ANGELLICA BELL: DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

Ever find yourself scrolling social media and feeling a bit rubbish? Perhaps take a leaf out of Angellica Bell’s book.

“I haven’t had Facebook for years, I rarely look at Twitter. Also, unfollowing people that don’t make you feel good. You’ve just got to be a bit ruthless,” says the TV and radio presenter, 45.

Putting these boundaries in place has been a conscious choice, largely because she didn’t want to be “wasting time”, explains Bell, who is as lively and lovely on the phone as she is on TV. She has other things to be doing. “I want to start crocheting; my gran taught me to crochet when I was little, so I bought a crochet stick and I want to do that. Also books – I’ve got books by my bed that I want to read, and I want to learn how to roller-skate.

“If you lose yourself on Twitter, the next thing an hour’s gone. And I don’t want to be one of those people – I’ve had friends pass away young – I don’t want to get to a point at the end of my life where I think, ‘Oh I wish I’d done that; I wish I’d spent less time scrolling on Twitter’.

“I think the moment counts so much,” she adds. “And you can’t get that time back.”

Born and raised in West London, Bell studied politics before making her way into TV, becoming a household name in the early-Noughties on CBBC. More recently, she’s been co-hosting The Martin Lewis Money Show and The One Show, and won Celebrity MasterChef in 2017. Bell, who is married to fellow former CBBC presenter Michael Underwood (now a school teacher) with whom she has two kids, has also ventured into podcasts and recently recorded a new series of Rewirement.

As the name suggests, it’s all about reframing retirement and sees Bell chat with a range of guests, including experts on topics like financial planning and health, as well as people who’ve embraced opportunities to retrain, relocate or restart later in life.

And while Rewirement has a focus on embracing opportunity and taking hold of the reins, Bell acknowledges we can’t always plan for everything – illness, bereavement, job loss – they can all strike without warning. “You just don’t know what’s going to happen, and that’s a little bit scary, but that’s life, isn’t it? You’ve got to roll with it, jump over the hurdles as they come.”

Something the pandemic has perhaps prompted us all to think about? “Exactly,” says Bell. “[It’s about] adapting and making things work best for you. And thinking about your mental health and how to function, and how to get the most out of life when there’s a situation you can’t control.”