I try to live creatively even when I’m not working.

“I teach in a film school and I make things. Crafty things like pots out of cement and dog collars and leads. I’ve never talked about this in an interview before! As I’ve got older I’ve found I need something for my soul. I also appreciate family time so much.”

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

The pressures of social media must be immense for somebody in the public eye. Ali agrees it can be difficult to manage. “We need to be more conscious about how we use social media. It’s a double-edged sword. On one hand it’s great for connecting with people in the industry, but it can make people feel isolated – whether you’re in this industry or not.”

Refreshingly, Ali’s heroes are very close to home. “My mum is my hero. I’d like to be everything she is. And my best friend, Jess Huie. She couldn’t find a greetings card that represented her and troubled by the lack of diversity, she created her own. She’s also written a book, Purpose and has been awarded an MBE. She’s gone out and made a real difference.”

It’s four decades since John Taylor and the Duran Duran story began. The legendary band formed and played for the first time at Barbarella’s – the seventies’ night club and music venue in Cumberland Street, Birmingham. The club lasted just seven years before closing and a further seven years before the building was completely demolished. Gone, but never forgotten by bass player John.

Despite travelling all four corners of the world many times over with the band and spending much of his personal life in the US, John’s musical roots are founded firmly in Brum and he has always been set on giving something back by supporting young talent from the city and ensuring they have the best possible chance to get their ‘big break’.

This month the Birmingham Music Awards return, celebrating the best of what the city has to offer. Launched in 2018, the awards are heavily supported by John, who told Birmingham Living: “I like to keep in touch with new and aspiring musicians and musical artists – it’s where the energy is – and I love coming back home and rekindling my passion for the city, so I am proud to support the Birmingham Music Awards. It’s going to be a great night for the local scene!”

ANNIVERSARY

Typically – best-laid plans and all that – John is unable to attend this year’s awards night on 16 May at Trinity Street’s great new live music venue, The Mill Digbeth (he was a presenter at the 2018 event). He’s away with the rest of the band who are busy recording in readiness of big plans for their 40th anniversary next year. But awards organisers know that he will be keeping a keen eye on who wins what among Brum’s rising stars.

The event is the only city-based awards to exclusively celebrate music achievement and rewards the best of Birmingham’s musicians and contributors to the music business, bringing together high-profile artists, labels, managers, publishers, producers and the industry’s media for an evening of live performance, networking, opportunities and recognition.

Winners will be chosen from shortlisted nominees in categories including Best Song, Best Male, Best Female, Best Band, Best Live Venue, Best Rap/Grime Act, Rising Star, Best Radio Station, Best DJ, Brum Bastion and Lifetime Achievement.

Each award recipient will be hoping for a career as impressive as that of John and fellow Duran Duran members led by Simon Le Bon. “Despite all our global success, not a day passes when I don’t think of home, Birmingham,” said John. “There are so many haunts that I will never forget.”

RESPRAY JOB

John is an only child of loving parents who grew up on the same street in Birmingham. He remembers when he got his first electric guitar and wasn’t happy with the colour of it. His father found some white paint used on the family’s Ford Cortina and helped John respray the instrument. While never a big family with instruments or lessons, his mother always had music playing on the radio which she would sing along to. After her death, John discovered a notebook containing the handwritten words of 50 popular songs. Unsurprisingly, mum became Duran’s Duran’s biggest fan and both John’s parents took great pride in his music and career.

John played with Duran Duran from its founding in 1978 until 1997, when he set off on a solo recording and film career. He re-joined Duran Duran in 2001 for a reunion of the original five members of the group and has remained ever since.

The band still regularly tours and John explained: “We enjoy getting out and about seeing the country and the fans. The performance is the part that I love. It’s a buzz for me. We love playing outdoor festivals in the UK in the summer and indoors in the winter.”

Duran Duran hit superstar status in the early 1980s, subsequently selling more than 100 million records and racking up 14 UK Top 10 singles, including hits Rio, Notorious, A View To A Kill, The Wild Boys, The Reflex and Union of the Snake.

GREAT BRUMMIE

They won two Brit awards and two Grammys and with their Paper Gods album reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart in 2015, making the band one of the few artists ever to achieve the accolade in three different decades.

John was also voted in the top 10 of a poll by Birmingham City University to name the Greatest Brummies of all-time, ranking alongside the likes of Sir Lenny Henry, Dame Julie Walters, Ozzy Osbourne and Jasper Carrott. The poll celebrated the university’s 175th anniversary and included inspirational people across arts, business, education, sports and science who either hail from Birmingham or have made a significant contribution to the city.

“We’ve got a special thing with Birmingham and people are proud of Duran Duran for being a Brum band – that’s how it feels to us,” said John. “We’re proud to be Brummies. Broad Street and the old Rum Runner and Barbarella’s is where the band first started and used to rehearse. It’s not just where we met but where we first worked.”

SUPPORTING CHANGES

John Taylor and the Birmingham Music Awards support the work of Changes UK which helps those less fortunate in our city to find recovery and fulfilling lives free from addiction. See its website: https://changesuk.org

As a top flight professional footballer Lee Hendrie was used to the up and downs on the pitch. The midfielder who played more than 250 times over 14 years for his home club Aston Villa experienced the highs of being capped at youth and senior level for England and the lows of losing the last FA Cup Final to be played at the old Wembley Stadium.

The midfielder known for both his tenacity and his creativity became a cult hero at Villa Park – but he wasn’t as well-equipped to deal with the void left in his life once his playing days drew to a close. A succession of injuries, contract disputes, transfers and a divorce left his professional and private life in what he openly admits was a dark place. So dark in fact that lost millions in property deals, was declared a bankrupt and suffered mental health issues which led to two suicide attempts.

FEELING VALUED

But as all football fans who tune in to Sky will know, Lee has put his struggles well and truly behind him and is building an exciting media career which he says has made him feel valued again. “I’m still a part of the game I love and that is so important to me,” says Lee who tried his hand at coaching before being asked by Sky to join their Football League team.

“Coaching professionally just wasn’t for me,” he adds. “But I love the TV work. It’s exciting and challenging and hard work. It’s a bit like playing, you can’t just turn up and let it happen. You have to spend your time preparing hard and knowing what you are going to do. You have a huge amount of detail and information being fired into your ear by your producer – so you do, literally, have to be on your game. It’s such a buzz and it also means I get to see a lot of Villa which is great as well as the other Midlands teams.”

Lee’s own challenges have given him a perspective on life as a 41-year-old which he would never have imagined as the teenager who made his professional debut for the club he supported as boy back in 1995. The issues which he encountered after his playing career was over have made him an avid supporter of mental health awareness.

CURE LEUKAEMIA

He has been part of a coaching initiative to get football clubs at all levels to make mental and emotional well-being part of their everyday culture. And four years ago he set up the Lee Hendrie Academy, with links to Villa’s academy, to help young footballers who have been rejected by clubs find a way back into the game.

His close ties with Villa have also made him a big supporter of Birmingham-based charity, Cure Leukaemia. He has taken part in a number of fund-raisers for the charity including running marathons and being a key member leading and playing in the annual Copa Del Cure Leukaemia six-a-side tournament which is being held in October at St George’s Park, Tatenhill and will once again feature a host of famous Midlands football names.

“I got involved with Cure Leukaemia after I bumped into a few Villa guys at a dinner, and it’s just gone from there,” said Lee. Additional motivation to support the blood cancer charity and world-class treatment centre run by Professor Charlie Craddock at Queen Elizabeth Hospital came when Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2012.

LIFE-SAVING

“Supporting Cure Leukaemia is very important to me,” said Lee. “The charity does wonderful work in delivering life-saving treatment to thousands of people and giving them hope.”

“I know how having hope and giving help to people, no matter what their illness, is so important. I don’t want to ever see anyone being in the situation I found myself in my dark period. Being a proud man and not actually wanting to tell anyone about my problems was horrendous.”

We spoke to Lee as he prepared to give his expert views as part of Sky’s coverage later that evening on Villa’s crucial Championship game at Nottingham Forest – which the claret and blues won 3-1. “Villa are doing ok right now,” he said. “After a lean period they have really picked up. But the Championship is a tough division with some really big clubs fighting it out to get back into the Premier League next season. Big clubs should do well and the bigger club you are, the higher the expectation. It’s not easy.”

While a Villa boy from the days when he was a kid in Birmingham, Lee is a big supporter of Midlands football in general. “I want to see all the clubs do well,” he said. “Regardless of who you support, top quality and successful teams here give the whole place a big lift and help showcase our success as a city and region.”

ULTRA-COMPETITIVE

And he adds: “I am just delighted to be involved in the game. Sky have been magnificent for me. When you come out of football it’s difficult. You work hard to get to where you want to. And it’s the same with Sky. They have challenged me and tested me. It’s a big profile thing and being on TV means always having to work hard. It’s not a given, there are a lot of people who want to get into it, so it’s very competitive.

“I’ve always been a great competitor which is why I love what I am doing and why I want to carry on with the media stuff in future. It’s a thrill to be part of it and its great to be involved in the game that I love.”

Being a bit of a ballet buff myself, the offer from Josie Lawrence was a tempting one. “Come and see me in my new comedy play at the Rep, and I’ll try and throw in a ballet move onstage just for you!” I’m guessing the gesture was made in jest, but with the Old Hill comedian and actress it’s difficult to be 100 per cent sure.

During a huge career encompassing comedy, serious acting, music and musical theatre, ballet is the one performing art that Josie hasn’t tried her hand at – well, not officially… yet! But she is a fan, especially of Birmingham Royal Ballet. “I saw Matthew Bourne’s production of Swan Lake and it was just breath-taking,” she says.

While Josie is best known to a national audience for her TV appearances in the improvised comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? she is a big supporter and regular visitor to Birmingham’s theatre scene. Her role as Sarah Bernhardt in next month’s UK premiere of comedy play Edmond de Bergerac at the Rep will be her sixth play at the theatre. “Being a Black Country girl, I’ve done a lot of plays in Birmingham,” she says. “I’m always coming back to see family and friends. I stay a lot with my sister Janet in Blackheath. I’ll be there while I’m playing at the Rep.”

PERFECT PREMIERE

We caught up with Josie on the eve of the start of rehearsals for her new role which came as a result of a phone call last year from director Roxana Silbert who Josie has worked with before. “Roxana asked me to do a read-through for the play and I thought the script was very funny and was keen to do it. You never know if plays will eventually be put on or not, but then later on my agent called me to say we were doing it in March and opening in Birmingham. It couldn’t be more perfect.”

Josie and older twins Janet and John were brought up in Cradley Heath where her father worked for British Leyland and her mother was a dinner lady. Josie says she knew as early as the age of five that she wanted to be an actress when she grew up. By the time she was 16 she had joined the Barlow Players acting group in Oldbury. She left the Midlands at 18 to study at Dartington College of Arts in Devon, gaining an Honours degree in theatre. Josie’s career started out as a serious actress but when she joined a music group she came across improv comedy for the first time, seeing the audience invited to supply lines and ideas for improvisers appearing in an after-show cabaret.

COMEDY STORE

“I stayed behind and watched one night and then said could I try it because it looked brilliant and it was one of those things I found I could do. You suddenly find your little baby.” After that Josie joined the Comedy Store Players and then a new TV show which was called Whose Line Is It Anyway? “That show really took off and that’s really when people started noticing me.”

Josie says she “likes to make people laugh” but as good a feeling as that is, she has always fought against being ‘boxed in’ by stereotyping – which can clearly be seen from a quick glance at her CV which includes appearing on TV in soaps EastEnders and Doctors, series such as Miss Marple and Poirot, several films and in theatre with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. She is also a regular on radio shows such as Just A Minute. As a member of the Comedy Store Players based at London’s famous Comedy Store she features in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running comedy group.
And in 2016, Josie created an all-female improv group, intriguingly named the Glenda J Collective (maybe the name is a passing homage to actress Glenda Jackson who Josie says “was my idol”).

GOOD OMENS

“I like to keep myself busy,” says Josie in an obvious understatement. As well as Edmond de Bergerac which will tour through until the end of April, Josie is appearing in an Amazon/BBC six-part TV series with David Tennant and Michael Sheen called Good Omens and will then be working through to September on another new project. “I am not allowed to say much about it right now,” she says, “but it is a musical.”

Harking back to her young days and knowing that she wanted to become an actress so early in life, Josie is also an outspoken advocate for protecting arts funding in our schools. She is a fierce opponent of the ongoing cuts to budgets which she describes as “frightening”.

THE YOUNG ONES

She says: “What happens to someone like me if the opportunity is no longer there in the schools? And regardless if kids eventually become actors or not, the arts can be very helpful to their development in things like gaining confidence, expression and self esteem.”

Josie believes strongly in maintaining her ties with the area where she grew up. She is patron of Sandwell theatre group, The Young Ones. “I see their shows,” she says. “I’m actually going along to see their latest production next week – they’re doing Grease which should be brilliant.”

Her commitment to her roots was reflected when she was awarded a Doctor of Arts by Wolverhampton University and the Freedom of Sandwell. “Wherever I go, whatever I do, the Black Country is always home,” she says.

Success in a TV soap that’s a national institution can be a double-edged sword for an actor. On the one hand there’s the fame and fortune it brings. On the other side of the coin is the danger that it will pigeon-hole your career and future opportunities. Nicholas Bailey has skillfully managed to achieve the former while avoiding the latter.

The Birmingham actor spent four years starring in EastEnders, playing Dr Anthony Trueman, the son of rum-drinking father Patrick and love interest of Kat Slater and her daughter Zoe. More than 10 years after leaving the show Nicholas looks back on his time in Albert Square with nothing but fondness and positivity. Although he’s been back several times since for brief appearances in the soap, his career has moved on through Shakespearian stage acting, TV drama with the likes of Silent Witness star Emilia Fox, a long stint in the West End musical Dreamgirls, a role in The Archers on radio and even his own one-man show about a mixed race footballer who died in World War One.

NEVER SAY NEVER

“I meet actors all the time who are struggling to get on, so I view being in EastEnders as only a positive,” he explained. “As actors we do what we have to do and I don’t mind in the least that 98 per cent of people know me from the soap even though I have done a lot of very different work since leaving the Square. And, I’d never say never to going back if I was to be asked again. Dr Trueman, the character, wasn’t killed off, he’s still alive. So who knows!”

As well as continuing his acting career, 47-year-old Nicholas, who lives in Bearwood, is keen to give the city which brought him up and shaped him something back – particularly its young people. The former pupil of Blue Coats and Old Swinford Hospital schools remembers finding his love for acting as an eight-year-old at Birmingham’s Old Rep. The theatre is now run by the Ormiston Academy and Nicholas loves going back there – he went to see their panto Pinocchio over Christmas, and says: “One of my dreams is to perform my own production on that stage.” (Nicholas has his own production company, Rapscillions, and is working on plans to put on Othello in Birmingham within the next year or so.)

FLY PERFORMANCE

As a product of the National Youth Theatre, he is passionate about bringing young talent through in his home city and has launched Fly Performance for kids who love to dance, acts and sing. Fly Performance runs courses every day for five to 11-year-olds during the school holidays at West House School and uses creative specialists and experts to help youngsters gain self-confidence and realise their potential across a wide range of arts, crafts and drama.

Starting this Easter, Fly Performance will run similar clubs for 11 to 16-year-olds at a location to be confirmed. And later this month, Nicholas is looking to launch a weekly 16-plus, all ages fun drama club in Harborne. “I’m also in conversation about running residential holiday camps,” he adds. “I’ve done work over the years as a supply teacher in drama, so I know the potential there is in Birmingham’s young people,” explains Nicholas. “I am passionate about taking my skill set to help them fulfill their potential. This is what really interests me. When I was at school I always felt a bit of an outsider so I like to create an environment to build kids’ confidence.”

FLASH ACADEMY

Nicholas is also an educational ambassador for Learning Labs, the Birmingham-based company behind the innovation-in-education, award-winning FlashAcademy app which has already been adopted by more than one-in-five schools and allows EAL (English as an Additional Language) pupils to learn English independently and at their own pace and level via visual lessons in their home language.

“This is extremely important,” says Nicholas. “It was only when I got to talk with educators across Birmingham that I realised the challenges schools are facing. In the UK, there are 1.5 million pupils with EAL. Here in the West Midlands, EAL students make up nearly half of Birmingham’s pupil population.”

Nicholas’s ambassador role sees him seek out and tell stories to create and encourage media presence and create a conversation by, among other things, going into schools and meeting teachers and families. “I’m a Brummie through and through and even when I have had to be away at times for my work in London, Birmingham is always my home. I was raised here in West Brom, my family still lives here, my wife and myself and the kids live in Birmingham and are happy here. I have pledged my future to being here.”

TALENTED BRUM

He adds: “It used to be the case that you had to live and work somewhere else than Birmingham. It is not the case anymore. Major and exciting things are happening in Brum in the way it is changing and growing. In the arts, we have always had so much talent here and I would love to see more producing of theatre done here. So, more studios here, producing things ourselves here. That needs more funding support but

I believe things are moving in the right direction. We just need to up the pace a bit.”

Talking of pace… Nicholas’s enjoys challenging himself in his personal as well as his professional life. He’s currently training to compete in Spartan races, a series of assault-style obstacles races from four miles up to marathon distance. “By the time I am 50, I want to have a decent Spartan ranking,” he says. Who would bet against him?

Joe Lycett admits he was “lost for words” when he was asked to take over from Claudia Winkleman as host of the upcoming series of the Great British Sewing Bee. The offer to front the popular BBC Two show was so left-field that even the Hall Green comedy king was initially flummoxed.

“I didn’t know the first thing about sewing or dress-making, or darts, or hems, or anything like that,” said Joe. “But the show has always been one of my mum’s favourite programmes – so I knew that I daren’t turn it down – and I learned loads, too. Now, I can sew!”

The Great British Sewing Bee airs in May and we talked to Joe as he was putting the finishing touches to the series, recording final voice-overs. He says filming and meeting the show’s needlework contestants was ‘a blast’. “They are all so talented and lovely people.” All he’s waiting for now is mum’s official approval that he has done a good job when she tunes in to watch. “It’s always been a hit with mum – I just hope it will still be!” he said.

WATCHDOG WITH JOKES

The Sewing Bee is the latest in a line of very different challenges for Joe. Fans of Strictly Come Dancing will doubtless have seen him fronting BBC’s new Saturday night game show The Time It Takes with fellow Brummie and Birmingham Living cover star, Alison Hammond. “I’m delighted the show seems to have been really popular with viewers,” said Joe. “And it was a joy to work with Alison – she is just so brilliant.”

As we spoke, Joe was already well into planning his next TV project. Clearly unable to say too much before the event, he was prepared to reveal it is a Channel 4 series which is “a comedy consumer show – a kind of Watchdog with jokes”. He is due in the studio for production this month and next.

Joe is best known as a stand-up and regular on some of TV’s biggest comedy shows – from Live At The Apollo and 8 Out of 10 Cats to Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Would I Lie To You? He’s a passionate Brummie who says he only ever bases himself away from his home in Kings Heath when work demands – most often in London. Mum and dad still live in Hall Green and his sister is in Solihull.

TAKING THE PISS?

Joe attended King Edward VI Five Ways School and says: “I didn’t feel like I was particularly funny when I was at school but I was voted as such by the other kids.” Having studied drama and English at Manchester University, Joe visited the city’s Comedy Store to watch a show. “Someone asked ‘Does anyone in the audience want to come up on stage and give it a go?’ I was pissed to be honest and I thought ‘Why not!’ Later, when I had sobered up, I thought to myself that I enjoyed it and could maybe do comedy.”

After winning various awards, including a Student Comedian of the Year title, Joe made his stand-up debut in 2012 and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. He has since become a household name and one of the country’s best and most popular comedians.

He admits that juggling stand-up with TV is tricky. “Stand-up takes a long time to put together,” he says. “But it is really cool. There is nothing like a live audience and you have so much creative control with stand-up. No one is telling you what you have to do and every night you can change things around if you want to suit the different audiences. Being in Birmingham is also great with the logistics of stand-up. You’re right in the centre of the country, so it’s easy to get to places, perform and get back.”

BUZZING BRUM

Joe is immensely proud of his home city. “Getting off the train at New Street station is one of my favourite things,” he says. “I’m back home and Birmingham is such an exciting place to be right now. People are really investing in the city. The Birmingham I grew up in was just kind of plodding along but now it is racing ahead, vibrant and exciting. There’s a real buzz.”

Joe applauds the rise of Birmingham’s foodie scene with its multi-Michelin star chefs and huge variety of cuisine to suit all tastes. But he adds: “Culturally it is proving more difficult. I think historically that Birmingham people are a bit risk averse. It’s hard to get an act in front of a lot of people if they haven’t seen it on the telly first. They like to know what they are getting. We need to change that way of thinking – although I know that there is some amazing stuff happening in Digbeth these days!”

FAIR DINKUM

With such a busy 2019 TV schedule, Joe says he just hasn’t got the time to tour right now. He is planning to “do a bit of stand-up” in Australia. “I’ve been to Oz on and off a few times over the years and it’s a cool place to go. The gigs are good over there and the weather is nice and hot, too. So I can do a bit of work but have a break and relax too.” He says he’s waiting on a few projects to happen, including “pitching an idea to Channel 4 that involves and centres around Brum”. We can’t wait for that one to happen!

Author, actress, writer, comedic genius – subjective, but we believe it – and now panto star, Meera Syal isn’t one to hide her talent under a bushel, but if we’re being truthful we were a bit surprised to see her trotting about in candy-coloured mermaid garb that the costume makers at Strictly might consider a bit much.

As a panto virgin, Meera got the call up for Peter Pan from QDOS – the people behind Annie in which she played the acerbic Miss Hannigan in the West End and who also produce the Hippodrome’s yearly panto. They asked her if she’d ever considered pantomime. Meera recalls: “The answer was ‘no actually I hadn’t’, but having worked with QDOS before I knew it would be great. It’s all new and I can honestly say I’ve never played a mermaid before!”

PETER PAN-TO

Being back in the Midlands for six weeks appealed to Meera as well as working with the best in the panto business including the brilliant and ever present Matt Slack as Smee along with this year’s famous faces, Jimmy Osmond as Captain Hook and Union J star Jaymi Hensley playing the title role. Flips and tricks will be provided by acrobatic troupe the Timbuktu Tumblers as the Neverlanders while death defying stuntman Sascha Williams plays the Drunken Pirate. Of the genre, Meera says: “Panto is a communal event – a family treat that you want to be memorable and it’s that thought that pushes you to do well. To be in a city I know with family and friends nearby is a bonus.” With scripts going back and forth and rehearsals about to begin when we spoke, Meera was excited to get started and happy to take the lead from the panto old guard in the form of director Michael Harrison.

BIT OF LUCK

Meera’s career has been a wondrously versatile mix of projects encompassing writing, TV and theatre. For instance, she wrote the 1993 screenplay Bhaji On The Beach as well as the award-winning Anita And Me. She played Goldie in BBC’s The Split, shone playing the title role of one woman show Shirley Valentine, has appeared in Doctor Who and co-wrote and starred in comedy juggernaut, Goodness Gracious Me which thrust Meera into the limelight along with the rest of the cast including husband, Sanjeev Bhaskar and opened doors. “Goodness Gracious Me was remarkable. It spanned generations in a wonderful way and certainly opportunities came after that.”

Nominated for a Bafta for her role as Sushila in International Emmy award-winning series, The Kumars At No 42 and awarded an MBE in 1997 and a CBE in 2015 for services to drama and literature, Meera isn’t short of fans. And while a bit of luck played its part in the early days, Meera also believes ‘you make your own luck’ to a certain extent. Her one woman show at university morphed into a stint at the Edinburgh Festival where a director who happened to be in the crowd that day saw her potential. The luck bit was the director being in the audience, but getting there, grafting and impressing was all Meera.

STORY TELLER

The love of performing and story-telling is something that gets Meera excited. “Reaching people through story telling is ephemeral, almost primal actually. It’s proven that during a live performance an audience’s heart beats and breathing synchronise which is incredible.” She argues that in these times of austerity, the arts come into their own. She explains: “Yes the country’s going through a hard time, but that’s when we need the arts the most. It lifts people.”

Meera feels Birmingham’s doing pretty well on that front. “What Roxana (Silbert) has done at the REP is remarkable. It feels like a hub. There’s a lot going on in the city and always something to see/experience.” And of the changes to Birmingham over the past few years, Meera’s impressed. “New Street station is gobsmacking. It used to feel like arriving in Badlands and the development on Broad Street is looking great. It’s been neglected for a long time.”

After decades of great work, Meera still feels a sense of insecurity about the next job. “I still audition and I’ve never lost those insecurities. It’s possibly heightened in this industry although I think most self-employed people probably feel it.” In terms of what’s next, Meera says: “Panto takes me through to February and then I don’t know. I’m working on writing projects, so they’ll be cooking nicely.”

For now, the only worry is how Meera might to go to the loo in that costume and at the time of writing, she still hadn’t worked that one out. First world problems and all that.

Whoa! Whoa! Too close, man. Is that 10 feet or what? Just back off a bit, ok? Even in the back seat of a car on a motorway from Belgrade airport to the city centre Nigel Kennedy doesn’t rest for one minute. At the age of 61, after decades in the music business, having lived a rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, you might think he’d want to ease up a bit… just a weeny bit. But, no. If anything, the virtuoso who took the violin from classical to cool works and plays harder and faster than ever.

So busy is Nigel’s schedule, I’d been trying for the best part of 18 months to set up an interview with the great man. We’d got close several times only for last-minute cancellations as he tried to keep up with playing at gigs across the world, recording in the studio and spending some quality time with his second wife Agnieszka at their home in the Polish mountains, high above Krakow.

BACH TO THE FUTURE

When I finally caught up with him, he was on his way to open the 50th anniversary of Belgrade’s classical BEMUS music festival with his performance entitled Bach Meets Kennedy Meets Gershwin. “I love playing live gigs man,” he said, rather stating the obvious. “The energy you get from an audience is something you never feel in a recording studio. When you’re in the studio, you can do it again. But at a live gig, you have to deliver. There’s no second chance. It’s the adrenaline rush you get.”

That energy was only to get more intense a few days later when Nigel returned ‘home’ to Birmingham to play at a sold-out Symphony Hall. “It’s always very special for me to play in Birmingham,” he said. “It’s my home, my roots and I am among friends – the highlight of my year. I expect there’ll be plenty of old Villa legends there, great ex-players like Tony Morley. Sadly the current squad probably won’t make it because it’s a Thursday night and they will be preparing for the next match, which is against Swansea on the Saturday.” Nigel was hopeful thathis son Sark, who lives in Malvern, would make the concert, however.

GETTING SHIRTY

Nigel is, of course, a massive Villa fan ever since growing up in Birmingham. He began supporting the club in his early teens and famously often wears the Villa shirt while performing onstage. He keeps up with all the Villa news and gossip wherever he is in the world. “I don’t get to go to the matches anywhere near as much as I want to,” he says, “but when I do it brings out all the swear words in my vocabulary. It’s a shame what’s been going on at the club because I think they’re a good group of players.”

A few days before we talked, Villa manager Steve Bruce was sacked. Nigel said: “I always thought Bruce was an honest English manager. Sometimes I think the anger of fans is directed at the players and the manager when it should really be aimed at the people who run the club. But to be honest, I am just amazed how the fans have stuck with it and been fantastic despite everything that’s gone on.” With time short before Nigel was due on stage, I steered him away from football – he admits he’ll talk for hours about it given the chance – and onto his music.

WHIRLWIND YEAR

It has been a whirlwind year, seeing him also perform huge sell-out shows in London and Manchester, as well as headlining the BBC’s Biggest Weekend events in Coventry and Perth. His gig at Symphony Hall saw him perform pieces by Bach and Gershwin, as well as his own self-penned pieces, including his recent work, The Magician of Lublin.

Inspired by the book of the same title by Isaac B Singer and set in the shtetls – mainly Jewish populated small towns – of Poland in the 1870s. Nigel’s musical interpretation is equally as vibrant as it reflects on the lost Jewish community in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

In addition, Nigel performed Fugue from Sonata No 1 by J S Bach, and a selection of pieces from the Songbook of George Gershwin including Summertime, How Long Has This Been Going On, Rhapsody In Claret and Blue and Lady Be Good.

The breadth and originality of Nigel’s precocious technique first came to mainstream prominence with his multi-million-selling interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – which is now one of the best-selling classical recordings of all time – remaining at the top of the UK Classical Albums Chart for over a year in 1989.

TESTING TALENT

Unafraid to experiment and test his talent, he has since embraced several different projects including reinterpreting the works of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. Having brought a fresh perspective to classical music by merging traditional with contemporary, Nigel has sold out the most prestigious of venues worldwide several times over.

After returning to Birmingham, he was heading to London to perform at a special anniversary at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club. This month he’s playing in Berlin and Munich in Germany and Vienna in Austria. He also revealed he will be on tour in Australia in the New Year – by which time he hopes his beloved Villa will have shot up the Championship table. A title or play-off spot would be nice at some point, he muses.

And as if to reinforce his love of not just Villa but Midlands football as a whole, he ended our interview by saying: “You know, man, my dream is for Villa and all the Midlands teams to be in the Premier League – even the Bluenoses! I know that Wolves are already there and doing well, but to get the other clubs there with them would be the shot in the arm the city and the region needs.”

Jamelia’s accidental role as a teen pop star has developed into a long and varied career that keeps her excited and pays the bills. Thrust into the spotlight aged just 15, the girl from Handsworth found herself touring the globe with the likes of Usher and Destiny’s Child, but she managed to keep her cool, handling the pressure and the significant hype brilliantly and emerged from those crazy years unscathed.

With seven top 10 singles, two gold albums and one double platinum in the UK alone, Jamelia is one of the country’s most successful black artists as well as a regular on our TV screens. And now, probably most exciting of all, Jamelia was awarded her very own star on Broad Street’s Walk of Stars which was presented to her last month at a ceremony at Symphony Hall.

IMMORTALISED

Of being immortalised in her home town – the fortieth person to be given the honour – the 37-year-old said: “I am absolutely chuffed to be receiving this. I am and have always been a very proud Brummie, so to be immortalised in this way in the very heart of my hometown has to be one of the highlights of my career so far! Thank you so much. It’s like Birmingham’s answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”

Launched in 2007, Birmingham’s Walk of Stars was developed to recognise high profile people either born or having lived in the city who have put Birmingham on the map nationally and internationally. The mother-of-three daughters – her ‘Magic Girlz’ as she refers to them – is in good company with other high-profile figures immortalised through the scheme including Lenny Henry, Beverly Knight, Ozzy Osbourne and Julie Walters among scores of other big names.

Comedian Jasper Carrott who is also the chair of Walk of Stars tells us why Jamelia deserves the honour: “Jamelia is a shining example of how to come through from difficult beginnings and succeed in such a spectacular way. Her musical honesty and dedication hits the nerve, leads the way and that is why she so deserves her Walk of Stars award. Birmingham is rightly proud to call her one of our own.”

HOMEMADE ALBUMS

Full name Jamelia Niela Davis, the superstar came from humble beginnings in Handsworth and was always singing. She remembers: “If my family and friends were seated that was my cue for a show. Under duress they listened and applauded.” Jamelia started recording homemade albums and listening back to them on her Walkman.

One of the albums was taken to EMI by one of Jamelia’s cousins and they liked what they heard. Fiercely protective, her mother who was in on the initial meeting with the record label, let the music executives know fairly forcefully that her daughter wouldn’t be signing anything until she’d passed her exams. This was the incentive Jamelia needed to get her head down at school. She got the grades and clinched the deal.

SHOWING OFF

During the Noughties, Jamelia’s catchy R&B tracks stormed the charts. Top 10 spots became the norm and singles like Superstar and Thank You still feel fresh well over a decade on. A clutch of MOBO awards, nine BRIT nominations, a Q Award and a meeting with Nelson Mandela followed. The stuff of dreams and yet the down to earth Brummie took it all in her stride.

She says: “Don’t get me wrong. I love the glitzy side of my life, but it’s not the way I live day-to-day.” Many of Jamelia’s ‘inner circle’ is made up of old friends she went to school with and she is immensely proud of her home town. “Showing the city off to friends from the South is one of my favourite past times. They arrive with misconceptions about what Birmingham is like, but leave thinking it’s cool and can’t wait to come back.”

MISS VERSATILITY

After 10 years in the music industry, Jamelia tried her hand at television and the versatile star has become a regular panellist and TV presenter as well as making documentaries and judging talent shows. She’s also enjoyed acting roles alongside the likes of Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones and Daniel Mays and her successful modelling career has seen her fronting campaigns for brands such as Reebok, Pretty Polly, Toni and Guy and Boux Avenue. She’s also graced the covers of Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harpers & Queen and more illustriously, our very own Birmingham Living magazine!

Shy, retiring, a bit of a stay-at-home – and most definitely not a party animal. Sound like Big Brother housemate and zany This Morning presenter Alison Hammond to you? No, me neither! But these are the words that the lady herself uses to describe life when she is off-screen.

“I still live round the corner, five minutes away from my mum in Hall Green,” said Alison. “And I like doing dead ordinary things when I’m away from work – I just dropped my son off at the Snowdome and that’s more important and more fun than all the partying under the sun.”

On-screen it’s a different story of course, as no challenge, interview, or daredevil stunt is too mad for the effervescent Brummie. She’s carved out her own niche on This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, presenting some of the craziest live broadcasts and getting the most natural reactions from Hollywood’s normally difficult-to-interview guests. Alison’s natural ‘take me the way you find me’ approach is hard to resist, even for A-listers.

NAILS IN THE JQ

“This is who I am,” she explains. “I am a private person in real life but very outward going when I have an audience. I’ve been living with myself this way now for 43 years so I’m not going to change now.” Alison’s roots in Birmingham are hugely important – while other famous names from the city have moved away in search of success, she has stayed firmly in the place she loves.

“I grew up in Kingstanding and went to Cardinal Wiseman School. Then we moved to Hall Green, where I still live just round the corner from mum. I love Birmingham. I love everything about it. I would never leave it. I get my nails done in the Jewellery Quarter and get my hair done too. I remember the Bullring market, my mum would go there on Fridays to get fish for dinner. Even now when I go to the Bullring, it still has the sense of the old market. Growing up I remember things like just playing out in the streets – kids can’t do that these days which is such a shame. And I used to love going apple scrumping.”

SELFIES AT BULLRING

Alison was at the Bullring recently posing for selfies and signing autographs as part of a campaign by Yell.com calling on Brummies to support independent businesses in the area. She said: “It’s the independents that make Birmingham a great city. These days, with all the competition, it’s more important than ever that Brummies get behind and support small businesses and shop local.”

We were speaking to Alison during a break in filming of a new BBC game show called The Time It Takes which airs immediately before the new series of Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday evenings this autumn. Alison is the referee on the show which is hosted by fellow Brummie, comedian Joe Lycett. “It’s great working with Joe and having two Brummies on the show,” said Alison. “It’s a big deal because it is being broadcast each week right before Strictly, so a real Saturday night family prime slot.”

STRICTLY FROCKS

Taking part in Strictly in 2014 was among Alison’s TV highlights. “The press coverage you get on Strictly is unbelievable,” she says. “And it is such a lovely show. The way everyone gets along is just how it is for real. And the public gets to see you as a person ¬– all your positives and all your insecurities. And the girls get to wear some amazing frocks!”

Despite becoming hugely popular with Strictly’s audience, Alison is clear about the opportunity that really changed her life. “Big Brother turned my life upside down,” she says. She appeared on the show’s third series, becoming the second housemate to be evicted. But even so, her personality made a big impression and she went on to appear in a host of TV programmes, including Celebrity Fit Club, Stars In Their Eyes, Ready Steady Cook, Loose Women, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Celebrity Masterchef.

GEORGE SWOONEY

On ITV she became This Morning’s showbiz reporter, interviewing a host of top stars in her own unique, madcap way. She convinced a bemused Britney Spears to try her new dance moves and Donny Osmond to follow her lead and stuff his face with cream cakes. She also swooned under the spell of George Clooney. “I fancied him to bits and was so nervous. I accidently hit him with the microphone because I was shaking so much,” Alison recalls.

“I’ve done so many interviews now with so many famous people,” said Alison. “I can’t pick out one, they’ve all been highlights. I really enjoyed talking to them and I think they can see that and they respond accordingly.”

So, life just seems to get better and better for the girl from Brum. Any regrets? “One thing,” she admits. “I never went to university and so never got a degree. I would love to have a picture of me holding the diploma in the full gown and hat. I miss that…” And she adds with a laugh: “Maybe I’ll get an honorary degree one day? That’d be nice.”

For someone who is always smiling, it’s not surprising that there’s not much that upsets Alison. But she says: “I do get annoyed by people with bad manners. There is no excuse for rudeness. I also find it hard to understand why so many people appear to get angry for no real reason – stuff like road rage, you know… Life’s just too short.”

If you ever doubted that the music business is a tough gig, ask Becky Hill. The singer songwriter has experienced just about every emotion since reaching the semi-final of the first series of TV’s The Voice as an 18-year-old six years ago – from the highs of a number one hit single to the lows of being dropped by her first record company.

A stint setting up and running her own record label and collaborating with the likes of Rudimental, Wilkinson and Matoma has seen Becky go from strength to strength with a new record deal with Polydor and in June the release of the single Sunrise In The East, which was brilliantly received by critics and fans alike.

NEW YORK

We caught up with Becky just hours after she returned from five days in New York where she filmed the video for her next single, I Could Get Used To This, which is due out next month. And the excitement in her life right now is obvious – as is the determination to get her music sounding just the way she wants. “I’m a perfectionist.” she says, “and while we were filming, I was listening to the new song and thinking the production of the music needed slightly changing. I am a very hands-on person and I think some of that comes from having had to organise and run my own label for a bit. I want to be involved in everything.”

Becky’s music journey started way back with her family living in Bewdley and her mum buying her a pink guitar. Becky’s brother who she says she ‘idolised’ could play and Becky was determined to play too. She proceeded to learn the basic chords in quick time and by age 13 she had written her first single. “By 16, I had composed my first album,” she says with great pride.

