Magazine cover stars are so... *samey*- always the latest beauty with a film or fragrance to promote, or simply the next skeletal blonde queuing up to tearfully reassure the world about her weight issues. If Dollymix were a real paper magazine, we'd pick much more exciting ladies to adorn our covers. This week: Lauren Laverne
Ah, Lauren, how I love you. Famous at the tender age of 17 thanks to her band, Kenickie, Lauren has been on our screens since 1995, gracing us with her intelligence, wit and Sunderland accent while all those identikit popstrels sat and giggled mindlessly. She's the perfect middle-brow presenter, who manages to cover subjects on the Culture Show intelligently, without excluding anyone, and she's never more than 30 seconds from cracking a gag. Plus, she's never afraid to say what she thinks, recently criticising the radio industry for its sexist attitudes:
"Every interview I have done, they say: 'Do you drive your own desk? Do your breasts not get in the way? That's amazing. Isn't she good?' You kind of want to garotte people but you can't. It's illegal. I worked for a guy for three years and he only ever called me darling."
I'd get her to give us one of those naughty smiles she's so good at, and then I'd ask her lots of questions about the Britpop days to see if I could get any good stories of hedonism out of her.
More about Lauren Laverne
