1. I was born in Sussex, South East England. It will always be home.
2. At home I live with my mum, dad, brother and sister. We’re a close family.
3. Birmingham is my second home, because I go to uni there.
4. I study medicine and want to be a GP one day.
5. Although my greatest aim in life is to earn enough money to be able to work part-time and still afford to pay someone to do my washing and ironing…
6. In case you can’t tell, I hate housework.
7. Its one of the worst things about living away from home.
8. And one of the best things about the holidays!
9. That’s a lie really, I love being at home with my family just for being with them.
10. I love to sing. Really loudly.
11. My favourite piece of choral music is Faure’s Requiem. I am going to commission it to be sung at my funeral.
12. I don’t have one favourite song ever, and am highly suspicious of those who have. Bit narrow minded really isn’t it?
13. Or am I just indecisive?
14. I like planning and writing lists. God knows why, I can’t stick to them.
15. I know lots of people, but have only a few really good friends.
16. My flatmates Becca and Ailsa are two of my closest friends. I met them by complete chance last 2 years ago when we were put in the same flat in uni accommodation. It was called ‘Maple Bank’ which was extraordinarily euphemistic and normally shortened to Maple Skank. Ah, the brilliant humour of the nation’s brightest young things.
17. Birmingham has more canals than Venice.
18. I know, amazing. Yeah, some are full of yuk and supermarket trolleys but some really nice. The one by the Mail Box in the centre of town is lovely.
19. I have a thing about dangly earrings. The bigger and sparklier the better. I have been accused of occasionally heading in a Pat Butcher direction but I maintain that I have much more class than her.
20. I am the eternal optimist. With a good streak of cynicism.
21. I love the changing skies of England. You never quite know what the weather will do.
22. However, rain seems to feature quite highly.
23. I met some Americans once, who told me how much they admired the English who carrying on even when it was pouring with rain. I just laughed – how else would we get anything done in this country?
24. Even thought there are some things about my country I hate, I could never live anywhere else.
25. I hate camping. Don’t get me wrong, I love being outdoors, as long as there is an indoors to come back to.
26. It’s the same with backpacking. I like the idea of it, but would need a hot shower, a warm soft bed and an absence of creepy crawlies every night.
27. That’s another reason for loving England – its lack of really creepy creepy crawlies and poisonous animals.
28. And natural disasters. I’m terrified of volcanoes.
29. My favourite book is probably ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen.
30. Although the entire Discworld series comes a very close second.
31. My favourite Discworld character is Granny Weatherwax, although I think I’m probably a Magrat.
32. Pretty shoes make me happy.
33. Until they rub my feet.
34. I love medicine because it’s a chance to give something back.
35. Also I’m a nosy, perfectionist, control freak. Seems to be pretty common among medics.
36. I love music. I don’t have a favourite band, but kinda like singer-songwriters and bands of the indie/rock persuasion mostly.
37. Actually, I’m being pretentious. Really, I like anything with a good tune.
38. I play the piano – pretty well.
39. I enjoy playing classical and modern piano pieces, but mostly I love to accompany my own singing. That to me is the point of all those lessons and the hours of practice I did as a kid!
40. I failed the scales section of Grade 4 piano when I was about 13. I only passed that exam by 4 marks.
41. I failed a piece (!) in Grade 5 piano a couple of years later. I only passed that exam by 3 marks.
42. Yeah, I stopped after that. The torture was too much. And I couldn’t be bothered to learn enough theory to pass Grade 5 theory, which you have to have to do Grades 6, 7 and 8.
43. Shucks.
44. I did get a distinction in Grade 1 piano when I was 10. See, that was an achievement.
45. My school peers voted me ‘Most likely to be PM’ and ‘Most likely to become a Nun’ in our end of sixth form awards. Yeah, thanks guys…..
46. Yes, I am still single. But to be honest, being single is a lot of fun, and I cannot be arsed to deal with boyfriend stress right now.
47. Yeah, every time I get pissed I moan about not having a boyfriend.
48. I would never be a politician though. I just don’t have the conviction or the ability to lie (my guilty expression is a dead giveaway).
49. I am pretty liberal in my political outlook. I am a true believer in state maintained NHS and benefits and so on and so forth. I just wish our country could decide one way or the other. I mean, is it higher taxes and better public services? Or is it lower taxes and private all the way? At the moment I think we were doing neither scheme very effectively.
50. I have blonde hair and dark blue eyes. I take after my dad’s side of the family, who gifted me a wide round face, big round eyes and a blobby nose. Thanks guys.
51. I don’t like my round face, but is does give me a great resonant space for singing woohoo!
52. My lil bro and sis look completely different to me and each other. Which is great, because people don’t always pick up on the family ties. Hurrah!
53. My little sister is 10 years younger than me. It’s a great gap. My brother is 7 years older than her, and it works really well. I’m just gutted by the fact than when she’s the age I am now, I’ll be….gulp…31...
54. I’m an Anglican Christian via upbringing and my own choice. I still go to church but am going through a stage where I am not sure about the existence of God.
55. However, going to church on a Sunday morning clears my head and opens my mind to spiritual thoughts. It’s pretty easy for life to pass you by on a completely superficial level if you don’t ever stop to think about it.
