152 Songbird Kate Dimbleby: An Acappella Journey to Unleash the Power of Voice, Imagination & Storytelling

What happens when you merge an a cappella vocal virtuoso with a passion for storytelling and a love for connecting with audiences? You get the enchanting Kate Dimbleby! Join me as we explore Kate's incredible journey, from her album 'Songbird' to her recent performance with Gifford's Circus during the Royal Variety Performance, and her co-founding of the storytelling software platform Stornaway.io

You can also Watch/Listen to Kete's time in The Clearing here:
https://vimeo.com/834414868

Kate and I dive deep into the power of imagination and the significance of holding onto our inner truth. We discuss the importance of pushing one's own boundaries and how our voices can create a powerful noise if we let them out. Moreover, we touch on Kate's life-changing move to Canada, her discovery of the Alexander Technique, and her journey to her creative center point.

Kate's warmth, generosity, and creativity shine through in every moment of our discussion, and her passion for storytelling is nothing short of contagious. Tune in and be inspired by the captivating world of Kate Dimbleby.

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Chris Grimes: 0:07

Welcome to another episode of The Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, Chris Grimes, The storytelling show that features the clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, And where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5-4-3-2-1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to The Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, Chris Grimes, Are you sitting comfortably here? Then we shall begin.

Chris Grimes: 0:56

Well, it wasn't that just the most tickety-boo introduction. Welcome. I'm even getting a clap from the lovely Kate Dimbleby, And you're very welcome. You're an, a cappella vocal virtuosity pants. When I googled you, it says very clearly Kate Dimbleby sings And you've even got an album called Songbird. So you're a songbird that sings and we love you for that. Thank you, Yes, And so I did Google you. We've got people in common Keith Warmington, who I know you perform with a lot, Cal McCrystal, who adores you. He got in touch especially to go. She's very, super talented and indeed you've sung for Gifford Circus during the Royal Variety performance in 2022. I know you know all this, but I'm just telling you I know too.

Chris Grimes: 1:48

When you were doing the musical accompaniment, you were singing in the background while the wonderful aerial artists called Carpe were weaving their magic.

Kate Dimbleby: 1:57

Sorry, i lost you for a second. Ah, i know that's not good, is it?

Chris Grimes: 2:02

No, did you hear any of that? I was blowing some happy smoke at you.

Kate Dimbleby: 2:07

I'm just wondering whether to tether to my phone to make it easier to hear you.

Chris Grimes: 2:11

Yes, so am I coming through Tokyo? Can you hear me, or are you going to freeze on me? Oh, it could be that we've got a weak connection. This could be interesting. You've frozen. You look great, but you're frozen. So, oh, hashtag awkward. This has happened before the QWX of Zoom. I could have lost. She could have decided that she didn't want to do this after all, and she's disappeared.

Kate Dimbleby: 2:34

Oh, ok, we've got you, it's all going to be fine now. Now it's fine, everything's fine.

Chris Grimes: 2:40

So yes, i've just been happy wittering on playing happy smoke. So yes, did you hear any of that?

Kate Dimbleby: 2:47

I heard little bits, they all sounded great.

Chris Grimes: 2:50

Yeah, listen, you're awesome. That's the important thing. Theré, thank you, you're welcome, so I Googled you. But if someone doesn't have any reference to you and says, oh, hello, can I introduce you to Kate Dimbabee? what's your favorite way of either avoiding or answering the question? when some random human being says hello, what do you do? What's your favorite way of avoiding or answering that question?

Kate Dimbleby: 3:13

Oh, that's a good question. Yeah, avoiding is probably the thing late in life that I've tried to find ways to do, depending on the circumstance. So I usually say I'm a singer, creative producer, writer, and I've spent the past four years building a software storytelling platform with my husband.

Chris Grimes: 3:34

That's kind of the highlights, and by the way, to that point as well, stornawayio is the most extraordinary thing And I love it because you've got your own story island going and I've got a clearing as a story skate within this podcast. But you're in a check this out. You're in a big funding. It's doing very well, isn't it, stornawayio?

Kate Dimbleby: 3:56

Yes, yeah, having started as a startup in our basement, essentially, and launching in the pandemic online, we've made this video storytelling tool that lets people make interactive stories. So it's very in line with what you do and with theatre and with actually my experience. It's just also a software company, which means that we now live in that kind of ethereal world of tech, venture capitalists and things. We're trying to avoid all of that as much as possible and grow it from the ground up, but it has been really successful. We're being used all over the world by anyone from students to big enterprise using it for learning and training. So we're very happy with that And I think it does.

Kate Dimbleby: 4:44

I mean, i'm sure I'll talk about it later, but I think it does tie in with where I started, because I think at some level I've always been. Although I am a performer, i think I've always been interested in the audience more than me. Yes, like I've always been interested in enabling other people to get involved, and actually I was very uncomfortable in the early days when I was signed to a record label and they were putting my face on the cover and it all had to be about me. I found that very excruciating and awful, and so I feel like the journey of my life has been making it less about me and more about them, which you know that's been. Yeah, so that's. It feels great to have creators all over the world using this piece of software to tell their stories. I mean, who wouldn't love that?

Chris Grimes: 5:34

So it's a very warm and lovely, a very warm and generous disposition, if I may, to achieve sort of performance wisdom whereby you realise it's not all about me, it's about my audience, and that's a lovely thing. It's your gift to them, which I think is lovely.

Kate Dimbleby: 5:48

Yeah, and I think, i mean I actually think that most performers are the same. You very rarely meet the really really sort of ones with the huge egos You know. I think most people feel it quite. It is quite excruciating having attention and the whole nature of performing is to kind of push it back out. Yes, but because I came from a family of already kind of well known so the Dimblebee name was kind of well known I saw early on this weird effect that's been notable had on people you know kind of made them behave weirdly.

