Summary
Actress and singer, Toyah Willcox, takes Clare Balding for a walk in rural Worcestershire.
The theme for this series of Ramblings is 'self-improvement' and for Toyah - who has always had problems with her joints, including a recent hip replacement - walking is the perfect exercise. She says it helps her keep her weight down and remain active.
Clare met Toyah at Croome Landscape Park, a National Trust Property famous for its stunning grounds designed by Capability Brown. Unfortunately Toyah was injured - 97 pantomime performances over Christmas had taken their toll - but, crutch in hand, the ramble went ahead.
By the end of the walk, during which Toyah discussed her serendipitous route into show business and forthcoming performance in a 'bawdy' show called Hormonal Housewives, she actually felt better. Proof, she said, that walking is one of the best ways to remain healthy.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, |
| 0:06.3 | and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started |
| 0:12.0 | commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right |
| 0:17.8 | mixture of sounds could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to |
| 0:25.2 | give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole |
| 0:29.9 | new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories |
| 0:34.1 | that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC |
| 0:38.0 | sounds. This is BBC Radio 4 download. You're listening to me, Claire Baldwin, with another |
| 0:45.1 | edition of Ramblings. The wind is howling and it's spitting with rain last night in the middle of the |
| 0:50.9 | night. It lashed down, a massive storm. So we're very much keeping our fingers |
| 0:55.2 | crossed that we get away with it today on ramblings. I've come to a really magnetic park, and I mean |
| 1:01.8 | that that it draws people from far and wide, all around Worcestershire. They come to Croom, and particularly |
| 1:06.9 | on a Sunday. Luckily, it's midweek, so not so many people around. This used to be part of an estate that was 14,000 acres and stretched right across Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, the Cotswolds. Now it's slightly more contained and run by the National Trust, and it's a favourite haunt of the person I'm walking with today. Now this series is all about self-improvement and she walks for mental and |
| 1:29.3 | physical fitness. The trouble is at the moment, the physical fitness isn't great. She is a music |
| 1:35.9 | legend, a broadcasting legend as well. She's written two books as well as recording 13 top 40 |
| 1:40.7 | singles and 20 albums. She is Toya Wilcox and she's hobbling towards me. |
| 1:46.0 | What have you done? |
| 1:47.4 | Well, I've just done 97 Christmas shows in seven weeks. |
| 1:52.0 | And I started off in fantastic fitness. |
| 1:55.3 | And then towards the last week, I just fell apart. |
| 1:58.9 | So my knees are bad and my left hip's bad but I'm getting better very very |
| 2:04.9 | quickly and basically I'm 54 years old and I've overdone it but it's fantastic being out here |
... |
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