Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Lauren Laverne
Broadcaster who was the first woman to host both Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows.
Eight records
If in doubt, get your toe toe out. Georgie Porgy is a real special one for me.
Ocean Wisdom featuring Roots Manuva and Rodney P
Woody is now 19 and he's brought some great music into my life.
We walked back from the Etiad into the centre of Manchester in the pouring rain, everybody singing. And it was such a moment.
This is a track that will always remind me of those very early days.
I wanted to play something for Billy... Losing him was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in my life.
TruthFavourite
Someone I love dearly sent me this piece of music and it moved me to tears.
You Can't Always Get What You Want
This is quite a song that makes you look at life and sort of be quite reflective.
The keepsakes
The book
What I would love is an enormous dictionary. ... I love the idea that with the luxury of time, as I'm working my way through all that Shakespeare, that when I am slightly confused about meanings, I can look up words and just sit with them and then hopefully remember them.
The luxury
I love the idea of a potting shed. I've always quite fancied myself as a Barbara Good, but the idea of having, you know, sequeurs, some basic tools, perhaps a few seeds, so that I could plant such things that could then be herbs, seasoning for my fish, if I've managed to catch it, maybe a small pocket knife, a little trowel, that I could become self-sufficient on this island.
In conversation
Presenter asks
What's the secret to sounding positive and cheerful at that time of the morning, even when you're not?
I think because it's a gift of a job, Lauren. I absolutely love it. I might not love it when the alarm clock goes off and your face is full of pillow, but I've learned over the years that the feet have to go out of the bed, straight on the floor, up you jump, and off you go. And I work with such a brilliant team on the show.
Presenter asks
Are those kinds of firsts important to you?
When I started at Radio One, I don't think I really understood how much of a moment that was. This time around, with Radio Two, all eyes turned. To follow Chris Evans is one thing, to follow Chris Evans and Terry Wogan is another thing. And obviously, there's lots of chat about you being the first girl. I hope I wasn't employed because I was a woman. I hope I was employed because they looked around and thought she's the best person for the job at this point in time. So, let's give her a shot.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Presenter
BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne, and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book, and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.
Presenter
My castaway this week is the broadcaster Zoe Ball. Throughout her 25-year career, she's grown up on air, from her exuberant early days on BBC Kids TV show Live and Kicking to a wild and wildly successful stint as the first woman to host the Radio One breakfast show. Her rise to fame coincided with her party years, enthusiastically chronicled by the tabloids to such an extent that the term Laddette, coined in her honour, eventually made it into the OED.
Presenter
She's now the first woman to present the Radio 2 breakfast show where she currently wakes up around 8 million listeners every week.
Presenter
These days, she's left the hangovers behind and is more likely to share gardening tips with her listeners than tales of a wild night out. She says, I've had a lot of fun over the years. Now I'm happy relaxing with a fennel tea. Just as well with a 4am alarm call. So Ibol, welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thank you very much for having me, Lauren. Oh, it's funny to hear that. It's so true though.
Zoe Ball
It is so true.
Presenter
So, you host the biggest breakfast show in the country. What's the secret to sounding positive and cheerful at that time of the morning, even when you're not? I think because it's a gift of a job, Lauren. I absolutely love it. I might not love it when the alarm clock goes off and your face is full of pillow, but I've learned over the years that the feet have to go out of the bed, straight on the floor, up you jump, and off you go. And I work with such a brilliant team on the show. You're the first woman to present the breakfast shows on Radio One and now on Radio Two. Are those kinds of firsts important to you? When I started at Radio One, I don't think I really understood how much of a moment that was. This time around, with Radio Two, all eyes turned. To follow Chris Evans is one thing, to follow Chris Evans and Terry Wogan is another thing. And obviously, there's lots of chat about you being the first girl. I hope I wasn't employed because I was a woman. I hope I was employed because they looked around and thought she's the best person for the job at this point in time. So, let's give her a shot. How has it been selecting today's tracks? I got the vinyl out. I made a right mess. Well, let's get stuck in then. Let's have our first disc. What is it and why have you chosen it, Zoe? My first tune is Barbara Streisand. Where am I going?
Presenter
It's always been Babs from the very beginning. My dad had Colour Me Barbara. I think it's a lot of show tunes on there. There's a medley. I used to do it from beginning to end, not to an audience, just to the wall or a mirror or a window. And I would sing these songs that I listened to years later and think, wow, they've got quite a lot of power and meaning in these. These are something that an eight-year-old girl would not probably have understood. But I would sing them at the top of my lungs. And this one I particularly loved, Where Am I Going? And what will I find when I get there? You know, I love the idea of wherever you run to, you run into yourself there.
Zoe Ball
Where am I going?
