you are a trollope
This week I am delighted to be able to tell you that we have Joanna Trollope in the studio as our special guest star. She really is a publishing phenomenon. In case the fact that she has sold 6 million books doesn't alert you to this fact I 'd like to remind you that she created a whole new genre with her bestselling books - the Aga Saga.
I once heard a very good row on the Today programme chaired by James Naughtie, between an Aga lover and someone who was left cold by the charms of a range that is permanenlty on, has no thermostat and takes up half of your house. My powers of recollection are sometimes a little faint but I think that it ended with the Aga supporter saying 'But you can keep new born piglets warm in the bottom right hand oven you know'
Ashes to ashes, Piglets to bacon. Just how fresh do you want your lardons to be?
Apologies to vegetarians.
Speak to you on Saturday
Fi
Fi, the home page is showing the wrong DATE (Saturday 23 February), someone is using next years calender:) Thanks for brilliant programme.
Complain about this postJohn C
I am incensed by the Aga Saga tag, don't know where it came from and it's time it was dropped. Joanna Trollope creates credible characters, portrays the deepest human emotions and is specially good at teenagers. She researches her subjects as well, doesn't just write off the top of her head. Respect, please!
Complain about this postI am 36 and had my second set of twins on their due date in August last year - also nealy 15lbs of baby although at 5' 10" I imaging carrying the enormous bump was a little easier.
This meant we had 4 boys under 4 when the second set arrived.
They are the first twins ever in my family so it was a wonderful suprise. I always wanted twins so now their Dad appreciates just how spoilt I really am!
Rather than feeling that it is really stressful we're just having loads of fun - parenting twins is completly brilliant.
Complain about this postFi, I was astonished to hear Joanne Trollope claim that Mulberry Bush School was the only one of its kind in the country. It is part of a spectrum of provision for children whose self-esteem has suffered as a result of their early life experiences.
Please check out the following schools:
Brantridge School
Grafham Grange School
Parkwood Hall School
Farney Close School
Muntham House School
You might also want to check the NASS website
Complain about this postwww.nasschools.org.uk
How can it be inheritance tax when I, as one of six equal beneficiaries of my fathers will, pay nearly 40 percent tax on my inheritance; whilst a single child receiving the same individual amount will pay nothing? Surely it is the bequest that is taxed. I would not mind paying inheritance tax that was applied equally.
Mike Blewett
Complain about this postI actually manaaged to conceive our twins on my 40th birthday after a slightly drunken night out!
Complain about this postI always feel compelled to let people know that it was a spontaneous conception because most assume that, being an older mother, I must have had IVF. Nothing wrong with IVF of course but I do feel my twins are special and not the result of medical help.
My father was one of eleven children - my grandmother giving birth to 2 sets of twins - and 3 of my female cousins have had twins - all of them non identical.
The other really annoying thing that alot of people say is "Oh twins! Are they identical?" I have a boy and a girl...!!!
There are only two things to ask about this programme,
1 What kind of name is " Fi"? Is it short for anything, or does it mean anything?
2 Why is it on?
Complain about this postRichard, I can't answer your second question (although I rather like this programme) but I'm surprised that you can't think of at least one name that can be shortened to "Fi" (here's a clue - it ends in "ona"). Hardly the most outlandish or obscure name, really, or the most freaky nickname.
Complain about this postYou're right, Fi. Agas are like mushrooms or religion or the Iraq War. There's no middle ground. When we included an article in Farmers Weekly recently critisising them, anyone would have thought we'd done something shockingly sacrilegious. Battlelines were soon drawn: the pro camp taking about their versatility, homely feel and cooking attributes, the antis complaining about their cost, unpredictability and impractical nature. Love the programme, incidentally...
Complain about this postIts not Fi, its Fee and its short for "I get paid a fee for having something to do with this pile of garbage but what's your excuse?"
Some parents have such foresight.
Oh and the programme's on in order to dissuade anyone lacking sufficient smug middle class-ness from tuning into any of the rest of Radio 4's weekend output.
Its working on me - Radio 7 anyone ...??
Complain about this postThe story we heard earlier about the stuffed olive is almost an exact quote of the opening of a book by Lousie Rennison 'Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging'. a Bridget-Jones-type teenage book.
Complain about this post