Christine Lampard: Grandma's Spotty Apron

Summary

Sort Your Life Out Unpacked

Episode: Christine Lampard – Grandma’s Spotty Apron

Host: Dilly Carter | Guest: Christine Lampard
Date: July 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this heartwarming and insightful episode, tidying expert Dilly Carter invites renowned television presenter Christine Lampard to "unpack" significant items from her home. Through the exploration of three carefully-chosen mystery objects, Christine shares personal stories, family memories, and reflections on motherhood, sentimental keepsakes, and her approach to both organisation and chaos at home. Alongside the personal reveal, Dilly offers practical advice for listeners about memory keeping and home organisation, all threaded with laughter, realism, and genuine affection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Christine's Organisation Style & Home Life

• Christine’s Approach to Organisation
  • Keeps a written diary for her children’s schedules:

    "I really try to be organized and I almost have a separate diary for them...One has a forest school uniform, the other one's in a PE kit.” (02:13)

  • Prefers physical diaries over digital – each year, her husband Frank gifts her a new one.
• Home Atmosphere
  • Describes her house as "comfortably lived in" and "comfortably messy" due to children’s playthings.
  • Reminisces about tidy pre-children spaces and accepts the temporary chaos of family life:

    “I don't mind it. Cause it isn’t forever...You have 12 summers with your children before they do this...” (03:39-04:07)

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2. First Mystery Box: Grandma’s Spotty Apron

• Object Description: A tiny, handmade, spotty apron belonging to Christine’s grandmother.
• Personal Story & Significance:
  • Deeply linked with memories of her grandmother’s baking, particularly wheaten bread and apple pie.

    “She was a wonderful cook, wonderful baker and she always had this little apron on...I associated her wearing that with really nice food.” (05:45)

  • Vivid rural childhood memories: apple orchards, fields, and clear night skies.
  • The apron is stored securely, away from children:

    “It’s in a hidden drawer in my bedroom...I like keeping that special.” (06:57)

• Reflection on Childhood:
  • Talks openly about growing up during The Troubles in Northern Ireland—despite adversity, it was a happy childhood.

    “We just sort of grew up very happy in spite of...things that were going on." (07:23-07:40)

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3. Path to Television & Family Support

• Childhood “producing” homemade TV shows with friends (“The Blakely Show”).
• Began behind the camera, never aspiring to be in front of it; entered presenting “by fluke” at a boss’s suggestion.

  “I just became obsessed with making TV and just always wanted to do it. I had no doubt that...I wanted to be a camera woman.” (09:45)

• Emphasises the safety net and encouragement provided by her parents:

  “Just come home...and I’ll think of something else to do.” (11:12-11:18)

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4. Second Mystery Box: Memory Box and Handmade Cards

• Object Description:
  • A memory box decorated with animals; includes baby Polaroids, hospital dummies, a pregnancy test, and handmade cards from her children and family.
• Emotional Value:
  • Treasures handmade children’s cards:

    “I will keep them forever...and that just sort of represents cards in general from family and Frank...” (12:09-13:05)

  • Frank wasn’t initially a card person, but started writing cards to impress her.
  • Discusses organising memory items—boxes of kids’ artwork, cards from loved ones, mementoes from milestones.
• Organisation Tips (from Dilly):
  • Sort memory items by child/year; limit the size of memory boxes to encourage regular revisiting and culling.

    “The most important thing...is that you’ve got them organized by children...give yourself like a 50-litre box...once that box is full, revisit it.” (15:31)

  • Sentimentality makes decluttering tough; revisiting helps reevaluate what truly matters.
• Motherhood Insights:
  • Finds joy in all stages of her children’s growth; describes their personalities, their bond, and her hopes for them:

    “All I ever care about…I just want them to be healthy, happy and kind, good people.” (17:48)

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5. Third Mystery Box: The Black Sequin Dress

• Object Description: Black, sleeveless sequin dress worn the evening Christine met her future husband, Frank Lampard, at the Pride of Britain Awards.
• Sentimental Backstory:
  • Neither planned to attend, but a series of last-minute circumstances brought them together.
  • Frank still remembers the dress years later:

    “I could probably come out with purple hair tomorrow and Frank would hardly notice. But he remembers this dress.” (19:59-20:41)

  • Their first “date” included Christine’s mum and sister. Her sister immediately sensed the relationship was special.
• Relationship Dynamics:
  • Christine and Frank have similar home tastes; she jokes about their shared food order preferences and his acceptance of her organisational initiatives.
  • Frank is “fun time daddy,” less concerned with tidying but enjoys a well-presented home.
• Memorable Quote – Meeting Frank:

  “Technically, our first date was with my mom and sister...it was really relaxed and lovely...That was 17, 18 years ago.” (22:39-23:36)

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6. Sentimental Items and Signs

• Living in New York:
  • Moved with Frank at the end of his playing career; recalls a “sign” involving a feather when discussing the move and Frank’s late mum.

