Watts Happening

Sasha grew up in Sarajevo. She and I listened to the same music. But while I watched the Bosnian war on TV, Sasha was living through it.

It's been an honour and privilege to tell the stories that feature in the award winning podcast, Sharing Plate. It's been a labour of love for Lara Bishop and I and we're incredibly proud to have been recognised at the International Women's Podcast Awards.

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The dishes in Sasha's award winning Sharing Plate range from cornflakes to a full fat filo breakfast pie. Like the filo pastry, the stories stretch: from teenage innocence to an ice-cream outing that was anything but vanilla. Sasha's not a fan of cooking for one, but served up two amazing dishes for Lara. They were so good, Lara's already booked her seat at the table for the annual bean stew.

Please be advised that this podcast contains an F-bomb, farts and a firsthand account of life in a war zone.




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Shortlisted in the Moment of Raw Emotion category at the International Women's Podcast Awards: Saoud's Hot Tomatoes.

It's as much a surprise to Saoud that he's preparing a meal, as it is to Lara. He's not a natural in the kitchen, but his Mum is always on hand to remotely guide him through the tricky world of recipes and cooking.




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Big news Disco fans! Odyssey is releasing new music next year.
Here's a taste of what's to come as the last remaining original member of the band, Steven Collazo, shares how special it is to be working on his late Mum's songs and creating new sounds for their disco fans.


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Not a nutter and not going quietly, Laurie Russell is a familiar sight zooming around Clacton, on his mobility scooter with a coffin in tow.


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Fun and friendship on holiday in rural India, the outtakes from Suzi Perry's Tiger Tales.


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Suzi Perry swapped the roar of the bikes for a roar of a different kind during the MotoGP off-season. After a year which saw the TV presenter miss three races due to a debilitating illness, the self styled Catwoman signed up for a winter tiger safari and yoga retreat in rural India.

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A week of wonder as yoga and tigers take centre stage at Shergarh camp in India. Hosted by Jehan and Katie, Melanie Castleman and the tigers of Kanha this was the first retreat of its kind and it was a big hit. Here's why:

Retirement means different things to different people. Take recently retired sprinter, Dwain Chambers for example. Rather than taking up gardening, he's been learning about guarding. His head mainly. Retirement for him is an opportunity to accept new challenges, like a charity boxing match. My advice: "duck, dance and don't get hurt."

When I mentioned that I was going to Do Wales, all my friends (bar one) replied: “What’s that?”

The one friend who didn’t respond with “what’s that?” Simply said: “What? All of it? You’re going to be a busy girl.”

And I was.
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Want to be inspired? Here's the inside story of how the Adaptive Grand Slammers took on the highest summit outside of the Himalayas.



No excuses, just one foot in front of the other, as Martin Hewitt, Terry Byrne, Jaco Van Gass, Matt Nyman, Kelda Wood, Del Spry, Sean Winder and Jake Gardner take on the fourth mountain in the Adaptive Grand Slam series.

#7peaks2poles
#NextStopEverest

Produced by Watts Where Media for Adaptive Grand Slam.

With the closing ceremony to Rio 2016 looming, the question in my mind was what on earth am I going to do now that wall to wall live sport is ending?

The four yearly fix of physical feats: of how do they do that? He/she is amazing, I wish I could pedal that fast, left me determined to try a new sport. So I did my research and set off on Sunday with my long suffering nephew, Kieran, in tow.

With cameras and microphones packed, we were Wivenhoe bound for the annual crabbing competition.


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As retirement from international competition looms for 100m sprinter Dwain Chambers, he's preparing for the day that he hangs up his competition spikes.


Chambers is building a business as an elite performance trainer to professional men and women, in the belief that if you're strong in the gym you'll be strong in the boardroom.

Witham marked the 100th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme with a Drumhead Service. Essex Army Cadet Force Corps of Drums led a march through the town and the Essex Yeomanry Band played at the service. Reverend Sally Lodge, Councillor Bill Rose and The Right Honourable Priti Patel MP took part in the commemoration.


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6 years ago Clare Bond was training for the Great Manchester Run while on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Phil Jones and I went along to film a preview with her for the BBC. With the feature edited and delivered, our plan was to interview Clare during the 10km run and get an update from the course. Little did we know, what would happen next. Over to Steve Cram to pick up the story...



