FEATURE:
Station to Station
Part Ten: Zoe Ball (BBC Radio 2)
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TAKING this feature into double digits…
PHOTO CREDIT: David Gubert for Red
I am including the legendary Zoe Ball. The first female host of both BBC Radio 1 Breakfast and the Radio 2 breakfast show for the BBC, she also presented the 1990s children's show, Live & Kicking, alongside Jamie Theakston from 1996 to 1999. In 2018, Ball was announced as the Radio 2 Breakfast Show host. She replaced Chris Evans in January 2019. I think that The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show is one of the best of radio. Ball is a national broadcasting treasure and someone that we will hear for many years. There are a couple of features/interviews that I want to bring in soon. You can follow Ball on Instagram and Twitter. Such a funny, warm and talented broadcaster, I think that Zoe Ball is one of our very best. I want to first talk about Ball’s appearance on Desert Island Discs prior to the pandemic kicking in last year. I love listening to her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show. One can learn a lot about her from that. With relatively few interviews online, I think things like Desert Island Discs is useful when it comes to discovering more. Among things discussed with host Lauren Laverne, as this article from Stylist outlines, the sad loss of her partner, Billy Yates, was covered:
“There’s no right or wrong way to grieve the loss of a romantic partner, but listening to the experiences of other people who have been through it can offer comfort and understanding. That’s why Zoe Ball’s recent podcast interview about how she grieved for her partner Billy Yates – who died by suicide in 2018 – are such an important listen to anyone who relates.
Speaking to Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs, Ball explained the part that music can play while grieving, and how it helps to celebrate the lives of those who have passed.
After picking Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You as one of her discs, Ball told Laverne: “I wanted to play something for Billy. Billy was my partner, we’d been friends for a few years and we got together. He suffered with depression for a huge chunk of his life. And it’s so hard to sit and watch someone you love and care for struggle with mental health.
“Losing him was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life.
“I think something that’s really important to share, having spoken now to lots of people who work within mental health support networks or people trying to make a difference, is that there is hope. There is help available. There are ways. We’re still learning.”
She then went on to describe depression, saying: “For some people the drugs work, for some people that isn’t the case. But it’s so isolating to be trapped like that, where you doubt everything you’ve ever known. You doubt if your family love you, you doubt that your friends care for you.”
She continued: “I think something else that happens if you lose someone in a situation like this is that I don’t want people to remember him for how he died. I want people to remember him for how he lived his life. He was so full of love. He would help anyone in need. He was always there for all his friends. He brought so much into my life, so much into his family and friends’ lives.
“And I wanted to play a piece of music that reflected him for who he was. He loved to dance and he loved to laugh. And this track will always remind me of him.”
After selecting another track, Kamasi Washington’s Truth, Ball went on to explain how listening to music has helped with her grief.
“It moved me to tears,” she said. “That’s something else I learned through grieving is how music can play such a role in that. And I’ll take some photographs, and pieces of music, and I can listen to that and help that little process. Sometimes you can make those tears come and think of somebody and take yourself through that little process and I think that’s really good for you. And you come out of the other side of that and you feel a little bit stronger again”.
I have been following Zoe Ball’s career since the 1990s. She is such an exceptional broadcaster and a hugely influential figure. I am not sure how many more years she will be in her current slot at BBC Radio 2 - though she has commanded a loyal and large audience. Ball definitely sounds very comfortable and happy at breakfast.
I shall wrap things up in a bit. Go and follow Ball and listen to her BBC Radio 2 show. Alongside her broadcasting career, she was a contestant in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing. Following this, in 2011, she took over from Claudia Winkleman as host of the BBC Two spin-off show, Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. There was an interesting interview of quickfire questions published in The Guardian late last year. I have selected a few questions from it:
“What is your earliest memory?
My dad wrapping me up in his coat on a cold, rainy night in the 1970s when our car broke down and we had to wait by the road for help.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
All the NHS workers, care home staff and teachers who are the real superheroes of 2020.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Telling people the ending of films, books or plays. I have to stop myself from letting slip spoilers on the radio.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Having a menopausal hot flush while interviewing Al Pacino and Robert De Niro last year. My glasses steamed up and slowly slid down my nose.
What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Eating Christmas pudding when it’s not Christmas. Everything seems to taste better when you aren’t allowed it yet.
What do you owe your parents?
A strong back and gallows humour.
What is the worst job you’ve done?
The failed attempt at a home perm on myself in the 80s. I wanted to look like Kelly McGillis in Top Gun.
How do you relax?
Watching Gardeners’ World in front of the fire on a Friday night. There is nothing better than an evening with Monty Don and the gang. It’s pure “warm hug” TV.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being mum to my awesome children, Woody and Nelly. They make my day, every day. I do joke with them that I’m happy to pay for the therapy they’ll inevitably need in later years due to my terrible parenting.
How would you like to be remembered?
As Naughty Grandma – you know, the one who is always causing mischief at Christmas.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
To hold those you love close, as we’re never sure how long we’re going to get on this crazy, beautiful planet.
Where would you most like to be right now?
At Glastonbury, singing and dancing with my kids and best friends. I have everything crossed for 2021”.
I shall leave things there. I am a big fan of Zoe Ball, and I think that she is one of our most enduring and popular broadcasters. She is inspiring so many people to get into radio - and, as the years go by, I feel Ball will take on new responsibilities and receive huge honours. The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show is the perfect way to wake up weekdays. She is an amazing and passionate host; someone people regard in high affection. I have so much respect and praise for…
A broadcasting legend.