Celebrity Interview - Alice Beer
Alice in contented land
Alice Beer Alice in contented land
ALICE BEER - THE IRREPRESSIBLE TELEVISION PRESENTER - GIVES ANNABEL MILNES-SMITH AN INSIGHT INTO HOW SHE HAS COPED WITH HER HIGH-FLYING CAREER WHILE LOOKING AFTER TWINS.
Within minutes of meeting Alice Beer in her beautiful house, in London's chic area of Fulham, I can fully understand how she has managed to remain at the top of her field while being a mother of two beautiful little girls.
For nearly two decades Alice has been one of "the faces" of prime time television, and has just completed writing a book titled A Contented House with Twins in conjunction with baby guru Gina Ford. It is based on her experiences of being a hands-on mother of twins. Where on earth does she get her energy from? I was intrigued to discover the secrets of success which have led to Alice's rapid rise to fame.
It appears Alice has, from a very early age, always had her feet firmly on the ground - but with a naughty streak thrown in. I asked her if this was influenced by her upbringing.
"My family were always the 'doing the right kind of thing people', playing by the rules. My parents are the sort of people that if they are in Harrods where there is a rule by which Mohammed Al Fayed says, 'Don't use your mobile phones in Harrods', they won't. Whereas I would think that if you want me to buy things in your shop, and if I want to use my mobile phone, I bloomin' well will! "I did all the things like the Brownies and the Girl Guides but I was always slightly naughtily rebellious, though not in a big way. I was the one playing practical jokes and teasing people, but not in a nasty way. I was a naughty Brownie, minxy Guide and cheeky Scout."
Where were you educated?
"I went to Rosary Priory Prep School and then on to the North London Collegiate School, which has now turned out to be the best girls' school in the country, in terms of academic results. I always get away with saying that, but at the time I probably wasn't the one boosting their results sky high, though it was a great school. I think school starts to prepare you for later life. It certainly gave me confidence. I am a really confident person and I can put on a show of it, even if I am not feeling like that inside."
What started your career in television?
"God knows! I went to university and studied English and then did a degree in English and education, so I was qualified to teach, but then realised, although my mother had been a teacher, it was just too much of a sacrifice. It was a real giving profession and I just thought there was something else out there for me. So I started writing for local papers and then fell into journalism. I then joined the BBC and did a production secretary course. My first placement was as a secretary on That's Life, where I used to get Esther Rantzen's breakfast for her every morning: an egg and cress sandwich, two milky teas and an apple. The same every day! "Esther was quite a fearsome woman but I learnt a hell of a lot from her. She was nice to me because she happened to go to the same school as I did. When you start from the same place you tend to have a mutual respect for each other. That was a fantastic learning curve. I then worked on Kilroy and ended up on Watchdog. I was learning from all these masters of television: Esther Rantzen, Gloria Hunniford, Robert Kilroy-Silk then Lynn Faulds-Wood and John Stapleton. They were masters of their craft; those were the days of campaigning, caring television. Then, of course, Anne Robinson joined Watchdog."
What was Anne Robinson like?
"Feisty, I think we can safely say. You would want to sit next to her at a dinner party because she is entertaining and intelligent. That, there is no question. She is also minxy. She's one of those people you can say, 'Oh, she's tricky in a studio because she must have her own lighting director, must have this make-up and she must have this, that or the other', but actually when you know what makes you look your best, why should you not have it and settle for less? You are broadcasting to millions of people and you think it's okay to look second best, but it's not. As I get older I realise that. We are not great mates but I like to think when we bump into each occasionally there is big affection there."
There obviously is, as - when Alice was seeing someone rather undesirable in Ann's eyes - she was going to put out a national appeal to find her a man! Needless to say Alice found her own, Paul Pascoe, who uncannily enough works within the media industry. "We were actually introduced by the celebrity doctor Mark Porter, who went to school with him."
What was your big break into television presenting?
"John Stapleton, who was then presenting Watchdog, when I was a researcher on the programme, said, 'We need someone to feed back the e-mails from live in the studio, so let's give that job to slack Alice.' I got the job. In the early days I was very nervous and very squeaky. Highly embarrassing."
