From the cardiologist to the baker: how busy people manage sleep
Today presenter Martha Kearney goes to bed at 8pm, while at 4am Toyah Willcox is going through her emails – 10 people with odd work patterns reveal their bedtime routines
Toyah Willcox, Singer and Actor
I have always had disrupted, broken sleep. Over a year, I could count on my fingers the times I have slept through the night. I don’t think my insomnia is fixable: I think it’s in my DNA. I cannot emphasise enough how important exercise is. I have to do at least a three-mile fast walk a day, usually in the afternoon. Movement is incredibly important in helping my body use up my energy. When I’m disciplined enough, detoxing of stimulants and exercising is also a conscious part of my day.
Routine: I take books on learning to bed – music theory, colour theory – and usually my brain thinks, “Um, I think I’d rather turn off,” than learn something. But my natural pattern is to sleep from 11pm-1am, then I’m awake till 7am and I only get into deep sleep at around 7-10am. Instead of lying there praying to go to sleep all night, I get up and work. At 4am you do feel a bit jet-lagged and brain-dead, but it’s a very practical time to go through my emails, pay the bills, get rid of the mundane tasks. And there’s times in the summer when I’m awake as the sun is rising and I think this is the best, this is absolutely wonderful. Of course, if you have a 9-5 job this is a real problem, but as a singer, it can work well for me.
• Continue reading at The Guardian.
Toyah has always been a great interviewee – Click below for a page of classic Toyah interviews!
Toyah talked, her unique and experimental album, Prostitute, while guesting on Bob Fischer’s BBC Radio Tees show recently.
“I always have to walk away from the job I’ve just done. That’s creatively, idea wise. I just have to walk away. I feel trapped. Which is why my career is so varied. And I think “Prostitute” came after doing “Minx” and “Minx” was a signing to Portrait CBS where I was being told to be everyone but me. I was being told to be like Pat Benatar…
I’ve got nothing against that but I am me – I’m not trying to be another person. I’m not an imitator. So I remember I just got married and the only question I was being asked was when was I going to start a family? Which was never the reason I got married and certainly never the reason I’m here on this planet.
So it was an album that really came out of anger. And it’s a very expressive piece – it’s the most critically acclaimed album I’ve ever done. Billboard gave it five stars and then claimed it was an antidote to Madonna…”
• Read the full transcript at The Toyah Willcox Interview Archive.
Toyah guested on Bob Fischer’s show on BBC Radio Tees on Friday evening. The show is available to listen to at BBC Sounds.
Back on BBC Tees from 7pm tonight! And in the first hour of the show I have a fascinating chat with the ace Toyah… about Derek Jarman, Celebrity Mastermind, Elizabeth I, her incredible experimental album ‘Prostitute’… and her upcoming show at Stockton Arts Centre!
Christmas 2006, Toyah was interviewed in Somerfield magazine. Somerfield was a supermarket chain which traded for almost 140 years before closing in 2011 after being bought over by the Co-op.
Toyah Willcox gets into the festive spirit
What does Christmas mean to you?
For the last 15 years, I’ve been doing panto. So to me, Christmas means entertaining families. On Christmas Day itself, I eat from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. It’s the only time of the year where I’ll eat for 12 hours!
Do you have the works on Christmas Day?
Yes we do. I have a restaurant prepare all the food the day before because what I don’t want to do on my one day off is cook. All I have to do is put it all in the Aga!
Do you enjoy cooking?
I do. I think it’s good to make yourself cook.
Your dream dining companion?
It would have to be John Lennon. If he could see the world today, he’d have more to say than ever before.
Toyah’s recent interview with Classic Pop magazine is now available to read in full online at the mag’s website – Don’t miss our interview with the fascinating Toyah who tells us all about the new wave of success she’s enjoying…
Somewhere in the Distance, and uploaded to Dreamscape… a really interesting interview with Toyah from BBC Radio London around 15 years ago. This aired just before Toyah appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! She discusses that, religion, Velvet Lined Shell and much more. Click below to listen.
What do movies mean to you?
For me movies are vital escapism and deep expressionism. They also question everything in life. When you look at Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, in comparison to John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place, the passion and belief behind these two extraordinary films runs equally deep. Film can be about truth as much as about speculation and metaphor.
What are three of your favourite films and why?
Oh boy! Where do I start? I have to relate to my most immediate experiences. A Quiet Place has recently blown me away. Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool has magnificent acting. Phantom Thread is my favourite Daniel Day-Lewis film, but I am a horror lover and I always return to Alien when I am relaxing! I can recite the script word for word!
• Continue reading at The Pitch.
‘It shouldn’t be a big deal – but it is’: what a female Doctor Who really means to women Whovians
More than eight million people tuned in Sunday night’s episode of Doctor Who – the show’s largest launch in a decade – to see Jodie Whittaker make her debut as the first female Doctor in the show’s decades-long history. But did she pull it off?
Among those glued to their sofas were the comedians Bridget Christie and Susan Calman, authors Juno Dawson and Jenny Colgan, and the pop star Toyah Willcox – a Who fan who was once mooted for the title role herself. The Telegraph asked each of them what the arrival of a female Doctor means to them, and what they thought of Sunday’s episode.
• Continue reading at The Telegraph. (Subscription Required)
Issue 44 of Classic Pop magazine, which includes a six-page Toyah feature, is on sale now. See below for a (non readable) preview of this.
Get your copy in-store for just £5.99. Alternatively, you can buy a digital issue at the Classic Pop website. Available in-store from WH Smith, Tesco, Tesco Ireland, independent newsagents, Eason and selected McColls.
