It’s rare in these media savvy days for a journalist to get to talk to anyone in the public eye without a minder, such as an agent, or PR manager – in some cases both and on rare occasions there’s even a bodyguard as well. Such extra company is not conducive to a one-on-one chat.
So it is always a great relief to ring the doorbell of Judith Chalmers’ comfortable, lived-in house in north London to find her multitasking and immediately putting the kettle on.
The hardest part of the interview is finding a time when Judy is at home – for anyone who might have thought that life was a little less frantic after Wish You Were Here? could not be more wrong. The pace at which Judy and her husband Neil Durden-Smith live is both admirable and frightening.
On a kitchen table is a magazine with a recent mother and daughter interview Judy and her daughter Emma had done. Judy exclaims that she looks pretty good in the photo – she does – “It must be the airbrushing,” she laughs. Many celebrities would whisk such a comment out of the transcript, but here is Judy’s appeal. What you see is what you get, and that is why after so many years on television, millions of viewers still want to see her. She is still associated with travel in the British public eye.
“I think people thought that when Wish You Were Here? finished I wasn’t on the screen so much. But I’m still very much around. I’ve been doing travel pieces for Breakfast News, I go on This Morning from time to time and I have been on the Des & Mel Show, Paul O’Grady Show and also Channel 4 where I often talk about changing holiday tendencies. It was all package holiday stuff when we started Wish You Were Here? and now independent travelling, the increase in cruising, flexibility of travel and the cheap air flights have changed all that. So these days I’m asked by many different programmes to talk generally about travel. It’s a large subject, so I swot up on the current situations before I do it. People still seem to think ‘travel’ and they think of me, which is very nice. Wish You Were Here? finished two years ago; but we had a re-presented series transmitted last year. The stories were as before, but freshly linked in new packages.”
Judy has always been someone to embrace new challenges and she is thrilled to be involved in the new BBC2 series, Castle in the Country, presented by John Craven and Nicki Chapman. So far the series has been filmed at Chatsworth in the Peak District and Glamis in Scotland. The latest series, which Judy filmed last summer, is based at Castle Howard in Yorkshire.
“It’s the story of Castle Howard and its treasures which John and Nicki explore. For example, there is a segment on a furniture maker who always carved a small mouse on his pieces – and John has a go at carving a mouse himself! I do at least one report in each of the 25 programmes in the new series. I’m looking at people, places and things that are the best in Yorkshire. It is marvellous! I have largely worked for ITV since 1972 and so it is good to be back with the Beeb as well.”
Judy’s last year has been a busy one – no surprise there – filled with family, charity and of course travel. “The year began in Cape Town with the family – daughter Emma and her husband Gordon with their children Charlie 7, Sam 4 and William who then was only 6 months old and son Mark and his new wife Rachel. It was just after Mark and Rachel’s wedding in Wales where Rachel’s parents had created a winter wonderland with some 150 snow-covered fir trees as part of the celebrations. In Cape Town Neil had rented a house in Constantia outside the city. Many of the houses there have pools, some have tennis courts but we were lucky to also have a trampoline set in concrete in the garden and a cricket net which provided great fun for all ages. “Sport played its part in January too, as it does in many months of our year I am glad to say. Neil has played in the Robert Sangster Pro Am Golf Tournament in Barbados for more than 20 years. Robert sadly died last year so this one was held in his memory. The Tournament takes place on the Old Nine at the fabulous Sandy Lane Hotel and happily is to continue in the Sangster name.”
Work commitments at home took up most of February but by March Judy was on the road again – off to America (and you can read about that on P. XX). Then it was on to New Zealand, a favourite destination for Judy and Neil. “We saw parts of the country I had not seen before in both the North and South Islands. Air New Zealand has always flown there via Los Angeles but now has a route from San Francisco to Auckland. We took advantage of this and travelled along the Pacific Highway from LA to San Francisco passing some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. But once in New Zealand we travelled extensively in a 4x4 through stunning countryside and mountainous regions including the Coromandel Peninsula with some pretty hairy roads. We stayed in some of the country’s luxury lodges in beautiful settings and had the pleasure too of staying with good friends along the way. We visited wineries where many serve excellent food to go with their superb wines. It was fantastic to drive from Christchurch all the way down to the bottom of the South Island including a visit to Stewart Island and finishing up at Bluff where the famous oysters come from. We had Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc and three dozen oysters, which was a great way to end our holiday.”
