2018 The year that was…
… awesome for some, and awful for others. Here, some of those who made the headlines tell of their highlights, heroes and d hopes
Tim Kite, Thai cave diver
When I first heard that 12 boys and their football coach had become stranded in a flooded Thai cave in June, I knew I wanted to help if I could. Diving is my passion, but more than that, the thought of those 12 little boys stranded in the cold, damp cave pulled at my heartstrings. I have a 10-year-old daughter, and I know if she was in danger like that and there was someone out there who could help, I’d want them to do anything they could.
When I told Millie I had booked my ticket, she said: “I’ll come with you, Daddy, I can hold your bag and help you.” She and my wife Tuk came along and helped support the volunteers, handing out bars of Millie’s homemade soap so that everyone could have a shower.
I joined the retired Thai Navy Seals and arrived at the site the day after one of their colleagues had died in the cave. They’d all been friends for years, so the atmosphere was solemn but also incredibly focused. We were particularly concerned about the youngest boy because his face was so small, the oxygen risked leaking out of the mask.
I was in the long line of people in the second chamber in the cave, passing equipment, stretchers, and eventually the boys out, one by one. We were there for five days. Right at the end, we had a shout on the radio that everyone had to get out quickly because one of the main pumps had packed up. In 20 minutes the water level rose 50cm. A couple of hours earlier and it would have been a very different story. I’m just so glad the boys all got out safely. It’s certainly the biggest thing I’ve ever done, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Peter Stanford, recalling the heatwave
Conventional wisdom was spectacularly turned on its head by the summer heatwave of 2018. Usually, as soon as a few warm days tempt us in to talking about our beaches rivalling the Mediterranean’s, the clouds open and drown our optimism. So, like Tomasz Schafernaker and everyone else reporting on the national obsession that is our weather, I spent June and July’s weekly columns in this paper detailing the temperature records being broken as fast as politicians’ promises – but also adding a warning: yes, it is all looking great at the moment, but don’t expect it to last.
Mea culpa. Last it did. All through June, July and into August, so much so that it has gone down in Met Office records as the hottest ever summer in England, with a daily average at 63F (17.2C), peaking at 95.54F (35.3C) at Faversham in Kent. The primary cause, in meteorological terms, was the position of the jet stream; a normally slippery, twisty air current that ducks and dives around the UK, but this summer stayed firmly, steadily and unusually to our north, sucking in hot air from the equator. But scientists would draw a bigger picture and point to the impact of climate change.
And while there were other downsides – record summer admissions in A&Es and devastating wildfires on Saddleworth Moor – for a whole new generation of Brits who had missed the legendary y heatwave of 1976, here, finally, was a chance to sample those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.
Jordan Pickford, Evertonerton and England goalkeepereper
The World Cup was an incredible credible time for the whole country. ry. Gareth Southgate put a lot of faith h in me. I’m grateful that I got my chance nce and I hope I managed to take it. t.
Obviously, the last-16 match against Colombia was really memorable, morable, with the way the game went ent and the way the crowd was. The penalty save was crucial – I needed to make it at that stage in the shoot-out. t. It was a great moment and I’m glad ad it gave the supporters a big smile. e. I hope there will be a lot more moments like that in the future. While it’s t’s been a really good year, looking back, my mindset is always to look forward and keep learning, so now it’s s all about kicking on and getting better. etter.
Jess Mills, rememberingringg her mother, Dame Tessa Jowell
If I focused on what my family amily has lost this year, I’m not sure I’d be able to get out of bed in the morning. g. But when I think about what we have e experienced since my incredible mum m died from a brain tumour in May, I feel el endlessly grateful for what she was able to give, not just to us, the people who loved her beyond description, but to so many others beyond our family. She never thought about her illness as a problem – rather, that it had given her a portal into the world of cancer treatment, and there was no way she was going to waste the opportunity to speak out and make a difference.
The only time I saw her cry was when she had just been to one of her radiotherapy appointments. We were starting to get some really promising, hopeful advice from people recommending alternative treatments, but she was in floods of tears because she’d realised that the other people in the waiting room, all with the same illness, didn’t necessarily have equal chances. From that moment on she was determined to reform cancer care.
Her bravery in the face of it all astonishes me still. When she stood in the House of Lords and spoke with her trademark warmth and clarity (despite the cancer, which by that point was progressing at a terrifying rate), she quoted Seamus Heaney, telling her colleagues she was “not afraid”, that she had “such great hope”. It was how she lived her life, the one we were privileged to share with her: fearlessly, hopefully, and filled with love. To say I’m proud of my mum, my hero, doesn’t even cover it.