Zoe Ball
What will I find?
Zoe Ball
What's in this grab bag that I call my mind? What am I doing?
Zoe Ball
Alone on the shelf
Zoe Ball
Ain't it a shame, but no one's to blame but myself?
Presenter
Where am I going by Barbara Streisand? So we ball reaching for the desert island skies. Have you ever interviewed Babs? I have interviewed Barbara Streisand. Luckily for her, it was on the telephone because I think if I'd met her in the flesh, I may have needed some heavy sedation. And when I finished talking to her, I realised that my hands were shaking. A friend of mine for my birthday present.
Presenter
Collected every single piece of vinyl she'd ever made and I've got it in a box and when people say, What would you save on a fire? I'm like, you know, obviously my loved ones and the pets and my Barbara Streisen collection. The Barbara box. Yeah, the Barbara box. So it's had a lot of play. I mentioned at the beginning of the programme, you know, that we've seen you and heard you as audiences grow up on screen and on air. I wonder whether your audience, your listener, has been on the same journey? They must have. I think that has been something that I've really treasured, especially in the last couple of years. Often people come up to me and say, I started on kids TV. I've met actors and musicians along the way who were on Grab It Rabbit on Live and Kicking. Wasn't Daniel Radcliffe on? Daniel Radcliffe was on the hot seat twice. And I think there are people who listen to Radio 1 who probably got married around the similar time. There are people who contact me and say, I had my son when you had Woody. And I guess you do. You go through the trials and tribulations of life. So you kind of.
Speaker 1
The barber box.
Presenter
Often feel like these people who you listen to on the radio are almost sort of adopted family members in a way because they're going through the same experiences as you.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Presenter
It's time for your second disc, Zoe. What's it gonna be? Well, I'm gonna be on a desert island. I'm gonna need some yacht rock.
Presenter
So hard to choose, but I always say, especially when I'm on radio too, if in doubt, get your toe toe out. Georgie Porgy is a real special one for me. The drumming on this is just magnificent. The atmosphere of this song and you've got Cheryl Lynn on BVs. I mean, what more could you want? Let's do it.
Zoe Ball
Nothing only wanna hold you I never ever should have told you You're my own
Speaker 2
George, what you
Zoe Ball
Puddin' pie, kissed the girls and made them cry. Georgia, Porgy, put and pie. Kissed the girls and made them cry. Georgia, Porgin, putting pie, kissed the girls and made them cry, kissed the girls and made them cry.
Speaker 2
Chop
Presenter
Georgie Porgy special disco version by Toto featuring Cheryl Lynn. Zoe Ball, I too am a child of the 80s, so it's possible that I'm overstating this, but I imagine that growing up with kids TV presenter Johnny Ball as a dad back then was a little bit like being the offspring of Elvis. At what point did you realize that his job was a little bit different to everybody else's dad's jobs? All I can think now is the teenage torture where he would answer the door to boys who might have come around to see if he wanted to go for a bike ride, dressed as a caveman or goofing around, and I'd just hang my head and be like, dad, please, no.
Speaker 1
Easy
Presenter
Probably 9-10, he would take us into the BBC. You'd go into television centre and to me it was like a wonderland. From the minute you walked in, there'd be the two Ronnies in the lift. Roy Castle would, you know, be, all right, John, all right, John. And you'd walk into these television studios and I think, this is where the magic happens. This is something quite incredible. His office was fantastic, full of books.
Presenter
Woe betide anyone who would go in and say, Dad, why does X equal Y? Just trying to do your math homework. And then it would be hours and hours. My stepmom would be making signs behind me, going, Don't do it to yourself. Books would come out. He'd be ranting about Pythagoras. So you would have thought that this would be helpful with homework, but quite the reverse. Completely the opposite. And we'd go on holiday and he'd march us up to a Roman fort and tell us all it was. And we'd think, we just want to hang out with the kids at the beach, Dad. Your mum and dad split up when you were two. How did that affect you?
Speaker 1
Quite the reverse. Okay. Be a
Presenter
It's not easy growing up with parents who have split up. You know, I think it was tough at some times.
Presenter
It's only really be from becoming a parent myself that I can look at them in a very different light and think they were kids. They were kids, they had no idea what they were doing.
Presenter
You know, both my mum and dad were quite independent and they wanted to go in slightly different directions. You didn't see your mum, Julia, for many years. You're close these days and reconnected later, but I wonder how time has given you a different perspective on that, especially now that obviously you're a parent yourself too. It makes you realise how important actually those relationships are and how tricky it is to be in a relationship and to survive a relationship splitting up. I think there were times when I'd be sort of slightly cross with various parents for various things. It was tough not seeing my mum for all those years because I think it does make you question a lot of stuff as a kid. But whether it was your fault, I think that's a real thing that I'm so keen with my kids to understand is that, you know, what happens to adults as you're growing up is not your fault. But I was very loved and very supportive and.