Chris Grimes: 6:25

It's the thing. it's called a tribute charisma I don't know if you've heard that before where if you meet somebody famous we put them on a pedestal, which is called a tribute charisma. You bung them up there even though there's no real true relationship to make that happen. But it's got an interesting dynamic.

Kate Dimbleby: 6:39

Yes, and I think it actually again now, later on. I'm like I think it happens in all walks of life where you meet people. I certainly have it where you meet people and you really you kind of have an idea of who they are And you're like you give them this status and actually it's possibly not who they are at all. Yes, exactly, and then you spend quite a long time trying to figure out oh, why does this feel weird? Oh, it's because I think they're somebody other than they are.

Chris Grimes: 7:04

Yes, And, by the way, the perpetability is the dream thing for me. I love the fact that you know, even with this vehicle. I love the dynamic that if you get in touch with someone, all you need to do is say who I am, what's our connection, why am I talking to you And then ask the question, and I don't mind a yes or a no And delightfully you were just immediately open and receptive, as I thought and knew you would be. I've also seen you perform a few times. You were with Howard and Stu from Living Spit. Was it Sleeping Beauty?

Kate Dimbleby: 7:34

you did, sorry, no no, those were the ballet dancers. I couldn't have fulfilled that role, but no, i was playing Penelope in Living Spit's version of the Odyssey.

Chris Grimes: 7:45

Of course you were Sorry.

Kate Dimbleby: 7:48

Very grumpy and cross, that my husband hadn't come home for 10 years, and but also sort of empowered to tell Penelope's story.

Chris Grimes: 7:57

It was a really amazing experience, actually, and one that I wouldn't have had if I didn't live in this glorious city of Bristol, where I moved 10 years ago, so yeah, And, if I may, I'd like to dedicate this episode to Howard, who's still with us, but he's really not very well, But you know what a wonderful, gorgeous human being he is. Absolutely So. it is my great delight and pleasure. the lovely Kate Dimbleby songbird, as I've mentioned already, that is the name of your album. I'm not trying to be sexist and call you a songbird, but you are.

Kate Dimbleby: 8:28

And it has an S on it. So it's not the Eva Castee one, songbirds.

Chris Grimes: 8:31

Songbirds. So it's my great pleasure to welcome you here to the clearing, and this is about stories of distinction and genius which you'll be given me by the bucket load, and there will be an overt opportunity later for you to talk about not just your music but also your own story island from Stonawayio, because this will also go into the UK health radio space as well. Thanks to Jar Jar. welcome at 1.2 million people listening, a paz, who knows anyway. So let's get going on the curated structure. There's going to be a clearing, a tree, a lovely juicy storytelling exercise called 54321. There'll be a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake, and there could even be the occasional bell. Cashier number four, please. So, all that wibble notwithstanding, where is what is a clearing for you? Where does Kate Dimbleby go to get cut? a free, inspirational and able to think?

Kate Dimbleby: 9:23

Well, that's very easy the forest. So I mean, it's absolutely in line. Probably quite a boring answer, but it really is the forest in that song. But all my albums have been written partly in forests, when I've been walking in them. And there's a particular forest around the corner from here in Bristol that nobody else seems to have discovered, or at least they don't go there when we're there.

Kate Dimbleby: 9:47

And over the past four years since we've been building this kind of slightly stressful online digital business, my husband and I have gone there and we walk the same circuit every time, and every time we start at the beginning and usually by the middle we're having some sort of argument about something And then by the end we've sort of resolved a problem And it's sort of yeah, it's a magic forest like that, and also it has that ability that lots of forests seem to have, where it feels totally new every time you go into it because, depending on what the trees are looking like or the ground is feeling like, and I've always found since I moved I lived in Canada for a while and I used to go in the forest often And obviously in that forest there were bears and that was slightly more frightening, but actually again kind of getting over that fear of there might be a bear around the corner was part of, for me, the decompression process of just kind of letting go of all the worries that I was carrying And then actually genuinely talking about songbirds.

Kate Dimbleby: 10:57

Songs would sort of come into my head and then I would start singing them and then I'd run home and write them down and try and do the orchestration for them.

Chris Grimes: 11:06

What a gorgeous metaphor and analogy about you know, going on a bear hunt in the forest all the best types of storytelling is Hansel and Gretel in there And I love the fact you have an argument because life's a forest and you can't see the wood for the trees. and then you come out again and then there's a song that's occurred, there's a bird that's flitted into your head. Perfect, yes, exactly So. can I congratulate you for that answer? just being in the forest? but it's a very specific one that you say is completely secret. but now can you reveal where that is, please?

Kate Dimbleby: 11:33

No, otherwise I'd have to kill you.

Chris Grimes: 11:36

If. I know too much, you'll have to kill me. So yeah, keep it secret. That's fine. So we're in the forest then.

Kate Dimbleby: 11:41

I feel like it's got magic. You know, they talk a lot now, don't they? about spores and fungi, and I feel like this particular forest there is actually a clearing which has yew trees all around it, very, very sort of ancient yew trees which I think have a symbolism anyway, and it does feel a little bit magic. You know, it feels like you should go there and, you know, ask for water, although it's a secret.

Chris Grimes: 12:07

could I please ask you, live on air please, if you could take me there sometime, because I'd love to see the clearing you're talking about, because obviously it plays into my metaphor.

Kate Dimbleby: 12:14

Yes, we should do a live episode there.