In the latest issue we speak to Soft Cell‘s Marc Almond and Dave Ball as they prepare for their farewell gig at the O2 in London and release a career-spanning boxset, Keychains & Snowstorms. We also take a look at their Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret LP in our Classic Album feature.
Elsewhere, we have an exclusive interview with the world’s biggest record producer, Mark Ronson, catch up with The Proclaimers who return with their politicised new album Angry Cyclist and talk to Level 42‘s Mark King about his life in pop’s funkiest band.
This month, we look back on the glory days of house music and Toyah tells us how she brought the punk aesthetic to the pop world.
• Visit the Classic Pop website or Twitter. (Thanks to Minna for the magazine scans)
Look out for the next issue (44, September 2018) of Classic Pop magazine. It includes a six-page interview feature on/with Toyah. The magazine is published in around a week’s time, so not long to wait. In the meantime click below to browse our previous updates on Toyah in Classic Pop.
Toyah guests on BBC Radio WM’s The Other Side Of… tomorrow at Midday, discussing her career, early years, the music of Kate Bush and more. The programme has a running time of 60 minutes.
Listen to a short excerpt from the show – “I was not scared of being disliked by men” says Toyah.
The Other Side Of…: BBC Radio WM: Sunday 5th August: 12pm
Celebrating 40 years in show business in her 60th year. She talks about growing up in Kings Heath, how Top Of The Pops helped her stay alive and the power of Kate Bush’s music.
• Listen to the interview live while it airs or post airing at BBC iPlayer Radio. (Photo © BBC)
Toyah brings acoustic show to Diss
Charismatic, outspoken and impossible to categorise, Toyah Willcox is both a boundary-smashing musical survivor from the punk era, much-loved actress and presenter of programmes as diverse as The Good Sex Guide and Songs of Praise.
In a career spanning 30 years, during which she has had 13 top 40 singles, recorded 20 albums, written books, 
appeared in over 40 stage plays, made 10 feature films and been a fixture on television, she has managed to balance a deeply rebellious streak with becoming something of national treasure.
Next month she will be visiting Diss as part of her Up Close & Personal tour that will include a chance to hear her perform an intimate acoustic set. A talented duo of guitarists, Chris Wong and Colin Hinds, will accompany Toyah on unplugged versions of the hits It’s A Mystery, Thunder In The Mountains, I Want To Be Free and Good Morning Universe.
“I love performing the songs acoustically,” she said. “They sound fresh and contemporary. The lyrics have more meaning and clarity in the sonic space of the two acoustic guitars.”
• Continue reading at the Eastern Daily Press.
There’s only a few weeks until Toyah plays the Jack Up The 80s Festival and the Isle Of Wight County Press have made her the cover star of their Weekender supplement (Friday July 20, 2018 issue), with a one page interview feature inside.
In the court of the crimson queen
Eighties music remains popular because it tells relevant and grounded stories everyone can associate with.
That’s according to Toyah, one of the decade’s most iconic stars, who is returning to Jack Up The 80s this Summer.
The 80s revival started in around 2000 and has kept a lot os artists busy ever since, such is the appeal of the 80s sound, which arks back to a time before grunge, rave and grime.
Toyah does four shows a week, all year round, and this will be the second time she has been at the island’s most fluorescent summer event. “Jack Up The 80s has grown since I was last there and I’m looking forward to coming back,” she told the County Press.
• Continue reading here. Many thanks to Official Jack Up The 80s. Browse our Jack Up The 80s news. Visit the festival’s Official Website.
Toyah is interviewed in the latest issue of Woman’s Weekly magazine (Issue dated 5th June 2018).
The article reveals Toyah and Robert Fripp are being filmed for a documentary.
What biscuit would you like to dunk?
I’m non-wheat, non-dairy, so the only biscuits I eat are Nairn’s oatcakes. They do a low sugar, dark chocolate variety.
Do you think there’s pressure to look a certain way in the industry?
It’s incredibly important to look and be fit. There is pressure, yes. I think if I didn’t look the way I look, it would affect what I do and how I choose my work, but I go wholeheartedly with that. My shows are very energetic, and even the acoustic show’s a bit like a marathon because of how much I sing. I have a strict, 1,800-calorie-a-day rule, but that’s all you need. I never feel hungry, I never feel deprived and I fully respect my body is a machine.
• Woman’s Weekly is out now.
We’re back!
For this first episode in the new season, Chris talks with showbiz legend Toyah Willcox about her remarkable stage career.
Please feel free to respond: podcast@chrisgoodeonline.com or you can comment and rate us at iTunes. Thanks for listening & we’ll be back next Wednesday.
• Continue reading/Listen to the podcast here.
It’s Toyah’s 60th Birthday week… Listen to some retro Toyah interviews from throughout her 40 year career at Dreamscape’s Downloads section…
There’s just over a week until Toyah’s 60th Birthday – Dreamscape is counting up to the day with some retro content – Here’s a great Q&A with Toyah from Scotland On Sunday, June 2007. Click below to zoom and read.
About Toyah… Possibly! And only up to 1985!! Here’s a retro Toyah interview from the mid-80s, from The Beat magazine – Please click on it to read. We’re counting down to Toyah’s 60th…
We’re marking the release of Desire for RSD2018 with some content this week from that great Toyah era. Here’s a short interview with Toyah from BBC Breakfast Time on the very day Echo Beach was released as a single in 1987. Click on the screen caps below to watch the interview at You Tube and view larger versions of the screen caps here.
Toyah guested on BBC Radio Four’s In The Psychiatrist’s Chair in September 1992. A fascinating interview with Dr Anthony Clare. Certainly one of the most honest and interesting of the many Toyah has given over the last 40 years. This originally aired on 9th September 1992 and runs for approximately 40 minutes. Click below to listen or download.