Presenter
Everybody gets on great now, so that's good.
Presenter
Let's take a little break for some more music. This is disc number three. What is it? This is Righteous by Ocean Wisdom featuring Roots Maneuver and Rodney P. The wonderful thing about your kids growing older is that no matter how much you try to influence them, their musical tastes will be something that they will decide on, not you.
Presenter
Woody is now 19 and we had a car journey recently and he said, mom, I'm going to play some tunes and he's brought some great music into my life.
Speaker 1
They say whizzy are you crazy? Ambitious and so lazy With a work rate through the roof from a doodle That's true to say Google one news and pay me Them and they're all a vanie But what's the basic manoeuvres? The dudes through and moving gracefully Till I'm all fired up, feelin' all free Yankee one blessed with them and reaps Said country don't bless the with them your weeks Said country don't bless the with them all weeks Like who are you?
Presenter
Got time for a fruit loop Member when I didn't have money for the bus now we deepin' up in the new coupe
Presenter
Righteous Ocean Wisdom featuring Ruth Maneuver and Rodney P. So Zoe Ball, you're born in Blackpool but grew up in Buckinghamshire, went to school there. Did your reports give you any clue of your future career? I think my reports mainly said if Zoe Ball spent as much time on her work as she did in entertaining the rest of the class, she would go far. I used to do terrible Zoe Ball productions which were usually I think I did Annie once. We used the climbing frames at the back of the school hall for climbing up the bridge at the end. Daddy Warbucks, you know, trying to say, I mean, God, they must have been dreadful. And I went to convent school.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Speaker 1
We've got a lot.
Speaker 1
At the end, Daddy will
Presenter
And some people say that explains a lot. I could at one point recite most of Matthew Mark's.
Presenter
And Luke, not John. I think all I can remember now is twas on the road to Capernaum. So after A-levels you went to City Poly in London to do a degree. Now it was media studies, geology and computer science. Of course. Which sounds like quite the combination. I think that was the result of someone not reading any work for A-levels. So I took the first thing I could find and I was in this class of geology students who'd done geology for about a year. I had no clue what was going on. They all had these tiny little hammers and used to go to the beach and talk about limestone. I really did not fit in. How I chose that, I have no idea. So you decided to leave after four months, Lee Uni. Did that feel like a big decision? It kind of did at the time. I don't think anyone within City Poly noticed I was gone. One more hammer. I know I'm in the geology room.
Speaker 2
How are children?
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Speaker 1
One more hammer into the geology room.
Presenter
So your dad, he helped get you your first break then, this job. Well, he kind of did. He made an introduction. I went and worked with this guy for a bit and then I ended up working at Granada Television. And that was great because that was the first job where there really wasn't any introduction and no one knew who my dad was, which was great for me because it was very much, you've got to make your own way and you've got to learn. I was so incredibly naive. I worked with some incredible women.
Speaker 1
Was he kind of
Speaker 1
And you've
Presenter
On this kids' show that was on B Sky B. It was presented by Michaela Stracher. Mark Curry presented it for a while. It was called Cool Cube. I was in charge of the cookery items. I was terrible. I used to cheat. I used to go to the supermarket and buy muffins, take them out of the wrappers, and then get these kids to just pull them out of the oven. I mean, it was such a scam. But I loved it. Take that or on our show. But I mean, there's 16 the guys and they're all wearing cycling shorts. But it was great fun, and I learned an awful lot about television very quickly. And then I worked on game shows and all sorts. I was like, this is my life. This is what I want to do. And did you love being in Manchester? It must have been quite an exciting time to be there. I'd been there for two years before my hairdresser said to me, What do you mean you've never heard of the Hacienda, Zoe? And little did I know that as I was living in Chiltern, Wally Range, going on around me was this incredible musical revolution. So Will made me go to the Hacienda, and my life changed forever. With that in mind, I think it's time for your fourth disc. Well, I had to choose the Stone Roses. I've gone for Shoot You Down. I had this really lovely moment of going to see them recently at the Etiad with lots of my friends from Manchester. And there we were. I mean, the average age in the audience was, I guess, you know, 50, pushing 60, and stone cold sober. We danced all night. Not everyone else is stone cold sober. I was stone cold sober. I danced all night. They were phenomenal. And we walked back from the Etiad into the centre of Manchester in the pouring rain, everybody singing. And it was such a moment. And I just love them.
Zoe Ball
Yeah
Zoe Ball
The show is the time has come to shift you down.
Zoe Ball
What a sign
Zoe Ball
Hey yes
Zoe Ball
I need a word sign. I'd love to do it, and you know you've always had it covered.
