Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2010/January 2011 | Page 9

five years of Island Life

Island Life - December 2010

We look back over five years of
glorious issues of Island Life, at
just a few of the eclectic mix
of stories covered
COMPILED BY: ROZ WHISTANCE - COVER PHOTOS: MARTIN POTTER
It is five years since the first issue of
Island Life hit the stands, and in that
time we have covered a huge range
of subjects and introduced you to
many of the people who make up
the life of the Island. Here, we revisit
some of those we interviewed to see
what has happened to them since. To
see our original features, see www.
visitislandlife.com

Public Eye

People in the public eye have always
been of interest to our readers and
naturally, Issue 1 took us to our MP,
Andrew Turner (Issue1 Nov/Dec 05).
We wanted to know what made him
tick. Not, apparently, the architecture
of County Hall, which he declared
ought to be pulled down, and the
plethora of unpleasing modern housing
developments also caused him concern.
It was the pace of life, the beauty of
the landscape and the social scene that
made the Island special for him.
What he couldn’t have predicted was
Visit our new website - www.visitislandlife.com

the stroke which left him for many
months being unable to speak. A
difficult few months led to the greater
involvement of his partner, Carol, in his
constituency work, but with her support
and that of many dedicated friends, he
managed to bounce back to work, and
to retain his seat in the recent election.
Andrew now faces the possibility of
sharing the Island with another MP.
This, he feels, would be a disaster
for the Island’s unique sense of itself.
Watch this space.

a two-tier system. The repercussions
rumble on . . .

Then: later on we grabbed one of
the first interviews with just-elected
Council Leader, David Pugh (Issue 12
Oct/Nov 07). He was “massively scared”
by the role he had, and first on his list
was sorting out the Island’s education
system.

Since: Controversial indeed was the
fact that Alex got the push from that
job. After a brief stint on a start-up
local station he took his family off to
the USA, but after a year was happy to
return. And delighted to be offered his
“dream job”, working on BBC Radio
Solent. (See P56, this Issue)
The huge success of the revived Isle
of Wight Festival was down to John
Giddings (Issue 4). Asked about his
ambition and drive he told Island Life

Since: Against all the odds, David
forced through the controversial
education changes, to put the Island
in line with most of the mainland with

Then: And talking of controversy,
someone just as prominent to many
Islanders was a certain outspoken DJ.
Alex Dyke (Issue 2, Jan/Feb 06), was
Isle of Wight Radio’s own ‘shock jock’.
Not, he told Island Life, that he was
out to offend – he preferred to air the
concerns of the day, the things that
matter to all of us, as well as earning
his reputation as king of the wind-ups.

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