Anna Whitehouse is a journalist, author and radio presenter and the founder of Mother Pukka, 'a platform for people who happen to be parents'. She is a long-term campaigner in the fight for flexible working for everyone.
We talked about the concept of family and how you can get trapped into believing that 2.4 children and a white picket fence equals happiness; we discussed flexible working hours and how other countries do it better (yes I'm talking about the Netherlands and Sweden again!) and we agreed that it is time to end the 1950s hapless dad trope - or as she put it, "men don't want to just spunk and leave, they want to parent!" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 29: Anna Whitehouse

Hello I’m Sophie Ellis-Bextor and this is my new series Spinning Plates where I speak to busy working women, who also happen to be mothers, about how they make it work. I am a singer and have released 7 albums in-between having my 5 sons who are aged between 1 and 16 so I spin a few plates myself. Being a mother can be the most amazing thing.. but it can also be hard to find time for yourself and your own ambitions. I want to be a bit nosy and see how other people balance everything. Join me while I speak to a host of interesting and inspirational women who’ve really made me think - and laugh, and sometimes cry.  Welcome to Spinning Plates. 
 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Music

Kids & Family

Parenting

Bat For Lashes aka Natasha Khan is a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and a mum to a three year old.  
She has just brought out her 6th album and this one is inspired by the birth of her daughter and is called The Dream of Delphi. 
She was pregnant in LA during Covid and the album recalls how she reconnected with nature during that time, reflecting the landscape of the city, mountains and the desert. She's now separated from Delphi's Dad but explained they are still best friends and happily co-parent together.
We spoke about how she felt about becoming a mum later in life and we talked about that special liminal moment when you have just given birth and it dawns on you that you are moving from who you were into who you are going to be - a transformational moment.
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 126: Natasha Khan aka Bat for Lashes

Vicky Gill is the Wardrobe Lead for Strictly Come Dancing, amongst many other things! We first met when I appeared on the show in 2013. She is passionate about merging fashion and performance. I can vouch for the fact that she is supremely talented at making costumes that people can dance in - and her sparkly leotards are still part of my onstage essentials today. But as a mum of three she was also great at sharing glimpses of normal family life with me, which you very much appreciate when you are on the Strictly juggernaut!
When we spoke, Vicky had just finished Dancing on Ice and was about to start work on the Girls Aloud tour. She is a very busy woman.
Vicky and her husband are from Newcastle originally but live in London, and as their family support network is far away, she descibes their stiuation as 'us against the world'. She is hoping her children - now in their teens and beyond - don't choose the creative careers which she and her husband have (between you and me, I don't think that's working so far!) but she says she just wants them to feel happy in their skin.  
Vicky prides herself on being a problem-solver - both in her working life and in her parenting. And sometimes the worlds have collided - as when she was working with Girls Aloud just after her daughter was born, when she found that nappy cream comes in handy for getting boob tape off!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 125: Vicky Gill

Michelle Ogundehin is best known as the head judge of Interior Designs Masterclass on BBC 1. It’s a programme I am utterly addicted to, and I was therefore delighted to have been asked to join as a guest judge for semi finals week, this week (TX 23/4/24). I have been a fan of Michelle’s expert eye when it comes to interiors for a long time, having devoured every issue of Elle Decoration published during her time as editor in chief from 2004 to 2017. I love her approach to homes and how they make you feel, always taking into account the link between our environment and how it affects our mental health. 
Off-screen, Michelle is a devoted single mum to her 10 year old son. She became a mum later in life, after years of trying, and her journey included IVF and four miscarriages. She says her son is the best thing that has ever happened to her.  We talked about her worries about becoming a mum due to her own mother not being maternal or loving to her. 
She told me how she has recently been ‘album-ing’ her life and also that she believes that what surrounds us at home affects us.  I finally tested her boundaries when I mischievously suggested she should let her little boy draw on his bedroom walls, just as my mum let me!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones.

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 124: Michelle Ogundehin

Heather James is best known to us all as the mum of Deborah James, the beautiful bowelbabe, who I interviewed for Spinning Plates 3 years ago. That was the year before her premature death at the age of 40, from bowel cancer.
Heather explained how she is grieving but working. Not only working in her day job as a gymnastics teacher, but also doing everything that Deborah would have continued with - including campaigning to highlight April as Bowel Cancer Awareness month.
Deborah spent the last weeks of her life at her mum and dad's house in the summer of 2022 surrounded by her family. Heather and her husband Alistair found themselves looking after Deborah and, to everyone's surprise, hosting Prince William when he came to their garden to make Deborah a Dame. 
Heather talked about caring for Deborah when she came home to die, but said Deborah's zest for life - and campaigning - meant that far from going quiet, it was a busy time of fun, outings, a book, a rose and of course, a Damehood.
It struck me that Heather is everything you would hope to be, as a mum in such a dreadful circumstance.  
She is planning to life life to the full, as Deborah wanted her to. And we spoke, just before her son's wedding where the entire family were planning to party and celebrate just as Deborah would have done if she were still here. And speaking as someone who witnessed her 40th birthday party in full swing, boy, did Deborah know how to party!
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 123: Heather James

Natasha Bedingfield is a New Zealand-UK singer and songwriter who started out in the business at a similar time to me. Another shared link is that we are both currently on a new adventure with songs we brought out originally in our early 20s! How's that for a coincidence? We've each been on an unexpected and exciting journey with our old songs... both because of recent films. The film 'Anyone but You' featured Natasha's 'Unwritten' which originally charted nearly 20 years ago. And my adventure has been because of 'Murder on the Dancefloor' being used to great effect in 'Saltburn'.  
Natasha talked about her place in her own family's politics, where her brother Daniel was the first to get into the music industry. Natasha had to fight to pursue her music career; in her family's eyes, that 'place' had already been taken by her sibling! (Sidenote: Daniel's debut single 'Gotta Get Thru This' kept Murder off the top spot in the charts 22 years ago - not that I'm holding a grudge or anything, Daniel!)
Natasha has a little boy who is now 6. When he was 2, he was taken seriously ill with a spontaneous brain abscess He had to have two surgeries and was in hospital for 5 weeks. Thankfully there was a cure and he is fully recovered, but the time he was in hospital was obviously an extremely difficult period for Natasha and her husband. Natasha remembers having to perform a gig while her son was still in hospital. She shared how terribly difficult that was, and how in a room full of small talk she would suddenly blurt out 'My son's in hospital!'.
On a lighter note (pun intended) Natasha and I talked about how having a baby changed our singing range - for the better! And we agreed that we are both really enjoying the new ride with our old songs from the early 2000s.
Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 29: Anna Whitehouse

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