56. I also enjoy the social interactions and hymn singing that happens at church. It provides me with my only source of non-student socialising while I’m at uni, and I think it’s important to have that, because otherwise you end up thinking that the world is entirely populated by young 20-somethings. Oh yeah, and lecturers, but they’re a not even human. Are they?
57. Going to church on Sundays also means getting up at 7.30am every Sunday, which helps moderate Saturday night drinking….usually!
58. My favourite film is the Sound of Music. I love the songs, I love Julie Andrews, I have a bit of a crush on the Captain…..
59. Mmmmm, the Captain…
60. I have a confession about films tho – I love romantic comedies. Although I’ve seen many great American (Hollywood) romcoms, I still think the Brits, and more specifically Richard Curtis, do ‘em best. Love Actually is awesomely brilliant. Truly.
61. I do like films that make you think, and I’ll quite happily watch action-type films, but I hate horror films.
62. Mainly because I get scared out of my mind by what are considered mild horror films. I am just a big wuss, I guess.
63. I have my Dean’s Chorister Award, which is now called a Bronze Award I think.
64. It’s for church singing. You have to sing hymns, anthems, pass a bit on aural skills, answer some questions on the church year.
65. I have many cousins. 12 actual cousins, plus 2 sort of cousins, and another on the way.
66. My eldest cousin got married in January 2005, in a wonderful lavish ceremony and reception. It was a great day.
67. My little sister was a bridesmaid. She looked gorgeous.
68. Pet hate: Obvious grammar and spelling mistakes. Which is why I am paranoid about making them! And yet know that I do all the time.
69. That pet hate extends to people who use ‘txt spk’ all the time. Some, especially in texts or even emails, I will allow, but not rampant disregard for the English language.
70. I wish grammar was actually taught in schools. I never learnt no grammar at school.
71. And foreign languages. I wish I had been taught French, German, Italian and Spanish at Primary School.
72. I have a GCSE in the first three, but cannot remember a word of it, and have never learnt any Spanish.
73. Other pet hate: People sniffing. This comes from my mother, who has been known to offer sniffing strangers tissues, for instance while standing in queues. Ooo, I also hate people who let drips dangle from their noses. Urgh. That is disgusting.
74. I love driving, but only when everyone else gets out of my way. I hate driving when it’s busy. I especially hate my home town at around 5pm on a weekday because every single person driving is out to get me I swear.
75. I like night driving, along big wide straight roads.
76. Hot, buttered toast is the food of gods. Only with real butter and it must be hot. Not warm, and especially not cold. Eugh.
77. I love tea. My whole family are massive tea drinkers and so I think I inherited it.
78. I like weak, black Earl Grey.
79. I do not drink milk. I don’t like it straight or in tea (urgh) and have now converted to soya milk in porridge and hot chocolate.
80. I have also given up cheese and yogurt, which is soooo hard. Unfortunately, it helps stop me being too full of mucus, which aint good for the singing.
81. I miss cheese a lot, but surprisingly also miss yogurt loads. My favourite TV snack last year was a bowl of frozen berries with strawberry wholegrain yogurt on top. I miss it so much.
82. I like food.
83. Which may account for my rather voluptuous figure…..
84. Sugar is my downfall. I have an exceptionally sweet tooth. Not good. I worry about diabetes in later life, but I still struggle to change my habits.
85. I do eat a lot of fruit and veg, especially cabbage, because I don’t want bowel cancer.
86. My first ‘boyfriend’ was Gary. He was 5, I was 4 years old.
87. My first real crush? Embarrassingly a boy I went to school with named Steven. I didn’t really know anything about him, but when I finally got to know him I discovered he was highly irritating and I didn’t fancy him at all.
88. We ended up becoming friends, and both applying to medicine. He thought he was cleverer than me – he could do maths, and had got an offer to go to Cambridge. But now who’s laughing? He didn’t realise that actually, I was a better academic performer, though it should have been obvious from that fact I got 9A*s, 2 As and a B at GCSE and was top of the year. He didn’t get in to medicine and I did.
89. I don’t ever laugh at him though, despite him always taking the mick out of me whenever I see him. I know how much it would have killed me not to get a place, so I am gracious in victory.
90. I am not sure I have the moral fibre to have been gracious in defeat…
91. My greatest dream in life is to be a mother.
92. I would like a whole brood of kids – 4 I think. I am desperately afraid of infertility, and not being able to have children.
93. On the whole breastfeeding debate, I come down on the side of yes. But only as far (maximum) as a year.
94. I can’t believe I’ve come up with 94 things already. But now I am running out of ideas.
95. My Dad once dated Anneka Rice (yes, her of Challenge Anneka fame). It didn’t last long: he started going out with my Mum when he was 18.
96. She was only 15 at the time.
97. They met when my uncle Ratty broke his leg in a motorbike accident, and was in hospital opposite a boy who’d also broken his leg on a motorbike. They became friends, and the boy hung out at with Ratty and his brothers while they were recuperating. Ratty’s little sister, the future my Mum, thought he was cute, her brothers liked him, he took their mother (my Nan) shopping, and the rest, they say, is history.
98. My Dad ended up having major surgery and a bone graft. His twin brother had an above knee amputation due to a motorbike accident. Uncle Ratty (who’s real name was Peter) was killed in a motorbike accident in February 1986.
99. And Dad wonders why Mum won’t let him have another bike?
100. Hurrah! Made it to one hundred. If you’ve made it this far, you now know 99 useless things about me. Lucky you!