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Rhona Cameron - Comedian
Rhona is a stand-up comedian and writer. She was brought up in Musselburgh, East Lothian where she was a Brownie and a Guide."I admire all the women who have got ahead based not on their looks but their hard work or personality."
Scotland and being Scottish...
It would be Musselburgh where I was brought up, more the environmental aspects
than the community for I couldn't go back there and live it's too small and homogeneous.
But I love the sea so much. I spend most of my time there walking around breathing
in that wonderful east coast air. When you have been brought up by the sea it's
a heart break to live without it.
Career…
My big night at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre Fringe
Festival 2003. Thousands of people on my home turf all
willing me to do well. My entire family there and my
mum who wrote me the most beautiful card that makes
me cry still.
I was in such a state with nerves that
I came off stage and burst into tears. People were so
supportive it was very moving for me after all the highs
and lows I've had along the way.
It would be what I'm doing now and the last time I had to do it a couple of years ago. Writing a book. It requires a lot of hard work and is very solitary, no body else can help me with it, it's all down to me. Scary for someone who has been lazy for a lot of their life.
That's easy. I would like to write and direct a film or play each year, plays first then films and be living six months here and six in L.A or Sydney, somewhere with a beach and less taxation.
The sheer excitement of going there on a Friday night and having such a laugh with my pals.
That they're all a bunch of jolly hockey stick squares!
Guiding I think provides young girls with so many old fashioned and good positive values that are so lacking in today's society. I think it teaches you so much about yourself and the journey with others, as it's a group and to some people a family and life is after all learning to live with others.
It also teaches you respect for other people. We were always doing chores for the local community and elderly people which were not only useful to them but which allowed us to learn so much. It offers practical learning skills, and good old fashioned outdoor fun.
There is whole world out there to play in and explore with your friends. The internet may be a great way to find out stuff but it doesn't teach you common sense! Now go on get out there and enjoy yourselves!
Seriously - my mum, she's from an era when women had so fewer choices than they do today and
that I had. She fought hard to gain independence from the shackles of marriage.
She got a job that she was respected in, worked hard, kept a home clean and full of good food,
looked after a husband who was not as resourceful as her and brought up a child. That counts
for a lot. She is positive and a fighter and has gone through so much change in so many decades.
I admire all the women who have got ahead based not on their looks but their hard work or personality. In the television business which I have had experience in, looks account for too much when it comes to women.
I least admire back stabbing and bitchiness and women whose sole reason for being alive is to seek validation by men.
Oh my goodness - there are so many things I want to do! I think I will take up Karate at one
point and I'd like to go on some kind of Trek in another country. I always feel I should go
to India, everybody else seems to go, but I'm so fussy with food and stuff I don't know if I
could handle the obligatory stomach bugs.
On a smaller scale I should do yoga or Tai Chi at one point and cycle the British coast to coast.
On sentimental level I'm attached to photos and diaries, of which I have kept many of both.
I also keep the last thing my mum wrote to me in case I never see her again. I have some Walt
Disney miniature characters as candles that I've had since a baby, they still have my teeth
mark in them, and I'd be pretty upset if I lost them.
But if I am truly honest, I would be lost without a pair of jeans that I love. All my life it
has been impossible to find the perfect jean for me, but they (Diesel by the way) are it, I
got them in New York a couple of years ago and I wear them all the time. I just could not imagine
being without them I know it is ridiculous but there you go.
Hey - I also have a Mont Blanc pen that I love. Okay okay, the pen, the jeans, and my watch,
and the picture of my Gran I took when I was nineteen, of her leaning out of her flat window,
how I want to always remember her.
I think some charities are more high profile than others so if I had that amount
of money to give away I would give to a less known charity. Perhaps something
like age Age Concern.
I feel old people are given a raw deal in our part of the world in contrast to
our European counterparts and I think they are grossly under funded.
I find the
whole notion of charities difficult because our government would have more than
enough money to cover many of the causes in our country if they wouldn't spend
it on war!
To find out more about Rhona please see Edinburgh Festivals
