Top 5 Friday

Returning to the fun of pointlessly ranking things for no reason other than my own (and your) entertainment – welcome back to Top 5 Friday!

This month I’m going for the 5 ‘celebrity’ ladies I would love to invite to that age-old ‘dinner party’ everyone is always talking about. Except I’d rather it was an afternoon/evening thing that involved food, but also something fun and silly that gets you interacting in a less stilted and awkward way than a fancy sit-down dinner. Maybe bowling or Go Ape! or something like that, before a takeaway and then a cosy pub somewhere – that sort of thing.

I’m going for people still currently alive for this edition – maybe I’ll do an historical version another time.

5. Lzzy Hale

Lead singer of heavy rock band Halestorm, which is one of my favourites, she is not only one of my biggest music idols, but is also a huge mental health activist and general role model.

I went to see the band in Birmingham a couple of years ago in an ‘Evening with…’ sort of format, and despite being in a theatre with hundreds of other people, there were moments when it felt like there was no-one else in the room when she was speaking – I just found her that engaging to listen to.

4. Michelle Paver

One of my favourite authors right through from childhood – from the Wolf Brother series to her adult novels – her research trips have taken her all over and her love of nature, history and writing all move her solidly onto my invite list.

3. Laini Taylor

Another favourite author – it’s like I have a reading obsession or something – I have, briefly, met Laini a couple of times at UK book signings when she has been over in this country, but obviously did not invite her to a dinner party, because that would have been weird. She has had an invite to my fictional one ever since I first read Daughter of Smoke and Bone though – and it’s her fault (or rather that book’s fault) that my hair is blue. It might have taken me a fair few years after reading it to get brave enough to do it – but her character Karou was the inspiration behind it.

2. Michaela Strachan

Another hero of my childhood through to adulthood. A nature loving role model that inspired my wonder for wildlife on my doorstep as well as further afield. The Really Wild show, and Spring Watch etc, helped foster and develop my love of animals and encouraged me to look for the things that were closer to home – not just the lions and the wolves of far-flung places.

1. Sue Perkins

Rounding off the group with someone who is another hero of mine, though one I discovered more as an adult.

I always enjoyed her appearances on panel shows like Have I Got News For You and Q.I. etc, and her Radio 4 shows as well (I listened to Radio 4 a lot when the kids were little – now I tend to just listen to the odd show here and there on the Sounds app).

I loved her on Celebrity Masterchef and Great British Bake Off and it was also during those years that she became a total style icon for me as well. I have never managed to pull off looking as cool as her, but I wish I could.

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In reality, if I was to find myself in a room with Lzzy Hale, Michelle Paver, Laini Taylor, Michaela Strachan, and Sue Perkins all at once, I think I’d probably lose the ability to speak in sentences and make a prat of myself.

But I’d be a very happy idiot all the same.

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Who’d be on your list?

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