Chris Grimes: 12:17

Hey, let's do that. I've got a weird gizmo that can do that. So, yes, let's do that. Brilliant. so I'm gonna now arrive in your delicious, sumptuous clearing of the forest with a tree. I know you've already got some, but I'm gonna arrive a bit waiting for Godo Esquire with my own tree now to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. How'd you like them, apples? So this is your response to the lovely construct of 54321,. we've had five minutes, kate Dimbelby, to have thought about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention that's where the random squirrels comes in and then one quirky or unusual fact about you we couldn't possibly know until you tell us. So you don't have to shake it all in a one-er, but over tea to interpret the shaking of your canopy, please.

Kate Dimbleby: 13:06

Well, i think I love that. I think that I've already probably mentioned a couple of the things that have shaped me. So having a name that people immediately always used to say are you related to David Dimbelby or one of the others? Sometimes David having the name Dimbelby has shaped me in that in my early career I found it very problematic And I've probably spent 20 years trying to sort of prove myself beyond the name and feel that it's sort of, you know, the opposite of Nipo baby.

Kate Dimbleby: 13:42

I felt kind of like I'm a singer and no one's taken me seriously as a singer because of this name and blah, blah, blah. And then what's really lovely is that recently I've met at least three people in my kind of close circle and people I work with who come from totally different backgrounds. You know, one of them comes from a farming family in Herefordshire, one of them comes from a banking family in Scotland and the other one is from a farming family in Wales and all three of them different ages, said I hated my name. One of them has changed her name because she hated her name, because everybody knew oh, you're from that family, you're from the farming family in the village of Blaire and similar, you know, oh, you can't be a creative person because you're from the banking family in West Lothian or whatever.

Kate Dimbleby: 14:33

And then I sat next to this, the Welsh person I'm trying to be discreet here at a dinner recently and he said we talked about this whole thing of names and he said you know, i come from nowhere, i come from nothing. My family we're a farming family never made any money And then I became a tech kind of millionaire And even then I used to come back to the village and everyone would be like oh look, it's Sorenshaw's son, you know. And he said and I hated being having that name until my father died And then I've never been so proud to be his son. Oh, how lovely. It was, very, very.

Kate Dimbleby: 15:08

It was one of those kind of moving moments where I realized that I'd been battling this sort of invisible demon because actually it is just my name. You know, there's not much you can do about it. And similarly, and I think I'd been thinking, because it was a famous name, it was somehow different to other people's names. But I don't think it is, i think it's. I think our names carry a lot about us and our job as we grow up is to kind of figure out how who we are beyond our name you know. Yes, i noticed that in your storytelling in the podcast you were like Chris Grimes. You did some really clever rhyme And I was like isn't that lovely. He's kind of turning his name into this fun part of his.

Chris Grimes: 15:50

You're talking about your life and times with me, chris Grimes. Exactly, it was almost like you were made for that. Well, grimes is grotty and Dickensian, which suits me fine. I am Chris Christopher Allen Linden Grimes, for reasons I've never really understood, and I did wrestle with oh, should I call myself as an actor, christopher Linden, and then I realized that sounded more like a tap dancing pond. So instead I thought I'll go with, i'll stick with Grimes, because it's grotty, it's Dickensian, it suits me And, if I may, kate Dimbleby suits you, yeah.

Kate Dimbleby: 16:20

I know Well, I did. And then I had a moment during my career. So I released sort of four albums and toured the world as Kate Dimbleby And obviously no one cared because I was singing jazz and that's got nothing to do with BBC Broadcasting. But I had quite a funny moment in my sort of twenties, after I got married, 30s, And I suddenly told an agent that I wanted to change my name to my married name. He was like are you effing kidding me? We got this reputation. You've built this career for yourself. Are you saying you want to throw that away? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I do. And that's a bit of a pattern I've had in my life where as soon as I kind of reach something, that something's tangible, I'll throw it away and do something else. And I think that is now again, with the wisdom of nearly being 50 in September I realized that that's the best way to approach life is never to get too attached to the name or identity that you're in, because it's always changing to something else.

Chris Grimes: 17:19

And there's always that opportunity to release something as a ghost writer, metaphorically anyway. So if you really want to apply that, you shouldn't shoot yourself in the foot and throw all the bathwater out and just try and do something else, Which you're doing with Storenway. IO doesn't have a dimblebee in there at all. No no. There's a dimblebee in there, if you know what I mean.

Kate Dimbleby: 17:39

Well, and I think and it's a testament to where I've got to that I bring it up as the first thing, because it used to be the first thing that I would try and sort of literally duck and dive. And then you know, yeah, it's like. it's like if you've got a very I don't know very noticeable hairdo or something like it's, we bring the thing, don't we that we know someone's going to bring to us. We kind of get in there first.

Chris Grimes: 18:03

Yes, I mean just this morning. I said, you had lovely wallpaper. So there we are. I noticed it, so I called it out.

Kate Dimbleby: 18:10

There you go Yes, lots of birds on, so that would take me to my next apple.

Chris Grimes: 18:15

Oh, segue, way, I like you.

Kate Dimbleby: 18:16

I know. Thank you, thank you very much. I don't know what I was going to say, but I was just trying to move on. I was going to say I was going to say trees, canada. So that's. the other thing that shaped me is that we I did at that point when I was going to throw everything away I moved to Canada with my husband, young couple, just married, kind of went there. He got, you know, we didn't know what we were doing, but we were just like let's get away from everything we know, yeah, and let's find out who we are together. And that was the best decision we ever made, even though we came back.

Kate Dimbleby: 18:55

It was something about the new. You know, it was really romantic. It was like the new world. You know, who are we in this new world? That sort of pioneering spirit of actually, what can I do? Who am I, what do I want to do?