However, needless to say Alice got the television bug from that moment onwards and burst onto our screens presenting on many other programmes including the Heaven and Earth show and Hot Property, as well as BBC London 94.9 Radio - and even an acting role alongside David Ginola! She has also witnessed, while being an adjudicator on a BBC programme, Leo Sayer (fleetingly seen on Big Brother in recent weeks) shooting past having had an altercation with a treadmill! "I just loved reporting the stories and got some amazing breaks. I don't think I ever pushed any doors open really hard, but I always say I am a really, really lucky person. Everything is brilliant. If anything is going to happen, it will happen to me.
"I always say I have a parking fairy. I can pull up outside Peter Jones in Sloane Square and there will be a place for me; if there is a ballot, and it is important, my name will come out of a hat. "I did honestly get some really lucky breaks, but I made the most of them through sheer hard work."
Alice then went on to present many programmes including Health Check. I wonder what advice she would give for keeping us journalists fit and well.
"Oh God, get out of journalism quickly and go into reverse. It is not a healthy profession. In fact this month I have set myself a challenge not to drink. You do not realise how many little social glasses you have. I am not a big drinker anyway, contrary to the recent coverage, before Christmas, of me falling over when I left the Comedy Awards." As a fellow journalist myself, I had read with intrigue these reports but, as everyone knows, journalists are always supposed to be unbiased until they hear it straight from the horse's mouth or, in this case, straight from probably one of the most successful television presenters this decade.
Alice explains, "It was down to a shoe fault, not an alcohol fault. Yes, I had had a couple of drinks, but I was not drunk. That evening I decided to go for a wacky outfit and went and bought something from Top Shop. I thought I looked great in it. I borrowed a pair of shoes from Patrick Cox that were amazing. However, I never let the fact that they were two sizes too big get in the way of a good outfit. So I stuffed them full of cotton wool and wore them to the British Comedy Awards. Halfway through the evening the cotton wool became so uncomfortable I took it out, leaving my feet slopping about on huge but very glamorous shoes. When I left the awards there were about 20 paparazzi, all tired and cold and waiting for the photo that would make them some money. They were flashing away at me for no particular reason; I turned around to have a word with someone and tripped where there was a traffic cone warning of an area of rough ground. My shoes came flying off, I ended up on my face, hugging the cone, and they ended up with a photo which made a good tabloid story.
"The following day I was in every single newspaper. A friend of mine even said I was in the South China Post, for goodness sake. How ludicrous! I could not believe it, and do maintain that if my surname was not Beer the media would not have given me so much coverage - such as 'Beer spills on the pavement after Comedy Awards'. It was such a good headline! That was the story. Nothing so juicy but I am not drinking for January."
On a more down to earth note, you have three-year-old twins. How do you cope with your career and that of being a hands-on mother?
"I have absolute switch off and am very strict. The first couple of years I did not want to let go of them at all and did not have much help. I was still working and my parents were looking after them during that time, but I felt completely downtrodden and too emotionally challenged, missing out on that family life. I now am able to sort of pick the jobs I want. Not saying that they are flying in left, right and centre, because I am not at that stage in my career. However, I can still write a decent piece and love it. I have written a book this year, which means I was able to stay at home and be with them. Now the work balance has been three days with the girls and two days working.
"I still try and work so that I don't have to travel too far away from home. I am lucky that I am well known enough for regular work to keep coming in and that in this profession it is nicely paid. I have had my time way up high in the spotlight. I have done every single slot there is, from daytime, breakfast time, evening, Saturday night prime-time and Sunday morning. I do not now have the hunger to fill the screen, but a hunger to satisfy myself and do an interesting job. As long as I am doing that and being with my girls, I am really happy."
Tell me more about your book, A Contented House with Twins, which was published recently?
"When I was pregnant I bought every single book I could find but none of them really related to twins. When they were born and it got to the two-month stage, I found it really hard to cope with them. It came to six o'clock every evening and they both cried through till 10 o'clock. I looked for a way to discover what was wrong and found it in the Gina Ford book. She enabled me to find a really good routine to get them into and our whole house slotted into this beautifully. Suddenly they were happy. I then decided to write a book about twins and contacted Gina. As I was helping her with her website, she kindly helped me with the book. She has an amazing talent with children and I had a form of writing that appealed to mothers in my situation."