SHAKING TREES

After impressing her friends, Becky became part of what she admits was ‘one of the most bizarre bands ever’. “There was a 48-year-old balding drummer, a 26-year-old Russian chef, a scientist who played the piano – and me! We called ourselves the Shaking Trees,” she recalls. Then while working at her local, the Cock and Magpie, Becky did an open mike session and someone said she should go and audition for a new series called The Voice. “I arrived at the audition slightly the worse for wear from the night before, and with the lyrics to John Legend’s Ordinary People written on the back of my hand so I wouldn’t screw up,” she says with a laugh.

Becky impressed the judges and got as far as the semi-final in 2012 before losing out in the public vote. But while many of the show’s winners have slipped to obscurity Becky made her mark, becoming the first Voice contestant to achieve a number one hit. After a short-lived deal with Parlophone, she set up her own record label called Eko Records which attracted the attention of Polydor, who signed her nine months ago.

ENERGISING

“They could see I was making waves independently and offered me a deal reflecting that,” she says. “They treat me as if I am an equal. They respect me because I ran my own label and because I want to know things like what’s the budget for something.” The partnership is energising Becky who said: “I am so excited about my new music.”

She describes her music as ‘timeless electro pop with great storytelling’. “My music comes to me in various ways. Sometimes I come up with a title, usually just before I fall asleep at night – so I rush around to jot it down otherwise I forget what it was. Other times, I can come up with the melodies first. I also find creative sessions with other people really useful too.”

She explains that as someone who first started writing music on her own in her bedroom at home, she craves ‘validation’ of her songs. “I’m someone who likes other people to say ‘that’s good!’ You have to be very humble in this job as it takes a massive number of people to determine if you song is a hit or not. If you don’t connect with people you can’t be the greatest you can be and it doesn’t work.”

FAMILY MATTERS

Becky lives in London “because you have to in this business”. She says she has tried in the past to avoid the move from the Midlands but it just didn’t work. “If I could do my job in Bewdley I would because I adore it there and all the family are there or thereabouts. I come back as often as I can, and I wish it could be more often because I don’t feel that I see them enough, but it’s so difficult.” Becky’s parents, grandparents and brother all still live in Bewdley, while her two sisters are in Worcester and Lichfield. Her other brother is also in London.

Home is where Becky can truly unwind and relax because as she admits: “I freak out with every release and I question every song I put out. It’s really hard work but it’s the job I love.” That hard work is only set to get even tougher as Becky releases the new single and then an album and also appears at a line-up of festivals and gigs, including shows with Pete Tong and an appearance in October at the O2 Institute in Birmingham.

MAGIC EIGHT

“My dream is to write classic, timeless songs that people will always remember,” says Becky. “And I want to write eight albums throughout my career, how ever long that may be.” Becky says the number ‘eight’ in a powerful, assured tone. Why eight? Why so sure? “It just sounds a great number, the right number and a very definitive number,” she explains…

What a fantastic view, said Sir Ian Botham as he looked down on the beautiful rolling countryside of the West Midlands. With the rotor blades of the helicopter chattering out above his head, Sir Ian was getting re-acquainted with the area where he once brought thrills, spills and trophies to cricket fans. His mission on this particularly glorious, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky, summer’s day was driven by his two sporting passions – cricket, of course, and golf.

We joined the sporting legend as he flew between Ombersley Golf Club and The Belfry during the Midlands leg of an exhausting one-day charity challenge. Sir Ian played the 18th hole at the Worcestershire course and the famous 10th, the Brabazon, at the Belfry as part of the ‘Beef v Beefy’ golf challenge in aid of the Beefy Charity Foundation.

TWILIGHT ZONE

The challenge saw Sir Ian, nickname Beefy, take on majors golf professional, Britain’s Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, over 18 holes – each hole in one of the 18 cricketing counties in the UK. Starting at 6am in County Durham and finishing in the twilight after 10pm in North Middlesex it was a punishing schedule, completed on the last hole under the glow of car lights.

“It felt like we were constantly hopping in and out of the helicopter, which we were, and it was all a bit of a blur if I’m honest,” said Sir Ian. But he had time for some special thoughts and memories of the Midlands, and Worcestershire in particular, where he spent five seasons in the late Eighties and early Nineties, leading the county to a clutch of silverware, including two championship titles.

ON THE FARM

“My sister and brother-in-law are farmers just outside Ombersley,” he explained. “So even though I obviously haven’t played cricket in the area in many year, I still know it very well. I’m back here quite a bit and I’m very familiar with what a lovely and special part of the world the area and the region are. It was a delight to introduce Andrew to the area and the beautiful courses at Ombersley and The Belfry.”

The pair met when Beefy interviewed Beef at a test match he was covering at The Oval as part of the Sky Sports team. “Andrew is a huge cricket fan,” said Sir Ian. “We just got talking after the interview, hit it off and decided we’d like to do something together to help charity. He’s a great guy and like me, just enjoys life. It’s took a lot of planning to sort the logistics out for the challenge . I leave all that kind of stuff to my daughter Sarah, she sorts it out… I just turn up and play!”

SELFIES WITH SIR

Ombersley Golf Club was the perfect choice given the family connection with the area, and The Belfry is a famous Ryder Cup venue and has been voted England’s best golf course. Both venues witnessed scores of wellwishers to meet Beefy and Beef and get selfies and autographs. “It was good to be back in Worcestershire,” said Sir Ian, who has hosted a number of Evening With… events in the past. He’s also a visitor with the Sky cricket team to Edgbaston Stadium, home of Warwickshire CCC and the Birmingham Bears and an England test match venue.

Saying that the 62-year-old’s workload is heavy would be an understatement. (The voice message on his phone says it all: ‘Hi, it’s Sir Ian here. Sorry I can’t take your call right now but you know what it’s like… work, work, work, busy, busy busy…) As well as covering England’s home tests, Sir Ian travels the globe with Sky giving his expert observations on the key clashes, including the Ashes series in Australia.

LIFE-CHANGING

He fits in golf whenever and wherever he can and, of course, his passion to raise money for sick children. Sir Ian completed his 18th and final sponsored marathon charity walk in Australia in December 2017 – having previously trekked in a host of countries over the years, including South Africa, the Sub-Continent and here in the UK. His efforts have raised more than £30million for good causes, mostly for research into leukaemia.

His Beefy Charity Foundation also currently supports Brain Tumour Research and Support, Batten Disease Family Association, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Bloodwise and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. “I’ve always believed in trying to help kids ever since I went into a hospital children’s ward by mistake and got chatting to a couple of kids. I said I’d see them when I went back a couple of weeks later and found they had died. I was told they had leukaemia. That changed my life really.”

As the first British black female solo artist to have six consecutive Top 20 hits, Birmingham’s Jaki Graham is the UK’s most revered queen of soul music. She is the singer all the others look up to. The singer who inspired the likes of fellow Brummie Beverley Knight to want to be like her. Yet with a wonderful sense of modesty and understatement, Jaki says: “Man, I’m still learning my craft, still growing.”

This month sees the release of Jaki’s new and long-awaited album When a Woman Loves, which she will launch at concert in Birmingham – part of her new tour. And despite more than 40 years in the business, with her first hit in the Eighties and having performed live, on TV and around the world ever since, Jaki admits: “I’m feeling really nervous. I think the older you get the more nervous you become. The new album is for my core fans, but also for their children who want to hear ‘Auntie Jaki’…”

POWER PLAY

Fans of old definitely won’t be disappointed as Jaki seamlessly picks up where she left off, with outstanding vocals that have matured and become even more powerful over the years. The 14-track record’s mix of retro, soul and funk also has the broad appeal to attract a whole new audience to the JG supporters club.

We spoke to Jaki on the eve her flying to Los Angeles to record a video for the album. She admitted to be “so excited” as the video was being produced by the “same guy who did my video at the very start of my career”. She added: “I’m told there’s lots of wild ideas and things planned for the video. I can’t wait to do it.”

Jaki’s first hit back in 1985, Could It Be I’m Falling In Love, was followed up with five more UK Top 20 chart-toppers over a two-year period, including probably her best known solo single, Round and Around. In 1994, her cover version of Chaka Khan’s hit, Ain’t Nobody, reached number one on the US Billboard dance chart.

GREAT SONGS

At around the same time, American singer Michael McDonald was looking for a female singer to accompany him on his UK tour. After hearing Jaki’s voice he said she was “one of the best singers Britain has ever produced” and the two became great friends and music collaborators – Michael writing several of the songs on Jaki’s new album. “The songs on the new album just came my way and I just felt the time was right,” says Jaki. “I thought ‘Oh my gosh’, these are such great songs. They are the old me, but upgraded to today.”

Unlike so many other leading artists, Jaki – who was a backing vocalist for UB40 in her early days – has always put her family first which has meant at times that her musical career has seemingly been put on the backburner. Originally from Handsworth, Jaki first met her husband Tony when they were both attended Ladywood School. They have two children, Ryan and Natalie. As well as having a great voice in her own right, Natalie is also Jaki’s manager.

LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

The family now live in Wolverhampton, where Jaki says “the people just embrace me”. Indeed one of Jaki’s personal highlights was receiving an honorary doctorate from Wolverhampton University. The other was being honoured with a plaque on Broad Street’s Walk of Stars. “To see the other incredible famous people who have been honoured with Stars made me feel just incredible,” says Jaki. She lists among her special career moments meeting Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, appearing on Top of the Pops and working for Motown.

Jaki is more than aware how much the music industry has changed over the years and continues to change today. “Talking to the kids after I was honoured by Wolverhampton University, they were telling me how they make their music in their bedrooms. It was fascinating to hear – I was learning from the kids! But it’s a great thing because they have control and they have the chance to get themselves heard. They just need to be careful that they aren’t here one minute and then finished the next. What we would call one-hit wonders.”

BEV’S MY GIRL!

We feel sure that many of the students will have been inspired by Jaki’s enthusiasm and passion for her music – just as a young Beverley Knight was some years ago when she met the soul queen in a store in Birmingham. Jaki says: “Beverley Knight, she’s my girl, man! Bev saw me in the shop and asked me for my autograph. She told me: What you do is what I want to do. And look at what she has achieved. To hear and know that people can be inspired by me is amazing!”

Ed James is one of life’s positive people. Anyone who has woken up, showered, got dressed and set off to work listening to the Heart FM Breakfast Show presenter will know what we mean. In another life, you could be forgiven for thinking that he is just too chirpy to be true. But as an early morning radio DJ he fits the bill perfectly. After all, no one wants to start the day listening to a moody, grumpy, old fart over the airwaves.

But the big question I wanted to know the answer to, once I knew I’d be interviewing Ed for Birmingham Living, was: Can anyone, really be so completely and utterly chipper once the On Air sign has gone out and the earphones have been ditched for the day? The answer is: Yes he can!

BOOK PROJECT

What you get from six until 10 each morning is how Ed is away from the studio. We’ve all heard of Mr Motivator, well meet Mr Positivity! In fact, Ed is so upbeat and generally ‘everything in the world is rosy’, that he’s planning a book, workshops and online courses to spread his message of positivity and self-improvement to the rest of us.

“It’s based on a strategy that has helped me enormously over the past few years,” explains Ed. “The concept is to make people feel happier. I’m a big fan of positive thinking. I’ve been through some hard stuff, we all have, and it’s how you cope with it that matters. I’ve formulated a strategy that works for me and will I’m sure work for other people too.” Ed’s hard times include the split from his wife and failure of a fledgling PR business.

The popularity of Ed and the Breakfast Show continues to soar. He’s been at the helm for 16 years this January and in that time has shared the airwaves with four co-hosts – Sarah-Jane Mee (now a Sky News TV anchor), Helen Wheels, Rachel New (for nearly nine years) and for the past year Gemma Hill.

LAUGH LINES

“It doesn’t feel like 16 years,” says Ed. “My job is the best job in the world and I love it. You wouldn’t be able to do something for this long and still get a huge kick out of it if you didn’t really love what you do.” And he joked: “Yeah, of course, the older you get the more sleep you feel you need, but early starts have never been a problem for me. And I can say that I’ve had a great time with each of my co-presenters. We basically have a laugh every morning.”

It’s obvious talking to Ed that he loves the interaction with other people. On radio it’s a big part of what gives him such a buzz. “I get up at 4.30am, get to work around 5am or 5.30am, have a coffee and we get started at six. People call in to us, text us, tweet us and we have a great time together. It all feels fresher than ever and right now we seem to be getting a lot of new listeners tuning in which is great of course.”

Hitting on the right chemistry between the show’s presenters is key, and Ed and Gemma seem to have the perfect partnership. “I thought after such a long time with Rachel who became such a close friend as well as a work colleague, it would take ages to get a relationship going on-air with Gemma, but we just clicked,” said Ed. “She is just a naturally crazy person and strange, weird, crazy stuff seems to happen to her all the time…”

HELP HARRY

Away from the studio, Ed gives as much time as he can to charity – in particular Help Harry Help Others, of which he is a proud ambassador. The charity was set up by Georgie Moseley, the mum of young brain cancer victim Harry who died seven years ago, aged 11. Of Georgie and her tirelessly campaign to raise awareness of brain cancer and to improve facilities, Ed says: “Georgie is a true legend. The fact that she started a drop-in cancer support centre off her own bat is amazing and she has huge plans to open many more centres. I try to help the charity whenever I can and host their annual fund-raising ball.”

Ed also gets behind Heart FM’s own annual Make Some Noise charity campaign as well as taking part in events, including running a half marathon, for the Air Ambulance. As a journalist, he’s also a keen advocate of the local media, having been a past president of Birmingham Press Club, the world’s oldest press organisation.

BEST OF BRUM

Most of all, Ed says he loves Birmingham. “I’ve always been a fan of Brum. When I arrived 16 years ago it felt like we didn’t quite believe we were as good as Manchester, but now we have caught up and gone past them. What we all worked for and hoped for in the city is here. Birmingham has become an amazing place with so much going on and so much to admire.”

Over 16 years it is tough to pick out career highlights but Ed says he has been “incredibly fortunate” to have interviewed some of the world’s top stars on the Breakfast Show – including the likes of Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Lionel Richie and Kylie Minogue. “But the best stuff we do is when we chat with the people who call up on the show. We talk about real things and issues. Things that people can relate to. That’s the reason why, after 16 years, I don’t want to change what I do.”

Lady Sanity is a rising star on the UK rap scene having been spotted by BBC Introducing in 2015, subsequently rocking three slots at Glastonbury and winning industry awards. She’s now taken her music from her home production set-up to a ‘real’ studio with top production values and this proud Brummie means business.

She’s also proud and excited to be part of the Commonwealth Games hand-over ceremony at the closing of the Games in Australia’s Gold Coast this month. She’ll perform alongside other talented Brummies as the baton is passed onto Birmingham.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Last year was pivotal for the young rapper as she received funding from the MOBOs and PRSF’s Women Make Music Scheme as well as winning GRM daily’s 2017 Get Rated award for which her acceptance speech was a real big-up to Brum. Lady Sanity’s beloved home city provides much of her inspiration.

She explains: “Birmingham features in a lot of tracks. You’ve got to be true to yourself.” One of Lady Sanity’s idols is fellow Brummie and former Birmingham Living cover star, Lady Leshurr who has offered some words of wisdom. “She’s such a lovely person and gives a lot of support back. Essentially, she’s doing the same as me just on a bigger scale!”

Lady Sanity joined forces with another of the city’s up-and-coming talents – who we’ve also written about – singer song-writer and beatboxer, Ed Geater. Their collaboration, Found A Place was a piece of powerful and clever hip-hop released through Brox Records which gained airplay on BBC 6 Music through Tom Robinson as well as Brum Radio and BBC Introducing.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

While Lady Sanity’s love for Birmingham is clear, she accepts it still has some limitations. For instance, there aren’t many live opportunities available in the city. She explains: “Some venue promoters avoid rap and R&B genres. They aren’t keen, so it’s harder to get that experience here. We could do with an infrastructure to help artists.” Lots of people hoping to make it in the music world move to London, but Lady Sanity’s not for upping sticks. “I’ve never been tempted.”

Growing up, Lady Sanity says: “I was of those kids that kept myself to myself. I played acoustic guitar in a band at school and studied Music GCSE where I learned the technical side as well as song writing. I developed a love of hip-hop and it just grew from there.” She says music was never really a hobby as she always felt she wanted it to be a career, so when BBC Introducing spotted her potential and supported debut mixtape, Construction, it was the first step to achieving that. “That was the first big thing for me,” she says. “BBC Introducing has been a massive support.” When three slots at Glastonbury followed, Lady Sanity was over the moon. “It was crazy. I was privileged and honoured to be involved.”

PASSIONATE LYRICIST

Taking inspiration from the likes of Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliot, Lady Sanity has been described by the music press as ‘one of the most exciting and passionate lyricists of the moment’ with ‘lyrics that set her apart from the competition’. EP For Figures is out now with lead track, Role Models getting a lot of love. ‘Melodic’, ‘bass-thunderous’ and ‘hypnotic’ are just a few of the accolades being dished out to the track that Lady Sanity says is about ‘keeping it real to myself’.

She comments: “There’s a lot of pressure on women in music to look and carry themselves in a certain way. Role Models is about finding inspiration in the amazing people around you in your everyday life, opposed to this unrealistic, overpriced culture that’s thrown in our faces so often.”

I wonder since interviewing Lady Leshurr two years ago who made the point that being called a female rapper is weird since no one ever refers to male rappers, whether it still happens. Lady Sanity says: “It happens. It’s one of them things. I guess traditionally rapping isn’t been the most feminine of genres. There are lots of women coming through now though. We’re flying the flag!”

LIVE SHOWS

Lady Sanity plans to do more live shows and put out singles rather than EPs this year. “I’d like to generate my own sound with better production values.” While she’s not that comfortable with promoting herself, she recognises that PR and brand building is crucial as well, so some of her PRS Foundation funding will be spent on that. “It doesn’t come naturally, but I know if I want to get my music out there it has to come with it.”

For now, Lady Sanity’s enjoying her first trip Down Under where she’ll perform on a global stage to an estimated one billion viewers for the official Birmingham 2022 hand-over ceremony at the Carrara Stadium at the end of the current Commonwealth Games. Film maker Daniel Alexander and choreographer Rosie Kay will also be performing with further artists to be confirmed as we write. Lady Sanity says: “This is a real moment for Birmingham to show the world who we are and what our city is about and to be asked to be part of that is huge. I hope I can be a voice for young people in Brum as we invite the world to join us in 2022.”

Last year, teenager Sheku Kanneh-Mason became the first black BBC Young Musician of the Year in the competition’s 38-year history. He won the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Instrumentalist Prize and the Southbank Breakthrough Award. He also performed Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah at the Baftas and has been invited to play again this year – the first time a musician has been asked back ever.

Sheku played at Downing Street as part of Black History Month and made his BBC Proms debut with Chineke, Europe’s first black and minority ethnic orchestra. Now he’s teamed up with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and its celebrated musical director Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla on his debut album, Inspiration which is number one in the classical album charts, number 18 in the pop charts and is the best-selling release by any British newcomer across all genres this year.

Recorded in Birmingham and Nottingham during two CBSO concerts conducted by Mirga, Inspiration is a collection of pieces that have inspired Sheku’s career so far. It includes Shostakovich’s cello concerto No.1 – which is the piece that propelled the young cellist to fame in the BBC Young Musician competition ¬– as well as his version of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry and Pablo Casals’s Sardana, with fellow BBC Young Musician winner Guy Johnston.

Working with Mirga was a joy and Sheku describes her as ‘really incredible’. He’s flattering about the CBSO generally saying: “It’s one of the best orchestras in the world.” Symphony Hall is one of his favourite places to play too. “The acoustics are amazing,” he explains.

RUBBING SHOULDERS

Days after completing the album, Sheku flew to New York to debut at Carnegie Hall in a charity gala, The Children’s Monologues directed by Danny Boyle appearing alongside A-listers such as James McAvoy, Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor and Susan Sarandon. Speaking of A-listers, Sheku has attracted many famous fans over the past year including Stephen Fry, Eddie Redmayne and Prince Harry to name just a few. So, life’s been a bit of whirlwind of late which he describes as ‘thrilling’.

A student at the Royal Academy of Music, Sheku has never thought about doing anything else. His siblings, of which there are six, are all exceptional musicians – you might have seen them en masse performing on Britain’s Got Talent or in BBC4 documentary, Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro – so playing an instrument just felt natural. Sheku initially picked up the violin aged six, but after a month decided he’d go bigger to out-do his violinist older brother and plumped for the cello.

By age nine, he’d reached Grade 8 with the highest mark in the country. He recalls: “I had an amazing teacher and I always enjoyed performing. Even then I thought I’d be doing it for the rest of my life. It just felt normal.” Weekly trips on the 5am train to London on a Saturday so the children could go to the Royal Academy of Music were the norm and while his parents made sacrifices to ensure there were lessons, instruments and books, Sheku never felt pressured. “I always wanted to be a musician.”

GIVING BACK

Sheku is absolutely passionate about creating better opportunities for young people of any background to learn music. He had a state education and values the opportunities he had, but with budgets squeezed and increased pressure on schools, the arts seem to be the first stage of the curriculum under threat. Sheku has become a Junior Ambassador for music education charity London Music Matters. Of his role he says: “I would love to inspire more diversity in young people taking up classical music – it would be a really wonderful thing if I could be a role model in that way.” He has also donated some of the proceeds from his concerts to his old school in the Midlands after learning that cello teaching could end there. Sheku admits that as a black child going to a classical concert you don’t see anyone who looks like you in the orchestra which he’d love to see change too. Being part of Chineke! which Sheku’s family have been on board with from the beginning is a start. Sheku comments: “Having lots of role models to look up to is inspiring.”

VIBRANT ABANDONMENT

Heroes include Bob Marley who Sheku grew up with and listens to a lot when he’s not listening to classical. In fact, Sheku’s haunting version of No Woman, No Cry reached number two on Spotify’s UK viral chart and top 10 globally. Another hero that Sheku sadly never got to meet was Jacqueline du Pré whose family said recently that she’d have loved to meet him, ‘He’s the first cellist since Jackie who has that natural and vibrant abandonment when playing. A sheer delight. Jackie would have loved to meet him.’

Sheku was thrilled. He tweeted: “A lovely quote from Jacqueline du Pré’s family! Jacqueline is one of my major influences – she is an inspiration to many cellists and musicians and has been my hero for many, many years.”

Probably the most famous set of twins on the planet, Oliver and James Phelps are best known as Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter franchise. Such is the power of Potter, that despite being seven years since the last film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, James and Oliver are still recognised wherever they go. So how did two teens from Sutton Coldfield with very little drama experience make such a monumentally life-changing move?

Firstly, they had no idea how big this would become, so ‘monumentally life changing’ really didn’t register. When the open audition was advertised including a requirement for a set of twins, a friend suggested they should go for it. Oliver remembers: “We just thought ‘why not?’ and plodded along.”

LIGHTNING BOLTS

Thousands of people turned up to a swanky hotel in Leeds, many of whom Oliver recalls were wearing fake glasses and had lightning bolts scrawled across their foreheads with their mum’s lipstick! Realising they were the only set of twins not wearing matching outfits – something the boys had avoided their entire lives up until this point – they made a dash to C&A (yes, it was that long ago) to bag some new twinning togs. It killed some of the two-hour wait until their audition.

There were two rooms for auditions, one left, one right and Oliver thinks the choice of door – left if you’re wondering – was instrumental in getting the part. The casting director was behind their chosen door who thought the boys had the right look – and luck – as it happened. After a six-week course in the summer of 2000 plus five further auditions Oliver and James bagged a screen test. Oliver recalls: “We were on holiday in Crete when mum got the call about coming in for a screen test. It meant we were plastered in sunblock for the rest of the holiday. The casting director was expecting two pale ginger kids, so we had to make sure that’s what they got!” They nailed it and got the parts.

With Julie Walters playing mum and Mark Williams cast as Mr Weasley, it was a right Midlands affair at their on-screen home, The Burrow. There was a scene in the second film when the foursome read their lines in Brummie dialect which had them in stitches and the predominantly American crew scratching their heads.

STAR-STRUCK

Having Midlands parents on-screen was pretty nice says Oliver. Aged 14 when they got the part, being away from home was weird at first, but soon became the norm. “Being on location and moving around was cool, but filming in the studio got a bit samey.”

Oliver admits being star-struck initially when all the cast members sat down together for the first read through. Afterall, the cast list reads like a who’s who of British acting royalty. When filming stopped there was a moment when both boys thought they’d be a bit lost. Oliver says: “We’d been with this amazing group of people for such a long time and we thought ‘now what?’ but thankfully it didn’t just end abruptly.”

Oliver and James, who are keen travellers, went on a publicity tour of sorts promoting Harry Potter across the world. They still do some of this along with an increasing amount of corporate work in the States as well as acting and ambassadorial roles with a number of charities including Birmingham’s own Help Harry Help Others as well as the Teenage Cancer Trust to which Oliver donated an arcade game he’d been gifted by one of the cast of Harry Potter for his 21st birthday. “I saw what the guys were going through and thought they needed it more than I did.”

SHOT IN DUDLEY

On the acting front, Oliver and James appeared in Danny and the Human Zoo, a fictional account of Lenny Henry’s teenage years, filmed around Dudley. Oliver also stars in 7 Days: The True Story of Blind Dave Heeley. Still living in the Midlands, Oliver has never felt pressure to move to the capital although he has been known to say he lives in London for auditions which helps apparently.

“I could have moved south, but London’s just an hour or so away, so there’s really no need. Plus there’s a lot going on in Birmingham. There’s talk of Channel 4 moving here which would be great. We’re so lucky to be where we are. It’s a young city full of genuine people.” He adds: “The regeneration going on is incredible – thank God we got rid of the old library.” As someone who mourned the loss of the brutalist beast I twitch slightly.

America has a pull though and there are various projects bubbling away. In fact, James and Oliver have just recorded a travel based pilot show in Chicago which four companies are interested in taking on. In a nutshell the programme sees the boys travel to a city and show two sides to the place. Oliver has the high-end experience while James drew the short straw at the budget end of the market.

FOOTIE RIVALRY

Sibling rivalry is no secret and twin rivalry is on another level, although Oliver won the ultimate race down the birthing canal by 13 minutes. Oliver supports Aston Villa and James supports Birmingham City which makes for some interesting dinner table chat. The golf course can be the Phelps’ cauldron of competitiveness too. Oliver had a bad car crash last year which meant he was out of action for four months, but he’s ready to get back on the course and take his handicap of 10 into single figures. “I’ve the Belfry on my doorstep where the course is looking the best I’ve seen it for two years.” James and Oliver are also set to compete in the Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship at Nailcote Hall in August.

Rivalry aside, Oliver and James spend an enormous amount of time working and travelling together and for two brothers who were keen to be identified as individuals, not twins as children they are very much a package in many ways. Mind you they’ve learned from experience not to go for the same parts anymore. This pair have confused many a casting director.

Try to pigeon hole Benjamin Zephaniah at your peril. Poet, writer, lyricist, musician, actor, republican, activist, campaigner, freedom fighter. It’s impossible. His achievements are too plentiful to mention, but we’ll pick a fistful.

For example, he was named in The Times list of top 50 post-war writers cementing his status as one of the most influential writers of modern times, not that he needs the accolades. In 1982 his album Rasta recorded with the Wailers as a tribute to Nelson Mandela gained international recognition and triggered a meeting with Mandela himself.

So charmed was Mandela by Zephaniah that when planning his Two Nations Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1996 he requested that Benjamin host the event. Famously anti-establishment, he rejected an OBE for services to literature in 2003 and has multiple honorary doctorates including one from the University of Birmingham. A far cry from humble beginnings in the shadows of Villa Park.

BOMB PECKS

Now living in Lincolnshire, Benjamin’s upbringing was a world away from leafy, so what happened? One of nine children, Benjamin grew up in Aston and then later Hockley. His childhood sounds thrilling and edgy. Benjamin and his pals enjoyed the freedom of the Sixties and Seventies when children played on the streets ‘til after dark with the bomb pecks of Brum as a backdrop where they uncovered treasures left behind. He recalls: “You’d find medals and cameras, all sorts of interesting things. I loved that.” An eclectic mix of neighbours included Ozzy Osbourne. Benjamin remembers: “It was possible to jump from my garden into Ozzy’s. He definitely stood out with his cool biker jackets.”

In Hockley, community spirit was strong and everyone knew everybody. “We lived around a courtyard with shared toilets at one point and there was only one phone on the street, so when you needed to make a call you’d borrow it in exchange for tuppence.” He adds: “People would throw street parties for no reason and all the kids played out together generally with homemade toys. It was normal to have a bike made by someone else’s dad.”

Benjamin remembers an elderly couple, Frank and Margaret who lived in the flats close by. When Frank died he and his friend adopted Margaret and would visit her often for a cup of tea and a natter. “I remember getting into a lift and going up to the eighth floor. It felt so futuristic.”

TOUGH LOVE

Benjamin’s favourite game was to go out with his brother and get lost, literally. “We’d go to an area we didn’t know, get lost, then try to find our way home.” More often than not they’d hitch a lift with the local bobby, but they got into a few scraps too. One particular scuffle has stayed with Benjamin. “I got beaten up in Erdington and when I came home my dad told me to go back and fight him, so I did.” Benjamin was beaten up a second time and his father told him to go back and fight the boy. This happened four times until Benjamin gave the boy a pasting. He came back and told his dad the news who calmly said: “Very good.”

When the gypsies came to town which they did periodically Benjamin was in awe. “They were rough and ready and exciting. They’d have a fight then sit down and play guitar and the girls would read poetry.”

Getting into poetry seemed a natural thing to do. While listening to Jamaican music growing up quite often there’d be a B-side track of poems which whet his appetite. Benjamin’s mum was unwittingly a poetic influence too. “She had a library of poems in her head although she would never call herself a poet. I loved rhyme and rhythm in speech.” By the age of 11 Benjamin was reciting poetry in public in church halls and the like.

SLIGHTLY ILLEGAL

School wasn’t great and by the age of 13 Benjamin had been expelled with the words of his teachers ringing in his ears. “They told me I’d either end up dead or serving a life sentence. Well, we’re all going to end up dead, so that was a bit silly.” Around this time Benjamin realised he wanted to do something with poetry. “My friends thought I was weird. We’d be doing something slightly illegal and rather than rushing in and out, I’d be looking at books on the shelves and thinking about the people that owned them.”

It was around this time Benjamin started to notice racism and trying to get a paper round to earn some money was an eye opener. “A lot of white kids had paper rounds, but I tried 40 places and no one would employ me. Then a Chinese guy gave me a job doing potatoes round the back of a restaurant.”

Birmingham had limited opportunities for Benjamin to pursue poetry, so he moved to London. “I slept in a car for the first couple of days. Someone told me if you want to be a real poet you need to be published. I used to turn up and read for publishers rather than sending my work, then I heard about an alternative publisher – a co-operative, called Pen River.” They snapped Benjamin up and Pen Rhythm was published in 1980.

Soon after he moved to London he met other creative types and began an extraordinary trip. One man in particular who was bringing creatives together with his vision of alternative entertainment was Roland Muldoon who set up legendary underground political theatre group CAST. His alternative comedy circuit included Rik Mayall, French and Saunders and Paul Merton among others. Benjamin did a stint supporting the flamboyant Joan Collins Fan Club aka Julian Clary around this time. He recalled: “Everything just fell into place. Right place, right time, right skills.”

OBE KO

When awarded an OBE for services for literature in 2003 Benjamin’s rejection was unwavering. “I’m not interested in impressing the establishment. People would come up to me on the streets and say, ‘when you refused the OBE that was such a great moment for us’. I’ve maintained credibility at a grass roots level.” It would have felt like selling out for Benjamin and he’s been critical of other black writers in the past who have accepted honours.

In an article for the Guardian which he wrote at the time he said, “I have even heard black writers who have collected OBEs saying that it’s a ‘symbol of how far we have come’. Oh yes I say we’ve struggled so hard just to get a minute with the Queen and we are so very grateful – not.”

Martial arts has been a big influence in Benjamin’s life particularly kung fu although he’s keen to point out it’s far from the Bruce Lee brand. Every year Benjamin travels to China to train with a teacher. He’s also into tai chi which he describes as an internal martial art requiring ‘amazing strength from within. It’s all about the mind’.

When Benjamin wakes he likes to push his body to the limit and says: “When I wake I’m glad I’m alive. So many people leave me, so I never take people for granted.” (Checkout his poem Happy Everyday). Some of the old guard he grew up with in Brum have died which brings home how short life is.

BACK IN TIME

Writing his autobiography which should be due out in May has been an intriguing project for Benjamin. “It’s the first time I’ve sat down with my mum and really questioned ‘how did you feel about that?’ There were bouts of domestic violence you know. It’s interesting to hear about our life, what made her.”

Benjamin thought deeply about his large family with eight siblings and considered it linked to the fact that in African countries big families are the norm because infant mortality is still relatively high. His mum put him straight though. “She told me: ‘Oh no it wasn’t that. It was just your father wouldn’t stop!’”

Of Brum, Benjamin is still thoroughly in love with the place and the people and ‘can never say he’s home until he’s in Birmingham’, but he’d make some changes too. “I love the city so much. While Peaky Blinders has given it some pride, there are no contemporary programmes set in Birmingham. We need that.” He adds: “In other countries there are a number of cities that could be the capital, but here it’s all London. That needs to change. Also, it would be great if more of the fun bits of Birmingham were outside the city centre.”

NOT FOR SALE

Just before I caught up with Benjamin, I heard the former casting director of I’m a Celebrity being interviewed on the radio and when asked who his dream signing for the show would be, he replied: “Without a doubt Benjamin Zephaniah.” I put this to the man himself who was fairly clear. “I’ve been asked many times and they’ve offered me a lot of money, but I would never do it. I’ve asked them not to call again. If I want to humiliate myself there are better ways.” Understood.

Although on reflection I can see why he would be an intriguing signing. He has bags of charisma – of that there is no doubt – and he’s also opinionated – no bad thing, is hugely interesting, famously anti-establishment and can get a bit angry about issues important to him. A ratings winner if ever there was one, but let it go ITV. His dignity is not for sale.

Jools Holland and Birmingham go together as beautifully as mince pies and mulled wine. The band leader, composer, producer and all-round music legend has an affinity with our city like no other. “I love Birmingham, it’s a wonderful place with wonderful people,” he says.

The host of the iconic BBC TV music show, Later… With Jools Holland, has links with Birmingham going back to the late 1990’s when he opened the Jam House club in St Paul’s Square in the Jewellery Quarter. “I feel very close to Birmingham,” he adds, “because it was one of the first places where I was picked up as a musician.”

A regular performer at the club in its early years, Jools says: “These days I don’t have anything to do with the Jam House, but I still always feel very close to Birmingham which has a wonderful music scene.”

BIG BREAKS

Jools’s Later… With show recently celebrated 25 years on our screens which is an incredible milestone for an out-and-out serious music programme. Its success owes everything to its unique format and highly original host. Jools has always sought to entertain and education with the show and over the years has brought some of the finest performers and musicians into our homes – he was the first to give Adele a break as well as showcase Ed Sheeran and Amy Winehouse at the start of their careers.

Over the years, Jools has always been prepared try different things – and that’s the case this month when he returns to Birmingham to perform with guitar legend José Feliciano. We caught up with Jools and José as they prepared for what will certainly be two memorable nights at Symphony Hall on 13 and 14 December. There’s no doubting how excited Jools is at performing on stage with José – and vice-versa.

“I remember as a 13 or 14-year-old being at my gran’s and hearing on the radio the man who changed my view of music,” he says. “José, whatever song he did, he made it something special. I always wanted to have him come play on my TV show but whenever he was here in the UK we weren’t broadcasting. Then finally we got to do it, and it became so much more for both of us. We became close friends. We liked listening to the same kind of music, people like Ray Charles.”

PINCH MYSELF

The two enjoyed each other’s music and company so much that they spoke about performing and touring together. They made an album, As You See Me Now, and agreed they’d take their music around the country. “How exciting is this?” says Jools, on the eve of coming to Brum. “I’m pinching myself that the legend that is José is playing with me!”

José for his part is looking forward to being reacquainted with Birmingham, which he says has great memories for him. “I played Birmingham many years ago after I played the London Palladium,” he says. “I really enjoyed coming here and was made to feel very welcome. Now, it is such a pleasure to come back and get the opportunity to hang out with somebody like Jools. I am very proud of what we are doing together.”

Jools says he can hardly believe that his TV show has been going for a quarter of a century. His music career began with playing in pubs and clubs and founding the band Squeeze before co-presenting the TV music show, The Tube, with the late Paula Yates. He did some work on TV in the US before returning to the UK to front the BBC’s new show Later With. “I only agreed to do the show if they agreed that we’d always focus on the music. At the time TV wanted something that had to be popular and short. We have always taken the music seriously and put it first.”

FESTIVE FUN

Over the years the show has been a successful mix of legends, current and new artists across a broad spectrum of music. Giving young performers their big break has always counted to Jools. “Every artist needs a break, so the more shows that can do that the better,” he says.

After their Birmingham dates this month and the completion of their tour just before Christmas, Jools and José will go their separate ways – but still be ultra-busy. “Initially, I’ll be with my wife and family at home in New England,” says José, “but I am organising a big charity concert in January in aid of the victims of the devastating hurricane in my native Puerto Rico.” As for Jools? “I might have a bit of a rest,” he says. “but then, maybe I’ll do some shows in Europe…” And, of course, there’s always the traditional New Year’s Eve TV special, Jools’s Annual Hootenanny!

Three years ago we interviewed a breezy Beverley Knight as she was turning 40 and embarking on a stage career as Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard. She felt she was ‘in at the deep end’, but embraced the challenge. A few years on and we caught up with the Wolves lovely to talk panto – she’s playing the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Hippodrome – and life as an established actress as well as a soul diva.

Beverley’s CV is immense. She’s sold more than a million albums ¬– one platinum and four gold –scooped three MOBOs and an outstanding achievement gong at the Urban Music Awards, has sung with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Prince and Chaka Khan to name just a few and collected an MBE along the way which she accepted mainly because she knew how much it would thrill her parents. It turned out to be the only time she saw her dad cry. She was nominated for an Olivier Award for Memphis The Musical which is astounding considering it was essentially her second serious musical theatre role and now she’s chucking herself into the surreal world of the pantomime. Oh yes she is.