Rachel Shenton, Oscar-winningg writer of The Silent Child
I couldn’t have wished for a better year. I remember standing there, holding the Oscar after delivering my Names in the news: a triumphant Geraint Thomas, left, with (clockwise from top left) Claire Ptak, Tessa Jowell, Carrie Gracie, Chris Evans, Luciana Berger, Sarah, Duchess of York, Tomasz Schafernaker, Maisie Sly with Rachel Shenton, and Jordan Pickford speech [in British Sign Language, as a promise to the film’s six-year-old star, Maisie Sly], thinking: “Jesus Christ, what is happening? And I really hope my signs were OK.” Those Oscars are pretty heavy, too! We now have a feature film in development, as well as a couple of other exciting projects. We feel very lucky, and if 2019 is half as good as this year, I’ll be grateful.
Chris Evans, former Radio 2 Breakfast Show presenter
2018 was a big year for me, with the arrival of two new mini Evans [twins Boo and Walt were born in September] and deciding to leave the BBC, but 2019 is shaping up to be pretty awesome, too. I’m heading to the Strictly dance floor and I will be back on air at breakfast time on Virgin Radio from January 21. I can’t wait to get started. I’m taking the old team with me, we are on for an extra half-hour every morning and, thanks to Sky, we have an ad-break free show.
Sarah, Duchess of York
I have been blessed in 2018. My daughter, Eugenie, married the perfect man on the most perfect day in October, and I truly feel that I
have gained a son in Jack. The charity I founded a quarter of a century ago, Children in Crisis, merged with Street Child, and together we can do even more to address the scandal of 121 million children around the world not getting the chance of an education.
I will never forget the trip I made with Street Child this year to one of the poorest parts of Nepal, where all the children were asking for was a chance to go to school. Now Street Child is building one, and every pound donated by the public between now and February 21 will be doubled by the Government (street-child.co.uk/count-me-in/).
In 2019, I hope above all else that the York family remains happy, healthy and united. As I go into my 60th year, I want to keep on challenging myself, so I am also thinking about taking up my old helicopter licence – I want to take to the sky again.
Carrie Gracie, BBC news presenter
It was a 2018 highlight to get equal pay at the BBC and to watch other women win cases at tribunal – special mention to chef Kay Collins who won her case against Compass, and to Sam Walker who won hers against the Co-op. It takes courage and determination to bring a case against a powerful, lawyered-up employer and the women who do it are giving up their own time, energy and financial security to make the workplace more equal for the rest of us. I salute them.
Another highlight was the introduction of mandatory gender pay gap reporting. It’s not a one-stop solution for women but I’m looking forward to progress when we see the next round of figures in spring 2019.
Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France
Last year was amazing: to win the Critérium du Dauphiné and then to head to France and win the Tour – the race I watched as a kid – was the stuff of dreams.
I’m still hungry to race hard, still determined to keep improving and still excited about winning some big races in 2019. The Crown
Peter Morgan, creator of The Crown
There is a crackpot conspiracy theory called the phantom time hypothesis that claims that, because of a numerological conspiracy by the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, a huge chunk of the early Middle Ages did not actually exist. So delirious were the events of this year – Skripal, Trump, the outbreak of clinical insanity within the political class at home – that
I’m half-convinced 2018 was all an elaborate fabrication.
As for 2019, I am equally excited and terrified about what the new year will bring. I imagine I’ll spend a lot of it agonising over whether audiences will embrace our new cast. Thankfully, we have the phenomenal Olivia Colman as our slightly older Queen, leading a company of brilliant British actors.
Luciana Berger MP, anti-Semitism campaigner
I’m most proud of standing up to anti-Semitism – addressing the demonstration of a few thousand people outside the House of Commons in Parliament Square in February, speaking in Parliament in the anti-Semitism debate in March and seeing the fifth and sixth people convicted for their anti-Semitic abuse and death threats directed against me. I have also not held back from challenging anti-Semitism emanating within my own party. My goal for 2019 is to never be a bystander. I want to work towards fixing our broken politics by always standing up for what is right and demanding better.
Claire Ptak, royal wedding cake-maker, Violet Cakes
I have never before been in a situation where you are being congratulated constantly for something you haven’t done yet, but that was how it felt in the lead up to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding. Anything can go wrong with a wedding cake up to the last moment, so it was pretty nerve-racking.
We made the cakes in the Buckingham Palace kitchens and then took them to Windsor Castle to assemble, while the ceremony was still going on in St George’s Chapel. It was just wonderful to feel you were really part of it all. Working with the couple themselves was pretty special, but I have to admit I was pinching myself that morning standing in the castle, actually decorating the cake. Back home at our bakery in Hackney, our customers were celebrating at a big street party; I think they felt a sense of pride on our behalf.