Janet Street-Porter: ‘I was a self-improver. I have lists of every book I’ve read’

Janet Street-Porter is a journalist and regular host on ITV’s Loose Women. Born in Brentford, she has worked as a fashion editor at the Daily Mail, a presenter on LBC, editor of Network 7 on Channel 4, commissioning editor at the BBC, editor of the Independent on Sunday, and occasional actor. She has written two bestselling memoirs, Baggage and Fall Out, and two self-help guides, Life’s Too F***ing Short and Don’t Let the B*****ds Get You Down. She’s been married five times, most recently to restaurateur Peter Spanton, and has homes in Norfolk, Kent and London. Street-Porter has performed a one-woman show on and off since her Edinburgh festival debut in 2003 – her new show, Still Off the Leash At 80, is touring the UK from September.

What is your new show about?

The first part is about celebrating me still being here, the bionic woman. I used to think it was quite something that I had two knee replacements and a hip replacement, but routinely people come up to me in supermarkets and say, “My husband’s had five hip replacements”. When I first did the show at the Edinburgh festival, I was showing off about how fit I was, how I didn’t have Botox. Now, I still have no cosmetic surgery, but the body, it’s got to be said, is held up by scaffolding. My development age is probably halted at between 18 and 21. So, then I have a couple of rants.

About your body?

No, things that have deeply annoyed me in the past 48 hours. The traffic system of the place that I am appearing in or the train. Recently the train stopped outside Lyme Regis because of cows on the line. The government had this view of entering the digital age and high-speed trains, but after you’ve done 32 shows going around Britain, you see a different side.

Is it bad-tempered standup?

I explain how I ended up such an opinionated person, which cues my bizarre childhood. I had parents who were married to other people when they had me. When they got married, they didn’t tell me or my sister. We found out much later. It was a strange childhood. My mother was Welsh and very keen on speaking Welsh, but my dad, sister and I never learned. She got a budgie so she could talk Welsh.

That does sound kind of eccentric.

Plus, it was the 1950s, so I’m talking about 50s cuisine, about losing my virginity and how my mother knew immediately, about getting my first job on a teenage magazine, Petticoat, and within a year the Daily Mail offering me [the position of] deputy fashion editor. Basically, I do my career, then audience questions.

How did you steer your life that way, landing a job on the Daily Mail?

It’s easy. I kept very detailed diaries, and I was a self-improver. I have lists of every book I’ve read. Aged 12 in English we were asked to write an essay on our favourite TV programme and I chose Panorama. I worked in Fulham library after school, joined the Young Conservatives, and then the Young Socialists, one after the other.

That was a speedy political journey.

It was about the quiz team. My friend said that the Young Socialists had wine and cheese.

When you go to audience questions, do you find that they ask the same each time?

They want to know which Loose Women I don’t get on with.

Which Loose Women don’t you get on with?

I tell them that if they watch the show, it’s obvious.

Anything else?

They want to know about sex. Although there’s only so much I’m prepared to share. And they want to know about people I’ve met – what was David Bowie really like?

What was David Bowie really like?

He was wonderful. And we both had the same hair colour.

You took a shine to Johnny Rotten. What impressed you about punk?

When punk came along, I was at LWT [London Weekend Television] and we booked the Notre Dame Hall in Soho to film a Sex Pistols concert. I liked his unpredictability. He came to my 50th birthday and all these people were queuing up to be insulted by him. I haven’t seen John for a couple of years. He was on Loose Women before his wife died and he was really moving, talking about caring for Nora through her dementia. It was a very difficult time for him, he took a step back and devoted everything to caring for her.

You warm to outsiders – did you face obstacles yourself?

Prejudice about my class and accent. I went to the BBC once to try to get on some of their arts programmes, and they said I’d have to be retrained. That made me irate. At that time, I was hosting a late-night show on ITV, but according to the BBC I had to learn their way of doing things. I just bided my time, and when I went back there as commissioning editor, I had the last laugh. Within two or three years, I built up my empire. The BBC was very good training in terms of learning how to scrape up a pyramid of power.

How much was luck and how much good management?

It’s not a question of luck with me, it’s a question of pushing myself forward.

Do you ever consider stepping back and taking things easy?

No, I enjoy live performance and live television. I always have done. I just think it keeps you on the edge a bit.

You recently got married for the fifth time. Why did you decide to do it?

Because Peter had never been married, I thought it was a nice thing to do. He liked the idea, it’s what he wanted, and let’s be honest, it’s no skin off my nose. That doesn’t sound very romantic, does it?

Is it a romantic relationship?

Well, we’ve had our disagreements over the years. Mainly when he went and got the dog without asking. Now I love the dog so much.

You’ve been trolled a lot. Does it bother you?

Well, I loved my Spitting Image puppet, but there are a lot of impersonations I loathed. Some of the criticism of me by the TV critics was really spiteful, based on my appearance and my accent, so now I don’t engage.

What wisdom would you impart about life?

Oh my God, wisdom. Well, my only wisdom is that my favourite record is You Can Get It If You Really Want.

Still Off the Leash At 80 is on tour from 14 September through to the end of April 2027. For tickets see janetstreetporter.com/tour

Photograph by Sarah Lee/Guardian/eyevine