We’ve been working hard at celebrating Skout’s 5th birthday all week. It was birthday cupcakes on Wednesday and Parma Violet gin cocktails last night, but by no means least (I like to think) here are my ‘five things that you didn’t know about me’.
- My great grandmother was England’s first female Lord mayor. She was a long serving alderman and presided over the borough of East Ham. Oh and she was a bit of a battle axe by all accounts as well.
- I launched the iPod in the UK. At the time I headed up the PR team for Apple in the UK and during my tenure I also launched the desk lamp iMacs. At the iPod launch I spent an hour trying to explain what an MP3 was to a journalist working for the FT. I seem to remember using the phrase “think of it as the new vinyl.” The day my mum used the word “iPod” in a discussion about music is arguably my proudest moment.
- I lived in Hong Kong for seven years. Both my children were born there although sadly they do not qualify for dual nationality. During my time in the Far East I was deputy editor of a homes and interior magazine and I set up the Hong Kong and Beijing office for my old PR agency. I also launched Hong Kong’s first green PR practice.
- I’ve been on Blue Peter three times and have the badges to prove it. My old drama teacher at school was good friends with the producer at the time (and we weren’t far from the BBC studios), so we were the ‘go to’ school whenever they needed kids to appear. The first time I was dressed as a turtle complete with shell, and the other two appearances I was singing carols during the Christmas episodes. I am totally tone deaf and can’t sing.
- I once picked cauliflowers for a living. It was the worst job ever. You were bent over all day cutting the head from the leaves with a very sharp knife. By day three my back had gone and I’d nearly lost a finger (and I won’t even mention the snakes). The saving grace was that I was in Australia and the sun was shining. I did it for three months and it funded the rest of my backpacking trip.
Claire Lamb has worked in technology PR for 20 years and has survived more bubbles than Michael Jackson.