MULTI-MILLION PANTO

Hugely proud of her roots, Beverley’s back in the Midlands as often as she can be, so her stint in the Hippodrome’s blockbusting panto alongside Suzanne Shaw and Strictly Come Dancing winner Danny Mac will give her some precious time at ‘home’. With just a two-week rehearsal process the pressure’s on but pantomime virgin Beverley is taking it in her stride. “Give me a microphone and I’ll be just fine!” she said.

With a £5million budget, the Hippodrome’s production isn’t your average pantomime, so Beverley’s started at the top of the panto heap. Lavish costumes and top-notch production values make it a must-see and with Beverley headlining so to speak, it’s sure to pull in the crowds. Two shows a day for six weeks is a tall order, but one that Beverley’s ready for. She explained: “With The Bodyguard the whole show was on my shoulders which was intense, so this’ll be a bit different. People have said to me panto’s hard work but such a laugh, so I’m looking forward to that and it’s just so glorious to be here.”

After a tricky year it will no doubt be even sweeter to spend time near friends and family. A diagnosis of uterine fibroids in May resulted in surgery to remove them as well as a hysterectomy that meant she had to reluctantly move her I Love Soulsville tour from June to October. After a lengthy recovery process, Beverley’s back doing what she loves, thrilling crowds with her insane vocals.

MEMPHIS SWELL

Eighth studio album, Soulsville which was released in June to coincide with the tour before it was postponed took Beverley back to her beloved Memphis to record at Willie Mitchell’s legendary Royal Studios. Beverley fell in love with Memphis in 2014 when preparing for her role in Memphis The Musical, so was super excited to be back and the album is like a celebration of the city and its musical heritage. On the album Beverley collaborated with Jamie Cullen, Jools Holland and Sam Moore of Sam and Dave on three Memphis classics. The rest is new material with a classic-rich soulful vibe.

Soul was also high on the agenda at a Late Night Prom with Jools Holland earlier in the year which Beverley jumped at the chance to be involved in. Called Stax Records: 50 Years of Soul was at the Royal Albert Hall and paid tribute to pioneering Memphis label Stax Records which was founded in 1957 and became synonymous with Southern soul.

The importance of the Southern soul sound went way beyond music uniting people at a time of racial tension and political unrest. The Late Night Prom brought together some of the label’s greatest surviving artists including Booker T Jones and Sam Moore. Beverley performed a magnificent version of Private Number with William Bell. It is utterly dreamy. We’ve watched it eight times and counting. Sir Tom Jones was also involved along with Ruby Turner, Steve Cropper and James Morrison.

IN THE GENES

It’s a line trotted out by many an X Factor hopeful, but it genuinely feels like Beverley was born to sing. Her mum used to lead the singing in church with her ‘sweet, melodic voice’ and all of the women on her mother’s side of the family have either been singers or musicians, so it came naturally.

“I did as much singing as I could as a youngster and when I left school I started doing local community things which eventually led to me being spotted in a club. I’ve always had a good sense of melody and understood that a song needs a great big hook. I play the piano, so I just started to write my own little things. Admittedly they were rubbish, but thankfully they’ve got better!”

Birmingham professor and TV star Alice Roberts is used to being watched by millions of viewers as she explores and explains some of natural history’s greatest wonders and mysteries. So, it’s a little surprising that she admits to being a bit nervous about a date with an audience in Brum later this month.

Prof Roberts, best known for appearing in BBC TV’s Coast, The Incredible Human Journey and Horizon, is coming to her home city as part of her first-ever major tour. Tamed is a 23-date tour which has been nearly two years in the making and which Alice says “started to crystalise first as an exciting idea for a book and then to go with on tour and bring the story to life”.

She describes the book and tour as a “labour of love” which explores archaeology, history and genetics to reveal the amazing stories of the species that became our allies. “From dogs, cattle and horses to wheat, potatoes and apples, finding out how taming these species has left its mark on them – and us,” she adds.

As well as appearing at Birmingham Town Hall this month, Alice is visiting most of the UK’s major cities and towns – including London, Manchester, Bristol and Newcastle – as she brings her unique take on making history exciting, interesting and relevant to as wide an audience as possible.

APPLE APPEAL

“I’ve been interested in human origins for ages, and I love how you can bring lots of separate strands of evidence in and weave them together,” Alice explained. “There are clues from fossils, from archaeology – the material culture of the past, from written history, and now from genetics as well. In fact, genetics is transforming our understanding of how humans evolved.

“I started to get interested in tracing the origin of other species, too, and I’d read that apples originated from Ur-orchards in Kazakhstan. When I started to research that a bit more, I uncovered a wonderful story – of the origin of apples with large fruit on the flanks of the Tien Shan mountains, of the spread of apples along the early Silk Roads, of the invention of grafting and the arrival of apples in Britain with the Romans.

“I started to cast the net wider and research lots of other species that seem really familiar to us today, which we’ve domesticated, to find out where they came from – and how we tamed them.”

Alice is an anthropologist and professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham – which means encouraging and promoting dialogue between the university’s researchers and the public, making their work accessible through the likes of outreach and festivals.

She has written seven popular science and archaeology books – her volume about embryology and evolution, The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being, was shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize in 2015. As a broadcaster, she has presented several landmark BBC series including The Incredible Human Journey, Origins of Us, Ice Age Giants and The Celts. She also presents the long-running archaeology series Digging for Britain.

FULL OF SURPRISES

“I love writing but I also love giving talks – and Tamed felt like it could translate into a great lecture. I often give talks at science and literature festivals, but this time I decided to take the book and the talk to go with it on tour. The lecture I’m taking on tour is, of course, different from the book. I won’t just be reading out excerpts. I can bring the stories to life, really delve into the mysteries, the excitement, the surprises. All with stunning images, of course.

“There are questions about how we balance wilderness and wildness with our need for farming and food, about the future of farming and our place on this amazing planet. Writing the book and the talk has certainly changed the way I think about nature, so I think it might have that effect on other people too. People will also have the opportunity to ask me questions. And I want to ask them a few too – especially in my home city of Birmingham! I love doing live shows – and I think the key to all good communication is to harness education and entertainment. Anyone who’s seen me talk before won’t be expecting a dry lecture.”

Alice says that when she’s not working on the tour, she is busier than ever in her ‘regular’ job at Birmingham University. “I’m still working hard to support other academics at the university engage with wider audiences,” she says. “We want to find new and interesting ways of communicating with people and we’ve linked up with a wide range of exciting cultural organisations across the city and region to help do just that – including the wonderful Birmingham Open Media, as well as the Library of Birmingham, Birmingham Museums Trust and Ironbridge.”

MORE TV

Alice is currently looking at inventive ways of showcasing university research – both on campus, in the newly refurbished Lapworth Museum and in the large green space that is soon to be created in the centre of the campus, and in the heart of the city too. “We are also thinking of ways in which people can become more involved with university research, even helping our researchers to come up with the right sorts of questions for 21st century society. And our Arts and Science Festival is going from strength to strength. In 2018, it will run from 12 to 18 March.”

With Digging for Britain due back on our screens in December and a “secret” big new archaeology series for Channel 4 in the pipeline, you might think Alice is feeling pretty proud of her efforts. But no. “Three things have made me very proud this year,” she says. “The graduation of my PhD student Emily Saunders, who did a great piece of research comparing how humans and gorillas move in their natural environments; my little boy starting school and settling in really well; and my wonderful 75-year-old dad abseiled off the top of Southmead Hospital in Bristol, to raise money for prostate cancer research.

“I’d like to still be abseiling and walking up mountains, like him when I’m 75!”

Classically trained at Birmingham Conservatoire, Erica Nockalls graduated in 2006 and has since forged a successful and varied career that encompasses visual art as well as music. In addition to joining the Wonder Stuff 12 years ago, Erica has collaborated with an eclectic list of artists ranging from Shane Embury of Napalm Death fame to the Proclaimers and beyond.

She’s released two critically acclaimed solo art rock albums, plus there’s a classical score in the pipeline too. As one half of duo Miles & Erica – the other half is the Wonder Stuff’s frontman Miles Hunt (aka Mr Nockalls) – an album release is set for this month. For a woman who says she’d like to ‘create something, however small, every day for the rest of my life,’ we reckon she’s nailing it.

Millions of children across the land pick up an instrument and put it down again pretty swiftly. Then there are the few like Erica for whom learning music is far from a chore and more a way of life. Erica explained: “After a fair bit of parent pestering on my part, I was gifted a violin on my seventh birthday by my mum and dad. I suppose they held out because my dad, being a classical guitarist and teacher himself, knew all too well of the ‘pick it up, put it down’ fickleness of childish whims.”

CHILD’S PLAY

When I wonder at what point the violin became more than just a hobby, Erica explained it was never that in the first place. She recalled: “You asking me this question is genuinely the first time I’ve put the two words together in one sentence. As a kid, music was the one thing I found that I had a natural aptitude for. I learned quickly and it felt good to be good at something. I’m lucky to have found out what I have a passion for at such an early age. I’ve dedicated my life to music and it wasn’t even a conscious decision to do so.”

A place at Birmingham Conservatoire followed aged 19, but why Brum? The answer’s simple: “Because out of the three music schools I auditioned for, the Conservatoire was the only one who offered me money in the form of an entrance scholarship! The fact Birmingham seemed to want me to attend enough that they’d actually pay me was rather flattering to a 19-year-old like me.” Erica was pleased with her choice for a number of reasons not least the city’s rock scene. She said: “I cut my teeth on the Birmingham rock scene, studied under the amazing violin virtuoso Ken Aiso, and I joined a professional touring band in the form of the Wonder Stuff.”

When Erica’s entrance scholarship ran out and part time work didn’t appeal, she started to busk in affluent areas around the Midlands including Stratford-upon-Avon. The Wonder Stuff’s producer lived in the town at the time and when he strolled past Erica playing one day he was impressed enough to seek her out. “At the time, I was starting to get about a bit on the Birmingham music scene playing in a progressive metal band. There weren’t that many 21-year-old classical trained metal electric violinists around back then, so it was pretty easy for the producer to track me down.”

SPEAKING HER MIND

A phone call from Miles later and Erica received a CD of tracks in the post so she could learn parts that the previous violinist had recorded. An audition was to follow. “Miles has since informed me that he knew I’d got the job within the first song we played together, a track called Circlesquare. It was just the two of us running through the songs acoustically.” Miles also told Erica she got the gig because she liked to speak her mind. “There was a track on the CD of songs for me to learn called Cartoon Boyfriend. I told him that I didn’t bother to learn that one because I didn’t really like it.”

Of the massive changes at the Conservatoire under the watchful eye of Julian Lloyd Webber Erica thinks it can only be a good thing. “Having a name professional musician with sack-loads of experience in the music industry can’t hurt. It certainly might offer students another outlook for a career in music away from the usual ‘join an orchestra if you’re good enough, or teach’ sort of music school mentality.”

Erica has released two art rock solo albums, Imminent Room and EN2 which have shown her what she’s capable of. “I understand more about myself and my limitations, more about what I want to say and achieve, more about recording processes, more about the music industry, and more about life in general really.” In a great position to collaborate with people who’ve been on her wish list for a while, Erica would love to write with Marilyn Manson and Devin Townsend Project and at some point provide real strings for Iron Maiden. She says: “I don’t know why they think synth strings are acceptable.”

NEW ALBUM

Living what sounds like an idyllic life on a farm in Shropshire, Miles and Erica have been busy writing the third Miles & Erica studio album titled We Came Here To Work which is released this month. “It’s as if by now we know what we’re doing! It all came together incredibly quickly, which in my mind is a totally positive thing when making music. We hope we have made an understated acoustic album of real, quality songs.”

Erica has provided far more layered backing vocals on this album as she says ‘she’s found her voice as a vocalist in her own right.’ She also played cello on a few tracks, an instrument Erica took up just last year. This month Miles and Erica take to the road for a couple of months promoting the album and naturally they’ll be stopping off in Brum. “I love playing gigs in Birmingham,” said Erica. “It always feels like a hometown gig, even if I am only an honorary Brummie!”

One quarter of the Vamps, Bradley Simpson is a proud Brummie for whom there’s no place like home. He might have legions of adoring fans across the globe and millions of followers on social media, but he likes nothing more than coming home to mum and dad in Sutton Coldfield and chilling out. He says: “Life’s non-stop, so it’s just great to come home.”

He loves his home town so much that Brad’s invested in a bar in the area and it’s a proper family affair. Naturally the bar’s called Simpsons and it’s no ordinary bar. Its focus is gin – there are almost 80 to choose from – and the place has a glamorous Great Gatsby vibe about it.

Not particularly into gin initially, Brad’s been doing his research. He says: “My parents are big gin fans so I thought I should spend a bit more time drinking gin! Mum always wanted to open a café, but this came along and we went for it. We’re not usually a family that makes rash decisions, but everything just lined up with this.”

FAMILY AFFAIR

All the family are involved. Brad explains: “I built the website while on tour and mum and dad have been really hands-on. Mum was responsible for the interiors and my sister’s a barrister so she did all the legal stuff like staff contracts as well as marketing, so it’s been good.”

Every weekend the place is ‘rammed’ and Brad’s bandmates are impressed. “All the band members are from different parts of the country and we all came together for a party at the bar. Everyone said ‘you know this could work in my home town’ wherever that happened to be.” No doubt news to the Simpsons’ ears as the dream is to open more bars eventually.

Showing more commitment to Brum, Brad is involved in this year’s Wild in Art project, the Big Sleuth, in aid of Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Sleuth is the collective name for a group of bears – and colourful bears are being displayed around the city over the summer. Remember the Big Hoot? That, but with bears! In October, the bears will be auctioned off to raise funds for the hospital. Brad has designed a bear imaginatively named Bradley’s Bear which is in the Mailbox. Go take a peek.

BAD KNEES

Brad grew up skate-boarding around Eastside from the age of 11 to 18 before band life took over. Of his old stomping ground he says: “It’s nice to see how the city’s changing. That area is so different now. I always bought my boards at Ideal in the Custard Factory. I don’t skate anymore thanks to my bad knees.” The 21-year-old adds: “I have the body of someone aged 56 apparently! I always try to get together with my old skating pals when I’m back, but rather than skate we end up chatting in the pub instead.”

The Vamps might look like a boyband but they are not manufactured and groomed. They found one another naturally and formed a band hungry to make music – they are genuine musicians – rather than be famous, so it works and they’re in it for the long haul. When they’re not releasing music, they’re touring or writing the next album. For instance All Night! Is out now, but the lads are already busy writing while touring. It’s never a chore though. “It’s just massively enjoyable and doesn’t feel like work,” says Brad. In five years’ time Brad fully expects to be doing exactly what he’s doing now with the band just with more bars to his name.

AMERICAN DREAM?

The lads were jetting off again the day after we spoke having just performed at the Isle of Wight Festival where they played the main stage. This time they’re heading to America for a couple of weeks, although they won’t be wasting too much time trying to crack it. Brad explains: “We’re never going to be slaves to it. We’ve seen other people spend 18 months of their lives going for it. We don’t want to neglect the fans we already have.” Of which there are plenty. Favourite places to tour? “Australia is amazing and South America is great. The fans are mental there – in a good way!”

A perfect audience is smarter than average and doesn’t take offence according to king of the one-liner, Gary Delaney. Apparently the Midlands has it all along with his wife’s home crowd, the North East. He says: “I like one of two things from an audience.

“One, a slightly smarter crowd so I get to do something more subtle and two, an audience that will let me be rude or dark without taking offence. In the Midlands and the North East I get both.” Having had a false start on the comedy circuit, Gary had a brief dalliance with event organising before chucking himself into the lion’s den of stand-up full time.

From Solihull Sixth Form, Gary went on to the London School of Economics where he liked the idea of stand-up but never had the nerve, so he worked behind the scenes on the sound desk. He recalls: “In the mid-90s my college buddy dabbled in stand-up and I helped him with his jokes.” (The college buddy Gary speaks of was millionaire money man Martin Lewis… not known for his humour). He adds: “I said to him one day ‘I’ve got this joke and it will bring the house down.’ He didn’t think it was as good as I did and told me if I thought it was that good perhaps I should do it myself?”

BETTING MAN

One night after a gig , Martin bet Gary he wouldn’t have the nerve to do stand-up. Money man Martin lost and Gary performed a five-minute set at the Comedy Brewhouse in Islington which he loved. He says: “It was such a buzz.” More gigs followed mainly in ‘fleapits’ initially but Gary admits: “I didn’t know what I was doing. I hadn’t worked out you have to work really hard. I had a couple of good gigs followed by a very bad one in a biker bar and I was all over the place.”

Gary’s sixth gig was on a TV show called The Warehouse which he got paid for and he thought ‘this is it, my big break’. More bad gigs followed and he packed up completely for four years. When Gary made a comeback in 2000, he was more focused and ready to put in the hard work. He explains: “I realised I was good at one-liners so I binned the rest. I was writing and gigging while doing the day job. As I got better at stand-up I got worse at the day job and I left two weeks before my 30th birthday.”

With no responsibilities Gary was able to ‘scrape a living’ earning £50 here and there until he started playing larger clubs like Glee and Jongleurs ¬– and then came the TV call-up. Now a regular on Mock the Week as well as an intense schedule of live shows Gary says: “TV’s fun, but honestly live shows are exhilarating. You can’t have one without the other and without TV I’d be doing stag and hen dos.”

IN THE MOOD

I wonder if Gary ever wakes up feeling distinctly unfunny and a bit grumpy. “Yes, but the advantage of my show, i.e. one-liners, is once I’ve written it which is the hard part, I just have to deliver it. I’m not making impromptu observations. I’ve just got to stand there and say it. The show must go on whether I’m in the mood or not.”

A tour takes Gary roughly three years to write and he’s constantly thinking of new material. “I record funny thoughts on my phone all the time then every Tuesday I sit down and write. When I trial new material a third of the jokes work well, a third are ok and a third are awful.”

Married to Geordie comedian Sarah Millican, they’re like the Posh and Becks of comedy and I imagine it’s a barrel of laughs at home. “We laugh a lot, but at normal stuff like the dog farting in front of the TV. We’re not at home constructing shows together. We just laugh at nonsense like everyone else.”

ALL THE LOLS

Here are our top five Gary Delaney gags. You’re welcome.

1. Last night I had to get towed home. Ratty and Moley were too pissed to drive.”
2. My girlfriend’s dog died, so to cheer her up I went out and got her an identical one. She was livid. “What am I going to do with two dead dogs?”
3. This morning I went to a meeting of my premature ejaculators’ support group. But it turns out it’s tomorrow.
4. I went to buy a Christmas tree and the guy asked ‘Are you going to put it up yourself?’ I said, ‘No, I was thinking the living room.’
5. Last time I was here a girl asked me for sex. I had to disappoint her. We had sex.

Nigel Mansell and I have met before – not that he’d know it, although he’ll certainly remember the occasion. To my immense pleasure, as well as a little bit of shame, as a young lad I was one of the many delirious British F1 fans who invaded the track after ‘Our Nige’ won the 1992 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Such was the excitement, enthusiasm and sheer volume of fans, Nigel was forced to abandon his Williams F1 car on his celebration lap and hotfoot it to the podium with the help of security men. To this day I’ve never forgotten the moment I patted the great man’s helmet as he clambered out of his car.

Thankfully for Nigel, as well as me, our second encounter after all these years was much less frenetic. The great man is heading back to Birmingham over the coming weeks, not to race but to play golf in the British Par 3 Championship – and keep and eye on this year’s British GP at Silverstone too.

REJUVENATED CITY

When we spoke on the eve of his return, it was clear Nigel is looking forward to being back in the Midlands. “Birmingham and the Midlands have changed immeasurably in recent times for all the right reasons and is challenging for a better status than London,” he said. “I don’t think there is any question that anyone who has been away for any length of time is shocked to go back and find what a fantastic modernised and rejuvenated city Birmingham has become. It’s a great cultural centre to visit.”

He added: “As for the golf, the Farmfoods British Par 3 event at Nailcote Hall is fantastic. It’s played on a brilliant course where the accuracy of your shot is everything. They are lovely people who organise the event and I am delighted to be taking part again this year – I am very much looking forward to it.”

As the only person to ever hold the Formula One and US Indy Car titles simultaneously, Nigel features large as one of the most revered sons of Brum, so much so that he has a star on Birmingham’s famous Walk of Stars, an honour he would never dreamed of receiving as a kid growing up in Baughton, Upton-upon-Severn and then Hall Green, Birmingham.

The winner of 31 Formula One races and 1992 world champion who drove for Lotus, Ferrari, Williams and McLaren, was one of four children. The family lived in what Nigel’s describes as a ‘modest’ semi-detached house with not a lot of money. He attended Rosslyn School (sometimes referred to as Hall Green Bilateral) before going to Sharmans Cross Comprehensive in Shirley, Solihull from 12 to 16 and then Solihull Technical College and Matthew Boulton College, Birmingham. “Growing up in the area was interesting, eventful, educational and for the most part enjoyable,” he says

YOUTH CHARITY

But as detailed in his autobiography, there was a dark side to those years when Nigel revealed how he suffered frequently as a target of school bullying. His father worked at Lucas Aerospace, which entailed the family moving around quite a bit, and the young Mansell always seemed to be the ‘new kid’ being picked on at school. His experiences growing up heavily influenced his desire to help youngsters from whatever backgrounds, culminating in him becoming president of the UK Youth charity which has a membership of nearly one million young people. Nigel has personally raised more than £1million for UK Youth projects and in 2012 he was awarded the CBE by Prince Charles for his services to children. “I’m still working hard with the UK Youth charity as every year there are new challenges, which is normal,” he explains. “I am very excited about the future of UK Youth as without question it is one of the great national charities.”

Another local charity, Midlands Air Ambulance, also benefits from Nigel’s ongoing support as one of its celebrity fund-raising ambassadors. The air ambulance base at Strensham is near where Nigel was born and the role of air ambulances in saving drivers’ lives at motor racing events is well documented. “The Midlands Air Ambulance has a close connection to Formula One and motorsport in the region and to every one of us who drives on our busiest roads and motorway networks each day,” he said.

HAMILTON VIEW

One thing’s for sure, none of us wants to see the air ambulance in action when the F1 drivers come to Silverstone for the British GP on 16 July. What does Nigel make of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and the rest? “They are definitely more protected these days, but that certainly doesn’t make them any more or less of a driver – they still have a job to do,” he says. “Evolution has changed significantly where the longevity and lifetime of a driver has almost doubled due to the incredible advances in technology and safety.”

And what about Silverstone itself? “I think without question there is an element of rose-tinted spectacles when we look at Silverstone,” says Nigel. “But it is still a fantastic GP circuit and can be viewed among the best and quickest in the world, but like anything it needs reinvestment constantly.”

The name Nigel Mansell will forever inspire generations of British sports fans, but the man himself plays down the fame. “I was an enthusiastic and honest driver who gave my all in the car, and the fans truly embraced this,” he explains. “I have always been of the mindset that if you get knocked back you dust yourself off and start again which is something I think the fans really appreciated.”

Felicity Jones is an actress in demand. The star of most recent films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and A Monster Calls, has lived in what can only be described as a whirlwind of fame for the past couple of years – a result initially of her stellar, Oscar-nominated portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking’s wife in the huge hit The Theory of Everything.

Today, everyone wants of piece of Ms Jones, from movie industry moguls and fellow film stars to her fans, the national and international press – and of course Birmingham Living. As a product of Bournville who discovered her love of all things acting right here in Birmingham, we’ve been tracking Felicity’s rise to the top. And when I finally got to chat to her during a very rare break just a few days before she appeared on presenting duties at the Baftas at the Royal Albert Hall, it was heartening to hear that Birmingham still figures very large in her life. And in particular, her support for the amazing staff and their pioneering work at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

DOCTORS AND NURSES

“I remember going to the Children’s Hospital with my brother and a friend to get treated for minor things – just the kind of things that all children experience,” says Felicity. “My friend’s mother worked at the hospital as a pediatrician. And his sister still works at the hospital now in intensive care. The staff at the hospital are incredible and it’s one of my links with the area so it always feels natural to support it in whatever small way I can.” Interviews such as this, which highlight and draw attention to the hospital and its life-saving work, are one of the ways that Felicity believes she can help.

Felicity was born and brought up in Bournville where she went to infants and junior school before attending Kings Norton Girls School and then sixth form at King Edward, Handsworth. “Bournville was an incredible village,” she says. “It was a wonderful community to grow up in and I still have many friends in the area.” Her interest in acting was sparked by visits with her parents (Felicity’s father was a producer on breakfast TV shows, while her mother worked in advertising) to see productions at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford and also watching her uncle, actor Michael Hadley, in a production of The Lady from the Sea when she was aged just eight.

SPECIAL PASSES

I did bits of acting at school,” says Felicity, “but I owe my actual acting career to Colin Edwards at the Central Junior Television Workshop which was in the old Central TV building in Birmingham. We youngsters were given passes to get in and we felt very special. Then the workshop moved to premises at the Custard Factory.” Felicity trained at the workshop after school from the age of 10 until 18. “We did plays there and learned about acting. I wouldn’t be in acting now without Colin and the ITV workshop. I met some incredible people there and I will never forget what a remarkable job Colin did.”

Felicity made her professional debut at the age of 12 when she appeared in the TV film The Treasure Seekers alongside an also-young Keira Knightley. A part in the television series The Worst Witch followed and then, at 16, Felicity was cast as Emma Carter in The Archers, produced from the BBC radio studios in Birmingham. She continued in the series while also studying for her English degree at Wadham College, Oxford – a challenge which could involve studying until around 1am and then getting a train at 6am to Birmingham to record The Archers. She also found time – of course – to appear in student plays at Oxford.

PEAKY BLINDERS

Since those student days, Felicity has appeared with some of the world’s biggest stars – before becoming one herself! Co-star credits include the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Ryan, Kirstin Scott Thomas, Sally Field and Jamie Foxx in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Felicity’s major breakthrough came when she appeared in the film The Theory of Everything about the life of physicist Stephen Hawking with Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne.

In her most recent movies, she starred with Tom Hanks in Ron Howard’s thriller Inferno and with Sigourney Weaver in A Monster Calls. Felicity played a fugitive hunting for the Death Star in Rogue One, a performance which won her critical acclaim in a film which grossed more than one billion dollars worldwide at the box office.

Despite appearing with some of the world’s top actors, Felicity still comes back to her roots for some of her favourite small screen ‘watches’. She’s a big fan of the BBC’s hit Peaky Blinders drama series produced here in Birmingham, and has been quoted as saying she’d love to have a part where “I get to do a full Birmingham accent”.

Whether she could find any amount of time to take on another project is however debatable. With typical understatement she admits during our interview that she has had ‘a busy few months’ globe-trotting to promote her new films. Not that she is complaining. “I quite like the promoting,” she says. “There’s something cool about promoting the films you are in and getting to hang out with the people you made the film with.”

CUSTARD FACTORY

Felicity now lives in London out of necessity (ducking and diving the inevitable paparazzi photographers who follow her every move). But she always makes it a priority to support arts projects in Birmingham when she can – projects like the UK’s largest ever multi-city street art initiative which kicked off with an 18-metre high spray-painted mural at Birmingham’s Custard Factory.

As someone who grew up going to The Rep, BMAG, the Custard Factory, Ikon Gallery and Midlands Arts Centre, Felicity says she always feels lucky to have come from such a culturally-rich city. And no matter how big her star shines, she still finds time to visit friends and family who live in Staffordshire. “And I always try to go back and see Bournville as much as I can,” she says. “It’s a wonderful place.”

Birmingham’s very own singing sensation Laura Mvula has come into the nation’s conscience big time in the past year. She’s sung before the Queen in the Royal Albert Hall, appeared performing live on TV watched by an audience of millions, and she’s been shortlisted for a host of top music industry awards. Not forgetting a hit album too… and becoming the voice of Christmas with her catchy Debenhams TV ad version of Ready Or Not.

But all of that was a cakewalk compared to what Laura has taken on over the last few months after she accepted an invitation to write the music for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of Antony & Cleopatra. Laura admits: “It’s way the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, the hardest by miles. After jumping in and agreeing to do it, the realisation of what I had taken on suddenly hit me, and I thought, ‘oh f**k!!”

BIT OF A FACADE

Laura was asked to provide her own unique musical take for the play by director and friend Iqbal Khan. Never being one to turn down the challenge of something new and fresh, Laura says: “When the offer came about I put on a bit of a facade and I thought, yeah, I can do this. Then when I thought about it some more and got into it, I just knew everything about it was alien to me. “I’d been to see productions at the RSC as a kid growing up and at uni – a friend would get me in to see the performances. But I’ve never worked in theatre before, until now.

“I wasn’t sure what the process would be. Do I write a couple of songs for the production, or do I write everything you hear? It was the latter – everything you hear! Boy, has the experience been a kick up the arse. I get a bit emotional even thinking about it.”

Laura says that at first, when the reality was months away, the idea of writing for the RSC seemed somehow cool. But then as the weeks moved on, it was soon time for her to jump into the world of Shakespeare and the RSC in earnest. “I was terrified, in all honesty,” she says. “But I was familiar with Iqbal’s approach which is to take risks and be adventurous. And as we worked, it became the most intense, authentic collaboration I’ve ever experienced. In my normal world of singing, artists talk about collaboration and it means a couple of hours with each other singing in a studio. This was completely different, intense.”

BACK TO SCHOOL

Laura describes it as like going back to school. “I had to know the play, so I was given Antony & Cleopatra to read. I tried to read it, but thought to myself ‘Oh no! This is why I didn’t do very well in English Literature at school!’. I just couldn’t get to understand the language used in the book at all.”

Things changed for the better though after Laura attended the first read-through session with the RSC’s actors and cast. “I’d never been in a room before with actors,” she says. “But as they read their parts with such power and passion, I thought ‘Ok wow’… now I understand. I knew that to do this right I would need to access parts of me that I hadn’t been to in my own music and albums.”

Laura says everyone knew she would never approach Shakespeare in a classical way. In her head, she says, the starting point was somewhere between Prince’s Purple Rain and jazz legend Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain. She took a solid two weeks of eight-hour days, recording the music herself and using a variety of plug-ins to create ‘weird and wonderful’ sounds. The end result she describes as the sound of “Laura Mvula in ancient Rome with a synthesiser and a choir”.

As we spoke, Laura was involved in auditioning singers for the choir in a studio in Clapham, London as well as running through the music with the play’s cast, who also have to sing during the performance. Then minutes after finishing our interview, she was in a taxi heading for the airport and a flight for a short tour of the US where she played in Miami, Washington and New York.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

Laura has a big following both in the States and of course here in the UK. The girl who grew up in King’s Heath and played in Christian bands and sang in church choirs before studying at Birmingham Conservatoire, also has huge fans in the music business. Her debut album Sing to the Moon was released in March 2013 to rave reviews. Her second studio album The Dreaming Room was released in June 2016 also to great critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the 2016 Mercury Prize. She was also nominated for four MOBO awards.

In November, Laura sang Abide With Me at the Festival of Remembrance attended by the Queen at the Royal Albert Hall. The following month, she sang together with Robbie Williams at BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year at Birmingham’s Genting Arena watched by a live TV audience of millions.

On her return from the States, it’s straight back to Shakespeare and rehearsals with the RSC in Stratford ahead of Antony & Cleopatra’s opening night on Saturday 11 March. “I’ll be there on opening night that’s for sure, nothing will keep me away,” says Laura. “If it all works, this could be a new direction for me. I’ll have more ideas.”

SEVEN-LINE E-MAIL

The new challenge and fresh ideas couldn’t come at a better time for Laura after she was controversially dropped by record label Sony after six years. The move brought widespread disbelief and condemnation from Laura’s peers, including fellow singers Charlotte Church, Ellie Goulding and Paloma Faith, as well as the likes of Sir Lenny Henry.

“Sony told me by e-mail. A seven-line e-mail that basically said thanks and goodbye. No reason or anything, ” says Laura. “But I’m looking at this as now the sky’s the limit for me. I can get on with new projects, make a new record, be independent and do whatever I want. There’s a new season coming up and I’ve got loads of festivals which I’m committed to in the summer.”

She adds: “Prince before he died, I had two conversations with him, and he kept telling me how I should go and make it on my own. He was keen that I should be independent. Now I am.” The first fruits of that new independence will be seen in just a few days when the curtain goes up in Stratford on what everyone fully expects will be a tour de force for Laura and her music genius.

Richard Hammond calls it ‘customer feedback’. Well he would, wouldn’t he? “Whenever we use a service, it’s always a good idea to tell people what we think of the experience,” he says. “And if it’s positive, the people providing the service like to hear that their customers are happy and that they have done a good job.”

This being the Hamster, and one third of the irreverent Clarkson, May and Hammond triumvirate, Richard isn’t talking about how rapid Amazon delivered his parcel, or how easy it was to switch energy suppliers, or to deal with his bank. This customer feedback is of the ultimate kind… about saving lives. And specifically, saving his life.

Just over 10 years ago, Richard was knocking at the Pearly Gates after a high-speed test track accident saw the jet-powered car he was piloting while filming for BBC Top Gear crash at nearly 300mph. Flipped upside down and buried in the grass beside the track, Richard was eventually extricated and airlifted to hospital by air ambulance. Suffering serious head injuries he was in a coma for two weeks and his family and friends feared he would never recover.

STUCK IN AN IGLOO

As we all know, he did – and Richard is in no doubt as to the reason why. “Without the brave crew of the air ambulance getting to me and getting me to hospital so quickly, I wouldn’t be here today. So, I’m sure glad they were around.” To this day, the celebrity presenter never misses the opportunity to talk about and promote the air ambulance cause – which is why he was speaking to me just hours before flying out to Dubai to film for the new Grand Tour series.

In case you’ve been stuck in an igloo in a snowstorm somewhere in the Artic, The Grand Tour is Top Gear reborn, sort of, only different, more extreme, and without the BBC. Screened online by Amazon Prime, the series has been reported as having a £160million budget for 36 hour-long episodes, which works out at more than £4million a pop! Which all sounds a bit excessive until see Clarkson and May blow up Hammond’s caravan with a rocket launcher! So that’s where the money goes…

Richard describes the show as a ‘huge camping expedition as The Grand Tour team travels the globe to drive, test and generally muck about with and destroy every conceivable type of vehicle. The enterprise suits Richard down to the ground because he says he has always ‘loved the great outdoors’. He remembers that as a teenager he would set off into the countryside with his border collie for weeks at a time, hiking the hills during the day and camping at night. Since then he’s made and slept in bivouacs on moors and mountains, in the Amazon rainforest and high in the Canadian Rockies. He’s also camped on the Arctic ice, lying in the midnight sun, listening to the sea ice shift beneath him at night at minus 50C.

Unforgettable experiences. But a deadly 300mph crash isn’t something anyone would want to remember however. Fortunately, you could say, Richard doesn’t recall a whole lot about his mega-accident in 2006. “I was spark unconscious,” he says. What he has never forgotten is the debt he owes to air ambulance ‘heroes’.

“It’s a weird thing, but almost all the time the air ambulance crews deal with victims in the most dire, serious situations and then once they have delivered them to hospital they probably will never see them again. I’m lucky, I’ve had cause to meet lots of different air ambulance crews around the country, presenting awards such as The Pride of Britain Awards. And they are all, without exception, very keen to hear from people who they have helped. Keen to talk to satisfied customers if you like. I’m more than happy to do that.”

Richard’s horror crash was near York so his lifesavers were from Yorkshire Air Ambulance. But as a Solihull-born lad who now lives in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, he devotes as much time and support as he can to championing Midlands Air Ambulance. Both Richard and his wife Mindy are ambassadors to the charity, supporting both national and local fund-raising and awareness. Mindy’s godson was airlifted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital by Midlands Air Ambulance after a life-threatening equestrian accident.

COUNTRY FILE

Jobe was knocked unconscious after he was struck a big blow to the right side of his head by a horse. Placed in a coma to stop seizures, doctors at Ross-on-Wye Community Hospital feared the worst for Jobe and he was airlifted by Midlands Air Ambulance 60 miles to Birmingham for emergency treatment. The specialist care helped Jobe make a full recovery.

Richard said: “Midlands Air Ambulance service is entirely funded by public and charitable donations and receives no Government or National Lottery funding. So, it is vitally important for the public to support their local air ambulance service. These crews are the real definition of heroes. When you live in the countryside you find that country people have a way of coming together and doing things to help each other and the community as a whole. This is what we do with the air ambulance. It’s a vital part of the local, regional and national community. It’s not overstating it to say that I, and many, many thousands of others, owe our lives to them.”

HAMSTER IN SHORT

• Richard is nicknamed The Hamster due his short stature. He’s 5ft 7ins. (Jeremy Clarkson is 6ft 5ins)
• Brylcreem once ranked Richard’s barnet as the best haircut on TV.
• After his accident, Richard developed a taste for celery which he previously hated.
• Publicity in the days following his accident helped raised £250,000 for the air ambulance charity.
• Richard sparked controversy in December for a comment in The Grand Tour in which he appeared to link eating ice cream with being gay.

There is something very endearing about Toyah Willcox. She is one in a long tradition of creative, sometimes downright cussed, free spirits who mellow into a kind of national treasure with the passing years. Say what you like about Toyah, you could never pigeon-hole her. The original wild-child punk princess is credited with starting the Goth movement, has voiced the Teletubbies, champions the National Trust and survived the Celebrity Jungle. And this multi-talented ball of energy has now been officially honoured by her home city with a star on Birmingham’s Walk of Stars.

Being Toyah, she challenges the word mellow. “I don’t think I’m mellowing,” she says, “though I do find things that freaked me out in the past don’t bother me anymore. And I’m working harder than ever.” No kidding! This is a one-woman phenomenon with a record company, six movies on the go and a touring band. A typical day starts at 6am, involves driving across the country, gigging, presenting and writing before final getting into bed at 4. Not that she’d change a thing.