Presenter
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Presenter
The stone roses and shoot you down. So, Zoe Ball, you spent five years behind the scenes as a researcher on children's BBC and for Planet 24, that made the word and the big breakfast. Insofar as you had a career plan back then, what was it? I guess in the back of my mind, it was that I wanted to be on screen. Also, you know, I grew up watching Tears War, Sally James, I thought was amazing. Andrea Arnold used to present number 73 on roller skates. That's what was in my mind. And then I got a call that Children's BBC were looking for presenters. I sort of finally plucked up the courage and went across. I did an audition with Andy Peters where I had to talk about an inflatable dinosaur for about 20 minutes. And the great thing about going into the BBC and the children's department then was they taught you about broadcasting. I've taken a look back actually and watched a few episodes of Live and Kicking in the run-up to this. Obviously, I watched plenty in my younger days, but there's nothing else quite like it on TV now. Things come close, but I think those big live children's TV programmes, they were a moment in those days. And they're made with the expectation that you've got everybody watching together and that all the different generations, all the members of the family, are probably going to get something different out of it. And they were great fun to make. I mean, you'd have Will Smith there getting involved in sketches with the leprechauns, Mr. Blobby, and then great bands coming in. These days, what do we get up? We get up and watch cooking programmes. Not quite as anarchic. While you were presenting Live and Kicking, you also co-hosted the Radio One breakfast show and became a regular feature of the tabloid press. They labelled you and other successful female presenters at the time laddettes. Late night drinking isn't really compatible with an early start. How was that? Yes, those things didn't go hand in hand. I wince when I hear that word laddette. I mean, this was the thing. Radio 1 saw a girl who was out living a bit of a life and they're like, what we want is you to go out and go to the parties and meet the bands and come in and tell us all those stories.
Speaker 1
That's
Presenter
I took that slightly too literally and thank goodness for Kevin Greening, the wonderful Kevin Greening, who held that ship for many, many months whilst I would go off out and about and come in and tell the stories. It was a real moment in time. You know, there was Brit Pop. The music scene was fantastic. There were these superstar DJs coming up through the ranks as well. And I was sort of in my mid-20s and was happy to go off to the Enemy Awards or the Kerrang Awards or come back and report or go off and interview John Bon Jovi or whatever I was sort of asked to do. I think meeting Norman is probably when stuff.
Presenter
Ramped up even more so. So that's Norman Cook, also known as DJ Fat Boy Slim. I remember them coming in and saying, Radio One's going to go to a beta. And I thought, okay, yeah, that sounds fun, let's go. That'll be lovely.
Presenter
And Sarah Cox saying to me, I'd never met Norman before. I knew Fatboy Slim. I'd loved the House Martins. I mean, if you'd shown me a video of the House Martins when I was 15 years old, I said, You're going to marry him, that guy in the video there, I would have been like, Are you crazy? Of course I'm not. And Sarah said to me, You're going to love Norman Cook when you meet him. And so off we went to a Biza, pack all our little bags, and we go off. And I met Norm, and I did indeed love him. There was this bonkers brilliant chap who played records and made people dance, and he would like conduct the crowd and the audience. And I just thought he was wild and free and great fun. And it was sort of the beginning of a beautiful friendship. It's time for some more music. Tell us about this next one then.
Presenter
When I first met Norman, it took us a while to get to know each other. There was a little bit of wooing involved and the old way of wooing, of course, was the classic mixtape. So I made Norman a mixtape. He went first. Yes, I went first. Who makes a DJ a mixtape? What was I thinking? Wow. So I made him a mixtape and then he made me a mixtape. And the track I've chosen next featured on that mixtape. And he brought me into a world of fantastic music, great fun, parties all around the world. He also became the father to my two wonderful kids. And I have so much love for him. And this is a track that will always remind me of those very early days, all of us hanging out, a lot of laughter, a lot of daftness. And it's love having you around by first choice.
Speaker 1
Uh Maybe.
Zoe Ball
Every day I'm gonna get my share Cause I know you're gonna take me there
Zoe Ball
Every day I'll
Zoe Ball
Cambodia
Zoe Ball
I went the shake through!
Zoe Ball
Love the new wild Zeno and time. Just love a new way. Say all I love and you ride.