Alice, without a doubt, leads an incredibly hectic lifestyle but still manages to spend much of her free time (what little she has of it!), supporting charities. "I am a patron of CLIC Sargent and they basically asked me if I could help in some way, which I thought refreshing, because there are many charities out there who just ask celebrities for great big cheques, but I would rather give my time, effort and energy. They support children who have leukaemia, in every way possible. I am so lucky that my children are fine, but you never know what the future holds. In this world you have to pay back. I would like to think that if I ever needed help like that, that there would be some charity like CLIC Sargent out there."
I also gather that you support royal causes?
"Yes, I support the Duke of Edinburgh Award. I was recently invited to Buckingham Palace. It was a bizarre situation. The charity received the Queen's charter so the Earl of Wessex, who runs it now, was asking his mother to give his father an award at the palace. It turned into a drinks party where the Queen was wandering around with a glass of angostura bitters greeting everyone. It was great fun. I love things like that in life."
The other charity which Alice has helped is my personal favourite, the Bob Champion Cancer Trust... "I met Bob Champion at a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Friends of mine supported it; that is how I got introduced. Obviously all our lives are touched by cancer so anything you can do to help is worthy. I lost a very dear friend of mine to cancer this year, aged 37, with three young children. You just think, there for the grace of God go I. I have had an enormous amount of fun with them, more than anything else. I love it when a charity says, 'Let's raise money but let's have a damn good time doing it.' Many an evening has been spent raising money for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust."
Have you ever been approached to star on one of the countless reality television programmes?
"I was recently asked to do Just the Two of Us. I told Paul about it and he let me finish before saying, 'Alice, there is one problem: you cannot sing.' This was a huge revelation in my life, because I always thought I could, from singing the loudest in church and in school assembly. Then, at the age of 41, I discover from my partner that I really cannot sing. What a cheek! Anyway I haven't done any reality programmes; at this rate it doesn't look like I am going to do any either!"
You obviously have to look the part on television. Who are your favourite designers?
"I am a real kind of mis-match. I have a Vivienne Westwood type of body; in other words, the right boobs and hips for her designs, which I love. At the moment, having turned the corner of 40, I will wear anything that I look half decent in. I basically go from High Street to designer, wearing well-cut outfits. I also love Armani."
Spain is renowned for its shopping. Have you spent much time there?
"My very first trip abroad was to Spain, and four years ago I was filming Hot Property there about selling property in the most beautiful areas. I simply loved it. However, due to my pregnancy with twins, I was told in no uncertain terms that the babies were coming out and I was no longer allowed to fly. So the filming ground to an abrupt halt. I then had the daunting task, having filmed the first half of four programmes, of calling up the producer to say that I could no longer continue. The whole of the production team were recalled and I was sent to bed for the remaining three months of my pregnancy. I have fond memories of my time in Spain though.
Having presented many holiday programmes, what is your favourite destination?
"Oh, I am torn at the moment. We went to the Maldives and stayed at Huvafen Fushi. It was unbelievable. I have never been anywhere like it. You arrive at the airport, take off your shoes and never see them again until you leave. I walked around the island one morning; it only took me 15 minutes. There were baby turtles, sting rays and baby sharks. We went swimming at night; the water was body temperature. It really is a luxury destination, with the most amazing spa I have ever, in my life, been to. It was the most healing experience and I have been very evangelical over it ever since. If only I could fly in those therapists and treatments once a month!"
On a more serious note, I was curious as to Alice's opinion, as a mother of twins, about the education system, especially as Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is now placing her child in private school...
"If we lived in the country I would undoubtedly be sending my children to small state schools but unfortunately we don't. I think it is a complete nightmare. All the private schools have mothers at their fingertips. They are running around trying to get their children into schools. To secure a place, you have to leave £500 deposits here, there and everywhere. I have been lucky. There is a school called Bute House where all the names go into a hat and it is the luck of the draw. Mine did and they are now enrolled."
What does the year ahead hold for you?
It's quite an exciting one. Normally my life is mapped out in front of me. In terms of work I have many interesting things. I am starting a blog on the Internet and consultancy work for the big retailers, because I am very interested in seeing the other side of problems that they have with the consumers. At the moment, I am trying various other slants to what I do, including keeping the television work going."
Alice obviously has the luck of the devil, in the nicest sense of the word, and an endless source of energy, despite being a hands-on mother of twins. In my eyes, she has to be one of the most delightful, refreshing, humorous and talented people I have interviewed recently and that is not even touching on her ability as a journalist and presenter. I was walking on air when I departed, and was still doing so when I flew back to my beloved Spain. Fairly worrying for the airline!
