Role Model



 My commute to work varies from 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic.
Usually I relax with the radio and last night I had the pleasure of listening to Radio4 ‘s Fromt Row interview with Ian Mckellen
A year or so ago, I saw McKellen in his one man show and the evening was pure magic as I remember with the old actor relaying old theatrical memories with warmth, humour and delight.
His radio interview was very much the same, with the actor showing his playful and naturally youthful side as he discussed playing Hamlet some 50 years after he first performed the role.

If I had a role model, it would be McKellen. I envy his playfulness and the way he engages people with effortless charm. He is an eternally optimistic and joyful man.

Who is your role model?

83 comments:

  1. Both my grandmothers. Lived through the depression with 7 and 5 children respectively. One lost her husband in 1953 due to heart issues, the other in the 80's to COPD. Both were amazing at making do with what they had and teaching the younger generation to do the same. There was never any whinging or poor me...just get it done. Just pull themselves up by the bra straps and deal with real life.
    Barb

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  2. McKellen is a very enviable man. Smart, charming,playful,joie de vivre, brings you in to his arms with his words. Someone you could listen to forever. I haven't picked a role model, but he would be high on my list.

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  3. Barbara Anne12:59 am

    Audrey Hepburn. I love that she cared about people and the planet and that she spoke with such intelligence, kindness, and grace.
    Lucky you to have seen Sir Ian McKellen!

    Hugs!

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    1. It was a highlight.He was really a grand old dame

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  4. Well, you, of course, John. No, just kidding. While I admire you most of the time, my true role model is my wife, aka SWMBO, aka, She Who Must Be Obeyed. I cannot count and can never thank her enough for all the things she's taught me over some 50+ years together.

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    1. That’s sweet and lovely ....she must be quite a lady

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  5. My oldest son is an exemplary person, but I think I would have to nominate the late painter Ivon Hitchens.

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  6. After much deliberation, I'd pick my Nana. She grew up in an orphanage, during the late Victorian age. She trained as a nurse, married the love of her life and had 3 children. I never, ever heard her complain about anything. She loved nature and took delight in everything. She died when I was a teenager, and I wish I'd known her for longer and appreciated her more. xx

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  7. Like Happy Hooker, I have to choose my Nan. She loved people, and was the kindest person I've ever known. She and my Grandad brought me up when my Mom had to work; I was very lucky. xx

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    1. I get this and concur too, my gran was my hero too.
      Big boned, big hearted

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  8. I thought Alan Rickman spoke good sense whenever interviewed. When he died, I felt I'd lost a rudder.

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  9. Ahhhh I've been reading you blog for years and I don't think I've eve commented, so first up hello John.
    Patti Smith is mine, and I have a confession I'm not a fan of her music but of her words (and yes that includes the lyrics to her songs) and her view on life. Poet, author, Philosopher, photographer, performer. A woman with a huge depth to her life, quiet but strong and deeply knowledgeable about those things.

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    1. Because the night
      Was very much the backdrop of my 1970s
      Welcome Adrienne xx

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  10. I don't really have a role model. But I admire Joanna Lumley because of her positive and kind outlook on life and people, the way she savours experiences, and I think she seems to be good company.

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    1. She’s a favourite of mine for similar reasons.she has a dignity which she holds for other people

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  11. My role model is My Better Self, namely the Me who is calm, diligent and can see the troubles of the day in their proper perspective. Unfortunately My Better Self is often replaced by rather worse versions.

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    1. I think this point is important . Liking yourself is vital , even if it’s just the parts that you’ve worked on and are proud of.....

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    2. Actually, I am not at all sure that I like myself John. The concept makes little immediate sense to me. Let me ponder that, right now... I am myself, obviously. Do I like what I am? Often not. But I do prefer myself in my better moments, which is again rather a statement of the obvious, and is probably the best I can aspire to. I will amount to absolutely nothing, soon enough, and that is fine by me. Although perhaps the mellow Malbec just consumed has influenced my view somewhat. It generally does.

