Naga Munchetty

Suppose in you had the chance to get rid of some of your worst nightmares, what would they be? My guest is here to persuade me to banish the items on her list to a place where they'll never be seen again. This is Room 101. Ladies and gentlemen, you please welcome journalist broadcaster and host the BBC Breakfast Nagamun Chetty. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Hello. Hello. Thank you. You've been hosting breakfast news about 14 years? Yes. 15, 15 years. So, what time do you get up in the morning for that? For breakfast, quarter to four. So, getting up a quarter to four for 15 years, does that make you a bit short tempered, do you think? Can you just get on with it? Tell me about your first choice. People who give unsolicited advice. So, I play golf, and I love golf, I'm pretty obsessed with golf, and I think it's a brilliant game, and I'd love to watch it. But there is an unwritten rule. Do not offer advice to someone you're playing with. Unsolicited advice. Unsolicited advice. So, anyone who gives unsolicited advice should just be in that room. Les Dawson, the comedian, told a story, I remember hearing him say once, early on in his career, he was playing a rather rough, norven working men's club, and the concert secretary said to him after the gig, which didn't go very well, he said, "Do you mind if I offer you someone solicited advice?" And Les said, "No, go ahead," and he said, "I think you're crap." I get that all the time. Do you do? Yeah, the people who come up to me go, "I can't stand you." Really? Yeah. I've chaired a conference or chaired a panel discussion, and I remember being at one, and this older gentleman, I say gentlemen in the looseest sense of the world. Yes. Came up to me, and he said, "I really don't like you." He said, "You've got an opinion on everything, haven't you?" And you can never let something lie, and, you know, "I just don't like you. You don't make the mornings very pleasant to watch." And I went, "Oh, okay." And then he said, "But you were really good at that." So, people have advised you about your golf suite? People who are a higher-hand academy. I play off six, which is decent. It's okay. People know about golfer, murmuring very appropriately. The rest of us are going, "What does that mean?" But six, that's good, isn't it? Yeah, the lower the number, the better the golfer. And the great thing about golfer is you can play with absolutely anyone. There's a handicapped system in place. So, someone of a much higher handicapped can beat someone who plays off scratch for example, because of the system. Fine. But I'd like to be swinging, and they'll say, "Oh, you know, you want to be taking a wedge there." I'm literally like, "Well, you are on the range of me doing my distances or something." "Oh, yeah, you want a lofted club here." And like, they, literally, they could be at the side of the green for eight. And I'll be there for two, and they give me advice. So, I just can't bear it. I cannot bear it. Well, there is a video which went viral on TikTok. I don't know what I'm talking about there, but I mean, really I've been formed. These are words that younger people understand. Now, we can't play it in, because the audio isn't very clear. But I can sort of like take us through it. Now, it's a professional golfer called Georgia Hall, who won the Women's British Open in 2018. She turned professional in 2014 at the age of 17. So, she's clearly an excellent golfer. And she's sort of trying to adapt her swing a bit, as sometimes golfer's do. And a male voice off camera, he says, "Do you know I've been playing golf for 20 years?" What you've got to do is swing a lot quicker than you're swinging now. And then she tries to explain, she's changing the swing as well as she's doing it slow. But then she hits the ball and it travels like 300 yards in a straight direction. And he says, "Now, see how much better that was?" And she looks at the camera and rolls her right. I have to say she's incredibly polite and patient. So patient. Would you be that patient of somebody? So, what would you say to them? I actually would have said, "I've done this, this, this, this, and this. I'm working on my swing. I didn't ask for your advice. If you want me to help you with your swing, because I am a pro, I can quite happily do that, because I could tell you six things that are already wrong with your swing. So, what do you work on that and leave me to crack on with my own? And I'll go off and win more championships in more trophies. And you can stay on amateur golfer and just offer advice that no one really needs to listen to. I get quite. Those words came very easy to you, didn't they? Would you describe yourself as a perfectionist, do you think? Yes. So, but golf is an incredibly difficult game to be perfect. I mean, in fact, nobody is perfect at golf. But no one's perfect at anything. Well, flying a plane, if you're a pilot, you'd seek perfection there, wouldn't you? Well, no, you'd seek not to crash. Yes, isn't that a definition of perfection? But you might have had a wobbly bit. What about the snobbery that is around golf as a sport? If you did, you know, the private members clubs and all that sort of thing. Where do you play golf? Do you belong to a specific club? I'm a member of two clubs. There was a lot of snobbery around it when I started to play. As a working woman, particularly, it was often quite