Presenter
Love having you around. First choice, that track for your ex-husband Norman Cook. So did you run it past him? I did run it past him and he was quite pleased. And the cassette still exists. You guys married in 1999. Now the following year you walked away from one of the biggest jobs in radio. Why did you leave Radio One? I think it was a bit of a whirlwind. I think from meeting Norman and everything had ramped up, suddenly the tabloids were really fascinated with our life and it's kind of a thing where you end up, I think, perpetuating the myth slightly of sort of almost living up to expectation. And there were so many people everywhere that we were. And I don't know, it just felt like I needed to step back a little bit. I mean, it was wonderful because great people would come into the house. He'd work with amazing people and I'd sort of have to pinch myself. Higgy Pop came to stay for a while. David Byrne came to stay at the house. That was quite a moment. He's sort of thinking, what, sorry? David Byrne of Talking Heads is coming to stay at our house. And there's David Byrne in the kitchen eating Coco Pop. It was so wonderful. Woody did him a puppet show. But I think life was quite fast and I needed to step back a little bit. It sounds like there's quite a lot going on there because there's, you know, obviously you have the kind of dynamics of being in a high-profile relationship, pressure from tabloid scrutiny, general parent stuff and also a kind of social life that was pretty hedonistic. It was all too much. All sorts of things happened. I tried to step out of the marriage for a while and dragged all the sort of craziness with me. And it was really hard living your life through a lens at that point. Whichever way you went, it was quite hard to escape. What was the turning point? It's kind of a strange thing when you sort of face things in your life, you know, like addictions, that often you'll find that you'll deal with it a little bit, but then you'll sort of slip back into always. And I sort of dealt with one thing and then another thing would sort of affect me. And it took me a couple of attempts to sort that out. What helped you get that understanding?
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Presenter
I was lucky enough to go to rehab actually and through meeting other people who had addictions as well. Also the other thing is that although I would always at school be doing performances and stuff like that,
Presenter
Underneath, I'm quite shy. It's weird because you do this job and you're talking, you're gregarious and all these things, but I am actually quite shy. And I think that was a little thing that you could walk into the room if you'd had a drink. You could be in a room full of musicians, or you could be in a room full of people who were, you know, to you, your heroes. And you could sort of feel like you could hold your own if you had some sort of prop or something that just made you feel a bit more at ease. And I think that is something that happens with a lot of performers and musicians and a lot of people, you know, through your life that you just start leaning on those things a little bit too much and you lose sight of who you are and who you are without those things as well. Let's have some more music. What's next?
Presenter
So I've chosen Do I Love You by Frank Wilson. I wanted to play something for Billy. Billy was my partner. We'd been friends for a few years and.
Presenter
We got together. He had lived with depression for a huge chunk of his life and it's so hard to sit and watch someone you love and care for struggle with mental health. Losing him was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in my life.
Presenter
I think something that's really important to share, having spoken now to lots of people who work within mental health support networks or people trying to make a difference, is that there is hope. There is help available. There are ways. We're still learning. For some people, the drugs work. For some people, that isn't the case. But I think it's so isolating to be trapped in your mind like that, where you doubt yourself, you doubt everything you've ever known, you doubt your family love you, you doubt that your friends care for you. I think something else that happens when you lose someone in a situation like this is that
Presenter
I don't want people to remember him for how he died. I want people to remember Billy for how he lived his life. He was so full of love. He would help anyone in need. He was always there for all his friends. He brought so much into my life. He brought so much into his family and into his friends' life.
Presenter
I wanted to play a piece of music for him that reflected who he was as a human. He loved to dance and he loved to laugh and this track will always remind me of him and it's Do I Love You? and it's by Frank Wilson.
Speaker 1
I love you, indeed I do.
Speaker 1
With all nothing did I do?
Presenter
I'm not sure if I can do it.
Presenter
I'm singing your heart safe to me
Presenter
Frank Wilson and Do I Love You? And Zoe, that's for your former partner, Billy Yates, who tragically took his own life in 2017. Billy was also the inspiration for a challenge that you took on the following year. I'm sure listeners will remember your heroic efforts when you cycled 350 miles from Blackpool, where you were born, to Brighton, where you live, to raise money for sport relief and to raise awareness of mental health. What possessed you to say yes to that, bearing in mind that you weren't actually a cyclist? Well, I think at that point it was I wanted to do something and the next thing you know, you're off. Towards the end of the bike ride,
Presenter
I had a a moment, a real moment, where I think the grief came.
Presenter
It was pretty brutal towards the end. Well, this is the thing, because watching it back, and perhaps the difference with some of the challenges that we've seen before is that you have this kind of emotional pain.
Speaker 1
What?
Presenter
alongside the physical pain and and they're kind of connected, which is strangely appropriate to the story, I think. Was it cathartic? I mean, watching you kind of going through that and and keeping going in the pouring rain when you'd sort of fallen off the bike and you're on the side of the road there. In a way the grief
Presenter
Had to come, you know, grieving is such a process anyway. And in a way that the fact that it came on the last day and it really came so powerfully and grief does that to you. You, you know, you don't know when it's going to come at you, but it, and when it comes, it can take you to your knees and you have to let it out. And the production team were talking, saying, we're going to take her over the top. And I was like, no, no, no, you can't. You can't. I can't. I won't make it. I know that hill. I can't do it. I can't do it.
