Ep 6 - Liz Bolton - Value your self-worth, learn to say NO!

Episode 6: We have the free spirit and funny Liz Bolton. She is energetic, passionate and a firecracker! We had one of the most amazing times recording her life story at her unique and beautiful home in London. 

Liz has the most unique upbringing: She was the first British born in Al-Fashir, Sudan and spent time in the Gold Coast (Ghana) as a child. Her parents have one of the most dramatic love stories of the 1930s you will ever hear and they are the original Airbnb creator! 

We dived into her career, and she worked very hard to become top of her Public Relations profession. Have you heard of Pick of the Fringe and the first-ever Levi music sponsorship with David Bowie in the 80s? Come find out how Liz was part of the creation team. We talked deeply about the significant relationships in her life and how she reminded us that self-worth and respect are two key virtues. 

Into her elderhood, Liz is so active! Yoga, gardening, Airbnb host, who said retirement is dull? Come to find out how you can retire from your professions but never retire from life.   

Dear Liz, 

You are so funny and such a gem to record with! Thank you for being so open, honest and real in your recording. I am so grateful our paths crossed and hope your children will enjoy this life gift from you and to the next generations.  

Love, Nicole

Transcript

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Beyondhood - NicoleWelcome to Beyondhood, where we go beyond elderhood, one chat at a time.

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Beyondhood - NicoleAnnouncement!

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Beyondhood - NicoleDrum roll!

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Beyondhood - NicoleAfter listening to your feedback, we will release a new episode every other Thursday from now on, which means twice a month instead of once a month.

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Beyondhood - NicoleDon't forget to subscribe to Beyondhood, where you listen to podcasts so you don't miss out on our release.

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Beyondhood - NicoleOr even better, you can go to our website and subscribe so you can receive our complimentary VIP newsletter every other Thursday as well.

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Beyondhood - NicoleBefore we start, do you have one or all three of the following issues?

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Beyondhood - NicoleFirst, do you want to know more and deeper into your loved one's childhood?

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Beyondhood - NicoleSecond, do you feel it is hard for you to talk to your loved one, to understand them more deeply?

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Beyondhood - NicoleThey're often not as open with you because you're family or good friends.

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Beyondhood - NicoleOr you find it hard to ask them questions because you're close to them.

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Beyondhood - NicoleThird, have you thought of one day when they're gone?

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Beyondhood - NicoleYou can never ask them about their lives anymore?

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Beyondhood - NicoleIf any of the above comes to mind, our Record Life Story service is your solution.

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Beyondhood - NicoleListen to this episode and see how we can wave a story for your loved one and create this legacy for you and your loved ones.

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Beyondhood - NicoleContact me, my contact info is in the show notes.

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Beyondhood - NicoleIn today's episode, I have the pleasure of recording Liz's life story for her.

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Beyondhood - NicoleI met Liz through episode one client, Donald.

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Beyondhood - NicoleLiz is an honest, funny and fiery woman.

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Beyondhood - NicoleShe's such a free spirit.

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Beyondhood - NicoleI couldn't stop giggling throughout the recording and she has hand down the most unique upbringing you will hear.

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Beyondhood - NicoleI'm so excited to share this episode with you.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWelcome to the Beyondhood podcast.

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Beyondhood - NicoleFirst, Liz, welcome.

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Beyondhood - NicoleCan you share with us your full name, how old are you and where do you live?

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Liz B:My name is Elizabeth Bolton.

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Liz B:I'm known as Liz or Lizzie, depending who I'm talking to.

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Liz B:I was born in 1948, so I'm 75.

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Liz B:And I live in Northwest London, Kensal Green.

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Beyondhood - NicoleNice, we will start off with your childhood.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhere were you born and where did you grow up?

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Liz B:Well, I was born in Al-Fasha in Darfur, which is part of Sudan.

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Liz B:Sudan was all one country then in those days, but nowadays it's South Sudan and Sudan.

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Liz B:And I understand it's been totally devastated during the war.

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Liz B:So we spent first few years of my life there.

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Beyondhood - NicoleI researched on the brief history of Sudan on britannica.com, the same company that owned Merriam-Webster because I want to make sure my facts are correct for you.

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Beyondhood - NicoleSudan was called Angelo Egyptian Sudan from 1922 to 1956.

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Beyondhood - NicoleIt gained independence from the United Kingdom and Egypt in 1956.

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Beyondhood - NicoleAfter gaining independence, there was a costly and divisive civil war between the North and the South.

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Beyondhood - NicoleFinally, in 2005, there was a comprehensive peace agreement and the warfare.

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Beyondhood - NicoleIt also granted South Sudan a status and stipulated a referendum on independence from the South.

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Beyondhood - NicoleThe result of the vote, which held it in January 2011, were overwhelmingly in favor of independence.

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Beyondhood - NicoleAnd South Sudan was then declared an independent country in 2011.

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Beyondhood - NicoleAnd hence, Liz was saying that now it's two country.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhere did you move after?

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Liz B:I've gone through my birth book and to get the dates and everything correct.

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Liz B:I think we came back to England and then went to Biarritz for six months while my father searched for another job.

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Liz B:And it was just my mother and we three girls who were in Biarritz.

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Liz B:And then we moved to Ghana where my younger sister was born.

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Liz B:And that was then called the Gold Coast, that was now called Ghana.

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Beyondhood - NicoleAccording to the Embassy of Ghana, Ghana used to be called the Gold Coast.

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Beyondhood - NicoleIt was a name given it by early Portuguese explorer who first set foot on the shore of the country in the 15th century.

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Beyondhood - NicoleThe name Gold Coast is because there was a large resources of gold in the area.

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Beyondhood - NicoleDuring different period from the time the Portuguese discovered gold in 1471, to independence in 1957, there were different monarchy of European kingdom, but the British came in dominance.

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Beyondhood - NicoleHence, the Gold Coast was a British colony until it gained independence on March 6th, 1957.

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Beyondhood - NicoleThen the name has changed to Ghana.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWow, so how did you end up being born and grew up in Darfur and Sudan?

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Liz B:My father was with the Public Works Department, building the roads and water works there.

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Liz B:And then he started his own consultancy later in life.

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Liz B:But at that time, he had been with the Public Works Department in Singapore and before the war, somehow ended up in Sudan.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhat was it like growing up in Sudan and Ghana as a child?

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Liz B:I think all memories of childhood are influenced by the photographs and by the images that you've been shown.

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Liz B:We actually even had black and white films that my father took of us during those days.

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Liz B:So I'm not quite sure what's memory and what's imposed on my memory by the films and the photographs.

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Liz B:But I do remember being part of a three-girl gang and climbing out of a four-girl clan by then because I had two older sisters and climbing out of windows and across the flat roofs.

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Liz B:And I remember too that I had malaria, which my parents thought was yellow fever.

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Liz B:And that took about three weeks.

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Liz B:And I do remember getting out of bed and my legs buckling underneath me because I hadn't walked for so long.

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Beyondhood - NicoleOh wow.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhat was treatment like there?

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Beyondhood - NicoleWas it in Sudan or in Ghana when you had malaria?

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Liz B:I think it must have been in Ghana because I was walking then.

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Liz B:And I don't know about treatment.

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Liz B:I can only tell from my birth book where my mother wrote that she was frightened and I was terribly ill.

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Liz B:And I presume, however, they treated malaria.

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Liz B:It was quite common.

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Liz B:I've known how to treat it.

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Beyondhood - NicoleSo you had a birth book.

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Liz B:Yes, my mother made us each a birth book.

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Liz B:And that's where the information that you wanted is in somewhere where this book is.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhat did she make?

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Beyondhood - NicoleHow old until you got?

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Liz B:Yes, she put in photographs of us as newborn babies and then of us as children together.

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Liz B:But she wrote pages and pages about being called to the hospital and what the hospital was like because I was the first British baby born there.

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Liz B:So it must have been, she was supposed to catch a plane and go to Aden, I think, to have me, but she refused to go.

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Liz B:And that's why I ended up being the first British baby in Duffel, oh, in Elfasha.

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Beyondhood - NicoleThat is so cool.

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Beyondhood - NicoleHow many people can say that they're the first British to be born in a foreign country?

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Beyondhood - NicoleGive her a round of applause.

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Beyondhood - NicoleYou were already a very international traveler as a kid in the 50s already.

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Beyondhood - NicoleAnd you briefly mentioned what your parents do.

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Beyondhood - NicoleHow many siblings do you have?

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Liz B:I have an older half-sister.

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Liz B:Her father died before he was a pilot in the Second World War, and he was killed before she was born.

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Liz B:My mother was pregnant then with her.

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Liz B:And she married my father very soon afterwards.

