Lindsey Hilsum on menopause in a warzone and why going grey is NOT brave - THE SHIFT REVISITED

The Shift with Sam Baker

Sam Baker Ltd

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.8 • 525 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we're revisiting one of my favourite episodes from one of the first series. It was back in the day when it was still taboo to talk about menopause, so getting a so-called hardened war reporter to do just that was, well a bit of a coup. Here's Lindsey Hilsum admitting to hiding behind a tank! --- You know when people say you’re “brave” because you’ve got a few grey hairs?! Well, my guest this week is the living proof - as if it were needed - that that is a right old load of BS. Channel 4 International Editor Lindsey Hilsum is an acclaimed foreign correspondent who has reported from all over the world including Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Kosovo and Rwanda. She also won the James Tait Black Award for In Extremis, her devastating biography of her friend, the foreign reporter, Marie Colvin who was killed reporting from Syria in 2012. Lindsey is just as bold as her job might lead you to expect. She takes no prisoners as she talks about managing menopause symptoms in a war zone, being in a minority on the box and why there needs to be more “old trouts on TV” (and, no, she’s not bloody brave for going grey on screen), and how she finally found the perfect answer to “Give us a smile love”. Only took forty years… • You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at Bookshop.org, including the book that accompanies this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too by Sam Baker and In Extremis: the life of war correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum. * And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Emily Sandford. I'd love to hear what you think - please rate and review, or let me know on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.9	Hello and welcome to The Shift, the podcast that aims to tell the no-holds-barred truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by me, journalist and author Sam Baker.
0:45.7	You know when people say you're brave because you've got a few grey hairs? Well, my guest this week is living proof, as if it were needed, that that is a right old load of BS.
0:55.1	Channel 4 International Editor Lindsay Hilsom is an acclaimed foreign correspondent who was
0:59.7	reported from all over the world, including Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Kosovo and Rwanda.
1:05.9	She also won the James Tate Black Award for Inextremis, her devastating biography of her friend,
1:11.5	the foreign reporter Marie Colvin, who was killed reporting from Syria in 2012.
1:17.0	A very good friend of mine some time ago said to me, oh, she said, Lim, you're so brave.
1:21.6	Going grey in public, aren't you?
1:23.6	Yes.
1:25.4	Yes, that is insane. Lindsay is just as bold as her job might lead you to expect.
1:31.4	She takes no prisoners as she talks about managing menopause in a war zone, being in a minority on the box,
1:37.4	and how she finally found the perfect answer to give us a smile, love. Only took 40 years.
1:44.0	Well, Lindsay, thank you for joining us. I'd like to start by
1:47.6	talking a little bit about your career, your background. You started as an aid worker, didn't you?
1:52.6	Yes, I was going to change the world and make it a better place, which is probably one of my
1:58.6	less successful projects, I think.
2:03.2	But yeah, that was how I started.
2:08.8	But then I realized really early on that I wasn't much use, really,
2:13.1	because, you know, I wasn't an agronomist and I wasn't a doctor and I wasn't a nurse.
2:15.8	I had absolutely, you know, practical skills.
	...

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