Presenter
And Professor Greg was like, you can, you can do this. And we were going up the hill. I was swearing, I was cursing. I think at one point I talked about how it was like giving birth to a sheep. I lost my mind and the tears were coming. But then suddenly we were at the top of the hill and you could see. Well, you couldn't see Brighton because the weather was so bad, but I knew where Brighton Pier was. It wasn't that far away. And we sobbed and sobbed and we made it down. And the donations, people were so generous. What have you learned about mental health and mental well-being that you wish you'd known earlier? One is to listen sometimes. I think we all want to fix and you run around trying to fix someone.
Presenter
but actually sometimes to sit down and just listen.
Presenter
To listen to what they're going through. I think also when you know people who are.
Presenter
Living with these struggles, you've got to check in. They don't always want to talk. They want to be isolated. They won't want to be a burden. And sometimes you've really got to.
Presenter
Go one step beyond, and hopefully, someone's story will.
Presenter
Have a more positive
Presenter
Ending to it.
Presenter
It's time for your next piece of music, so what have we got?
Presenter
I have Chosen Truth by Kamasi Washington and someone I love dearly sent me this piece of music and it moved me to tears.
Presenter
That's something else I've learnt through grieving is how music can play such a role in that. And I'll take some photographs or I'll take pieces of music and I can listen to that and I can help that little process. And sometimes you can make those tears come and you can think about somebody and you can take yourself through that little process and I think it's actually really good for you. And then you come out the other side of that and you feel a little bit stronger again.
Presenter
Kamazi Washington and Truth. So Zoe Ball, as well as your work on radio, you've presented Strictly's sister show, It Takes Two since 2011. You're a contestant on the main show in 2005 and finished third. Are you a competitive person by nature? I think that was slightly my problem. I'm not massively competitive. I say this, my three brothers right now would be screaming at the radio, yes, she is. Have you ever played Clued on Monopoly with Zoe? Also, Strictly, people's opinion of me changed. You go from this sort of ladder, this sort of boozy person who's always in trouble. I went on to Strictly and people did a double take. They're like, hang on a minute. She's in a dress. She's dancing a waltz. She's a lady. And I'll always be grateful to that show. My nan got to come and watch it. My nan is no longer with us. She came and saw me dance with Ian Waite and she met Bruce Forsyth and she absolutely loved it. But the show gifted me so much work and so much fun. You're obviously still keen to take on competition because the breakfast show slot is of course the most competitive of all radio shows and you present the biggest. Is that a pressure when it comes to the listening figures? You kind of pretend it's not, but the listening figures come in and your face is on the tin. So yeah, I do take it completely.
Presenter
To heart. And following on from Terry and from Chris, you know, their shows were huge. So we've been there a year and we're still learning. I'm loving it. Hopefully, the figures will go up with time. I think it takes a little bit of a while to bed in, but I have to say, I've had so much support from the listeners. They're so much fun. Also, my colleagues, you know, Steve Wright has been brilliant. Ken Bruce, you know, and they're all like, look, Zoe, we go up and down. This is what happens. Steve and Ken. Do you know, Steve is just a gem? I mean, these guys are my heroes. And they're like, look, the figures go up and down. It's going to happen. Try not to take it too personally and just keep doing what you're doing. And don't forget the time checks. And you've got to remember, it's just a job. It's a job I love. It's a privilege to do this job and it's fun. Well, one more track to hear before we send you there. What's it going to be?
Speaker 2
What is Stephen Kenzie?
Speaker 1
Okay.
Presenter
I've got for the Rolling Stones, you can't always get what you want. This is quite a song that makes you look at life and sort of be quite reflective. Saw them at Glastonbury, it's my favourite weekend of the year, and seeing these guys on stage was such a moment. It's also taken from a great scene in The Big Chill, which is one of my favourite films all about marriages and relationships and where you're going and where you've been. So, looking forward. And it's such a great message. You know, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might get what you need.
Speaker 2
I best the abs for you.
Zoe Ball
Single two.
Speaker 2
Always give me what you want.
Speaker 2
You can't always give what you want.
Speaker 1
I'll make it country.
Zoe Ball
Try something
Zoe Ball
Will you just fly by?
Zoe Ball
You get what you need!
Presenter
The Rolling Stones and you can't always get what you want. Zoe Ball, it's time to send you off to the island. What about your survival skills? How are they? I've been thinking about how I will catch fish with a sharpened stick. Is that possible? Yeah, theoretically, absolutely. Yes, theoretically we can do that. I like the idea that I could fashion myself some kind of building to stay in out of palm leaves. My kids would be like, Mama, how are you going to survive without Wi-Fi and coffee? That could be quite tough for me, I think.
