Churchminster

A Welsh Wonder in Cardiff

JoC — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:54:33 +0000

The Welsh leg of my book signing tour went very well last week. It was held at the rather groovy Cameo Club in the gorgeous Cardiff district of Pontcanna. With its grand three-storey town houses and tree-lined streets, Pontcanna is known as the trendy media part of Cardiff. That’s why I live there of course, ahem. Charlotte Church’s parents used to own the Robin Hood pub at the bottom of my road and Charl could be seen on occasion collecting empty pint glasses, probably when the bar maid didn’t turn up. Or maybe she had just drunk them all herself? Anyway, I digress. The signing was great, a very glam affair with lots of people including TV presenters, BAFTA winners, fashion designers and other ‘faces’ (unfortunately Shirley Bassey couldn’t make it). At 10am the next day, Wales’ biggest paper The Western Mail was arriving at my flat to interview and photograph me about COUNTRY PURSUITS. I woke up late with a throbbing champagne-induced headache, realised I had no tea or milk or biscuits and ran like a wild woman with hair still wet from the shower to the corner shop. I arrived back gasping at my front door just as Rin, the journalist turned up. Not the best first impression, but I obviously did something right as they want to come back and do an ‘at home’ shoot in January. Someone likes my taste - woo! It’s perfect timing for the release of the paperback - hopefully the gaping hole in the kitchen wall will have been fixed by my builder by then…

Sugababes and radio romps!

JoC — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:26:44 +0000

It’s been quite a busy few days in Churchminster land. Yesterday I hotfooted it from my pad in Cardiff to London to interview the Sugababes. For a change the trains were running on time (yes First Great Western, you know who you are) and I arrived at Paddington in a relatively serene state of mind. Then it was on the tube over to a South West London studio, where heat was shooting the Sugababes for the much coveted heat interview slot. The schedule was meant to run like this:

10am: Girls go into make up.
1pm: Start shooting (well, there are three of them)
3pm: I do the interview.

However, when I arrived at just before 3pm, they were STILL IN MAKE UP. I mean blimey, they’re all young and gorgeous, how can three people take so long to get ready? I wasn’t even that bad when I was in the ‘Heather Shimmer’ lipstick and half-a-can-of-Silverkrin- phase as a teenager. Apparently there had been some trauma about the hats they were wearing (the finished image will be in heat early next month!) but once ‘Hatgate’ was sorted out, we could get the ball rolling. All three were very pleasant; although I have to say Amelle was definitely my favourite, what a sweetie.

Today I was back in the land of the dragon appearing on Radio Wales ‘Jamie and Louise show’ which is huge. I was there to talk about Country Pursuits and they got one of the girls who worked at the Beeb to read out an excerpt in a breathy voice, set to romantic/pornographic background music. It was hilarious – especially when she got to the bit about Sebastian resting his champagne on Sabrina’s pert breasts. Well, at least the good folk of Wales know what they’re in for now. I wonder if Bonnie Tyler would read it? She lives down the road from my boyfriend’s parents, in the gloriously named Mumbles on the Gower coast. Maybe we should bribe the postman to slip it through her letterbox - I reckon it would be right up Bonnie’s street.

Photos from book signing at the Crown in Northill

JoC — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:23:53 +0000

A poster up in the pub

Me signing copies of Country Pursuits

Me, Mum, Dad, Jez, Hels and Emma at the end of the night

Me thanking Mum and Dad for all their help

Neil looking proud

Book signing at the Crown in Northill a roaring success!

JoC — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:48:07 +0000

The book signing at the Crown in Northill was a roaring success. My parents were hard at work beforehand pinning up posters in supermarkets, libraries and telegraph poles and it clearly worked as half the village turned up. I am acquiring rather a taste for bubbles, this time the lovely landlady Linda Blois gave me a bottle on the house. Well, I do find it helps my signature… my handwriting is appalling and I kept having to apologise to people for the illiterate scrawl defacing their brand-new copies. After the signing, myself and my parents Anna and Neil and three of my friends who made the trip from London with me - Helen Rance (the inspiration for the name of DI Rance in Country Pursuits!), Jez and Emma - had dinner in the restaurant. Although I hasten to add that although Hels is a police officer (murder squad), she isn’t at all like the grumpy, brow-beaten Kevin Rance. Afterwards, it was back to Carnegie HQ, where I took the guys to meet mum’s horses Shadow and Storm. Despite Jez claiming he was practically “brought up in a riding school,” he kept a fair distance - apart from throwing a Polo over Shadow’s stable door while shrieking with fear. His trepidation was understandable – Shadow is a whole twelve hands tall after all. She’s also 39! That little lady is like the Queen Mother of the equestrian world, I may have to buy her a super-sized handbag to complete the look. We all finished off in the garden at midnight drinking mum’s nuclear-strength brandy and gingers. That finished me off - I am still recovering.

Photos coming soon!

Book launch party at the Union Club in Soho!

JoC — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:00:48 +0000

What a week! Monday night saw the launch of my book at the Union Club in Soho. It was a suitable ‘countryside’ venue with moose heads, bookcases and squashy sofas galore. Moet and Chandon very kindly supplied the bubbles and a good time was had by all. On Wednesday, I went on BBC Radio Northampton. The DJ, an Aussie called Bernie Keith was a jolly sort – until he started reading out excerpts from the book about certain ‘members’ nestling where they shouldn’t be. I nearly fell off my chair until Bernie reminded me it was a prerecord and wasn’t going out live. Yesterday I went on heat radio to talk about the return of the bonkbuster. The interviewer asked me if any of the characters were based on me. Given that most of them are champagne swilling or sex mad, I had to say no of course! I’ve had some fab reviews so far and five stars all the way on Amazon, which is brilliant. Next Wednesday I have a book signing at my parents’ local pub, the Crown in Northill, Bedfordshire. If you’re in the area, come on down! It’s a gorgeous little place where I spent many hours of my misspent youth. Right, better shoot, I am off down to the Gower coast camping. The weather forecast predicts torrential rain. Oh the joy of British weather. You’d never get a summer like that in Churchminster….

Photo by Sam Eades

Coming very soon!

admin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:00:17 +0000

Coming very soon, as soon as I recover from my launch party!