Sara Cox, the 1990s Radio 1 poster girl, has written a memoir about her rural childhood in Lancashire. The book, Till the Cows Come Home, focuses on her early years on a 40-acre tenanted farm, rather than the glamorous Met Bar era. Cox, now a Radio 2 drivetime host, says she feels she has 'got to the top of a mountain' after a few rocky years in her career.
The memoir is a love letter to her parents and grandparents, detailing a childhood filled with local characters, hard graft, and misadventures. Cox describes growing up the youngest of five children, with her parents working in haulage, cleaning, and pubs alongside the farm. The book includes stories of dressing in chiffon costumes for carnival floats and herding escaped cattle in a nightie and wellies.
Cox wrote the book partly for her three children, so they can understand their roots. Her eldest daughter, 14-year-old Lola, is a keen reader but Cox fears people might question why she thinks she can write a book. Despite her self-doubt, Cox's lyrical style shines through, with descriptions like a teenage outfit 'like Bet Lynch after she’d been run over by a council gritter'.
The book's publication coincides with her new Radio 2 show, but it was planned during a period when she felt 'like the squirrel with the nut at the start of Ice Age, trying to cling on to the ledge of my career'. Now, she feels she has conquered the mountain, but is wary of messing it up. During quieter years, taxi drivers would ask if she was still on the radio, and she would reply, 'Yes, every Saturday night at 10pm.'