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Liz B:So she's my half-sister, but we always considered her a full sister because she never knew her father and she only knew my parents.

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Liz B:And then I have my sister who's closest to me.

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Liz B:He's 11 months older than me, who was born in Juba.

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Liz B:And then Katie, who is three years younger than me, and she was born in Ghana.

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Liz B:And then I've got a younger brother, or we all have a younger brother, so there are five of us.

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Beyondhood - NicoleOh, wow.

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Beyondhood - NicoleYour dad was trained as a sofa engineer, and then he worked as a sofa servant in Davao.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhat happened when you guys moved to Virginia, and then moved back to England?

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Liz B:When we left Africa, we moved to the United States, where three of us went to, the three older children went to school for a year or so.

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Liz B:And that was during the McCarthy era.

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Beyondhood - NicoleMcCarthy era was a name given to the period of time in American history that saw US Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin produce a series of investigations and hearings during the 1950s in an effort to expose supposed communist infiltration of various areas of the US government.

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Liz B:So my parents were very unhappy about the politics that was when they were expelling anybody who had any communist association and or stopping them working.

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Liz B:And although my parents weren't communists, they had been as youngsters, but they were very disturbed by the politics in America.

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Liz B:So we left quite soon after we'd been there, maybe 18 months.

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Liz B:And by then my father was working for the World Bank.

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Liz B:We moved back to England when I think I was seven.

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Liz B:My father then started his own consultancy and moved to Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, where my younger brother was conceived.

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Liz B:My mother would join my father for maybe six months of the year.

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Liz B:He would be away for nine to 11 months every year.

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Liz B:And she would join him for six to eight months and leave the three eldest children behind at home in Bray, which is in Berkshire, where we had a house.

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Liz B:And we would invite or they would invite families with their own children to move into our home to look after us rather than sending us to boarding school.

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Liz B:So they kept all three of us together.

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Liz B:And then we had numerous families, I think seven in total, different families came and moved in with us.

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Liz B:The first family had two children who we still know, the Clifton Mocks, and they were contemporaries of ours.

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Liz B:And then the next family was a widow with three children, two girls and a boy.

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Liz B:So there were always a gang of us that were always, at least three of us, and usually around five or six of us.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWow, so you had the original Airbnb, is that people move into your home and live with you, and also kind of take care of you guys at the same time.

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Beyondhood - NicoleHow do you feel about that?

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Liz B:I was very excited about it because I was quite an independent child.

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Liz B:I loved all these different people, and I was quite an extrovert child.

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Liz B:My sister is a bit older than me, was very nervous child and was quite introverted.

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Liz B:I think my elder sister found it the most difficult, but no, I enjoyed it.

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Liz B:I thought it was great fun.

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Beyondhood - NicoleYeah, what was your favorite memory at the house?

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Liz B:A couple of things.

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Liz B:One, we would all sleep in one huge bedroom.

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Liz B:So sometimes there would be five of us, or sometimes there'd be six of us, all sleeping in almost a dormitory.

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Liz B:And we would put up washing lines across the room to divide the room into sections like a hospital and put sheets over the washing lines so that we had our own little private spaces.

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Liz B:And my sister, who is older than me, was such a nervous little girl that she used to come into my little cubicle and climb into bed with me because she didn't like being in her own private section.

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Liz B:Oh.

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Liz B:Yeah, and it was great fun.

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Liz B:Being part of a gang of children.

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Liz B:I mean, we were quite well-known in the neighborhood because we had American accents and it was quite unusual for people to have Americans basically.

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Liz B:And we had a huge American station wagon, a Pontiac, that they brought over on the ship with them.

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Liz B:So we were, we always stood out as a family.

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Liz B:And also because our parents weren't there.

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Liz B:Which seemed even more unusual to sort of English people who were middle-class and had been brought up very sensibly.

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Liz B:It seemed quite, I suppose, outrageous to them.

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Beyondhood - NicoleYeah, even let's say if you put it in nowadays, having children at the home, not with the parent, it's still not very common.

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Beyondhood - NicoleThinking back into the 50s, I want to understand more about your parents.

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Beyondhood - NicoleYour parents were already very globalized in the 40s, 50s and 60s already.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhat was their story?

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Beyondhood - NicoleHow did they meet?

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Liz B:That's a very long and involved story.

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Liz B:They met before the war, and then my father left England and moved to Singapore with the Public Works Department as a civil engineer.

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Liz B:And my mother had remained, she was in Scotland and in London.

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Liz B:And while he was away, they communicated, they wrote to each other every week, practically.

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Liz B:I have all of their letters.

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Liz B:They're fantastic.

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Liz B:Because they're so beautifully written, and they're long.

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Liz B:They're like five or six pages long.

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Liz B:And my father was having a wonderful time in Singapore.

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Liz B:And my mother, the war started very soon in Europe, started very soon after he left.

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Liz B:Because he left at the beginning of 1939.

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Beyondhood - NicoleSide note, when we say war, we mean the Second World War.

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Liz B:So my mother joined the women's army, which she loved because of the uniform.

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Liz B:And she was very, very pretty, very beautiful.

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Beyondhood - NicoleIf you want to see a picture of Liz's mom, she was very beautiful.

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Beyondhood - NicoleIt is on our website, www.beyondhood.com.

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Liz B:And they kept on writing to each other.

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Liz B:And then she met somebody else and she married him.

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Liz B:He was an RAF pilot.

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Beyondhood - NicoleSide note, RAF stand for Royal Air Force.

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Liz B:Very good looking Welshman.

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Liz B:And she fell madly in love with him.

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Liz B:He was a year younger than her.

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Liz B:Very sadly, while she was pregnant in 1945, three weeks before the end of the war, he was shot down and killed.

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Liz B:My father returned the following year from Singapore en route to America where he had a fiance.

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Liz B:And six days after he returned to England, he and my mother got married.

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Beyondhood - NicoleAnd I recall you mentioned you're organizing their letters to make a book.

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Liz B:Yes, I've written a book based on their letters and based on my mother's diaries and the letters that her first husband wrote to her from, because he was based in Eindhoven in Holland with the Air Force.

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Liz B:And I have all of his letters and his logbook and the RAF logbooks.

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Liz B:So yes, it makes a fascinating story.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhat do you feel of your parents when they were not here with you and with your brother in Ethiopia?

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Beyondhood - NicoleHow do you feel about that?

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Liz B:I think I never really forgave my mother for leaving us.

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Liz B:I became very independent of her.

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Liz B:And I think I always resented it through my adulthood really.

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Liz B:And I felt she didn't have the right to tell me how to behave or what to do, because she'd lost that right when she had left us behind.

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Liz B:I wasn't unhappy, but I definitely missed her.

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Liz B:Well, I absolutely adored my father and he was forgiven totally for having been abroad.

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Liz B:I think we all, again, we thought it was quite natural for him to be away, but I don't think we did miss my mother very much.

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Beyondhood - NicoleInteresting you said that.

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Beyondhood - NicoleI think it's always, that's why people say daughters are mostly daddy's girl and it's easier to forgive the dad somehow.

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Liz B:Yes, I agree with you.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWell, we had quite a good understanding, an interesting story from your childhood.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWe're moving into adolescence.

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Beyondhood - NicoleI remember you mentioned you lived in the house until you were 16 and then you left home around 17.

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Beyondhood - NicoleWhat was the house to you as a adolescent?

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Beyondhood - NicoleAnd did you enjoy school?

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Liz B:Oh, I hated school, absolutely hated school and very rebellious and I didn't enjoy school at all.

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Liz B:And the way that we were at a convent after having spent a year at a very small local school where I couldn't read or write.

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Liz B:And when we moved to the convent, I was put in a class below my year.

00:18:56.760 --> 00:19:06.360

Liz B:And then as a teenager, when I rebelled by holding a strike during our sewing class, the nuns put me down a class.

00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:13.920

Liz B:So they educationally deprived me rather than expel me because my parents were abroad and they felt they couldn't expel me.

00:19:14.320 --> 00:19:23.500

Liz B:So they put me down a class and then they humiliated me by when they called out your position in the class where you had to walk in front of the whole school.

00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:28.240

Liz B:And if you were number one, you walked it up and you were number one in the class.

00:19:28.520 --> 00:19:32.500

Liz B:But they put me up a class for the position.

00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:34.140

Liz B:So I came last.

00:19:34.300 --> 00:19:44.800

Liz B:So I had to walk up in front of the whole school and show that I was last, even though I hadn't taken half of the exams that the year above had taken.

00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.100

Liz B:Humiliating.

00:19:47.260 --> 00:19:49.580

Liz B:They made me very angry indeed.

