By Megan Thomas
I don’t really watch Strictly Come Dancing – except one season during Lockdown, because I was living with someone who did. So, it was an admittedly rogue choice to read an essay collection written by Claudia Winkleman, a television presenter best known for her work on Strictly.
I don’t, however, have a single regret. It’s charming, funny, and engaging: Winkleman is so self-deprecating, regularly referring to herself as that “orange woman with the hair from the telly”, and it’s a helpful reminder throughout to take everything in the book (and life) with a pinch of salt.
The subtitle, “Life, love and eyeliner”, sets the reader up quite (ha) nicely for what to expect. That said, I think it would be incredibly unfair to think it trite. There’s an undercurrent of Winkleman saying a much-loved sentiment of mine: let people like the things that they like. More importantly, stop conflating things (which happen to be typically consumed by women) with vapidity – they are not mutually exclusive.
Winkleman’s appreciation of art shines through, as does her love of her children, her family and her friends. The lasting message is to appreciate what really matters to you in life and let the rest be someone else’s problem.
I am, of course, going to continue to reject her insistence that humans under 10 can’t wear colorful clothing. #SorryNotSorry
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