Jacqui Double

My guest this week is Jacqui Double who works in Student Support in the School of Arts at the University of Kent. Originally from North Wales, Jacqui grew up in the Potteries. Her father was a fireman, we learn that she was an inquisitive child, and her parents were Mormons. She especially remembers buildings from her childhood as well as walking to school from the age of about 5.

We learn about Jacqui’s religious sensibilities as a child and our experiences of growing up in faith environments and the limitations thereby, and move on to speak about different friendship communities that have been built up, and growing up with children who have challenging medical circumstances.

Jacqui was the first of her generation in her family to go to university and she reflects on how she had to make choices to enable her to live independently. She worked as a teacher and then for a theatre company and we discover that Jacqui is quite a practical person and isn’t someone who looks back and regrets things.

Jacqui wasn’t interested in music growing up. Her childhood was much more book-based and she would read a book a day and we learn that she is quite eclectic in her interests. We talk about embracing Kindles, reading English Literature at Sheffield, why she thinks she should have been a Renaissance male and why she loves to re-read a book.

We talk about what happens when you meet your heroes, having to work to get through university, not necessarily doing all the things she wanted to do, why she thinks you can be nostalgic about negative experiences, about how truthful we are to ourselves even in our diaries, and she discusses her grandmother’s spiritualist beliefs.

In the final part of the interview we talk about the process of ‘letting things go’, about Jacqui’s teenage dream of becoming a writer, what advice she would give her 15 year old self, and we find out why Jacqui is a looking forward person at the same time as being obsessed with history.

Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jacqui Double and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.