Clare did get the result she wanted. She traded her running shoes for a bicycle and five years on qualified for the British Transplant Games cycling team. We marked her selection and the five year transplant anniversary with a photo-shoot.

I've been working on a fantastic project for Old Mutual Wealth, profiling members of the Help for Heroes cricket team and hearing how sport is changing lives. Here's Soldier Poet, Lee James' story:


Lee's teammate, Barrie Griffiths shares the value in using sport as part of a recovery programme at Tedworth House:



Now meet the rest of the team who present a specially commissioned poem, written by Lee James.

Picture this:
Postponed Christmas dinner (in January) due to international jet set lifestyles.
Matilda's nearest and dearest gathered to honour the births of Jesus and Little Nell.
Granny, Jim and Dennis working their magic in the kitchen (Jim's culinary capabilities were a true and welcome surprise, what he can do with a roast potato...)

Anyway, back to the point of this post. It was all lovely and then Dennis asked the killer question:
"Who wants sprouts."
"Not me" I said.
"You have to have one."
"I don't want one."
"It's Christmas, you have to have one."
"I don't want one, they're mean, green and horrible."
"Just have one."

By now I'm having flashbacks to my childhood. My mum tried exactly the same thing. She managed to get a sprout on my plate, but that's where it stayed. I think they're quite fun to look at, I like them when you see them on their stems at posh markets, but I really don't want to eat sprouts.

"No."

So I, a little ashamed, took my sprout-free plate to the table and pretended not to feel inferior or inadequate in the grown up world of sprout eaters. Even Matilda had a sprout on her plate.


Then a funny thing happened. As people finished eating, I noticed there were sprouts left on their plates.

"You haven't eaten your sprouts Dennis." I pointed out politely (smugly).

"I don't really like them, I only bought them because it's Christmas."

At that point, everyone else (apart from Grandad Dickie) confessed to not really liking them either. Enter the Sprout Challenge. At this point the pictures probably speak for themselves:



You'll notice neither Jesus or Little Nell feature in the sprout challenge. Little Nell was having a nap, saving herself for the present giving in the afternoon, I'm not sure about JC.

I didn't do a lot of research before heading off to Copenhagen for New Year, but given the Danes' minimalist style and cool demeanour I presumed there wouldn't be any nasty surprises.

There was a sprinkling of snow on the first morning, transforming the City into a winter wonderland and making the blandest everyday objects more photogenic.


But when the sun went down the darkness was punctuated with the sound of minor explosions. These minor explosions being very loud fireworks. Fireworks that echoed, their sound bouncing off the buildings so you had no idea where they were coming from. There is nothing ordered or minimal about the Danes' approach to fireworks. Kids light them in the city centre, grown men carry 3' long rockets to the pavement and launch them next to parked cars. By 4pm on New Year's Eve it was a free for all, a run to the restaurant was perilous. There's no oohing and ahhhing, it's survival, watch your back, check someone isn't lighting a roman candle at your feet. Strangely exhilarating and quite unexpected.

Remember the Chespys? You know, my crazy Australian family who fit in a day's activity before breakfast? Well, they're back. Or rather, I'm back in Sydney. With the Chespys. All five of them. You already know Anita, Adrian, Kai and Asher, brace yourselves, there's a fifth.



Cleo is trouble with a capital T, capital R, capital O, capital U, capital B, capital L, capital E and she's ramped up the crazy levels in the household.

For example: The boys were showing off their swimming, diving and surfing skills in the pool, Cleo was walking around the edge of the pool and Chilli the chocolate labrador was taking the occasional dip to cool off. Adrian and I were enjoying the sunshine and keeping a watchful eye.

On one of her laps around the edge of the pool, Cleo stopped in front of me and having removed her nappy, squatted down and pooed right in front of me. It's the little whimper that accompanied the action that's most memorable. Being a responsible adult, I headed down to the house to get some tissue for the clean up operation. When I returned to the scene of the crime, Adrian was standing guard over Cleo's little offering. I asked why. The reply: "because Chilli would've eaten it."

They have taken it to another level these Chespys.

Talking of Chilli eating things, the kids were all playing in the lounge when we heard Asher's dismay: "Chilli's chewed up a dragonfly and spat it out on the rug." Followed by Kai's perfect comic timing: "And Cleo's stepped in it."

See. Another level.