Sarah Cracknell

With a brand new single on the way, and a beautifully packaged Best Of imminent, Neil Davey caught up with Sarah for a run through the Living Questions… Living For The... City I was born in Chelmsford but now live in Oxfordshire. It’s very muddy. I always notice when I’m in London, I come into town and realise I’m covered in mud. And I’ve only been outside between the front door and the car. I love London though, I still have a flat there. It was like a magnet to me. I grew up around Windsor, which isn’t very far to London, and as soon as I could get on a train unaccompanied by an adult that was it, I was off. I’d go up on Saturdays with my friends when we were about 14, 15 and we’d go to Kings Road and Kensington Market and Portobello and things like that. I think London is the best city in the world. Living… On A Prayer I’m not really religious. It’s interesting though, because I’ve got my children at a Church of England primary school and the little one’s only just started but the other one’s been there a couple of years and he’s constantly talking about Jesus. And it’s really hard because I don’t want to be negative, or a complete atheist, to him so I think I come across as agnostic. I tend to use Father Christmas and God in the same kind of setting. If he does something naughty I say ‘Father Christmas AND God know that you did that!’ and ‘they’re listening so if you tell fibs, Father Christmas AND God will know…’ They’re my big threats, Father Christmas and God… Living… For The Weekend The perfect weekend would be lovely and sunny – ha! – and with lots of friends around. I love having people over, we’d be in the garden, barbecuing, drinking lots of lovely wine and having everyone stay for the whole weekend basically. That would be my ideal. Living… In A Box Ooh. Probably my engagement ring, when my husband got down on bended knee. He did the whole thing. He whisked me off to Sweden and took me to a fancy restaurant in Stockholm, got down on one knee and presented me with a fabulous diamond ring. That has to be the best present. Because nothing says romance like rollmop… The best present I’ve ever given… that’s tricky. Again, it’ll be my husband. I got him a chance to sit in a Lancaster bomber and be driven around in it. He was extremely excited about that. It was a shame it didn’t take off but I don’t think they’ll do that with passengers. But it was a good boy present. The Living… Daylights I think they’re both the same, actually. The favourite film is Live and Let Die, the favourite theme is Live and Let Die by Wings. It’s the best. I love Roger Moore, he’s my favourite Bond. I like Connery but I like the send-up factor of Roger Moore, he’s almost like a comic strip version of Bond, which I quite like. I’m looking forward to reading Roger Moore’s book, I’ve heard it’s quite good. The Living… Years I do feel very lucky currently, because I’m lucky enough to have a family and do work but in a really fun way. It often seems quiet to ‘outsiders’ but there’s always something going on, it’s never actually quiet within the band. We’re always doing something, so I feel a bit jammy that I can just about manage to do both and it’s not stressful, the whole juggling aspect. I am in a good place and I feel very privileged. Living… TV I’d be watching The Wire. I’ve seen them all apart from the latest series because it’s on Sky and I don’t have that but as soon as it’s out on DVD in America we’ll get it. We send off for them and watch them. We’d probably order in Thai food, we’ve got a really good Thai restaurant near us. So yeah, The Wire, with my husband, eating Thai food and drinking champagne. If I can have anything. The Wire is amazing. Don’t put this in, don’t let anyone know I do this, but watch it with subtitles. Honestly. Otherwise you miss half of what’s going on, because they talk really quickly in Baltimore accents and whole scenes can go by and you haven’t a clue what they’re on about. So you put the subtitles on and then you’re like ‘ahhhh, so that’s what it’s about.’ I started doing it with Deadwood, that’s really good too, but it’s done in this almost Shakespearean style and it’s impossible to keep up unless you have the subtitles on. I started with that and now I use them wherever possible! Saint Etienne’s new single, Burnt Out Car, is released on September 22. Their double-CD Best Of, London Conversations, will be released on September 29.