Jimmy and Jane Barnes mark 40th wedding anniversary in unusual fashion
Jimmy Barnes and his wife Jane are set to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on May 22nd in an unusual way.
The couple is set to launch their long-awaited family cookbook filled with delightful family feasts and their secret classics.
Jimmy and his wife Jane have amassed more than 100 million views with their at-home performances, with the rock husband revealing that Mrs Barnes had been smashing it despite only just beginning guitar, piano, and the bagpipes.
Their book together will be released by Harper Collins in October.
“Jane’s a great cook, this is what she does. And she loves it. I’m a good cook but I get flustered,” Barnes said.
“It’s funny me and Jane in the kitchen together because she’s calm and really enjoying it and I’m sending bits of food flying everywhere and breaking out in a sweat.
“I’m a good finisher, I’ll come in, clean up and serve it up. And I’m the gravy king.”
“When we get home after working, cheese toasties are all I think about and Jane does the best cheese toasties, she makes them with love. And it just tastes better because of that,” Barnes said.
“The great thing about us doing this cookbook is the recipes have nurtured our family and helped them to grow and get through the good times and the tough times.
“We didn’t go for anything too tricky or things we thought we had to do; it’s the food that us fed our family.”
The cookbook isn’t the only project the Barnes’ family has in the works though, with the creative Rockstar revealing he will also release his second children’s book.
Rosie the Rhinoceros is inspired by Rosie Rodgers, who is the youngest daughter of Mahlia Barnes and tells her grandpa she is a unicorn.
Rosie The Rhinoceros follows his first children’s book Och Aye The G’nu, which was inspired by his grandson Dylan.
“She laughed a bit when I told her the story and then I’ve kept reading it to her at different points when it was edited; she thought the cover was cute,” Barnes says.
“I can’t wait to sit with the finished book so I can sit down with her as she thumbs through the pictures and I’m sure she’ll love it, she loves to read.”
Barnes credits his wife for giving him the passion to read, going all the way back to their first date.
He recalled that the pair was swapping their “favourite” books as you do, and Jane nominated Shakespeare.
Barnes had left school as soon as he could at 16 to join the rock’n’roll circus so had never learnt of the great playwright.
“So she brought me Shakespeare for Children to introduce me to his work and they were such fantastic stories. And then I read the ‘real’ Shakespeare,” Barnes said.
“It was her way of introducing me to one of her favourite writers and it just blew my mind when I read Shakespeare. I remember I wrote six songs in a week after I started reading his works. It’s gone full circle now and now I’m reading the Shakespeare for Children books to the kids.
“Jane was always dropping classic books in front of me, suggesting I read them, and I would just soak them up. And she did the same with food, with culture, with travel.”
Rosie The Rhinoceros will be released by Harper Collins on September 29.
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