Reader's Digest June 2022

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Contents
JUNE 2022

Features p54

16 IT’S A MANN’S WORLD p72

Olly Mann presents us 72 TEAM BRIT
with his rough guide to
the art of potty training Meet the inspiring disabled
racers breaking boundaries
ENTERTAINMENT
80 SEAWEED SOLUTION
20 INTERVIEW:
Could a new kind of cattle
JULIETTE BINOCHE feed change the world?
TRAVEL
The French arthouse icon
opens up about family, 88 SRI LANKA'S
fame, and finding her path
HILL COUNTRY
28 “I REMEMBER”:
Join us on an unforgettable train
ANDY HAMILTON journey from Kandy to Ella

The beloved British comedy
writer looks back on his
childhood, Cambridge
days and falling in love

HEALTH

36 HEARING LOSS

How amazing advances
in hearing aid technology
can change your life

INSPIRE

54 YOUNG ELIZABETH

A 1945 perspective of
the woman who would
become Queen Elizabeth II

cover illustration by Ben Tallon JUNE 2022 • 1



Contents p114
JUNE 2022
FOOD & DRINK
In every issue 110 A Taste of Home
112 World Kitchen: Korea
9 Over to You 114 Jubilee Baking
12 See the World Differently
ENTERTAINMENT
HEALTH 118 June's Cultural Highlights
44 Advice: Susannah Hickling
48 Column: Dr Max Pemberton BOOKS
122 June Fiction: James Walton’s
INSPIRE
70 If I Ruled the World: Recommended Reads
127 Books That Changed
Steve Vai
My Life: Stuart MacBride
TRAVEL & ADVENTURE
96 My Great Escape TECHNOLOGY
98 Hidden Gems: Vienna 128 Column: James O’Malley

MONEY FUN & GAMES
100 Column: Andy Webb 130 You Couldn’t Make It Up
133 Word Power
DIY 136 Brain Teasers
104 Column: Mike Aspinall 140 Laugh!
143 Beat the Cartoonist
FASHION & BEAUTY 144 A Century of Change
106 Column: Bec Oakes’
JUNE 2022 • 3
Fashion Tips
108 Beauty

p118

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EDITORS’ LETTERS

In This Issue…

Welcome to our As people across the
special Diamond world fight to combat
Jubilee issue, the damage we’re
celebrating the doing to our planet,
remarkable legacy of solutions to the
the longest-reigning environmental crisis are
British monarch and being found in suprising
longest-serving female head of state places. We explore one of these on
in history, Queen Elizabeth II. p54 with the story of Canadian cattle
On p54, we revisit a 1945 Life farmer Joe Dorgan. Joe, whose farm
magazine article profiling the young includes coastal paddocks, was
Elizabeth before she became the amazed to discover that the bovine
queen. Written at the end of the residing by the ocean yielded more
Second World War, it’s a fascinating milk, had fewer udder infections and
insight into how the public viewed produced less greenhouse gas
this ambitious young woman on the emissions than the cows in other
cusp of entering an extraordinary fields. The reason? They were eating
lifetime of duty. seaweed! And so a new kind of
On p114, you’ll find a Jubilee baking cattle-feed was discovered with the
special—your guide to making the potential to change the world.
tastiest celebratory treats; and on
p118, we take a look at a dynamic new Have you discovered ways to
documentary on the Queen, bursting make your life more eco-friendly?
with meticulously researched archive We’d love to hear about them. Email
footage and special guests. [email protected]
with your story.
Eva
Anna

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JUNE 2022 • 7



Over To You

LETTERS ON THE April ISSUE

We pay £50 for Letter of the Month and £30 for all others

LETTER OF THE MONTH CHUFFED
FOR CHESTER
I totally agreed with Roger Black’s suggestion to I was born in Chester
launch a buddy-up system for young and old to and I visit whenever I
reduce isolation from the “If I Ruled The World” can—I lived there for
feature in your April magazine. 39 years. So I enjoyed
your article “My
When I worked at a charity for the elderly, Britain: Chester” as it
we arranged a few intergenerational tea events brought back many
between elderly people and school children lovely memories. I
and the benefits for both young and old were used to think it was a
privilege to live within
clear to see. the city walls and I
The smiles between both was intrigued to learn
generations while chatting, more facts about one
and the interest shown in of my favourite places.
each other was deeply Chester is undoubtedly
moving, especially the one of the most
hugs and laughter beautiful cities in the
throughout the day. Each UK. It’s been praised as
generation a place which continues
can stand to learn to thrive 2,000 years on
a lot from each other, from its Roman origins.
and I think that regular It rightly deserved to
intergenerational events in be crowned the second
our schools and communities best place to live in
the North West by the
would be a great thing too, as Times in 2018 (my
social isolation is sadly spreading mother still proudly,
through all age groups. tells everyone this fact).
Older people have such good stories to tell
and such wisdom to learn from, which we Jason David,
should embrace, before they are gone and it is Hertfordshire
too late.
JUNE 2022 • 9
Geraldine Syson, Glasgow

INSPIRE

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND FROM HERE It used to be that your
choices after death were
I was surprised reading “From
Here To Eternity” by exactly how being laid to rest in a
many choices after death there churchyard, sitting in an
are nowadays, far from simply
being laid to rest in a churchyard. urn on the mantelpiece
Anthropologists laud the common or, perhaps being
human practice of burying our dead
as one of the hallmark traits that set scattered somewhere
us apart from other primates. Town exotic. But now, there’s a
planners, on the other hand, must whole industry designed
lament it.
to keep your memory
The dilemma is that most of our alive in the most unique
graveyards and cemeteries are nearly
full, yet people have a nasty habit of ways. So, which would
continuing to die. you choose?

My family have spoken about by Helen Foster
death quite openly and we have
all agreed that we want to be TO ETERNITY

73

cremated and then have our
ashes spread in the ocean or up
mountains. But I liked these other
new options too—combining ashes
into a vial of tattoo ink, donating
yourself to science, getting shot into
space, floating out in a Viking boat,
becoming a coral reef…

These other options certainly all
beat the idea of lying for all eternity
in an overcrowded cemetery.