    “This feather just landed beautifully in the palm of my hand...as he said, I think Mum would say, do it...And I have a photograph of his mom at home...I kept all of those little things.” (25:24-26:26)

• Which Items to Keep, Donate, or Sell:
  • Would keep the memory box, sell the dress if needed, and donate the apron only to her sister:

    “If I had to sell something, it would be the dress...If I’m donating something, it would be to a family member, which would be any of these things...I guess my sister I could donate that to." (26:44-27:03)

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7. Christine’s “Happy Place”

• Description:
  • Her living room in the evening, family together, children playing, dog nestled behind her on the sofa, everything tidy and “light-hearted on the telly.”

    “That is a very simple, beautiful moment. That’s my happy place.” (27:15-27:53)

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Memorable Quotes

• On family chaos:

  “It isn’t forever...You have 12 summers with your children...and then suddenly they’re not there anymore.” — Christine Lampard (04:07)

• On memory-keeping:

  “Cards again, it’s such a beautiful personal thing...It is a dying art. Like we don’t really do it so much anymore.” — Christine Lampard (12:09)

• On life’s leaps:

  “You gotta jump and the net will appear.” — Christine Lampard (11:12)

• On finding her happy place:

  “My real happy place is in our living room...It’s a very simple, beautiful moment.” — Christine Lampard (27:15)

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Episode Timestamps for Key Segments

• Christine’s organisation & family home: 02:13–04:54
• Box 1 – Grandmother’s apron's story: 05:12–07:06
• Memories of growing up in the Troubles: 07:09–08:39
• Path into TV & family support: 08:39–11:25
• Box 2 – Memory box & children’s cards: 11:27–15:14
• Dilly’s tips on memory keeping: 15:31–16:08
• On motherhood and children’s personalities: 17:01–18:22
• Box 3 – The black sequin dress: 19:32–21:27
• How Christine met Frank Lampard: 21:29–23:36
• Moving to NYC & family “signs”: 24:51–26:29
• What Christine would keep/donate/sell: 26:44–27:03
• “Happy place” at home: 27:15–27:53

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Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, humorous, spontaneous, and heartfelt. Christine is candid and down-to-earth, blending her affection for family with a realistic approach to home chaos and sentimentality. Dilly’s practical tips are friendly and empowering, with an emphasis on making space for memories while keeping clutter manageable.

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For Listeners: Takeaways

• Personal objects can hold treasured memories and help us reflect on our values.
• Balancing organisation and sentimentality is possible—be intentional in what you keep and revisit your choices over time.
• Family stories intertwine with daily life, and it’s okay for spaces to be “lived in” and messy, especially with children.
• Create a “happy place” at home by focussing on meaningful, ordinary moments with loved ones.
• Don’t underestimate the power of “signs” and gut feelings when making big life choices.

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone who treasures memory-keeping, values heart-over-perfection in family life, or just enjoys a charming dose of honesty and laughter—plus a few practical organisational gems from Dilly.

Transcript

[Christine Lampard]

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[Dilly Carter]

I'm Dilly Carter, the organized one, and this is Sort yout Life Out Unpacked. Get ready to unpack three boxes with my celebrity guest. Every box has an item from their own home, plus a load of stories and memories. And stand by for my tips on how to sort your own life out too. This episode I am joined by one of the nicest people in tv. After presenting the One show, she moved on to be delightful company during the daytime across Loose Women this morning. And Lorraine. She describes herself as trying to be a 10 out of 10 when it comes to organization, but very relatably is better at sorting out her kids stuff than her own. She is beautiful inside and out. It is Christine Lampard.

[Christine Lampard]

I would just come for that intro. That's like the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me.

[Dilly Carter]

Oh stop. I mean, I bet anyone, anyone? Honestly, I've said it to everyone since I've ever met you. You are literally, and that is not a lie, one of the nicest people in TV I've ever met.

[Christine Lampard]

Oh, that is a huge compliment. Oh my goodness me.

[Dilly Carter]

I honestly, genuinely mean that. And I feel so strange sitting opposite you because normally you're interviewing me.

[Christine Lampard]

Well, this is the thing. I'm the one with the cards normally, so I kind of feel slightly out of control. But it allows you to relax a bit more, like you're in charge. And I like it.

[Dilly Carter]

I'm in charge.

[Christine Lampard]

I trust you implicitly.

[Dilly Carter]

Thank you.

[Christine Lampard]

I'm very happy with this.