HEARING WITH NEW EARS

“That’s the routine, but of course I enjoy it. I want a creative life. I have a new audience every year,” she says. “It’s very interesting because 80s music is brand new to these people. They don’t know the politics; they don’t know Margaret Thatcher; they don’t know mobile phones were the size of shoe boxes – they just like the music and they’re hearing it with new ears. Their opinions are so refreshing because they’re hearing it without history. I find it very intriguing.”

Born in Kings Heath, Toyah has had her ups and downs right from the start. Her Wikipedia entry states, rather brutally, that she was ‘born with a twisted spine, clawed feet, a clubbed right foot, one leg two inches shorter than the other and no hip sockets’ although she shrugs this off. “Like with many children these things grow out. My mother did physio with me every day to build up muscle strength. I still do physio twice a day – you can come on leaps and bounds with the right exercise.”

She was the original angry teenager – “I was the child from hell” – and battled with dyslexia. Her father had three joinery factories and Toyah once told an interviewer: “We used to drive a new Rolls-Royce every year. When I was seven my father was hit by a slump in the Stock Market and he lost everything. Our standard of living dropped dramatically but he managed to keep the house and me in private school which was a big achievement.”

I LIED ABOUT MY AGE

Before she was 14, the irrepressible Toyah had seen Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Black Sabbath and Hawkwind play – “admittedly I lied about my age everywhere I went” – and these artists inspired her to become a musician. “The arts in Birmingham are still leading the way with a creative community keeping it firmly on the map of creative innovation.”

She went to the Old Rep Drama School after which she got her first lead role with the BBC. “My career began at BBC Pebble Mill, a place where dreams came true for me,” she says. She has gone on to pack a great deal into a career that boasts 13 top 40 singles, 23 studio albums, more than 40 stage plays and 10 feature films, including Quadrophenia and last year’s Aaaaaaaah! (for which she appeared in a Q&A with director Steve Oram at the Electric Cinema.) Not to mention the Shakespeare (The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s dream), the musicals (Calamity Jane, Rocky Horror) and a slew of celebrity programmes from Masterchef and Splash through to I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’.

She has even acted alongside Sir Laurence Olivier and Katharine Hepburn (who was so delighted with Toyah’s screaming orange hair she couldn’t stop running her fingers through it!). The sheer mix of work is dizzying and last month this huge talent and thirst for a workload that would break most people was recognised by the city she loves so much. Toyah was honoured together with comedian Don Maclean with a star on Birmingham’s Walk of Stars in Broad Street, a cracking scheme that has recognised more than 30 fine celebrities and achievers from the region including Ozzy Osbourne, Jasper Carrott, Noddy Holder, Lenny Henry and Ellie Simmonds.

DAD’S ANTIQUE SHOP

“I was thrilled to receive a star. Having spent my childhood and teenage years here I developed my love of music and theatre thanks to all the great venues and theatres available within the city. My father’s antique shop stood on Broad Street, just at the corner of the Hyatt Hotel so I’m happy and incredibly proud. My only wish was that my parents could have been with me.”

So as she reflects back on her career and her youth in Birmingham, how does she feel about the city? “The transition Birmingham has been through is awe-inspiring. Walkable cities are the best. That way you discover things about a place. I love the Jewellery Quarter and adore Centenary Square. Some of the productions at the REP are mind-blowing. When friends come over from the US I always send them to Brindleyplace to explore the city from there. I love the depth of heritage here.”

Ten years ago, six-year-old Connie Talbot strode onto the stage of Britain’s Got Talent and with a precocious talent, angelic voice and delightful gap-toothed grin launched into Somewhere Over The Rainbow. A couple of minutes later, the life of the girl from Streetly had been changed forever as she sent the studio audience into raptures and captured the hearts of millions of TV viewers watching at home.

Since that amazing debut Connie has become an international phenomenon appearing in shows around the world as well as having hit albums and becoming a multi-million YouTube sensation. When I caught up with the 16-year-old this month she was on her way to ‘knock around’ some ideas with the producer of American superstar Mary J Blige. Having had a successful album Matters To Me in March 2016, Connie is in the midst of ‘some big projects’ due in early 2017.

Being a child star is seriously tricky stuff. There are plenty of examples in showbiz of lovely, talented kids who have been seriously good at six and seriously a pain in the ass and off the rails at 16. But not Connie. This is one teenage sensation with a seriously screwed-on head. And she’s in no doubt who to thank for that. “It’s all down to mum and dad,” she says.

FAMILY FIRST

“People think that if a child is very successful at something and ambitious it’s because they have pushy parents. But nothing could be further from the truth with my parents. I have always just pushed myself. I decided I wanted to audition for Britain’s Got Talent and they supported me in that, just as they do with everything else. They’ve always encouraged me with my music, but also stressed the importance of getting a good education, doing well in exams and having a career to fall back on if my music all goes wrong. We all know music is a risky business. One day you’re everyone’s favourite but it can easily all change round very quickly.”

Family is all-important to Connie (“I’m spending a quiet Christmas with my family at my auntie’s – she’s just round the corner in the same road as us”). Connie lives with mum Sharon, dad Gavin and her older brother Josh and sister Mollie. It was her late grandmother Violet who was first to recognise Connie’s talent for singing when her grand-daughter watched The Wizard of Oz with her – and sang the songs from the musical over and over. After her sensational appearances on BGT, Connie’s debut album Over The Rainbow won a gold disc in the UK and platinum and double platinum in other countries. Connie became the youngest artist in the UK to reach the charts and the youngest-ever to receive a gold record.

Two years later she released an album in America and recorded a one-hour TV special. She was just aged eight. The following year she performed for world leaders in South Korea at the opening ceremony of the G20 World Summit. Then in 2011, she sang at China’s New Year celebrations watched by a TV audience of 600 million! Tours of the UK, including top venues such as London’s O2, followed before trips to Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

As well as developing into a prolific songwriter, Connie also plays piano and guitar. “I love songwriting,” she says. “I like being creative. The way I write music is pretty random really. Often if I have something on my mind I might write about it. It can be the music that comes first or the words, or a mix of both.

“Right now it’s important to get the balance between my music and schoolwork right. It’s never been a problem though because it has always been second nature to me to have to deal with both in my life right from when I was very young. I’ve got GCSEs next June and then I will probably do A-Levels, but really I want to make my career moving forward in music.”

Mum Sharon is keen to stress how seriously Connie takes her academic work. “Connie’s attendance at school never suffers,” she says. “It’s always been well above 92 per cent.” Indeed, you get the impression talking to Sharon that she’d be quite as happy for her daughter to have a successful ‘normal’ career. “The careers lady came into Connie’s school and didn’t know who Connie was or anything about her,” says Sharon. “She asked Connie what career she wanted to do and when she told her she wanted to be a singer the careers lady told her to come to her senses and concentrate on her strength in sciences!”

LUCKY BREAK

Like all 16-year-olds, Connie is on the cusp of the rest of her life. Music has always been what her life revolves around, whether it’s sitting at the piano at home keying out a few chords of a new song, recording some new material or performing at gigs – including events supporting charities such as Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

“Being on BGT at six really feels like a lifetime ago,” she says. “When you’re young and you want achieve something the years seem to pass so slowly. Then when you get older they go so quickly.” As mentioned earlier, because of her age and education, there have been times when developing her musical dream has had to be put on the back-burner a bit, but that hasn’t worried the teenager. “The hardest thing of all with a music career is to get into it in the first place, and that’s mostly down to luck as well as having the talent. I’ve had that break with BGT and it’s just gone on from there.”

So, who would bet against Connie, post-GCSEs, becoming as big a star as her hero Adele? “I love Adele, she is amazing and a real role model,” says Connie. “It’s my dream to sing with her.” Maybe if Adele’s available over Christmas and is reading this…. who knows?

Shazia Mirza is often lauded as brave and provocative tackling tough issues that most people shy away from or laugh nervously at, but to her that makes no sense. She explains: “I’m not at home giving myself a pat on the back for being brave. I don’t even know what that means. I just write jokes.” The teacher-turned-comic’s brand of political incorrectness is to some hilarious and to others offensive. She says: “People are offended but they don’t know why they’re offended. They are offended on other people’s behalf.” More about being offended later… Born in Birmingham, Shazia grew up in Harborne in a middle-class set-up and was expected to do well, find a good man and settle down. A degree in bio-chemistry fitted the bill followed by a career in teaching, but while working in a rough East End comprehensive Miss Mirza decided it wasn’t her dream gig. Turning to stand-up, Shazia embarked on a comedy course and began doing the rounds on the circuit building up experience and audiences while holding down the day job. Eventually teaching gave way to comedy and Shazia bounded onto the scene in a big way in 2001 wearing a hijab poking fun at Islam and the commonly-held attitudes towards Muslims. Awarded Best New Act at the London Comedy Festival in the same year, Shazia began touring the UK and beyond to rave reviews.

THE ‘B’ WORD

Shazia’s current show, The Kardashians Made Me Do It, was a work in progress at 2015’s Edinburgh Fringe to much acclaim and became a sell-out tour earlier this year. Extended to run from September to March it’s proving a hit. Inspired in part by Jihadi brides and three girls from Bethnal Green who ‘chose to go to Syria not Ibiza’ on holiday to join ISIS, the show takes a look at why young Asian girls are attracted to the barbarous organisation. Clearly it’s a humorous take, but it provides plenty of food for thought. Inspiration also comes from an unrelated radio piece that Shazia contributed to the BBC which received a record number of complaints. The show tackles the nature of offence and the dangers of politically correct liberalism versus the intrusion of ISIS into the lives of young British Asian women. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive packed predictably with the ‘b’ word. The Telegraph says ‘brave and urgent,’ The Standard, ‘brave, well-informed, potent,’ and the Mail on Sunday, ‘As brave a piece as you’ll see’.

As well as positive reviews and supportive audiences, Shazia has taken some flak recently over remarks she made on a daytime TV show with some misguided viewers calling her a terrorist sympathiser! Of the episode Shazia wrote online: “Ironically, it’s the same right-wing mouthpieces that expect ‘my people’ to condemn violence committed by any Muslim-identified terrorist anywhere in the world. Yet when I speak up to belittle and satirise ISIS for the absurdity of the fake jihad-chic lifestyle they sell, I get told to shut up. I’m on their side and they still attack me?” Audiences have changed a bit since the early days. Typically packed with gay men who have always supported her and Guardian readers, Shazia has noticed more Muslim women in head scarves of late and even Muslim kids with their parents. The first British comedian to perform in Pakistan, Shazia enjoyed a warm welcome in the devout Muslim country in an underground gig with no advertising and the audience was ‘amazing’. She says: “It’s not safe to go now, but I’ve performed in Pakistan around 10 times and each time it’s been great.”

HOME COMING

Now living in the south, Shazia still feels gigging in Birmingham is like coming home. “It’s a privilege coming back. I grew up here in the Eighties when Thatcher was in power. The IRA blew up the Rotunda. There were strikes, lots of factories and it was a bit grey. The city has changed amazingly. Times were hard and we’ve progressed.” She adds: “What’s always been great about Birmingham and still is its multi-culturalism.”

Guz Khan who is living the comedy dream. A teacher at Grace Academy Coventry until just last year, he’s swapped marking books to making people laugh. Guz’s three-minute You Tube rant about Spielberg’s Jurassic World and the ‘Pakisaurus’ catapulted him into the public eye in 2015 and his character Mobeen was born. As a teacher Guz felt he ought to keep his You Tube videos quiet and initially used the alias Guzzy Bear. He says: “The kids knew about it and kept it very quiet. One posted a link on his Facebook page and was quickly shouted down by 80 school friends keen to keep it under wraps. I got comments like ‘decent’ from the kids which I guess is good!” Guz’s job was stable, he was moving up the pay scale and had become head of department, but he wanted more. He says: “I loved the kids, but I was sitting marking one day and thought ‘just one more tick and I’ll jump out of the window’. I had things I wanted to do, social issues I wanted to address which I couldn’t really do as a teacher.”

Guz was funny growing up and his old friends aren’t surprised by his comedy career. “We lived in a rough area in Birmingham, but mum made sure we went to a decent school. I was the funny kid using humour to break down barriers. I used to watch Eddie Murphy Raw with my sister which had a big influence on me. When I watch ‘Pakisaurus’ I can hear a similar rhythm and tone of voice.” Guz filmed Man Like Mobeen around Small Heath and Balsall Heath and wouldn’t have had it any other way. “We had so much love when we were filming. It was authentic which was important to me.” Man Like Mobeen is currently airing on BBC3, a new programme called Zapped is starting soon on Dave, there’s Borderline on Channel 5 as well as live gigs and writing. Guz is a busy man. “I know it could all go away as quickly as it started, so I’m just enjoying it. I still don’t believe I’m living this actually.”

The dream start to an interview is not, “I’ve just got back from my stag do, so bear with me” (an Alan Partridge-themed do on the Norfolk Broads in case you’re wondering). However, if this was a below par Jonnie Irwin, he must be one lively fella on a good day. The cheeky chappie burst onto our screens 12 years ago with A Place in the Sun co-host Jasmine Harman and his star has been on the rise ever since. Numerous TV presenting roles have followed including Escape to the Country as well as speaking at conferences and events and he’s become a household name. Growing up in rural Leicestershire, Jonnie moved to Birmingham to study and fell in love with the place. As you’d expect he got on the property ladder pronto buying a small place in Bearwood followed by another in Moseley which he still owns. After graduating from Birmingham City University with a degree in estate management in 1997, Jonnie began building a successful career at Christie and Co before being head-hunting by Colliers in Birmingham to set up a hotel and leisure division when an opportunity in TV came knocking. It nearly didn’t happen though.

SCREEN TEST

Jonnie explained: “I’d just got back from a trip to Argentina and I had a message saying a TV production company was looking for people in property for a new show. I’d missed the deadline while I was away and when I called I was told it was too late.” Undeterred, Jonnie didn’t take no for an answer. He added: “I just thought it probably wasn’t too late in truth, so I did my own screen test on a camcorder and sent it to the producers.” He interviewed shoppers in the street on the day after Boxing Day about why they were returning Christmas presents. This impressed the producers and bagged him a proper screen test followed by a job offer and more than 200 episodes of A Place in the Sun under his belt – and Jonnie still loves what appears to be a dream gig. He admitted: “It is pretty good! The best thing about it is getting to explore places you might quite like to visit but you wouldn’t necessarily waste your precious fortnight holiday on. The Caribbean was a surprise for instance. I thought it’d be all Americanised and it wasn’t. It was so different.” As the name suggests the premise of the show is a series of house-hunters buying property abroad with Jonnie and co on hand to guide them through it. It’s an interesting watch and at times frustrating as often the house hunters don’t buy anything. Jonnie said: “When the house hunters don’t pull the trigger through fear, yes that’s frustrating. Conversely there are days when I say to them ‘I don’t think this is right for you. Let’s keep looking’.”

With a small team filming for weeks at a time it’s crucial they get along. “We’re in one another’s pockets and we’re a tight team. What I’ve realised about TV people is that they make things happen. The attitude is a can-do one. They just get on with it and anything’s possible.” I wondered if Brexit had affected the show, but Jonnie says not. “We haven’t missed one day of filming since Brexit. The majority of house hunters on the show are looking for a holiday home and that’s largely unaffected although obviously people realise their budgets have shrunk due to exchange rates. The Brits are such massive buyers of property in areas like Southern Spain and we’re so strong in the market that it’s worth a cheeky offer.” Surprisingly Jonnie doesn’t have a holiday home – “I don’t spend enough time in my actual home let alone a holiday home! I’ve managed to detach myself from the emotional side of buying a property. I see something I want, sleep on it and realise it’s not the right decision.” Now living in London, Jonnie has kept his house in Moseley as an investment and is regularly in Birmingham visiting his best mate. He enthused: “I’m so fond of the city. It’s probably the friendliest city I’ve been to anywhere in the world. Seriously.” The city has rewarded him with an honorary doctorate from BCU which he’s delighted about.

WORST HOUSE

And what of the property market in Birmingham? “Property stock in Birmingham is good. There are some wonderful streets. I’m not into property hotspots and I’m definitely an advocate of buying the worst house in the best street. My dad taught me that. I’d buy somewhere secure like Harborne which has good pubs, nice shops and is a short distance to the city centre – that’s important to me. Otherwise what’s the point? I might as well be in Solihull.” Three weeks after we talked Jonnie was set to enjoy (possibly) his second stag do because one’s just not enough! This one’s a bit secretive though and he has been instructed to turn up at the airport with his passport and wallet with no clue as to where he’s going. If he makes it back in one piece you can catch up with Jonnie at Place in the Sun Live.

A lot has happened in Ben Hanlin’s life since we last interviewed him more than two-and-a-half years ago. For starters, he’s got married and moved house. He’s completed a further three series of his hit ITV show Tricked and picked up a clutch of awards for his mind-blowing illusion-creating along the way. And he’s also appeared in Live At The Palladium and in The Illusionists in the West End. This month sees a new exciting challenge for the 29-year-old Brummie as he launches his first-ever one-man show at the famous Edinburgh Fringe. Billed as ‘fresh and playful’ and cheekily-entitled Trickhead, it promises to make audiences ‘laugh out loud’ and leave ‘their minds totally boggled’. Sounds impressive! “It’s exactly the way you would do stand-up comedy. You start with a completely blank sheet of paper and begin writing ideas,” explained Ben. “I’ve had some warm-up gigs where I’ve been able to try some things out and work on them from there. I’ve spent the last six months getting everything ready and now I’m really excited to get going.” It might sound surprising that this is Ben’s first one-man show, afterall his career started out when he became an overnight sensation debuting his incredible tricks on YouTube. But so far his work has been mainly around Tricked, the prime-time hidden camera show where he has captured audiences with his – occasionally shocking – magic and boy next-door character.

MAGICAL MOMENTS

Known for his unique pranks, Ben’s mischievous magic persuaded famous personalities to believe he had invented a time machine, convinced an actress to believe that she had seen a ghost and prompted a UK boy band to watch as one of their members fell off a cliff- top from a moving trailer. A ratings winner, Tricked was also named Best Entertainment Programme at the renowned Broadcast Digital Awards. “I love doing Tricked but the one-man show is something completely different and fresh,” said former Warwick School boy Ben. “I’ve had the opportunity to do Edinburgh Fringe a couple of times in the past but have had to pull out because I just couldn’t fit everything in. I want people to come to the show and see and experience some really magical moments but also to have a laugh at the same time too.”

The fusion of magic and comedy has always been what makes Ben the performer so different and successful. He’s able to produce astounding large-scale illusions or highly detailed close-up magic, all with his unique sense of humour. His one-man show bears all those traits – and even includes one trick based around a four-foot phone! If Trickhead proves to be a hit at the Fringe, it could be seen by wider audiences across the UK. “We’ll see how well it goes,” said Ben. “We could end up taking it around the UK or using bits of it towards something else, in some other way.” Ben’s love of magic started young when as a shy lad he used tricks as a way of approaching girls he liked at his school. When he left school however, he took up a career as a chartered surveyor before deciding to risk all and try his hand as a full-time magician. He played a host of local venues including Hampton Manor, Wroxhall Abbey and Nailcote Hall before bursting onto the national scene with Tricked, which he co-writes as well as stars in.

RADIO SHOW

“I spend a lot of time in London, and since getting married have moved there, but I’m still very much a Birmingham boy – I will never lose that,” said Ben. “All my family are still there and I present my Saturday afternoon radio show each week on Capital Birmingham.” After his one-man shows Ben says he has “something else in the pipeline which will be very exciting”. Like all great illusionists, he’s keeping the exact details of how, what and when close to his chest for now. But he promises all will be revealed soon…

September 1st is the date that best-selling author Lee Child looks to each year. That’s the day, without fail, when he sits down at his desk to begin work on his next book. It’s a routine that works pretty well. He’s written 21 Jack Reacher novels this way, the first being on 1 September 1995 – the day he was fired from his job in television, invested in paper and pencil and created the tough, nomadic American ex-military cop that millions of readers have grown to love. “I always begin the same way, it never changes,” says Lee. “I haven’t even thought about Jack Reacher prior to sitting down. It’s a blank piece of paper, nothing planned, no plot prepared or anything like that. If you spend all your time thinking about it you get too close to the character, and then it can become very difficult to write.”

MOVIE PREMIERE

Apart from writing Book No 22, this September will have extra significance for the Birmingham-educated author. Just a few weeks later will see the premiere of the second Jack Reacher movie, starring Tom Cruise, and when Lee and I chatted this month he was already getting excited at the prospect of the new film, entitled Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. He was due to fly to Hollywood to see the final cut, the next day. “While the film is based on my book, I never get involved in the scripting – it never works if the author is the person trying to adapt their book for the screen. I am on set all the time watching what goes on, but that’s about it until I see the finished movie.” Lee was born by the name of Jim Grant in October 1954 in Coventry (he adopted the pen name Lee Child when he wrote his first book). The son of a civil servant, his parents moved him and his three brothers – the youngest is also a thriller writer – to Handsworth Wood when he was aged four to get a better education. He attended Cherry Orchard Primary School before passing the entrance exam for King Edward’s School which at that time was a direct grant school funded by the Government. Lee never forgets how lucky he was to go to King Edward’s. “If you passed the entrance exam back then, that was it, you were in and it was free,” he said. Since the end of the Direct Grant system, the school has been independent but continued to offer a number of assisted places.

SCHOOL PROJECT

Lee has been at the forefront of a campaign by the school to hugely increase the assisted places scheme. As one of 12 alumni ambassadors he has contributed and promoted King Edwards AP100 project which has just completed the target of raising £10million over the past six years to fund 100 assisted places at the school, doubling the current number. Lee returned to King Edward’s to join chief master John Claughton and the staff in celebrating the achievement. “A lot of money was raised and it will have a huge impact on some children’s lives. You want every kid to have the chance of the same opportunities you had growing up. What I have done to help means that I have paid for one kid to go through the school, which is great. Although I spend a lot of time at my home in New York, my roots are very much in Birmingham and the place means a lot to me.” Lee recalls the city of his childhood was “very industrial and very prosperous”. He said: “There was lots of money around. I remember my gran coming down to visit from Yorkshire and she saw people in Birmingham using £5 notes – she’d never seen one before!” While the demographic of the city has changed since those days, Lee says Brum’s unique DNA is still apparent. “Birmingham has always been about energy, talent and creativity and that hasn’t changed even though the place feels very different now.

REFERENDUM VOTE

“Birmingham has suffered from a poor PR image. In the past you could call it the silicon valley of its time, and then it underwent huge changes. As a result it became very defensive as a city when it has no need to be. It is a wonderful place today.” While the author spends a lot of his time in his apartment in Manhattan, he also has a home in Sussex which entitled him to vote in last month’s EU referendum. While not revealing if he was a Remainer or Brexiter, he said: “If you have the right to vote, you have to use it.” He’s also a mad football fan, watching all the England games in Euro 2016, and following the difficulties of his beloved Aston Villa. In another nod to his Midlands roots, he also owns and drives a supercharged Jaguar which was built at the Brown’s Lane plant, just 30 yards from the hospital in which he was born. We’re sure Jack Reacher would approve…

JACK FACTS

• According to Lee, readers love Jack Reacher “because he represents all that we would like to be but are prevented from doing in real life. He doesn’t live anywhere and he doesn’t own anything. He isn’t tied down”.
• The first Jack Reacher book, Killing Floor, won awards for being the best first novel by an author. Since then the 21 books in the series have clocked up hundreds of millions of sales and been best-sellers around the world.
• The first Jack Reacher film starring Tom Cruise was a box office hit, grossing more than $200million.
• The name Jack Reacher came as a result of Lee’s wife asking him to reach goods on top shelves. At 6ft 5ins, she told him he could “always become a reacher in a supermarket if the writing didn’t pan out”.
• As an Aston Villa fan, Lee has been known to include the names of players in his books.
• Lee makes Hitchcock-like brief cameo appearances in the movies. He appeared as a desk sergeant in the first film and will be seen again in Never Go Back.

Birmingham and the Midlands as a whole occupy a special place in Sharron Davies’s heart. The Olympic medal-winning swimmer turned TV presenter and reality star remembers her time at the City of Birmingham Swimming Club and living in Solihull with particular fondness. “It was in the days when Nick Gillingham and that whole generation of great British swimmers were around the club and at their peak,” Sharron recalls, referring to the former men’s world recordholder and breaststroke champion from Walsall. Sharron raced for Birmingham in the early 1990s, and although her stay was relatively brief, her love of the area and her interest in Midlands swimming has remained with her ever since. “I had a great time in Birmingham,” she says. “I’d come off a break with swimming and decided I wanted to go back into it, so I moved to Birmingham to be with Nick’s set up at the pool.

LOVELY SOLIHULL

“While I was with the club, I stayed in a lovely cottagey place in Solihull. It was a great place to be based from and until then I had never realised what a lovely place Solihull was.” Sharron eventually left the club and retired from competitive swimming altogether in 1993 to set off on what would become a significant TV career which included appearing on the likes of Gladiators and Question of Sport. She recalls life on the small screen didn’t exactly start with public adoration and fat paychecks. “My first attempt on TV was appearing on Give Us A Clue for which I got paid the princely sum of £40,” she recalls. Sharron’s best-known role however is, probably, as the face of British swimming, adding expert insight and commentary to the BBC’s Olympic coverage. It’s Sharron who gets to speak first to the swimmers fresh out of the water poolside. She’s covered the Seoul, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London Olympics. The London Games was her 10th Olympiad as a competitor or broadcaster. “I’ve been with the BBC for 18 years. It hardly seems believable. I enjoy every minute of meeting and talking to the swimmers, especially when we Brits have won a medal.” It’s fair to say that the swimmers respond to Sharron – afterall, they know she is ‘one of them’. Having first swum for Britain at the age of just 11, she was selected for the 1976 Montreal Olympics and instantly became a household name. At only 14 she confirmed her talents by winning two European bronze medals – only losing out to the then all-conquering East Germans. But it was in 1978 that 15-year-old Sharron stormed to the first of her many successes, winning Commonwealth gold medals in both 200m and 400m Individual Medley events. In 1980 she took silver at the Moscow Olympics finishing just behind an East German swimmer who has since admitted that her performance was heavily drug enhanced. Twice voted British Press Sportswoman of the Year, Sharron’s incredible international career spanned three decades, included numerous major titles and medals and 200 British records, some of which still stand to this day. As patron of Disabled Sport England and The Sports Aid Foundation she devotes time to charity. She’s also a big supporter of the campaign to raise awareness of bowel cancer. Her annual swimming event Swim For Life has become widely known. Launched 15 years ago with Princess Diana, it involves up to 2,000 pools nationwide and has raised millions of pounds for different causes.

HOPES FOR RIO

Sharron is looking forward to seeing what today’s generation of British swimmers can achieve at the Rio Olympics in August. “Right now British swimming is in a terrific place,” she says. “We have two world champions and many others who have won medals. We will do much better in Rio 2016 than we did at London 2012.” Win or lose, there’s one thing the swimmers can bet on – Sharron will be waiting to dive in, microphone in hand, poolside to deliver their first reactions to millions of watching sports fans back home.

As twin brothers growing up together in Edgbaston there wasn’t much the two Joseph boys weren’t into. With a mum who was an architect and a dad who ran the family glass-making business, Antony and Richard were unsurprisingly naturals at designing and building things, taking the odd bike, or other bits of machinery lying around in the garage, apart and rebuilding them again. In one particularly hare-brain moment the duo set about try to construct a full size sand yacht from scratch with whatever they could lay their hands on. “I think it was at about this point that mum said ‘enough is enough’ and we’d be sent off to let off steam and run wild around the Botanical Gardens – it was the place we’d go to when we were especially hyperactive,” says Antony with a slightly sheepish tone to his voice. “The two of us were always busy though, trying different things. Dad liked to give us projects to do and we’d even sweep up for him when there was glass making going on.”

BRILLIANTLY INNOVATIVE

They say that the early years are the most important and formative ones of your life, and that certainly has to be the case with the Josephs – who eventually hit the big time. The very big time! If you haven’t already worked it out, you’ll probably recognise how big if I give them their business title of Joseph Joseph. That’s right, the lads from Edgbaston are the brains behind the coolest-designed kitchen accessories on the shelves. The name that you’ll see on colourful, innovative and brilliantly conceived products in leading stores like John Lewis up and down the country. In fact Joseph and Joseph currently produces more than 400 lines of which 70 per cent are exported to over 100 countries – which means they have offices in New York, Paris, Tokyo, Dusseldorf as well as their HQ employing more than 70 people in London. “I think mum and dad are really proud of what we have achieved so far,” said Richard. “They know themselves how hard you have to work to do well with your own business. They’re both retired now and still live in Edgbaston and take a real interest in what we do. Mum has been known to do some ‘live’ marketing for us by dropping into John Lewis’s kitchen department from time to time!” Antony and Richard are one of two sets of twin boys which mum and dad have ‘had to cope with’ over the years. “Peter and Philip are also both in business together – in architecture and interior design. We also have two sisters, and one of them is an architect too.”

Antony and Richard went to West House School in Edgbaston before moving on to Winterfold House in Kidderminster. They spent their senior years boarding away from home at Stonyhurst College in Clitheroe, Lancashire. “With six children knocking around I think mum thought it was time we were packed off to give her a break,” joked Antony. After senior school the boys went their separate ways for a while, Richard studying at Loughborough and Cambridge and Antony at Central St Martins, London. Both gained degrees in industrial design before coming together again to launch Joseph Joseph in 2003 after realising how very dull and boring the world of kitchen utensils and accessories was at the time. “I guess we started out right at the moment that celebrity chefs, people like Jamie Oliver, were beginning to be seen, which was quite handy,” said Antony. “We started with just four products – our very first one was a functional and hygienic glass chopping board, which we still produce and remains a very popular seller today.” Indeed, while production of all other Joseph and Joseph products happens in the Far East, the chopping board is still made by a workforce of eight people in a small factory in West Bromwich. “It works well, so why change it?” said Antony. “The factory and the people there mean a lot to us, it’s how we started. We’re both very proud to be from Birmingham and while we are now both in London, the place continues to be our roots.”

Richard admits that in those early days they produced “some really wacky things”. He explained: “When you’re small you try to get noticed. We both love product design, and seeing our things on the shelf in a shop is really exciting. We were very much in the ‘doing it to survive’ mode. We wanted to take tried and tested items and give them a real art and design approach. We wanted them to stand out because of the quality of the design and the colours, but also the quality of the finish and how they work. We wanted people to know a Joseph Joseph product just by how it looks and feels and works. It takes a couple of years for a product to come from concept to the finished item.”

FUTURE PLANS

It’s all that flair and attention to detail which now sees the business turnover tens of millions of pounds a year with brilliantly colourful and ingenious cooking utensils (how clever are those bowls within bowls!), knives and chopping boards. But the boys aren’t done yet – no way! Earlier this year they went into recycling with their 60-litre Totem waste separation bin – cleaning and organisation in the home is ‘the’ big thing of the moment according to the boys. “But there’s lots of stuff for us to look into doing in the future,” said Antony. “There are some areas which we aren’t into very much at all, there are some we aren’t in at all – stuff like small cookware and electricals. There’s lots we can do in the empty spaces. We have 200 products in development at the moment, but we can’t say too much about them because we get copied so much!” As the nation laps up all things cooking and baking on TV, in books and online, it’s good to know that a couple of mischievous boys from Brum have truly become kings of the kitchen!

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is a name with a ring to it – with a story to tell. It smacks of history, struggle, pioneering spirit and overcoming all the odds. From humble beginnings in Jamaica and then inner-city Birmingham, to TV director and creating the hugely successful Black Farmer food brand, Wilfred has been there, done that and got the T-shirt. He’s the self-confessed ‘boy from the wrong side of the tracks’ who finally made it with an “anything is possible” attitude to everything he approaches – even his health. A couple of years ago Wilfred was diagnosed with leukaemia and underwent a stem cell transplant which confined him to a hospital bed for the best part of 12 months. But that’s just fired this Brummie battler up all the more to take on new challenges. “I am thankful to be alive,” he says. “As anyone will tell you, a near brush with death refocuses the mind and your priorities. Many people want to take a step back. I don’t. What I have been through has spurred me on to new goals. All my energies are going into take The Black Farmer to the next stage.”

SHARE YOUR SOUL

The new challenges include the launch of his first national TV ad – directed by Hollywood’s six-time Grammy nominee Tony Kaye – and social media campaign. His Black Farmer brand which produces gluten-free sausages and other products found on supermarket shelves across the country is now said to be worth more than £300million. As well as pushing the business even harder, Wilfred wants to encourage the nation to ‘share their souls’. The Black Farmer’s #ThisIsMySoul Photo Story campaign has echoes of the Humans of New York launched in the US city in 2010 which has gone on to record snapshots of the lives, trials, tribulations, hopes and dreams of tens of thousands of New Yorkers – becoming an Internet sensation and source of inspiration in the process. “The importance of sharing our stories unites us, makes us stronger, ” says Wilfred. “I find people and their stories fascinating and enriching. I never stop learning and being amazed at what drives and inspires us. We can learn so much from each other. For instance, I’ve learned to dance and bought myself a plot of land in Spain in the heart of flamenco country! I’ve always wanted to build my own house and in hospital I read self-build magazines from cover to cover.” Credited with being the first black farmer in the UK, Wilfred’s story began when his family arrived in Birmingham from Jamaica. One of nine children, home was in Small Heath where he tended his father’s allotment. It was hard work but he loved it and set his dream of one day owning his own farm. “Looking after the allotment was great, except for going out in the cold to pick brussel sprouts. I’ve hated sprouts ever since,” he says. After leaving school and enduring a short stint in the army – he was kicked out for indiscipline – he studied at Halesowen Catering College, followed by jobs in hotels and restaurants in the Birmingham area before “talking” his way into a role at the old BBC Pebble Mill studios. He later moved to London where he was responsible for bringing the first celebrity chefs, such as Gordon Ramsay, to our screens. His childhood dream became a reality when he spotted and bought a farm while on holiday in the West Country where launched The Black Farmer business.

MORRIS DANCING

Wilfred said the past couple of years have been particularly tough for his wife, Michaela who has had to keep the business running while also looking after him – the cancer treatment has affected the pigmentation of his skin. But he jokes that “the business did much better when I was ill than it ever did before”. (Turnover is now well over £15million a year with The Black Farmer range of gluten-free sausages the UK’s top-selling super premium sausage brand.) Throw in writing a cookery book, embarking on a national tour of the UK to share the joys of Morris dancing and rural life and giving motivational talks to young entrepreneurs, and it’s easy to see that Wilfred truly is a great and inspirational man. “Giving back is massively important to me,” he says, “I have been very fortunate to have had people who gave me a helping hand, who believed in me against all the odds. I want to give the same opportunity to others that makes a difference now and in the future.”

They’re a talented lot in the Glasspool family. Mum and dad are both teachers in Birmingham, youngest son Lloyd is a promising tennis player on a scholarship in Texas and is already in the world’s top 500 professionals – while older brother Parry is known by millions of TV soap fans as ‘the Hollyoaks hunk’. If you’re not a follower five nights a week of the goings-on in Channel 4’s fictional suburb of Chester then take it from me, you don’t know what you’re missing – particularly the impressive rise of Parry since he joined the series in 2014. His performances as gay student Harry Thompson have won him rave reviews, including a Best Newcomer nomination at the recent National Television Awards. It’s all proved to be a bit of a whirlwind time for the 23-year-old from Hollywood who not so long ago was a student at Stratford-upon-Avon College before graduating with a BA in drama from university.

OUT OF THE BLUE

“The Best Newcomer nomination came totally out of the blue and it was just amazing to be part of such a huge event,” says Parry. “The past 18 months or so have been unbelievable in so many ways. It’s all happened really fast for me.” Parry’s teachers at Stratford and, before that, at Woodrush High School in Wythall are understandable proud of their protégé. His fledgling interest in acting started with appearances in a couple of school plays. “I remember one was Bugsy Malone,” he says. From the age of 12 he also attended acting workshops at the Playbox Theatre in Solihull. “I enjoyed learning everything I could about acting and the stage, but I never did any of the plays there,” he explains. While most of Parry’s classmates went on to the school’s sixth form, he opted instead to go to Stratford College. “It’s known for being more of a performing arts college,” he says. “It’s where I really got into drama and I guess you could say where I really came out of my shell. It was a bit like being at the Fame Academy…” From Stratford, Parry went on to study drama at the University of West London in Kingston – and it’s here that he got his big break. While most graduates can only imagine what it must be like to get their dream job, it all quickly became a reality for Parry. Halfway into his third year at Kingston, Parry was ‘discovered’ by an agent and that led to him clinching a part in 2013 in the sixth and final series of the Hollyoaks spin-off called Hollyoaks Later. “I was so lucky to be in that,” he admits, “because the people who run Hollyoaks got to know me and could see what I could do – and I got to work with incredible people like Danny Dyer [known to millions these days as EastEnders’ landlord Mick Carter].

FOOD ON THE PLATE

“Then a bit later I was asked to audition for Hollyoaks itself and landed the part of Harry which was just brilliant. It’s great on Hollyoaks, the cast and crew are just like one big family.” Because of his ‘day’ job, Parry currently lives in the Sefton Park area of Liverpool, a 10-minute commute to the Hollyoaks studios. “Sometimes you can be filming five scenes a day which is pretty full-on, but I wouldn’t change it. I love what I’m doing. “I could happily stay here as long as I can, or until they decide to kill me off, or something. Eventually I’d like to do some theatre too. That’s a bit like going back to basics if you know what I mean. But I’d always want to do more TV than theatre because it pays a lot more and keeps food on the plate!” Parry also says he’s hoping ‘something big’ will happen for his character in Hollyoaks. Harry is known for stripping off his shirt at any opportunity, which according to Parry is “great with me“. But he adds: “What I’d really like is to be able to get my teeth stuck into a huge storyline. That’d be so special…”

Google Queen’s Speech and it isn’t Elizabeth II that pops, but Brum rap royalty Lady Leshurr. In less than 18 months the Brummie MC has gone from relative obscurity to scooping three urban music awards, a MOBO nomination and 15 million views of witty four-part work, Queen’s Speech on YouTube. A regular on Radio 1 and BBC 1Xtra she’s gaining mainstream popularity at a rapid rate. It might all seem like a bit of a whirlwind but Lady Leshurr wrote her first lyric aged just six, so it‘s been more of a slow burner than an overnight hit. It all began in Solihull – not exactly the rap and grime capital, but bear with us. Born Melesha O’Garro, Lady Leshurr has fond memories of growing up in the Midlands. She enthused: “I actually grew up in Kingshurst which is a quiet suburb of Birmingham. I love it! It’s my safe haven and I try to get back there as often as possible. It’s my home.”