00:19:49.600 --> 00:19:51.560

Liz B:So I couldn't wait to leave school.

00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:56.460

Beyondhood - NicoleSince you had a striped sewing class, do you know how to sew right now?

00:19:57.360 --> 00:19:58.760

Liz B:I'm a very good sewer.

00:19:59.000 --> 00:19:59.700

Liz B:Yes.

00:19:59.740 --> 00:20:04.100

Liz B:I used, even as children, we used to sew our clothes, our own clothes.

00:20:04.120 --> 00:20:07.660

Liz B:I actually think my mother made us sew some of our school uniform.

00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:18.700

Liz B:But I used to sew the dresses that if I was going out on a Saturday night to a party, I would stitch together a dress and wear that.

00:20:19.120 --> 00:20:19.660

Beyondhood - NicoleOh, wow.

00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.720

Beyondhood - NicoleThen how come you don't like sewing class?

00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:23.280

Liz B:It was so boring.

00:20:24.860 --> 00:20:28.380

Liz B:We had to measure everything perfectly and do everything slowly.

00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:30.560

Liz B:And it was just boring because I could do it.

00:20:31.080 --> 00:20:31.940

Beyondhood - NicoleOh, I see.

00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:36.000

Beyondhood - NicoleWell, the lesson is that you don't really have to learn everything in school.

00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:37.040

Liz B:Exactly.

00:20:37.520 --> 00:20:41.600

Beyondhood - NicoleWhen you were a teenager, what was your favorite movie?

00:20:43.060 --> 00:20:54.040

Liz B:Oh, we loved, even as children, but particularly as teenagers, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, all of their musicals, they're so romantic and so beautiful.

00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:56.500

Liz B:And we just loved them.

00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:04.800

Beyondhood - NicoleFred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, they were dance partner, and they feature in a total of 10 movie.

00:21:05.340 --> 00:21:12.000

Beyondhood - NicoleFred Astaire is regarded by many as the greatest popular music dancer of all time.

00:21:12.820 --> 00:21:16.620

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd he's usually remembered for his pairing with Ginger Roger.

00:21:17.520 --> 00:21:24.540

Beyondhood - NicoleWho was in several movie with him, including Swing Time in 1936.

00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:26.960

Beyondhood - NicoleOh, when did you first see it?

00:21:26.980 --> 00:21:30.380

Beyondhood - NicoleWas it in the theater or how did it work when you were a kid?

00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:31.040

Liz B:On TV.

00:21:33.140 --> 00:21:34.260

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd do you still love it?

00:21:34.280 --> 00:21:35.020

Beyondhood - NicoleDo you still watch it?

00:21:35.840 --> 00:21:37.900

Liz B:Yes, occasionally I will watch it.

00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:40.820

Liz B:I love seeing clips of them on YouTube.

00:21:40.860 --> 00:21:43.940

Liz B:I'll still play clips from time to time.

00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:45.800

Liz B:All my sisters will send me clips.

00:21:46.080 --> 00:21:47.620

Liz B:To say, do you remember this?

00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:54.400

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd what was the most important historical event that you remember when you were a teenager?

00:21:54.420 --> 00:21:58.320

Liz B:I do remember the assassination of President Kennedy.

00:21:58.340 --> 00:22:03.580

Liz B:And I think anybody of my age remembers that day and remembers when it happened.

00:22:03.940 --> 00:22:05.100

Liz B:It was so shocking.

00:22:05.660 --> 00:22:10.260

Liz B:He was such a poster boy for America and all things American.

00:22:10.300 --> 00:22:15.820

Liz B:And then to find he'd been shot and killed and it was a newsflash on TV.

00:22:15.840 --> 00:22:19.020

Liz B:And we were, us girls were watching TV.

00:22:19.040 --> 00:22:20.720

Liz B:It must have been in the afternoon.

00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:23.440

Liz B:So I don't know why we were watching in the afternoon.

00:22:23.460 --> 00:22:32.340

Liz B:But I remember running into the kitchen and telling my mother to say, mommy, mommy, President Kennedy's been shot.

00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:34.760

Liz B:Yeah, no, it was very shocking.

00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:37.200

Beyondhood - NicoleHe was shot in 1963.

00:22:37.220 --> 00:22:39.140

Beyondhood - NicoleSo you're around 15 that year.

00:22:39.820 --> 00:22:42.800

Liz B:So I left school at 15, 16.

00:22:42.860 --> 00:22:49.540

Liz B:I think I was just 16 and went to Reading Technical College to take my A levels.

00:22:49.740 --> 00:22:51.280

Liz B:And I took those in a year.

00:22:51.380 --> 00:22:52.520

Liz B:Hardly ever went there.

00:22:52.540 --> 00:22:55.560

Liz B:I fell in love with some engineers who worked there.

00:22:56.040 --> 00:22:58.980

Liz B:And I got English A level in just the one year.

00:22:59.080 --> 00:23:04.880

Liz B:And as soon as I finished there, my parents sent me on a secretarial course, which I did for three months.

00:23:05.500 --> 00:23:09.380

Liz B:I did a high speed secretarial course, a pitman's course.

00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:11.780

Liz B:Got a job straight away and moved to London.

00:23:11.780 --> 00:23:13.180

Liz B:So when I was 17.

00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:18.920

Beyondhood - NicoleOnce you moved to London, what did you first came to London to do?

00:23:19.500 --> 00:23:21.080

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd what was your career?

00:23:21.100 --> 00:23:22.360

Beyondhood - NicoleCan you share with us?

00:23:22.580 --> 00:23:31.200

Liz B:Yes, one of my sister's friends, her boyfriend said to me, you would be good in public relations.

00:23:31.580 --> 00:23:33.260

Liz B:And he worked in advertising.

00:23:33.280 --> 00:23:37.040

Liz B:And I was very in awe of him.

00:23:37.220 --> 00:23:40.000

Liz B:And I had no idea what public relations was.

00:23:40.280 --> 00:23:42.880

Liz B:So I joined a public relations company.

00:23:43.080 --> 00:23:47.500

Liz B:As a secretary, it was the division of an advertising agency.

00:23:48.840 --> 00:23:51.240

Beyondhood - NicoleSo what was public relations mean back then?

00:23:51.500 --> 00:23:54.200

Liz B:It was publicity for clients.

00:23:54.460 --> 00:24:02.460

Liz B:So we worked on Littlewoods chain stores, Littlewoods pools, Phillips Electrical, Antler luggage.

00:24:03.080 --> 00:24:07.080

Liz B:We organized at home evenings for women.

00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:12.780

Liz B:We sent anything that appeared in the newspapers or magazines.

00:24:13.060 --> 00:24:18.160

Liz B:We supplied them with the product to photograph and to write about.

00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:21.200

Liz B:And we generated news for them.

00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:26.280

Beyondhood - NicoleYou were working at your first advertisement agency.

00:24:26.300 --> 00:24:27.620

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd then what happened?

00:24:27.640 --> 00:24:30.600

Beyondhood - NicoleDid you stay there for long or what's next for you?

00:24:31.180 --> 00:24:38.180

Liz B:I was there for six years, but I fell in love with the chairman of the agency, Colin.

00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:39.620

Liz B:And we had an affair.

00:24:39.620 --> 00:24:43.020

Liz B:He was a married man at the time with two adopted children.

00:24:43.740 --> 00:24:46.140

Liz B:He was a playboy, so it wasn't just me.

00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:50.040

Liz B:And he was 16 years older than me.

00:24:50.080 --> 00:24:52.660

Liz B:So he was a grown up and I was still very young.

00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:54.660

Liz B:So I can be forgiven.

00:24:55.800 --> 00:24:58.180

Liz B:And then I got pregnant.

00:24:59.100 --> 00:25:02.280

Liz B:And I decided it was without discussion with him.

00:25:02.300 --> 00:25:04.780

Liz B:I decided I was going to keep the baby.

00:25:04.800 --> 00:25:07.440

Liz B:I didn't even have second thoughts about it.

00:25:08.460 --> 00:25:13.500

Liz B:And so I was asked to leave the agency when it became obvious that I was pregnant.

00:25:13.520 --> 00:25:20.100

Liz B:They felt it was inappropriate for the chairman to have one of the young girls in the agency pregnant by him.

00:25:20.780 --> 00:25:29.680

Liz B:So I left the agency and I joined Courtaulds, which was a huge textile division.

00:25:29.860 --> 00:25:33.000

Beyondhood - NicoleFun fact, I did some Googling on Courtaulds.

00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:39.320

Beyondhood - NicoleCourtaulds was a UK-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing and chemicals.

00:25:39.480 --> 00:25:47.640

Beyondhood - NicoleIt was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fiber production company.

