Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Charity leader who campaigned to change mental health legislation and conversation, now tackling ageism as CEO of Age UK.
On the island
Eight records
For me, this is music at its very best. Her range, her voice, her experience. And it's a song obviously about freedom. And so for me, it's a clarion cry for campaigners on all kinds of issues.
It's such a strong, powerful voice of what faith feels like, I think. And in this piece it brings together these five voices and rises to a crescendo at the end in the dona nobis pace which is give us your peace.
For me it was a student disco classic. It's Don't Leave Me This Way and it just reminds me of the Common Room in St Peter's, Sound of the 80s, the student discos, the sort of smell of lager.
And loneliness and isolation is something that I personally experienced, but I think I've also seen it so many times in my work in mental health and now with older people. And so for me, it's that kind of sense of really understanding what facing isolation can feel like.
I'm going to be 60 this year. I'm absolutely fully embracing the whole idea of later life and it's a tribute actually for me to helping to age gracefully or maybe age disgracefully. And for me it's also that reminder of that positive contribution that older people can make.
This song is just one of the most extraordinary songs. ... It makes me think about the people I love. Claire, my boys, my family, my friends, and how grateful I am for their love and support.
They epitomise for me what happens when you go and listen to some new music and it opens your mind and it opens your heart.
Sunshine on LeithFavourite
We love The Proclaimers. It was their songs in the car on holiday... it's my personal tribute to her.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:10Tell me about the phrase 'belief-making'.
I'm fortunate enough to work in a sector that brings hope and optimism to so many people's lives. It's creating that sense of belief that we can do things differently, we can make things better. And for me, it's changing big issues, it's changing causes that is the thing that I've really enjoyed doing so far.
Presenter asks
2:35You said we're in denial about the realities of aging. What are we not seeing?
We've got this extraordinary situation now where people live for 20 or 30 years, even longer sometimes, after retirement. I'm not sure that we spend enough time thinking about how we want to spend that later life for our own well-being. There was a tradition in this country that people just moved to the seaside. And increasingly we're hearing that people were saying, well, what? I'm not sure I want to do that because I don't know anybody there. I don't have friends. Actually, the things I really want to do are go to art galleries or spend time with my friends or with my family. So we're not planning in that way. It's a little bit like the work we did in mental health. There's this sort of stigma about it, so people don't talk about it as much.
Presenter asks
8:49Your dad lived a very long life and you described his experience as a guide star for your work. In what way?
The keepsakes
The book
Simon Armitage
I'd love to read more poetry while I'm on the island. I'd like to take some poems by Simon Armitage.
The luxury
A solar-powered bowling machine with 100 balls (50 tennis and 50 cricket)
because when I hit them I have to go and get them and put them back in the bowling machine. So that will keep me active, keep me moving.
Well, he finally passed away only a couple of years ago, aged ninety eight. Very sadly, my mother died when she was in her mid sixties, so he spent nearly forty years of his life on his own... In many ways, what I saw in him, particularly in his later life, was somebody who both celebrated the opportunities that being older was... I remember one day he told me, I'm going on holiday, and I was very good, where are you going? Zimbabwe... But I also remember... we took him to Bruges for a weekend... The train was called, and everybody just poured round him as though he was a bag... I thought... we're not really thinking, are we, about how older people are being treated. So that's a very strong image.
Presenter asks
12:13How did your parents meet?
Her father had died when she was very young during the war... she actually joined a convent herself and became a nun... My father re-emerged in the 1960s... They found each other in Oxford... In many ways, my mother was a teacher in a convent school for a while until the day that she decided that she should wear trousers... she left the school because she wanted to make a stand about the ability of women to be able to wear whatever they wanted to.
Presenter asks
19:56After graduating with a history degree, you didn't have a clear career path. What did you do?
I did what everybody who has no idea what they want to do, go travelling. I went travelling with two of my Oxford friends, with Richard and Joe, for a year. We covered a lot of ground, eighteen countries. It was a joy. We had scrapes and fun along the way to become an adventurer and turn up in Cairo, our first stop. It was this extraordinary city. It was just sort of a sensory overload.
Presenter asks
33:05Your wife was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2017. Did you know straightaway that her condition was very serious?
Yes... I remember just looked into her eyes, and her eyes were yellow. ... Immediately it was clear that something was very wrong. We got very quick help, actually a quick diagnosis of a rare liver cancer called bile duct cancer, which doesn't have a great survival rate, and I suppose we were always on an uphill struggle.
“I'm fortunate enough to work in a sector that brings hope and optimism to so many people's lives.”
“Connection is a huge part of what we do at Age UK.”
“The stigma was blocking people from having a normal life.”
“She's always there. She's in my soul. She's in my heart. She's in my house.”
“I think we should drop the idea that when you reach a certain age you should just sit in a corner and be quiet.”