NO PUSH OVER

It wasn’t a particularly musical background aside from her family being avid listeners, but Lady Leshurr got into it at a very young age and made her first mix tape aged 14. She recalled: “I remember listening to Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam playing at home and that was when I wrote my first lyrics aged six, but it wasn’t until I heard Eminem’s Hi My Name Is that I knew I wanted to be a rapper.” The rap scene remains a male dominated genre and it’s well documented that Lady Leshurr has been critical of the fact that she is referred to as a female rapper which is still a source of irritation. She says: “It’s like saying I’m good for a girl.” She’s no push over and has made strong decisions along the road to success, famously turning down a deal with Atlantic Records because “I believe you have to be in the right head space to make such a huge decision and I guess that time in my life a deal was not right for me.” She’s firmly in control of her work and her image. Playing the lead in Penny Woolcock’s controversial film 1 Day in 2009 which depicted gang life on the streets of Handsworth provided a minor break and a bit of recognition. Criticised by the city’s police for glamorising violence and banned in some Birmingham cinemas, it gained a cult following and meant that when Lady Leshurr travelled to London to freestyle people recognised her. The Brummie lilt which is refreshingly evident in her work set her apart too which is still pretty unique in the UK rap scene. The versatile star also featured in Fifty in 2010 and starred in Lapse of Honour in 2015 with more acting set to follow.

HEROES AND VILLAINS

In 2013 Lady Leshurr’s career took off. She released Blazin’ which rocketed to number one on the MTV Base Chart. In the same year she was involved in the BBC Urban Classic Prom and was nominated for two Urban Music Awards – best female act and best hip hop act. She lost out to Krept and Konan and fellow Brummie Laura Mvula, but in 2015 she had her moment. Nominated for three awards – best music video, best female act and best hip hop act – she won the lot. She recalled: “I still can’t believe it. The whole year was amazing! Full of blessings. I really didn’t think I’d win all three. It’s a moment I will never forget.” She’s having more than her fair share of moments she’ll never forget. In December Lady Leshurr travelled Stateside to support one of her all time heroes Lil Wayne in Seattle. She said: “Lil Wayne is my bae! Everything he does inspires me. I watch his videos on YouTube all the time. The way he expresses himself and his presence on stage is incredible.” Along with Missy Elliot, Tory Lanez and Eminem he’s top of her wish list of artists to collaborate with. She met another of her heroes recently, Timbaland who didn’t disappoint. Lady Leshurr explained: “I grew up listening to his music and I’m a big fan of his work. To meet him and for him to be so accommodating and humble was such an amazing thing.” Lady Leshurr’s most recognisable work, four-part freestyle Queen’s Speech made it onto radio playlists in 2015 which has propelled her into the mainstream. Even if you’re not into grime and rap, it’s hard to avoid the witty, lyrical tracks that induce giggles and wonder in equal measure. Drawing on comments from her critics on Twitter, the freestyles are often peppered with comical responses to the haters, such as the infectious brush your teeth in Queen’s Speech part 4.

BRUMMIE ROOTS

Alongside Felicity Jones, Mike Skinner and Benjamin Zephaniah, Lady Leshurr was one of the faces of the giant mural in the Custard Factory inspired by Zephaniah’s quote, ‘Birmingham has changed a lot, but for me it’s still the centre of the universe’. It strikes a chord with Lady Leshurr who said: “I agree with it 100 per cent. I will never forget my Birmingham roots.” Speaking of Birmingham I wonder how the music scene is looking to the 27-year-old? “The music scene is really stepping up. I believe we have some greats there. We just need to believe in ourselves more and realise not all music comes from London.” Topping the phenomenal year she had in 2015 will be a tall order, but Lady Leshurr is expecting great things from 2016 too. “I’ve worked at my craft for a long time and I am ready for seeds I’ve planted to flourish. I want to be the best I can be to explore and stretch myself musically working with different producers who know how to bring out the best in me.”

Photography by Idil Sukan/Draw HQ @idilsukan on Twitter/Instagram and on Facebook

Julian Clary had no hesitation in declaring where’s the place to be this December. “Birmingham! For lovers of panto like me, there’s nowhere else in the country that can touch it,” he said. “What’s more, I’m really looking forward to doing a touch of Christmas shopping at Grand Central – I hear it’s quite something!” Mind you, Grand Central excepted, the camp comedian and national treasure is a bit of an old hand when it comes to knowing his way around the place. When he opens in an all-new adaptation and production of Aladdin at the Hippodrome this month, it will be his third panto in Brum.

LITERARY STRUGGLE

“I can’t quite put my finger on it,” he says, with the usual double entendre tone to his voice, “but Midlanders and panto just go together. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve always thought people from Birmingham are a really rather cheerful lot – they seem to just want to laugh as often as they can. It’s brilliant. And the Hippodrome is just such a big and wonderful place to be. It’s going to be great to be back there and back in Birmingham over Christmas and the New Year.” When we spoke to Julian he was still a few weeks away from starting rehearsals for Aladdin. Instead something else more urgent was on his mind as he was struggling to get to grips with writing his third children’s book about The Bolds, a family of hyenas living disguised as people. The first episode proved a huge hit with kids, and the second is due out in March. “I’ve just received the draft of the third book back from my editor who’s telling me I must make some changes,” he sighed. “Apparently it reads too much like the previous stories… oh, well!”

THE JOY OF MINCING

With one of the heaviest workloads of an entertainer/author on the planet, Julian finds it a challenge to fit it all in. “I love writing, especially for children,” he says. “But I have to work on the book and then drop it and come back to it as and when I can. There’s such a lot going on.” As well as revisiting the book and preparing to rehearse for panto, Julian was starting to work on writing material for his new stand-up tour, The Joy of Mincing, which celebrates 30 years as a stand-up comedian. The first shows are in Australia in February before he returns to tour the UK with a date pencilled in for Birmingham in April. “It’s a lot,” he admits, “but I’m really looking forward to the panto. It’s a completely new show with new costumes and new set. It will be lovely, rather exciting actually. I’m comfortable with panto, I know how I’m going to play it and what to expect.”

RETAIL THERAPY

During his previous visits to Birmingham, Julian has spent the festive period staying over in both town and country. “This time I am really near the Hippodrome, within walking distance, and near the new station,” he says. “In the past, I’ve done the staying in the rolling countryside bit, which was lovely, but then it snowed which was scary trying to make it in to the theatre in time for the matinee performances.” As well as dropping in to Grand Central and the city’s other ‘retail therapy’ offerings, Julian is looking forward to sampling one or two of the bars and restaurants around the theatre. With two full-on performances a day of Aladdin, Julian won’t exactly be ripping up the town, though. “There isn’t a lot of time,” he says. “Although… we do get Christmas Day off!”

Most of us have a skill or two we’ve mastered over the years – experts in our chosen field perhaps – and we’re happy with that. After interviewing Adil Ray, I’m left wondering if there’s anything this lovely ball of Brummie talent can’t do. Best known for the creation and portrayal of Mr Khan, the hilarious self-appointed Muslim community leader and head of a Pakistani family in BBC One’s Citizen Khan, Adil’s CV goes on and on. For instance, he has nailed radio both in comedic terms – Mr Khan started life as a character on radio – and from a serious broadcaster perspective. On his Radio 5 Live show Adil broke the story the night the UK went to war with Libya, as well as the riots of 2011 and the phone hacking scandal. He’s made landmark TV documentaries such as the ground-breaking and award-winning Exposed: Groomed for Sex for BBC Three which tackled the controversial issue of young girls being groomed by some Pakistani men.

MUM’S BLOOPERS

You get the picture. The man’s versatile, talented and clever but he’s not beyond feeling the fear. Recording Citizen Khan in front of a live studio audience is something that still gets the 41-year-old a bit jittery. “There are moments when I think ‘why do I put myself through this?’ but it’s good fun too. The audience seems to enjoy the bits that go wrong almost as much as the bits we get right!” In fact Adil’s own mother, who watches the filming of every show, enjoys the bloopers. “Mum will say ‘oh I love that bit when you made a mistake. Keep it in. That’s funny’.” Growing up in Yardley, Adil’s Pakistani family was unusual for the area and they were the first Asian kids at Yardley Junior Infant School. Adil explained: “Mum and dad wanted us to have a broad British upbringing and chose Yardley for that reason. It was a tricky time and although as a child I was largely unaffected my dad remembers suffering.” Adil has fond memories of his childhood with good neighbours such as Uncle Arthur and Auntie Betty, the couple across the street. After successfully passing the 11+ Adil went off to Handsworth Grammar School where his first day was hardly a dream start. It was the day after the Handsworth riots. “The shops on Grove Lane were boarded up and it was scary. I remember the headmaster trying to reassure us that it wasn’t normally like this.” He learned to relish the journey to school that involved two bus rides and while Adil felt privileged to be enjoying a grammar school education, he felt connected to and excited by the vibrancy of the city warts and all. He said: “Birmingham is unique. It’s fantastically diverse with a rich history of immigration. You see people from every walk of life here and I think the stat is something like 350 nationalities which is phenomenal.”

RESISTING TEMPTATION

The BBC was instrumental in Adil’s career taking off. “Without BBC Birmingham and the Asian Network, Citizen Khan wouldn’t have happened,” he says. “However I do think the media here needs to connect more. Over a 10-year period BBC Birmingham provided opportunities, but I didn’t receive one call from any other media outlet in the city. Yet when I spent a short time in Manchester I was contacted by two or three companies.” I’ve interviewed a few Brummie actors/producers for this magazine including Adrian Lester and David Harewood who felt moving to London was the way to get on, but not so for Adil. He explained: “I did stay with a friend in Bayswater once and I thought, ‘this is nice’ but I’ve never been seriously tempted. I need to be in London for certain jobs, filming or casting, but it’s so easy to get there that it’s not an issue.” A big fan of the Beeb and of Birmingham, Adil is thrilled about plans for the BBC Academy. He enthused: “It is hugely exciting. It will be a massive training and networking ground for the best, keenest writers, strategists, technicians, etc. If they see the city, they may well stay or use the city for filming.” Adil would love to see a film studio built here. “Either funded independently or council-backed or a combination of the two. We’ve got the space – perhaps on the NEC plot. We should invest in this and focus on it. Birmingham’s location makes it ideal for crews to travel in, film and go home at the end of the day.”

CHICKEN SHOP

The next series of Citizen Khan began at the end of October and sees the characters developing and tackling family issues common to all of us regardless of ethnicity. “It doesn’t matter that the Khans are a Pakistani family. The issues they face are the same. People come up to me and say, ‘I recognise my own family’ or ‘Mr Khan is just like my dad’. They’re not Pakistani and that’s great.” Mr Khan tries his hand at entrepreneurship in this series by opening Birmingham’s 300th chicken shop and goes on a fitness drive jogging around Brum. There’s also a Christmas special which sounds like a hoot. About four or five years ago Adil admits he started to fall out with Birmingham a bit, but the love affair is back on track. “There’s so much going on. It’s such a great time for Birmingham. Grand Central, the plans at Brindleyplace, the area around the Old Library and the strip around Temple Row and Bennetts Hill is thriving. A friend of mine has opened Nosh and Quaff and that whole area is fantastic.” He added: “While it’s great that the city is attracting big brands we need to support local independents too. Brummies doing great things – that’s what we need more of.”

Imagine that – the legendary wild man of rock bringing his own brand of heavy metal to the wards! “I’ve been wanting to do a charity show there for years,” said Ozzy when he spoke to us exclusively from his home in California. “The hospital is special to me because my son Louis was cared for there when he was sick as a child, so I know how important it is. They do amazing work for kids and families in my home town.”

STAR ATTRACTION

Ozzy is one of the famous contributors to The Big Hoot which has seen 89 giant owls spring up across Birmingham this summer, each with its own unique look and design. This month the owls will be auctioned in aid of the hospital and are expected to raise at least £500,000 and Ozzy’s ‘bird’ is expected to be the star prize of the sell-off. Ozzy said he was first approached to take part by Steve Hewlett, boss of Retail Birmingham. “He’s a great guy who we’ve known for some time from Birmingham. He’s involved in many projects promoting the city. I was invited to take part in the project and obviously wanted to support the hospital. I didn’t have any specific plans for how the owl would look. I thought I would just let it develop until I was happy with it. I hope everyone is as happy with it as I am.” While a genius with music – and having had the occasional controversial run-ins on stage with a chicken and a bat in the past – Ozzy admits he needed a little help when it came to designing an owl! So, he asked long-time friend, Birmingham artist Graham Frank Wright to help him translate his design thoughts into reality and bring Ozzy’s Owl to life. The two of them kicked around a lot together back in the Seventies when the music was heavy and the partying was even heavier!

TATTOOED TALONS

“I had a lot of help from Graham, but I was happily involved in the design too,” said Ozzy. The idea was to incorporate the stars, the midnight sky and the silhouette of the Birmingham skyline together with Ozzy’s hands and glasses. The finished 5ft 5in fibreglass sculpture sported the trademark ‘Ozzy’ tattoo across the three talons on its left foot, while the middle claw on its right foot had a smiling face – just like the tattoo Ozzy has on his knee. And as befits the image of the Black Sabbath frontman, the owl has the feel of darkness about it. “The design sort of reminds me of Birmingham at night,” said Ozzy. “I’ve always wanted to do something to help the children’s hospital as children are close to my heart, so this was a great opportunity to give support.” While an adopted son of the US, Ozzy remains a true Brummie from Aston who looks to come back home as often as he can – music, touring and TV reality series with celebrity wife Sharon and family permitting. He continues to be an avid Aston Villa fan, closely following their results and progress.

PRIDE OF BRUM

“I’m a very proud Brummie,” said Ozzy. “I haven’t lived in Birmingham for years but my family still lives there so I keep up with what’s going on and I come to visit from time to time. I’m hoping to visit Birmingham again pretty soon, though there are no fixed plans at the moment.” Ozzy’s love for Birmingham is equally reflecting by the city which recognises him as one of its most important and loved sons. Together with the likes of Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Skinner and fellow rock legend Jeff Lynne, Ozzy has a star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars in Broad Street, and while that may not appear to have the pizzazz of the Hollywood Walk of Fame – where Ozzy also has a star – the accolade from his hometown means just as much, if not more.

IT’S A FACT…

1. Before Black Sabbath, Ozzy worked in a slaughterhouse and a car horn factory.
2. Total album sales with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist tops 100 million.
3. Ozzy has six children, equally split from his two marriages.
4. He’s a huge collector of Victorian art.
5. He made his famous O-Z-Z-Y tattoo across his knuckles with a lead pencil and a needle while in jail for petty theft.

Boxout:

Who wouldn’t want to be Suzi Perry? Jetting around the world in the slipstream of the most glamorous sport on the planet, Formula One. Chatting it up with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button one minute, rubbing shoulders with the world’s richest and most famous stars and playboys the next. Pure dreamsville…. Well, it’s really not quite like that. Sure, Suzi is on very matey terms with the likes of Lewis and yes, she does get to meet the A-listers the rest of us would never get within the start-finish straight of seeing. But while Suzi readily admits she adores her job fronting BBC’s Grand Prix shows, she makes no bones about the fact that it’s also ‘bloody hard work’.

REVISITING ROOTS

“I’m away from home for 20 weeks of the year, travelling around the world,” she says. So when she gets the chance to come back to Britain, as she did just last month for the British GP, it’s a real treat. What’s more, being based at Silverstone she’s handily place to ‘revisit’ her Birmingham roots. Suzi was brought up in Wolverhampton (she’s still an avid Wolves fan) where she attended Smestow School and had an after-hours job working with the lighting at the Grand Theatre. She went on to study business and finance at the local Poly (now the University of Wolverhampton). After graduating, a short stint of fashion modeling in Japan and making commercials across Europe (one was for Kenco coffee) got Suzi used to travelling, an attribute that was to prove highly useful when she entered the world of TV – first as a sports reporter with Sky TV. She became the first woman to present the World Superbikes series and speedway, and then most famously to front BBC’s MotoGP motorcycle coverage for 13 years. Her CV also includes The Gadget Show, Superstars and Treasure Hunt among many others.

GUT INSTINCT

Her formative Midlands roots remain hugely important to Suzi. Both her parents were self-employed and worked really hard. Her father was a music promoter and had to spend some time in the States when Suzi was growing up. Her mum worked for a cosmetics company from home. It was all far from plain sailing though when her father’s business went under and her parents were suddenly bankrupt. That’s when she says she learned that if you want something in life you have to go and make it happen. “Follow your gut instincts.” Putting the hard work ethic into practice, Suzi spent her spare time as a stage electrician at the Grand Theatre while still at school, earning £120 for six nights a week – not bad for a 15-year-old. Three years later at 18 she started her own business making merchandise for bands. “I grew up surrounded by music because of my father and my godfather Mel Galley from Whitesnake. My love of live music remains with me,” she says. “A great gig followed by a curry is the best night out. I’m a big fan of Motown, Seventies’ West Coast artists; The Eagles, James Taylor, Carol King, Joe Cocker… and the Eighties too. It’s a long eclectic list.” Just as Suzi loves live music, she’s also an addict for live TV. “My passion is for live broadcasting, whatever the platform. It wakens the senses. Working for BBC covering Formula One is just a dream. I was thrilled when they asked me. I’ve always adored working in the sporting arena, particularly motorsport and the pitlane. I give 100 per cent of myself to present the best shows possible. It’s a tough but incredible job.”

TOP GEAR

With such a positive ‘live it now’ outlook, Suzi isn’t one for regrets. She does admit to one ‘probably bad decision’ when turning down the chance to be part of the original Top Gear team with Jeremy Clarkson. At the time of writing, however, it seemed there was a chance it may have come full circle – as the national media was filled with reports of Suzi being lined up to co-present the ‘new’ Top Gear with Chris Evans. Life looks like remaining as glamorous as ever for the fastest lady on TV. “Yes, there are pinch moments when I think: Wow this is so special. But I’m from Wolverhampton – we’ve all got our feet on the ground,” says Suzi.

Simon Webbe doesn’t come across as a big, bad wolf. In fact he seems the complete opposite – a bit of a big softie at heart. “Yes, I suppose I am like that most of the time, but everyone has a dark side that they like to be able to show now and then,” he says. Just how dark Simon truly can be will be revealed when he huffs and puffs and tries to blow the house down in the new production of the family musical The 3 Little Pigs at Birmingham Town Hall. The performer best known for being a member of the boy band Blue is the show’s ‘baddie’ – and he’s loving every minute of it. The false ears, the shaggy costume… the lot!

CORRIDORS OF LEARNING

He’s also loving the fact that he’s coming home to Brum, where he grew up from the age of six until he was 19. “My first ever stage appearance was actually at Town Hall back in 1994 when I was the lead in a play with an outside production with my school, so I’ve kind of come full circle you could say.” Although born in Manchester, Simon is a true Midlands lad with his roots firmly in the city. “I’m very proud to be a Birmingham boy,” he says. So much so that when we caught up with him, he’d just been on a visit to one of his old schools, Holy Trinity in Small Heath. “Walking along the painted corridors and past the classrooms, it felt like only yesterday when I was going to school there. My favourite teacher of all time, drama teacher Mrs Jones, was the one who always encouraged me to do drama. In fact when I first joined Blue, she was a bit upset that I was doing music rather than something in performing arts. She told me: ‘You’re better than that’. “It was great to go back though, the kids gave me a great reception. I know everyone talks about giving something back, but if I can inspire just one or two of the kids to go on and do something really great, outside of their normal comfort zone, that’d be so good. When they saw me turn up with the bodyguard and the Porsche, they were kind of like ‘Wow’. I want them to know they can have all that too if they really want it and work for it.”

Facing challenges and trying new things is something Simon believes in. As well as being part of Blue and a successful solo artist, he’s appeared in a number of West End musicals. He’s also known to millions from I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and Strictly Come Dancing, where he was runner-up in the final and winner of the subsequent Strictly arena tour. “I’ve got the glitterball in pride of place at home,” he says. Fans of will remember how Simon went from timid dancer with two left feet to confident king of the ballroom floor and master of the meanest Argentine Tango ever seen on TV. “Strictly is something I will never forget. It’s part of my experience, but now I moving on to lots of other exciting things, on my own and with the band.” Simon grew up on St Andrew’s Street, right next door to Birmingham City football ground.

KEEPING MUM HAPPY

On match days, he and his mates earned some pocket money by charging fans to look after their cars parked on the road and “make sure the stereos weren’t pinched”. He says: “The cars were on my street – and no one and nothing was going to come to any harm on my street. “I enjoyed growing up in Birmingham, first at St Andrew’s School, then George Dixon and finally at Holy Trinity. I was very privileged, I had a relatively normal childhood. My mum would worry if you weren’t home indoors by eight or nine in the evening. It’s all a bit different for kids these days…” As well as drama, football featured large in Simon’s loves – he played at district and county levels before having trials at Birmingham and Aston Villa. “I still come back to Birmingham as often as I can, though I’d like it to be more often if I had the time,” says Simon. “My daughter is here and so are all my old school friends. I just love the place…”

When your interviewee settles down with a cup of tea, ‘so we can have a good chat’ you know it’s going to be a pleasant experience. The charming Gwilym Lee has been steadily building an impressive CV since leaving drama school and although largely under the radar he’s best known for his role as DC Charlie Nelson in the wonderfully English Midsomer Murders and has also appeared in successful shows Fresh Meat, Waterloo Road, Ashes to Ashes and Land Girls. Theatre roles have been plentiful too, most notably an award-winning Edgar in King Lear and he also plays the lead in a BBC drama to be aired this month called A Song for Jenny tackling the sensitive topic of London’s 7/7 bombings.

WELSH BRUMMIE

Despite the very Welsh name, Gwilym moved to Sutton Coldfield aged just one where his father took a role as a consultant at the Good Hope Hospital. Coppice Primary School and King Edward’s Aston provided opportunities for the standard school play japes, but it wasn’t a serious endeavour. He said: “I don’t come from an acting family – sport was my thing. I did the standard school plays initially then I was offered a place on the Central TV workshop which I thought would be a chance to meet some girls! I went to a boys’ school, so it appealed as a social opportunity rather than a love of acting.” Once the old Central TV building moved from Broad Street to the Custard Factory, Gwilym’s walk to the workshop at a time when Digbeth wasn’t as cool as it is now was an eye-opener. “I used to walk from New Steet, passed St. Michael’s church and the market to Digbeth. It was pretty rough then – a bit spit and sawdust. It’s different now. What they’ve done with St. Michael’s Church is remarkable.” Gwilym’s potential as an actor was spotted and at the age of 15 he was picked to perform in Richard III at the Royal Shakespeare Company. “I was surrounded by proper actors doing amazing work and it seemed like a feasible career which it hadn’t before. I also loved being part of the team – I always have whether it’s sport or acting.” His parents and teachers took the view that he was obviously good at it so they were supportive, but encouraged him to have a back-up, so he went to the University of Cardiff to study English Literature followed by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He’s worked fairly consistently since.

ACROSS THE POND

Gwilym’s been lucky enough not to have endured frequent or long dry spells, but during one period of unemployment he hopped across the pond to try his hand at the infamous pilot season. “The erratic work is something you expect as an actor, but I haven’t done too badly. During one dry spell here my agent said you might as well get yourself to America and do pilot season. Ironically for those three months, I’ve never worked so hard.” Pilot season is famously very competitive and intense, but Gwilym loved it. “It was so exciting. I’m a bit of a home boy, but I loved LA. I know it has this image of being fake, but cruising down Sunset Boulevard on a sunny evening in mid-February was pretty special.” Gwilym’s trip was cut short when he got the Midsomer Murders gig and returned to the UK, but he’s open to going back when the time’s right and has already appeared in a few plays in the US – Hamlet on Broadway, King Lear and the Fairy Queen among others. “I met a few people, but the opportunity to stay and make a go of it wasn’t available at that time,” said Gwilym. The refreshingly innocent Midsomer Murders has been a steady job and Gwilym’s now filming his third series. “I adore it more and more every time I come back. There’s an innocence about it which is lovely. It’s not dark or gritty – I think people have enough of that in real life. It’s also very English… full of chocolate box houses and quaint villages which is probably why it’s taken off around the world.” Filming Midsomer until October, Gwilym’s not sure what he’ll do next, but he’s been lucky enough to find contrasting jobs in between each series. “Contrast and variety is the best thing about acting,” he said. The next chance to see Gwilym on screen is in BBC One’s A Song for Jenny which is an incredibly moving drama adapted by Frank McGuinness from a book by Julie Nicholson. Julie’s daughter, Jenny was murdered in London’s 7/7 bombings. Rather than reliving the details of the incident it’s a much more personal story exploring grief, loss and forgiveness. Gwilym plays Jenny’s boyfriend and both cast and crew felt they had a responsibility to get it right. Gwilym explained: “This is totally different from fiction. It’s such a private and personal story we had a duty to do it faithfully and honestly. It’s bigger than anything we do and it was a privilege.”

BIG AMBITIONS

So, what would be the dream gig? “It’s hard to say what would be my dream role because perhaps it hasn’t been written yet! There are the big Shakespearean roles like Hamlet obviously. There’s a quote from Monty in Withnail and I that goes ‘It’s the most devastating moment in a young man’s life, when he quite reasonably says to himself, ‘I shall never play The Dane!’ It is at that moment that all ambition ceases to exist’ which I like,” he added: “I’d like to do some Pinter and Arthur Miller. A great American TV series would be interesting and I’d love to work with the Coen Brothers too.” For what it’s worth we predict a Doctor Who or even a Bond in the making. So, quite ambitious then? “Yes I’m really ambitious actually and competitive – just ask my siblings! Whether it’s sport or whatever I’m doing I like to challenge myself. I want to do it all. I’d like to do America properly and see what that has to offer, but I’m also ambitious in my private life too. I’d like a happy, comfortable family, children and all that. I’m quite far from it, so I need to work on that.” Gwilym has completed multiple marathons and half marathons, so he’s no slouch in a pair of trainers either. During interviews stars who’ve grown up in Birmingham often slip into a Midlands accent, generally when talking about family. Not so with Gwilym. He assured us, “Don’t worry. If I’m having a few beers with old friends I do slip into the old brummie twang!” Now living in London, Gwilym’s still very fond of the Midlands. He said: “It’s a special place for me and always will be. My parents live in the same house we grew up in. They make noises about moving, but we’ve disallowed it!”

Unfinished business is how Ashley Giles sums it up. His relationship with the England cricket team. The bowling legend who spent 14 years of his career at Edgbaston gives a sigh of frustration tinged with an edge of anger as he talks ahead of Birmingham welcoming the Aussies back to the city next month. It’s six years since an Ashes match was played at the ground, and 15 years since the most famous England-Australia game of them all took place there – when the home side won by just two runs! Ashley was part of the team (Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen et al) that made history that day, and his performances with the ball played a large part in claiming the Ashes in the series. Now he’s hoping for a repeat in the 2015 version of the most famous rivalry in sport. Hoping, but not expecting!

ONE OF THE GREATS

“Edgbaston is one of the great cricket grounds in this country and the world,” he said. “It deserves to have the Ashes played there, and the city, the county and the people are huge supporters of the game and always turn out in large numbers. It’s going to be a great occasion, let’s just hope that England are up to the task and the expectation. “Over recent years Edgbaston has been developed into a wonderful modern facility and I’m hoping that the return of the Ashes this year marks it down as a regular test venue once more. Much like Old Trafford.” Ashley mentions Old Trafford quite a bit these days as it’s where he plies his trade as head coach of Lancashire County Cricket Club. Having taken over the role last October, Ashley is settling into the job nicely with his new country making a strong start to the season. But despite his switch to the Red Rose, he’ll always be a Midlands lad. “Look, Edgbaston and Warwickshire is always in my heart,” he said. “I spent over half my life at Edgbaston, the whole of my playing career. So everything I achieved I will always be thankful for. But Lancashire has given me a great opportunity and one I am relishing.”

BROMSGROVE SCHOOL

His roots remain firmly in the Midlands with his family living in Worcestershire and his children going to Bromsgrove School. Ashley is also a keen supporter of Birmingham-based Cure Leukaemia. As a patron he gives as much time as he can to help raise money for the charity which he first got to know during his benefit year at Warwickshire. “Gary Smith was the chairman of the charity at the time and also became the chairman of my benefit committee,” explained Ashley. “I really didn’t know an awful lot about Cure Leukaemia but made it one of my benefit charities. Ever since, I seem to have quite a few close friends who are also linked to the charity. Some are through the kids at Bromsgrove.” Ashley is good friends with ex-Wolves football legend Geoff Thomas who is a leading figure in the charity. “I met Professor Charlie Craddock who is an amazing man with a great love of sport and of cricket in particular. Often sportsmen are labeled as great, but what Charlie does is what I call truly great. He saves lives and has made Birmingham the new centre of medical excellence worldwide. And, he’s always got a smile on his face too.” Our interview with Ashley came soon after England disappointingly drew the test series against the West Indies in the Caribbean. That followed a disastrous World Cup campaign in Australia in the winter, with the team and management coming under huge criticism. “The series in the Caribbean is something we would expect to win,” said Ashley, who was part of the England one-day set-up as limited overs head coach until leaving amid confusion and acrimony in April 2014. He spent the following summer months as a match analyst for ESPN, playing in the Warwickshire Premier League for Nuneaton CC in return for a charitable donation and setting a world record by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to play in the highest game of cricket ever, also for charity.

ENGLAND RETURN?

“England seem to have gone to short-term solutions,” he said. “People don’t seem to be able to see what’s happening next week, let alone what’s going to be needed for the Ashes. “We need to build and have an eye on the future with the 2019 World Cup and another Ashes series coming here. That means blooding young players, but it has to be done carefully. You can’t just throw caps around at people. You need a structure that allows you to blend the new players with the experienced ones. A certain amount of change is essential but it has to be very carefully orchestrated.” And so to the ‘unfinished business’. Would Ashley see himself back in a coaching role with England? “I just can’t answer that,” he said. “The whole England situation is very unstable at the moment. Look, you can never say never, can you?”

ASH’S BIG YEAR In 2005

Ashley Giles swept all before him:

• He won the Ashes with England
• Hit the winning runs in the deciding match
• Was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year
• Became an MBE in the Queen’s Honours
• Was made an Honorary Citizen of Droitwich Spa

Sasha Simone describes her life as 24 long years of self-doubt followed by seven short months of newfound confidence. “Finally, I know who I am and what I want to do,” she says. “I want a recording contract and I want to go on tour and take my music to people.” Welcome to the world of the Birmingham girl with The Big Voice! Millions watched on TV as Sasha stormed to the final of BBC’s prime-time talent show The Voice. Her performances packed such raw power and feeling that everyone in the studio was regularly reduced to tears, including her mentor Sir Tom Jones and fellow superstar judge Rita Ora. But no one was more emotional than Sasha herself. “I’m just a very emotional person, that’s the way I’ve always been. My tears are for real, even though some people may have thought I was putting them on.”

BAGS PACKED

Sasha admits that when her sister applied for her to audition for The Voice she never dreamed of getting through to the live programmes, let alone the final. “It all came as a big shock. I knew I could sing but I never expected anything like this to happen to someone like me. Each week after the show, I had my bags all packed ready to come home. It’s unreal.” Sasha’s whirlwind success would be difficult for any normal person to take in, but for her it is even more mind-blowing due to the challenges she has faced since being a kid growing up with her parents and three brothers and three sisters in Wolverhampton. Sasha attended New Invention Junior School and Pool Hays Arts and Community School, but at 15, frustrated and angry, she left home and moved into a hostel in Birmingham. “I’ve always been an insecure person and at home I’d lock myself away in my bedroom. It made things difficult all round, and I guess my dad and everyone just got really frustrated with me.” During this time, Sasha admits that she became increasingly reclusive, losing most of her friends and even struggling with depression A move to another local hostel however provided the catalyst to awaken the musician in her. “There was a music shop and college across the road from the hostel. It was called Access Music. It’s not there anymore, they moved to the Custard Factory. Someone said I should give music a try as something to occupy my time. I thought ‘why not’, so I signed up for a course… and I eventually graduated.”

PASSION FOR DIY

It was still a big leap from budding student to TV stardom though, and far from pursuing a career in music, Sasha turned her attention to construction rather than concerts. After moving into a renovation project in Handsworth with her boyfriend she discovered a passion for DIY which led to her becoming an apprentice bricklayer and plasterer. “I’ve always been a hands-on kind of girl,” she explains. “The house was a huge project so I thought I’d really get stuck in and learn how to do the work properly. Before I started learning bricklaying I used to go to the gym, so I gave that up and spent my time doing construction instead. “Despite everything that’s happened with The Voice I’m still the same girl. I’m still the girl who’s had it tough, who roughed it in hostels, who had to live with a crackhead, but who will never change. I’m an honest person and I’m proud to be a Brummie. Birmingham is my home, it’s where my friends are and it’s where I’ve worked.” When she’s not singing – or laying bricks – Sasha belongs to the Birmingham Blitz Dames roller derby team, competing in speed-skating competitions. Bearing the sinister nickname ‘Black Widow’ she trains with her teammates three times a week – a schedule that’s taken a bit of a hit since The Voice. Sasha says she has formed a special and close bond with Sir Tom Jones which helped her deal with the huge change from her old life to her new celebrity status. “Sir Tom is just fantastic. I’m discovering my own musical style. I guess you’d call it soulful. Sir Tom just really gets me mentally as a singer and I love working with him.

PERSONAL HERO

“I’m a strong person and I know I can achieve what I set out to do. As well as recording and touring I’d like to write songs too – maybe with Sir Tom, that’d be great! Whatever the future holds, I will never forget who I am and where I came from.” As if to prove the point, Sasha pays tribute to a personal hero who she says inspired her to follow her musical dream. “In my old place where I used to live, there was a lovely elderly lady who was on the floor below. She was suffering from cancer and the last thing she did before she passed away was to make me promise that I would use my life to sing. I will always remember her and now I can stay true to the promise I made her.”

SASHA TAKE 5

1. Biggest musical hero? Legendary namesake Nina Simone.
2. All-time dream gig? A duet with Michael Buble.
3. Biggest fans? Includes EastEnders’ Alfie Moon actor Shane Ritchie.
4. Ambition as a child? To grow up to be a plumber.
5. Is it true you rescue ‘vulnerable’ spiders and put them in your hair? Yes!

For a few seconds there was silence and I thought: “Yes… I’ve got you Will Greenwood!” I’d heard that Will possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of all things rugby but I reckoned I had the prefect question to leave him reeling. I’d thrown him a slippery little number that even an England rugby legend would surely struggle to handle. When was the last time 15-a-side had been played at Villa Park? Surely rugby union had NEVER been played at Villa Park, had it? Will and I had been talking about the thrill of this year’s Rugby World Cup coming to the Midlands. Two great international clashes on the pitch famous for its glorious highs and lows in the game with the round ball. With hardly a pause for thought, Will said: “1953. That’s when the touring New Zealand All Blacks beat a Midlands side 18-3 at Villa.” Impressive knowledge… but just in case he was stringing me along, I checked up the date for myself after we had finished our interview – and sure enough Will was right on the money.

STRONG LOBBYING

Fifty-two years on, the countdown is underway for the return of international rugby to the region as England hosts the sport’s most coveted competition. After strong lobbying by Birmingham Council, Villa Park is one of eight football stadia across the country selected to stage rugby matches when the World Cup comes to these shores this summer. The region’s rugby fans have already had a taste of top class club rugby this year with Wasps moving to their new home ground at the Ricoh Arena. When the World Cup arrives at Villa Park later this summer, it will have a distinctly southern hemisphere feel too, as the powerhouse elite nations of South Africa and Australia will play there on consecutive days. Two matches that rank alongside when the stadium hosted games in the 1966 football World Cup and more latterly the 1996 European Championships. Will is more than doing his bit to whip up the excitement a few months ahead of the big kick-off. “I’m a real lover of rugby in and around the Midlands having played here myself and seen how passionate the people are about the sport. They are big supporters of rugby and I know they will welcome the World Cup with open arms and give Villa Park a very special atmosphere. There’s no one like Brummies for enjoying their sport.”

With both Villa Park matches already sold out it seems like Will is right on that one, too. The World Cup brings back incredible memories for the former Leicester Tiger who was a member of the England team which won the title so dramatically in Australia in 2003. “That was an amazing moment, and if England can do the same this year here on home soil it would be magical. They have every chance. I keep thinking of the fact that the final will be played at Twickenham and I can see England hopefully growing and getting stronger as the year progresses towards the tournament.” Since retiring from playing in 2005, Will has become a leading TV and media pundit on the sport. He’s been a regular on Sky’s rugby coverage and writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph. He’s also fronted Sky’s School of Hard Knocks series, changing the lives of rough, tough, but ultimately good kids.

FABULOUS FESTIVAL

Even so, he admits he’ll feel a twinge of emotion when the teams run out in this year’s World Cup. Like all ex-pro sportsmen, he misses the taking part – although he doesn’t miss the pounding his body used to take. The physical beatings were so bad that he says his mum ended up unable to watch him play. “When I played in the World Cup she couldn’t watch it – she just walked around the stadium out of sight of the pitch with Jonny Wilkinson’s dad. She couldn’t sit through it all.” He’s expecting a more relaxed, if highly competitive, atmosphere at Villa Park this summer: “The Birmingham crowds are going to see wonderful teams playing wonderful rugby. I think it will be an absolute jamboree and festival of rugby to savour.”