Ryan George, Denbigh

HANGING ON my first call. The problem was that none
THE TELEPHONE of my friends were “on the phone”,
“A Century Of Change” (April as we said in those days, so I ended
2022) reminded me of the up dialling the number of a girl in my
thrill that I felt on arriving form whom I barely knew. When she
home from school one afternoon answered, all I could think of was to ask
to discover that my parents had had a a question about our maths homework.
telephone installed. She didn’t know the answer but seemed
There it sat on its own little table pleasantly surprised to hear from me
in the hall with a brand new directory and we became good friends after that.
alongside it and I couldn’t wait to make
Maggie Cobbett, Rippon

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10 • JUNE 2022

Just Cycle

And fold away

There’s no excuse not to get on
your bike this Spring. Get your
indoor cycling fix and feel the
benefits.

Great for general cardio fitness,
exercise bikes can be a brilliant way of
training at home. However, choosing
the right bike is incredibly important,
which is something that Roger
Black and his team recognised when
creating the Roger Black Folding
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received his Roger Black fitness
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so simple and easy to use, with no
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a pleasure. It folds away neatly so it
can be stored behind a door if need be”
Anna, Farnham

Roger Black is offering a 10% discount
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range of home fitness equipment for
all Reader’s Digest readers. Please use
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Standard T&Cs apply

12

SEE THE WORLD...
turn the page

photos: © getty images/istockphoto



…DIFFERENTLY

A snow-white beach as far as
the eye can see! Shell Beach
stretches for more than 40 miles on
the west coast of Australia. The name
says it all, because what is sparkling
in the sunlight here is not sand but
billions of tiny shells in a layer up to ten
metres thick. They all come from a
single species of mollusc, the Shark
Bay cockle. In the past, these were
pressed and cut into blocks to build
houses in the nearby town of Denham.

15

IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

A Pot To Pee In

Olly Mann goes head-to-head with the
ultimate parenting challenge—potty training

S mall children cause it once—well, twice, if you include
amnesia. Ask anybody who my own personal transition to drier
possesses a car seat to hold bedsheets—and yet I simply cannot
forth on their current phase of remember the details of how it’s
child-rearing, and they’ll wax lyrical achieved. My eldest son, Harvey,
about warming up milk bottles, or now six, can take himself to the loo,
baby-proofing the house, or teaching aim his appendage with precision
phonemes, or which holiday camp is and wipe his bum like a champ, but
best. Ask them three months later— I have no recollection of how it all
when their kid has moved on to the happened. I just know that he used
next stage of life—and they’ll draw to be in nappies, and now, three
a blank. They’ll have no idea. They years later, he isn’t, and, presumably,
will literally not remember the very at some point in-between, we
issues that, just a few weeks earlier, worked it all out.
had been the bread-and-butter of
their parenting. This presents a challenge, because
the time has come for our second
So it is when it comes to potty son, Toby, to be inducted into the
training. I’ve already been through defecatory Hall of Fame. Selfishly,
I determined the timeline for his
Olly Mann presents urinary conversion around our
Four Thought for holiday schedule: I insisted upon
BBC Radio 4, and waiting until after Easter, because we
the podcasts The were in Cyprus, and I couldn’t face
Modern Mann, The queuing for the Easyjet lavs with wee
Week Unwrapped running down my arm. And we’re off
and The Retrospectors

16 • JUNE 2022 illustration by Dom McKenzie

17

IT’S A MANN’S WORLD

to the South of France in July, and a few days ahead of time, eg, "next

I don’t want to be changing nappies week we’re throwing away your

in the heat either. So, the time is nappies", "only a few days now

now. Frankly, after nearly three until we say bye-bye to nappies!",

years wrapping Toby’s soiled paper etc. I can recommend this as a way

pants into scented plastic bags and of adding poignancy to otherwise

chucking them into landfill, we’ve plebeian proceedings: as the

punished the planet enough. cupboard door swung shut and Toby

One thing I can recall from our waved farewell to his Pampers, it

first crack at potty training is that was as if the curtains were closing at

I had a guidebook: Oh Crap! by a crematorium.

Jamie Glowacki, Next, approximating

self-proclaimed TOBY Glowacki’s soft-
"Pied Piper of Poop". soap psychological

She has somehow IMMEDIATELY techniques, I took
churned out 295 pages BONDED WITH Toby to "choose" his
of wisdom on this potty. The pharmacy

insalubrious topic, HIS BRIGHT only had one in stock,

and—although her PINK POTTY, and it was bright pink.
book does include a CARRYING IT By nature, Toby is
patronising two-page more of a diggers-and-

"Cheat Sheet" for EVERYWHERE, dinosaurs kinda guy,
dads (which assumes LIKE A GUCCI but he immediately
mums do the donkey- bonded with it, and

work)—I found it to be MAN-BAG started carrying it
highly useful advice. everywhere, like a

So much so, in fact, Gucci man-bag.

that I lent my copy to Then, he and I

my friend Ben, who then lent it to a spent a day at home (yes, my wife

mate of his, but now can’t remember was at work—take that, Glowacki!);

whom. Glowacki has, cannily, he naked, I constantly placing

paywalled her most pertinent advice him on the potty, he continually

online, but I refuse to buy another peeing all over the floor. Not just

copy—I’ll be damned if I’m going to the floor, but the rug, the stairs, the

spend another £9 learning how to poo. doormat, a basket full of toilet rolls,

So, I’ve had to cobble Toby’s a selection of his brother’s Hot

programme together, but I did Wheels, and—in what I am calling

remember Glowacki’s Step One: to his Piss De Resistance—over half a

psychologically prepare your toddler dozen chocolate eggs on the window

18 • JUNE 2022

READER’S DIGEST

ledge (we have a window-seat. A hope than expectation.
tractor drove by. He got excited). After three days of chasing him

Following the laws of stopped round repeatedly asking, "Do you
clocks and typewriting monkeys, need a wee?" like a mantra, the
Toby did actually manage to wee message on Number Ones now
in the potty itself a couple of times, appears to be cutting through, too.
though no intention seemed to lie Today I was awoken by my wife’s
behind the achievement. Number celebratory whooping as Toby
Twos, luckily, were a cinch: I wasn’t climbed upstairs, proudly and
even involved. “Poo coming, poo precariously balancing a potty full
coming”, he had shouted from the of pee.
living room, as I towelled off yet
another of his sprays from the freezer Tomorrow, another milestone:
door. I grumpily entered the lounge he’s off to nursery in his "big boy
expecting a scene from Pulp Fiction, pants". So, I reckon we’re about four
but there it was—a brown globular days away from him having mastered
gift from the gods, sitting in the potty self-initiation.
I had left on a plastic sheet, more in
Just don’t ask me about it in three
months’ time. I won’t remember. Q

A love story both
raunchy and heartfelt

The second in Anna-Leigh Brooks’ erotic/romantic
trilogy chronicling the passions of Jess & Jamie.

