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MOLLIE'S BATTLE
BBC Radio 1 DJ Mollie King reveals she struggles to read her scripts on air because of her dyslexia
RADIO 1 weekend brekkie host Mollie King may sound flawless on air – but she has revealed the job is made tricky by her dyslexia.
The former member of The Saturdays beats herself up for misreading scripts but wants to show young people that challenges such as this should not stop you following your dream.
Mollie, who co-hosts with Matt Edmondson after joining the BBC station last year, said: “I do find reading really hard because I’m dyslexic.
“So if I’m reading out a text on air, I might slip up and read a word slightly wrong, then that does sit with me for a bit.
“But it’s all about brushing it off and just moving on, especially with the show being live. You can’t have it play on your mind throughout the rest of the show.
“Doing things live has made me better at just brushing things off and ploughing on, because I think the listeners don’t mind hearing a mistake every now and then — it proves I’m human.”
Mollie shot to fame after forming girl group The Saturdays in 2007 alongside Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Vanessa White and Rochelle Humes, before then changing career to become a radio DJ.
She has proved such a huge success on the airwaves that she was nominated as Best New Presenter at the Audio and Radio Industry Awards last year.
When not busy in the radio studio, she can sometimes be seen on telly fronting ITV breakfast show This Morning, as one of their main stand-in presenters.
Mollie now hopes her success in broadcasting will serve to inspire young people who, like her, struggle to cope with dyslexia.
She said: “I really do hope that people out there — especially, you know, young kids — can think ‘OK, she’s dyslexic and is reading a card, but it doesn’t stop you from doing the thing that you really want to do’.
“If you are really passionate about something, then you shouldn’t let anything like that get in the way.” Inspiring words, indeed.
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Tom taking time out to regroup
IT seems Ed Sheeran has set a trend by taking a break from music, with Tom Walker now vowing to do the same.
The Leave A Light On singer won’t be touring next year following a hectic 2019, when his debut album What A Time To Be Alive reached No1 and the Scot won a British Breakthrough Act gong at the Brits.
In an exclusive chat, Tom told me: “I spent so long writing the first album. I need to take some time to see my mates, to see my fiancée, to see my family.
“The whole first album is about those people and that’s what I’m good at – writing about the everyday part of life.
“So I need to feel like I have an everyday life. Next year is a full-on writing zone. We will definitely be doing UK festivals and stuff but the rest of the year is going to be writing.”
I reckon Tom has the right attitude and I know it will benefit him – as well as his fans – in the long term. His decision comes after Ed revealed over the Christmas period he plans to step back from the limelight for a while to “travel, write and read”.
Bizmeter
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- CATS could lose as much as £54million, according to a report in the US last night. Box-office takings for the movie musical, which stars Taylor Swift, James Corden and Idris Elba, are unlikely to get near its £73million budget. The film got a mauling from critics.
- ZAC EFRON almost died from an infection he contracted in Papua New Guinea while filming a documentary series. He was rushed to Brisbane, Australia, on a “life-or-death flight” for urgent treatment for a “form of typhoid or similar bacterial infection” just before Christmas.
Blud's trans trick
YUNGBLUD will pay tribute to David Bowie in his next album – and include a song inspired by a transgender man he met.
He said: “There’s a song called Mars which is important to me ’cause I had a trans man come up to me and say my track Kill Somebody last year helped his parents with the community he wanted to be in.
"And allowed him to go from being a girl – they sat with him through his his transition to be a boy. I thought that was f***ing crazy.
"He told me about his story, about how nobody understood him, and it clicked with me because it reminded me of Life On Mars by David Bowie – so I’m paying homage to that.”
His album is due in spring and he added: “It’s kind of a nod to Bowie, and it’s stories about young people.”
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Stormzy's ready to Own It at No1
STORMZY is set to get a late Christmas present – his track Own It, featuring Ed Sheeran and Burna Boy, is in poll position to be the first No1 single of 2020.
It would be the third time in the past 12 months he has topped the singles chart, after his hit on Ed’s album Take Me Back To London, and single Vossi Bop.
But Dua Lipa is hot on his heels, with Don’t Start now, according to .
Also in the running are Lewis Capaldi's track Before You Go, and Tones & I song Dance Monkey.
In the albums rundown at Christmas, Stormzy release Heavy Is The Head battled Harry Styles' Fine Line, only for both youngsters to both be beaten by veteran Rod Stewart's collection You’re In My Heart.
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Olly's under Cath's spell
IT’S not just Olly Murs' chair that has spun round on The Voice – his head has been well and truly turned as well.
The cheeky talent coach has been charmed by contestant Catherine Harding, who is the mother of Jude Law's lovechild.
Their flirtatious friendship has led sources on the ITV talent contest to question whether he is supporting the glamorous wannabe based on talent alone, or if he has been clouded by a schoolboy-style crush.
An insider said: “Catherine sang a very sexy version of I Put A Spell On You, which Olly really loved.
“He obviously found her really attractive and was a little spellbound.
“Catherine was drawn to him too, as he is very charismatic and made it clear he would love to work with her.
“Did she flirt with him to get ahead? 100 per cent. She’s an incredibly flirty person, which helps when Olly is one of the coaches.
“She’s a sexy performer and no other contestant stands a chance of getting Olly’s attention.
“Even some of his fellow coaches have questioned why he is such an advocate for her.”
Olly’s support for Catherine, who gave birth to daughter Ada – Jude’s fifth child – in March 2015, is ironic after HE joked about fancying the Hollywood hunk when they appeared on The Graham Norton Show in 2013.
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When Olly was quizzed about a tweet asking him to name the celeb he would most like to have a baby with, Jude asked: “Was it me?”, to which the singer replied: “It would have been.”
The former X Factor host is currently dating model and bodybuilder Amelia Tank. Hopefully she won’t mind him having a playful flirt with Catherine – or with Jude, for that matter.
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