Kate Dimbleby: 19:08

And I then that's when I wrote my first album of originals, because I've previously always done other people's songs. In fact, i've kind of liked that. I liked hiding in personas of other people for probably the reasons we just talked about. And that was when, the first time, i wrote my own songs and had to kind of really dig deep into what I wanted to talk about or sing about. And Canada was just.

Kate Dimbleby: 19:36

You know, there's a lot of people in the UK who laugh about Canada and say, oh, it's very nice. And you know, my mom particularly is one of those people who's like, oh, i can't bear it, how nice they all are. But I found it really amazing to be in a place where people didn't bring their insecurity and laugh at themselves. And you know, in that British way it was so gentle the culture. You used to go to a party or something and people would say, you know, how are you, what do you do? And you'd kind of do that British thing of like, oh God, they need to know everything about me. And then they go no, i mean, what did you do today?

Chris Grimes: 20:21

So you went full feral to find yourself, if I may, and you went to Canada, into the forest, in the woods and the gorgeous red woods in the woods, Yeah, no cliche, real cliche, No, no it's not, It's really. it's like a vision quest. It's fantastic.

Kate Dimbleby: 20:34

Well, and everybody at home, as they do when you ever you do anything a bit bold or weird or out of what's expected, people were like, oh, you'll come back. And when we came back, everyone was like, oh, you see, didn't work, did it? Because our house also got taken over by a woman who stopped paying the rent, and so it was all a bit of a disaster in lots of ways. But now I'm like no, it was not a disaster, it was an amazing learning curve, and we came back and had to build our life from scratch again because we'd sort of thrown everything away. But that was a great opportunity to refine what we wanted to do. Which brings me to my next apple Go.

Chris Grimes: 21:12

Yes, segue away. You're awesome, thank you, which is the Alexander technique.

Kate Dimbleby: 21:19

It's a bit showbiz. I mean well, no actors and voice. people know about the Alexander technique because it's about. lots of people think it's about posture and breathing and it sort of is, and it gets taught in drama schools and music schools. But I found it because I had really bad back pain And that was again. it's all slightly connected. So I very early in my life, i was lucky, i kind of achieved success quite quickly after coming out of university And I had a show that then toured on big stages. But I had no preparation or training for that success. So I had a voice but I didn't really know. I hadn't really learned how to use it properly or how to keep it.

Chris Grimes: 22:06

Or how to stand and hold yourself as you imparted your vocal.

Kate Dimbleby: 22:09

Yes exactly, and so the pain got worse and worse and worse, and I think it was a kind of tension that I just never knew how to release. So I would get very you know, it's a lot of adrenaline on stage and I had and then I would come off stage and just feel absolutely kind of crippled and drained And I wouldn't know. I didn't really understand what was going on And I guess, and then I went to an Alexander technique teacher. I mean, i went to a lot of different people, but it was the Alexander technique teacher that, i think, showed me this connection of mind and body and got me realising that I was less at the mercy of the elements than I thought I was.

Chris Grimes: 22:52

And, if I may, it's really set you free because of your unique cappella. You love to do stuff unaccompanied, so it's really raw because it is just you with your voice, your presence, your physicality, and so that's. it's obviously really found you, that centre point.

Kate Dimbleby: 23:07

Absolutely Now. I think the cappella work wouldn't have happened without that, And I did then later train with Bobby McFerrin. That don't worry, be happy All of that.

Kate Dimbleby: 23:20

But I think I wouldn't have found that without it And it was something very powerful about if you strip everything else away, what are you left with your voice and your body and how you communicate And then, and then a kind of trust in what comes out of that And then, and so that's how these songs arrived, and then I would layer them and I would always. The message to myself because of the Alexander technique was that if ever I got to a bit that felt like, oh, this sounds awful, or God, i really can't hit that note now and stuff, i would not let my, i would not let that put me off, i would kind of move into it with a kind of jazz singing sensibility of like this is an interesting note.

Chris Grimes: 24:03

Yes, sometimes the magic is in the imperfect, isn't it? Yeah?

Kate Dimbleby: 24:06

yeah, absolutely, and I think I hadn't because I'd maybe been I mean, you know, not really successful. I wasn't a Dell or anything, but you know, because I've had a bit of success early on, i sort of like a lot of people. You think, oh my God, i've got to maintain this thing. I've got to maintain this thing because it's going to go. It's going to go. And actually it was like no, i need to break it all back down again and refind it.

Chris Grimes: 24:28

You weren't a Dell, you were a dimblebee. See what I did there. I was just a bit of a litteration that gave me a gift there. So we could have in common Lovely And a lovely voice. Obviously Thank you. We could be on to your fourth shape.

Kate Dimbleby: 24:46

Yes, my fourth shape. Oh oh oh, i didn't, i think I didn't even think about the fourth.

Chris Grimes: 24:51

Maybe we've had four, i don't know.

Kate Dimbleby: 24:52

I mean, I think we've had three And fourth shape Bristol I'm allowed to use a place, of course, no. Well, yes, bristol and its people. So, again moving on to a theme, left London 10 years ago, just at the point where I just kind of re-found my voice in inverted commas with a show about the singer Dory Previn, and I made an album about her. She's a 70s songwriter. She taught me a lot actually, but I was kind of at Lester Square Hippodrome. I had my literally my name up in lights. It was like one of those kind of having had two babies and thinking I would never do anything again. And lo and behold, i was like, okay, i think it's time to move now. We moved and, partly because of my husband's work as well, we moved to Bristol.