00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:58.720

Beyondhood - NicoleBefore, it was broken up into two companies, Courtaulds focusing on the chemical and Courtauld Textile focusing on the clothing in 1990s.

00:25:59.260 --> 00:26:02.680

Beyondhood - NicoleSince 1990, it went through different acquisition.

00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:12.500

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd now, eventually, it ends up the Courtauld Textile Company was bought by a Hong Kong private company in 2006.

00:26:12.520 --> 00:26:29.780

Liz B:I ran the homeware department, which was Antico floor tiles, Christy tiles, sandal fabrics, any textiles to do with the home, Courtaulds made, and I worked there as a freelance until Katie was born, my daughter.

00:26:29.800 --> 00:26:34.500

Liz B:And then I went back and worked for them for a little while, but not for long.

00:26:34.560 --> 00:26:36.380

Beyondhood - NicoleDid you become a single mom then?

00:26:36.580 --> 00:26:37.560

Liz B:Not immediately.

00:26:37.580 --> 00:26:44.880

Liz B:I lived with Colin for a while, and then I fell in love with somebody else who looked just like Colin but much younger.

00:26:47.020 --> 00:26:59.100

Liz B:So I actually left home with Katie, with my daughter, when she was 15 months, and I moved in with my sister temporarily until Colin left our home together.

00:26:59.760 --> 00:27:09.600

Liz B:And then he left, and yes, I did become a single mom because he didn't forgive me for having left him and really ruined his marriage, I suppose.

00:27:09.860 --> 00:27:12.720

Liz B:His marriage was pretty much on the rocks anyway.

00:27:12.740 --> 00:27:13.700

Liz B:It wasn't just me.

00:27:13.820 --> 00:27:15.740

Liz B:I keep saying that.

00:27:16.180 --> 00:27:18.140

Beyondhood - NicoleI'm sticking with that, yes.

00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:21.680

Beyondhood - NicoleYou went back to Kortel for a little bit.

00:27:22.080 --> 00:27:28.220

Beyondhood - NicoleI know that you started your own company, but how did you start your own company with your daughter around as well?

00:27:28.700 --> 00:27:33.380

Liz B:Yeah, I started PR, a stylist and stylist company.

00:27:33.780 --> 00:27:45.720

Liz B:When I say company, it was myself and another girl, and we had offices, I took offices above Ronnie Scott's in Frith Street, and I did the styling for some little wood catalog.

00:27:45.840 --> 00:27:47.720

Liz B:I had a golfing company.

00:27:48.260 --> 00:27:50.400

Liz B:I think I had three or four clients.

00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:52.260

Liz B:I wasn't very devoted to it.

00:27:52.820 --> 00:27:58.440

Liz B:I decided when Katie was three, I think, that I really needed a break.

00:27:58.980 --> 00:28:07.140

Liz B:I'd gone back to work too soon after she'd been born, and I'd been on holiday to a place called Lindos in Greece.

00:28:08.060 --> 00:28:09.720

Liz B:And I thought, well, I'm going to move there.

00:28:09.780 --> 00:28:10.420

Liz B:I like that.

00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:11.440

Liz B:I'm going to move there.

00:28:11.820 --> 00:28:13.680

Liz B:So I rented out my flat.

00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:17.400

Liz B:It transpired to a group of hookers, which I didn't know.

00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:22.980

Liz B:I didn't know until I was recalled by the church commission who owned the flat.

00:28:23.600 --> 00:28:28.320

Liz B:That paid the rent on the flat and gave me a very small income.

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:37.920

Liz B:So when I was in Lindos in Greece, which was sort of a quite a hippie little village because there were no cars around.

00:28:37.940 --> 00:28:41.580

Liz B:It was just donkeys were the main form of transport.

00:28:42.320 --> 00:28:45.320

Liz B:But people like the Pink Floyd were there.

00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:47.560

Liz B:Michael Gambon used to come on holiday.

00:28:47.580 --> 00:28:50.900

Liz B:Quite a few of the big designers would come there.

00:28:51.100 --> 00:29:14.380

Beyondhood - NicoleFor those of you who don't know, in the 1970s, Lindos, which is a village in rural Greece, was a hippie town where Pink Floyd, which is a rock band, member David Gilmour and Rick Wright, and his wife Julia Wright, had houses and spent a lot of time there at the time of their first international album success.

00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:18.540

Liz B:It was a sort of, I suppose it was the Trans-Saint-Tropez of Greece.

00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:25.700

Liz B:It wasn't expensive and it was completely out of the way, which I didn't know when I decided I was going to go and live there.

00:29:25.900 --> 00:29:31.220

Beyondhood - NicoleYou moved there, you have a little income from the rental, but then what do you do there?

00:29:31.240 --> 00:29:37.460

Liz B:Yes, I became a domestic hygienist, which is another way for saying I was a cleaning lady.

00:29:37.520 --> 00:29:40.040

Liz B:I would clean for the tourists or wash the...

00:29:40.060 --> 00:29:48.620

Liz B:There was one man who made me wash his suits, but I also worked for an artist called Polly Hope whose work is quite internationally known.

00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:50.660

Beyondhood - NicoleI did some research on Polly Hope.

00:29:51.120 --> 00:29:54.740

Beyondhood - NicolePolly was a British artist, designer and author.

00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:03.980

Beyondhood - NicoleShe created artworks in a variety of mediums, including painting, portrait, sculpture, textile and ceramics.

00:30:04.320 --> 00:30:11.680

Beyondhood - NicoleYou can find more of her artworks in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:20.260

Liz B:With so things like sequins on her wall hangings, she made these beautiful pictures out of quilted wall hangings.

00:30:20.560 --> 00:30:22.320

Liz B:And I was one of her workers.

00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:26.840

Liz B:And she let me live in her studio during the winter when she left.

00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:30.400

Beyondhood - NicoleSo how long do you live in this island, Greece?

00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:32.000

Liz B:On and off for two years.

00:30:32.560 --> 00:30:34.680

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd then what made you move back?

00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:39.380

Liz B:One, I had to retrieve my flat from the hookers.

00:30:40.020 --> 00:30:42.160

Liz B:And two, it was time for Katie to go to school.

00:30:43.180 --> 00:30:49.400

Liz B:So I had to reorganize where I was living, and put Katie into a primary school.

00:30:49.480 --> 00:30:52.220

Liz B:Because by then she was four, nearly five.

00:30:52.580 --> 00:30:53.160

Beyondhood - NicoleGot you.

00:30:53.360 --> 00:31:00.120

Beyondhood - NicoleSo when you moved back, did you move back to PR agency, or did you do something else then when you come back to England?

00:31:00.420 --> 00:31:05.080

Liz B:First came back, I worked for a doctor called Dr.

00:31:05.100 --> 00:31:09.620

Liz B:John Goldman, who was a professor of hematology.

00:31:10.740 --> 00:31:25.280

Liz B:And he was the one who brought host versus graft disease, or graft versus host disease, which is not a cure for leukemia, but it's a blood transfer for leukemia that's still used today.

00:31:25.300 --> 00:31:29.520

Liz B:And he was a very, he was exactly ten years older than me to the day.

00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:33.140

Liz B:We were both born on the same day, but ten years apart.

00:31:33.980 --> 00:31:35.820

Liz B:And so he became a lover.

00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:38.360

Liz B:I had a very close relationship with him.

00:31:38.540 --> 00:31:42.440

Liz B:And then I was offered a job back in PR.

00:31:42.460 --> 00:31:45.320

Liz B:So I joined a PR agency again.

00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:46.740

Liz B:Perrier, yes.

00:31:46.740 --> 00:31:49.920

Liz B:Perrier Water was one of our clients.

00:31:50.100 --> 00:31:51.520

Liz B:I had an affair with the chairman.

00:31:54.140 --> 00:31:57.980

Liz B:And we started, he actually died diving.

00:31:58.340 --> 00:32:04.320

Liz B:We started the Perrier Pick of the Fringe, which was the first one ever.

00:32:05.060 --> 00:32:16.020

Liz B:And I was up in Scotland for three weeks during the Fringe, just going to see all of the productions with Alistair Moffat, who was the Fringe organizer.

00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:18.640

Liz B:The Cambridge Footlights won that year.

00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:24.420

Liz B:And that was Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie.

00:32:24.620 --> 00:32:30.480

Liz B:Very, very entitled, established young people who put on a fantastic production.

00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:37.920

Liz B:And their prize was that their production would be brought down to London and put on at the Donmar Theatre.

00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:43.060

Liz B:So that was really the beginning of their careers in the theatre.

00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:51.480

Beyondhood - NicoleIn 1981, let's work for the PLL, Behind the PLL, The Sparkling Water, Pick of the Fringe.

