Shropshire Star

Shirley Tart: A major tick on my own bucket list

We journalists all have bucket lists of people we would love to interview, some reachable with a lot of luck and many newspaper cuttings illustrating what you can do, others probably impossible and so never left on the dream list.

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Shirley Tart

Sometimes they might be someone who has made it big time and we’ve all seen their rise to fame. On other occasions, there are lifelong icons - like our amazing Queen - the beloved (or not) of many ages. And for me, many years as a loyal fan of the great Vera Lynn, the Forces Sweetheart of long ago but happily still with us at 102.

Well I did get to interview Dame Vera in her Sussex home a few years ago which was a fantastic afternoon spent with a true Queen of a Million Hearts.

Snap up one of those in that category and for a while, the writer’s life basks in a golden glow.

Which brings us to Margaret Thatcher.

Today, it is exactly 40 years since she became the first lady to move lock, stock, barrel and Denis into Downing Street.

And this weekend it’s perhaps appropriate to look back as the reign of the Iron Lady began. She, in turn, truly lived up to the name, said to have been given her by a Soviet journalist. the most extraordinary era had begun.

We talked about that hottest of topics, the miners’ strike, why she got her reputation as Thatcher the Milk Snatcher, her role in the Falklands War and Poll Tax riots, to name but a few.

Her career was recent enough to live in the memory of today’s adults and anyone able to talk to her during her time as PM will never forget the experience. Not for nothing was it said that you either loved or hated her.

Or indeed, went for an interesting mix of the two.

I last talked to her one Saturday afternoon at St James Palace in London when the Queen had just unveiled a tribute to the women of World War 11. She was an elderly, probably worn out, lady by then. And when I mentioned a couple of hot topics we’d discussed years before, she took my hand and simply said: “It was all a long time ago my dear, wasn’t it?”

Yes, Prime Minister of her time, it was indeed long ago … but never to be forgotten!

Apparently it’s quite normal for students at St Andrew’s University to share a passionate kiss after their freezing cold dip off the Fife Coast, this time of year at dawn.

Before this year’s kissing, though, word is that some of the most hardy souls took their saucy swim a step further on May Day and jumped in at the deep end … and in the nude.

They reckon the cheeky Maytime activity will bring luck to all those staring exams in the face. That’s the rumour anyway. And if you believe that … well you might as well share another smacker before you start the revision!

Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid has had an extraordinary amount of social media attention lately and is feeling very thankful right now.

Why? Well reason number one is her pride in being a ‘real’ woman who just happens to be on TV.

Well, thank goodness for that. We can all breathe easier now then – Susanna is only going to be perfect some of the time!

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