hard to get a tea time to get a slot to play on the weekends because all the men thought it was their right to play because they worked during the week. Because obviously I was at home dining my husband's socks. It has changed a lot, and the sport is much more inclusive than it ever was, especially for younger people as well. And for people, you know, I don't look like a golfer. My parents are immigrant, so I grew up in South London. You look more like a golfer than I look. You know, I've never. I used to enjoy putting when I was a kid. But about 10 years ago, I thought, "Well, I'd give it a go." And this golf instructor clearly didn't sort of like to look at me and whatever. So he said, "Well, just swing at the ball." So I did, you know, I picked up the club and swung at the ball. And he videoed it. And he said, "Well, come into the office." And then he showed me a video of Tiger Woods. [LAUGHTER] I think, "Do you do it like that?" Well, I mean, that's like somebody playing a chord on a guitar and somebody said, "Look, let me play some Jimmy Hendrix." This is. [LAUGHTER] This is what you should be doing. You say that maybe the snobbery is disappearing from the world of golf, which is good. But you have a clip here. This is from Dad's Army. Captain Manuwin has just found out that Sergeant Wilson is required a title. What do we mean? Well, I went up to the golf club and headed back to eat up there. The golf club? [LAUGHTER] I took him. Well, I'm a member. [LAUGHTER] What do I remember since when? Yes, but you see, when the committee heard about this title thing, they asked me if I would, you know, like to join. [LAUGHTER] I've been trying for years to get in there. [LAUGHTER] I believe they're awfully particular. [LAUGHTER] But that's a very funny clip there from Dad's Army, and that's. So you're saying it's no longer like that. Not no longer like that. It's summer. I really do. It's summer. So we were talking about unsolicited advice on other subjects. Does Richard Maidly ever phone you up telling you knew how to do breakfast television? [LAUGHTER] And the expression on your face tells me what you would say if he did. [LAUGHTER] He does not call me up. Does he not? There are some people who are very keen to offer people unsolicited advice. I'm thinking here of Jeff Boycott, ex-cricketer and professional commodities. He's always slagging people. I'm sorry, offering advice to cricketers. [LAUGHTER] This is quite a nice one. Stuart Broad's problem is his mum didn't smack him enough when he was little. [LAUGHTER] Which, of course, would bring the crittin' prowess out of any child. The impressionist Rory Bremner recently said that the worst piece of advice he'd ever been given was by somebody saying, "Just go on stage and be yourself." [LAUGHTER] Well, I think being given unsolicited advice is very annoying. Although I wouldn't have chosen that as the first item to be honest. [APPLAUSE] But it's definitely going into room 101. And it goes. [APPLAUSE] Excellent. OK, now go tell us about your next choice. [SIGHS] People who raise their eyebrows will kick up a fast if I ask them to take their shoes off when they come into the house. Oh, no, that's, uh, that's got a reaction from some people who I assume disapprove of that. So let me just make this clear. Do you want to put these people in or just their eyebrows? [LAUGHTER] All of them. All of them. I will offer slippers or flip-lops. Do you have a range of slippers in different sizes? Yeah. Do you have those Arabian ones that curl up at the end? No. They were worn out by all the polite people who took their shoes. All right, OK. You go to someone's house. It's their rules. Yeah. And it's not an unreasonable rule. And particularly, if you come in and it's been raining and you come to someone's house and you think just wiping your feet and then they've got like a nice cream carpet or something. Why would you want to put your dirty shoes on their carpet? We had Claudia Winkerman on in the first series. And one of the things she wanted to put into Room 101 is people who asked you to take your shoes off when you go into their house. [LAUGHTER] But I will point out, I didn't put it into Room 101. So you're safe. We would have, in our house, and I'd get a smack on the bum if I didn't take my shoes off when I came in. And we had a rack where you-- Your dad wasn't Jeff Boycott, by any chance. I tell you what, I wasn't worried about my dad. It was my mum. Oh, really? Five foot of pure fury. Yes. [LAUGHTER] But yeah, it was automatic. You came in and then you took your outdoor clothes off and put indoor clothes on and all that kind of thing. So it is a thing. If somebody came to your house wearing shoes about socks, the shoes would have to come off and they'd be barefoot. That would be all right. What have you got against feet? [LAUGHTER] I've got some-- this is some research here, according to a firmist of ropedists. And if you can't trust a firmist of ropedists, they come up with statistics. I don't know who you can. 40% of Brits do not change their socks every day. [LAUGHTER] But 5%, 5% of people admitted, they changed them less than once a month. [LAUGHTER] And the 5% who didn't grow, they're the ones going, "What's wrong with that?" [LAUGHTER] So, how many times this happened to you, do you think? It used to happen a lot, and I tell you what changed it. COVID changed it because everyone decided that they