A regular look at who’s dining out in the area.
“I am a millionaire” declares Sid in one of his many poems. He doesn’t mean financially of course, it is a ‘count your blessings’ style poem which epitomises Sid’s upbeat and infectiously positive personality and general approach to life.
He’s had his dark moments along with the rest of us, but attributes his success and ability to pull through to a positive style of thinking.
I met Sid Sloane, children’s TV presenter, for dinner at Antony Worrall Thompson’s Windsor Grill and over a delicious meal he explained that he has just completed a Life Coaching course and is hoping to use the skills gained via the course to improve life chances among the families living in areas similar to where he grew up.
Sid seemed very excited and enthusiastic about an idea he has for a TV programme (in which there is interest from programme makers) where he would return to his childhood estate and work with the “grown-ups”, as he put it, to coach their children, “getting rid of negative ways of thinking and empowering them to use their positivity to create opportunities for themselves”. A bit like Jamie Oliver but with thought patterns instead of school dinners!
As the starters arrived – wild boar terrine served with cornichons apple plum and cinnamon chutney and grilled country bread for me, breadcrumbed belly of lamb, served with rocket and grebiche sauce for him – Sid began to reminisce about his childhood which was spent on a council estate in Wimbledon where he was raised, the third of five siblings, by a single mother who instilled in him an attitude which has enabled him to achieve what he has today.
Sid describes life on the estate as typically challenging, being a young black boy in the seventies. He says he found the racism in those days more “in your face” than it is today, but is surprised and fascinated that many of the people with whom he grew up (most of them not black) still live in the same area with their families. He clearly attributes his ability to move on to the caring and strong-minded upbringing he received from his mother, the positive values she passed on and the ability to be independent.
It wasn’t until he was older, he said, that he realised that not all families operated in this way and he began to realise then how a positive attitude made a difference to your life chances. Sid went on to explain that he left school with no qualifications having shown promise and talent as a student, but deciding in his teens that school was not for him. He flunked his exams and moved out of his mother’s for a while, living with his father and spending much of his time watching films. It awoke in him a fascination for acting and a belief that he could do it equally as well as De Nero; though it would be several years before he got the opportunity to find out that this was, in fact, true.
He dipped into various jobs after leaving school and tried an apprenticeship with an etcher – Gilbert Browne – which he left before completing, “being too young to appreciate the opportunity” he says, now admitting that he did learn a lot from his mentor.
Tucking into his main course – an Anthony Worall Thompson signature dish of his own Middle White suckling pig, served with sage and onion stuffing, and apple and chilli jelly – Sid explained that he eventually found himself in sales, an unfulfilling career and one at which he was variously successful. With a wife and a baby on the way it was an important time to be providing some stability. However, having seen an advert, which he still has, for a new drama academy in Brighton looking for students Sid auditioned and was accepted on the course.
Waiting for the academy building to be completed before he could start the course, he says he began to wonder if it would ever happen; however, he soon found himself taking a job as a postman, getting up at four in the morning, completing his delivery round then going out for the evening lessons. He laughs, describing how sometimes he would take his uniform to the course with him, change at college after class and run into work to help with sorting through the night, going straight from that shift to do his post round. It was a tough time and very tiring but the family needed the money and at least this way, Sid was able to complete his acting course.
It’s another confirmation for him that if you are positive about something and want it badly enough, you’ll put in the hard work and effort to make it happen. How fantastic if Sid really can pass on this way of living and thinking to others; by the end of the main course, it was rubbing off; I was already thinking about the changes I could make.
“There’s a thread in my life that I haven’t ever lost since my teens” says Sid and I think that this is true, he has a consistency of thinking which has helped him during some dark as well as good times. Sid has been writing poetry for several years now and often recites for fun and at professional engagements. Some, as yet unreleased, reflect the darker side of his personality. Preferring to stay in the light, his positive approach to life has pulled him through some tougher times, like his divorce, and it was about three years ago that he decided to stop drinking fearing that it was affecting his life in an adverse way.
Following his divorce he had moved back to London and describes how he began to live the bachelor lifestyle, “partying and enjoying the single life to the full”. He says it was when he realised that he was finding it tough to prioritise his son over his lifestyle, he decided to take control back and hasn’t had a drink since.
Once his acting course was completed Sid took part in the academy showcase, whilst also putting on his own, two man show, to try to attract attention to his talents. It was a ploy that paid off; through this he found an agent and he was also offered the part of ‘Presuming Ed’ in the stage premiere of ‘Withnail and I’. He claims to love stage work but his game plan of “earning six million by getting one part in a Hollywood movie” to enable him to spend the rest of his career in the more lowly paid theatre has yet to pay off.
After several more stage roles, including the Narrator in ‘The Twits’ national theatre tour, Sid was offered the opportunity to audition for a part in a new children’s TV show. He didn’t get the part, but was offered the chance to try out as a presenter on CBeebies, a new TV channel aimed specifically at pre-school children. Almost eight years on, Sid is still presenting and enjoying CBeebies enormously; the show is now sold to several countries around the world. It has given him many exciting opportunities, including a trip last year to film in Kenya, a trip he described -over our divine sticky toffee pudding – as “magical”.
sticky toffee pudding
It was hard work but he was able, whilst there, to engage with the local population, learning some basic Swahili and helping a Masai woman to mend her home with dung! Dipping his hands into the dung is something he says would not have been allowed back home, but is an experience he wouldn’t want to have missed.
Whilst wanting to continue with CBeebies until “I’ve done at least ten years” Sid is revelling in the opportunities that his success has given him. “I’m on a journey” he states and he knows the direction. He says he’d like to continue studying, possibly taking a psychology degree, placing a theoretical framework around the knowledge he has gained through his life and allowing him to give back to those to whom such a positive outlook doesn’t come naturally.
It seems very fitting, somehow, that Sid is keen to use his experience, his success, his life skills and his recent Life Coaching qualification to help those who struggle to make the most of their lives. In true positive style, he claims that life since giving up drinking has been better than ever before. Looking at his life today and his plans for the future, it certainly seems that way.
Windsor Grill is one of two restaurants, along with Kew Grill (Richmond), owned and managed by Anthony Worrall Thompson.
The Windsor Grill menu is prepared with fresh ingredients including pork from Anthony Worrall Thompson’s home bred Middle White pigs. You can enjoy a “Pork Tasting” of Middle White suckling pig, slow cooked belly of pork, prize-winning black pudding, pork sausage and bacon greens.
All the steaks are from Prime Aberdeen Angus Scottish Beef, aged for 35 days for tenderness and old fashioned full flavour, or you can try the famous AWT beef burger made with 35 day hung Scottish beef.
Anthony Worral Thompson grows his own fresh herbs and vegetables exclusively for his restaurants near Henley-on-Thames, providing the freshest ingredients for the menu.
Windsor Grill can be found at 65 St Leonards Road in Windsor, SL4 3BX, telephone for reservations: 01753 859658
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