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  12. My role model is the fellow I see in the mirror each morning. I guess in that sense I am rather like Andrew R Scott. I wonder what the "R" stands for? Reginald?

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    1. I envy your self worth xx

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    2. You are pretty much my role model if I need one John. But mostly I just get on with life - let's face it the alternative at my age is worse.

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    3. Oh please don't add me to you list...I'm damaged goods lol

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    4. Hello pudding of Yorkshire. Since you winder, i can tell you that my R. stands for Robertson, my mother's maiden name. Reginald would not suit me at all, I feel. Do you have a middle name? Perhaps you are Yorkshire Plum Pudding, just to be a bit different from what might be expected, which I rather suspect you are.

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    5. "winder" = wonder. Damn typos.

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  13. I have never had a role model. I don't understand the concept. I have always been independent and me.

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    1. Really? You have never met someone who you have admired and whose actions or attributes) you consciously ( or unconsciously tried to emulate?

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    2. Nope. My mind just goes blank at the thought.

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  14. My grandmother, Mabel. She was an amazing woman, ahead of her time. Worked full-time, volunteered, made the world a better place. And she had the most incredible sense of humor. I couldn't begin to describe her here; just know that I loved her and she inspires me each day.

    And she made me independent b/c she was such a strong woman. An easy concept to follow.

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    1. Grand parents seem to figure highly here,and I suspect we often see the best of them when we are children
      Hero worshipped

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  15. Like others, I'd have to pick my Grandma (Dad's Mom). She grew up in rural NC with nothing. She lived in a one-room house with a dirt floor. One Christmas, all she received was one sweet potato, and she was wild with gratitude for it. As an adult, she worked tirelessly, cleaning churches, worked the Salvation Army thrift store, and never learned to drive. She walked everywhere. If anyone gave money to her, she always found someone more needy and gave it to them. Her belief was that service to others is why we are here. At the end of her life, she lived in a nursing home, and was completely blind. She still walked from room to room, "witnessing" to anyone who cared to listen. When we were little and stayed with her, she didn't accept bad behavior, and would spank us, and then make anything we wanted to eat! Sweet and salt, that woman. I pray I can be half as amazing as she was.

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    1. " interesting phrase " sweet and salt,
      Interesting you saw past the salt

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    2. Oh, I worshipped that woman, and respected her so much. I think I saw her sweet side way more than the salt! She didn't just preach love, she lived it! Like you!!

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  16. Ian McKellen was on tv the other evening-he has a great energy-I Also admire Joanna Lumley and the way she connects with people from all walks of life-Winnie the Pooh-I think in a similar way and Totos Dorothy-(hope you received photos of my thatch John with my new phone)x

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    1. Oh lord...I haven't will check my junk files

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    2. There's 2 John-one closeup and one in the garden x

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  17. I have made myself up as I’ve gone along. I was adopted by people who loved me and gave me a stable platform from which to meander into the world. My values and beliefs often wildly diverged from theirs. My sense of humor was very different from theirs too.
    I admire my children. They are well grounded in their values, are well spoken, can speak their mind, and have wonderful senses of humor.

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  18. I think we all do this....even though one person my be "chosen" as role model by osmosis we pick things up from everyone we meet. Banking nuggets of impressed behavior and attributes until we form our own work in progress

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  19. You with your ever present optimism are one of mine x

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    1. Really? Lol hope to see you at the quiz tomorrow night

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    2. I'll be there as long as I'm not dead x

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  20. I remember when you went to that one-man show! Do I have a role model? I'm not sure. Have to think about it.