Kate Dimbleby: 25:48

But then I found myself. I didn't, i literally didn't know anyone here. I didn't have any creative contacts here. My whole life had been in London, my whole kind of work life, and so I found myself walking around the city, a bit like I walked around the forests in Canada, like thinking what happens now? And thanks to the city? and actually I would say it's people. You know, one of the first people to come to me in the school playground was this wonderful woman, theona Matthews, who runs a theatre shop. Yes, of course It came out of. And you know, she just came up and just said are you wanting to do anything here? Do you want to? It's just so kind because, again, you know it's hard, isn't it, when you don't really know which world you fit into.

Chris Grimes: 26:43

And yes, is this the Hotwell School, hotwell's primary playground? Yes, it's a hotbed Because, by the way, my daughter Lily has just got a job back at Hotwell School And that's when she decided she wanted to be a teacher and she's just got a job back there And, yes, that playground is a really wonderful space.

Kate Dimbleby: 27:01

Yeah, and they're not always as we've seen on Motherland. you know, school playgrounds are quite often awful And actually a lot of my experience was quite awful for all the reasons I said at the beginning, which is, i think there's a problem with playgrounds where we all assume we know who each other are. You know. She's a lawyer, she's a doctor. She doesn't work, he doesn't do this And actually the truth is we're all just mumbling along trying to figure out what we're doing.

Chris Grimes: 27:25

We're all just winging it because it's chaos.

Kate Dimbleby: 27:28

So Fiona, kind of like this, scooping me up, giving me an opportunity. And then there was a brilliant arts centre over the other side of the city called Zion Arts from by this again, wonderful women, jazz, and just just that thing of openness and people being prepared to kind of find out who you are rather than assume they know. Lovely, and so I think that was always very good for that. And and let me kind of that's. When the songbirds album came from Bristol, it came from a period of walking. I mean, i literally this is in terms of songbirds I walked around the streets with my mobile phone This is on a bad day And to get connection.

Kate Dimbleby: 28:07

I would just kind of walk up to people and say, what if you had a song? what would it be if you had a sound? what would it be? and I just got obsessed by what, what's in us beyond what people see, and and so then I and I started recording all these people. You had sales girls outside will cause who sang Adele songs actually, and then a young family from Croatia I think, and they sang me a kind of lullaby and it was just, yeah, it was one of those beautiful moments of like if you just don't mope in your room. I think when am I going to work again?

Chris Grimes: 28:45

but get out there and start talking to people and try and ask for Yes, it's about the desire for connection and you talked about the roots and the trees and all the connections of fungi and all that stuff. It all relates.

Kate Dimbleby: 28:58

Yeah and that and it's. It's frightening, i think, because when we're in certain places we can't necessarily, we don't feel we can do that, but it that has become, i think, probably my driving mission is sort of to keep that openness that other people give me. You know, it's like that it does pay forward, doesn't it?

Chris Grimes: 29:13

it's like yes, and other people How to make ideas spawned by being connected. Yeah, yeah, which comes back to your forest, which is your clearing, of course. How lovely. So what are your four? shape is now going to wet. Three things that inspire you, kate.

Kate Dimbleby: 29:30

I should have thought about. I did sort of think about this, but then I was coming spontaneously. I think, well, um, the sound of people inspires me, so that sound, you know, i think I said to you when I heard your voice that you reminded me of Cal McChrystal, a director I've worked with loads. You've got a quality to your voice that's really similar And so instantly I felt sort of at home and happy. And because I've worked with Cal on he's actually directed like four of my theater shows And I think there's something, you know, if we can get beyond maybe just the literal words people are saying, and it's not transactional, it's more about hearing this kind of sound and spirit of them. Again, i found that very inspiring.

Kate Dimbleby: 30:18

I've actually got this game with a friend of mine on WhatsApp where, depending on the day, she's a massive reader and I listen to a lot of music. So she'll say I'm feeling a bit today, have you got a song that will help me, and I'll send it over to her. And similarly, the other one day I said I was like exactly that. I can't see the wood from the trees. It's really like murky today. And she sent me over the Stravinsky piece of music because she's a classical music person And it was amazing. I played the music and literally the sound of it lifted me from where I was and took me somewhere else And I was like that's magic.

Chris Grimes: 31:00

Oh, it might be nice to share that Stravinsky music as well as part of the suite of what we put on here for you.

Kate Dimbleby: 31:06

That's a good idea.

Chris Grimes: 31:07

Yes, it'll be out of copyright and it's all good.

Kate Dimbleby: 31:12

Yeah, no, I think it's Stravinsky. Now I say that I always get these things wrong, but I'll definitely share it. Maybe it's Sibelius. It might be Sibelius.

Chris Grimes: 31:20

Well, whatever it is, we'll put it in and go Yeah, it has this lovely bit at the end.

Kate Dimbleby: 31:25

So it goes from this place of murky. Oh, i can't really, i don't know where I am. My brother says I've been like that all my life. When I'm in my low point I'll be like where am I, who am I, what's my tune? And I always think it's new. I always like I've never felt this before. But what's lovely about this music is it goes from that place, very familiar place, to this really calming, calm section that just makes you go. It's all going to be OK. The world's a big place. You don't know what's going to happen.

Chris Grimes: 31:54

Today you wake up and it feels like it's all turned to Wibble. But then tomorrow it's a new day. It's all good, we're all going, we're all trying to make it, that's all good.

Kate Dimbleby: 32:04

And other things that inspire me. Well, funnily enough, now I'm working in an office for the first time, like in my 50th year. I finally decided to get an office job, having done. I did do it in my 20s, but then I tried to avoid it for as long as possible. But and so in our office, stornoway, there are only about 10 of us eight of us, and we don't. It's working from home and it's in the office, a mixture of everything, which is fantastic, i think, for everybody. But when I go in there, i used to sort of think, oh God, i have to dress up and be. You know, i literally was in my 10th thing. I'm like I'm in a suit and talk about.