should be hygienic, which was one of the very few upsides of it, of course. So before COVID, people would, they'd look at you as if you were some kind of freak. But in so many Asian and South Asian cultures, this is completely natural. Yes. You know, in Japan, for example, you never would wear shoes in the house. You have separate house shoes. In India, in Mauritius, where my dad grew up, that is perfectly natural. And it's how we grew up. And all my friends who had Asian or South Asian parents, that's exactly what happened. Well, OK, well, I think you've argued very well that people who don't take their shoes off when they come into your house, we're going to have to get rid of them. They go into Room 101, and they go. [APPLAUSE] That's very good. It feels quite good when something goes in, doesn't it? It feels great. It's completely justified now. Yes. OK, your next choice is illustrated by this. Now, I should point out, it's not funerals. I mean, who doesn't love a funeral, to be honest? I mean, the word begins with fun, so. Now, this is people who walk slowly on the pavement. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Well, it feels like we shouldn't even discuss this. I should put it straight in. But for the sake of the programme, let's see if I can find any arguments in favour of people walking slowly. So tell us about people walking slowly on the pavement. I am a very quick walker. I'm fit. I'm healthy, fortunately. I have a long stride. And I like to get where I'm going, purposeful walker. There have been moments at this moment I'm injured. My foot is injured. And I've had to walk very, very slowly. Did you injured your foot walking very fast? No, I injured it by kicking someone who gave me unsolicited advice. Really? Really. So it was very badly injured. For about six weeks, I've been limping and walking really slow. It's been getting better. If I am walking slowly and I'm getting the tube to work or the bus or whatever, when you get off-- and especially in London, when you get off the tube, people are in a hurry. Yes. And I'm usually one of those people. And I know I'm very slow. So I walk to the side of the stairs. I go to the side of the stairs and walk slowly. So everyone else can walk. I don't walk in the middle of the walkway to annoy everyone else. So that everyone else then is starting around in everyone bumps into each other. I'm considerate to other people. Yet you walk around. And there are people who walk so slowly, they're shuffling. I don't even know why they're moving. Why are they moving slowly? And this is why I've caveated this with my injury. Because if you are injured or you're elderly or you find it difficult to walk, that is absolutely-- don't walk in the middle of the pavement. Don't inconvenience everyone else is trying to get on with their business. Can you feel how I rate him? Get to him. I can sense it from this distance easily yet. Just be considerate. It is not against the law or even any moral code to walk slowly. Yes. But it should be against the law to inconvenience other people because you are a slow walker. I remember-- and it was about 10, 15 years ago now, but it just stuck in my mind. I was on a rather narrow pavement. And there was somebody walking so slowly in front of me. And as I kind of looked over the shoulder, I saw that he was taking a photograph with a mobile phone of a can of cola in his hand. Did you not just shove him slightly? Because I would do that. I'd rather not talk any more about it because it was-- it was an unsolved crime is what I was looking for, but it's not going to be funny now. Yeah, ask me again. Did you not just shove him? No. So-- [LAUGHTER] Yeah, so I should have-- now I was told during the pandemic that in London, I suppose, other major cities, the pavements were divided up, walking this direction on this side and walking that direction on that side. Is that the sort of thing you'd like to see? So a slow coach lane, is it worth? Or just some common sense? Well-- There was someone applauding there. Even though I was trying to get a source out of a bottle. One of the other-- [LAUGHTER] Well, OK, couple of solutions. You could fit every person on earth with a speedometer on band with a speed display that they could get electric shock every time it dropped below a designated speed. Or-- and this would be more difficult, but I think it could work. You make every slope pedestrian wear magnetic underpants and make every fast pedestrian wear a full metal jacket. So that way, every fast pedestrian sets the pace. Every slope pedestrian is forced to keep up. But if a car passes at 70 miles an hour, then they get to have a Dean quicker than they thought possible. I-- it is not a crime to walk slowly. It is about walking in the wrong place whilst walking slowly and inconveniencing everyone else. I'm just wondering, does anybody think about human life? It doesn't annoy you. Maybe by the end of this, there you are. It will be known. No, I think you also don't like the way some people drive, especially on roundabouts. We've got indicators in modern cars. People who don't use their indicators. Yeah. And don't indicate a roundabout. Yes. Before we get on to the roundabouts, I just wonder if you were stuck behind a slow drive on a narrow road. Is that more annoying than somebody walking slowly on a pavement? I think-- I am a very reasonable person. Are you? Not all drivers are