VILLA PARK CLASHES

• South Africa v Samoa – Saturday 26 September
• Australia v Uruguay – Sunday 27 September

GREENWOOD STATS:

• Made England debut against Australia in 1997/98 season
• Won 55 international caps during his career
• Won the Six Nations with England in 2000 and 2001
• Won the World Cup with England in 2003
• Three-time tourist with the British Lions
• Second highest international try scoring centre of all time
• Away from rugby, has three children, loves playing golf and is a life-long Manchester City fan

Emma Willis remembers the moment all too clearly when one of her dearest friend’s discovered that her new-born baby had a life-threatening heart condition. Three years on, the plight of little Rudy Maxwell-Jones feels like it was just yesterday to the star presenter of the hit TV shows Big Brother and The Voice. “It’s something you can never forget, and what the doctors and nurses did for Rudy at Birmingham Children’s Hospital was just incredible. The hospital has been close to my heart and something I am proud to support whenever I can,” she says.

LOUDEST VOICE

The surgical team operated on Rudy when he was just 36 hours old. He had a narrowing of the aortic valve, a condition called Critical Aortic Stenosis, and the op was his only hope. While his mum Jeanette and Emma feared the worse, the doctors worked their magic, and today Rudy is a thriving toddler. As we revealed in last month’s Birmingham’s Greatest feature, many thousands of parents and children have reason to thank the hospital for its wonderful work, and Emma is among the loudest voices to sing its praises. She tries to give her support whenever she can despite a crazily busy workload on the film set and in the TV studio Born in Sutton Coldfield, it would be all too easy for Emma to forget her roots, after all she is one of the most talked about celebrities on TV, featuring regularly in the gossip columns of the national press and being frequently ‘papped’ when she’s out and about whether with her husband Matt Willis of the band McBusted or on her own. But her love for Birmingham and its people is undimmed despite all the success and bright lights. Emma is a real role model and inspiration to the kids who attend her old school, John Wilmott in Sutton Coldfield. After leaving school at 17, she began modeling and quickly featured in photoshoots for leading brands such as Chanel and GAP and fashion magazines including Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire. Her break into TV came as a presenter on MTV and after stints on various other shows she joined ITV’s This Morning programme in 2012.

SPECIAL MOMENT

She’s since become what’s seems like an ever-present on the nation’s screens with appearances including fronting Loose Women and The Paul O’Grady Show and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here. Emma is best known though as the presenter of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother as well as talent show The Voice. These days she lives in the countryside outside London with Matt and their two young children, Isabelle, five, and Ace, three, yet she comes back to Birmingham as often as she can – the last time at Christmas when she thrilled staff and their young patients by switching on the festive lights at the hospital she so admires. “The hospital means so much to me that I was honoured to be invited to switch them on,” she says. “It was a very special moment.” It’s not easy fitting in personal appearances such as this to her non-stop schedule, but Emma, who is also an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, makes sure she finds the time because as she says: “Times like Christmas bring happiness and joy to the children and are especially important to the brave young patients and their families. The staff at the hospital are just so amazing and work so hard. It’s very humbling to be part of being able to help them. When you see the little ones running around with excitement, I just get swept away by it all.”

FUND-RAISING

Star names such as Emma are a major factor in helping the hospital’s in-house fund-raising team realizing the hundreds of thousands of pounds each year that pay for improving facilities. Emma’s infectious personality has won her legions of TV fans – she has been nominated as the most popular entertainment presenter at the National Television Awards for the last two years. That, together with her empathy for the young patients and their families, makes her a real winner with everyone at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

EMMA FACTFILE

• When she was younger, Emma thought she would follow her parents into medicine and work in a hospital.
• Her modelling career started after her mum sent photos to various modeling agencies, and one of them signed her up
• Emma is known for setting the trend with her sleek hairstyles – yet she is naturally curly-haired and spends ages with the straighteners to get that glossy look.
• She first met Matt when she interviewed him on MTV in 2005. He proposed on a trip to Venice.
• A true Villain, Emma continues to be an avid supporter of her life-long football club Aston Villa.

Joan Armatrading loves touring, but even she admits that you can have too much of a good thing. After more than 40 years travelling the globe, living out of suitcases in hundreds of hotel rooms and performing to tens of thousands of adoring music fans she’s decided it’s time for a change of pace. “I’ve done so many long tours,” she says. “Tours that go on without a break for a year or 18 months at a time. There’s nothing I like better than playing to live audiences. In fact I love it, but I’ve decided that now’s the time to make things maybe a little less gruelling.” The legendary singer-songwriter who grew up and spent her formative musical years in Birmingham has barely had time to draw breath since she shot to fame in the Seventies, becoming a cult figure with her rich, captivating hit Love and Affection. Since then her song-writing has been prolific with 20 top albums earning her countless music industry awards (and an MBE) – and each followed with a live supporting tour of course!

HOTEL ENCOUNTER

I caught up with Joan in her hotel room shortly before she headed to Germany, Holland and Denmark before returning back for the UK leg of her latest – and last – mega-tour. Her show in Birmingham at the Town Hall on 25 March is already a sell-out, and Joan was quick to confirm that ‘coming home’ to Brum will mean a lot to her. “This time as it’s my last big tour I wanted to make it especially memorable so there’s no band, just me with a piano and my acoustic guitar. I’m so looking forward to coming back to Birmingham. I still have family there, so when I do a gig it really feels like I am coming home. “I grew up in Birmingham from around seven until I was 19 or 20. My mother bought a piano, not as an instrument as such but just as a nice piece of furniture for the front room. That’s where my music started.” A guitar purchased in a pawnshop for £3 followed… and the rest is history. Joan first performed in a concert at Birmingham University at the age of 16. She sang her own songs around the local area with a friend, played bass and rhythm guitar at local clubs and joined a repertory company’s stage production of the musical Hair before being spotted as a budding solo singer-songwriter.

MUSICAL INFLUENCES

“I’ve always been a bit of a loner,” she says. “I don’t need to be in big groups, I’m not a party animal or anything like that. I was just born to do music and I will die writing music. Of course, everyone has musical influences through their life and I keep up with all the latest music styles and trends as they come along. But I’ve always got on and done my own thing, right from when I started out in Birmingham. “That’s why I’ve always toured, because it’s what I want to do – take my music to people so they can hear it live. Now, yes, I have decided at my time of life it’s time to do things a bit differently. I will of course always carry on singing and performing but it’ll just be that I’ll tour for a month at a time, not a year!” Her current globe-trotting began in April 2014 in South Africa before heading to Australia and New Zealand and then the UK by the end of last year and the beginning of this. After performing across North America, Joan wraps it all up back in Johannesburg in May. There’s barely been a day’s break in what is a punishing schedule. “By the time the tour comes to an end I will be nearly 65 – I had my 64th birthday while I was in Australia last year where the audiences sang Happy Birthday to me which is a lovely memory to have. I’m not tired of the travelling or anything, but I don’t think you really want to be doing this kind of thing when you get to my age.” Joan is a notoriously private person, always fiercely protective of her personal live and friends and family. “I don’t need people to know about that kind of stuff,” she explains.

HISTORY DEGREE

“There’s lots of things inside and outside of music that I still want to do, but I’d rather do them first and then tell people about it afterwards. Like when I did the New York marathon – I just did it and said about it afterwards. The same when I got my history degree. I wanted to abseil, so I did that too – but the whole world doesn’t need to know about all these things.” It’s much the same with Joan’s songs. While she has had 20 albums, there are many more potential hits that have never seen the light of day. And that’s the way it will always stay. “If I think they’re not very good I just discard them. I never keep songs I don’t like, and I don’t have unfinished songs hanging around. That’s just the way I’ve always been.”

When someone is prepared to travel the best part of 300 miles just to have dinner, you know the cook must be something special. More so, when the diner is a Dutchman flying in from Amsterdam who has never eaten in Birmingham before but who has booked a table on personal recommendation.

The reputation of Michelin-starred chef Richard Turner extends far and wide across Europe where lovers of brilliantly conceived, flavoursome food are very familiar with Birmingham’s finest. “The chap from Holland just called up, he’s a completely new customer. He flew in and out in the day just so he could eat in the restaurant, which is incredible. We’ve got another guy doing the same thing coming over for France this month.” Unlike so many ‘celebrity’ chefs who no sooner gain recognition or appear on Saturday Kitchen than they’re off writing series of books or opening chains of restaurants around Britain, Richard believes in doing things differently. He’s very understated and single-minded, just like his intimate restaurant which has been at the forefront of putting Harborne – and Birmingham – on the culinary map over the past seven or eight years. Richard believes at all costs in “keeping things small and focused on the food”.

POP-UP VILLA

“I will never go down the route of opening bigger, grander restaurants, it’s not me. I’ve thought about going into Birmingham itself on a couple of occasions but dismissed it. I’d much rather grow in a different way such as extending the pop-up restaurant I have run a few times at Aston Villa on match days. That gives me much more satisfaction and is a challenge I enjoy.” And, after all, why change the recipe that’s earned Richard a Michelin star since 2009, as well as a clutch of other top national and regional awards? Born in Sutton Coldfield, Richard is pretty much self-taught, starting off as a dishwasher as a 14-year-old at Thrales in Lichfield before taking a Youth Training Scheme, staying at Thrales for another nine years and then spending four years at an eatery in Four Oaks. He took over and refurbished what was an old, rundown restaurant in Harborne and opened Turners in 2007. “One of my friends told me the place was available – it wasn’t planned,” he explained.

Together with Andreas Antona of Simpsons and Glynn Purnell, Richard became one of the original ‘big three’ Michelin-star chefs responsible for pioneering Brum’s rapid rise as a culinary capital in the UK. “The food scene in Birmingham has grown beyond recognition over the last 10 years,” he said. “And I don’t think I’m being over the top by saying that the three of us, and now with Adam too (Adam Stokes of Adams Restaurant), have put the city and its food onto a national stage.” Being at the heart of the community in Harborne is incredibly important to Richard, but it also brings with it some problems. “Birmingham is now recognised as a centre of culinary excellence which is great, but when people come to the city – particularly corporate visitors – they tend to stay in the city rather than venture into the suburbs. They don’t understand that Harborne is only five minutes from the centre, so we have to make big efforts to pull people out.” As previously mentioned, one of the options considered and dropped was opening a Turners in the centre. “One of the things which I treasure is that our restaurant is very intimate and is very personal both for the customers and me. No matter how good you are, if you have a place with 100 covers you lose that very close personal touch. You just can’t control it in the same way. “I’m here every day and that makes it like my home. For example, the other day a guy came in and was playing with his phone, and I asked him to stop playing with it because he was in my home and I didn’t like it. When you work this intensely for 80 hours a week, for seven or eight years, the restaurant is an extension of my home. “And being a chef isn’t a job, it’s a vocation. When I do have a free evening, I’m always out eating dinner somewhere with my wife to see who’s doing what, and what’s new. My wife says sometimes, can’t we just do something completely different? Can’t we have beans on toast for a change? No way!”

With such intense dedication, it’s not surprising that Richard has no time for those who don’t share his passion. “I hate people who just don’t care. Lots of people in this industry try so hard to achieve at all levels and I love it when people clearly care. I hate people who don’t care, who are just going through the motions to earn some quick and easy money. The people and places I mean are easy to spot, we’ve all seen them!” Richard’s love of the area means that he wants to put back as much as he can to help young talent get a start in the business. As a life-long Aston Villa fan (“I’ve been going ever since my granddad first took me – it’s in my blood”), he’s also a keen supporter of the club’s much-heralded VMF training restaurant which is helping under-privileged youngsters get into the food industry. “It’s a great things for these kids from deprived areas, giving them the opportunity to make something of their lives and show that they can earn an honest living.

KEEPING THE CLOTHS

During the riots a few years ago, one lad carried on working on the VMF allotments even though he knew all his mates would be out on the streets causing trouble. That’s why I want to do more stuff with them. Ultimately I’d like to take on a couple in my restaurant to inspire them and to show them they you don’t have to come from a privileged background to succeed.” Like everything else he does, Richard’s thinking is considered and for the long haul. His attention to detail even comes down to stuff like the tablecloths in his restaurant. “Fashion and food can be a dangerous thing. You have to remember what makes you unique – fashion comes and goes very quickly. For instance, today there’s a big trend to be relaxed and lose tablecloths – they’re not fashionable apparently. I say ‘great’ – let everyone else get rid of them. I’m not going to – and then that will make me different and unique!”

AT RICHARD’S TOP TABLE (Or the five things he can’t do without)

1. Wife, Meena
2. Nieces, Lily and Megan
3. Dog, CoCo
4. Aston Villa
5. His work

Ellie Simmonds was particularly excited for a Monday morning. Normally she’d be starting out on her weekly routine of hours upon hours in the swimming pool. Relentless training. Tough yards put in to be the best. But today she was grabbing some all-too-brief time off, first to speak to me and then the bit she was really looking forward to – visiting a local primary school near her home in Aldridge, mixing and chatting with wide-eyed youngsters, and most importantly letting them see and touch a real Olympic gold medal! “After swimming, going to schools and meeting children is what I enjoy the most,” said Ellie. “They always give me such an amazing welcome. It’s hard to know who’s most excited, them or me! It’s really important to try and give something back and hopefully inspire children to want to achieve great things in their lives. They all want to see an Olympic gold medal, and I make sure they all get the chance to touch it too.”

RIO AND TOKYO

In itself it’s not that unusual for sporting heroes to make the rounds of their local schools – but with Ellie you really do get the feeling that it means so much more. Afterall, she was just 13 when she won the first two of her Paralympic swimming golds in Beijing in 2008 – the youngest-ever British athlete to achieve such a goal – so she can really equate to what it feels like being an impressionable youngster filled with dreams. Two more golds followed at London 2012, cementing her place as one of the pin-up faces of British sport. She has also received both the MBE and OBE from the Queen. Yet incredibly the multi-world champion only turns 20 this month! “Leaving my teens is a major moment,” admitted Ellie. “But I’ve still got plenty of swimming left in me yet. I’m going to do two more Olympics in Rio and then Tokyo, and then who knows what I will decide to do when swimming finishes. I’m not too worried to be honest. I’m carrying on with my aim of doing an A-Level a year. As well as training in the pool and going to the gym, each week I go to college on Tuesdays and Thursdays where I’m studying psychology. I want to go to university in future, and I want to travel the world, even more than I do now with my swimming.” Big aims indeed, but who would bet against Ellie achieving all this and more? Ellie was born in Walsall, before growing up in neighbouring Aldridge where she attended the local school before moving to Swansea at the age of 11 with her mother so she could train with the GB squad at the city’s world class pool. Ellie, who has achondroplasia, started swimming as a five-year-old and her talent in the water was soon spotted, leading her to join Boldmere Swimming Club in Sutton Coldfield.

GUILTY PLEASURE

“I was very lucky, we had a pool at the bottom of the garden in our first house in Aldridge and I felt that swimming was really good for my body. I loved being able to move fast. Later, when mum and I moved to Swansea, dad stayed behind and held the fort in Aldridge but we’d make the three-hour drive back home every weekend to see him. It was tough being separated. I think that’s why I love being home now as much as I can.” These days Ellie lives in student accommodation in Loughborough where she trains. “My roommates are great and we get along really well, and being just an hour away from home means I can get back on Sundays to see all the family.” It also means that Ellie can indulge her ‘guilty pleasure’ – shopping! “I love shopping, especially in the Bull Ring, and especially for bags. I can’t resist them. I also love to get out and walk in the parks in and around Birmingham, and of course I love seeing all my family, mum, dad, my sisters and brother, too, of course. Wherever I go, whatever I do, I will always be a local girl.”

5 THINGS ELLIE LOVES DOING

• Shopping – for clothes and bags
• Baking ¬– “I’m a Great British Bake Off fan”
• Holidaying – in Australia, Sicily, Greece
• Walking – in the parks around Brum
• Chilling out – especially at the cinema

Why does Adrian Chiles get so much stick? A quick surf across social media reveals a bunch of negative press and random comments from people who have never ever met or spoken to the man! Maybe it’s that seemingly dour exterior that encourages the critics – although the appearance of Adrian’s knees and legs popping from beneath natty shorts on Rio’s Copacabana beach during ITV’s World Cup coverage from Brazil revealed (literally) a much more amusing and cuddly side to the star footie presenter. If more evidence is required that here’s a really thoroughly lovely, caring bloke, Adrian’s passion to help fight one of the most horrible diseases known to man should more than pass muster. Adrian has just be named a patron of Birmingham-based Cure Leukaemia, the charity which is supporting the pioneering work of Professor Charlie Craddock and his team at the city’s QE Hospital to find a cure and save thousands of lives.

MY MATE FRANK

Like so many things in Adrian’s life, his mission to help has come as a result of his love of all things Baggies. Together with his great mate comedian Frank Skinner, Adrian is an avid West Bromwich Albion fan – the two are often to be seen sitting together at The Hawthorns, although Adrian is there more regularly than Frank these days. “I’m at The Hawthorns and in Birmingham at least every couple of weeks, sometimes more often. It’s only under a couple of hours to pop up from London and I’ve got loads of good mates who I like to visit and go out with, many of them at the football. And I’m always dropping in to see the family who still live in Hagley.” Adrian was born in Smethwick, before his parents moved to Quinton and then Hagley, where he went to Haybridge High School. He has fond memories of his childhood growing up in Hagley and especially of his granddad who was responsible for putting Baggies blue and white in his blood. “Granddad started taking me to see the Albion when I was seven. He’d pick me up from home at 12 o’clock and then drive to a fish and chip shop near the ground. I’d always have chicken, chips and curry sauce, eating it in the car while doing my homework at the same time while granddad went and had a drink before the game in the club bar. I think that chip shop is a kebab shop now.”

Years later, it was while researching a book recounting the stories of avid Albion fans, that Adrian first meet fellow supporter Stephen Hayden who was suffering from leukaemia and who became a close friend. “Stephen was in the care of Charlie Craddock, who also became a good friend,” explained Adrian. “Stephen seemed to be doing really well and then when I came back at the start of the new football season I learned he had died. I was devastated, and felt just as I do now, that I must do all I can to help find the money to help find a cure.” Despite a crazily-busy schedule that sees Adrian juggling his job fronting ITV’s football coverage with his recently expanded three-hour morning show on Radio 5 Live, Adrian has found time to make a fund-raising film for the charity and plans to drum up further help.

He began his broadcasting career on business and finance programmes with the BBC after studying journalism at Cardiff University, but he’s most famous for his four-year stint co-hosting The One Show with Christine Bleakley. The launch of the show remains a lasting memory with Adrian. “The One Show was piloted from Birmingham for four weeks,” he said. “A temporary studio was set up in front of a Tesco Metro store in the smallest space you can imagine. It was tiny, and looking back you wonder how on earth we managed to put a show out from there.” Adrian’s big break into football came when he presented Match of the Day 2, before moving across to ITV. He views his present blend of radio chat in the mornings and footie chat in the evenings as near-perfect. “I’m very happy with things. I don’t go in for aims and ambitions, I’ve learned over the years that it’s best if you go with what people want you to do.”

CHERRY REDS BAR

When he comes home to Brum, Adrian spends plenty of time with “lots of mates” in a variety of haunts. “I’ve got close pals in town at places like the Mailbox. One really good mate lives in the Orion Building on Navigation Street and we often go for drink at Cherry Reds café bar in the city centre. There’s also a great couple of pubs that we’ve been to on the road into Hockley, they’re on the left. We talk about all sorts of stuff, a lot of football.” Adrian’s the first to admit that this season is going to be a long, hard one for the Baggies – but like all fans he remains optimistic. And if you want still more proof that he’s a thoroughly nice chap… he says he’s “delighted my good mate Roy Keane has come to help out the Villa – as long as they don’t do too well” and he was also “delighted to see Birmingham stay up last season”. Now, is that plain soft or what?

Photography by Jack Lawson

It’s been quite a 12 months for Lenny Henry. He’s won one or two awards (nothing unexpected there!), appeared before a House of Commons select committee (that’s different!), been diagnosed with diabetes (not pleasant!), shed more than three stone in weight (not easy!) and starting studying for a PhD (wow!) Oh, and did we mention that he’s appearing on stage in Birmingham for the first time (yes, the first time!) in his career in a comedy play about a city record shop? At this point, we feel it’s time to stop and take a deep breath – but Lenny has different ideas as he rattles on in that incredibly rapid and enthusiastic style of his, talking while at the same time eating a quick bite during an all-too-short break in rehearsals at Birmingham Rep.

DUDLEY ROAD

“The PhD is really cool,” he says. “I’m doing it in screenwriting as part of film and media and it doesn’t finish until 2016. I’ve recently set up my own production company called Douglas Road Productions – it’s named after the road I grew up in Dudley. The plan is to make lots of pitches to broadcasting companies and go from there.” Quite how’s he going to fit that in with everything else is beyond me, if not beyond him! But for now, Lenny’s just thrilled to be back in Brum – especially with a play, Rudy’s Rare Records, that’s been adapted from the BBC radio series which he co-created and starred in. “I love being back in the Midlands and in front of a home audience. I’ve done loads of comedy gigs here but never appeared on stage in a play or at the Rep before.” Rudy’s Rare Records makes its premiere at the Rep on 4 September and runs for 17 nights. It’s set in an old reggae record shop in Birmingham that’s set for demolition and redevelopment, and revolves around the culture clash between old-time shop owner Rudy and his son Adam, played by Lenny. “It’s a battle between old and new. Analogue versus digital. Soda bread versus croissant,” says Lenny. It’s a story that he has a particular empathy with. As a kid growing up, he used to go to Graduate Records in Dudley and flick through all the vinyl, and he’s a big fan of The Diskery, in Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham which is one of the few remaining independent record shops in the city.

TRIBAL MUSIC

“Don’t get me wrong, I love iTunes. I love one-click buying, I’m addicted to it,” he says. “One click and you’ve got what, it’s great. In my time in Dudley there wasn’t the exposure to all the different types of music there is today. I would come into Birmingham every Saturday and hang out in a record shop just like Rudy’s, so the play is very close to my heart. “Back then, kids tended to be in a tribe following one style of music or artist. These days, they can download all kinds of different stuff – and not get slagged off by their mates like we would have done! What’s missing though is the camaraderie and chat that existed in record shops. And there’s music there that you’ll come across that you’re never going to find on iTunes. Extraordinary stuff that makes the whole experience worth the effort. And you know what? I reckon you should have to make a bit of an effort to buy your music!” Maybe it’s the new play, but Lenny says he’s recently started adding to his collection of “3,000 to 4,000” records. “I’ve even gone out and bought a new turntable. I was playing it just the other day before starting here for rehearsals.” While Lenny is best known for stand-up and TV comedy, in recent years he’s also become a powerful straight actor, appearing in highly-acclaimed productions such as Othello and the African-American drama Fences. Earlier this summer he took to a different stage when he gave evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee looking into the BBC’s plans for greater ethnic diversity. He told MPs that Britain is losing talent because of the mistaken belief that ethnic minority actors do not have ‘star’ power.

LORD LENNY?

Lenny’s also famously known as the public face of Comic Relief, which will see the nation don its red noses again next March. “I think we’ll raise over £1 billion,” he says. “£1 billion –won’t that be something!” While Lenny already has an OBE to his name, we reckon that his charity efforts alone now make him deserving of something much greater. So how does ‘Lord Lenny’ sound? “I don’t want go there,” he says, almost embarrassed by the thought. “I mean it doesn’t sound right for a comedian to have a title. Lord Tarbuck, Lord Cooper… no it just doesn’t work.” Oh well, we tried…

David Harewood was a self-confessed ‘pain in the arse’ at school. Sat at the back of the class at Washwood Heath Comprehensive he was uninspired, fidgety and disinterested, but on the sports field and on stage it was a different story. “Sport was my thing and I did a few school plays. I had no idea what to do when I left school and just before the end of term one of my teachers suggested acting. It sounded as good as anything,” he says. It turned out to be a genius bit of careers advice. With an enviable CV spanning 30 years and an MBE for services to drama, David’s career has been hugely varied including stage roles such as Othello, Martin Luther King in The Mountaintop and Lord Asriel in His Dark Materials. On screen highlights include the ground breaking Oscar-nominated Blood Diamond and Golden Globe winning smash Homeland.

BIRMINGHAM’S LOSS

David auditioned for Birmingham Youth Theatre who turned him down. Undeterred, the budding thespian headed to the National Youth Theatre who recognised his talent and offered him a place on their prestigious six-week course. “It was really exciting. It was the first time I’d been surrounded by like-minded nutters and I had a whale of a time. My parents were worried. There were no black actors on TV and it just seemed like a crazy thing to do, but they could see I was passionate about it and supported me.” David came back to Brum after his first stint at NYT and worked at Albert’s Wine Bar in Dale End which was ‘fantastic’. Even there the punters kept urging him to get into acting. Back at NYT the following year, one of the tutors suggested auditioning for RADA which he did successfully. “All the other students were discussing Dostoyevsky and the like. I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about.” He soon settled in and had a ball.

AMERICAN DREAM

Having worked pretty steadily after RADA, David found he wasn’t getting the screen roles he had hoped for and turned to the US. A swathe of British actors seem to be heading across the pond and taking on some fantastic roles with Homeland being the obvious example. Harewood and fellow Brits Damian Lewis and Claire Danes enjoyed huge success on the show. “On stage I’d had some fantastic leading roles, but that success hadn’t transferred to TV here. In America there’s more choice and more three-dimensional roles.” Homeland was David’s first job in the US which isn’t a bad start. “Having the other Brits around was great. It might have been unsettling otherwise. Damian was great fun. We’d just go off and talk about football or something.” Despite having worked in Britain for 30 years, it’s Homeland that David is most famous for. The success of the show has its down sides though like being papped on holiday with his wife and daughters which was a bit of a shock. “Yes that was weird. We did get to do amazing stuff on Homeland though, like going to the Golden Globes and the Emmys. There were actual movie stars walking around. You know Charlize Theron was within touching distance. Obviously I didn’t, but I could have!” Despite being star struck David managed to hold it together until he saw one of his heroes Sidney Poitier. “I lost it. I leapt from my chair, ran over and introduced myself. He had no idea who I was – probably the cleaner, but it didn’t matter. I just had to tell him how I felt.”

HOMETOWN CHANGES

When he’s in the UK David lives in South London but comes back to Brum as often as he can to see his parents and has noticed some big changes in the city. “I love the buildings and some of the changes have definitely improved the place, but not all of them. I grew up in Birmingham at a time that felt diverse, cosmopolitan and musically rich. There were a few numpty skinheads around, but not overwhelmingly. The city seems to have become more polarised which is a real shame.” David’s connection to the city is heightened by his unconditional love of the Blues. “Up the Blues! Up the Blues!” he boomed when asked about the team’s heroic escape from relegation last season. “It was just an amazing feeling. I was on cloud nine. Being a Bluenose is in the bones,” he added. The next half of the year looks busy for David. He’s about to start filming Tulip Fever written by Deborah Moggach and adapted by Sir Tom Stoppard with Judi Dench, but more exciting for him, Christoph Waltz who was in Django Unchained. “I cannot wait to meet Christoph. He is brilliant. I just hope he’s shooting at the same time as me. I’d like to watch and learn.” David is also working on Grimsby which is a film by Sacha Baron Cohen. “I met Sacha in LA and he was surprised I was British. I get that all the time. I worked in this country for 30 years and no one remembers! It just shows the power and success of Homeland.”

INFAMOUS BLUES BATTLE CRY….

David’s rousing messages tweeted before Blues escaped relegation made the front pages: ‘Today. We call on the spirit of Latchford, Francis and Burns. Of Dugarry and all who have worn the Blue and White! Keep Right On Lads!’ ‘As we gaze into the Abyss and darkness threatens to eat us up, remember the City, remember the Fans! Until the End Of the Road Lads!’

Rachel De-lahay sounds more than a little irritated. “I love this dress,” she says holding a particularly fetching summer piece in her hand, “but they haven’t got my size! Really, really annoying or what!!” I try to sympathise but what can you say? It’s a whole new experience for me – I can’t say that I’ve ever done an interview before with someone as they’re actually shopping. Twenty minutes later and the must-have dress is a distant memory as Britain’s Most Promising Playwright of the Year has flitted from shop to shop in Birmingham city centre before finding something even better. “And it fits,” she declares triumphantly having tried it for size just in case. Fashion sorted, now it’s a dash to the Apple store to try and get her iPhone fixed. “It just exploded on me,” Rachel explains as a hapless assistant tries to work it out.

FULL-ON LIVING

And there in a microcosm of two paragraphs is the life of Ms De-lahay… full on, everything done on the go, loads to pack in and really not enough time to do it. Thank goodness then for the little ‘magic’ notebook. Rachel carries it everywhere she goes and whips it out to jot down anything which she thinks might come in handy in her writing at a later date. “I’ll be walking along and see something or someone which I think looks different or interesting and pop it in the book. It’s the only way to remember things that could be useful in helping create a storyline, a character or a line in a script.” Before you get the impression that Rachel’s just a little eccentric for a 30-year-old, let’s make it clear she most definitely is not. What she is, is hugely creative and talented. And much of the drama she creates for stage and, moving forward, television comes from acute observation and her years growing up in Birmingham. Rachel was born in Handsworth and brought up by her mother Kerry who is a nurse at City Hospital. She went to King Edward School for Girls. Her first experience of the stage was when she was aged nine in Christmas Carol at Birmingham Rep. (She recently revisited the Rep with her new play Circles, which is a story based on characters riding on the Number 11 bus around the city.) While her family weren’t theatregoers, Rachel got the bug enough to spend every Sunday in Cannon Hill Park with the Stage2 Youth Theatre.

SHOP ASSISTANT

While her love of theatre was definitely formed in Brum, Rachel is quick to acknowledge London’s Royal Court Theatre for turning her into a writer. “I spotted a writing course there and moved down more in hope than any certainty that it would work out.” Supported by Arts Council funding, she learned her craft while making ends meet as a shop assistant. Her big break came when the Royal Court decided to produce her first play called The Westbridge in 2011 which looked at violence on the streets of South London. Much of the detail was actually adapted on the race riots in Handsworth in 2005 – a particularly dark period in the city’s history. Since then Rachel’s work has earned her a clutch of impressive accolades including Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Awards, Writers Guild Award for Best Play and Screen International Star of Tomorrow for her debut film script for Film4. She has also been dubbed the ‘queen of cool’ by The Independent. All of which is very nice but not what it’s all about for Rachel. “Sure it’s great to know that other people appreciate what you’re doing and nice to be recognised. Most important though is that it helps me move forward in what I want to achieve with my writing.”

TV AMBITION

As well as penning a film script, Rachel is busy talking to the likes of the BBC and Channel 4 about creating projects for TV. “You can’t take away the importance of seeing something live, but writing for TV opens up a huge audience for a playwright. It’s something I absolutely want to break into. But I like to do both. “There’s a reason why people pay £100 a ticket to see drama live when they could go out and buy it for £12 on DVD. I’ve been fortunate so far that my work has been in smaller venues, so the creative pressure of keeping millions of people happy hasn’t been there. The trick is to write for a bigger audience but not dilute what you are saying or the message you are getting across.” So, exactly how does a Rachel De-lahay play start out in life? “Sometimes it comes out of my little notebook if the idea still appeals. I normally go to whoever I am writing for and tell them what I’m interested in writing about. There’s a belief that I can do what I say I want to do, so they’ll go with it. Obviously I have to fit into their timeframe and window too, but I can’t guarantee an absolute fixed time because a project could take a few weeks or a year. I like to have full control over my time. I like to hand in a project when I am happy with it. “The first draft is when I put down what’s really a load of vomit on paper, lots of ideas and thoughts, to try and make sense of. It’s very free, and as the story unfolds I’ll then rewrite things. Then if I think it’s rubbish, I’ll go through and rewrite again until it’s right. You have to put a lot of thought into the writing but also the structure of what you are doing so it will work on a stage, in a theatre.”

CRIME OF PASSION

Her last play, Circles which the critics loved, centred on a violent relationship, and Rachel’s plot for her film script called Pretty has a similar focus. It is based on a crime of passion involving a girl Rachel went to school with who killed her love because she felt betrayed. Do we detect a common theme here? “I guess I do write a lot about people who find themselves in hopeless, often violent situations. It’s just what fascinates me. Taking characters and developing them so they are not always as they seem. Lots of twists and turns. I like to see how audiences react to them.” All the evidence is that theatregoers and critics alike are enthralled by Rachel’s brilliant concepts, scripts and characterisations. Birmingham is blessed with a writer who appears destined to become on the modern greats.

Alistair McGowan remembers one of the highlights of his childhood. Catching the coach with his dad on a Saturday to go and watch ‘the Villa’. “I was only about 10 or something, and the coach ran from right near home and dropped us off at Trinity Road station,” he says. “It was well before the Premier League came along…you could just turn up and get into the match, no problem. It cost £1.50 for me to get in.” They say first impressions count – something he’d famously come to appreciate with great success in later life – and despite watching the likes of star striker Andy Gray, the young McGowan eventually gave his Midlands’ soccer allegiance to (whisper it now!) Coventry City. “I know it sounds a bit weird but back then I was really a football fan rather than a supporter of a particularly club. Dad and I went to Villa Park because that’s where the nearest bus went.”

FAMILY TIES

Over the years, Alistair’s links with Birmingham have remained constant, and grown beyond the beautiful game, despite his fame as the nation’s favourite and best impersonator. True he no longer lives in the Midlands. He and his wife Charlotte, who he married a year ago next month, reside in leafy and well-heeled Richmond. But he’s regularly to be found back in town, visiting the many family and friends he has in the region. “I was born in Evesham, so I get back quite a lot to see the family,” he says. “When I was growing up Birmingham was the nearest big city so it was natural to spend time there. I’ve got many friends I stay in touch with in the area. I have to say, though, that Birmingham changes so much virtually every time I see it. All the new work and architecture which has been going on in the city is really wonderful to behold and the city council should feel very proud of what they are achieving. “The new library, for example, is just such an outstanding building and a wonderful place. And the work that has been going on at New Street station is breathtaking. An amazing design which is transforming the city along with all the other projects that are going on.” Alistair’s praise for the local planners is significant, and welcome, because of his involvement in issues about the environment.

TREE CHAMPION

On a national level, he’s been a fierce opponent of the expansion of Heathrow Airport. On a more local level, he’s a patron of the urban tree-planting charity Trees For Cities, a group which in Birmingham has formed partnerships with a number of schools to plant more than 5,000 trees in and around the city over the next two years. (“Did you know that research has been done that shows patients in hospital recover more quickly if they can see a tree through a window from their bed,” asks Alistair.) Oh, and he’s also a patron of the Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery apparently. (According to official records Alistair’s lineage shows more than 30 people with family links are interred there, although he isn’t keen to get into a discussion about that!) Our impromptu exploration of Birmingham and its ever-changing environs came as we talked about his return to the Midlands this month in the centenary production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Alistair plays the lead role of Professor Henry Higgins in the enduring story of the transformation of a Cockney flower girl into a society lady. His co-stars include actors Rula Lenska and Jamie Foreman (formerly Derek Branning in EastEnders). In an added bonus, Alistair’s wife is also in the production. “This play is massive for me,” he says. “It’s very fulfilling because it is so challenging and relentless. I’m on stage for the whole time over two-and-a-half hours. Last year, I did a 60-gig stand-up comedy tour, and that was easy compared to this. When you’re doing stand-up, or impersonations, it’s you own material and you can do what you want with it, change it, whatever you fancy. You can’t do that with a play. “The lines and the lines. You are serving the writer, so you have to do things as they were written, and sometimes that restriction can be tough and frustrating. I’ve done many plays and musicals, so I’ve got used to it I guess – but it never gets any easier. Actors are always telling me how they don’t know how I can do stand-up. It would terrify them. I always reply that what they do is so much harder.”

PEACE AND QUIET

With that kind of pressure, being able to unwind after performances is crucial to Alistair’s ongoing sanity. “Having Charlotte with me is wonderful, a lovely change to be able to work together and be together and relax. We’ve found ourselves a lovely Midlands hotel in the country for perfect peace and quiet “It’s a lovely change. We are both working together, so we can be together. We’ve found ourselves a lovely hotel just outside in the country where we can really relax. I’m sure we’ll pop out and have a wander around, but most of the time we’ll do nothing except maybe read a book or something.”

Britain’s favourite Brummie is coming home! Frank Skinner is packing his suit, collecting up his small two-year-old son, and heading for the city that inspired him. And he admits that he’s thoroughly excited at the prospect. Frank is in town for five sell-out dates on his new Man In A Suit stand-up tour. And when he walks on stage at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham and Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, it’s going to be like one big, incredible family party. “It’s seven years since I last performed live in Birmingham,” says Frank. “So I’m really looking forward to it. I just think it’s going to feel like going back to the family – admittedly a big family! It’s going to be great, because when you come from a place and then go back it’s always special. A bit like everyone being on the same wavelength.

MATCH-FIT

“The last time I toured I did the NIA, but I think that felt a bit too big. So this time I’m at the Symphony Hall which is perfect. And the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton is always a wonderful place to perform.” I caught up with Frank shortly before the start of his 35-date UK tour and somewhat naively expected him to be rehearsing for the rigours ahead. “You can’t really rehearse for stand-up,” he says, a patient tone evident in his voice. “Anyhow, I’m pretty match-fit as I’ve already done a five-week run of the show in London.” Far from putting his feet up though, Frank was working on another project, a comedy history show he’s created for BBC Radio 4. “I need to get this sorted out and fit it in around the tour,” he explains. Frank is always in demand of course, whether it be his TV shows like Room 101, radio hits such as his regular Saturday morning Absolute Radio programme, or seemingly off-the-wall projects – presenting Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year with Joan Bakewell comes into that category! (“Sky just asked me in one day and said: ‘What sort of things do you like doing?’ I said I quite liked looking round galleries, and the next thing I knew I was doing an arts programme. It was crazy!”)

ANYONE FOR CRICKET?