Not all Judy’s travel has been long haul. “I’ve had a few short hops too – to the Algarve in Portugal, to Ibiza for Nokia to launch a new mobile phone and to Edinburgh amongst them.
“I love Edinburgh; it is a great city, very cosmopolitan. I had dinner at The Dome which used to be the home of The Royal College of Surgeons of Scotland and then it was bought by The Royal Bank of Scotland. It has marbled pillars and beautiful stained glass windows. Now it’s a very, very buzzy restaurant with a nightclub below it which is popular with students at the university.
“At home I enjoyed a quintessentially English day at the Hampton Court Flower Show beside the River Thames. People were fishing, they were out on boats, there were families sitting on the banks having picnics and it was a glorious day – hot and sunny. A day like that is hard to beat anywhere in the world.
“We recently celebrated 30 years of Wish You Were Here?. When we started the programme in 1973 travel was not considered to be very high in the programme pecking order and originally we went under the Adult Education banner. After these 30 years the production team produced a video with some of the many highlights. It was shown at the party for our anniversary which was kindly hosted by The Carlton Tower in London. It was an amazing party with many old friends and colleagues from the travel industry – oh what a night! The video was also shown at the ABTA Convention in Florida where I was asked to speak about my years on that wonderful programme and while I was in Florida I filmed for Sky Travel.
“I opened new offices for The Department of Tourism in Doncaster where I also visited the controversially named Robin Hood Airport. I hosted an awards evening at The Space Centre in Leicester which was great fun amongst all the sputniks and rockets, travelled to Birmingham to the NEC to speak at the Destinations show which we also did at Olympia in London and I opened the first Saga Travel shop in Leicester. It’s a travel shop within a department store, which is totally accessible to the public for advice and the booking of holidays – a really good set up.
“On the charity side too it’s been a busy time. I am very much involved with The Lord’s Taverners Charity which aims to give children with special needs more of a sporting chance in life. The Lady Taverners, which was formed in 1987, is a fundraising arm of the charity and we were lucky enough to be involved with the launch of Cunard’s QM2 in Southampton. We were given the chance by one of our Lady Taverners, Lynn Narraway, to hold the first ever charity event on board the QM2 the night after the Queen had launched the ship. It raised £242,000 which was quite fantastic. We also had the Ashes Walk, which covered 1,000 miles, starting from the Hampshire Rose Bowl during the England v Australia 20/20 International and finishing three weeks later at Lord’s Cricket Ground on the morning of the first Ashes Test Match. The Lord’s Taverners President, Mike Gatting, led the walk which stopped at 20 venues on route. He was incredible and gave huge support to other walkers and the children with special needs who, in many places, came along as well. On the last day we also had the Lords to Lord’s walk from the House of Lords to Lord’s Cricket Ground with banners and rosettes.“We are fortunate to have many celebrities who support the charity; Jasper Carrot, Tom O’Connor, Terry Wogan and Sir Jeremy Hanley were just four who entertained us at the Annual Luncheon of the Middlesex Region of The Lord’s Taverners. The Lady Taverners’ President Rachel Heyhoe-Flint hosted a dinner in The Long Room at Lord’s with Terry Biddlecombe and his wife Henrietta Knight and in my annual Tribute Luncheon at The Dorchester we have acknowledged Dame Thora Hird, June Whitfield, Michael Parkinson, Jimmy Tarbuck, Sir John Mills, Chris Tarrant, Joan Collins and a couple of months ago, Dame Judi Dench.
“Another area where we raise money is on-board Silversea Cruises. They give us a donation for everyone who books through the charity and over the years we have been through the Mediterranean a couple of times, we’ve sailed from Mumbai to Dubai and from Vancouver to San Francisco via Alaska. The difference between The Lord’s and Lady Taverners charity and many other charities is that we are also a club and that club atmosphere is very much enjoyed on these cruises. The money raised has now bought five of our buses which help to give children with disadvantages and disabilities the chance to have the freedom which they would otherwise not have.”
From cruise ships to comedy, Judy has branched out on her TV appearances filming with French & Saunders and has enormous fun with Paul O’Grady on his hugely successful chat show. She has recently recorded five Through the Keyhole programmes with Sir David Frost. Her fellow panellists were the athlete Roger Black and TV’s Flog It star, Paul Martin. On one Des & Mel Show she was surprised to receive a present at the end of the programme. “They gave me a child’s pink wheelie suitcase in which I found a dress, a pair of trousers and a bra with the words ‘Here you are – you’re all ready for more of your travels!’.”