00:32:51.660 --> 00:32:58.340

Beyondhood - NicoleThe original award was created by PLL in 1981 as a way of supporting young talents.

00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:04.260

Beyondhood - NicoleBefore this, there had to be no award recognition for comedy shows on the fringe.

00:33:04.520 --> 00:33:09.180

Beyondhood - NicoleHow did you come up with this Pick of the Fringe as a PLL thing?

00:33:09.460 --> 00:33:12.960

Liz B:It was the agency and myself that I worked with.

00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:26.980

Liz B:We had to, when we were pitching for the Perrier business, we had to come up with a whole lot of ideas to associate the water with upmarket or innovative or sparkling events.

00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:30.340

Liz B:Because it was a sparkling water.

00:33:30.520 --> 00:33:33.140

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd it's a sparkling event that triggered this.

00:33:34.280 --> 00:33:34.820

Beyondhood - NicoleI see.

00:33:34.940 --> 00:33:36.380

Beyondhood - NicoleIt still exists nowadays.

00:33:36.440 --> 00:33:37.240

Liz B:Pick of the Fringe.

00:33:37.360 --> 00:33:38.180

Beyondhood - NicoleYeah, exactly.

00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:40.180

Liz B:Because Perrier no longer sponsor it.

00:33:40.380 --> 00:33:44.980

Beyondhood - NicoleFrom then, I know that you moved on to do more marketing communication.

00:33:45.580 --> 00:33:46.960

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd what did you do then?

00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:50.800

Liz B:I joined Levi Strauss in London.

00:33:51.140 --> 00:33:57.900

Beyondhood - NicoleLevi Strauss is an American clothing company that is known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans.

00:33:58.420 --> 00:34:02.740

Liz B:It was quite a small group of people in Wembley.

00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:04.640

Liz B:And it was great fun.

00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:10.220

Liz B:I worked as the marketing communications manager for Northern Europe.

00:34:10.240 --> 00:34:12.260

Liz B:Sounds grander than it actually was.

00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.020

Liz B:But I was in charge of all of the sponsorship.

00:34:16.080 --> 00:34:19.260

Liz B:And we did the first ever music sponsorships.

00:34:20.020 --> 00:34:26.440

Liz B:And that was Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Ultravox.

00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:28.640

Liz B:Those happened when I was there.

00:34:28.660 --> 00:34:30.220

Liz B:And then they went on to do...

00:34:30.220 --> 00:34:33.240

Liz B:I think Sting was the next one.

00:34:33.740 --> 00:34:35.080

Liz B:And I wasn't there by then.

00:34:35.300 --> 00:34:36.340

Liz B:No, that was great fun.

00:34:36.360 --> 00:34:38.540

Liz B:I went on tour with David Bowie.

00:34:38.560 --> 00:34:40.420

Liz B:I went on tour with Roxy Music.

00:34:40.560 --> 00:34:41.680

Liz B:Had an amazing time.

00:34:41.740 --> 00:34:43.220

Beyondhood - NicoleWhat was David Bowie like?

00:34:43.400 --> 00:34:45.100

Liz B:I didn't really get to know him.

00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:50.220

Liz B:I think he probably said hello to me or passed me by a few times.

00:34:50.520 --> 00:34:51.720

Liz B:He was very aloof.

00:34:52.100 --> 00:34:53.520

Liz B:He was very distant.

00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:57.460

Liz B:I think he felt that sponsorship was beneath him.

00:34:57.660 --> 00:34:59.000

Liz B:But happy to take the money.

00:34:59.820 --> 00:35:01.960

Beyondhood - NicoleWas sponsorship a big thing back then?

00:35:01.980 --> 00:35:06.220

Beyondhood - NicoleLike sponsor big event in order to get your names out there?

00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:10.880

Liz B:No, this was in 1980, I think, or 81, maybe 82.

00:35:12.500 --> 00:35:16.480

Liz B:No, we really were the first people to sponsor music.

00:35:16.820 --> 00:35:24.540

Liz B:But it was because of the Jeans Association, so young, hip music, the whole thing gelled.

00:35:25.120 --> 00:35:29.240

Beyondhood - NicoleOh, so because you know Levi, Jeans Young, so it's like sponsor music.

00:35:29.960 --> 00:35:33.540

Beyondhood - NicoleDid you stay in Levi's for a while?

00:35:33.560 --> 00:35:35.960

Beyondhood - NicoleOr I know that you moved to SF for a little bit.

00:35:35.980 --> 00:35:37.720

Beyondhood - NicoleHow was Levi's in SF?

00:35:39.660 --> 00:35:44.020

Liz B:I hated SF because it was a very divisive community there.

00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:46.460

Liz B:There was a huge gay community.

00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:48.780

Liz B:It was the start of AIDS.

00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:50.200

Liz B:There was a huge gay community.

00:35:50.220 --> 00:35:57.880

Liz B:There was a big community of original San Franciscans, so old family, old money.

00:35:58.380 --> 00:36:02.760

Liz B:And they really didn't mix with the newcomers who came in.

00:36:02.780 --> 00:36:06.520

Liz B:It was a very divisive community, I felt.

00:36:06.780 --> 00:36:10.940

Liz B:Beautiful place, but not a very nice place to live.

00:36:11.400 --> 00:36:16.020

Liz B:My daughter didn't come to America with me, which is another reason why I returned.

00:36:16.040 --> 00:36:26.120

Liz B:She was at boarding school, and she didn't want to leave England and join me, but she did come over in the holidays, which is another reason why I was unhappy in San Francisco.

00:36:26.140 --> 00:36:29.520

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd you came back to London after a year.

00:36:29.640 --> 00:36:30.440

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd what did you do?

00:36:31.260 --> 00:36:32.960

Liz B:Then I started on my own.

00:36:32.980 --> 00:36:38.020

Liz B:I started a consultancy, and I did some work for Levi's.

00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:44.620

Liz B:I had Thresher wine merchants who had something like 200 wine merchants over in England.

00:36:44.640 --> 00:36:50.200

Liz B:So I did their PR, quite a few clients, and I had a couple of girls who worked with me.

00:36:51.100 --> 00:36:52.680

Liz B:But I was running that from my home.

00:36:52.700 --> 00:37:02.620

Liz B:At the end of the 1990s, one of the girls who was working for me, Julia, who was a fantastic girl, said to me, you've got to start a proper company.

00:37:02.640 --> 00:37:06.020

Liz B:You can't just be Liz B:olton Consultancy.

00:37:06.040 --> 00:37:17.820

Liz B:So I started RedHop PR, and we took offices in Bell Street, just off the Edgeway Road, which I shared with another friend who ran an advertising marketing company.

00:37:18.040 --> 00:37:22.700

Liz B:Yeah, I think we had six, eight, ten clients, and there were five of us working.

00:37:23.220 --> 00:37:26.780

Liz B:And in between that, I had another child.

00:37:27.460 --> 00:37:27.860

Beyondhood - NicoleYes.

00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:28.700

Liz B:Which I've forgotten about.

00:37:29.100 --> 00:37:31.880

Beyondhood - NicoleWe'll come to that in a little bit.

00:37:31.900 --> 00:37:37.240

Beyondhood - NicoleBut before, in 1992, why did you start your own company?

00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:39.240

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd how did you find it working for yourself?

00:37:39.260 --> 00:37:45.660

Beyondhood - NicoleBecause as a woman, you were taking care of a child, and then you were working, and then you started a company.

00:37:45.720 --> 00:37:50.780

Beyondhood - NicoleEven now, we're getting into an era that more and more women starting their own company.

00:37:50.780 --> 00:37:53.740

Beyondhood - NicoleBut in the 90s, it's still less than men.

00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:55.520

Beyondhood - NicoleSo what motivated you to start?

00:37:55.540 --> 00:37:58.360

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd how did you find working for yourself like?

00:37:59.180 --> 00:38:02.940

Liz B:Her being at boarding school enabled me to have the time to work.

00:38:03.180 --> 00:38:10.480

Liz B:I mean, although it was financially crippling, I had to work very hard in order to pay for the boarding school in order to work.

00:38:10.820 --> 00:38:12.460

Liz B:So it was sort of catch 22.

00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:17.640

Liz B:It never occurred to me not to be working with a child.

00:38:17.660 --> 00:38:20.660

Liz B:I didn't have the option because I didn't...

00:38:21.100 --> 00:38:25.580

Liz B:I wasn't financially supported by her father at all.

00:38:25.780 --> 00:38:33.980

Liz B:I paid for all of her schooling and her education, although he did contribute for a number of years towards her education, I have to say that.