[Dilly Carter]

Tell me, what is the most organized thing you do for your kids?

[Christine Lampard]

When it comes to my children, I really try to be organized and I almost have a separate diary for them because when even it comes to school, one has a forest school uniform, the other one's in a PE kit. One has a pack lunch that day, the other one's going swimming. So it's those kind of basic things that every parent will relate to. And so I have to physically write everything down in my diary. So I don't do just little voice notes or, you know, little messages on my notes in the phone. Everything is written down for me.

[Dilly Carter]

So you still use a written diary?

[Christine Lampard]

I use a written diary for everything. And it's on my Christmas list. Every Christmas I get a new one, Frank buys me a new one, and the year begins. But then when it comes to myself, I've just. Maybe it's just because I care a bit less. I've less time to think about it. When I'm not on tv, I'm just in the tracksuit, hair is up. And I'm actually really comfortable with that.

[Dilly Carter]

Before we get into your boxes, which I'm so excited to see what you've brought in. Cause I've got absolutely no idea. I just want to ask a few quick fire home truths.

[Jenny Kleeman]

Yes.

[Dilly Carter]

Okay. Number one, how would you describe your home in a sentence?

[Christine Lampard]

Oh, my goodness. Comfortably messy in terms of the children play stuff.

[Dilly Carter]

It's lived in, it's lived in.

[Christine Lampard]

It's comfortably lived in.

[Dilly Carter]

If I turned up unannounced, what room would you ban me from seeing?

[Christine Lampard]

There's probably a couple. Our living room pre children was beautiful. It was like the one that I would happily have brought you into straight away.

[Dilly Carter]

Yes.

[Christine Lampard]

Delicate. Darn. You wouldn't have to see anything else. You'd think, oh, the whole house must look like this. And then children came along. The beautiful coffee table got taken out because I thought they're gonna whack their heads on it. Like big soft cushioned safety protectors went on the corners of the furniture. But I don't mind it. Cause it isn't forever. And you see those things on Instagram that make me cry all of the time about. You have 12 summers with your children before they do this.

[Dilly Carter]

It's scary, isn't it?

[Christine Lampard]

And it is, you know, and suddenly you're wiping their dirty kind of fingerprints off the fridge door and you're thinking, oh, I have to clean again. And then suddenly they're not there anymore. That stuff like literally that makes me cry when I say talk photos. So I'm a bit like that.

[Dilly Carter]

You hang on to those emotions.

[Christine Lampard]

It's fine, I'll let it go.

[Dilly Carter]

I think like you just said, and rightly so. You know, there are so many different stages, aren't there, with our children that we have to embrace and because they won't be there forever. So even though, you know, we have these messy. The chaos, the plastic Toys, the piles of toys everywhere. Your front room not being your front room. It is only short term.

[Christine Lampard]

Exactly.

[Dilly Carter]

But it's also lovely, of course, you know, when it comes to terms of organization that you have places for those things to go away. So maybe at the end of the day you can sweep away those things and feel like you've got your beautiful front room.

[Christine Lampard]

Exactly that.

[Dilly Carter]

Okay, do you want to pass me your first item? Let's have a look.

[Christine Lampard]

Oh, it's not heavy. I don't know why I did that.

[Whole Foods Market Advertiser]

Right.

[Christine Lampard]

That was very dramatic.

[Dilly Carter]

Let's have a look and see what is in your first box. So your first box is quite small?

[Christine Lampard]

Yes.

[Dilly Carter]

Oh, this looks very tiny.

[Pura Advertiser]

All right.

[Dilly Carter]

Yes, yes. Okay, so in this first box is this gorgeous little polka dot. It's not. Is it polka dot? Spotty.

[Christine Lampard]

Spotty, yeah.

[Dilly Carter]

Spotty apron which looks like, I mean, has it been handmade?

[Christine Lampard]

Do you know what? I think it probably was deli, to be honest.

[Dilly Carter]

Handmade apron.

[Christine Lampard]

Yes.

[Dilly Carter]

And it's got a little pouch at the front. Very colourful, spotty, teeny, tiny little apron.

[Christine Lampard]

And a very old one.

[Dilly Carter]

A very old apron. Tell me all about this apron.

[Christine Lampard]

So this was my granny's apron.

[Dilly Carter]

Okay.

[Christine Lampard]

She was a wonderful cook, wonderful baker and she always had this little apron on. And so. And I remember it just was one of those things I used to, I guess it was colorful as a little girl and I associated her wearing that with really nice food. She used to make this gorgeous wheaten bread which you can buy in the shops here now in England. But it's not like the Irish one. It's definitely not like a homemade one. They had an apple orchard to the left hand side of the house. So you would pick your own apples and then she would make an apple pie or you know, it was just all really beautiful, kind of gorgeous old fashioned stuff. When I look back now, it really was idyllic. You're surrounded by fields, animals, clean air. It was in the middle of nowhere. So at nighttime you'd look up and it was like you were in the Milky Way. This incredible star filled sky. And so I link those beautiful memories with her wearing this apron.