But touring is something that has always excited him. And with The Man In A Suit tour there’s the added bonus that he’ll be able to spend more time with his family and friends in Brum. “I’ve got a flat in Harborne,” he says. “I stay there when I can and it’s very handy for the tour as Birmingham has the bonus of being very centrally located for the rest of the country. The flat’s near the cricket ground too – I’m a member of Warwickshire Cricket Club – and I like watching the odd game of cricket as well as loving football of course. “It also means that I can bring my two-year-old son up with me and he can spend some time with the rest of the family.” Frank has two older brothers, an older sister and their families who all still live in the area. “I haven’t lived properly in Birmingham since 1991,” he says. “So I can’t claim that I’m walking up and down Broad Street every day, but I still have a real feeling for the city and the people. That never leaves you.” Apart from his son Buzz Cody (named after US astronaut hero Buzz Aldrin) and long-time partner Cath Mason, Frank’s other love is West Bromwich Albion – he’s been supporting the Baggies since he was a young lad himself. “I started in 1967 and I always watch them play at the Hawthorns. This season it’s been difficult, not just for the team but for me too because I haven’t seen as many home games as I normally would. “When I’m working all hours in the week, it’s hardly fair on the little lad if daddy then disappears on an eight-hour round trip on a Saturday or Sunday to watch football. When I’m not at the game though I somehow feel a bit guilty, as though I’ve let the side down. It’s ridiculous, but that’s supporting a football club for you!” Frank will be hoping for the same fanatical support from the Brummie audiences at his shows this month. “Playing Birmingham and Wolverhampton is always the highlight of my tours,” he says. “I really care about giving everyone the best show that I can. That’s why you can’t over-rehearse stand-up. I like to keep each show fresh, so I’ll swap and change material around at the last minute.

TINKER MAN

“If there’s something topical happening in Birmingham, I’ll try and work it in. It depends what crops up, but I like to tinker about with things. My show is not always fully formed before I go on.” As my mind turns to throwing in one or two rather more bizarre questions – why hasn’t Frank ever written a football song for the Baggies… will England win the World Cup… and is Joan Bakewell really as scary as she looks – our time together comes to an end. The nation’s No.1 Brummie is off in a flash to plan yet another new project.

Wolverhampton lovely and soul singer Beverley Knight is immensely proud of her roots. Despite a gruelling schedule in the West End, she’s back in the Midlands as often as possible and in fact chose her current house in North London because it’s easy for her to get home. “By home I mean Wolverhampton. Always,” she coos. Aged just 40, Beverley’s CV is immense. She’s sold more than a million albums, one platinum and four gold, scooped three MOBOs and an outstanding achievement gong at the Urban Music Awards, has sung with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Prince and Chaka Khan to name just a few and collected an MBE along the way. She’s now turning her hand to the theatre with great success as Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard at London’s Adelphi Theatre.

BAPTISM OF FIRE

The Bodyguard is a bit of a departure for Beverley and took her by surprise. “I hit 40,” she says, “and was itching to get stuck into something new. I hadn’t done any acting since I was a child, but this came up and I thought why not. I’ll go for it and thankfully I got the part.” Beverley is relishing the opportunity and is enjoying positive reviews, but it has been challenging too. “This is really in at the deep end stuff, but it’s an absolutely glorious feeling. It’s intense too. I’m performing six nights a week and my character sings all but one of the numbers, but it’s tremendous.” Beverley’s enthusiasm is infectious. She is smothered in a cold and sounds pretty ill when we speak, but on her way to the theatre she is as chipper as ever. “The adrenaline will kick in when I go on stage and it won’t bother me at all.”

PRINCE CHARMING

There have been many moments in Beverley’s career when she must have had to pinch herself. “I’ve done so many amazing things, but I have to say working with Prince has to be one of the best. He’s extraordinarily sexy and devastatingly charismatic.” Beverley won Celebrity Mastermind with Prince as her specialist subject, so she’s a proper fan too. Beverley’s MBE was also a highlight, but in a totally different way. “I ummed and aahed about whether or not to accept the MBE at all. I was only in my thirties and it felt a bit ridiculous, but then I thought about my parents and their journey and how they’d managed to carve out a new life here. I realised any success I’d managed to accrue was down to them and on that basis I accepted it. I went to the Palace with mum and dad. It’s the only time I ever saw my dad cry. He was a conservative man, you know a man’s man and I’d never seen him show such emotion. It was overwhelming for me.”

EARLY DAYS

As a child Beverley was constantly singing in church and at school. Her mum used to lead the singing in church with her ‘sweet, melodic voice’ and all of the women on her mother’s side of the family have either been singers or musicians, so it came naturally to Beverley. “I did as much singing as I could as a youngster and when I left school I started doing local community things which eventually led to me being spotted in a club. I’ve always had a good sense of melody and understood that a song needs a great big hook (a rousing chorus). I play the piano, so I just started to write my own little things. Admittedly they were rubbish, but thankfully they’ve got better!” Inspired by everyday life as well as personal experiences, Beverley points out that it could be as simple as the lady walking by on her telephone that triggers her next hit. “I might imagine who she’s talking to and what about and an idea could just spark from there.” Having achieved so much already what’s next for Beverley? “I’d do more stage if it was right. Also people keep trying to steer me towards the silver screen which appeals, but I’m not an actress you know, however I am a perfectionist so I’d have to do it right. Lots of people have made the leap from music to screen and it hasn’t worked. I watch Justin Timberlake with interest though. He’s a fabulous actor.”

GIRL NEXT DOOR

Beverley’s conversation is natural and warm and it’s like having a natter with a friend. There is no hint of diva behaviour which would be forgivable given she’s such a star. She stops the taxi at one point and asks the driver to drop her off at Tesco because she needs some supplies for her dressing room and then carries on chatting in the rain until the interview’s natural conclusion. It’s very refreshing. With mixed feelings about the changes back home over the past decade, Beverley says: “Birmingham is thriving. When I was young the Bullring was a shithole, but look at it now! It’s amazing. My little Selfridges is fab. The thing that has always been amazing is the people. They are just gorgeous.” She adds: “The downside of Birmingham’s growth is the rest of the Midlands including Wolverhampton is woeful. We need to spread the success around. The beautiful people of Wolverhampton deserve it. They are magnificent.” With that, our natter is over and Beverley is off to wow another packed theatre. Glorious. .

Deana Uppal came to many people’s attention during her two and a half month ordeal on Big Brother. It wasn’t a happy time for the young actress, who set a new record for the number of potential evictions she faced. However, unlike so many who appear on the reality TV show, Uppal is a young woman with many talents. She has three feature films pending and more work in the pipeline. Uppal has worked as a model since she was 16-years-old and much of her work has been down to her own talents of self-promotion and a devil may care approach to finding work. The multi-talented star can sing, dance and even has a black belt in karate. She says her background and upbringing have always made her want to work hard. “I want to get the most out of life while I am young. I never want to be poor or feel hardship again,” she says.

EARLY LIFE

Born in Middleborough, Uppal moved to the Midlands when she was 12. Her father died from cancer when she was a baby and she has no siblings. “I lived in a small village with my mother and she never remarried after my father died. She always encouraged me to do lots of things, there was never a night when I was not doing activities. Also, I have no brothers so she wanted me to be able to defend myself so when I was six I started doing karate and I have a black belt now.” She moved to the Midlands and spent her teenage years in Walsall, attending Tiverdale High School. However, it wasn’t the easiest of times, but she says it was character building and helped her to cope with living in Big Brother house where no-one seemed to like her. “When I was in high school I was bullied. So my tolerance level is quite high and my character is quite strong.”

BIG BREAK

Uppal is something of a go-getter and handles much of her own business affairs. She doesn’t have any management in the UK and is used to finding her own work. She was never exactly ‘discovered’ as a teenage model, but instead knocked on everyone’s door until she got responses. ” I saved up some money to get a photoshoot and portfolio together and sent it around to everybody and I started modelling from the age of 16,” she says. Uppal also never let her studies drop, even when she was dreaming of the high life. After leaving school she attended Bilston College and then the University of Wolverhampton. “Performing arts was my favourite but I also studied business and ICT. I always wanted to be an actress but I thought I might need something to fall back on.” Yet it was when she was at university that her big break came. Indian pop star Harbhajan Maan came to visit on a promotional tour and Uppal approached him with her typical aplomb. “He came to my university and I gave him my card. He called me the next day and arranged for me to go out to Mumbai, to shoot the video for ‘Vaari Vaari’ with him. I was the lead female in the video. While I was out there I met some directors and decided to go there to work. I came home and said ‘Mum I am moving to India’, but she was fine with it as she is very liberal and trusts me.”

MISS INDIA

Uppal spent two years in India modelling for magazines, fashion shoots and videos. But she wanted to be more than model and was eager to pursue ways to climb the fame ladder. She returned to England and entered Miss India UK and beat thousands of others to make it down to the final 30. During the contest she performed a Bollywood dance, modelled bridal wear and also devlivered a serious and moving monologue about suicide. She won the competition and has found work easier to gain ever since. “I think it changed things quite a lot for me because having a title means quite a lot in India. It makes you more important in some people’s eyes.” However, she was still fairly unknown among the wider British public until Big Brother. Following the show many offers came through, although many had to be rejected. “The lads’ mags offered me a lot of money to do a topless shoot, but I thought no-one would ever take me seriously if I did that. It would have been the easy way to do things.” Instead she is focused on her film career and investing the money she earns in case the offers dry up. She owns some property in the Midlands and says establishing herself as a business woman is also key. She works hard and is up at 6am everyday to spend some time in the gym, as she says it’s easy for her to put on weight. She’s a growing reputation in Bollywood and British Asian films and is hoping her reach will expand. With three films due for release in 2014, she’s hopeful of success in the future. “It’s mainly films that I want to do now and I want this to continue. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to go to America to work. I’ll certainly not rule it out.”

ON BIG BROTHER

Deana Uppal says she always thought she’d appear on Big Brother. However, the show and its aftermath was far from what she expected. “I always watched BB when I was young and I used to say to my Mum ‘I am going to be on this one day’. I always knew I would be on it one day so when the time seemed right I applied. I just went there to have a good time, to make friends and have the experience. Not many people can say they’ve been on Big Brother – I am quite adventurous. I was in there for two and a half months and made it into the final. I was nominated nearly every week, I think I set a new record for the most nominations. I was on edge a lot I think my experience was harder than it was for the others. But it was also nice that the public were voting for me every week. I found it hard when I came out of the house and I was a bit depressed for a while. I didn’t go out for a long time after the show. I think I went into a depression. Adjusting to normal life is really hard I don’t think people understand how hard it is.”

Words: Jon Card

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Laura Mvula. Just over 12 months ago, all but a handful of people, mostly the readers of ‘in the know’ blogs, would have even heard of her. Since then she’s released a critically-acclaimed album, toured several countries, pioneered a new form of music: “gospeldelia”, and now returns home as one of the City’s favourite daughters. But the singer-songwriter is still having trouble accepting her success and adapting to fame. “In September last year we were doing the iTunes festival and I felt totally out of place around all these serious musicians. Even when I had signed with Sony, it still hadn’t sunk in what was happening,” she says. “I don’t think of myself as a singer. I wasn’t ready for people to say they thought my songs were good, I just thought it was hype. I just kept my head down.”

SURROUNDED

Mvula’s rise to stardom has been a mixture of the effortless and the accidental. She didn’t continuously tour the country in a VW van or receive endless rejections before hitting the big time. In fact, she hardly left Birmingham before signing with Sony. However, Mvula’s been playing music all her life and is a former student of the Birmingham Conservatoire, where she studied composition. “I was completely surrounded by music and it was like that for four years. There were some genius composers and I just surrounded myself with these incredible forms of music.”

CHURCH

Mvula (nee Douglas) grew up in a musical family in King’s Heath, Birmingham. Her brother James and sister Dionne play the cello and violin respectively in her band. The family were regular church-goers and Laura played the keyboard in Christian bands and sang in choirs right up until she headed out on tour. It’s been written that pop music was “effectively banned” in her childhood home, but Mvula scotches such stories. “It wasn’t banned,” she says. “My parents just reacted when I came home singing lyrics like ‘boom, boom, boom I want take you in my room. Any parents would.” In fact, her family home was filled with the music of Michael Jackson, The Carpenters, funk, soul and many other varieties of pop, she says.

Indeed, Mvula’s childhood days sound happy and productive. She recounts how she used to rope in her brother and sister to sing with her so she “could learn three-part harmonies”. Her hit single ‘Green Garden’ was inspired by summer holidays in the backyard. “There were all these hot summers in the mid-90s and I just remember being in the garden a lot, having waterfights and barbeques on the patio. Before that I wrote ‘She’, so this was a song to cheer me up.”

SHY

After finishing school, Mvula chose to study composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire, an experience she adored. It was here she met her husband Themba Mvula, a Zambian-born baritone opera singer, who “introduced me to this whole world of music I had never heard before.” They married in 2009. But Mvula was still shy of the stage at this time and was far from being added to any A&R man’s list. “I used to go to The Yardbird just to be a part of the buzz, but I never went on stage.”

Yet she was increasingly persuaded by those around her to start writing and performing more. As a teenager she had sang in her aunt’s group ‘Black Voices’ which was “inspirational”. But now she formed Judyshouse (named after her landlady) and was the group’s lead singer. It was the band which would inadvertently propel her to fame. “Judyshouse was a really safe experiment for me to work as a vocalist for the first time. We did okay locally and did a lot of gigs and we had a lot of support from radio and churches, but eventually it faded.”

BREAKTHROUGH

Upon leaving the safe confines of the Conservatoire, Mvula found work, firstly as a supply teacher and then as a receptionist at the City of Birmingham Orchestra (CBSO). “I worked as a supply teacher, which was really tough, but inspiring, then I got a job at the CBSO and thought: ‘wow – I am going to be so close to all this music’. It was good for a few months but then I got really bored.”

Mvula was also recording compositions on her laptop and adding them to social media sites such as SoundCloud. Then, as the legend goes, she received a call which changed her life. A former Judyshouse bandmate was attending an event where the acclaimed musician and composer Steve Brown was due to speak. A Judyshouse demo was passed to Brown and soon he and Mvula were discussing working together. “I was coming home from Alvechurch community choir and I got this email from Steve Brown saying ‘this is great, it’s amazing. What are your plans? Do you have management?’”

Brown’s involvement quickly led to a deal with RCA Records (a subsidiary of Sony) and he and Mvula began recording what would become her first album, ‘Sing to the Moon’. Brown is well known in the industry for composing music and scores for TV shows, so he is perhaps an unlikely pairing for Mvula. “It’s a strange connection; I wouldn’t have thought he was someone we could do our first album with. He was the one that listened to my songs when no-one knew who I was. I feel like I owe him everything really.”

TO THE MOON

Mvula’s debut album ‘Sing to the Moon’ was released in March 2013 and has received tremendous reviews. The blogosphere was already filled with acolytes tipping Mvula as on the artist of the year before she had brought out the record. Pretty soon it began to dawn on Mvula that she was verging on hitting the big time. “We were doing Green Garden and there was this massive crew. Even though I had signed with Sony, it still hadn’t sunk in what was happening. We were shooting the video for Green Garden in LA and then we heard about the Critics’ Choice review on the BBC. Then it just exploded.”

As we speak, Mvula has just returned home after a long period of overseas touring. She suggests she’s not a natural performer on the stage and is still overwhelmed by being the centre of attention. Nonetheless, she’s enjoying the experience, and ticket sales and reviews suggest her music is making its mark. “It feels like a lot of pressure. I am never sure if I should try to be confident before going on stage or allow myself to be vulnerable, as that is the nature of the songs. The album is full of really emotional songs. It’s quite rough and challenging to keep emotionally stable.”

The past year has been such a rush for Mvula, I ask what she imagines the next 12 months might have in store. “I can hardly think beyond the next couple of months, let alone the next year,” she says.

Adrian Lester’s fondness for Birmingham is infectious. Despite a less than ideal upbringing and limited opportunities at school, Lester has a lot to thank the City for. The Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) provided him with a creative outlet that was non-existent at school, allowing him to find a voice and flourish as an actor. “It’s because of that building I do what I do,” he enthuses. Currently enjoying rave reviews for his portrayal of Othello at the National Theatre, Lester’s career has been highly versatile, ranging from conman ‘Mickey Brick’ Stone in ‘Hustle’ to his poignant portrayal of Ira Aldridge in ‘Red Velvet’. His role as Bobby in ‘Company’, directed by Sam Mendes, earned Lester an Olivier award. His performance of ‘Being Alive’ was so raw it left audiences sobbing.

GROWING UP

Life could have been very different. Lester grew up on a council estate just off the Bristol Road with his single mother and an absent father. Add a gaggle of uninspiring school teachers into the mix and Adrian’s prospects didn’t look good. “The school wasn’t interested in what I was interested in. It was all learning by rote, so I just went through the motions. The school made no attempt to find out what I was good at or what interested me,” he says. Between the ages of 13 and 15, Lester would come home from school, grab his skateboard and head to his favourite haunt in Cannon Hill Park. “The Midlands Arts Centre is such a special place for me. It introduced me to all forms of art and allowed me to just turn up and absorb it,” he recalls.
Lester recently took his children there and explained what an important part of his life it was. As they arrived, he worried it wouldn’t live up to their expectations. “Then we came round the corner and there was a choir of children singing acapella in the courtyard and they got it straight away.”

While Adrian’s mother was pleased he had a hobby, she wasn’t sure about acting as a career. “Mum was concerned about the practicality of making it work. Once she understood it could be a career, she encouraged me. The equity card was a turning point. Mum felt the career had chosen me.”

LOVE AT THIRD SIGHT

Lester married actress and producer Lolita Chakrabati in 1997, having originally met her as a teenager in Brum. It was something of a slow burner, but a very romantic tale. Adrian joined Birmingham Youth Theatre aged 14, and was invited to be a mentor at a drama workshop at the MAC, which he jumped at. The workshop was attended by local schools and drama clubs. Adrian mentored one of the groups of which 13-year-old Lolita was part. The workshop ended and they went their separate ways. A few years later, they bumped in to one another on a street corner in London. Adrian was heading to RADA and Lolita was going to university. They chatted and went their separate ways again. In Lester’s second year at RADA, Lolita popped up in the first year. Lester recalls, “We started hanging out, things got romantic and we thought: ‘somebody’s trying to tell us something here’.” The pair actually grew up a stone’s throw from one another, on opposite sides of Bristol Road.

The couple now live in London and have two children. They regularly work together, Lolita having written the acclaimed ‘Red Velvet’ in which Lester starred. They formed production company Lesata with theatre designer and producer Rosa Maggiora in a bid to ensure creative freedom. On working and living together, Lester says: “Working together is like an extension of what we do. It’s not an issue for us, but maybe in the rehearsal room people wonder if we’ll bring a domestic in to work. We never have. We work really well together.”

Lester paints a familiar picture of domesticity – juggling the school run then switching to work mode and back again. As such a recognisable couple, they must run the gauntlet of media intrusion? Not so. “Nobody is interested in my personal life. You choose your path and I’m not the kind of person who will sell aspects of my life for fame and cash, so there really is very little interest in that part of my life,” he says.

CROSSING THE POND

With a swathe of British actors enjoying success stateside, including fellow brummie David Harewood, would Lester make the leap? “I love living here. I pop over for the odd job and, like all actors, I like to keep the door open, but I’ve never wanted to move permanently to the US. Having said that, I’m a businessman and if work dried up here I would consider moving,” he says.

Many actors say they don’t have a preference between stage and screen, and Lester is no different, although he does find theatre more challenging. “They are so different, it’s hard to have a preference. With TV it’s frozen in time, where theatre is lost forever once you’ve done it,” he says. “Theatre is harder and stretches me more. I’ve been asked to do things in theatre that have never been asked of me on screen,” he adds.

BACK IN BRUM

When he’s back in his home town, Lester catches up with his brother and cousins and heads to Broad Street for a few drinks. He loves his hometown, but he’s keen to see some changes in the area. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see more live entertainment around Broad Street? Beat poets, dance, live music – plugged in and classical. There needs to be more to do than get drunk,” he says.

Martin Shaw has the sort of stature that makes one wobble slightly. With four decades of celebrated screen and stage work under his belt, he is an accomplished actor of national treasure proportions, and a sex symbol to boot. Shaw is about to return to his Birmingham home town to star in Reginald Rose’s hard hitting play ‘Twelve Angry Men’ at the Rep, directed by his good friend Bill Kenwright. “I haven’t auditioned for twenty years. Bill is a great friend and a fantastic director. He comes up with something every couple of years and off we go. I’m very lucky,” he says.

GOOD SCRIPT

At 68, Shaw is in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose which projects to get involved with and for him the quality of the script is everything. “My only criterion is how good the script is. From there I research, read and absorb. It slowly filters into your mind almost by osmosis and the character evolves,” he says. Despite huge success and experience, Shaw admits to suffering from terrible opening night nerves. “On opening night I wake up with stomach ache thinking ‘why do I put myself through this?’ Thankfully it’s only on opening night, or if there’s somebody important in the audience I’d like to impress.”  Such as? “Family and friends mainly,” he adds. The nerves aren’t an issue with TV as you can always stop and do it again and while Shaw enjoys both stage and screen he doesn’t have a preference, “except to say when I’m filming I can’t wait to be on stage and when I’m on stage I can’t wait to be filming,” he adds.

CHEMICAL FACTORY

Martin was always into drama as a child and had two inspirational teachers at Great Barr School. “I wanted to go to drama school at 16, but my parents made me wait for two years, which was good for me. I worked at a chemical company in Hockley in the Jewellery Quarter and went to drama school at 18,” he remembers.
It didn’t stop him from acting though. Martin joined a strolling theatre group that used to perform in the bombsites of Brum. “In the early ‘60s there were still lots of bombsites in Birmingham. We used to walk through the streets playing instruments inviting people to follow hence the name the ‘Pied Piper Players’. We’d gather on a bombsite and improvise encouraging a lot of audience participation. It was very challenging. Improv forces you to listen very carefully. Having so much audience participation is like inviting the devil into your living room,” he says.

WEAK AT THE KNEES

Shaw’s big break came in 1967 in John Osborne’s ‘Look Back in Anger’ at the Royal Court Theatre, which then transferred to the West End. He has more or less played leading roles in the West End ever since with the odd TV hit thrown in for good measure. A CV most actors dream of.

With such an accomplished career it would be easy to believe the hype and take yourself too seriously, but that couldn’t be further from the truth with Shaw. He’s a bit of a tease, is self-deprecating and has comfortably embraced the unlikely forum of chat shows like Loose Women with charisma and good humour. He makes women of a certain age go weak at the knees, yet he is incredulous about his desirability, “Still? I’m a Grandfather for goodness sake. It’s nice, but I haven’t got a clue why. I live in the country and everybody knows me as me, so I don’t see any of that here,” he says.

When Shaw comes to Birmingham he experiences “an intense sense of nostalgia with a hint of regret. I like seeing things that are the same and dislike seeing things that have changed. I remember the buildings were all black, but now you look at buildings like the Town Hall and they’re gleaming. I recall Snow Hill station with colourful steam engines,” he adds. Now that Shaw’s parents have both passed away Birmingham doesn’t have the same pull as it used to, so he’s pleased to have a reason to visit with Twelve Angry Men. “I used to go to every performance at the Old Rep. I have very fond memories of it,” he recalls.

NUTHOUSE

Shaw enjoys a sort of Good Life existence in the country. He is vegetarian and tee total, but it hasn’t always been that way. With his past partying well-documented what changed? “I had a discussion with a friend in 1971 about how we lived and he spoke a lot of truths. I haven’t had a drink since. It wasn’t difficult. The key was to just stop. If I’d said ‘oh I’m going to try to stop drinking’ I would have failed, but I just said I don’t drink. There’s no confusion or temptation.”
He found becoming vegetarian was more difficult simply because the food was so awful. “There were two vegetarian restaurants in London at the time. One was called Cranks and the other the Nuthouse which gives you some idea of the attitude towards vegetarianism at that time.” he says. Sometimes Shaw claims he’s vegan to avoid confusion over eggs. “For some inexplicable reason people think that eggs are vegetarian. I cannot for the life of me think why. So actually I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t eat eggs, but it’s safer to say vegan,” he says.

OLD TRIUMPH

Having enjoyed such a varied and fulfilling career is there a dream project he still hankers after? “They say never revisit old triumphs, but if I could bring ‘Man for all Seasons’ to the screen that would be a dream,” he says. Shaw played Thomas More in the Robert Bolt play at the Haymarket Theatre in 2006 to rave reviews. “And just to keep working,” he adds. With a talent like his and a friend like Bill Kenwright that’s surely a given.

There is a certain lack of self-consciousness to Lorraine Burroughs. The 32-year-old actress is chatty, friendly, open and happy to fill in the gaps in the story of her life. This is just as well, as my initial research into her life raised plenty of questions and not many answers. Burroughs has spent plenty of time on stage and in studios, but not so much time with journalists – well not yet, anyway. The budding star is coming to the attention of ever-greater audiences and is being recognised as a formidable acting talent by critics, and those within the industry. She’s about to appear on our screens in the second series of Top Boy, so we thought we’d grab an interview before the pack descends.

FRESH MEAT

Burroughs grew up in King’s Heath and was a pupil at Bishop Challoner school. She was an impressive athlete and won gold in the ‘Global Guts’ tournament. But even then, while everyone expected her to go into sport, Burroughs was dreaming of becoming an actress. “I remember doing all these interviews and being asked what I wanted to do, and would say ‘I want to be an actress, not an athlete’.”

Burroughs began serious acting when she was 14, joining an acting group at Central Television Studios. It was an ideal training ground for the teenager. “It put me into a professional environment at a young age. We would get to perform scripts of TV shows that were coming up, and to meet people in the business,” she says.

Burroughs lived in Stratford Upon Avon for a period, soaking up the works of The Bard, until she broke into the acting fraternity proper by joining the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Burrough’s RADA contemporaries included Ben Wishaw and Jonas Armstrong. “I had a great time. It was tough, really tough. Relentless, really. But there were great people there from a real mixture of backgrounds.”

The third year students are always targets for agents and casting team,and Burroughs was snapped up. She gained a role on the set of the BBC Midlands-based drama Doctors, and life as a full-time actor began. “When you’re in the third year, you put on a number of plays and the casting directors come to see the ‘fresh meat’. I was lucky, as I got snapped up straight away, whereas others are left to perform in the final plays.”

MOUNTAIN

Gaining a steady pipeline of work didn’t come easy, and Burroughs did her fair share of admin and waitressing jobs between graduating from RADA in 2003 and finding enough acting work to keep her going. “It’s only in the last four years or so that there’s been enough to keep me going. When I first started, I didn’t know how to handle money. It’s not something they teach you. You get these blocks of money and don’t know how long it’s going to last for. I’d get some money and it’d be ‘let’s go to Italy!’ – I had a lot to learn.”

A major turning point Burroughs’ career came in 2009, when she landed a stage role in the play Mountain Top, set on the night before civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated. She played opposite fellow Brummie David Harewood, now famed for his role as David Estes in Homeland. Burroughs played flirtatious motel chamber maid Camae, who engages in repartee with Harewood’s Dr King. “We had an absolute blast and he’s one of my best friends still. I was learning stuff from him and he said he was learning from me. I think we took the play to a level which people didn’t expect it to have.” Indeed, the critics agreed, and Burroughs was nominated for an Olivier Award.

ICE CREAM

Since Mountain Top, the phone has been ringing more regularly, and Burroughs has been involved in a number of gritty TV dramas. She played ‘DCI Winston’ in several series of DCI Banks and has also appeared in two series of Lip Service. Other television credits include roles in Spooks, Identity, New Tricks and the critically acclaimed The Shadow Line.

In 2011, Burroughs’ athletic skills came into use when she played the role of sprinter Trix in the film Fast Girls. More recently, she played the lead character ‘Serena’ in the TV drama ‘The Ice Cream Girls’. The drama is based on Dorothy Koomson’s 2010 novel of the same name, which followed two teenage girls from very different backgrounds who, in the summer of 1995, were accused of murdering their schoolteacher. Burroughs played opposite Jodhi May and Martin Compston.

Burroughs likes to get into the role by imagining she is the character while she goes about her everyday life. She might be in the supermarket pretending she is someone else. “I don’t have a set method but I do spend a lot of time preparing. I will be in the supermarket pretending to be the character and people won’t know.”

STATES

Burroughs regularly heads out to the States to undergo auditions. She has the same US agent as Harewood, and hopes to follow in his footsteps and become a household name there, too. It sounds exciting but is far from glamorous, she says. “It’s much harder out there (in the US). There’s way more competition because everyone wants to become an actor. You have to queue for ages to audition, and by the time you get in there you’re tired. I get quite annoyed by it.”

ECLECTIC MIX

In the meantime, there’s plenty going on in the UK. Burroughs’ next televised role is in the second series of the critically acclaimed Channel 4 drama Top Boy. The programme looks at the lives of teens and youths living on a London council estate, doing everything they can to survive and eventually striving for redemption. Burroughs plays the lead female role in the new series, opposite Ashley Walters. She is Walters’ lawyer, and ends up starting a relationship with him while trying to help him turn his life around. “I like to play a variety of parts. The most important thing is that they are strong characters. I have played Juliet at The Globe and crazy butch lesbians, too – it’s quite an eclectic mix.”

Mark Kermode considers himself to be a very lucky man. He watches films and talks about them for a living, plays in a band, and, as he approaches his 50th birthday, is remarkably contented. “I hope to do this until I drop off my perch. Even when I am watching the latest Keith Lemon film, I still have to pinch myself to be sure I am not dreaming that this is my job,” he says.

The film critic, who is a regular on BBC TV and radio, feels he is “getting away with it”, but nonetheless, his latest project is surely a step further up the lucky scale. Kermode, along with his long-term friend, musician Robert Ziegler, has managed to assemble an 80-piece orchestra to play his favourite film scores. Kermode will curate ‘Film Music Live’, a series of four concerts performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). “Robert Zeigler and I go back a long way. I first met him at a festival, where I was introducing Hitchcock’s ‘The Lodger’, and he was conducting a live orchestra. We fell into a conversation about film music and realised we had a great deal in common. He’s not only a great musician but he can talk about music in a way which brings people in,” Kermode explains.

Zeigler and Kermode, along with concert producer Tommy Pearson, began to forge the idea of creating a concert dedicated to film scores. It wasn’t meant to be a selection of the most famous films, but a highly personalised collection, with Kermode’s and Ziegler’s ideas at the forefront. “I think it was all of our ideas. We had been talking about it for years, and it just needed someone to make it happen,” says Kermode. “When it was suggested I do it, I was flattered.”

THE LIST

Kermode and Zeigler spent several weeks exchanging emails and batting suggestions back and forth, until they came up with a list to perform (see box-out). The list reflects Kermode’s passion for both film and music, but it is far from a list of blockbusters. “I had this idea that my soundtracks weren’t as well known as they should be, and in some cases the films aren’t as well known, either.”

Those who know of Kermode’s reviews won’t be surprised to find that his favourite film, The Exorcist, is included. Another inclusion is the Planet of the Apes, as  Kermode believes “everything you need to know about politics, you can find out from watching Planet of the Apes.”

Others are films which he believes have been overlooked, but which also have soundtracks he loves to listen to. The David Lynch film Twin Peaks is a case in point. “Many people say they haven’t seen David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, and the reason they haven’t is because the film critics all slated it and so they didn’t go to watch it. But the ethereal score for the film has kept interest in it alive, and the film has become something of a cult classic.”

ORCHESTRA

At the time of writing, Kermode and the CBSO still haven’t stood together in the same room, and so the exact structure of the evening hasn’t been finalised. Special guests are being lined up and Jeremy Irons has just been announced for the Birmingham concert. Kermode is excited about the concerts, describing CBSO as “a fantastic orchestra”.

Kermode was recently in Memphis, Tennessee, recording an album at Sun Studios with his skiffle band The Dodge Brothers. The film critic plays double bass and harmonica, so some might be expecting him to join in the performance. However, he assures us the CBSO will be in charge of the music. “Anyone who heard me having a bash at the theme from Midnight Cowboy on the chromatic harmonica will be delighted to know that I won’t be playing.”

THE WORST FILM EVER MADE?

Mark Kermode has been reviewing films for over 25 years and has written about them extensively for newspapers, magazines and academic journals. But has he ever fancied having a crack at actually making one?
“I have no desire to make films, or to be in films, I only want to watch them,” he replies. “I have seen films being made and I have nothing but respect for those who make them. Film critics shouldn’t make films. They should stick to what they do best, which is reviewing films. I couldn’t make a film as good as the very worst one I have ever seen.” And what is this film? “Over-sexed Rugsuckers from Mars.” Ah say no more…

THE MUSIC

Film Music Live will be performed four times across the UK, and comes to Birmingham Symphony Hall on July 9. The actor Jeremy Irons (pictured) will be the special guest on the night. For those who like set-lists, here are some of the scores to be included on the night:

Planet of the Apes (Goldsmith)
The Exorcist (Oldfield)
North By Northwest (Hermann)
Taxi Driver (Hermann)
The Devils (Davies)
There Will Be Blood (Greenwood)
Mary Poppins Overture (Sherman & Sherman)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Badalamenti)
Silent Running (Schikele)

I meet Miles Hunt at the recently refurbished Craven Arms, behind the Mailbox in Birmingham. The Black Country style pub is Hunt’s ‘local’ when he’s in town. Hunt is in an upbeat mood and is “loving life” and music at the moment. I put it to him that this hasn’t always been the case. “Absolutely. The line-up the band has now is so much better and that’s the key. I mean years ago, I didn’t like anybody in the band. Those four seemed to get on alright, but I didn’t get on with them and I don’t like any of them to this day,” he says. “The band now is ten times what the original line-up was and from a personality point of view we all get on.”

WITH LOVE

The new line-up, which includes his 29-year-old girlfriend Erica Nockalls on violin and former Pop Will Eat Itself drummer Fuzz Townsend, is a far cheerier affair. Something which is reflected in the work the band has been doing of late. Alongside, a new studio album, ‘Oh No it’s the Wonder Stuff’, is a heart warming covers collection entitled ‘From the Midland’s With Love’. It features work from Midlands artists such as UB40, Duran Duran, Slade and Roy Wood. The album has been lauded by both critics, fans and even the original artists themselves. As with many great ideas it all started with a conversation in the pub. “Erica, Fuzz and I were in the pub and we were talking about why Midland’s artists aren’t as celebrated as much as they should be,” explains Hunt. “We were thinking about bands who at their height were really influential and who sold a lot of records. We started to compile a list including people like Roy Wood, The Beat and Rankin Roger.”

UNCLE BILL

Many of the songs reflect Hunt’s personal influences. His uncle, Bill Hunt, was a keyboardist in Wizzard and Electric Light Orchestra and was one of the reasons why Hunt became a musician. “I think his lifestyle interested me the most. Uncle Bill didn’t have to get up in the morning, polish his shoes and go to work. He dressed in a cape, had hair down to his arse and looked to be having loads of fun. It had to be a huge influence on me as for a few years my uncle was on Top of the Pops.” “We wrote this list of songs and artists we absolutely love. There was a lot of Steel Pulse but the Wonder Stuff couldn’t cover those as the reggae beats are integral to the tracks. For me year zero is 1977 with punk although growing up around here I loved Slade and the glam stuff as they were absolutely the kings of my area. We didn’t do any metal either. Perhaps if my uncle had been in Ozzy Osbourne’s band my musical education would have been different. But I like pop, I like humour, I like a good time basically and Slade are the epitomy of that.”

MUSIC SCENE

Hunt’s own song writing surely puts him on a par with those he is now covering. For those who don’t recall, the Wonder Stuff were one of indie pops finest acts and principal members of the region’s last big ‘music scene’. Alongside acts such as Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Midland’s music rode high during the 1990s, although it was the Wonder Stuff who were the most successful. The band had a string of top ten singles during a period when very few guitar acts got regular airplay on radio stations, and even hit the No.1 spot with ‘Dizzy’ featuring comedian Vic Reeves. However, it was in the live arena where the group was most successful, headlining festivals such as Reading and Phoenix and touring the UK, US and beyond. There was also the band’s performance at Bescot Stadium, which has ensured The Wonder Stuff’s legendary status for a generation of Midland’s indie music fans.

RESENTMENT

But despite the success the Wonder Stuff was far from a happy ship. Hunt was isolated from the band and felt he was doing the lion’s share of the work alone. Being “raised as a socialist” the band split the money equally but a lack of incentives meant the rest of the band took his efforts for granted, he says. I had a socialist attitude, which suggests that if everyone is paid the same, everyone will work as hard as one another – the absolute opposite happens,” he rages. “If I had said maybe you’ve to do some work they might have done something about it. But all they ever did was take and do fuck all. I resent them still to this day. I can’t believe it took me all these years to get rid of them.” By 1994, Hunt had more than he could bear of his fellow band members and left the group to work as a presenter on MTV. It was inauspicious timing, as guitar music was about to enjoy a major revival via Britpop. However, Hunt says the movement was of little interest to him. “I stayed in London because I was doing MTV. It opened my eyes to what was going on in the world of music. I thought ‘holy shit England has got nothing to offer musically at all’ – not unless you like the work of The Beatles and Ray Davies.”

BUSKING FOR BEER

After a few years of presenting on MTV, Hunt returned to music with Vent 414, an industrial-style rock band involving former Clash drummer, Peter Howard, and Morgan Nicholls, bass player of Senseless Things. The band made one creatively successful album but later split. The Wonder Stuff would also reform periodically for live shows, until 2003 when drummer Martin Gilks and violinist Martin Bell left permanently. Hunt needed a new lease of life and little did he realise that one was outside “busking for beer money” on the streets of Stratford, near to where the band was rehearsing. Classically trained Erica Nockalls joined the group in 2005 after blowing Hunt away with her ferocious playing style. “She came in for an audition and I think we were probably half way through the violin solo on Circle Square, which is one of my favourite things the old violinist ever did, and she was playing it far better and more aggressively than he had ever done. I didn’t even bother singing the third verse I just stopped and said ‘you’re fucking fantastic, do you want the gig?’”

Since then Nockalls has become a permanent member of the Wonder Stuff and she and Hunt have also separately recorded two albums together. They regularly play acoustic gigs together on their “never ending acoustic tour” at venues across the country. After a year of “getting to know one another” they “fell together” and have been together since. They now live on a farm in Shropshire, playing music and living a “ridiculously charmed life”. The Wonder Stuff has a string of live dates this year, culminating in a Christmas show at the 02 Academy in the city centre. Hunt is also working on an autobiography, but says music will always be his life. “I always want to write and to play. There’s nothing else I can do. I am totally unemployable. What am I supposed to write to prospective employers…I’ve been drunk and showing off for 25 years?”

