19th March 2010
WRITER OF THE MONTH: JANEY GODLEY
by Christina Kiplinger-Johns
| If you haven't heard of Scottish comedienne Janey Godley yet, it is only a matter of time before you do. The multi-award-winning Scottish comedienne and playwright, is an award-winning blogger and is a best-selling author and former Scotsman newspaper columnist. | Godley's blog is posted on 172 websites worldwide and usually receives a total of over 500,000 hits per week. Performing her comedy shows and one-woman play around the world, including off-Broadway in New York, Godley is a regular on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute. |
Full name: JANEY GODLEY
What was the first job you held and how much were you paid? I was a community worker in 1977, I was paid around £25 a week, and I was 16 years old at the time. What was your first published piece? Paid? My first paid writing job, was for Time Out London, I wasn't paid as I was writing an article to promote myself; it was a good start for me and made me aware of my writing style. Your secret vice: My secret vice is watching talking cartoon animals on the web, I laugh myself sick at wee talking cats or any small animals that play music or dance. I am really a small child inside! Things you can do without: I can do without irritating train attendants who try to make my day difficult, I can do without screaming toddlers in shops, I can do without 5 year old spotty students who think they can review comedy shows, when they have never lived a life, paid a mortgage or understand anything that happened after 1997. Things you cannot do without: Other than the people in my life, I can´t do without anti histamines as I have developed a strange hive inducing illness that makes me go lumpy at any given moment. I also couldn´t do without a book, I read every day and turn into a cloven hooved wolf if I don´t have something to read. Movie you could see again anytime: Cinema Paradiso hands down winner! Three things one is most likely to find in my refrigerator: Chilled Irn Bru (soda famous in Scotland), cheese, milk and chocolate biscuits. |
Accomplishment you are most proud of: I was nominated Scotswoman of the Year and made it to the finals, but what really made me proud was watching the disadvantaged kids I helped teach comedy to, onstage full of confidence. I loved them and miss them. What you do in your spare time: I read, draw talking animals and make voiced for them on my laptop when I am supposed to be working, I eat and spend time with my daughter, who is my co-writer of radio/TV work. What you ask for each day: I don't ask for much, just that my wonderful daughter is happy and that my husband doesn't suddenly realize I am old and ugly and wants to replace me with a woman with tangle free hair and smooth skin. People might be surprised to know: I asked my daughter Ashley this question about me and she said "People might be surprised to know that you are a control freak and if anything is happening around you, you need to be "involved in it". Well that was something I was surprised to know as well! Ok honestly.. .people might be surprised to know I am acutely and deeply shy, so I think I am loud to cover up for that fact and that´s why I appear to be a control freak! What you would like to get around to one of these days: Learning the violin, I started it when I was a child and never finished doing it. The person you´d most like to have dinner with and why: I would like to have dinner with George Michael, Donny Osmond and George Clooney and ask them why they didn't choose to marry me when I was single. Seriously I would love my mother to be alive, (she was murdered in 1982) and I would tell her how much I miss her and wish I had her still in my life to help guide me through my middle age, but she really wouldn't know much about that as she died at 47 years old, so we would probably sit and sing songs from her favourite musicals. |