NICOLA Sturgeon has told how she went from a teenager in pink leg warmers and day-glo orange disco outfits to a power dressing First Minister in her first appearance on Desert Island Discs.
Ms Sturgeon was cast away by Kirsty Young on the long running BBC Radio Four show where she chose her favourite songs.
Ms Sturgeon’s choices reflected both her 1970 and 80s upbringing in Irvine and her political beliefs.
From Cilla Black and Duran Duran to Robert Burns she told how the Thatcher years led to her political awakening and the influence of her strong family ties from her parents Robin and Joan to her husband Peter.
Ms Sturgeon said she had a “childhood obsession” with Cilla Black and threw a tantrum in Littlewoods when her mum and dad wouldn’t buy her the Liverpool singer’s album.
She added: “My wonderful grandad stepped in in and bought it for me.”
She chose Cilla’s Step Inside Love as her first song.
Her teen years and Frosty’s Ice Disco at Magnum Centre in her hometown, Irvine were revisited in the 45 minute show.
She said: “I am an 80s girl at heart.”
She said it was all “pink leg warmers and day-glo orange at Frosty’s Ice Disco with Wham, Culture Club and Duran Duran.
It was Duran Duran she chose, opting for a later track ‘Ordinary World’.
Ms Sturgeon recalled how her friends were worried about their fathers being made redundant and possible never working again and also about their own future and the spectre of unemployment haunting the youth in the town.
Her husband is Peter Murrell, SNP Chief executive who she reveals she relies on for calm.
She said: “Peter is very calm and doesn’t get flustered easily, which is what I need. I’m quite hot headed at times.”
Ms Sturgeon chose the song played at the couple’s wedding My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose by Edie Reader as the one song from her list she could save.
People judging her personal life without any understanding is something she said.
People, not knowing the reality make assumption I’ve made a cold calculating decision to put carer ahead of a family.”
That she added: “Couldn’t be further from the truth.”
She said there’re too much focus on what women wear or look like.
And she admitted appearing in a Vogue Magazine photo shoot could appear “contradictory”.
She said: “I’m a hypocrite, what can I say.”
Track List includes
Step Inside Love, Cilla Black.
Ordinary World, Duran Duran.
My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, Eddie Reader.
Book: Complete works of Jane Austen
Luxury Item: Coffee machine
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article