[Dilly Carter]

And it directly links to everything that you love. It does.

[Christine Lampard]

And my own mum. Yeah, the children are not allowed to play with us.

[Dilly Carter]

They're not allowed to play with it.

[Christine Lampard]

It's in a hidden drawer.

[Dilly Carter]

It's in a hidden drawer.

[Christine Lampard]

It's in my drawer with bits and pieces up in my bedroom, funny enough. So I keep it away from all of the other usual everyday bits Because I just. Yeah, I like keeping that special.

[Dilly Carter]

How would you describe your childhood growing up?

[Christine Lampard]

Very, very happy, dilly. And I don't take it for lightly at all when I say I know I was lucky. Like, we did grow up with, you know, in the troubles back home. So that wasn't ideal, but it was also our norm.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

You know, there'd be school buses, sometimes were being burnt out and you couldn't get into Belfast. There'd been a bomb scare. Loads of things altered our daily routine. But you kind of got up the next day and you went again. We just sor of grew up very happy in spite of.

[Dilly Carter]

In spite of all the lot of

[Christine Lampard]

things that were going on for people.

[Grainger Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

And of course, when I was a bit older and I was. I was floor managing, I was behind the camera at the BBC and we had a. A big bomb scare and we. We were all rushed into all of these kind of underground bunker things and turned out it wasn't a real bomb that night. But then on another occasion, Patrick Kilty, actually who. It was the first show I started working on as a runner and I was 17 on this show and there was a bomb that night and he was doing his live show later on in the evening. So everyone's like, do we carry on? Go. No one knew what to do. And everyone came together and said, no, no, the show's gonna carry on. And I remember Paddy coming out with the script and this is live on air. And he threw it up and he went, we've no idea how it's gonna go, but we're gonna keep on going. And there was such a cheer in the crowd. I think it's why a lot of Northern Irish people have quite a dark sense of humor.

[Dilly Carter]

Yes.

[Christine Lampard]

Because we had to find humor in amongst real dark.

[Dilly Carter]

And what made you get into tv?

[Christine Lampard]

I always wanted to work in television. I have no idea why. My parents were not remotely associated with it. I just remember being really young and fascinated with how I could watch something on this little box. And it was coming from a place up the road in Belfast. So our local news. But yet that newsreader sitting up there and I'm watching her here, it was like the weird technical side of it fascinated me to begin with. So, talking about childhoods, my mom has hundreds of VHS tapes of basically a very early version of this morning, which I created.

[Dilly Carter]

Amazing.

[Christine Lampard]

Long before this morning was on Delic. And it was called the Blakely Show.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah, the Blakely Show.

[Christine Lampard]

And my sister was the host, my friend was the weather girl. I had my other friend doing the news. We used to have our friend Charlene, she was always Madonna and she came on and we've got music now. And basically we created this little chat show in our kitchen.

[Dilly Carter]

Incredible.

[Christine Lampard]

I'm never in it because I'm always filming it.

[Dilly Carter]

You behind the scenes, always behind the camera. So never fancied being in front of the camera?

[Christine Lampard]

Never, Never. I just became obsessed with making TV and just always wanted to do it. I had no doubt that, that I wanted to be a camera woman and a bit of a producer, director. I wanted to kind of do those things. And I got one day work experience to go to the Patrick Hilty show. And it was the floor manager, Kevin McCrudden, his name was. He came up and said, look, do you want to help me with the teas and the coffees? And so I was like, yes, yeah. And he said, do you want to come back again next Friday for the next show? I said, yeah, it was just the most exciting thing had ever happened to me. And I there and then thought, this

[Dilly Carter]

is it, this is what I want to do.

[Christine Lampard]

I love this.

[Dilly Carter]

Found your home. And then when did you come to the uk?

[Christine Lampard]

Completely by fluke. There was one of our bosses at home called Mike Edgar and he said to me, have you ever thought of being in front of the camera? And I was like, no. And he said, let's give it a whirl. Just before starting that, I said, look, if I hate this and everyone at home hates me doing it, can I just go back to my day job and no one's ever allowed to bring it up again? And that was the deal.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah, that was it.

[Christine Lampard]

You're a success. And that was it. And the one show then happened, that was the first kind of UK thing. And that is basically how I've started most things in life. If it's rubbish, I'm just gonna go home. I've got to get up.

