The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Lorraine KeLLy, 56, is best known for hosting numerous television programmes, including Daybreak and Lorraine. She lives in Dundee with her husband, Stevie, a TV cameraman, with whom she has a 21-year-old daughter, rosie.

Never keep something ‘for best’ — enjoy it every day

I CoME from a long line of very strong women, and my grandmother — a real larger- than- life character — always taught me that you should ‘never keep something for best’.

All too often, if we’re given a lovely gift, we put it away, to save it for a special occasion. But my granny, bless her, thought that was a big mistake, because, as she always told me: ‘ Every day is best!’

And she’s right. If you’re lucky enough to be given a beautiful scarf or a bottle of perfume, don’t just put it away in the wardrobe or the chest of drawers and leave it there. When I turned 50, I was given a stunning giant Jo Malone candle by my best friend Joyce (whom I’ve known since I was 12), and it was so gorgeous that part of me wanted to put it away for safe-keeping.

But, at the same time, I could hear my maternal grandmother Margaret’s voice saying ‘Don’t keep it for best, lassie! Use it and enjoy it!’

So, as soon as I’d opened my present, I lit it. The smell was lovely — basil, lime and mandarin. It lasted for ages, and whenever I lit it and caught a whiff of the scent, it reminded me of Christmas and happy times — and made me realise that Grandma Margaret was right.

I’ll always remember the time I gave her a bottle of her favourite Tweed perfume as a present when I was eight. Some people might have kept it in its box for months on end, but she opened it straight away and dabbed it on.

‘Are you going somewhere today?’ I asked. ‘No, I’m going to take the bins out — but it doesn’t matter!’ she replied. And I just love that attitude.

I think we’ve all been guilty at some time of receiving presents and never getting to use them. I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s been given a box of chocolates and put them away somewhere, only to come across them again months later and discover that they’re way past their best before date.

While it’s been more than 20 years since my grandmother died of cancer, I’ve never forgotten the life lesson she passed on to me all those years ago.

Lorraine: Living To The Max (with Maxine Jones) is out now on DVD.