MY YORKSHIRE Hannah French
Leeds-born Hannah French is a BBC Radio 3 presenter and a regular commentator of The Proms. She is a writer, an academic and studied baroque flute at the Royal Academy of Music before completing her PhD at the University of Leeds.
What’s your first Yorkshire memory?
A visit to Kirkgate Market, in Leeds, when I was around two-and-a half-years old. I used to go every Tuesday, with my grandma, and I can remember being very frightened at all the noise, with the traders shouting about their wares and products. On one particular day, we were there specifically to buy some goldfish, and I only learned the reason later – it was to divert my attention from the fact that mum was in hospital, giving birth to my brother. Quite why I couldn’t be taken along to meet him for the first time has never really been fully explained to me.
What’s your favourite part of the county?
The Dales. I always feel so much better for being there – I am told that, on the night that I was born in the Airedale Hospital, it was snowing outside, and that has always made me feel very romantic about the whole area. But then, what’s not to love about the dry stone walls, the sheep, the winding roads, the lovely pubs, and all that fresh air?
What’s your idea of a perfect day out in Yorkshire?
A day at the coast, and a visit to Whitby Abbey, to listen to their excellent audio guide as we wander around the grounds, some fish and chips, of course, then over to Middleham Castle, where I’ll be surrounded by the sound of the horses racing past, a long lunch at the Wensleydale Heifer, a diversion to Aysgarth Falls, and then a visit to the Wensleydale Creamery.
Do you have a favourite walk – or view?
It’s a very special one – down the aisle of All Saints’ Church, on the Harewood estate. That sacred space amid the trees, past all those beautiful alabaster tombs, and with the light flooding in through the stained-glass windows. It was the last full walk that I did before I had to use a wheelchair [Hannah has a genetic condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome] and on my wedding day. I was absolutely determined to make it, and sadly my father was too ill at the time to help me. So, I did it alone – a bit wobbly, but I made it, clutching my bouquet so hard that my knuckles must have been chalk white.
Which Yorkshire sportsperson would you like to take for lunch?
A namesake – Hannah Cockcroft. It’ll be the Two Hannahs for lunch, a bit like the Two Ronnies. I’d love to know what drives her, how she got into sport, where she finds her confidence and strength.
What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?
The people, without a shadow of doubt. Honest, direct, direct communicators with a straight answer, and, very often, blessed with a passion for music. I know a lot of them who, like me, could sing before they could talk. You can take the girl out of Yorkshire, but you can never take Yorkshire out of the girl.
If you had to name your Yorkshire ‘hidden gem’, what would it be?
It’s one that is “hidden in plain sight”, and it is the City of Wakefield. That wonderful cathedral, the nearby Sculpture Park, The Hepworth Gallery and The Art House opposite the station. Who’d want anything more?
If you could own, or have access to, one thing in Yorkshire for a single day, what would that object or place be?
Give me a hairy pony, the entire run of Ilkley Moor, a visit to the Cow and Calf, and a run back home running against the wind as I hold on for dear life, and I would be in my seventh heaven.
Which Yorkshire stage or screen star would you like to take for dinner?
Sir Michael Palin, who I regard as the ultimate storyteller, Yorkshire’s male version of Scheherazade.
Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?
The Black Swan, in Oldstead, which is right on the edge of the North York Moors, and which never fails to make a meal that very, very special occasion.
Do you have a favourite food shop?
Stick me in the middle of the “Rhubarb Triangle”, and I’d never want for more. I love the stuff. So, any farm shop or retailer that sells rhubarb jam, or chutney, or juice, or pickle, in whatever
form – anything – has my undying admiration and love.
How do you think that Yorkshire has changed?
I get back up as often as I can, and I always love going to York for the Early Music Festival. There have been changes, but somehow it’s also, in a very strange way, timeless. Leeds was where I grew up, and back then, it was such a dirty city. Now it has been cleaned up, and so many beautiful buildings have been restored.
Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?
The late, and very much-missed Dame Fanny Waterman, the powerhouse behind the Leeds International Piano Competition.
Has Yorkshire influenced your work?
Most definitely. Just one of the reasons is that I’ve never had to modulate my voice, I’ve always had a “soft” and very slight accent. But I can remember being told at one point how useful that might be to me in later years, and they said, “Don’t worry, your voice will get you a job one day”, and it did!
Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.
“The Barnsley Nightingale”, our very own Kate Rusby. We lived in Toronto for a while, and one day, I heard her singing the track My Young Man, in an arrangement with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band on the radio. It immediately pulled me back, and made me think about all sorts of things – a school trip to the National Coal Mining Museum among them, a place where I burst into floods of tears when I thought what all those men had gone through.
Hannah French presents The Early Music Show, BBC Radio 3, live from the National Centre for Early Music, in York, on Sunday July 9