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    1. I’m not sure either, as I said above , IF I had one it would be him
      WE ARE LIKE SPONGES I think we absorb the nice and effective parts of people we meet and use their ways to our advantage

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  21. Leo Buscaglia, a professor, author, and speaker. His books came into my life at a time when I really needed them, I should reread a couple of them.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Buscaglia

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  22. My dad is one of my role models. He was a bilateral amputee which whittled him down from his >6ft stature. He was a physical, hard working/living man who took on softer roles following his amputations. He never complained and just kept on keeping on. A contact of Willie Nelson's once said about him that he doesn't give a shit in the best sense of don't give a shit. I aspire to not worrying about what other people think. So there - limit worry, comparison, and complaints.

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    1. Letting go of social norms of acceptance and fitting in are so hard

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  23. If I had one I'm sure I'm I'd be acting out the role right now.

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  24. My dad. I had great family members and other role models, but he operated from a deep sense of integrity, and I've admired that for a long time.
    Bonnie in Minneapolis

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    1. Integrity means a great deal, when it comes to relationships and friendships in general

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  25. My gran and a great-aunt, one from each side of the family. They lived through such tough times, never complained, just got on with it.

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  26. my grandfather! he saw my dad for what he was and let him know that constantly. not many had that kind of courage.

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  27. Ian McKellen visited our local sixth form not so long ago to talk about LGBTQ issues, he addressed them at the end saying'what will happen if you do not revise for your exams?' And reprising Gandalf said, 'you shall not pass'!! It went down well!!!

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  28. I've had different role models for different things at at different times, including Chris Bonington, Christopher Evans the computer scientist, Lytton Strachey, Jacob Bronowski, Roger Moore as Simon Templar, Ray Gosling, Eric Kershaw the guitarist ...

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    1. Granada tv’s Ray Gosling...there is a blast from the past

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  29. My eldest son and g/f literally walked into Sir Ian walking his dog. My son totally starstruck couldn't say a word. We went to his pub The grapes in Limehouse. Right by the Thames.

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    1. When I saw him being himself on stage , I warmed to his joyfulnesss and his unapologetic thespian nature

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  30. Miss Marple8:59 pm

    Are you on a rowing boat by any chance John?x

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    1. I don’t know where the locator came from lol

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    2. Ms N Parker9:54 pm

      I thought you may be galavanting again x

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  31. Katherine of Aragon. SHe stood up for herself when it was not the done thing for women to do so. Katherine ignored the "court" set up to judge her and stayed by her marriage vows and upbringing. Sadly she died impoverished and lonely because of that bastard, Henry 8th.
    A strong and principled woman who had standards and would not be brought down by self seeking money grabbers.

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  32. Anonymous10:57 pm

    Hello John,
    I have been an avid reader of your blog for a few years now. Haven't commented before, but it means a lot to me. I also love Ian McKellen. A totally genuine, warm and funny man. However, I have just watched the film Hidden Figures about the African American women who faught against prejudice whilst doing all the mathematical donkey work for NASA during the space race in the early 60s. So for me it would have to be Katherine Johnson who was the epitome of off the scale intelligence, dignity and commitment.

    Very best wishes

    Alison

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    1. One of my patients has been watching it this evening and we have just had a discussion about it . Good choice

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  33. Anonymous11:09 pm

    Diana Rigg. I just loved her Emma Peel. So cool, so adept.

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    1. And a very good villain in Game Of Thrones

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  34. For me, it's got to be my aunt. She took me and my mother in when I was a baby, and remained a primary source of support throughout her life. She was an extraordinary woman, an educationalist with a towering vision. She developed the preschool public education system in New Zealand and was its first HOD. I recall her telling me that at an early Inter-departmental meeting, the tea trolley was wheeled in, and all the men looked at her, and she smilingly declined to pour!!!

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  35. well, my father was a mean bully. he bossed everyone around. he hit us hard and never apologized. my mother's father lived with us and he never stopped letting my dad know what an arsehole he was. my father would scream at him uncontrollably and my grandfather would just walk away.

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  36. Having met Sir Ian I can confirm he is very charming. I know I’m a bit late to this party but I really do mean it when I hold up Marlene as a role model.

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    1. I know john believe me, he’s spot on

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