FIRST IMPRESSIONS: LORRAINE KELLY
What are you working on?
I appear on breakfast TV and on my own show, Lorraine. In August, it will be 30 years since I joined TV-am as Scottish correspondent. I went on to become a presenter and then worked on GMTV and Daybreak.
When are you at your happiest?
I am at my happiest now. I’ve just finished my book, Lorraine Kelly’s Scotland. It was a real love letter to Scotland and a brilliant experience. My daughter is doing really well at university, my work is fulfilling and I am really enjoying life.
What is your greatest fear?
Developing Alzheimer’s, or anyone I love suffering from the disease. It is a living death – heartbreaking.
What is your earliest memory?
I was about two years old and playing in the street in the Gorbals in Glasgow outside our single-end [one-room] flat. It was very hot and I had an itchy woolly hat on. What do you most dislike about yourself? I do talk a lot, although that is an advantage in my job.
Who has been your greatest influence?
My parents. They taught me to read and write before I went to school when I was four years old. Their house was filled with books and although they were not pushy, education was hugely important.
What is your most treasured possession?
A scrapbook my daughter Rosie made me for Mother’s Day, filled with photos and messages.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I would like to have a flatter tummy and better toned arms.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
I deplore bigots and bullies.
What is your favourite book?
Greenvoe by the late George Mackay Brown.
Your favourite film?
All About Eve. The dialogue crackles, the cast sparkles and Bette Davis was born to play ageing theatre star Margo Channing.
Your favourite music?
That’s When He Told Her by The Proclaimers.
And your favourite meal?
The Tapas Bar in Broughty Ferry, Dundee. Incredible, freshly prepared food with a Scottish twist.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Apart from my husband and daughter, it would have to be Billy Connolly. He is so funny that your whole body aches from laughing.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
A newspaper said that I didn’t actually have a Scottish accent but put it on to appear to be ‘a woman of the people’. It was so ludicrous I couldn’t even be bothered to be offended.
Do you believe in aliens?
Absolutely! It would be extremely arrogant to assume we are the only life form in the universe.
What is your secret vice?
I don’t really have one.
Do you write thank-you notes?
I think it is hugely important to write thank-you notes and not to just fire off a text or email. The demise of good manners is something I feel strongly about.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘I could talk to you all day.’ I only have around five minutes to talk to people on my show.
What would most improve the quality of your life?
Forty-eight hours in a day. There is never enough time to do all of the things I need to get through. Also it would be a real advantage if we didn’t need to sleep. It’s a terrible waste of time.
Tell us something we don’t know about you.
I have a bus named after me in Dundee, I can speak Russian, and I wanted to be a pilot with the RAF when I was at school.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘She made the world a happier place’.
Lorraine Kelly’s Scotland is published by Bantam Press, priced £18.99.
I appear on breakfast TV and on my own show, Lorraine. In August, it will be 30 years since I joined TV-am as Scottish correspondent. I went on to become a presenter and then worked on GMTV and Daybreak.
When are you at your happiest?
I am at my happiest now. I’ve just finished my book, Lorraine Kelly’s Scotland. It was a real love letter to Scotland and a brilliant experience. My daughter is doing really well at university, my work is fulfilling and I am really enjoying life.
What is your greatest fear?
Developing Alzheimer’s, or anyone I love suffering from the disease. It is a living death – heartbreaking.
What is your earliest memory?
I was about two years old and playing in the street in the Gorbals in Glasgow outside our single-end [one-room] flat. It was very hot and I had an itchy woolly hat on. What do you most dislike about yourself? I do talk a lot, although that is an advantage in my job.
Who has been your greatest influence?
My parents. They taught me to read and write before I went to school when I was four years old. Their house was filled with books and although they were not pushy, education was hugely important.
What is your most treasured possession?
A scrapbook my daughter Rosie made me for Mother’s Day, filled with photos and messages.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I would like to have a flatter tummy and better toned arms.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
I deplore bigots and bullies.
What is your favourite book?
Greenvoe by the late George Mackay Brown.
Your favourite film?
All About Eve. The dialogue crackles, the cast sparkles and Bette Davis was born to play ageing theatre star Margo Channing.
Your favourite music?
That’s When He Told Her by The Proclaimers.
And your favourite meal?
The Tapas Bar in Broughty Ferry, Dundee. Incredible, freshly prepared food with a Scottish twist.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Apart from my husband and daughter, it would have to be Billy Connolly. He is so funny that your whole body aches from laughing.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
A newspaper said that I didn’t actually have a Scottish accent but put it on to appear to be ‘a woman of the people’. It was so ludicrous I couldn’t even be bothered to be offended.
Do you believe in aliens?
Absolutely! It would be extremely arrogant to assume we are the only life form in the universe.
What is your secret vice?
I don’t really have one.
Do you write thank-you notes?
I think it is hugely important to write thank-you notes and not to just fire off a text or email. The demise of good manners is something I feel strongly about.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘I could talk to you all day.’ I only have around five minutes to talk to people on my show.
What would most improve the quality of your life?
Forty-eight hours in a day. There is never enough time to do all of the things I need to get through. Also it would be a real advantage if we didn’t need to sleep. It’s a terrible waste of time.
Tell us something we don’t know about you.
I have a bus named after me in Dundee, I can speak Russian, and I wanted to be a pilot with the RAF when I was at school.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘She made the world a happier place’.
Lorraine Kelly’s Scotland is published by Bantam Press, priced £18.99.