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•

ENTERTAINMENT

Juliette Binoche

On Her Path, Passion
And Parenting

By James Mottram

The French cinema icon opens up about her early days
as a student, career breakthrough, and why, with more
than 60 films under her belt, “she’s not a workaholic”

The day before we meet, off. You have to have the role in order REUTERS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Juliette Binoche was in to take off.” And take off she did.
the French Alps. Today, Almost immediately, people were
she’s reclining in a suite fascinated with this enigmatic raven-
in Berlin’s Hotel Marriott, haired ingénue. “After Rendez-vouz,
dressed in scarlet trousers, a white when I started, somebody asked me
blouse and eye-catching silver about doing an autobiography of my
platforms. “We arrived last night at life… when I was 21!” she reveals,
12,” she says, casually brushing off incredulous at this preposterous
her hectic schedule. It’s been this notion. “Some people actually
way for four decades now, ever since thought about it.”
she blew up at the Cannes Film
Festival as a 21-year-old, starring Instead, Binoche concentrated
in 1985’s Rendez-vous as—guess on an unassailable rise through the
what?—a would-be actress. The film ranks of world cinema, working
was a sensation and “La Binoche”, as alongside Daniel Day-Lewis (The
the French call her, was born. Unbearable Lightness of Being),
Jeremy Irons (Damage) and Ralph
“Before that, people didn’t know Fiennes (The English Patient)—the
me,” she reflects now. “I had roles film that would win her a Best
here and there—with great directors, Supporting Actress Oscar in 1997.
of course—but they didn’t really take Rather than succumb to Hollywood’s

20 • JUNE 2022

21

Daniel Day-Lewis and
Juliette Binoche in The
Unbearable Lightness of

Being (1988)

lure, bar the odd blockbuster, feathery outfit. “I’ll lose five pounds LANDMARK MEDIA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Binoche simply continued working before Cannes,” she snaps. “Then put
with celebrated filmmakers from on ten.”
around the globe, cultivating a
reputation as a risk-taker. Now 58, there isn’t much this
artist extraordinaire hasn’t done. On
“For me, the risk is to repeat stage, she starred with Akram Khan
myself or get into a comfort zone at London’s National Theatre in
that is not opening my horizons,” dance piece In-i. “When you’re not
she says, sipping from her mint tea. a dancer, then you see that you need
In person, she’s friendly, playful courage, you need trust and you need
even (a previous encounter of ours an alchemy that is inside you that is
ended with her throwing a cushion going to take place,” she says. She also
at me)—a stark contrast to the tragic sang in the show It’s Almost Nothing,
characters, like her grief-stricken a tribute to Monique Andrée Serf, and
musician in Three Colours: Blue, “would love” to film a musical. Which
she’s embodied on screen. Yet she’s one? “I would never answer that,”
not above self-mockery; see her she smiles. “A film is a connection of
in the French show Call My Agent! different people.” In other words, it’s
where she is trying on a tight-fitting, about creative alchemy.

22 • JUNE 2022

READER’S DIGEST

With Ralph Fiennes
in The English Patient

“YOU’VE GOT TO BELIEVE IN YOUR OWN PATH—
NOBODY IS GOING TO BELIEVE BEFORE YOU”

PICTORIAL PRESS LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Rarely does Binoche rest on her Emmanuel Carrère, the director
laurels. When we meet, she’s flown of Between Two Worlds, calls her
in from the Alpine set of Christophe “tenacious” and it’s hard to disagree.
Honoré’s autobiographical film Le The film casts her as Marianne
Lycéen—“I’m playing his mother,” Winckler, a fictionalised take on
she grins, patently aware of what Aubenas, who went undercover
a minefield that is—to attend the in northern France to investigate
premiere of Both Side of the Blade, the brutal world of cleaning staff,
a Parisian-set marital drama by working in dehumanising conditions
Claire Denis. Before either of those for a pittance. In the film, Marianne
hit these shores, though, Binoche befriends several other women,
can be seen in Between Two Worlds, who relentlessly clean ferries that
a riveting take on journalist Florence cross between France and England,
Aubenas’ non-fiction best-seller, The enduring gruelling night shifts.
Night Cleaner.
When Binoche arrived on set, she

JUNE 2022 • 23

INTERVIEW: JULIET BINOCHE

Between
Two Worlds

had little time to prepare—with her the descriptions in the book of these © CHRISTINE TAMALET
sculptor father Jean-Marie Binoche service industry folk who felt invisible,
desperately ill at the time (he later ignored, overlooked.
died, in July 2019, aged 86).
“They’re like cupboards,” she says,
“I was in a state of exhaustion. I simply. “Not existing for others.”
was sick. I was losing my father. It With passers-by barely paying them
was a combination of being in a sort a glance or a kind word, “something
of tunnel. And I thought that was human”, she wanted to show just how
the best state in a way. As they’re demoralising this can be. “That really
running around, walking kilometres was my need to make this film,” she
to go do two hours’ work, or working says. “We de-humanise ourselves very
very early in the morning before the quickly if we’re not paying attention.”
light appears, or working very late at
night… they’re in a state of urgency Binoche’s own bourgeoise
and exhaustion.” background may be light years
away from her co-stars, but it was
Co-starring with non-professionals, an upbringing that gained her great
all too familiar with this world of zero- empathy for others—surely, one of
hours contracts, Binoche was taken by

24 • JUNE 2022

READER’S DIGEST

the most essential tools as an actor. because it was very uncertain. And
Born in Paris, she and her sister being in theatre, they knew how
Marion were initially sent to a Catholic much of a struggle it was. I had a little
boarding school by her mother, actress bit of help the first year, as a student,
Monique Stalens, who’d split from from my mother. She gave me some
Binoche’s father when their daughter money to pay for my theatre class, so
was just four. She later attended a at least that was done. And my first
specialised arts school in Paris, before boyfriend was Italian, and he was
winning places at the National School very generous as well. So I didn’t
of Dramatic Art of Paris and, later, the have to find a place to live because I
Paris Conservatoire. was living with him.”