00:38:34.060 --> 00:38:36.620

Liz B:Didn't pay for it all, but he did contribute towards it.

00:38:36.720 --> 00:38:42.480

Liz B:And my son was born in 189, but it just meant that I had to continue working.

00:38:42.660 --> 00:38:45.920

Liz B:And it was actually not a matter of choice.

00:38:46.080 --> 00:38:48.000

Liz B:It was a matter of necessity.

00:38:48.260 --> 00:38:52.600

Liz B:To start my own company was no different than being a consultant.

00:38:53.060 --> 00:39:00.160

Liz B:It just meant I had headed paper in offices, as opposed to producing your own headed paper on a computer.

00:39:00.420 --> 00:39:05.400

Beyondhood - NicoleDo you enjoy working for yourself, or how does it compare with working for a corporate?

00:39:05.700 --> 00:39:12.700

Liz B:I much prefer being my own boss, but running a company is, and I think Donald mentioned this as well.

00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:16.860

Beyondhood - NicoleLiz listened to episode one from Donald.

00:39:17.040 --> 00:39:22.000

Beyondhood - NicoleIf you haven't listened, go back to our episode one to listen Donald's story.

00:39:22.340 --> 00:39:25.820

Liz B:You don't actually do what you're particularly good at, which is PR.

00:39:26.100 --> 00:39:36.960

Liz B:You end up dealing with staff and organizing the office and making sure the bills are paid and dealing with your clients rather than dealing with the press.

00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:39.460

Liz B:So no, it was very stressful and you never stop.

00:39:39.940 --> 00:39:42.360

Liz B:You are on call 24 hours.

00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:48.720

Liz B:And so even when you're in bed, you're thinking about, oh, I did that wrong, or tomorrow I've got to do such and such.

00:39:48.740 --> 00:39:50.520

Liz B:You never stop thinking about it.

00:39:50.760 --> 00:39:53.660

Beyondhood - NicoleKind of the beauty, but also the downside of it.

00:39:53.680 --> 00:39:58.700

Beyondhood - NicoleYou own everything, but you also are responsible for most of the things in the company.

00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:01.080

Liz B:Yeah, including the people you employ.

00:40:01.740 --> 00:40:04.300

Liz B:Because if you go down, they go down.

00:40:04.640 --> 00:40:07.100

Liz B:So you have a responsibility to them as well.

00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:07.880

Beyondhood - NicoleYes.

00:40:07.960 --> 00:40:15.440

Beyondhood - NicoleWhen you were working for your own company, who was the most memorable client that you had or incident at work that happened?

00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:18.020

Liz B:There was something else we did at Levi's.

00:40:18.060 --> 00:40:19.460

Liz B:We sponsored St.

00:40:19.480 --> 00:40:21.900

Liz B:Martin's School of Art, the fashion department.

00:40:21.900 --> 00:40:24.240

Liz B:It was the first sponsorship that St.

00:40:24.260 --> 00:40:26.040

Liz B:Martin's ever did as well.

00:40:26.180 --> 00:40:28.560

Liz B:I worked with the Royal College quite a lot.

00:40:28.740 --> 00:40:31.620

Liz B:Did a lot of sponsorships with them, which was great fun.

00:40:31.780 --> 00:40:40.120

Liz B:For a luggage company, we got the students there to design the luggage which went in window displays in Selfridges.

00:40:40.140 --> 00:40:46.300

Liz B:I did Mimco, which is an Australian brand of handbags and luggage as well, and that was quite well known.

00:40:46.620 --> 00:40:53.560

Liz B:We mostly specialized in accessories, fashion accessories, rather than in fashion brands as such.

00:40:54.360 --> 00:40:59.360

Liz B:We did From Somewhere, which was the first recycling of clothes.

00:40:59.380 --> 00:41:10.200

Liz B:A lovely Italian lady who worked with Colin Firth's wife in the sort of green economy, and she recycled cashmere.

00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:14.660

Liz B:So she would cut up cashmere sweaters and sew them up together again.

00:41:15.160 --> 00:41:20.180

Liz B:It was called From Somewhere, and she got very well known during London Fashion Week.

00:41:20.180 --> 00:41:21.560

Beyondhood - NicoleHow do you work with her?

00:41:21.580 --> 00:41:25.580

Beyondhood - NicoleSo you help her to peel out the recycled cashmere?

00:41:25.680 --> 00:41:29.580

Liz B:Yes, I mean, Artwork, which is a knitwear company, was one of our clients.

00:41:29.600 --> 00:41:33.960

Liz B:And the sort of thing we would do is, I'll give you an example with Artwork.

00:41:34.500 --> 00:41:41.400

Liz B:Artwork was run by a husband and wife team, and the wife was the designer and the husband ran the company.

00:41:41.940 --> 00:41:51.200

Liz B:So in order to get them publicity, they did beautiful cotton knitted knitwear that was known as a designer brand.

00:41:51.840 --> 00:41:56.780

Liz B:I would get profiles in the magazines and newspapers about them as a couple.

00:41:57.600 --> 00:42:09.700

Liz B:So that was a different way of publicising the company, was to use them as a working couple who ran a company as the face of the company.

00:42:09.720 --> 00:42:11.580

Liz B:So they became quite well known.

00:42:11.580 --> 00:42:22.760

Liz B:And then the fashion editors would call in the knitwear for fashion shoots and we would take samples over to Vogue and show them the newest collections.

00:42:22.780 --> 00:42:31.060

Liz B:So we would get the products, it's more product publicity than pure PR, but we would get the people in the publicity as well, the people behind the companies.

00:42:31.260 --> 00:42:33.020

Beyondhood - NicoleYou sound very professional right there.

00:42:34.080 --> 00:42:37.180

Beyondhood - NicoleTalk about that, which is good because there's a lot of your expertise.

00:42:37.500 --> 00:42:44.540

Beyondhood - NicoleI know you then ended your PR career when you retired, when you were 68.

00:42:45.180 --> 00:42:51.720

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd now we want to talk about your career, how you work up and created the famous award.

00:42:52.240 --> 00:42:56.680

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd I want to dive into another important aspect of your life, relationship.

00:42:57.100 --> 00:42:59.040

Beyondhood - NicoleI want to go back to your sons.

00:42:59.060 --> 00:43:01.840

Beyondhood - NicoleSo you had your sons when you were 40.

00:43:01.840 --> 00:43:04.260

Liz B:That was the result of a one-night stand.

00:43:04.700 --> 00:43:09.200

Liz B:I was 40 and I thought I'll never be pregnant again.

00:43:09.220 --> 00:43:10.460

Liz B:Yep, go ahead.

00:43:10.500 --> 00:43:13.460

Liz B:I didn't know it was a son at that stage.

00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:19.260

Beyondhood - NicoleHow would you describe your son or any story you would like to share?

00:43:20.140 --> 00:43:22.020

Liz B:My son is a delightful young man.

00:43:22.040 --> 00:43:23.780

Liz B:He's 35 now.

00:43:24.120 --> 00:43:28.480

Liz B:My daughter is like his younger mother because they're 16 years apart.

00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:36.600

Liz B:He went to French school when he was two years old, where he suddenly was immersed in the French language, poor thing.

00:43:36.620 --> 00:43:38.100

Liz B:He didn't know what had happened to him.

00:43:38.520 --> 00:43:46.780

Liz B:By the time he was nine, he spoke French absolutely fluently without an accent, but he hated it.

00:43:47.220 --> 00:43:48.320

Liz B:Absolutely hated it.

00:43:48.780 --> 00:43:54.980

Liz B:And I sent him to the same boarding school that my daughter had gone to as a prep school, which was a beautiful prep school.

00:43:55.100 --> 00:43:58.780

Liz B:And then he went on to Cranbrook in Kent, which is a grammar school.

00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:02.900

Liz B:It's one of the only remaining boarding grammar schools in England.

00:44:03.100 --> 00:44:13.200

Liz B:And he didn't enjoy that at all, but he sent himself to, when he left school after A levels, he sent himself to Carpentry School in North London.

00:44:13.220 --> 00:44:20.640

Liz B:And he found out all about the grants he could get and the builder's merchants paid for him to go.

00:44:20.660 --> 00:44:26.880

Liz B:And he did an HND in Carpentry and became a very good fine woodworker.

00:44:27.340 --> 00:44:33.900

Liz B:And he now works in property development for one of the biggest property companies on commercial buildings in London.

00:44:33.980 --> 00:44:35.100

Liz B:So I'm very proud of him.

00:44:35.120 --> 00:44:36.800

Liz B:He has a great sense of humor.

00:44:36.900 --> 00:44:42.500

Liz B:He's very loving and very funny, and I enjoy his company.

