When Dolly Parton swept into Rotherham Hospital and scooped up Shane Jarman's two-day-old daughter, he was understandably starstruck. But as the country legend cradled tiny 4lb 6oz Emma in her arms, his eyes kept drifting towards one thing: her bright red fingernails.
“The worry was etched on my face,” laughs Shane, 58. “I was looking at the size of those nails thinking, ‘Don't squeeze too hard. That's my daughter's head.’”
It was one of the more surreal moments in an unlikely love affair between Dolly and a corner of South Yorkshire she had barely heard of before she arrived. The star, who passed away aged 80 this week, was in Rotherham that day back in 2007 to launch the first Imagination Library scheme in the UK.
A Heart Spot for Rotherham
Inspired by her father's inability to read and write, the programme sends children a free book every month from birth until the age of five. More than 300 million books have been gifted worldwide to date. But what began as a visit to promote the scheme became something far more personal. One of 12 children raised in a tiny cabin in rural Tennessee, Dolly saw something of her own beginnings in the hard-working families of Rotherham.
“It's an area where there's lots of hard-working people, poor people, and I totally related to Rotherham,” she said. “I'm so glad that we started there because that was really more of a heart spot for me because I related to the people.” Indeed, her affection ran so deep that Dolly even joked about moving there. “When they were making fun of me for going out there I thought, ‘Don't make fun of me.’ I was even looking for a little apartment,” she said.
Her Yorkshire adventure had begun after then Rotherham council leader Roger Stone got in touch with Dolly about bringing the Imagination Library to the town. By the time she left, she had been mobbed by crowds at the Magna Science Adventure Centre, charmed local dignitaries and acquired a new punchline. “Now I've discovered that Rotherham is just a Roger Stone's throw from Tennessee!” she told hundreds of fans who had gathered to see her.
Lobbying in Whitehall
Her campaign eventually took her to Whitehall to lobby former Cabinet minister Ed Balls for cash for the Rotherham scheme. The GMB host remembers how she was prepared to deploy some of that famous charm as she energetically went into bat for the town.
Ed said: “The moment when Dolly Parton placed her hand on my inner thigh and whispered in my ear 'I hope you don't mind me hitting on you' will always remain one of the highlights of my life in politics. If you think I was taken aback, you should have seen the look of surprise and amazement on the face of my Permanent Secretary.”
He added: “She was really trying to 'hit on me' for my department's money. I knew as much but I didn't care. I was the young lad from a small village in Norwich who'd grown up on 'Jolene' and '9 to 5', and now here I was sitting next to the legend who'd sung them.”
An Unforgettable Encounter
Back in Rotherham, Dolly left another lasting impression. Shane and his wife Claire had endured a difficult pregnancy before Emma was born just two days before the star arrived in town. Then nurses approached Claire with the prospect of Emma receiving the first book from Dolly herself. Shane, then a deputy head teacher at a school in Doncaster, remembers being phoned by his wife.
“I was actually up the ladder decorating the school Christmas tree when Claire said, ‘I really need you to come to the hospital,’” he says. “We hadn't had an easy pregnancy, so you can imagine my reaction. I'm up the tree thinking, ‘You want me at the hospital? What's wrong?’ She said somebody was coming to visit but she couldn't tell me who because it was top secret.”
When staff finally revealed the identity of their mystery visitor, Shane assumed the whole thing was a wind-up. “I thought, ‘Dolly Parton will not be coming to Rotherham. This is ridiculous. Why would someone that famous come to Rotherham?” But he was left shocked when Dolly swept into the room asking: “Where's my baby?”
“Claire and I were thinking, ‘Your baby? I think it's our baby, but you can borrow her for two minutes,’” Shane laughs. “She just had this boundless energy about her. But without it being brash or in your face. You felt that energy as she entered the room. She was energetic but calm, compassionate and, well, she was amazing.”
Shane admits he was so awestruck he barely managed to speak. “I don't think I said more than two words, which were, ‘I'm Shane.’ I spent the rest of the time with my mouth open thinking, ‘Wow, it really is Dolly Parton.’”
Dolly, meanwhile, appeared fascinated by tiny Emma. At one point she asked permission to remove the newborn's little hat so she could inspect what was underneath. “That was very Dolly, wasn't it?” laughs Shane. “She was always into hair.”
A Lasting Legacy
She presented Emma with The Tale of Peter Rabbit, the first of dozens of books she received until she was five. When Shane and Claire later had another daughter, Lily, the books began arriving for her too. And almost two decades later, Dolly's influence on the family has not disappeared. Shane and Claire today run a nursery and preschool in Hampshire, where the books she sent their daughters are still sitting on the shelves.
“They weren't just Emma and Lily's books,” Shane says. “We shared them with the children in the nursery and are still helping others.” Emma, meanwhile, is now 18 and preparing to head to university. She is an "avid reader and bookworm," he says, adding: "No one is going to believe her when she says she was held by Dolly Parton. No one is going to guess it at all…its a good ice-breaker at uni."
When Shane heard the news of Dolly's death, his thoughts went back to that hospital room. “I was sad,” he says. “After meeting her, you realised what a gentle, caring soul she was. I really hope she's sat up there somewhere on her cloud with her harp, looking down, thinking: ‘I did good.’ Because she certainly did.”