Better yet, she found her After that “it was a struggle”, with
independence early. “As a student, Binoche scraping by a living working
you’ve got to believe in your own as a cashier in the department store
path and creation as an actor,” she BHV. Then she struck gold—a role
says. “Nobody is going to believe in Hail Mary, a film by celebrated
before you. Of course it was worrying French director Jean-Luc Godard.
my parents, me being an actress, “I had to see the head of the BHV

JUNE 2022 • 25

INTERVIEW: JULIETTE BINOCHE

Between
Two Worlds

and try to convince her to let me gears during the pandemic, which ©CHRISTINETAMALET
go. And she wouldn’t. She said, slowed down her prodigious work-
‘You’ve started, and in a few years, rate. “The first year I went back to
you can go up in the shop and be a my stove!” she chuckles. “I had the
very important person.’ And I tried kids at home, so I tried to be the best
to say, ‘This is my passion. Working mother I could.”
with Jean-Luc Godard, it’s quite
something as an actor.’ So she said, Raphaël, 28—her son with
‘Good luck, but I’m just warning you, professional scuba diver André Halle,
it’s a difficult job and you never know and Hannah, 22—her daughter
what you’re going to get!’”. with actor Benoît Magimel—are
both grown up now, but doubtless
Maybe it’s why Binoche never relished the chance to spend some
stops, though she denies that she’s quality time with their mother. “[It’s]
forever bouncing from one film to important for me to allow those
the next. “Not at all,” she insists. “I relationships that are challenging,”
don’t see myself as a workaholic. I she says. “Children know how to
see myself as passionate. That’s a push you and they have no fear of
different take on it. Creating gives you getting the truth, or of their own
energy. And when you think you’re needs, and that’s a challenge that is
going to rest, [that’s when] you get always interesting and pushes you to
tired!” Yet even she had to switch

26 • JUNE 2022

READER’S DIGEST

Juliette Binoche
on the red carpet

“BEING PAID FOR NOT DOING VERY MUCH? IT
NEVER HAPPENED TO ME!”

REUTERS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO your limits…but that’s how you grow.” Peterson, who was accused of
As soon as she could, Binoche murdering his wife. Binoche plays
Sophie Brunet, one of the editors on
got back to the grind, heading to the Netflix docu-series of the same
Mississippi to shoot upcoming film name that originally chronicled the
Paradise Highway, playing a truck case. For her, it’s a rare opportunity
driver who must smuggle a teenage to work on an American-made
girl to save her own brother. Co- limited TV series. “I had a lot of free
starring with the legendary Morgan time, which I never have usually.
Freeman (“I was very excited!”), it’s That was a big discovery! Wow,
a very different take on a traditional you’re being paid for not doing very
tale of love, she estimates. “My love much? It never happened to me!”
for this little girl was a love story,” she
says. “The love is what takes you [on Juliette Binoche taking it easy on
the journey] in a way.” set? Now that’s a first. Q

She’s also coming up in The Between Two Worlds is in
Staircase, a juicy true-crime drama cinemas across the UK from May 27
starring Colin Firth as Michael

JUNE 2022 • 27

ENTERTAINMENT

Andy Hamilton, 67, is one of our most famous comedy
writers. With partner Guy Jenkin he’s written Drop the
Dead Donkey, Outnumbered and Kate & Koji. He looks back
at finding his feet in comedy and explains why he refuses to
carry a mobile phone

1998-ish Revolting People: Andy,
Jay Tarses and James Fleet

28

I REMEMBER…

Andy Hamilton

GARY DOAK / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

I REMEMBER

MY BEDROOM WINDOW ON MY RIGHT HAND.
OVERLOOKED A BOMB SITE. They’re just congenital things. I’ve
Because my dad was a returning not got dwarfism, which some
prisoner of war, he got our house in people think because some of the
Fulham at a controlled rent. Out of vertebrae in my neck are fused and
my window I could see the remains left me with a short neck. I’m five
of about six houses overgrown with foot three—I used to be five foot
weeds, but with lots of ghostly four, not that I’m sensitive about it! I
staircases and features still there. used to go to hospital regularly for
My brother, Pete, who’s seven years clinical photographs. There was
older than me, and I were warned some worry that during puberty I
would grow really fast and that
would cause problems with my
neck, but luckily I didn’t, so there
was no need for medical
intervention. As a kid I was
conscious of being one of the
smallest in the school, but I don’t
think I was bullied any more than
the standard level of bullying in a
boys’ school. I never felt singled out.

never to play on the bomb site MY DAD’S EXPERIENCES OF THE
because of the possibility of WAR PROBABLY AFFECTED HIM.
unexploded ordnance. Still, on He’d been a prisoner of war for five
Bonfire Night a massive bonfire years and he was not an easy man in
would be built there and our some ways. He was a maintenance
windows would get so hot that man for an insurance company, very
they’d actually start to bend and hardworking and capable of being
move. It usually ended with the fire very social, but also of being very
department being called. distant and quite moody. We had
sticky patches in our relationship.
I WAS BORN WITH SCOLIOSIS [A But there was no shortage of love.
CURVATURE OF THE SPINE] AND My mum, Sylvia, was very loving
I’VE GOT THE THUMB MISSING and good-natured. She worked for
the Ministry of Defence and I
remember her coming home at the
height of the Cold War with a
pamphlet telling her to stock up on

30 • JUNE 2022

Andy with
Sylvia, Lona

and Edwin
Hallstatt, 1983

canned goods and to discreetly reasonably good. I had a tendency
whitewash the windows to prepare to be a bit lippy and argumentative.
for a nuclear war. Hard to do
without arousing suspicion! I REMEMBER BEING ALLOWED TO
STAY UP LATE TO WATCH
I WAS A CHOIRBOY FROM THE HANCOCK. Galton and Simpson,
AGE OF SIX. who wrote Hancock’s Half Hour
I had a decent treble voice and they [1954-61] and Steptoe and Son
would push me out in front at [1962-74], were a huge influence on
Christmas to sing “Away in a me in terms of comedy, and the
Manger.” It was a good choir, St Monty Python lot. My dad, Jim, was
Luke’s on Redcliffe Square, and we quite funny in an impish or practical
won lots of competitions. I had no joke kind of way: he didn’t do verbal
religion in me at all, but I loved the jokes quite so much. My uncles and
music, and I still like to wander into aunts were funny. I think it’s a sort
churches and look around. I went to of working-class London thing that
a direct grant grammar school the way you express affection for
called Westminster City, not people is by winding them up. So as
Westminster School, which is a a family we were all quite good
public school. Academically, I was wind-up merchants.