[Dilly Carter]

That's all you can do, isn't it? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

[Christine Lampard]

And it's that thing. And I've said this quite a few times. I had friends at home that used to just say, you gotta jump and the net will appear.

[Dilly Carter]

So true.

[Christine Lampard]

Take a gamble. Sometimes I love that my outcome was always thanks to my mom and dad. Just come home.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

And so I was always like, well, yeah, I will go home. Just come home and I'll. I'm fine and I'll think of something else to do.

[Dilly Carter]

Shall we have a look at your second box? Yes.

[Christine Lampard]

Okay, no problem.

[Dilly Carter]

Let's have a look and see what's in here. So this is a medium sized box. Medium sized, medium sized box. Let's see what's in here. Oh, okay. So in this box are some cards that children have made and a memory box. It's got little elephants and giraffes. I've also got a couple of cards that the children have obviously lovingly made. Dear Mummy, Happy Mother's Day. Thank you for loving me.

[Christine Lampard]

I'd love to see. These are ones that they made at school actually. And this is only obviously two of them. 10,000 that I still.

[Dilly Carter]

Two of 10,000 cards.

[Christine Lampard]

No idea. I think cards again, it's such a beautiful personal things. Look. If it's your children making them, of course they can pull it all the heartstrings. And I just. Oh, I love them. I will keep them forever. I really will. It's the sort of thing I do, honestly. I mean, there's the odd one when they were really young. And you think, is it bad if I just chuck that out? Cause you don't really know what it means exactly. But generally I do. I keep them all, I just think. And that just sort of represents actually cards in general. So I've cards from my mom and dad, my sister, friends, Frank over the years. Frank was not a card person when I met him and then he discovered I was and so he had to try and impress me. So suddenly I started getting handwritten cards at Christmas or birthdays and I just keep all of them. And it's such. It is a dying art. Like we don't really do it so much anymore.

[Dilly Carter]

I love it.

[Christine Lampard]

And I'm not expecting the world and friends or the outer circles to do it. I just mean those little personal things from, you know, your very kind of close family. I just think it's really beautiful. I love them. I love that kind of stuff and I keep it all really safe.

[Dilly Carter]

And how do you store your cards?

[Christine Lampard]

I've got various little boxes and I've got a drawer. I do have a drawer in my bedroom and that's kind of like the holding area until I sort them out.

[Dilly Carter]

And then do each of your children have memory boxes?

[Christine Lampard]

Well, they sort of do. This is only. Yeah, they do use the quick ants.

[Grainger Advertiser]

This is one here.

[Christine Lampard]

This is one little small memory thing from like birth.

[Dilly Carter]

So this is almost like a birth memory box. Yes, because in here we've got a lovely little baby picture, little Polaroids, loads of little things.

[Christine Lampard]

That was my little girl when she was no age whatsoever. But these sort of things really.

[Dilly Carter]

There's some dummies, there's three dummies.

[Christine Lampard]

That was her. Yeah. She loved a dummy.

[Dilly Carter]

There's lots of Polaroids in here.

[Christine Lampard]

I love little Polaroids for some reason.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah, I like a Polaroid, I just think.

[Christine Lampard]

And it's all becoming really quite cool again.

[Dilly Carter]

So we've got polioids, we've got pregnancy tests.

[Christine Lampard]

Got pregnancy tests. That was really.

[Dilly Carter]

Was it quite hard to conceive? It was.

[Christine Lampard]

It was kind of. It was, I mean, to be fair, slightly our own fault. I mean, you know, we had been together 18 years, so we went through. We kind of went through years of just having a really nice life. It was just us. We were sort of happy doing our thing. And then it was actually more Frank. Frank said, look, we really should maybe think about this because I know you're gonna love it.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

And I thought, well, yeah, maybe I'll.

[Dilly Carter]

Maybe I would.

[Christine Lampard]

And it was just a complete. It just felt like a complete blessing. And that's the truth. I really loved it. I'd have had more if I'd started younger.

[Dilly Carter]

Oh, do you think you would?

[Christine Lampard]

I would have if I could have, but I would have. Yeah, I do. Honestly, I really, really enjoyed it. I say that. And like, two is a handful anyway, but yeah, it is. It's a real blessing.

[Dilly Carter]

So how many folders do you think you've got of kids drawings in your house?

[Christine Lampard]

There must be folders, boxes. I would. I'd say I've got three or four boxes of cards. And then I haven't touched on. My little girl loves art.

[Dilly Carter]

She loves.