Chris Grimes: 32:45

KPIs And get your clackers done, your nails done.

Kate Dimbleby: 32:50

And now I don't. I'm much more. I kind of follow And I like the younger people who are in our office. I get very inspired by them. I'm like this is brilliant, because they have totally different life view. They, you know, we. It's just brilliant. You go in there thinking one thing, you come out thinking another and you get introduced to all sorts of music You would never know. And yeah, it's, i love, i like office life. If it's not, you know, we don't have a water cooler and our desks aren't too sort of horrible and chrome. It's all quite fuzzy. So yeah, i'm quite enjoying that.

Chris Grimes: 33:25

Great inspirational. Any other inspirations before we move on to some squirrels, please.

Kate Dimbleby: 33:31

Dory Previn, so the 70s songwriter who I did the show about. she is someone who, unlike me, i used to you know, hide under other people's personas. Dory is one of those people. She had a breakdown in her 40s when Andre Previn left her for Mia Farrow. That's the story.

Kate Dimbleby: 33:51

Mia Farrow is like 20 years old and beautiful and blonde. I mean, it's your basic nightmare. So the dark haired brunette has been leave, but it's like the oldest cliche in the book. Anyway, there's obviously a lot more to the story than that. But she wrote an album of songs which I then did some interpretations of, called Beware of Young Girls, which you would think would be a kind of revenge album.

Kate Dimbleby: 34:16

But what's amazing about Dory's songwriting is that she manages to take these emotions, these raw emotions like anger, jealousy, fear, and she really explores them but also brings a dollop of humor I mean just like a huge amount of humor. So she never lets you kind of fall into a pool of kind of misery. She's always kind of finding the fun in it. And when I sent my version of her songs to her husband who's still alive Joby Baker, he's like a Hollywood actor. So her story ended well. His comment on my versions was like, well, okay, yeah, it's good, but you know you're trying to sound too pretty. Dory wasn't interested in sounding pretty And it was the best tip I could have got, because actually it was true, i was trying to kind of make it all nice and clean around the edges And actually the whole thing about Dory is that her voice was a little bit ragged. It was hard sometimes to hear, but that was its beauty.

Chris Grimes: 35:29

And yeah, lovely, great observation Ragged, but that's where the beauty lies. Absolutely We don't want pure, we want a little bit of maverick in there.

Kate Dimbleby: 35:37

Yeah, exactly, and so she Did you go remastered then based on that feedback. No, the album is actually. That's interesting. The album is as it was when I delivered it to Joby, but then I started performing it live And actually I ended up in New York performing it on Broadway, off Broadway. Off Broadway, not on Broadway.

Chris Grimes: 35:58

Too off off.

Kate Dimbleby: 35:58

Broadway And in a really funny theatre where lots of old people came to go to sleep.

Chris Grimes: 36:09

That's my kind of theatre.

Kate Dimbleby: 36:11

It was really warm and it was Christmas and it was freezing on the streets. Anyway, I did it there And actually that was when I started to employ the kind of what happens if I deviate allow for the rawness to come out And it became a better show, I think, as a result, And actually the songbirds wouldn't have probably happened without that. It's all these funny stages in life where you don't realise.

Chris Grimes: 36:34

And, if I may, is that one of the other pieces of music you might proffer to the sort of music?

Kate Dimbleby: 36:38

Yeah, i'm aware of young girls who come to the door wistful and pale of 20 and four, delivering daisies with delicate hands. I mean, she's such a good writer, she's brilliant. But yeah, i've sung it for you now, but you can also put it in Wonderful.

Chris Grimes: 36:58

So now what? two things never fail to grab your attention, irrespective of anything else that's going on in our chaotic lives. So this is where it squirrels. What are your squirrels of distraction? Squirrels, as borrowed from the film Up where the dog goes well, squirrels. So what are your squirrels of distraction?

Kate Dimbleby: 37:14

Smell. Is that? It's a sense? All of my things are very sensual. I think that's okay.

Chris Grimes: 37:21

I think it's okay. I'm liking it.

Kate Dimbleby: 37:23

I think I've got quite a good nose for smell, so I will. I'll smell quite specific things and be able to articulate I don't know. I also. I'm trying to think of an example now. I remember when I was younger, as a child, i could always smell alcohol on adults' breath.

Chris Grimes: 37:44

Wow.

Kate Dimbleby: 37:45

And that's continued into my kind of like working life where you just get a little like oh, did you have a big night last night.

Chris Grimes: 37:54

Or even the vodka brigade go you.

Kate Dimbleby: 37:57

But also smells of like at the moment spring, the smells of flowers and Yeah, it's, i think it's. I'd like to cultivate it more because I think being distracted by things like smell is a kind of good way to stop life being just a kind of treadmill of moving through. I always noticed my mum and my mother-in-law, you know that kind of really old fashioned thing of like oh, smell this rose darling. You know, i mean, that's not my mum at all, but my mother-in-law was a big rose fan and she sadly died during the pandemic And sometimes I think of her way, of The way she got distracted was by really simple things in her garden the smell or the grass or the.

Chris Grimes: 38:51

Did you say your mum died during the pandemic? Is that what you?

Kate Dimbleby: 38:53

just said, my mother-in-law died.

Chris Grimes: 38:55

Apologies, That's why I wanted to call it. Oh yes, sorry.

Kate Dimbleby: 38:58

No, sorry, my mother-in-law died really terrible, oh my God. No, because her smell continued to the end. So she made some. My husband went to see her I think he wouldn't mind me telling him this story. He went to see her at the end And obviously it was bloody awful because it was COVID and no one could wear masks. You couldn't go in and he had to talk to her through a window. And But what she? He took a car down from Bristol, drove for three hours, got to her care home, stood outside the window And one of the first things she said to him is you smell a fat LAUGHTER Which he had eaten a bag of chips on the way down.