JUNE 2022 • 31

I REMEMBER

Family holiday in
Scotland, 1999; (Below)
with Giant MacAskill,
Skye, 2004

I FELT A BIT LIKE larger fish in a smaller pool.
A FISH OUT OF I joined to meet girls, principally.
WATER AT We did shows in old people’s
CAMBRIDGE. homes, children’s hospitals and
It was mostly prisons, to people who couldn’t
because there’d get away, basically.
been a coup in the
English department I THOUGHT I’D DRIFT INTO
the year before and it TEACHING AND BECOME
was very different to SARCASTIC AND DISAPPOINTED.
what I expected. My But while I was at Cambridge we
friends were mostly bright Welsh took shows to Edinburgh in 1975
kids from Methodist schools, and 1976. We were performing in an
because the rest of the college did old Bovril factory and luckily for me
seem to have a huge number of a man called Geoffrey Perkins, then
public school boys. I didn’t join a trainee producer in comedy [later
Footlights [comedy troupe] because a legendary comedy producer] came
I joined Cambridge University Light to see a show, then came backstage
Entertainment Society [CULES]. I and asked, “Who wrote that?” and
suppose I was quite happy being a when I said I had, he said, “Have

32 • JUNE 2022

READER’S DIGEST

DTDD party with
Jeff Rawle and Guy
Jenkin, 1998; Sylvia’s
birthday, 2002

you thought about doing it for a when we were both working for
living?”. I put the performing on Hat Trick Productions. Jay and I
hold and started writing for radio did Revolting People [2000-06], a
and the TV sketch show Not the radio show which co-starred James
Nine O’Clock News [1979-82]. Fleet. It was a very happy show. I’m
currently working with the
I’VE HAD GREAT COMEDY wonderful Brenda Blethyn on our
COLLABORATORS. sitcom Kate & Koji.
In the early days there was a lot less
interaction between writers and GUY JENKIN HAS BEEN MY
performers, but I’d already worked WRITING PARTNER FOR 40
with Griff Rhys Jones on radio so I YEARS NOW.
knew him a bit on News, and Mel I’d met him at a show by CULES in
Smith was equally brilliant. So when Cambridge after I’d graduated. He’d
they started their own show, Alas written the show and wanted to
Smith and Jones [1984-98], I wrote a come to London, so I helped him
fair amount for them. I also worked find a place to stay—basically in a
with Jay Tarses, a top American windowless room at the top of the
comedy writer who’d written for Bob house I was living in in south
Newhart and Mary Tyler Moore, London—and comedy writing work
in London. We ended up working on
a lot of the same shows and started
writing sketches together. We’re not
sure how we came up with the idea

JUNE 2022 • 33

I REMEMBER

for writers to be so
involved in
production, but it
worked well for us.
We’re not directing
Kate & Koji but we
go on set and
deliver performance
notes to the actors.

WITHOUT MY

Outnumbered WIFE, LIBBY
[ASHER], I

WOULDN’T HAVE

SUCCEEDED AT

for Drop the Dead Donkey [1990-98], ANYTHING. I got contacted a while

but that was our first hit. We liked back to do one of those reality

the idea of a newsroom—and of shows where they put celebrities on

filming episodes the night before a tropical island and see if they can

transmission so they were really survive. It was bewildering to be

topical—and knew we could write asked, because the reality is, if Libby

well under pressure. leaves the house for more than a

couple of hours, I’m probably at

OUR COMEDY OUTNUMBERED risk. She’s an organised and

[2007-16] WAS A HYMN TO BAD dynamic person and that’s what I

PARENTING. By the time we started need because I’m not either of those

writing it, my kids [Pip, 34, Robbie, things. In a work context I can be

32, and Isobel, 30] were grown up. organised, but not in a life setting. I

But Guy’s kids were younger and he don’t carry a mobile phone, because

was living through it, so between us, they’re a bit tyrannical or too fiddly.

we had a pretty good handle on all

that daily chaos. At the time, Guy I’M NOT A RECLUSE, BUT I DO

was cheesed off with all the LIKE TO BE ABLE TO SIT AND

parenting manuals out there and we THINK. I also worry that a mobile

saw Outnumbered as the antidote to phone would impinge on my ability

that: as long as there’s love in the to daydream. I do it when I’m

house, you muddle through. We co- strolling around. I think stuff is

directed Outnumbered as well, happening. I’m sure all writers are

which was less common back then, the same—that at any given

34 • JUNE 2022

READER’S DIGEST

Andy with Guy; Have I Got New For You

moment, there are lots of ideas since the late Nineties I’ve gone out,
drifting about inside their brains, just me and a microphone. It’s great
and gradually the ideas acquire to meet your audience—I’m
solidity. And that is how presuming that most people come
daydreaming is work, although, of because they like my work and my
course, it’s quite hard to convince style. That’s why I’m going on a
people it’s not random thinking. It’s short tour this summer. I’ll be
a form of play, really. talking about the topics of the day
and I’ll often leave a bucket onstage
THERE IS NO LOVELIER at the interval for audience
SOUND THAN OF A FULL members to put questions in, so we
THEATRE, LAUGHING. interact. It is really great fun to meet
That’s why I’ve kept my hand in your audience. Q
performing. I’ve performed on and
off for decades, I do panel shows As told to Vicki Power
like Have I Got News for You, and
Andy’s comedy tour starts in
Nottingham on June 8. For tickets, visit
tincatentertainment.co.uk/news/andy-
hamilton-tour

JUNE 2022 • 35

H E A LT H

NEW
HELP For
HEARING
LOSS

Today’s solutions not only reunite you
with easy conversations, they also reduce
your chances of having a fall, becoming
depressed, and more

By Susannah Hickling

36

37

“The 57-year-old from Kent hadNEW HELP FOR HEARING LOSS

“You’re coming through my hearing
aids!” laughs Lynne Kingston as she
enthuses on the phone about the little
devices that have changed her life.

was amazed at the improvements

been aware of her deteriorating in hearing technology. She went

hearing for at least 15 years, from to an audiologist to check out the

as young as her early forties. She different aids available, and chose

constantly asked people to repeat ReSound One models from Danish

themselves. Noisy restaurants, manufacturer GN, a widely available

parties, and the telephone were a option. She was attracted by the

nightmare for Kingston, who runs device's three microphones—two in

a student accommodation rental a tiny unit worn behind her ear and

business. “I do most of my work on another mic inside the ear. These give

the phone,” she says. “I had to put more natural sound quality and filter

it on speakerphone, which meant out unwanted background noise.