Speaker 1
I've seen people.
Speaker 1
Absolutely.
Speaker 1
Only I think.
Presenter
We'll give you the books to keep you company. You can have the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, and you can also, of course, take another book of your own. What will that be? Well, I've thought about this long and hard, and I feel like with the complete works of Shakespeare, you've got all the love stories, the family dramas, war, you've got it all there, tragedy. So I feel like that could keep me quite busy. Also, I can revisit Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, not so much John, with the Bible from my comic school days. But what I would love is an enormous dictionary.
Speaker 1
Uh
Presenter
And I love the idea that with the luxury of time, as I'm working my way through all that Shakespeare, that when I am slightly confused about meanings, I can look up words and just sit with them and then hopefully remember them instead of the lyrics to Greece 2, which I never seem to forget, which is completely useless to me in life. But yeah, a really big dictionary. That would be great. We can do that. Big dictionary energy. We can make that happen. You can also have a luxury item. What will that be? Please, am I going to have a potting shed? It seems like a strange choice, but I love the idea of a potting shed. I've always quite fancied myself as a Barbara Good, but the idea of having, you know, sequetaires, some basic tools, perhaps a few seeds, so that I could plant such things that could then be herbs, seasoning for my fish, if I've managed to catch it, maybe a small pocket knife, a little trowel, that I could become self-sufficient on this island. I get great thrill from gardening as well. And maybe I could eventually live off the land. What a lovely idea. I think we can do that for you. That sounds wonderful. And finally, which one track of these eight would you run to save from the wave, Zoe?
Presenter
I think it might be Comazi Washington, actually. It's also very long, so I could just play it again and again. I get I think get a good ten minutes from that track. But also it's just beautiful. Zoe Ball, thank you very much for letting us hear your Desert Island discs. It's been such a joy, a real treat. Thank you so much for asking me.
Presenter
Hello, I really hope you enjoyed that interview with Zoe Ball. You'll have heard her refer to following in the footsteps of Radio 2 breakfast show broadcasters Chris Evans and Sir Terry Wogan. Well, they've both been cast away to the desert island, so she's following in their footsteps here too. In fact, Sir Terry has had three visits. Here he is, talking to Kirsty Young back in 2012.
Zoe Ball
Let's go then, Sir Terry Wogan, to the end of the nineteen sixties. You moved to Britain for work. Was that a tough decision to leave Ireland?
Speaker 2
No. It's the kind of decision you take when you're young and fearless.
Speaker 2
I'd started to work for the B B C while I was still an announcer on Irish radio.
Speaker 2
And publicity photographs came out, famous photographs in 1967 of us all sitting outside the church, all the pirates.
Zoe Ball
John Peel and so on, everybody there.
Speaker 2
Everybody there, you know. All the parents, and Jimmy Young and myself, the two people in suits.
Speaker 2
Where are you? The only two in suits. Exactly. Well, no, Bob Holis had a suit as well. And when I got back, the Director General.
Zoe Ball
Beyond
Zoe Ball
Good.
Speaker 2
of Irish Radio and Television asked to see me. We had a little conversation and it turned out that he didn't feel that I could continue to work for the BBC while being paid employee of Radio Televisairn. So I resigned.
Speaker 2
and then sent a tape to the B B C.
Speaker 2
To a man called Mark White. He was assistant head of Gramophone Department.
Zoe Ball
The tape that you sent him, is it true it was spooled the wrong way round?
Speaker 2
I hadn't reminded it.
Speaker 2
He puts it the right way round.
Speaker 2
He listens to it.
Speaker 2
And he offers me a job.
Zoe Ball
It's important to remember that you were doing the Radio Tube breakfast show, you know, the most prominent show on the station, throughout the years when the IRA's bombing campaign was at its height. Did you feel your Irishness more keenly than ever?
Speaker 2
Yeah, I never obviously denied my nationality. I never apologised for it. Certainly why would have what was being done was not being done in my name, of course. It was very difficult. I was very conscious, for instance. You'd come up a cheery morning voice after some horrific bomb incident.
Zoe Ball
Court?
Speaker 2
Being in the privileged position I was in, I never came across any antipathy. And years later, Irish people who'd lived in in Britain as long as me, and maybe even longer, came up to me and said that they were grateful to me for being an Irish voice.
Speaker 2
Without apology.
Zoe Ball
Is it the case that you were sent a parcel bomb uh uh addressed to you at Broadcasting House in nineteen ninety four, I think it was?
