[ ClassicalX ] My Yorkshire: Lesley Garrett

The 'Doncaster Diva' was born and raised in Thorne, near Doncaster, trained at the Royal Academy of Music, won the Kathleen Ferrier Prize and joined English National Opera.

She has sung in opera and concerts throughout the world and her CDs are always immediate best-sellers. She is married to a busy GP, and they have two teenage children. Lesley and her husband are in the North most weekends, staying in their cottage near Epworth on the Isle of Axholme

What's your first Yorkshire memory?

Looking out of my bedroom window when I was very small, and seeing the tower of Drax power station. The house looked west, so I could see the sun setting behind it. If I craned out of the window a bit, I could also see the towers at Ferrybridge. Now, I know that a lot of people are going to be going "Urrrgh!" but to me there's always been an incredible romance about our industrial heritage, and there's a beauty, too. I've got a thing about old pitheads and winding wheels and the like. Highly underrated, if you
ask me.

What's your favourite part of the county – and why?

South Yorkshire. As above. I can get all dewy-eyed about a slagheap. But then, I didn't have to work down a pit, or in a steel mill, as so many of my family did.

What's your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

Just being back there is pretty good in and of itself. I finish the show at the Savoy on Saturday evening, and we come up to Yorkshire for a couple of days nearly every weekend. York Races would be a fab day out. I love going and revisiting Malham Tarn, because we camped there when I was a child. My own kids love it now.

Do you have a favourite walk – or view?

It would be Whitby, and scaling those steps up the hillside to the Abbey at the top, and looking across the little town and then out to sea. There's nowt to beat that.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take for lunch?

Freddie Trueman, no contest. I met him a few times, and he always made me laugh. We were at Harewood House together, in a pageant for the Queen's last Jubilee, and he told me that he'd also been part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations. Freddie said that Eric Morecambe had been among the guests, and that Eric had noticed that Prince Charles was standing a bit away from everyone else. Eric went across to the Prince and had said "Now then son, have you lost your mummy?"

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take for dinner?

I'm so lucky and blessed to have worked with a lot of them – Ian McKellen and Dame Diana Rigg, another Donnie lass, with whom I once shared a dressing room at a benefit concert, and she had me in fits of laughter. Patrick Stewart– there's another. Can we make this a dinner party, instead of a tête-à-tête?

If you had to name your Yorkshire "hidden gem", what would it be?

Cusworth Hall Museum in Doncaster, which has just had a splendid refurbishment. And my David Emmanuel red dress is an exhibit in there as well. Odd to be an exhibit when you are still alive. I also went there with the Girl Guides as a youngster.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

The people. They are so resourceful. If the big bomb dropped, there's no other people with whom you'd want to be
with in the shelter. They get on with it. I follow my mum's saying, "Spit on tha' hands, and get on with it". That's me
in a nutshell. We also have a diversity, and a richness.

Do you follow sport in the county, and if so, what?

Cricket, and in a big way – I can't wait for the start of the new season. My grandad Garrett used to play for the Hatfield Woodhouse team (my mum was their scorer) and I think that he still holds the record for the fastest century in Yorkshire amateur cricket – 26 minutes. Not bad, eh?

What about Yorkshire's cultural life?

Where do I start? Everything from exceptional theatres to tiny arts centres, from the Armouries to festivals, brass bands, and jazz. We have the lot. That all comes from the people as well, we're encouraged from a very early age (or we were) to get up and "do a turn".

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

This is a bit sneaky, but can I have the Epworth Tap restaurant? I know that it is just over the border, but only by a few yards, and the postcode is still a Doncaster one, honest. Besides, it's just round the corner from the cottage.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

Doncaster Market – I've been going there ever since I was a little girl. Neil's Cheese Stall is exceptional, and I love
the fish market, where you can get everything from prawns to dip into vinegar to oysters.

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you've known it?

For the worse in a lot of ways, because the industrial heart has been ripped out of it. The mines – gone. The steelworks – almost vanished. It's so sad to see thriving manufacturing industries almost completely disappeared. Don't get me going on what those planners have done to the centre of Doncaster, either. Okay, the place is a lot cleaner, but…

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

The Earl of Harewood, who gave me my first big break, and so much encouragement that I don't know where to begin. But it wasn't just me, it was hundreds of other young hopefuls, too. That generous, lovely man is a fount of support to so many – and an "enabler".

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

It is my work. I keep coming back and drawing inspiration from it. Can I plug a concert in Harrogate at the newly restored Royal Hall later in the year? I've been sitting in my dressing room here at the Savoy devising the programme.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

All the Herriot books, Kate Rusby the folk singer (a wonderful woman), Marguerite Porter the dancer, and David Hockney – any of his works.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place, it would be?

Either Skipsea, between Bridlington and Leeds, because I'd like to be with them and tell them of all my happy
childhood memories, or Leeds. A city that has the lot. A mix of culture, enterprise and sport.

Lesley Garrett is playing Nettie in the hit revival of Carousel at the Savoy Theatre in London until July 25, box office 0870 164 8787

Source: Yorkshire Post