everyone else could hear.” “I’ve got an app on my phone and

About ten years ago she consulted depending on the environment I’m

a hearing specialist and tried basic in, I can adjust the sound,” she says. illustrations, previous spread and this one: ©shutterstock

hearing aids, but soon gave up. While When Kingston put the hearing

they amplified all the sounds around aids in, she finally realised how

her, she still couldn’t make out the much she’d been missing. “I thought,

ones she needed to hear. “I was in What’s that noise?" she recalls. “It was

denial,” she says. “I thought, I’m not my flip flops!”

that deaf.” Kingston can finally communicate

But she was. Eventually, pressure normally on the phone and face to

from her children and a friend who face. She is able to route television

wore hearing aids made her think audio as well as phone conversations

again, as did buying her son and through her hearing aids. They are

daughter trendy wireless Bluetooth comfortable and discreet, and her

earbuds for Christmas. “If people can self-esteem has risen as a result.

have these white things sticking out

of their ears, why would I be bothered Lynne Kingston is one of around

about wearing a hearing aid?” 48 million people in Europe with

So in the summer of 2020, disabling hearing loss, according

Kingston did some research and to Hear-It, a Brussels-based

38 • JUNE 2022

organisation dedicated to raising blood pressure, are also thought to
awareness of the issue. This means increase your chances of losing your
they struggle in normal conversation. hearing. Other risk factors include a
Yet, unlike Kingston, two-thirds have family history, head injury, smoking,
not had their hearing corrected; and some medications, including
Hear-It estimates this costs the the antibiotic gentamicin and some
European Union (EU) some 55 billion chemotherapy drugs.
euros a year in lost productivity.
A 2020 survey from three different Not Just an Inconvenience
European hearing organisations
found that a little more than half The effects go far beyond missing
of people over 65 admit to having out on conversations. Hearing loss
impaired hearing. has a profound impact on mental
health. “Hearing is our primary
Around 90 per cent of hearing communication sense and losing
loss is due to wear and tear in the it leads to social isolation,” says
inner ear, sometimes as early as in medical physicist Birger Kollmeier
our forties, with 40 per cent of over- of the University of Oldenburg,
fifties having some level of hearing Germany. He is president of the
loss. When vibrations come through European Federation of Audiology
the ear, tiny hair-like cells change Societies and head of the German
them into electrical signals that are research group Hearing4All, a
sent through the auditory nerve to cluster of experts from three German
the brain, which then interprets the universities. Researchers have found
sound. Once dead, these cells don’t that a hearing problem doubles the
renew themselves. risk of depression.

After age-related hearing loss,
the next biggest cause is long-term
exposure to excessive noise, which
can start in your teens. Working in
factories or with firearms can damage
hearing, as can listening to loud
music either through headphones or
live at a concert or club.

Viruses can play a part, too.
Kingston believes contracting
measles in her twenties might have
caused her hearing loss. Some
medical conditions, such as Type
2 diabetes, heart disease, and high

JUNE 2022 • 39

NEW HELP FOR HEARING LOSS

And that’s not all. Hearing loss Surprisingly, perhaps, hearing loss

contributes to the likelihood of is important for physical health, too.

developing dementia by up to Even mild loss can lead to a three

eight per cent—and is the highest times higher risk of falls, which can

modifiable risk factor for the disease, prove fatal for older people.

according to a Lancet Commission The Latest Technology
on dementia in 2020. When you

can’t hear well, “your brain is not The latest hearing-aid technology

stimulated enough,” says Dr Paul Van can be a huge help. “The quality has

de Heyning of Antwerp University improved massively in the last 20

Hospital in Belgium. years,” says audiologist Francesca

There are clear signs that hearing Oliver of the Royal National Institute

aids can guard against dementia. for Deaf People (RNID). “They can

One 2018 study of nearly 4,000 be programmed for the individual’s

people conducted over 25 years by hearing loss.” An algorithm

French health research organisation determines how much amplification

Inserm showed that uncorrected at different frequencies is required.

hearing problems led to increased But one of the most exciting

risk of disability and dementia, developments is the ability to

whereas people who wore hearing connect your hearing aids to your

aids had the same chance of smartphone via Bluetooth. Using

remaining independent as those your phone like a remote control,

with normal hearing. And based on you can adjust the volume and

data from the more recent PROTECT switch between different modes,

online longitudinal study, researchers such as restaurant settings, meetings,

from the University of Exeter and or live music.

King’s College London, believe Previously, hearing aids did

hearing aids can reduce the risk of not have connectivity to

cognitive decline by up to five years. smartphones, so you had to

physically turn up photo courtesy of lynne kingston

“MY HEARING AIDS the volume on the
HAVE MADE ME FEEL device. “Vast progress
has been made with

BETTER ABOUT respect to connectivity
MYSELF. IT'S AN with communications
INVESTMENT IN ME” devices, also including
public address

—Lynne Kingston systems,” according

to Kollmeier.

40 • JUNE 2022

Shown here are two
popular hearing
aids: The ReSound
One from Danish
manufacturer GN
(left) and the Lyric
from Swiss company
Phonak (right)

photos courtesy of: (left) gn, (right) phonak What’s more, all this amazing tech shows that people wait about ten
is often contained in much smaller years before seeking help,” says
devices. There’s even one—the Lyric, RNID’s Francesca Oliver. Why?
which is widely available—that can It’s not just the stigma associated
be worn unseen inside the ear canal with going deaf; it’s also because
for several months at a time. “You hearing loss is gradual and people
can’t feel it, and you can sleep and are often unaware it’s happening.
shower with it in,” says audiologist “Age-related hearing loss affects the
Paul Checkley, clinical director of higher frequencies first, which means
Harley Street Hearing in London. “It’s people can hear vowel sounds but
like a contact lens for the ear.” miss consonants,” says Checkley.
“They can be fooled into thinking
Most hearing loss is bilateral, and their hearing is normal.”
in those cases, two behind-the-ear
devices are better, such as the one But don’t wait until you can’t
Kingston purchased. There is a hear a thing. “Start early with any
wireless interaction between them, intervention, because the brain tends
giving the wearer a better idea of to forget your central hearing abilities
where the sound is coming from— if they are not properly activated
replicating what our own ears do. anymore,” says Kollmeier. Neglecting
Coming next, Checkley believes, are the problem means it takes longer to
“hearables.” “Some manufacturers get used to hearing aids.
are putting hearing technology into
‘smart’ earplugs,” he explains. These Cochlear Implants
microcomputers, which are similar
to earbuds to listen to music, use When hearing aids are no longer
wireless technology, allowing your up to the job, there’s a surgical
personal hearing data to be input to solution that can revolutionise lives.
enhance your hearing. Cochlear implants can allow for
improved speech perception in up
With hearing aids, the sooner to 98 per cent of people who, even
you get them, the better. “Research when wearing aids, can’t have a