[Christine Lampard]

She just would paint all day long. Lovely draw. And so I try to keep loads of that too. So that's another boxload of stuff. And yeah, it is difficult. You sort of go this. At what stage do you stop or what do you do with these things? But I go, but I don't want to throw it away.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah. I mean, the most important thing about keeping our kids memories, keeping our kids art, whatever it is, is that a. You know, you've got them organized by children so that at least you can find them and you know, whose is who. So that's fine. Year one, year two, year three, I would say. So you limit yourself, you know, give yourself like a 50 liter box rather than 100 liter box and then go, okay, once that box is full, I need to revisit it. And it's really important that we revisit our children's memories all the time, because the way we feel about something today Isn't the way we feel about something six weeks ago, six months ago? So there might be lots of things in that box that you are thinking, actually, this is just a squiggle. I can get rid of that and reduce it.

[Christine Lampard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dilly Carter]

But of course, if you're sentimental, you might just go through that box and think, I love it all, though.

[Christine Lampard]

It was their first squiggle.

[Dilly Carter]

It was their first squiggle.

[Christine Lampard]

I know, I'm such a.

[Dilly Carter]

It was their first squiggle. It was the first thing they made.

[Christine Lampard]

You're right though. It's reef is. I don't think revisiting. And that's the key. It's trying to slot these this time into your life, isn't it? To make your life more ordered.

[Dilly Carter]

Yes. I've cleared many lofts, basements, garages of kids. Memories that are stuck in boxes. And you know, Mum and dad are like, right, do you know, do you want to keep all your memories? I've got a box of there. And they're like, absolutely not. Bin it all.

[Christine Lampard]

Yeah. And you're like, oh my gosh, why did I bother?

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah, why did I bother? But that's not to say don't keep it. But I reckon if you even went through those boxes and memories of those boxes of arts and crafts, there'll be things in there that you can pinpoint straight away. Like those two cards. You're like, oh my gosh, I'm never getting rid of those. And you'll have one box rather than five boxes. Yeah. What do you think is your favorite thing about motherhood?

[Christine Lampard]

Every single phase you kind of. I've loved the next phase even more. I've got that beautiful spot at the moment where they're still quite young and babyish, but they're old enough to hold your hand and talk about their day and tell you what they want and if they're hungry and there's no guessing anymore. And actually I'm loving this phase now as well. And we laugh. Actually, my little boy particularly is really quite funny. He's quite a dry sense of humor already. And my little girl's very emotional and very attentive.

[Dilly Carter]

And is she sentimental like you?

[Christine Lampard]

Very, very sentimental. I mean, I would not be allowed to throw anything out that she's ever made.

[Dilly Carter]

Does she keep everything in her bedroom she loves? Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

Oh, yeah. She's on the pathway to absolutely being

[Dilly Carter]

like, you're Mini Christine.

[Christine Lampard]

But they're very, very different personality wise. And I just think it's just that enjoyment of seeing those developments and developments at school and just feeling really proud of them. All I ever care about. I don't need them to be Einstein's. I don't need them to do anything. I don't really care. I just want them to be healthy, happy and kind, good people and right sort of morals and values and that's it, you know, And I love being part of that. I just love thinking, gosh, you're my project.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah, well, I mean, they've got you as a mother, so they're going to be all those things, aren't they?

[Christine Lampard]

But anyway, they're going to be all

[Dilly Carter]

of those things and more.

[Christine Lampard]

We will see.

[Dilly Carter]

They will be. Shall we have a look at your third item?

[Christine Lampard]

Right.

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[Jenny Kleeman]

Yeah,

[Dilly Carter]

Right. In this box is a dress.

[Christine Lampard]

Okay, Right. This is really random.

[Dilly Carter]

Right. Look.

[Christine Lampard]

But I was trying.

[Dilly Carter]

Lovely dress. So in this dress, as you can

[Christine Lampard]

see, I didn't iron it for you, Dilly, but I just, I just thought.

[Dilly Carter]

So we've got a beautiful black sequin dress, right. So it's sleeveless, it's got sequins around the shoulders and then around the waist. Now this looks like a very nice black tie type of dress. Uh huh. Tell me all about it.

[Christine Lampard]

So this is the dress I wore the night I met Frankie. And it was a complete random evening. It was the Pride of Britain Awards. I was on the One Show.

[Dilly Carter]

Yep.

[Christine Lampard]

So I wasn't finishing the One show until late, so I wasn't gonna go. He wasn't meant to go, but we both ended up.

[Dilly Carter]

Okay.

