Michael Eavis

Presenter0:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

Presenter0:08

The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand eight.

Presenter0:27

My castaway this week is the founder of the Glastonbury Festival, Michael Evis. A Methodist dairy farmer from Somerset, he's always had an intense love of music, so much so that in the seventies he used to play the kinks track Lola to his cows during milking. These days the cows still get milked, but every summer they hear the likes of Primal Scream, Oasis, or Amy Winehouse, and the roaring approval of hundreds of thousands of fans. A very long way, Michael Evis them, from your first festival. Your headline act back then, in 1970, I think it was, was Mark Bolan. What did this glam rocker from London make of rural Somerset?

Michael Eavis1:03

Bills

Michael Eavis1:03

Well, he was great actually. It was an absolutely amazing performance. When he turned up, though, he turned up at the gate in a bureaucrat or a Cadillac, a huge American cup. It was all covered in some kind of velvet or something. I put my hand on it and just stroked it. I said, Super car, nice car you've got. Because I did security and and I took the money on the gate, I did everything in those days, you know. And so he screwed me, he said, Take your hands off my car, man.

Michael Eavis1:30

So was I being too friendly or something? I asked. I don't know.

Presenter1:34

How much did you pay him for that gig and T Rec?

Michael Eavis1:36

Uh five hundred quid and I couldn't afford it, so I paid the deposit at fifty pounds. I had to pay the rest off from my milk jack.

Presenter1:42

Is it true that you also offered the the festival goers on that first occasion free milk from your cows?

Michael Eavis1:47

They got free milk as well. We gave away all the farm's milk to these people.

Presenter1:51

You say that you did the security and the gate and everything yourself. It was very much a a one-man band. Didn't the Hell's Angels help out with security?

Michael Eavis1:57

Well they did actually, yeah, they did the on-site security. They phoned me and I said, um, come down for an interview, you see and I thought, well, they're sounding quite nice sort of Somerset, he's handy people. Um, they actually came from Cancham, so and they would have a Somerset accent. Um, but when they turned up, you know, I dare not turn them down because but they're all bikers and they look really unpleasant, you know, very untidy and kind of aggressive health angels.

Presenter2:23

A certain amount of naivety on your part, I'm thinking, to interview a Hell's Angel.

Michael Eavis2:27

Just a beginning, yes. It's something good to start with, wasn't it?

Presenter2:32

I mean, you have faced an extraordinary amount of adversity along the way. I'm thinking of at one point we'll talk about this in more detail, but the bank loans you put your farm up for security. You've had tens of thousands of people in a three-day mud bath when the weather hasn't gone your way. You've had the the New Age travellers battling down the fences to try to get in for free. Did you ever think about just chucking it in?

Michael Eavis2:54

Well I did actually, but um

Michael Eavis2:56

For some strange reason I had a passion to carry on with it. I don't quite know why. Jean was so very supportive as well and she did cope with it as well, which is quite handy really.

Michael Eavis3:06

So we just plowed on with it and plowed on with it.

Presenter3:09

So much to talk about. For now though tell me about your first track to day. What have you chosen?

Michael Eavis3:14

First track, What is Mark Boland and T Rex and the Children of the Revolution, seeing he was the first band to to appear at the festival anyway, and he did an incredible set on that evening, I must say, september the nineteenth, nineteen seventeen.

Speaker 33:28

When you tear up plain In the falling rain I drive a Rose Road

Speaker 33:40

Of course it's good for my boys but you won't fool The children of the Revolution Now you won't fool The children of the Revolution Now now now

Presenter3:58

Mark Bolan and T. Rex and Children of the Revolution and memories there, Michael Evas, of your headline gig in that first Glastonbury Festival in nineteen seventy, and the red velvet car that Mark Bolin drove up into your farm yard. You were born.

Presenter4:12

Seventy three years ago, then, into this farming family, conveniently your appearance was just at the end of harvest. What do you remember of growing up?

Michael Eavis4:20

Growing up on um we're on the dairy farm and we had to get s sort of stuck in, you know, we had to grind mangles and all that kind of thing and do the hand milking taking turns, especially weekends, there's no staff around, you know. We went to chapel about two or three times a week as well. So the good old singing sessions at the chapel, you know, Methodist chapel. So we sang a lot of hymns around the piano as well. And my father was a very good singer, mother used to play the piano and um so we did a lot of church stuff a lot of chapel stuff actually.

Presenter4:48

What about your mother? What about the farmer's wife? What what sort of lady was she?

Michael Eavis4:51

She was great, actually. She was very clever and and uh she was a Londoner that came to stay in the country and uh my father spotted her very wisely and married her.

Presenter5:02

And a strong character.

Michael Eavis5:02

I understand I was conceived on Silbury Hill. That's pretty good, isn't it?

Presenter5:09

I'm sure it is.

Michael Eavis5:10

So she tells me now, and she's ninety-six now. And she's still. And she's still very strong.

Presenter5:13

And still a regular church goer. You go to church with her.

Michael Eavis5:15

Or you go to church with her? Do we do we take her every week, yes.

Presenter5:18

Um you were the eldest of five children, so she had an incredibly busy and demanding life, not just a farmer's wife, but a mother of five young kids.