confident. Now, that driver could be lost, that driver could be carrying a sick person or a sick animal. Yeah, absolutely. Fine. And they're also in a big hunk of metal that can kill people. Yes. So should these people have their driving license taken away and then all become pedestrians? [APPLAUSE] Let me see. I'm going to put this to the audience. See what the audience feel about this. If you think yes that people walking slowly should go into room room, say yes when I ask you to. And if you think no, say no. And do it all together on the count of three, one, two, three. Yes. There were a few nose in there, but that's definitely a yes. So in they go to room 101. Yes! [APPLAUSE] So now, guys, notice that all your choice is so far about people. And it's next one, I think. Well, let's see what is the next one? People who put salt on their feet without tasting it first. People who put salt in their food about tasting it first. Are you talking about specifically your own cooking there? And restaurant cooking. The only thing it's really acceptable on is fries or chips. You've cooked a meal at home. Yes. And you've got a dinner guest there. And the meal is on the table. And before they even taste it, they put the salt on. Do you think they're-- Boys, my piss. Does it tell you? [LAUGHTER] Can I-- Sorry. Can I suggest you offer them something different as a sauce? [LAUGHTER] And I'm just wondering, are these the people who are seeking revenge for you asking them to take their shoes off? You've got salt on the table. It's there. Do you know what makes it worse? Yeah, what makes it worse? When there's not salt on the table, and they ask for salt-- Right. --before they've even tried the food. So they have to go out and get them salt. But then my answer is, well, try it first and see if you need salt. I don't mind if someone puts salt on their food after they've tried it. We've all got different tastes. Yes, yes. But have some respect for the person who's cooked the food, who has made sure that their flavors are balanced, and they've tried to make a nice dish, and it's what they think is nice. So at least have the respect of trying it. Yes. And if you don't like someone's food or something that's been cooked, that's OK. Or if you feel it needs more flavor, and that's absolutely OK. Do you enjoy cooking? Love it. Do you? What is it about? I mean, because I will say I'm not a cook at all. I tried it once, and I was-- I tried it once. I tried it once, yeah. I was about 14 years old, and I was making pancakes for the rest of the family, and they were sort of demanding more and more pancakes. And I was thinking, I'm in the kitchen not eating pancakes. And I wanted to be the pancake eater, rather than the pancake maker. But so what is it about? How do you feel about gravy, a gravy boat? Because you could suggest that pouring gravy onto food might kill the flavor a bit. Well, why is the gravy been cooked in the first place? So you don't provide gravy? No, I didn't say that. If there's gravy on the table, then of course it's there to be put on the food. Right. But if someone then said, have you got any gravy? Yeah. So when you were preparing a meal, a one-pot meal of something, is your food very salty already, or is it sort of medium salty? You look-- look, I don't know what I'm talking about, but you can at least look at me as if I do. Well, you've admitted you haven't cooked since your-- Yeah, but I've eaten food since then, you know? But that's-- no, my food-- I don't think my food is very salty. I think it's very flavoursome, and I think it's well balanced. I have no issue with you liking your food salty if you do. I have an issue with you having no respect for the food I've made, which I've cared about making, and thought about making. And you're not giving it a chance before you make it more to your taste. Here's a little tip if you want to salt your food naturally, but the cossacks, and if you can't take a catering tip from the cost act. Anyway, they used to put a piece of meat under the saddle and then the salt from the horse is sweat. You haven't tasted it yet. Apparently, that would not only preserve the meat, but also make it taste disgusting. I think that sounds very practical. Well, I mean, you've made a good point here that it is very rude. If you've cooked, you've spent time in the kitchen. You've cooked a food, you've followed the recipe, you've tasted it no doubt as you've been preparing it, and you've brought it to exactly how you wanted to taste. And then people put salt on it without tasting it. That is very rude. So, well, I've got no choice. It's definitely going into room 101, another one. [APPLAUSE] Yes! So, this is what you've done very well. If it is your final choice, which I know will be a popular one amongst at least half the audience, and it's illustrated by this. She's a perfect ten. But she wears a twelfth. And baby, keep a little too for me. So that's a beautiful self with a song called Perfect Ten. What does this illustrate? Claid sizes that aren't standard. Mm. [APPLAUSE] If you've got UK sizes, 6, 8, 10, 12, et cetera, European sizes start at one. Plus, it's a small, medium, large, XL, XXL, XXXL, XXL, and American. [LAUGHTER] Wouldn't it be better for everyone more smog? Yes. [LAUGHTER] It would be lovely. Now, this is more about women's clothes and men's clothes, I think. Absolutely not. Really? I think men are beginning to