[Christine Lampard]

Yeah, we'll go if I'm late. It doesn't matter. It's worth it. It's a lovely evening. I had no Clue what to wear. Very new to London. Didn't know anything. I just thought, black dress, can't go too wrong. And anyway, this is the dress I wore and strangely, I mean, I could probably come out with purple hair tomorrow and Frank would hardly notice. But he remembers this dress.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

So. And it wasn't that long ago. I said, we were talking about the night we met. It was actually my little girl brought it up about how did you meet? And we were telling her and I said, I bet you don't remember what I was wearing. And he said, yeah, I do. I said, you don't. I went, yeah, I do. And he described it and I thought, oh, right, of course, that's like one of those core memories.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

Well, it sounds so strange. And again, actually keeping cards. I don't actually keep clothes. I'm not. I'm quite good at the recycling of clothes. I get rid and I. And so I'm quite good at that. But I've always just kept this. It was just one of those sort of sliding door moments.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah. If you hadn't.

[Christine Lampard]

Sometimes it just, it does happen and it does work. I've just never thrown that dress out. It was just something that I thought, Yeah. I wanted to remember that day, you know.

[Dilly Carter]

Did you just exchange numbers? And that was it.

[Christine Lampard]

It was actually a friend at the awards gave him my number.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

And I got into a cab and went back to my flat and on the way back my phone rang and it was him. He rang me. Just checking that you were getting home safely. Aw.

[Dilly Carter]

Oh, really, Very nice.

[Christine Lampard]

And then that was it. But then he disappeared off with football for weeks. They were.

[Dilly Carter]

And.

[Christine Lampard]

But we spoke on the phone every single night for hours.

[Dilly Carter]

I love that. So struggle, conversation.

[Christine Lampard]

It was like a really old fashioned courtship. So then the next time we actually met in person.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

It was like, oh, I know, I know everything about your family. I know where you're from. It just felt really comfortable.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah. So Frank remembered the dress. Did he remember where he took you on your first date?

[Christine Lampard]

Yes. He called again to, look, I'm back, it'd be lovely to see you.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

Are you around this Saturday? I think it was. And I said, well, look, I am in London, but actually I've got my mum and my sister over, so they're in London this weekend, so maybe next week. And he went, well, what are you doing with your mom and sister? And I said, I don't know, we'll probably go for lunch or dinner or something. And he said, I'll take you all out yeah, I'll book somewhere and I'd love to meet them too.

[Dilly Carter]

Oh, my gosh. No pressure.

[Christine Lampard]

Exactly. So technically, our first date was with my mom and sister before you all together. It's quite brave, wasn't it?

[Dilly Carter]

Very brave. Because what if your mum and sister didn't like him?

[Christine Lampard]

Yeah.

[Dilly Carter]

I mean, and obviously they're going to be very judgmental straight away. 100% as loving. Yeah. And you and me as loving. The sister I've only seen a month. Where did you go?

[Christine Lampard]

We went to a little pub which is still there, the Chelsea Pig in just on Old Church street in Chelsea. And it was really relaxed and lovely. And that night my sister said to me, that's it, she's not coming home. She knew that day we would probably end up getting married. She knew after that first speech and she said that in her speech at our wedding. She said to my mom that night, that's it, Christine's not coming home. That'll be her. She's going to be in London because that's him. And that was it. That's like, yeah, that was 17, 18 years ago. Sort of does feel like yesterday.

[Dilly Carter]

And do you have similar taste when it comes to your home?

[Christine Lampard]

Yeah, we do. And he would have sort of the odd opinion. He's not wildly fussy. I would be very confident that I'd pick something and he's fine with it. We could go to a restaurant and we will always want to order the same thing. So we purposely try to choose one other thing so it doesn't look like we're eating the same thing all the time. We have the exactly the same food taste. I would trust him to shop for me if I could, I really would.

[Dilly Carter]

That's a good skill.

[Christine Lampard]

He's kind. I got quite a good eye for that. And yeah, we just.

[Dilly Carter]

And is he quite neat and tidy?

[Christine Lampard]

Sometimes he likes it.

[Dilly Carter]

Imagine his wardrobe being immaculate, like all his shirts beautifully hung. Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

But he won't do it. Like, if I. If that's done, if I have that before him. Yeah, he loves it and he'll try to keep it that way. Yeah, but let's. I don't think he'd be that good at trying to create that in the first place.

[Dilly Carter]

He wouldn't go, right, I'm going to go through my wardrobe.

[Christine Lampard]

No, but I do this, the tidying up. I have to say he cares a little bit less about that. He's much more relaxed. But then he's fun time daddy when he comes home.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah, of course.

[Christine Lampard]

He's a play with him. And he's having fun. So again, it's all that balance, isn't it? At home. I'll do this tidying up bit because actually the children are having the best laugh with you in there.

[Dilly Carter]

Because you went and lived in New York for a while, didn't you?