Kate Dimbleby: 39:44

And so it was kind of one of those both awful things Like he came back going. I can't believe that's one of my last things my mother said to me, but at the same time, an amazing part of her that was just at the end was really just like hitting its level, yeah there's sort of a beauty in that too, because obviously COVID was a lung attacking thing, but she still had a sense of smell, which is the lovely thing to keep pressures to the end.

Kate Dimbleby: 40:08

Yeah, absolutely No, and she was a fantastic woman and she was. You know, she was ready to go because her husband had gone and you know, sort of I think that I've always been. I'm very lucky in that not many people around me have died. You know, my grandmother died when I was 30, and that was the first person close to me I knew. I hope you don't mind me going into this area, but I think it's OK.

Kate Dimbleby: 40:40

But so I think I've always considered myself as a slightly naive person who doesn't really know what it is this next phase, and it's interesting that through my in-laws, who I deeply loved, i have had that fur and through my husband's grief for them. You know, it's a sort of gentle understanding of like, OK, wow, this is actually what a lot of people are having to deal with much earlier. I'm so lucky to have got to this point in my life and not experience it. But also it's the next part of the journey. It's like when we post 50, you know that's where we're headed. So I think being able to be with people in that's kind of inspiring. And with my grandmother, for example, i sang with her right to the end. I sat with her and sang with her and she sang back with me And same with my grandfather actually. So I kind of am very interested in staying a tune to those sort of maybe harder things, because I think there's huge kind of beauty in learning to come out of those moments.

Chris Grimes: 41:57

And now we're going to talk about a quirky or unusual fact about you. We couldn't possibly know until you tell us, and I'm just aware that we've got about seven minutes left, so that's my problem.

Kate Dimbleby: 42:07

Quirky, and I did. I write this down. Yes, i am good at synchronized swimming.

Chris Grimes: 42:13

Oh awesome, What a cool fact.

Kate Dimbleby: 42:15

I wish I could say I won an award or something. But no, when I was younger I did do competitions and I used to do this special American synchronized swimming, where you salute in the middle of your crawl, Go you, And then you go back down into the water, put your legs up, And I can still. When I'm in the swimming pool and my kids are around, I still show off to them and they're like oh mom, you've got something we didn't know about It's sort of half songstress, half mermaid.

Chris Grimes: 42:40

See what we're doing there, and I'm assuming you did it as part of a squad. It wasn't just you just going.

Kate Dimbleby: 42:45

Yeah, it's part of a group of us. No, that's the whole point. It's got to be very, very organized and disciplined, because you can't actually tell if it's synchronized.

Chris Grimes: 42:51

It's just you doing it, can you? Anyway, that's good. We've done the shaking of the tree, please, and now we're moving away from the tree, staying in the clearing which is in your wonderful, sumptuous forest, which is going to keep on giving as a story telling analogy. And now we're going to talk about alchemy and gold. When you're at purpose and inflow, kate Dimbleby, what are you absolutely happiest doing and what you're here to reveal to the world, please?

Kate Dimbleby: 43:17

I think you might know the answer to that, Which is singing Yeah of course.

Kate Dimbleby: 43:23

But not actually singing to anyone else, but I would say, my happiest place. I have a little kind of cubby hole down at the bottom of the house And I go there with my vocal loop, which is how I do the acapella stuff, and I literally just sing and I layer my voice and I just do it for as long as possible until I feel better And that's that's it, that's my, that's my medicine for me, and then I can go out in the world and take it out there and what a lovely thing, beautiful answer.

Chris Grimes: 43:54

And then this at the end post the outro, i'll lay on some music that you're willing to gift to the programme, if you like to layer on to it. So this will be a moment to listen out for what goes beyond. So what would you like to sort of offer at this point As a track that we might have from you? Oh, so you don't have to sing it at this moment, because I'll bung it on.

Kate Dimbleby: 44:18

No, i'm just. I'm just looking What I did write to couple of not like life is a bit heavy. Maybe Musical boxes, which is about letting our sounds out. It's a good song, tom Robinson. Tom Robinson found it and regurgitated my career. No really, ha ha ha. But basically you know, i was 40, whatever I was, and he played it on radio six And it was like a very exciting moment.

Chris Grimes: 44:49

Listen, go me. Having done my research. He said that's the don'test thing I heard all week. He quite liked what you did And I guess you yes, i'm, i still with you because you're you're breaking up So lovely. So now I'm going to order with a cake, and then this is where you get to put a cherry on the cake And this is a final Montel air cake. What's the favourite inspirational quote that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future.

Kate Dimbleby: 45:17

Apart from don't try to sound so pretty. I think somebody said to me when we were starting the business you are only limited by your imagination, and I know that feels like it's been said a million times before, but I genuinely feel it's true, having kind of moved into an area I could never have imagined myself in. I think you just have to keep pushing those blockers that are stopping your imagination, thinking where you want to go and where you want to explore.

Chris Grimes: 45:50

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given? Oh, is that the same one? Maybe I did that. It could be Sorry, let's go here instead. Which is what notes? help or advice might you offer to a younger version of yourself, kate?

Kate Dimbleby: 46:06

Relax, have fun.

Chris Grimes: 46:10

And we're ramping up to a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, but just before we get there, it's past the Golden Baton. Please, who in your network would you most like to pass the Golden Baton to, having experienced this now From within?

Kate Dimbleby: 46:22

Well, I'd like to. I think I'd like to pass it to a writer friend of mine, Kathy Rensenbrink, who is she's published six books now. The most recent one was called How to Feel Better, And she started with her memoir about a kind of traumatic event in her life. So I think she's an amazing she's just amazing at at encouraging other people to tell their stories, And you'll love her.