realise that this happens to them as well. So I would say you're 36 waist. Yeah, you're very generous, yeah. OK. I'll stick with that. Yeah, that's OK. Lear enough to the right. You're sitting down, so I can't. I can't tell when I haven't looked closely. I'll do that later. Yeah. [LAUGHTER] Part of this is chair, I should point out. [LAUGHTER] So if you're a 36 waist, I don't know. Inside leg, what, 34, 33? Yes, something like that. OK. And so you think, well, I need a pair of trousers. Yes. If you're anything like me, I hate shopping. Do you? I hate it. Or all kinds of forms of shopping? Food shopping I can do, because I'm very lucky because I get to go out of peak hours, so I don't have to go on a Saturday morning. No, I hate clothes shopping. I hate trying things on. I get hot, flustered. I don't want to walk around holding things, picking things off hangers. I like to see what I see, order it, fit, and be done. If you needed a pair of trousers, and you said, well, I know, I'm a 36, 33 inside leg. And you order them, and they come. And you either can't get into them, or they're way too big, way too short. And you're like, but I've always been a 36, 33. And you order from five different shops, and they will all fit differently. How hard is it? Well, why is this happening, then, that there are different sizes available in different shops? Or the same mark size is different in every shop? Well, there were these theories that the fast fashion shops, the quality of the manufacturing, when there weren't standard sizes, or the templates weren't a dear to. But I think it's more than that. And so you'd be able to say, pick up a size 10 in a shop address, and you could pick three up, and they'd all be a different size. That's one issue. But the other issue is that all the stores don't have the same templates, and they do what's called flattering sizes. Oh, I've seen it, you've described it as vanity sizes. Exactly. So say you're a size 10, and you go into a shop and all of a sudden you're a size 6. That's the idea that it makes you feel better. But there's just nonsense. There was a piece in Time Magazine, which, and the equativeness is, as people have got larger sizes, have got smaller, so much so that what was a woman's size 12 in America in 1958? It's now a size 6. And it's estimated at over $822 billion has spent on online clothes every year, and 40% of that is returned mainly because the size in is wrong. Do you get a lot of pressure, actually? I think I know the answer to this question, but there's a lot of pressure on you as a female presenter. Do you get criticized for the clothes you're wearing on breakfast TV? Yes. And what do you do? Well, obviously you ignore them, I imagine. I ignore them. I ignore them. I mean, there's only one time I've taken it on board and never worn an outfit again. One and a half. The first time was I wore this dress on breakfast, and it had a geometric print. And two people said it was causing them migraines. So I said, absolutely fine, I won't wear that again. And there was another one, but this brilliant dress, I still have it, it was 10, 12 years ago. And it was black, and it had all these eyes on it. Two people emailed in saying that it was scaring them and giving them nightmares. Would it be the same two people were getting migraines from the other one? But so that one I have worn since, but I haven't worn it as much. I tend to wear it out more than on breakfast. But yeah, everyone's got a comment on whatever we wear. So I've got to consider whether inconsistent close-sizing goes into room 101, or should that be room 48 or room 206? [LAUGHTER] Either way, and it goes! [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC PLAYING] So, well done. Now, finally, Naga, after all this talk of things that you'd like people you'd like to get rid of, is there any one thing you just couldn't do without? Yes. What's that? Tabasco sauce. Tabasco sauce? What foods do you put Tabasco sauce on? Fried eggs, chips, everything. Do you taste the food before you put it Tabasco sauce on? [LAUGHTER] Well-- Because you do know one of the free ingredients of Tabasco sauce is salt. Salt, red peppers, and distilled vinegar. Right. In answer to your question, I don't know if it's stealing, but-- [LAUGHTER] You're not sure what stealing means. You know in restaurants where you get-- no, tomato, sachets, pasta, sachets, mayonnaise, sachets. Well, some restaurants have the little mini Tabasco-- They do indeed. Yeah. I do take them, and not loads, no. But I feel-- I feel really good when I know I've got a couple of them in my bag. Yeah, it's called stealing. No, because-- Or if I've used one, because then you get these tiny little bottles. Yes. And I'm sure other hot sauces are available. In fact, I know I have a big selection of hot sauces on my fridge. But you get the little bottle. So if I use it, and you don't use it all-- because it's quite hard to use tons and tons of Tabasco sauce. Yes. I will take the half bottles and put them in my work bags. Well, thank you for sharing with us your lover Tabasco sauce, and also all the other choices that you've successfully got into Room 101, ladies and gentlemen, Naga Mancetti! [APPLAUSE] You're done. Room 101 was written and presented by Paul Merton with a distal material by John Owen and Suki Webster. It was produced by Richard Wilson. It's a hatchet production of BBC Radio 4. [MUSIC PLAYING]