Caitlin Moran on the smells that defined her childhood
Desert Island Discs

Caitlin Moran on the smells that defined her childhood

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 8, 20262 min
  • Interview
  • Society

The writer and journalist Caitlin Moran was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2017. Her journey took her from a three-bedroom council house in Wolverhampton, where she lived with her parents and seven siblings, to becoming a columnist for The Times newspaper and writing her own sitcom. She explains why she feels it's important to highlight the experience of those raised on benefits like herself. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.

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Sentence 7 of 12 · 0:37

pungent memories were of a cramped childhood.

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The smell of boiling potatoes,

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 24%A2 40%B1 16%B2 12%C1 8%
  • 80% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 170 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 7 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Welcome to Desert Island Discs postcards. I'm Raul Laverne. We've cast away thousands of people to our imaginary desert island, among them many writers. Our castaway today is Katla Moran whose journey into writing began in a three bedroom council house in Wolverhampton where she lived with her parents and seven siblings.

0:31

Back in 2017, Kirsty Young asked her what her most pungent memories were of a cramped childhood. Pungent is the right word, it's primarily smells. The smell of boiling potatoes,

0:41

the combination of hot dust and kind of chip fat on a curtain, ice inside the windows, towels mainly. You know, when you're poor, you don't know what a dry towel is. All the towels are wet all the time

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