Chris Grimes: 46:54

Yeah, And give me her name one more time Kathy Kathy Rensenbrink.

Kate Dimbleby: 46:59

Is the answer? going back to the beginning, she grew up in a pub in Yorkshire or in Leeds and she was always known as the girl from the pub, the daughter of the people from the pub, and now she's married a Danish man, so she's now got that rather interesting surname. But so she was one of the first people who said, oh, i grew up in poverty in a pub in Leeds And and yeah, i feel a bit similar to you about my name, and it was just one of those kind of interesting moments where people meet.

Chris Grimes: 47:28

And your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to finish me with a warm introduction. please. Thank you very much, And so I've just wrote Motown Cross of Time now. And now inspired by Shakespeare and all the worlds of stage and all the men and women, merely players. We're going to talk about legacy now. How and all is said and done, Kate Dimbleby, Songbird, would you most like to be remembered?

Kate Dimbleby: 47:53

She gave good hugs. Somebody said my uncle said to me the other day that I was cuddly and a former me would have taken that very badly. But now I was like that is not a bad person to be, to be someone who people want to cuddle, because life can be bony and hard and horrible and spiky And we need more cuddles You can have that.

Chris Grimes: 48:18

That's awesome. She gave good hugs. What a legacy. Where can we find out more about you on the old Hinterweb?

Kate Dimbleby: 48:29

wwwkatedimblebycom is my you know, singing and performing and everything else writing website, And then wwwstornaywayio, Which is the digital storytelling tool for interactive filmmaking.

Chris Grimes: 48:47

As this has been your moment in the sunshine of the Good, listening to Show stories of distinction of genius. Is there anything else you'd like to say, kate Dimbleby?

Kate Dimbleby: 48:56

Other than I've just had a brilliant time and thank you very much for letting me blab on for an hour. It was delightful.

Chris Grimes: 49:03

No, the pleasure was half mine, because I enjoyed blabbing on too. So just in case of managing time so you've been listening to the lovely Kate Dimbleby Tune in. next time for more stories from the Gilearing and anything else you'd like to say Have a good day Dance while the sun is shining.

Kate Dimbleby: 49:21

First bit was quite American.

Chris Grimes: 49:23

Y'all have a good day now, ok, and good night. You've been listening to the Good Listening to Show here on UK Health Radio with me, Chris Grimes Oh, it's my son. If you've enjoyed the show, then please do tune in next week to listen to more stories from the Gilearing. If you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, then please do so. There's also a dedicated Facebook group for the show too. You can contact me about the programme or, if you'd be interested in experiencing some personal impact coaching with me, carry my level-up. Your Impact programme. That's chrisatsecondcurveuk On Twitter and Instagram. It's At That, chris Grimes. So until next time for me, chris Grimes, from UK Health Radio. I'm from Stan To Your Good Health And goodbye. And now, as a happy postscript to original pieces of acapella music by the lovely Kate Dimbleby, we have musical boxes, followed by Lady with the Braid. Enjoy, hey, hey, hey.

Speaker 3: 50:34

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Speaker 4: 50:49

What we are is delicate and should be held like tiny birds, as we feel it. Let it go and flutter there. What we are is ancient truth held deep within the trees. Let the water in to feed us. Like musical boxes, we lock up our sounds And save them till everyone's out. Imagine the noise we could make with our voices If we let it out. Like musical boxes, we lock up our sounds And save them till everyone's out. Imagine the noise we could make with our voices If we let it out. Imagine the noise we could make with our voices If we let it out.

Speaker 4: 53:31

Would you care to stay till sunrise? It's completely your decision. It's just that going home is such a ride. Such a ride. Going home is such a ride. Going home is such a ride. Isn't going home a lonely ride?

Speaker 4: 54:04

Would you hang your denim jacket near the poster by Picasso? Do you sleep on the left side or the right or the right? Would you mind if I leave on the light? Would you mind if it isn't too bright? Now? I need the window open so if you happen to get chilly, there's this coverlet, my cousin, hand crocheted. Hand crocheted. Do you mind if the edge is afraid? Would you like to unfasten my braid Shall.

Speaker 4: 55:06

I make you in the morning a cup of homemade coffee. I will sweeten it with honey and with cream. When you sleep, do you have dreams? You can read the early paper and I can watch you while you shave. Oh God, the mirror's cracked. When you leave, will you come back? You don't have to answer that at all.

Speaker 4: 55:53

The bathroom door is just across the hall. You'll find an extra towel on the rack, on the paisley patterned papered wall. There's a comb on the shelf. I papered that wall myself, that wall myself. Would you care to stay till sunrise? It's completely a decision. It's just the night cuts through me like a knife. Like a knife, would you care to stay a while and save my life? Would you care to stay a while and save my life? I don't know what made me say that. I've got this funny sense of humor. You know I could not be downhearted if I tried. If I tried. It's just that going home is such a ride. Going home is such a ride. Going home is such a ride. Isn't going home a lonely ride? Going home is such a ride. Going home is such a ride. Isn't going home a lonely ride? Isn't going home a lonely ride. Isn't going home a lonely ride?

Chris Grimes: 58:23

So, kate, you've just been given a good listening to. Can I just get your immediate feedback on what you think of the curated structure of the vehicle of this? What was it like?

Kate Dimbleby: 58:32

Well, i love it. as you rightly pointed out, actually, forests and trees and all those analogies are like part of my daily kind of enjoyment of life. So I loved it and I loved you listening. I loved you listening, isn't it What an amazing opportunity to have someone actually just listen to you talking about things that may give you joy and some other things. Thank you.