Diane

I kept putting the decision off, and it was getting closer and closer to the time of making the decision.  
...and I was just watching something and I thought "right okay, when the credits come up on this programme, the first name that comes up with a J, I'll choose it." And the first name that came up was Jordan. That's me.

I've never worried about age or running out of time, or my biological clock ticking away. I've just not thought about those things.

There are people who were using a substantial amount of their benefit money to buy lottery tickets, because that was the only hope of them getting out of that situation. It’s absolutely a tax on the poor. And they saw me for whatever, whether I like it or not, I have a reputation of being a trusted person.     

I remember having a conversation with her where I said that, “I don't think I'm going to be able to give birth, I don't think I'm gonna have children.” And she turned around to me, this was not that many years before she died. And she said, “Well, don't worry, I clearly am popping them out. So if you can't have a child, I'll have one for you.” 

If you've committed to do something, do it 100%. If you can't give 100%, don't bother doing it. So that's always been my mindset. If I'm mucking about, I'm doing it 100%. If I'm having fun, I'm doing 100%. If I'm working.. If you ask me to do something for you, I will do it 100%.

And my mum and dad worked out that if a brick came flying through the window, it's likely to come land somewhere in the middle of the room as opposed to right under the window. 
Yes. And so if we slept right under the window, that was the safest place for us to be.

I’ve just always been conscious of being a black person in a situation. So I suppose it's, well, it's weird. It’s like, because so many people would say to me things like, “Oh, I don't like black people, but you're different.” And then I realise, I was the only one they’d ever met. 

My hope is that we understand that we probably have more good in common with each other than what we think separates us. But we won't know that until we get to know each other.

"Here's my life, here's a little snippet of my life. 
Here's a bit of my heart."

Diane with her father Harold, at his home in Welwyn Garden City, a few months before he died, 2011