00:44:42.940 --> 00:44:45.600

Beyondhood - NicoleHow would you describe your daughter?

00:44:45.900 --> 00:44:52.320

Liz B:My daughter isn't hugely successful, so I'm incredibly proud of her because she was dyslexic as a child.

00:44:52.760 --> 00:45:01.940

Liz B:Because of the upbringing in Greece as well, she started behind other children here who had maybe had a year of nursery school or two years of nursery school before.

00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:05.600

Liz B:And she's now at the top of her profession in film.

00:45:06.060 --> 00:45:16.160

Liz B:She was an enchanting child, very delicate, very slim, very tiny, and very amusing, always amusing, like my son who has a great sense of humor.

00:45:16.720 --> 00:45:28.740

Liz B:And I just remember when she was very young and I was potty training her, and she was sitting on the loo in her nightie, she said, God up my nightie, rather than God almighty.

00:45:31.680 --> 00:45:33.320

Liz B:I keep reminding her about that.

00:45:33.340 --> 00:45:35.620

Liz B:She's a charming little girl.

00:45:35.720 --> 00:45:44.260

Beyondhood - NicoleWe touched base on your career, your relationship with your children, and now we're moving on to understanding more about your adulthood.

00:45:44.740 --> 00:45:50.800

Beyondhood - NicoleI understand that in 2005, it was a very roller coaster year for you.

00:45:51.280 --> 00:45:53.600

Beyondhood - NicoleWhat happened and how did you handle that year?

00:45:53.880 --> 00:45:58.260

Liz B:Well, in 2004, we were in South Africa at Christmas.

00:45:58.700 --> 00:46:00.920

Liz B:It was during the tsunami.

00:46:00.940 --> 00:46:10.840

Liz B:On the day of the tsunami, I found some lumps in my breast and diagnosed in South Africa almost immediately as breast cancer, which was quite shocking.

00:46:10.860 --> 00:46:16.560

Liz B:I had three lumps and we were attacked in South Africa as well by knife.

00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:25.980

Liz B:And my son-in-law was chased by one of the robbers with the knife, and they tried to take the baby, who was bae, in the pram.

00:46:26.380 --> 00:46:28.120

Liz B:They caught the robbers on the same day.

00:46:28.140 --> 00:46:31.460

Liz B:They were just two young boys, but it was very frightening.

00:46:31.720 --> 00:46:40.020

Liz B:And I'm not sure whether it's as a result of that or not, but my son-in-law was diagnosed with cancer that year in 2005.

00:46:40.280 --> 00:46:49.480

Liz B:My lover, who was a man who was married, but he was older than me, and I'd known him since my twenties, but I'd fallen in love with him the previous year.

00:46:50.120 --> 00:46:52.480

Liz B:He had a massive stroke and he died.

00:46:52.560 --> 00:46:58.380

Liz B:My son-in-law died and my mother died, and it was all within a twelve-month period.

00:46:58.480 --> 00:47:02.660

Liz B:So yes, it was one tragedy after another just hitting us.

00:47:02.940 --> 00:47:06.580

Beyondhood - NicoleHow did you deal with it that year, with so many close ones?

00:47:07.040 --> 00:47:15.140

Liz B:Yes, with difficulty, because I was still working, I was still running my own business, I still had my son to care for, because he was a teenager.

00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:17.660

Liz B:But you get through life.

00:47:17.680 --> 00:47:18.840

Liz B:If you have to, you do.

00:47:18.900 --> 00:47:19.900

Liz B:You just survive it.

00:47:20.060 --> 00:47:22.420

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd how did the breast cancer go with you?

00:47:22.540 --> 00:47:23.240

Liz B:That was fine.

00:47:23.260 --> 00:47:28.460

Liz B:I had a couple of operations, I had radiotherapy, I refused to have chemotherapy.

00:47:28.780 --> 00:47:35.080

Liz B:Touchwood, it's been almost 20 years now, 19 years, and I'm all clear.

00:47:35.220 --> 00:47:36.580

Beyondhood - NicoleOh good, that's good.

00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:39.100

Beyondhood - NicoleWhen did you first have a hard moment?

00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:43.520

Beyondhood - NicoleOh, I'm into my elderhood, I'm no longer a adult.

00:47:44.240 --> 00:47:45.960

Liz B:Definitely at my 60th birthday.

00:47:46.380 --> 00:47:48.240

Liz B:I thought 60, you know, 50.

00:47:48.500 --> 00:47:52.960

Liz B:When you look back at your 50s, when you're 60, you think that's a young woman.

00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:57.300

Liz B:When you're in 50s, you think you're middle-aged, you're, you know, getting on to being old.

00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:04.600

Liz B:But when you're in your 60s, you realize that 50 was young, and 60 is definitely, you can no longer say you're middle-aged.

00:48:05.300 --> 00:48:07.960

Liz B:You are definitely the beginning of an old person.

00:48:08.540 --> 00:48:10.280

Liz B:So yes, at my 60th birthday.

00:48:11.300 --> 00:48:16.740

Beyondhood - NicoleAfter you retired from PR, what did you start doing and what kept you moving?

00:48:16.760 --> 00:48:25.960

Liz B:I'm not 100% sure of the sequence of events, but I took a course of teaching yoga, which I did over three months.

00:48:25.960 --> 00:48:31.120

Liz B:Every weekend for three months, we took lessons and practice.

00:48:31.140 --> 00:48:34.120

Liz B:So I became a yoga teacher in 2014.

00:48:34.460 --> 00:48:36.720

Liz B:So I was still doing PR then.

00:48:36.820 --> 00:48:48.180

Liz B:And in 2016, I signed up for a degree course at university in creative writing, which I did in the evenings over four years.

00:48:48.360 --> 00:48:52.960

Liz B:So I graduated in 2020 with a first class degree.

00:48:53.240 --> 00:48:55.340

Liz B:I took up dog walking as well.

00:48:55.380 --> 00:49:00.820

Liz B:And I have been an Airbnb host since 2014.

00:49:00.820 --> 00:49:03.120

Liz B:I've got two studios that I rent out.

00:49:03.140 --> 00:49:05.660

Liz B:I've always had people staying in the studios.

00:49:05.680 --> 00:49:07.740

Liz B:So yes, I've got three jobs, really.

00:49:08.100 --> 00:49:09.820

Beyondhood - NicoleOh, so you sound more busy than I am.

00:49:10.680 --> 00:49:13.220

Beyondhood - NicoleYou have been keeping yourself active.

00:49:13.600 --> 00:49:17.420

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd how do you keep yourself in good spirit and good health now?

00:49:17.520 --> 00:49:18.520

Liz B:I love gardening.

00:49:18.740 --> 00:49:22.120

Liz B:And I will spend as much time outside as I possibly can.

00:49:22.140 --> 00:49:28.100

Liz B:I bike to the swimming pool nearly every day, which is a local swimming pool.

00:49:28.160 --> 00:49:31.320

Liz B:And I'll swim very fast for 20 minutes or so.

00:49:31.340 --> 00:49:35.440

Liz B:I walk the dogs maybe up to two hours a day.

00:49:35.660 --> 00:49:38.680

Liz B:Maybe not at the weekends, but during the working week.

00:49:38.940 --> 00:49:44.260

Liz B:I practice yoga, I teach twice a week, and I take one lesson of yoga a week.

00:49:44.280 --> 00:49:47.020

Liz B:I sometimes do Pilates, which I know you love.

00:49:47.420 --> 00:49:54.960

Liz B:I'm not very good at Pilates, and I had it injured my shoulder, so I had to stop on the equipment because of my arms.

00:49:54.980 --> 00:49:58.980

Liz B:Yeah, and swimming, walking, gardening, biking.

00:49:59.040 --> 00:50:01.820

Liz B:Been on quite a few treks, major treks.

00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:04.520

Liz B:One in China, one in Vietnam.

00:50:04.640 --> 00:50:05.740

Liz B:I did Machu Picchu.

00:50:07.480 --> 00:50:08.860

Liz B:Traveling, I love traveling.

00:50:09.100 --> 00:50:14.700

Beyondhood - NicoleHow have your relationships evolved in your life now, that you are coming into your elderhood?

00:50:14.880 --> 00:50:19.460

Liz B:I think I'm much more, well, I've always been independent.

00:50:20.140 --> 00:50:31.860

Liz B:My relationships are really only with my family and friends, obviously, but my friends, I've become far more selective about friendships I don't want to waste my time on.

00:50:31.940 --> 00:50:36.380

Liz B:People who bore me, or you don't have the same interests as me.

00:50:36.440 --> 00:50:44.100

Liz B:So I spend less time with people who are not in the family, and more time with very small circle of friends.

