WHAT I KNOW ABOUT WOMEN
RICHARD ARNOLD, 50, is Good Morning Britain’s entertainment editor and starred in the 2019 Strictly christmas Special. he lives in london with his partner, Stuart, and cockapoo clemmie.
MOTHERS TEACH YOU THE MEANING OF LOVE
It may be a cliché to say the woman who has influenced me most in life is my mother, Dot, 82, a retired retail manager, but it’s true. I grew up an only child. my late father, Dave, was a helicopter engineer.
We were an incredibly tight-knit family of three, but mum encouraged me to move out of our home in rural aberdeenshire when I was 17 to study law at Edinburgh University. She was determined I forge a sense of independence and new connections.
my father died three years ago and, as a family, we had a pact: when one died the other would move to London to be close to me. So, aged 79, mum did just that. She’s set a phenomenal example in love, the importance of family and loyalty.
Now I see her four times a week and we speak twice a day: straight after
I’ve finished filming for Good morning Britain and later in the evening after Neighbours (but before Emmerdale). Not many men my age have a mum who still knocks up a mean fry-up for them. I don’t take it for granted.
One particularly surreal moment when home and work collided happened a couple of years ago. I was trying on a top in a shop while mum waited outside the changing room.
When I emerged she was chatting to Dame Judi Dench as though they were old friends. Dame Judi said, ‘Hello Richard’ — I’d interviewed her many times on red carpets — then walked up to me, tweaked the cardigan and said, smiling, ‘It’s a little bit snug’. mum still chuckles at the story.
mum also set the bar for the women I surround myself with today. I have many female friends and have always had female bosses. Lorraine Kelly, Kate Garraway and Susanna Reid set the example for staying power on tV, resilience and taught me always to play the long game.
I turned 50 this year, a life marker Susanna calls ‘sniper’s alley’. She told me if you can survive from 48 to 60 on screen you should be able to make it to 80. It made me roar with laughter.
Here’s hoping.