Episode 112: Helen Skelton
Spinning Plates with Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Kat Rulach
4.8 • 527 Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2023
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Presenter Helen Skelton has been a familiar and much-loved presence on our TV screens since she presented Blue Peter (2008-2013) and then Countryfile.
Famous for her can-do attitude to life she still has several Guinness World Records under her belt, she’s run a Namibian ultra-marathon (which is 3 marathons back to back), kayaked the entire length of the Amazon, and made it to the finals of Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins... and Strictly!
Helen and her three children now live in Cumbria, near where Helen grew up herself, and they all love the outdoors.
I caught up with Helen at her publisher’s office in London on the day her autobiography ‘In My Stride’ was published. It’s a brilliant read and I love how Helen is someone pretty extraordinary but she has such a generous spirit she makes me feel like I might be able to do some of those things, too. Not sure I’m going to test the theory though..!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Sophia Lusbexter and welcome to Spinning Plates, the podcast where I speak to busy working women who also happen to be mothers about how they make it work. |
| 0:14.1 | I'm a singer and I've released seven albums in between having my five sons aged 16 months to 16 years, so I spin a few plates myself. |
| 0:22.3 | Being a mother can be the most amazing thing. |
| 0:24.8 | It can also be hard to find time for yourself and your own ambitions. |
| 0:28.2 | I want to be a bit nosy and see how other people balance everything. |
| 0:31.9 | Welcome to spinning plates. |
| 0:55.5 | Hello, you. How are you? Can you hear the seagulls? That's funny. I could just hear loads of seagulls. I'm in Newcastle. I'm on tour. I haven't spoken to you for ages. How's everything been? With me, what have I been like to in the last month? |
| 0:58.5 | I feel like I've just mainly been thinking about Christmas. |
| 1:03.0 | I'm on my Christmas kitchen disco tour. |
| 1:04.6 | I've never done a Christmas tour before. |
| 1:14.9 | So I've been plotting and pondering on how to bring all the best elements of Christmas and keep it feeling you know a bit camp and fun and nostalgic and warm but not too cheesy or weird I think I think |
| 1:24.7 | it represents what I hoped actually I've been having a lovely time. |
| 1:27.7 | The stage looks beautiful. |
| 1:29.8 | Christmas trees and tinsel and fairy lights. |
| 1:34.3 | And yeah, we've got all my favourite Christmas songs in there, loads of party songs. |
| 1:39.9 | We've done two gigs now. |
| 1:41.5 | Brilliant party crowds. |
| 1:42.9 | All sort of in their sparkly outfits. |
| 1:45.3 | It's not obligatory, but I love the fact people dress up. I think it's adorable. |
| 1:48.8 | And yeah, lots of fun. It's really fun. I've got 14 more dates to go. |
| 1:53.4 | I'm holding in my left hand some vintage clothing. I just brought in Newcastle. |
| 1:57.9 | Just had a really nice sort of brunch. I had a lion on the tour bus this morning. |
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