It may only be the beginning of November, but Christmas is already well underway in the LadBaby household.
Mark and Roxanne Hoyle, the effervescent creators of the LadBaby social media phenomenon, which has 13m followers, had five consecutive sausage roll-themed Christmas number one singles between 2018 and 2022, and as a result are almost inextricably linked with all things Christmas.
They’ve also written seven children’s books about Greg the Sausage Roll, have recently released a sausage roll-themed board game, and have published their autobiography, Our LadBaby Journey: Success, Sacrifice And Sausage Rolls, chronicling their eventful story over the last eight years.
And with all that under their belts, it’s now time to concentrate on Christmas.
“I’ve got the tree up already, I’m not going to deny it,” chuckles Roxanne, 40. “I’ve got Christmas joy in November, why not? If I’m putting it up, it’s a nightmare to take down, so I’m putting it up for two months.”
And her slightly-less-enthusiastic-about-Christmas husband, Mark, 37, explains: “As soon as Halloween is over, on the 1st November, Rox is fully Christmas. We’ve had Mariah Carey already, and Rox was dancing around our bedroom on 1st November dressed as a candy cane.”
And she happily declares: “I’m just going to bring the Christmas spirit to November! I reckon I was a Christmas elf in a former life, and I love to make it last as long as possible.”
Christmas songs are already being played in the car as the pair take their two sons, Phoenix, aged eight, and Kobe, six, to school, and Roxanne tells Mark: “I’m teaching them life skills, love.”
He says he used to think all things Christmas should wait until December, but admits: “I’ve got no escape from it now. It doesn’t matter if I try and rebel, I’m just fighting a losing battle,” to which his wife cheerily replies: “It’s a spirit – it’s something that lives inside you. And it’s free.”
And it’s all about the kids too – but do the pair have any tips to help parents survive Christmas?
“I think togetherness is definitely important,” stresses Mark. “You’ve got to divide and conquer. That’s what me and Rox do as parents – we’ve got to have a team effort.”
And on a practical level, Roxanne suggests: “Distraction is great. And bribes. You’re on Santa’s good list or the naughty list is always a winner if you’re trying to get through December with the children.”
As well as Christmas games and movies, and even the fun of playing with boxes for young kids, Mark says they’ve already been getting their boys to help make Christmas decorations. “Rox has had the kids making Christmas decorations, things we can hang on the tree. And when we get closer to Christmas, I enrol the kids in helping with all the food – they help make the sausage rolls, of course.”
Mark started the fledgling LadBaby blog when Roxanne was pregnant in 2016. He was a graphic designer and Roxanne had given up her job in advertising to look after the baby, so they struggled financially.
So when LadBaby started creating Christmas singles, the pair decided they would use them to help raise money for the Trussell Trust, which provides food banks for those facing hunger and poverty. Both of them volunteer at food banks in Nottingham, where they live, too.
Mark says: “Coming from a place where we struggled to make ends meet, we know what that pressure is like for families when they’re struggling. And everyone should be in a position where they can afford the essentials in life.
“When we first started our song [a cover of Starship’s We Built This City, rewritten about sausage rolls], 14 million people in the UK were living below the poverty line, and we thought if we can have this song out that’s really silly and sings about sausage rolls, we’ll make a lot of people laugh, and raise money and awareness for something really important that we care about.
“If that’s not Christmas spirit, then I don’t know what is.”
LadBaby has been the couple’s full-time job for the last four years, and they say they just want to “keep having fun online” and doing “silly things”. They didn’t release a Christmas single last year, and won’t this year either – although they don’t completely rule it out in the future, Roxanne says: “Never say never. It’ll be 10 years in a few years, so you never know, we could make a little comeback.”
Their fourth Christmas number one in 2021, Sausage Rolls For Everyone, even featured Elton John and Ed Sheeran, and Mark cheekily suggests: “If Mariah Carey really wants that Christmas number one, we can help her achieve that.”
And what about sausage rolls – will there be more of them in their work, or has the rolls relationship reached its end?
“Oh, how dare you?” says Mark with a laugh. “Puff pastry runs through my veins!”
Although the couple’s brand is very definitely focused on fun and laughter, their story hasn’t always been a laugh, and their autobiography details how Mark was bullied at school, the fact that they both have dyslexia, their financial struggles, and the questioning of their motives and trolling after they became well-known.
“We wanted to write a book that told everything,” says Mark. “We’ve been online for eight years now, and we’ve done a hell of a lot in that time – five amazing Christmas number ones for charity, we’ve become children’s authors, we were once Celebrity Mum and Dad of the Year. We’ve grown 13 million followers online – we’ve had such an amazing time.
“But there’s also so much that we’ve never shared before – the elements of privacy that we’ve had to go through, and trolling and all those things that come with being online. We wanted to be honest and tell everyone we feel like lots of people know LadBaby, but not everyone knows Mark and Rox.”
And Roxanne says: “We’re positive people, we’re joyful, but telling this story did take us a bit by surprise – it’s been a rollercoaster. There’s chapters that are really positive, and then we talk about some of the things that have happened and the fake stories.
“For us, it was a bit like therapy – this is a positive book about two people that have overcome and done things they should never have done. There’s a lot of things in there that people might relate to, and we hope it brings a bit of hope to people to keep going, because at the moment, it’s hard for a lot of people.”
And Mark adds: “I never thought I’d have one song in the charts – I’m not someone who can sing, so the fact I’ve had a song that went to number one for charity once, never mind five times, is pretty mind-blowing. So who knows what’s around the corner?”
Our LadBaby Journey: Success, Sacrifice & Sausage Rolls by Mark and Roxanne Hoyle is published in hardback by Sphere, priced £22. Available now.