00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:54.940

Beyondhood - NicoleAs we come on to the end part of the recording, I always like to say, Beyondhood is where we go beyond elderhood.

00:50:55.140 --> 00:50:59.240

Beyondhood - NicoleSo I want to go deeper with you by looking beyond your elderhood.

00:51:00.100 --> 00:51:05.300

Beyondhood - NicoleWhat has been your biggest success in life looking back, and what are you most proud of?

00:51:05.360 --> 00:51:18.140

Liz B:Being independent and self-sufficient, that I have not relied on anybody else for financial support or support, that I've managed to do it on my own.

00:51:18.600 --> 00:51:28.320

Liz B:And that might well be as a result of my childhood, where we were made to be independent, because having our parents abroad.

00:51:28.340 --> 00:51:32.280

Liz B:Yes, I definitely feel that I deserve acknowledgement for that.

00:51:32.560 --> 00:51:32.940

Beyondhood - NicoleYes.

00:51:33.220 --> 00:51:39.420

Beyondhood - NicoleThis is a very good way of describing it, because you have been supporting yourself since you were 17.

00:51:40.040 --> 00:51:41.960

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd that has been a long way to come.

00:51:42.620 --> 00:51:44.940

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd what has been your biggest challenge in life?

00:51:45.140 --> 00:51:46.000

Beyondhood - NicoleYou're looking back.

00:51:46.020 --> 00:51:47.700

Liz B:Bringing up the children on my own.

00:51:47.820 --> 00:51:49.060

Liz B:I think that's a big challenge.

00:51:49.080 --> 00:52:06.080

Liz B:Or just bringing, whether it was on my own or with somebody, which it wasn't, but bringing up children who then become, you become proud of as people and like as people and admire as people, rather than spoiling them.

00:52:06.100 --> 00:52:10.580

Liz B:Or I taught both my children to be very self-sufficient as well.

00:52:11.400 --> 00:52:14.280

Liz B:And neither of them rely on me in any...

00:52:14.780 --> 00:52:19.120

Liz B:In fact, my daughter is very supportive now because she's in a position to be.

00:52:19.140 --> 00:52:22.200

Liz B:I think bringing up the children was the biggest challenge.

00:52:22.420 --> 00:52:23.860

Beyondhood - NicoleIt's not easy to bring up children now.

00:52:24.880 --> 00:52:27.220

Beyondhood - NicoleFavorite stage of life and why is that?

00:52:27.300 --> 00:52:28.460

Liz B:I think in my 50s.

00:52:28.860 --> 00:52:34.140

Liz B:Despite the tragedies in that terrible year, I felt very confident.

00:52:34.240 --> 00:52:36.140

Liz B:I was pretty successful.

00:52:36.540 --> 00:52:38.600

Liz B:I looked quite good.

00:52:38.620 --> 00:52:40.280

Liz B:I was at my best physically.

00:52:40.640 --> 00:52:42.280

Liz B:I think definitely my 50s.

00:52:43.420 --> 00:52:48.100

Beyondhood - NicoleThe coming three question I always ask is that, what do you think of death?

00:52:48.400 --> 00:52:50.000

Beyondhood - NicoleDo you believe in an afterlife?

00:52:50.400 --> 00:52:52.080

Liz B:I try not to think about death.

00:52:53.700 --> 00:52:55.540

Liz B:I don't believe in an afterlife.

00:52:55.560 --> 00:53:02.800

Liz B:And I hope that I'm not reincarnated as anything, because I'll probably come back as a lizard or an ant or something horrible.

00:53:03.260 --> 00:53:04.380

Liz B:I think it just ends.

00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:07.680

Beyondhood - NicoleDo you have any regret in life and what it is?

00:53:08.040 --> 00:53:12.060

Liz B:Yes, I didn't value my self-worth.

00:53:12.140 --> 00:53:23.740

Liz B:I didn't have enough self-respect to say no, maybe to men for a start, to say I'm better than that, or I deserve more respect.

00:53:23.740 --> 00:53:32.380

Liz B:And that's the advice I would give to other people too, is to value your own worth and to have self-respect.

00:53:32.500 --> 00:53:34.000

Liz B:I think I lacked that.

00:53:34.020 --> 00:53:37.200

Beyondhood - NicoleThis is the advice you would give and share with the younger generation.

00:53:37.220 --> 00:53:38.060

Liz B:Yes, definitely.

00:53:38.140 --> 00:53:39.180

Liz B:Value yourself.

00:53:39.260 --> 00:53:40.660

Liz B:Value what you have to give.

00:53:40.860 --> 00:53:43.280

Beyondhood - NicoleFinally, what do you look forward to?

00:53:43.300 --> 00:53:45.360

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd we mentioned about traveling before.

00:53:45.760 --> 00:53:46.840

Beyondhood - NicoleAnd what is next for you?

00:53:47.140 --> 00:53:47.720

Liz B:Greece.

00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:54.080

Liz B:And we're going to a Greek island in August with my daughter and my granddaughter, who's a real beauty.

00:53:54.940 --> 00:53:58.180

Liz B:And a friend of my daughter and my granddaughter's boyfriend.

00:53:58.440 --> 00:54:01.160

Liz B:I'm looking forward to the summer, to the sunshine.

00:54:01.180 --> 00:54:11.300

Liz B:I'm looking forward to being out in the garden, to seeing my good friends, Donald and Claudio, and eating alfresco, swimming outdoors.

00:54:11.660 --> 00:54:15.340

Beyondhood - NicoleIs there any next project that you're looking forward to do now?

00:54:15.380 --> 00:54:17.320

Liz B:Probably going to do a friend's garden.

00:54:17.340 --> 00:54:21.640

Liz B:I've just designed my daughter's garden, and I upkeep that.

00:54:22.140 --> 00:54:30.780

Liz B:Which is why the house is so full of flowers, because she sends me flowers every two weeks as a thank you for doing her garden, rather than paying me.

00:54:31.080 --> 00:54:32.260

Liz B:So I do her garden.

00:54:32.280 --> 00:54:35.720

Liz B:And a friend I had over last night has asked me to do her garden.

00:54:35.760 --> 00:54:37.620

Liz B:So yeah, there's another project.

00:54:37.740 --> 00:54:39.680

Beyondhood - NicoleSo your next project could be new gardening.

00:54:40.280 --> 00:54:41.740

Beyondhood - NicoleYou could have a new gardener.

00:54:41.760 --> 00:54:44.540

Liz B:I did take a gardening course recently online.

00:54:44.640 --> 00:54:47.560

Liz B:And I also learned to play bridge five years ago.

00:54:47.580 --> 00:54:51.020

Liz B:So we had to play bridge with friends once a week.

00:54:51.060 --> 00:54:53.860

Beyondhood - NicoleWell, that's come to an end of our episode.

00:54:53.880 --> 00:54:55.160

Beyondhood - NicoleThank you, Liz.

00:54:55.180 --> 00:54:55.840

Liz B:Thank you, Nicole.

00:54:55.860 --> 00:54:56.860

Liz B:It's been a great pleasure.

00:54:58.320 --> 00:54:58.920

Beyondhood - NicoleThank you.

00:54:59.520 --> 00:55:04.420

Beyondhood - NicoleBefore you leave, if you love this episode, please stay tuned for our next one.

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:11.360

Beyondhood - NicoleIf you haven't done so, please follow Beyondhood in your favorite podcast listening app.

00:55:12.160 --> 00:55:17.140

Beyondhood - NicoleOr you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

00:55:17.760 --> 00:55:25.100

Beyondhood - NicoleIf you found this conversation inspirational or interesting or fallible, chances are you did.

00:55:25.540 --> 00:55:31.720

Beyondhood - NicoleSince you're still listening, would you do me a personal favor, a six-second favor?

00:55:32.240 --> 00:55:36.560

Beyondhood - NicoleShare it on your social, email or tell a friend.

00:55:37.180 --> 00:55:53.040

Beyondhood - NicoleTell a person you know who can benefit from this conversation, who you think will be inspired by our Beyonder, who is navigating how to age with grace and motivation so that they can join and be part of our mission.

00:55:53.060 --> 00:55:55.320

Beyondhood - NicoleYou guys can discuss.

00:55:56.120 --> 00:56:00.820

Beyondhood - NicoleWhen a podcast becomes a chat, a chat becomes an action.

00:56:01.500 --> 00:56:08.340

Beyondhood - NicoleThen we're closer to create an intergenerational community through one chat at a time.

00:56:09.400 --> 00:56:21.200

Beyondhood - NicoleLastly, if you love this episode, please support by being a member of the podcast so that I can keep looking for new Beyonder and continue this show.