Speaker 2
Um
Speaker 2
It was, it was. Um and my producer
Speaker 2
Carried.
Speaker 2
this parcel to the post room.
Speaker 2
and was roundly castigated by the BBC nearly lost his job.
Speaker 2
Trying to blow himself up.
Speaker 2
And the the thing was that whoever sent in the bomb with my name on it couldn't have been much of a fan because I was on holiday.
Zoe Ball
Was it actually a bomb?
Zoe Ball
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Zoe Ball
So it had to be diffused and goodness means that.
Speaker 2
Goodness me.
Zoe Ball
Um, through that time then, working on the breakfast show, of course, would be the time when you had a young family growing up. Were you were you a very modern dad then? Because presumably it would give you the hours to be able to pick them up from the bottom.
Speaker 2
I was able to escape in the early morning, which is the most dramatic time for any family, and then I had the rather gentlemanly job of picking him up from school in the afternoon.
Zoe Ball
Yeah.
Presenter
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Oh, it was fantastic. Great. It's no wonder I'm such a family man.
Presenter
The late, great, much missed Sir Terry Wogan talking to Kirsty back in twenty twelve. All those programmes are available to download via BBC Sounds. Next time my guest will be the footballer and pundit Ian Wright. I do hope you'll join us then.
Zoe Ball
Doctor Rouger persuaded millions of people to join her financial revolution, and then she disappeared.
Zoe Ball
One of Europe's richest women, someone who looks set to change the world, had vanished into thin air.
Zoe Ball
I'm Jamie Bartlett and for the last six months I've been on the hunt to try to find the missing CryptoQueen and it gets far weirder than I thought possible.
Speaker 1
Kidnapping, kidnapping, killing all those from the traditional bank. This is the trick that they do.
Zoe Ball
It starts to get very very very scary very very very fast. Subscribe to the missing crypto queen on BBC Sounds
Presenter asks
You didn't see your mum for many years. You're close now and reconnected later, but how has time given you a different perspective on that, especially as a parent yourself?
It makes you realise how important actually those relationships are and how tricky it is to be in a relationship and to survive a relationship splitting up. I think there were times when I'd be sort of slightly cross with various parents for various things. It was tough not seeing my mum for all those years because I think it does make you question a lot of stuff as a kid. But whether it was your fault, I think that's a real thing that I'm so keen with my kids to understand is that, you know, what happens to adults as you're growing up is not your fault. But I was very loved and very supportive and.
Presenter asks
Why did you leave Radio One?
I think it was a bit of a whirlwind. I think from meeting Norman and everything had ramped up, suddenly the tabloids were really fascinated with our life and it's kind of a thing where you end up, I think, perpetuating the myth slightly of sort of almost living up to expectation. And there were so many people everywhere that we were. And I don't know, it just felt like I needed to step back a little bit.
Presenter asks
What helped you get that understanding?
I was lucky enough to go to rehab actually and through meeting other people who had addictions as well. Also the other thing is that although I would always at school be doing performances and stuff like that, underneath, I'm quite shy. ... I think that was a little thing that you could walk into the room if you'd had a drink. ... you start leaning on those things a little bit too much and you lose sight of who you are and who you are without those things as well.
Presenter asks
What have you learned about mental health and mental well-being that you wish you'd known earlier?
One is to listen sometimes. I think we all want to fix and you run around trying to fix someone, but actually sometimes to sit down and just listen. To listen to what they're going through. I think also when you know people who are living with these struggles, you've got to check in. They don't always want to talk. They want to be isolated. They won't want to be a burden. And sometimes you've really got to go one step beyond, and hopefully, someone's story will have a more positive ending to it.
“So hard to choose, but I always say, especially when I'm on radio too, if in doubt, get your toe toe out. Georgie Porgy is a real special one for me.”
“Probably 9-10, he would take us into the BBC. You'd go into television centre and to me it was like a wonderland. From the minute you walked in, there'd be the two Ronnies in the lift. Roy Castle would, you know, be, all right, John, all right, John. And you'd walk into these television studios and I think, this is where the magic happens.”
“It's not easy growing up with parents who have split up. You know, I think it was tough at some times. It's only really be from becoming a parent myself that I can look at them in a very different light and think they were kids. They had no idea what they were doing.”
“I think it was a bit of a whirlwind. I think from meeting Norman and everything had ramped up, suddenly the tabloids were really fascinated with our life and it's kind of a thing where you end up, I think, perpetuating the myth slightly of sort of almost living up to expectation. And there were so many people everywhere that we were. And I don't know, it just felt like I needed to step back a little bit.”
“I have Chosen Truth by Kamasi Washington and someone I love dearly sent me this piece of music and it moved me to tears. That's something else I've learnt through grieving is how music can play such a role in that.”