[Christine Lampard]

We did, we did. That was sort of at the end of Frank's playing career. So he had been at Chelsea for 13, 14 years, but we went to New York and it was amazing. I really mean that. It was almost two years of just this crazy experience. I'm so glad we did it. We nearly didn't, just out of fear. And I thought, oh, what the heck? And I'll tell you what made us really go for it. And I really believe in these things. Cause Frank lost his mum the year before we met. And I'm a great believer in little signs sometimes.

[Dilly Carter]

Cause your daughter's named after his mum, isn't she? Exactly.

[Christine Lampard]

And we were walking down Fifth Avenue. You can imagine the whole place is crazy busy, busy, noisy, rammed with people. And I said to Frank, I said, what do you think? What do you think your mum would say? Do you think your mom would tell us just to go for it, or would she tell us? Maybe not. What do you think? And he said, I think she'd tell us to go. I think she'd tell us to give this a whirl. And as we were talking, this feather just landed in my hand on Fifth Avenue. We were standing at the lights, waiting to cross. And this beautiful feather, which I still have, I kept it.

[Dilly Carter]

You kept a feather?

[Christine Lampard]

This feather just landed beautifully in the palm of my hand. And it was just as he said. I think Mum would say, do it. And we both looked at each other and he wouldn't believe me. He's not into really this sort of stuff, and I am. And we both looked at one another and went, oh, my God, that's it. We're doing it.

[Dilly Carter]

We're doing it.

[Christine Lampard]

And I kept the feather. And I have a photograph of his mom at home. And I keep all of those little things on that picture. So those things mean sometimes you need little signs to make the jump.

[Dilly Carter]

Yeah.

[Christine Lampard]

And that did. That meant something.

[Dilly Carter]

Wow. I mean. And look at where you are now. Thank you for bringing in all those items. Last few questions. If you had to, what would you sell, donate or keep out of those items?

[Christine Lampard]

Oh, gosh. Sell, donate or keep. If I had to sell something, it would be the dress. If I had to, yeah. If I'm donating something, it would Be to a family member, which would be any of these things. I guess my sister I could donate that to.

[Dilly Carter]

So you donate the apron, but the

[Christine Lampard]

only to my sister.

[Dilly Carter]

Only to your donating to the apron.

[Christine Lampard]

It's still in the inner circle. Yeah, it's still technically mine.

[Dilly Carter]

Okay, so we're not technically.

[Christine Lampard]

You're not technically giving anything away.

[Dilly Carter]

We sell the dress and we're keeping the memory box. Of course. And my last question to you, where in your home is your happy place?

[Christine Lampard]

My real happy place is in our living room. The children are playing in front of us on the rug. My husband's here. The dog lies behind us on the sofa with her little head in between us both.

[Dilly Carter]

Gosh. You know the sofa squashing. Yeah, the sofa back.

[Christine Lampard]

So she's here and the little head's like that on your shoulder. And we're here, they're there. There's something light hearted on the telly. I've already cooked and tidied up lovely and I feel like I'm sitting down to relax for a minute and I've got to say, that is a very simple, beautiful moment. That's my happy place.

[Dilly Carter]

Christine, thank you so much. Thank you for spending this time with me, for giving up your time. I know it's so precious, so I truly appreciate it. It's been such a joy to sit opposite you.

[Christine Lampard]

I couldn't have done this with anyone more gorgeous than you, Dilly. I've really loved it.

[Dilly Carter]

Thank you. I can't wait to be back with you for more revealing home truths, organizational hacks and celeb unboxings. Sort your life out. Unpacked is presented by me, Dilly Carter. You can watch us on iplayer and listen on BBC SOU Sounds.

[Jenny Kleeman]

I'm Jenny Kleeman and for the new series of The Gift from BBC Radio 4, I'm back with six more remarkable tales of truths that unravel when people take at home DNA tests.

[Christine Lampard]

Things just swirling around my head going, oh, my God, oh my God, oh my God. Am I really the product of this?

[Jenny Kleeman]

We all find ourselves really fascinating, don't we?

[Christine Lampard]

Oh, absolutely. Except that I really am.

[Dilly Carter]

Am.

[Christine Lampard]

In the end, the truth will come out.

[Jenny Kleeman]

And DNA helps the truth to come out, right?

[Christine Lampard]

Yeah.

[Jenny Kleeman]

Listen to the new series of the Gift now on BBC Sounds.

[Christine Lampard]

Another game day. But while he's glued to the tv, I'm winning my own way with Mistplay.

[Dilly Carter]

Let's go.

[Christine Lampard]

Mistplay rewards me just for playing free mobile games. I earn points and swap them for gift cards to Amazon, Uber Eats and Sephora. Yeah, we won and I just redeemed a Target gift card.

[Dilly Carter]

Woo.

[Christine Lampard]

Download Mistplay today and turn your downtime into rewards.

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