JUNE 2022 • 41

NEW HELP FOR HEARING LOSS

normal conversation, according to implanted electrodes. These send
University Hospital Antwerp’s Dr Van currents to the auditory nerve. “It
de Heyning. replaces the work of the hair cells,”
says Dr Van de Heyning, clarifying
“Eighty per cent of people who that there is no brain surgery
get a cochlear implant can make a involved in the procedure.
telephone call again,” he says. And for
people who are unfortunate enough In fact, the risk of complications
to have tinnitus as well, he says the and the failure rate are low. Implants
noises in their head abate by 50 to 80 are suitable for people whose hearing
per cent when using the implant. loss is caused by inner-ear issues—
the vast majority—and age is no
A cochlear implant has two parts. object. “The only barrier is severe
One is worn behind the ear and the dementia,” says Dr Van de Heyning.
other is surgically implanted under These patients don’t have the
the skin of the scalp with a wire cognitive acuity needed to interpret
leading through the ear to electrodes the initially unfamiliar sounds that
in the cochlea, the “hearing” they hear.
part of the inner ear. An external
microphone on or near the ear picks Still, awareness and uptake
up sounds, which are analysed by remain low across Europe. In high-
a chip and sent as code into the income countries, less than ten per
cent of people whose lives could
CLUES THAT YOU HAVE be improved by a cochlear implant
HEARING LOSS actually have one. Why so few?
“That’s a good question!” exclaims
) You set your TV volume higher than Dr Van de Heyning, who says that
other people need. even ear, nose, and throat (ENT)
specialists often seem unaware of
) You keep noticing yourself asking the advantages, and which patients
people to repeat themselves. would benefit from surgery. “Ideas
persist that you have to be completely
) People seem to be mumbling, and deaf to benefit.” You don’t.
you mishear what people say.
Jacques Verdière, 88, from Perros-
) It’s difficult to hold a conversation Guirec in Brittany, France, is proof
in restaurants and bars, or at parties. that cochlear implants can restore
hearing even when you’re elderly.
) It’s difficult to hear when you're on After years of ear infections, the
the telephone. retired librarian went completely deaf
in his left ear. When his ENT surgeon
) You feel tired or stressed from suggested a cochlear implant, he was
having to concentrate while listening.

READER’S DIGEST

initially hesitant. “But my daughter, gamma secretase inhibitor, into the
a nurse, persuaded me,” Verdière middle ear, from where it diffuses
says. In 2016 he had a cochlear into the inner ear to make new hair
implant, followed by a second the cells. Dr Schilder believes this and
following year when he lost the other innovative treatments capable
hearing in his other ear. of reversing hearing loss could be
available in five to ten years’ time.
While Verdière had rehabilitation
after the first implant to retrain his But right now it’s important to
brain to understand the metallic prevent, as much as possible, damage
sounds produced, he required no to those crucial hair cells. “There
help adjusting to the second. “I could are very good quality, reasonably
hear perfectly. It was marvellous.” priced ear plugs you can buy that
filter out harmful sounds but won’t
Inner-ear hearing loss has always detract from your experience,” says
been considered irreversible, but Francesca Oliver. When listening to
science may be about to debunk music, consider noise-cancelling
that idea. Particularly exciting is a headphones, don’t turn the volume
new drug being trialed in the UK, up too high, and don’t listen for too
Greece, and Germany. “This drug long. Take a break of at least five
treatment aims to regenerate inner- minutes every hour and, if you’re at
ear hair cells that are lost as hearing a concert, every 15 minutes. Many
loss progresses,” says ENT surgeon audiologists believe you should have
and hearing researcher Dr Anne regular hearing tests just as you do
G M Schilder of the Biomedical for your eyesight.
Research Centre of University
College London Hospitals, where After all, why suffer in silence?
the research was done. While you may have to pay for some
or all of the cost of state-of-the-art
Dr Schilder headed the EU-funded hearing aids, Lynne Kingston thinks
trial, dubbed REGAIN. In people it’s more than worth it. “They’ve
with mild to moderate hearing loss, made me feel better about myself,”
an ENT specialist injects the drug, a she says. “It’s an investment in me.” Q

Lost And Found

Two “stolen” notebooks written by Charles Darwin were anonymously returned to
Cambridge University, nearly 22 years after they went missing. The notebooks include

the scientist’s famous Tree of Life sketch and were taken in November 2000

Source: BBC News

JUNE 2022 • 43

H E A LT H

All About Don’t expect miracles
The Abs
Only the very lean, who have no
Want a flatter stomach abdominal fat at all (and that’s not
and a stronger core, but many of us), are likely to be able to
prefer to steer well clear achieve a washboard stomach. But
of the gym? the important thing is to make your
ab muscles strong enough to support
Susannah Hickling your back and to enable you to turn,
is twice winner of twist and lift without any issues. Just
the Guild of aim to be a healthy weight and do
Health Writers Best some well-targeted exercises.
Consumer Magazine
Health Feature Zip up an imaginary pair of jeans

For example, when you’re walking
for fitness—you should be aiming at
150 minutes of moderate exercise a
week—imagine you have a zip along
the midline of your abdomen.
Visualise yourself zipping up a tight
pair of jeans, and feel your torso
lengthen and your abdomen firm up.
Keeps your abs zipped and your
bottom tucked under for the entirety of
the walk. This will strengthen your core.

44 • JUNE 2022

Check your posture gym, a Pilates session

Set the alarm on your once a week will benefit

phone and do the same your abs and core, as

zipping exercise once an well as your legs and

hour, even when you’re arms. A class with a

not walking. certified instructor will

give best results. Then

Stand on one foot follow up at home with a

Here’s an easy one. Pilates video—there’s an

When you’re in a queue, endless selection of

lift one foot off the floor tutorials on YouTube.

