No.1 for Interviews - Edith Bowman
Edith Bowman

The Scottish radio DJ speaks to No.1 about her family heartache and reveals how, after two and a half years, she’s finally come out of her ‘new mum bubble’

There are few people with a more recognisable voice than Edith Bowman – but then there are few people who have fronted their own show on Radio 1 for the best part of a decade. Born and raised in Anstruther, Fife, music has always been central to Edith’s career and now to her personal life too. Her partner Tom Smith, is the frontman of British band Editors and together they have a two and a half year old boy, Rudy. But despite her work and family being very much based in London, Edith says her home will always be Scotland and she makes it a priority to help out worthy causes in her homeland. One such worthy cause is the Teenager Cancer Trust in Scotland to whom Edith has pledged her time and energy and No.1 caught up with the blonde bombshell to find out just why the charity is so important to her and why all she wants for Christmas is one million pounds!

Tell us why you wanted to become an ambassador for the Teenage Cancer Trust in Scotland?
Well I’ve done a number of things for them over the years but when they asked me to get involved with this particular campaign, which affects where I’m from and my area and goes a great way to help the people from there, it was a no brainer really. Being down in London you often feel a million miles away so being able to do something for back home is amazing.

Tell us about the East of Scotland appeal you’re working on, what are you trying to achieve?
The main thing is we’re trying to raise a hell of a lot of money: £1.6 million. We’ve already got £600,000 so there’s a million to go, and the money is going to go towards setting up a unit at Western General Hospital for young people aged 17 to 24 suffering from cancer and a new unit at the Children’s Hospital in Edinburgh for those aged 13 to 16. These units really do make such a difference. When you think that previously a 13-year-old would have been put in a ward with others who were by and large much older, it doesn’t go any way towards helping them fight this horrendous thing that they’ve been faced with. But on top of that these units also allow them still to be teenagers – that’s a big part of the TCT’s appeal, and I think that’s so important.

Cancer has really touched your life, hasn’t it?
Unfortunately, yes. I’ve had personal experience of dealing with cancer with sufferers of different age groups within my family. I lost a cousin when I was eight, she was nine, and then my uncle, and my grandma, and granddad, and my mum have all suffered from it so my family’s really been affected by cancer. 

You have a son, Rudy, do you think becoming a mum has meant that children’s charities resonate more strongly with you now?
Definitely. I went along to a charity meeting last week and I was speaking to this lady who is the stepmum to this four-year-old boy who’s very ill. You always do that thing, and it’s a gut reaction really, where you think ‘Oh my God, what if that was my child?’ It just makes you want to help as much as you can as until you go through it yourself you can’t imagine how unbelievably awful it is.

Do you think that motherhood has changed you in general?
I wouldn’t say it’s changed me massively – it’s made me more emotional. I can’t watch things on telly involving kids and not get upset! I do think that it’s focused me more than anything, it sounds so corny, but I go to bed and he’s the last thing I think about at night and the first thing I think about in the morning – your life is focused around someone else.

Christmas is on its way, does Rudy understand about Santa yet?
My mum is Santa crazy and at her house there are like 402 Santas dotted all around so he definitely knows who Santa is but he doesn’t quite understand about Christmas. He’s been singing ‘Jingle Bells’ all year! He hasn’t quite grasped the whole time aspect of things – he sings himself ‘Happy Birthday’ once a week but I think by next year he’ll really understand it.

What do you do during the festive season? Do you come up to Scotland or stay down south?
Because of work we’re a bit all over the place so we’re up before Christmas and have to go back down on Christmas Eve to Tom’s parents because I’m on the radio on Boxing Day. We’re trying to keep the grandparents happy this year so that next year they can all come to us!

You’ve lived in London for many years – do you miss Scotland?
Yes definitely, I have to get my regular fix. I really do get withdrawal symptoms if I don’t get some sea air from time to time. I just go home, go for a walk and I instantly feel better.

What do you miss most?
Fish and chips and the sea air! [Laughs]

You’ve been a DJ at Radio 1 for nearly eight years – do you still enjoy it?
Yeah I do and I’m enjoying a lot more now that I’m doing weekends rather than weekdays. I did the five day thing for six years and it kind of felt like Groundhog Day. I needed a change and the show needed a change. It was a bit of a scary prospect at first coming off something that was so regular but it’s actually given me a bit of a new lease of life and I’ve fallen back in love with my job a bit as well. I feel like I’ve now come out of that bubble of being a new mum and now I’m just raring to go.
It’s one of those jobs which many people will think is really quite easy – but actually it’s really very difficult – after all it’s just you and a microphone!

It can be difficult. We don’t work from scripts, the only script I have is the music in terms of I have a list of tunes that I have to try and play within half an hour. So three hours is quite a long time to speak unscripted but it does flies by.

Music must play a big role in your house, between you and Tom – is Rudy showing any signs of being musical?
Oh God yeah, he never stops! Yesterday in nursery they made a little stage and his teacher said he wasn’t off it! We get up in the morning and we have breakfast and Tom sticks the radio on and whatever Rudy hears he sings all day. He’s nailed ‘Empire State of Mind’ by Jay-Z – just the chorus mind you, not the rapping yet! And he’s obsessed with the ‘Yellow Submarine’ by The Beatles at the moment too. It’s really funny because you think he’s not paying attention to something and then a song will come on the radio and he’ll just start singing along.

Would you be happy if one day he turned to you and said he wanted to be a musician?
I would be happy with whatever he wants to do really. It’s just so much fun watching his little personality grow. One day he’ll just play with trains and he’ll want to be a train driver and the next it’s cars – so who knows!

What are your plans for Hogmanay this year? Will you be back home?
I don’t know what we’re going to do really. We’re in the process of moving house so it’s all up in air a little bit. If I can get a babysitter we’d quite like to go and see one of my favourite bands who are playing in London but babysitters are few and far between on Hogmanay!

Are you one for making New Year resolutions?
I’ve just started running. I drop Rudy off at nursery and then I run home and I feel brilliant for it so I think if I do make one it would be to try and look after myself a little better.

Any finally, what are your hopes for the new year?
To get this money raised for TCT. It would be amazing to do that as it’s going to make such a difference to so many people’s lives.

 

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