Jamelia must pinch herself at times. Her accidental role as a teen pop star has morphed into a long and varied career that keeps her excited and pays the bills. Thrust into the spotlight at age fifteen, she was soon touring the world with the likes of Usher and Destiny’s Child. Jamelia could have believed the hype and overindulged, but she didn’t, and has maintained her likeable down to earth nature as a result. She isn’t ‘papped’ falling out of nightclubs, or checking into rehab. And when asked if she has ever been tempted to search for a more showbiz life, her trademark hearty laugh ensues: “It’s never crossed my mind to leave Birmingham let alone Britain. I’m lucky enough to be able to travel wherever and whenever I like, but there’s no place like home.”

ALBUMS

Jamelia didn’t envisage a career in music. She was just a girl with a good voice who loved singing. “If my family and friends were seated that was my cue for a show. Under duress they listened and applauded,” she says. When her estranged father gave her a karaoke machine, she started recording homemade albums and listening to them on her Walkman. Thanks to Jamelia’s cousin, one of her ‘albums’ made it into the hands of EMI who spotted her potential right away. Jamelia remembers sitting next to her mum discussing terms with EMI executives when her mother put the brakes on and declared, “she’s not signing anything until she’s passed her exams.” A determined Jamelia had been disinterested in class until then, but she returned to school, knuckled down, got the grades and returned to EMI to clinch the deal.

CATCHY

Jamelia’s catchy R&B tracks stormed the charts throughout the noughties. Top ten spots became the norm and singles like ‘Superstar’ and ‘Thank You’ still feel fresh over a decade on. A fistful of MOBOs, nine BRIT nominations, a Q Award and a tete-a-tete with Nelson Mandela followed. This was the stuff of teenage dreams and yet against the odds, Jamelia managed to avoid the trappings of fame and has carved out a successful and varied career. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the glitzy side of my life, but it’s not the way I live day-to-day.” She was rubbing shoulders with Denzel Washington on the red carpet a few days before our interview, but Jamelia is able to hop on and off the showbiz treadmill, mainly because of her determination to stay in Brum. Most of her ‘inner circle’ is made up of old friends she went to school with and she is immensely proud of her home town. “Showing the city off to friends from the South is one of my favourite past times. They arrive with misconceptions about what Birmingham is like, but leave thinking it’s cool and can’t wait to come back.”

SINGLE MUM

The only clichéd part of Jamelia’s pop star life was her marriage to premiership footballer Darren Byfield. The marriage ended in 2009 and despite being brought up by her single mum, Jamelia was consumed by shame at finding herself on her own with two daughters. “If people I met assumed I had a husband I wouldn’t correct them,” she admits. “When the opportunity arose to get involved with the BBC3 documentary Shame About Single Mums I jumped at the chance.” The programme had a profound effect on Jamelia; she spent half of filming in tears as she encountered brave women and listed to their shocking stories of suffering and stigmatisation. “It changed my life,” she says. “Although single parenting is not ideal, it’s perfectly possible to have a loving relationship with your children, be a good parent and absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.” Jamelia seems to have inherited her mother’s protective streak, choosing to home school her children, however when her oldest daughter asked if she could go to school aged ten Jamelia didn’t hesitate. “My girls are everything. I’d do anything for them. The fact they passed the entrance exam reassured me I did a good job at home.”

ACTING

Although music is her first love, Jamelia is relishing all of the other projects that have come her way. “Acting has been a revelation. I had no idea I could act or that the leap was possible,” she says. In BBC1 series Death in Paradise alongside Ben Miller, Jamelia managed to combine both acting and singing by playing a singer who was poisoned mid-performance. She ditched her Brummie twang in favour of a Basian lilt and put in a really convincing performance. I’m intrigued to know if there’s a man on the horizon, but Jamelia says she might wait until her girls have left home before she looks for love again. Given they’re seven and 11 I hope she’s joking and anyway aren’t their fellas queuing round the block? “Where would I find a suitable man?” she laughs. “Every man I meet knows everything about me, or thinks he does which makes dating odd.”

DAYDREAMS

While there is a well documented darker side to Jamelia’s extended family, it’s hard to reconcile with the person before me. It makes Jamelia’s charming nature even more remarkable. The lyrics to Thank You hint at Jamelia’s own experience of domestic violence with an old flame. Perhaps knowing such horrors explains her strength and determination to be the best she can be and to protect her girls to the utmost. She feels lucky to have escaped the more difficult periods of her past and to have cultivated such a lovely life. “I daydreamed about this sort of life growing up, but I didn’t really believe it would happen. I’m able to give my girls what they need which makes me happy. They are everything to me.”

Jasper Carrott is surely Birmingham’s best loved and most successful comedian. His career spans over 40 years, and has seen him tour the country and beyond. However, it was television where Carrott was most successful and influential; pulling in over 14 million viewers for An Audience with Jasper Carrott, while shows such as Carrott Confidential, broadcast on Saturday nights on BBC1, are considered some of his best comedic work. At the age of 68, the comedian isn’t as active as he once was, but we catch up with him to find he still has fire in his gut and is as passionate about his hometown as ever.

MUSIC BUSINESS

Carrott’s career started in the late 1960s when he worked as an MC at ‘The Boggery’, a Birmingham-based folk club that he established with his friend Les Ward. His talent behind the microphone soon shone through, and would later become his main act. For a while, though, he was very involved in the city’s music scene, managing bands, acting as an agent and later recording his own records. Carrott was childhood friends with Bev Bevan, founding member of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and The Move, and the pair have reunited, along with several other Brummie musicians, to perform Made in Brum. “It’s looking back to the sixties and early seventies, when Birmingham was very influential in the music business, something the city doesn’t really get credit for,” Carrott explains. “It was an era when Birmingham produced bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Move, The Rockin’ Berries and ELO – the city really was in the forefront.” Carrott will be introducing the songs and telling anecdotes and stories from the time. He hopes to jog the memories of the audience, who might remember ‘Alex’s Pie Stand’ – a post-gig meeting place for rockers where Carrott and co would drink tea and eat ‘unwholesome pies’. He also wants to remind us of the importance of people such as Trevor Burton of The Move and ‘Birmingham’s first pop star’, Danny King. The show sells out all over the Midlands, but Carrott says it’s unlikely they will travel far. “Made in Birmingham only really works if we do it in the Midlands. If it was Made in Liverpool, people would come from all over.” He laments the perception of the city, saying it holds it back and means Birmingham isn’t celebrated as it should be. “Birmingham is a very easy target for comedians – there’s no doubt about it – and this affects the confidence of the city. It still suffers from this perception of the Victorian age, when it was this black, industrial city. I live 12 miles from where I was born, and I love the city. It’s a part of who I am.”

STAND-UP

For some comedians, later life is a great time to return to the stage. Witness the adulation received by once pilloried performers such as Bob Monkhouse, who was feted shortly before his death. But Carrott says he doesn’t want to simply re-run the old routines, and he isn’t inspired to create new ones. “I don’t get anywhere near the same kick out of performing as I used to. I have lost track of what’s going on in the world. There’s been a whole line of new people coming through, but I don’t know who any of them are. I think, to be a stand-up, you have to be aware of what’s going on in the world. All I can really do is the old material and that’s not what I want to do.”

GROUNDBREAKER

Such words will of course bring sadness to long-term fans, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Carrott has always been one to break ground, but then to move on before things became stale. “When I was a stand-up, I was trying to push the boundaries all the time,” he says. “An Audience with Jasper Carrott was the first show where there was real stand-up comedy, without it being on the Cilla Black show. I was doing raconteuring and material from my personal experience, and that had never been on TV before. If I was to go back into comedy, I would have to do a tremendous amount of research just to get up to running speed.”

STRESS

Carrott Confidential was for many a high point in the comedian’s career. The live show, which was performed just after the BBC news, was both brilliantly funny and highly topical. The scripts were being written literally right up until it aired, but this was also a real test of nerves for the comedian. “I remember getting ready to go on stage and the audience wasn’t even in the studio. Someone went and got them while I got ready, and within five minutes we were on air,” he recalls. The show ran for three eight-week series between 1987 and 1989, bringing in over 10 million viewers every Saturday night. It also propelled the careers of Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, who subsequently went on to create the Mary Whitehouse Experience with David Baddiel and Rob Newman. However, the live performance became too much for Carrott, who insists the audience didn’t realise it was live. “It was live to air, but everyone thought it was recorded. I tried to get the message across by appearing with a TV set and flicking through the channels, but people still thought it wasn’t live. It gave us an edge and adrenalin, but it didn’t give the audience an edge. I didn’t do live TV after that as it was just too stressful.”

STARS

Whether he returns for one last salvo or not, Carrott’s place in comedy history is assured (see Career of Carrott). He influenced a whole generation of comedians, including Frank Skinner and Alexei Sayle, and will surely continue to inspire more, who will now be watching his routines of YouTube. He has received many awards and accreditations, but says there’s one type which really stands out. “Whenever I receive an honour from the people of Birmingham it means so much to me. Joining the Hall of Stars was fantastic, as was gaining the honorary degrees from the Universities. It’s in Birmingham where I always want to succeed the most.”

 Baseball is not a game we’re that familiar with this side of the pond and Lenny Henry is certainly no expert on it either. Growing up around the streets of Dudley, Lenny and his mates were more used to a game of footie, kicking a ball through jumpers for goalposts. But now he’s learning his sports all over again – because at the ripe age of 54 he’s having a swing at playing baseball. Seriously!

“I’m pitching myself into it big-time,” says Henry with a wry smile on his face. So, what’s going on? Typically male mid-life crises tend to involve splashing out on motorbikes or cars and Henry surely has the money for that. “It’s all to do with work,” Henry explains. “I’m learning about the game because the character in my new play is an ex-baseball player. I’m all over it. Seriously man, I know all there is to know about playing ‘ball.” It’s difficult to know if he’s joking or not when he says he’s being ‘serious’.

 But we’ll have the chance to find out when he returns to his home region in his latest ‘serious’ role in the highly-acclaimed Fences – a classic African-American play by August Wilson. In its previous US incarnation on New York’s Broadway, Fences won Denzel Washington a Tony award. Henry is taking a new production on a seven-week UK tour, with the opening week at Malvern Theatre at the end of the month – and we caught up with him on a trip back to Birmingham during a break in rehearsals. He’s in the lead role of Troy, a 53-year-old former baseball player who’s hit on hard times and is now a garbage man. “It’s all about the struggles and the interwoven relationships in his life and through the story,” says Henry. “I can identify with him – I know all about relationships in life. It’s a serious piece and it’ll bring something new to people.”

CLASSIC MATERIAL

 ‘Serious’ is a growing theme in Lenny’s professional life these days. “After all my time in comedy, I think it’s ok to want to do something else with my time. “I’ve done a lot of stand-up stuff and comedy and sitcoms on TV. Now it’s good for me to do plays. I want to do them. When you’re working on TV in comedy you work with people who are always trying to make their mark, wanting to do something different, change something. They whinge a bit, too, and it gets really frustrating. Then after that there’s the critics who pick everything apart and whinge some more. “But when you do a play by a great writer, there’s nothing they can change or moan about. People can’t mess with a classic and August Wilson’s material is classic. They’re stuck with it. They can comment about your interpretation and stuff, but they can’t have a go at the piece itself. And that’s great.”

FAMILY

 Malvern is the opening of a UK tour that also includes Bath, Richmond, Oxford and Cambridge. If all goes well, the production will then go into theatre in London. For now though, Lenny is looking forward to seeing his family and friends in the ‘home’ audience. “They all still live in the area. Like, I’ve a sister in Brierly Hill, another one in Wolverhampton. My best friends are still all from the area, too. I’m a local boy born and bred, grew up here and went to school here. I knocked around all the local places – like Buffery Park and so on. “I still spend a lot of time here. I come here for two reasons – to see my family and friends or to work. I love the Midlands, it’s such a cool place. “I’m sure the family will be booking in when I come to Malvern. They love to see me on stage, especially when it’s so local to home. “Do you know what though? They’re never the same when they come to see me in a serious production as they are when I do stand-up. They’re just different somehow. My sister goes all peculiar and quiet in the bar after the show. “When I do stand-up they’re just normal. They have one big laugh. But when they see me do serious stuff they change. That’s funny don’t you think. Actually… it’s weird!”

FUTURE

 Henry says he wants to continue working and is interested in expanding into new and challenging territory. As all actors should, he’s taken on some Shakespearean roles, although his current performance is just as challenging, he says. “I’m all for doing different and challenging things. I’ve just done two Shakespearean plays in a row and didn’t want to do another. I’ve been aware of August Wilson’s work for some time. Fences is hugely well written – there’s loads more lines than say in Othello, which I’ve also done. “I’ve had to learn lots of things for this play. There’s the African-American vernacular for a start. Get that wrong and people won’t believe anything. We’re two weeks into rehearsals and I’m at the point where blood is pouring out of my forehead as I try to remember the lines. And I’ve had to learn how to play baseball, too, of course…”

 ”I love Birmingham and always have. People have issues with the accent – not me. I am one of those peculiar people who think it is a tremendously attractive accent,” says Donal MacIntrye, employing some of the native charm to open our conversation. We meet for a coffee at Birmingham’s Perry Barr campus, he’s relaxed and open, full of stories and anecdotes.

“There’s a very relaxed vibe to it,” he continues. “Birmingham feels a bit like going up to Ireland. People are very accommodating, they aren’t looking for an edge, which is very reassuring, particularly for outsiders.” It’s nice to know he likes Brummies. But then, for a man who spent a year with hardened gangsters in Nottingham, football hooligans such as the infamous Chelsea ‘headhunters’, and has reported from several war zones, we are a comparably nice bunch.

EARLY DAYS

 MacIntyre started out as a journalist as a teenager in Ireland, covering hurling matches for the Irish News. “My brother used to cover the sports beats in Ireland. The Irish News called and wanted to speak to Dara, who had just gone off to the States to work. I was about 14 or 15 at the time and I said ‘I’ll do it’. At first they said ‘you can’t do it’, but then they called back and gave me the job. So off I went off to cover Armagh versus Kildare Hurling, division three, or whatever it was. Later, Dara came back from the States and he had to pitch to get his old job back.” Both brothers now work in media, although Donal tried his hand at other things first. He aimed to be a canoeist and made it into the Irish Olympic team. But he never quite made the world’s top grade and, after completing a degree in economics, he moved back towards the career he had fallen into as a teenager.

SELF-STARTER

 He’s been successful, he says, through sheer hard work. MacIntyre is a “self-starter”, who went looking for stories in his time off, sometimes funding the excursions himself. “I think the people who do the best in journalism are usually the ones who work harder than anyone else. Some are just incredibly talented – that’s not me! But I definitely work harder than most. When I was working for the BBC doing sport investigations, I would leave the office at 8pm, go to Glasgow and be there for an Irish story. I went to Beirut on my credit card, just to generate stories. For some people it’s a job but for others it’s a lifestyle, and for me it’s always been the latter.”

UNDERCOVER

 MacIntyre’s career really started to take off during the early 1990s, when he pioneered the use of concealed cameras to capture the seedy underworlds of sport, fashion, care homes and organised crime on film. He joined the BBC, carrying out sports investigations for On-The-Line, and going undercover as a canoeing instructor to expose the lack of safety standards in the industry, a story which followed the death of four children in Lyme Regis. But MacIntyre really came to the nation’s attention when he went undercover as a night club bouncer for 11 months for the ITV programme World In Action. Here, MacIntyre exposed links between private security firms and drug dealers, coming up against hardened criminals. This type of work continued with his own BBC show MacIntyre Undercover, where he would embark on investigations that would last for over a year. “We were starting out on a route which British journalism hadn’t been down. Undercover stings lasting a day or even a week had been done, but we were going longer than that and succeeded in exposing some very dangerous characters.”

 CRIMINAL MINDS

 MacIntyre is now a well-known face and so undercover work is no longer possible. But he remains fascinated with the criminal world and continues to report about it. “People ask me why I am drawn to violent characters, as if it’s some kind of genetic flaw. I always say: ‘have you seen the TV schedules?’ I think there is a general obsession with violence and dysfunctional people. Essentially, damaged people are interesting.” Rather than simply exposing criminals, MacIntyre now aims to examine their lives. One of his early expose’ was of the gangster Wayne Hardy, who he helped put in prison.

A decade later, however, he met up with him again, this time digging deeper into his subject’s psyche to better understand how he had become a criminal. It was an exploration which showed the human side of a dangerous and frightening individual. “I’d exposed him as a gangster and criminal, but 10 years later I befriended him and showed him as a father and husband, too. He had undergone much tragedy in his life. His wife had killed their daughter and then herself, for instance. Just saying ‘he’s bad’ doesn’t cut it with me anymore.” Similar work continued with the Noonan’s, a Manchester ganglord who MacIntyre showed as both criminal and victim, and all else in between. “We started to make access films. It wasn’t just about exposing their crimes in terms of black and white, good and bad, but showing their whole lives with all the many shades of grey.”

ACADEMIA

 MacIntyre is now working with students and academics at Birmingham City University (BCU) to develop the discipline of criminology. His unique experience adds first-hand data to the text books and theories of academia.”We are applying criminological theories to the work that I do. From journalism and right and wrong to the broader picture to criminology, and a broader and more complex understanding.” One of MacIntyre’s lessons for his students is to let go of fear. “A lot of film makers are afraid of their subjects. You have to respect them, but if you do that then you will compromise the quality of your work.”

 HOW TO SURVIVE UNDERCOVER

 Donal MacIntyre has posed undercover many times. But how does he manage to survive among criminals, pretending to be someone else, without going mad? “I have never found it a problem working undercover, I think others have, but I came to it quite late, having already worked as a reporter before. I had been to war zones such as Beirut, Burma and the former Yugoslavia, to name a few. So I came to it as an experienced reporter. I am comfortable in these situations. I am not the best but I am better than most. The more comfortable you are the better the results you get. “You don’t jump into the undercover world looking for problems, you have to know there’s a prima facie case beforehand. You also know what’s right and wrong, and have a team working with you, so it’s not some testosterone-filled adrenaline kick. “There’s always a smart way around something. I lived in crack house for two months and they thought I was an alcoholic as I was always drenched in Special Brew in the morning. I’d say something like ‘I won’t do drugs ‘cos my sister died of them’. “I think being Irish gives you dexterity undercover. You can be working class, international, I can be a football hooligan or a care worker or a millionaire. It’s a classless accent.”

It’s been a busy year for Glynn Purnell. The city’s most famous chef has had openings, a closing and rebranding, as well as numerous TV and media appearances to deal with this year. Crucially, Purnell has retained the Michelin star of his eponymously named fine dining restaurant on Cornwall Street, and has gained a number of other feathers in his cap along the way. He recently picked up the BMW Square Meal Best UK Restaurant Award, adding to the trophies already on display in his restaurant. The past year has seen Purnell make the transition from chef to restaurateur; he now runs two sites and employs 50 staff. There have been a few bumps along the way, from disagreements with landlords to potential partners not making the grade. However, he’s feeling positive about the past 12 months and is ready for more challenges next year. “It’s been a good year, although there have been some highs and lows. Having to rebrand The Asquith was a low but, over the last few weeks, Purnell’s Bistro has exploded,” he says.

SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS

Purnell is a regular on our TV screens and in the press. There are ongoing discussions with the BBC about new programmes and filming is underway for next year’s Great British Menu, where he will once again act as a judge. During a recent appearance, on the Great British Food Revival, Purnell told the country about the importance of the British shrimp and how it is under threat due to the rise of imported prawns and shellfish. All this seems a long way from where he started life, on a council estate in Birmingham. “I am really pleased with the TV work I have done – I have had some amazing feedback since I did the Great British Menu. Who would have thought when I was playing football on the back fields of Chelmsley Wood that one day I would be on TV talking to two million people about prawns!”

YOUNG APPRENTICES

Purnell’s own social climbing has led to a desire to help young people develop their own careers. The chef is now working with the students at South & City College Birmingham, and will be bringing two apprentices into his business, as well as finding placements for others at restaurants in the city. “It’s up to people like me to get involved and do our bit,” he says. “If young people have enthusiasm, a good work ethic, a bit of a spark and start working with someone like myself then the sky’s the limit. They need to realise they can come from a council estate and do well.” Purnell says he wants to help educate the students on all aspects of the business, not just the kitchen. Like many restaurateurs, he says finding good front of house staff is a challenge, so he is also on the lookout for youngsters with good people skills and charm. Reflecting on his own life, it seems clear that Purnell knew what he wanted when he was a teenager, and is now looking for people a bit like himself to train up. “My Dad found my record of achievement from when I was 12. I wrote that I want to open a restaurant in town ‘where all the businessmen and the posh people would come to eat my food’ – I have fulfilled all of my dreams.”

RIVALS

Birmingham has been increasingly feted for its culinary quality and diversity and Purnell is proud of this. There have been mentions in numerous UK magazines, and international newspapers such as the New York Times have all hailed the city’s exciting restaurant scene. Recently, The Sunday Times included three Birmingham favourites in its Top 100 Restaurants; only London and Edinburgh had more. Purnell’s came top for Brum, while Simpson’s and Lasan also made the list. As it stands, the city’s top chefs are all “friendly rivals”, some of whom trained together, and they occasionally meet for a drink and a chat. Purnell will happily namedrop other good chefs such as Luke Tipping, Richard Turner, David Colcombe or Aktar Islam. “If we are full and a customer is looking for a fine dining experience then we will pass on contact details. We [the chefs] meet each other every now and then to have a drink together.”

THEATRE

As the first Brum-based chef to win a Michelin star, Purnell will forever be seen as a trailblazer in the Midlands’ food scene. Exactly who is the best chef in the region is a matter of debate, but surely Purnell is the most innovative. He reinvents dishes with flair and skill, while adding nods and winks from his childhood and upbringing in the city. He’ll use classic techniques, but also add Asian spices and flavours, referencing Brum’s Indian and Pakistani heritage. “Food is theatre. It’s an experience, and I have a unique style of cooking which includes lots of memories from growing up in Birmingham,” he says.

THE PRINCE

Purnell doesn’t rule out the possibility of opening another establishment, and is considering the idea of a fusion-style restaurant, taking in local Indian and Caribbean influences. He is also keen to front a TV cookery show set in the city, and is in talks with production companies interested in making it. “I’d love to have my own TV series and to have it set in Birmingham so we could showcase what a fantastic city it is,” he says. A passionate ambassador for Birmingham, Purnell provides a welcome antidote to the self-deprecation commonly expressed by the city’s inhabitants. As a result, he’s been described as both the ‘Yummy Brummie’ and the ‘Prince of Birmingham’ – monikers he happily accepts with a sense of irony. “I have been called the Prince of Birmingham, which is very flattering – I hope to rule forever!”

Quentin Willson is that ever-so slightly cheeky chappie who charmed the pants off millions as Top Gear’s frontman, long before Jeremy Clarkson ever donned a pair of Levi’s, or made his first outrageously non-PC joke. “I was called by a guy from the Beeb who sounded like a vicar,” says Willson. “The next thing I knew I was having a screen test and was hired. I stayed at Top Gear for the next 15 years.”

 He’s also the owner of the silky smooth voice which has adorned a raft of TV ads. And in recent years, he’s also been the creative force behind Britain’s Worst Driver, a TV phenomenon that’s proved such a hit in dozens of countries, including the US and Canada.

FUEL TO THE FIRE

 Perhaps most importantly, Willson has been fighting for fair fuel and car prices, campaigning in the national media and in Westminster itself. “I’m the fly in Osborne’s ointment,” he says as a wide grin appears across those Jack Nicholson-like features. “These politicians don’t stand a chance when I get my teeth into something. They’re scared of bad publicity, especially when there are elections coming up.” ‘Losing’ is a word you won’t find anywhere in Willson’s well-rounded vocabulary. Fifteen years ago he was all that stood between the bulldozers and a beautiful art deco house in Stratford. “Developers wanted to knock it down and build more of those bloody footballers’ style houses,” he says. “I couldn’t let that happen, so I bought the place.” He’s remained in the Midlands, not that there hasn’t been plenty of pressure to move south. “There’s always been lots of pressure to follow everyone else in the business and join the likes of the Surrey set. But this is just the most wonderful and beautiful part of the country. There’s no way I would give that up.”

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

 Willson’s love of great design extends to motoring. He refused to let one of the rarest Jaguar E-Types ever built die – retrieving it from the scrapheap and restoring it to its former glory. It’s now in his garage alongside an equally beautiful old Daimler Dart sports car, which he drove in last month’s historic car run through the lanes of Warwickshire as part of Coventry’s Festival of Motoring. “The Dart is ultra-reliable, it just goes and goes. The Jaguar is amazing, but it takes a bit more coaxing,” he confides. His love of great British engineering excellence is also mirrored in his vociferous championing of the UK motor industry – especially in this region. But does he really believe we lead the world these days? What about the powerhouse corporations and economies of the Far East, Germany, or America. “The Midlands is a centre of excellence, but we are too retrospective, we look back on a golden era rather than looking forward. We are great right now, and we will get even greater if we just change out mindset a bit. We have amazing centres of excellence and world-leaders, such as Jaguar Land Rover. We need to support them more as a nation and get things moving quickly – otherwise people like the Chinese will pull the rug from right underneath us.”

IN CARS

 For Willson, buying and selling cars came to be a way of having lots of different vehicles in a short space of time. “I’ve always loved cars since I was a kid. I didn’t realise at that age, though, just what a narcotic they are and how they define your social status. I’m incredibly fortunate that I happened to live through the age of Jaguar E-Types and D-Types. As a teenager then, you could buy the most amazing cars for just a few hundred quid. I remember seeing a proper Cobra for £500. I bought them, financed them, ran them and then sold them on for a profit – to finance an intensive nightlife style,” he jokes. “I drove around in all sorts of wonderful cars, things like Ferrari Daytonas.” A chance conversation with a leading motoring journalist got Willson into writing and then co-launching Buying Cars magazine, which gave people the nitty gritty facts on used motors – an area not previously covered by the motoring press. National newspapers and TV jumped on the project because it was so unique. “They all wanted to know more because we were causing a real stir among the motor manufacturers,” he says. Soon after he received a call from the BBC’s ‘vicar’.

HISTORY

 Willson is determined that owning and driving a car won’t become history for future generations. “Personal mobility is a democratic right,” he says. “But we have to make sure that it’s cheap and economical for everyone – or else our society disintegrates.” He’s equally adamant that driving standards have to improve in the UK. “I’m campaigning for younger drivers to be taught how to drive and roadcraft much earlier that 17,” he says. “That’s way too old – teenagers aren’t listening at that age. We need to get them as early as 12 or 13. The Young Driver training initiative at Coventry shows how it should be done.” With two electric/hybrid cars (a Vauxhall Ampera family hatchback and Citroen C Zero city runabout) sitting on his drive, Quentin is a huge advocate of alternative fuel cars. “It’s the only way, we just have to push down this road,” he says. “It’s nuts that our whole world is based on oil.” Interestingly, when asked for his favourite car of all time, Quentin’s response seems somewhat at odds with the ‘lean, mean, green’ philosophy. “The original McLaren F1 supercar,” he answers without hesitation. “I got it up to 197mph on the test track – and have been constantly ribbed ever since by Clarkson that I didn’t hit 200mph.”

For 12 weeks, Nick Holzherr graced our television screens as one of the more successful candidates on BBC show The Apprentice. Holzherr made it through to the final before having his idea, Whisk, an online recipe and shopping business, rejected by Lord Sugar. Nonetheless, the young entrepreneur continues to believe in his business plan and has managed to attract investment from venture capitalists and wealthy private backers. The new company is based in Birmingham’s city centre and Holzherr himself lives in the hip and happening Jewellery Quarter. “We could have set up anywhere, but I have had great experiences of working here in the past, as I set up my first and second businesses in Birmingham. It’s low cost, you get great support and financial incentives and there are large universities and lots of talented people for us to employ.”

Never the noisy, crazy or angry one, Holzherr made it through The Apprentice by regularly being on the winning team and avoiding the dreaded boardroom. Since the show came to an end, he’s stayed focused on his business plans – he is an entrepreneur at heart and says he didn’t join the show to gain fame. “I wasn’t that upset about not winning, although I wanted to win. If you go into the process you should want to win it. We have had the benefit of great PR and I haven’t had to give up that much equity. But if someone asked me if I wanted Lord Sugar as my business partner I would say: ‘yes’.”

WHISK

When it launches, Whisk aims to help people easily buy the ingredients for recipes which they spot online or on TV. With the click of a few buttons, a user will be able to order the ingredients for their seafood risotto or duck terrine directly, from a store of their choice. Users will be able to add a plug-in to their browsers, download an app, or click on an icon if the recipe is found on a participating website. Whisk is launching with Waitrose and Tesco, although the other big supermarkets are signed up, too, and Holzherr plans to do tie-ins with delicatessens and other smaller stores. “The reason a lot of people don’t like to cook is because it is a hassle. But home cooking and celebrity chefs are really big and we are tapping into that market. If we can achieve what we are planning to do it’s going to be absolutely massive.”

BRUM LIFE

In the meantime, Holzherr is enjoying life in the city, has been spotted at the odd VIP party and enjoys some attention as he soaks up the city’s social scene. Inspite of his three months on the nation’s TV screens, he finds life in the city to be a fairly relaxed and hassle-free experience. “I don’t get papped, I don’t think there are any paparazzi in Birmingham. People sometimes come up to me, which is nice. Some are very excited and just happy to meet you. If there are a lot of students about there can be a bit of attention, but it’s died down a lot since the show has ended.”

Holzherr’s favourite drinking haunts include the Jekyll & Hyde and Lord Clifden pubs. One of his neighbours is Aktar Islam, owner of top of the range Indian restaurant Lasan, where he sometimes goes. Although Holzherr still enjoys the more economical balti house Al Frash on the Ladypool Road, a reminder of his student days in the city. “I find living in Birmingham to be really good, it is much cheaper than anywhere else and it has almost everything. I have a really nice flat in the Jewellery Quarter, if you spent the same in London you’d get a box.”

NO FEAR

At 26, Holzherr is remarkably young to be working on his third business. But he’s the type of person who takes his chances as they arise and doesn’t let fear get in his way. He chose to do The Apprentice more or less on a whim, despite the fact that he was warned off it by friends. “I told my friends about applying and they said I shouldn’t do it as I have a posh voice and they thought people would think I was a twat. Overall, I was happy with the way they portrayed me, there were certain parts where I thought: ‘that wasn’t quite right’, but that comes from editing a couple of days of film into a 60-minute show. It was one of those things in life, a big experience that I am glad I didn’t miss.”

Meet Adee Phelan, the celebrity stylist and one of Birmingham’s unsung heroes. He’s the bad boy of British hairdressing. He’s Marco Pierre White in a beauty salon, or the Ronnie O’Sullivan with a pair of scissors. Both of the aforementioned are friends, and Phelan has recently moved into The Cube following a call from the acclaimed chef, who has control of the top floor.

“Marco and I share a lot of the same qualities, we both like to break the rules,” says Phelan. “People have this misconception about us both going to be rude, arrogant, bolshy and dismissive, but I am million miles away from that. But I think it’s better for people to have an opinion about you than to dismiss you from the start.”

Brummies can now get their hair snipped by the man who has styled the likes of David Beckham, Lisa Minnelli, Max Beesley and many others. But the expansion into Brum has been emotional for Phelan and about far more than business. “It was a massive, massive thing for me to go back to Birmingham. I am proud of it and when people ask me where I am from I always say Birmingham. I wanted to do something for the city, I hope that’s how it’s perceived.”

A SPIKEY START

Phelan’s life has been a rollercoaster. He left school with little to show for it and spent years around the margins of society. He worked as a painter and decorator, a slaughterman and spent much of his twenties in a bedsit in Essex, looking destined for nowhere. “It was the same old story,” says Phelan. “Bad schools, bad jobs, lots of drink and drugs blah, blah, blah.”

Eventually, his break came in the late 1990s when budding hairdresser Lee Stafford invited him to come and work for him. Soon after, he was on stage with his boss as Stafford was awarded Hairdresser of the Year Award. Two years later Phelan picked up the prize himself and things were looking up. However, a whirlwind romance led to a terrible marriage which collapsed and Phelan suffered a nervous breakdown. His hair fell out and briefly he looked to be heading back down again. However, in 2001 while at a party he met a close friend of the Beckhams and was soon he was taking a call from Victoria Beckham who wanted him to cut her husband’s hair. “She said ‘we love what you do, I’m a massive fan, and David’s looking for a new hairdresser’. Up until that point I had never even met a celebrity and the next minute I am working with the most famous man on the planet.”

The Beckham Mohican put Phelan on everyone’s radar and soon it was time to leave the Beckham fold and move into new areas. Reality TV shows such as The Salon further propelled his profile and his own real-life salon in Covent Garden became the place to be. The ultra-rich of London flocked to the cutter’s swivelling chair and Phelan began to morph into a brand. His company now has a range of hair products and accessories, which can be found in high store chains and stores. Of course, someone who reaches so far, so fast, tends to attract a touch of jealousy. “A lot of people in the industry are pissed off about the way I did it and that I don’t deserve it,” he says.

 HOMECOMING

Phelan opened his Birmingham salon at The Cube in 2011 after investing £1.3m into the project. However, it is a slightly out of the way destination and business has not been as fast as he hoped. “It’s been slow but sure,” he says. “Being 100% honest it probably wasn’t the most intelligent move to expand during a recession. It has been the most difficult business to get going out of all the ones I have opened up.

“We spent £1.3m on the salon, but I don’t regret it a bit. People have a lot of loyalty to their hairdresser and take time to change.”

The salon’s location is also an issue. The Cube is one of the most high profile in the city’s redevelopment, however it is remarkable how many Brummies are yet to put a foot inside.

“Birmingham is totally different to London. If a new restaurant opens in London, everybody wants to go. In Birmingham people like to stick with what they know. They have their pub, their hairdresser etc. They don’t always want to try something different.”

THE QUIET LIFE

Phelan is hoping for more highs rather than lows and the 39-year-old is less interested in partying and socialising these days, and involved in quieter pursuits. “I like collecting old furniture,” he laughs. “Some of the things we got for the salon were from the House of Commons.” He’s also done enough drinking and other substances and by and large steers clear of the high life. “I am the most boring man, I pay my taxes, don’t do drugs. I like a glass of champagne, but that’s about it.”

Kate Lawler exploded into the public consciousness back in 2002 when she won the third series of Big Brother. But while her rival Jade Goody soaked up the tabloid attention, Lawler used her platform to open different doors. She’s worked as a model, TV presenter and, most successfully, as a club DJ playing house music at venues across the UK and beyond. Today, Lawler lives and works in Birmingham, presenting the drive time slot on rock station Kerrang Radio. The show, which is on during the week between 3-7pm, pulls in over one million listeners nationwide and has a huge following in the city.

The woman who spent three months with cameras monitoring her everymove is now happiest in the marginallymore anonymous confines of a radio studio. In fact, many of her listeners don’t realise who it is that’s playing the records. “I tend to say “it’s Kate” rather than “Kate Lawler”. I hate my surname, it is so serious sounding. Also, when I say it I sometimes trip overmy words. People sometimes come up to me in the street and say ‘what are you in doing in Birmingham?’ and I’mlike: ‘I have worked here for over four years’.”

JOINING THE ASYLUM

Lawler joined Kerrang in October 2007, when she was invited by shock jock Tim Shaw to join him as co-presenter on his Ayslum show. “Tim Shaw’s show was really crazy. He’d have all sorts of outrageous guests along with strippers and Page Three girls. I think he holds the world record for the most amount of times a radio broadcaster has been sacked.” Before long, Shaw was indeed given the push by Kerrang, but Lawler remained.

However, the station’s passionate rock audience didn’t immediately warm to being entertained by a dance DJ. “What some of the Kerrang listeners couldn’t accept was that I could like bands like Nirvana, as well as having a passion for dance music. I think once the listeners got to know me, that’s when I really came into my own. Now the Kerrang listeners have accepted me, and when I ask them to interact with me they always do – we have a lot of fun together.”

Of course, moving to Kerrang also meant the girl from Kent had to move up to Brum to live and work. “I have really grown fond of Birmingham, although I was a little bit reluctant at first,” she admits. “A lot of people were saying ‘why on earth are you moving to Birmingham?’ It has this preconception about it.” Now Lawler has settled into life in Brum, enjoying its good food – Rodizio Rico is a favourite – and its many green spaces for walking her dogs. There is also a level of tranquillity in the city which she says she wouldn’t enjoy in London. “There are no paparazzi in Birmingham, so it’s quite a peaceful life in that way. If there were photographers waiting outside my house the whole time, I wouldn’t be comfortable being snapped leaving to walk the dogs. Most days my hair is all over the place, and I don’t bother wearing any make up.”

LOVEDOGS

Lawler has certainly enjoyed the benefits of celebrity life, both in work and in play. She loves to see bands play live and often gets them to come in for a chat before a Birmingham show -Meatloaf, Slash and Liam Gallagher are among her list of music interviewees. Actors such as Nicholas Cage and John Cusack are on the movie list and she once popped into Colin Farrell’s hotel room, although itwas just to talk about his film. But while work is high on her list, her days of partying all night long are numbered. “I have quit club DJing at the weekends – I’ve grown out of it now.When I turned 30 I stopped enjoying being in nightclubs and it started to affect me during the week.My voice was so deep and husky I sounded like my Dad.”

Lawler is settling down and recently moved into a new house in Selly Oak with her long-term squeeze Adam. However, so far, she is not planning on walking down the aisle. “He also wants me to have a baby but I keep reminding him our two doggies are our babies.Maybe I’ll change, but right now I want to focus on my career.”

THE FUTURE

The immediate future appears to be on radio rather than on TV.However, as we speak, Sky has beenmaking inquiries and her contract with Kerrang is nearing renewal. Lawler says she will go where the work is, but is happy in her current role. She has no regrets at all about Big Brother, or indeed any other reality TV show. She has faced public votes before and would do so again if need be. “TV stuff is always on the horizon but I amsomuchmore comfortable on radio,” she says. “Presenting terrifies me a bit. I like appearing on shows, and if I was offered Strictly I’d do it in a heartbeat.”