(not too high obviously if

you don’t want to draw AT HOME, THIS Try a handbag (or
attention to yourself ) briefcase) side bend
and try to balance. You IS SOMETHING Stand upright with your

should feel your back YOU CAN DO bag in your right hand,
and abdominal muscles WHEN YOU your palm turned in and
coming to your aid to your feet shoulder width

help you keep your body WASH UP OR apart. Slowly bend to
stable. Alternate your CLEAN YOUR your right, allowing the
feet. At home, this is bag to drop down your
something you can do TEETH right leg as low as you

when you wash up or can, until you feel a

clean your teeth. stretch along your left

side. Keep your body

Always use your facing forward. Slowly return to

abs when you warm up upright, repeat between ten and

Rather than walking or marching to 20 times and then switch hands.

warm up for a workout, spend five to

ten minutes working on your abs Exercise in front of the box

instead. It will warm you up just as During TV commercial breaks, sit on

well and build muscle at the same the edge of your chair and lift your

time. Try this NHS-recommended feet off the floor, bringing your knees

abs workout: nhs.uk/live-well/ up to your chest. Lower and repeat

exercise/10-minute-abs-workout the exercise up to 15 times. Q

Do a Pilates class For more weekly health tips and
stories, sign up to our newsletter
While you might not be keen on at readersdigest.co.uk
doing weights and machines in the

JUNE 2022 • 45

H E A LT H

Good News and against
About Vaccines pneumonia were
significantly less likely
With so much focus on the to die of heart failure
COVID vaccine, it’s easy to forget while in hospital.
about other exciting developments
in the world of immunisation Alzheimer’s disease Once again,
these two jabs are punching way
Cervical cancer A vaccine against above their weight. Other studies
HPV, which causes most cases of have suggested they can cut risk of
cervical cancer, was first offered to dementia. In one, at least one flu jab
teenage girls in the UK in 2008. A was associated with a 17 per cent
recent study from King’s College drop in risk, while, in another,
London and the UK Health Security vaccination against pneumonia
Agency found a reduction of nearly 90 between the ages of 65 and 75
per cent in cervical cancer cases reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s by up
among vaccinated women. to 40 per cent.

Other cancers Experts at Rush Urinary tract infections Could it be
University Medical Centre, Chicago, goodbye to the pesky UTI? Scientists
found that if they injected tumours in at Duke University, North Carolina
the lab with flu shots, the cancer hope so, after a vaccine injected
became more recognisable to the directly into the bladders of mice
immune system. This could pave the cleared up E. Coli bacteria. These
way for immunotherapy, which uses bacteria, which cause water
the immune system to treat infections, are often resistant
cancer cells. to antibiotics.

Scientists in Australia have already Multiple Sclerosis A study of
developed a vaccine they hope may American servicemen who had been
be able to activate the immune diagnosed with MS found the risk of
system to fight a number of different this disabling neurological condition
cancers, including leukaemia, breast, increased 32-fold in those who’d
lung and pancreatic cancers. previously had Epstein Barr Virus
(EBV), which causes glandular fever.
Heart failure A study of nearly 3 This discovery could lead to a focus
million Americans found that people on finding a vaccine for EBV, which
who had been inoculated against flu could hopefully prevent MS in the
near or distant future. Q

46 • JUNE 2022

Ask The Expert: Moles

Dr Hayley Leeman is a consultant
dermatologist and dermatological
surgeon at The Mole Clinic, Harley Street,
London and The Royal Free NHS Trust

How did you become an Who is most at risk from
authority on all things moles? developing skin cancer?
I did five years of medical school and People with red hair and freckly skin
eight years of training to become a are most at risk, but people with a
consultant dermatologist. Skin cancer more olive skin can get skin cancer
surgery is clear cut—I like that you too. It’s a myth people with darker
can diagnose, remove the mole there skin can’t develop melanoma—Bob
and then and give a management Marley died of melanoma of the
plan. Anyone can call themselves a toenail. People who live in countries
dermatologist, so make sure to always where they have significant UV
check on the GMC website that they exposure or who use sunbeds—we
have completed specialist training in see that a lot. Having a blistering
dermatology. This should set you at sunburn increases the risk.
ease before an appointment.
What can you do to protect yourself?
When should you seek In order of importance, avoid direct
medical advice on a mole? sunlight between 11am and 3pm,
If anything is new or changing. wear protective clothing, including a
Take the ABCDE approach. Is it wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses,
A—asymmetrical? Does it have B—an and wear SPF 50 sunscreen which is
irregular border? Has C—the colour also rated 5* for UVA. Remember to
changed or are there several colours? apply it to the tops of the ears and, for
D—diameter—is it getting bigger? E is men, the scalp. Wear an SPF lip balm.
for evolution—is it changing in size, Check your skin for moles at least
shape or colour? twice a year when you get out of the
shower and take photos and
Are some moles more likely measurements for comparison. There
to turn cancerous than others? are also mole monitoring apps. Q
The most common sites for skin
cancer are the trunk for men and legs For further information, go to
for women. themoleclinic.co.uk

JUNE 2022 • 47

H E A LT H

Inconvenient
Truths

When it comes to
dementia, honesty is
not always the best policy,
says Dr Max

O ne of the basic were dead. This seems unimaginable
expectations the public but, if I am honest, I have told exactly
have of doctors is the same lie to several patients
honesty. But what would whose spouses had died. Mrs Walton
you think if I told you was in her eighties and desperate
that research has shown that 70 per to see her husband. She’d been in
cent of doctors admitted to lying hospital after a fall and was in pain.
to their patients? It is inexcusable, She called out for him frequently
surely? Grossly unprofessional and couldn’t understand why he
and uncaring; a clear breach of the wasn’t there to comfort her. She was
doctor-patient relationship. Some becoming more and more distressed
of the lies told included reassuring and would try to get up to find him,
patients that their wives or husbands despite being at risk of falling again.
were still alive, when in fact they
“He’s on his way, don’t worry,”
Max is a hospital doctor, the nurses would say and this would
author and columnist. He calm her down. I confess I said the
currently works full time in same thing to her. She’d smile and
mental health for the NHS. roll her eyes and say how he was
His new book, The
Marvellous Adventure of
Being Human, is out now

48 • JUNE 2022