How To Be 60 with Kaye Adams

On this week's Midweek Catchup, we discover that Kaye has been staring at her belly button in the mirror and what she found there is... haunting. Karen's reporting live from Crete - where she forgot her pyjamas and is sharing a bed with her friend Caroline behind a glass bathroom door that hides absolutely nothing. There's a big announcement: How To Be 60 is heading back to the Edinburgh Fringe (August 7th–9th, same museum, 2:45pm — mark it now). Kaye filled out the forms and had to formally confirm there'd be no pyrotechnics or scenes of a sexual nature, which Karen found debatable. There's a hair update, an onion-in-sock verdict, and a sneak peek at Friday's guest — the brilliant positive ageing activist Mia Maugé
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On this week's episode, we're joined by Victoria Hislop, bestselling author, honorary Greek citizen, and the woman who celebrated her 60th birthday waterskiing with a glass of champagne in her hand.

Victoria's been through the lot in her sixties: losing her mum, breast cancer, lockdown, the empty nest hitting like a train she swore she was ready for. But here's the thing nobody expects her to say: she found all of that easier to handle than her own success. The overnight bestseller who was more shaken by a number one slot than a cancer diagnosis. The woman who poured the grief of not having another child into the novel that changed her life.

She talks to Kaye and Karen about why happiness has to come from the inside (Aristotle told her, and she believed him), why "don't get above yourself" might be the most damaging motto our generation inherited, and why the secret to a 45-year marriage is never, ever going to the supermarket together. Plus: the real reason she sobbed in the toilets on Greek Dancing with the Stars, and what happens when your dance partner is younger than your own children.
Victoria's new novel, The Wine Dark Sea, is out in September.

Whether you've ever felt more rattled by something going right than something going wrong, or you're still figuring out what "selfish in a nice way" actually looks like in your sixties, this one's going to land.
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On this week's Midweek Catchup, Kaye's in Milan playing loyal assistant on Donna May's business trip (hairbrush already cleaned, wash bag already judged), while Karen's at home trying to save her voice before a nurse appointment that could delay her chemo jab. She's not above putting half an onion in her sock to make it happen.
Karen survived the John Lewis foundation counter: a 23-year-old who made her look like a ghost, offered her casket perfume, and said "anti-ageing" without flinching. Kaye went to Liz Earle's book launch and came home with the news that your bum skin is what your face could look like if you'd kept it out of the sun. Karen had follow-up questions nobody needed answered.
There's new specs, a mystery telling-off from Lisa, a ballet that was not their thing, and a chronic arm itch that's now gone international. Victoria Hislop is coming up this week.
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On this week's episode, we're joined by Wendi Peters - Corrie legend, current star of the touring theatre production Glorious, and living proof that the best stuff doesn't always arrive on schedule.

Wendi talks finding love again after 33 years of marriage (via a wine-fuelled evening and a very niche dating app), why being told to lose weight at 16 by a headmistress eating chocolate digestives only made her more determined, and how approaching 60 as a leap year baby (she's technically 14 and a half) feels like the start of something rather than the end of it. Whether you've sworn off love for good or you're secretly wondering if there's one more chapter left, this one's warm, funny, and exactly the reminder you didn't know you needed. Get in touch with your thoughts at [email protected].

Wendi is currently starring in the 20th anniversary UK tour of Glorious!, playing Florence Foster Jenkins - the American socialite dubbed the worst singer in the world. The tour runs until June 2026. Dates and tickets at gloriousplay.com.
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On this week's Midweek Catchup, Kaye nearly video-calls a professional contact from the loo (don't judge - you've done it), Karen's losing her voice to zero sympathy, and both of them are quietly jealous of Karen's sister Ag, who's just casually bouncing between Australia, Japan and New York with a glass of white wine permanently in hand. There's a Milan trip on the cards, which dredges up the time Kaye was dumped mid-pasta by a gorgeous Italian who put down his cutlery, said "this isn't working," and walked out - romance died in Lombardy and nobody paid the bill.

But the real moment comes when Kaye finds a letter from 10 Downing Street confirming her interview with Margaret Thatcher, dated 15th April 1986 - forty years to the day, tucked inside a big book marked "Cuttings" with nothing else in it, because apparently nothing else measured up. Plus: should they do Edinburgh Festival this year, and this Friday Wendy Peters joins - Cilla from Crossroads, currently touring in Glorious as Florence Foster Jenkins.

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