Michael Eavis5:26

And she had to teach as well'cause her father did a lot of preaching and a lot of singing and a lot of council stuff. And uh she was a supply headmistress. So she had a pretty full time job and she used to take me to school with her on the back of a bike actually one time. So I was strapped into that cradle on the back of a bike and she'd pedal off in the morning in in pouring rain and teaching.

Presenter5:45

She must have had to be incredibly organized. Did she run a very tight ship?

Michael Eavis5:49

Yes, she was certainly disciplinarian, yes. We couldn't muck around with her, you know, she wouldn't have any messing at all.

Presenter5:55

What about your dad? Was he

Michael Eavis5:56

He was quite soft and gentle, happy soul, signaling him as well as milking and all that kind of thing. And a rather jocular, happy soul, you know, super boat, lovely chap.

Presenter6:07

Tell me about your second piece of music, then.

Michael Eavis6:10

Our second piece of music will be Pee-Wee Hunt, Twelve Street Rag, which is a song that really swept me right into pop music at a very tender age of about nine or something. And when I heard that, I knew for sure that there was something out there that was going to be totally different from all the chapel stuff and sort of singing around the piano with the kind of stuff we used to sing around the piano, you know, like we sang all the right things at that time and suddenly Pee-Wee Hunt and Twelve Street Rag sort of swept me off my feet actually, and I was totally gone on a mission at that point.

Presenter7:34

Peewee Hunt and Twelfth Street Rag. You went to Wells Cathedral School, which for a boy from a Methodist farming background must have been quite unusual. Were you surrounded by different sorts?

Michael Eavis7:43

I think my mother was quite determined that that we were going to have what she called a good education, I think. So they sent both of us, Peter and myself. We went there together when I was about nine and Peter was probably eight.

Presenter7:57

You were made head boy of the junior school. Do you say were you a natural leader of young men?

Michael Eavis8:01

No, I wasn't. I was quite nervous. Really, I was Adam Adapt of the housemaster after a couple of years. Housemaster came when I was about eleven, I think, and he wanted me to be head boy of of the junior school. And I asked him what he expected me to do, you see, and he said, Well, just make sure that people behave properly.

Presenter8:20

Quite clever of him to put faith in you if you were a boy who who was quite narrow.

Michael Eavis8:23

It's quite very good actually because it gave me a little bit of confidence that I really needed that actually.

Presenter8:25

Yeah.

Presenter8:27

Uh

Presenter8:28

And after school you went on to the navy. Were you worried, upset about leaving home at that stage?

Michael Eavis8:34

I was very keen to sort of get out into the world and and sort of see something else of of my life really. The second time I c I saw my father actually cry is one the first time is when his horse died. And he had horse god John and he was really upset when he died and I saw him crying to himself about that. And uh the second time it's when he went into the cow store when he was there milking.

Michael Eavis8:57

I had my uniform on, I looked very sort of nice and s and s pretty and tidy and smart and everything. And and so I walked down and said, Joe Daddy, I'm off now, you know. And he broke down and cried then. So I suppose he didn't really want me to go or I'm I I'm not sure. I thought it was quite an achievement for me to get in, you see, and to get all this smart uniform and all that kind of thing. And I felt I was really raring to go for something really different, you see.

Presenter9:20

And you did experience some very different things. I mean, at one point, tell me about how a seventeen-year-old God fearing Methodist boy from Somerset ends up in a brothel in Mumbai.

Michael Eavis9:29

Yeah. Well, what I went to see, we we were leaving Mombaso, you see, and and the chief officer came around and said, Evious, he said, We haven't got half our crew, we got twelve people missing. And he said, Go and find them you know I said, But where will they be, sir? and he said, They'll be in the brothels or jails, of course.

Presenter9:46

You silly boy

Michael Eavis9:47

You silly boy, didn't you realise? And so he gave me the bail money to get them out of jail, five rich or something. So I went on my own, you know, looking down through the streets of Mombasa looking for a brothel. I'm I'd never seen or heard of a brothel before. And a little girl, twelve or fourteen or something, came and flashed a dress up at me and said, Would I lie with her? And I said, Not right now, thank you very much. I mean, it's very kind of you and all that, but no, not now, thank you. And so then she actually dragged me into a brothel, funnily enough. So she took my hand and she pulled me with it. And so I was into the brothel where the seamen were.

Presenter10:27

How many of them are?

Michael Eavis10:27

I think it's already about six of them. And I mean they were all looking a bit shabby and untidy and and and quite unhealthy as well, I can tell you. And probably drunk as well. So I took them on with me and I took them back and they had to get the other six who were actually in jail. So I needed the bail money to get the other six out of the jail as well.

Presenter10:46

I mean, that was only one of your many adventures at sea. How do you think those two years at sea changed this young man?

Michael Eavis10:52

I think it was a major part of my life actually, because it was so mind boggling to go straight into that situation. I mean, from a rather sheltered home life in the Wellsworth Edward School. Suddenly fishing round brothels in Monbaset looking for crew. I mean

Michael Eavis11:08

It's quite extraordinary, really, wasn't it?

Presenter11:09

Yeah, it was. So tell me then about your third piece of music, Michael.

Michael Eavis11:12

Elves are supposed to say how great they are, but it's the most amazing gospel song. And I was going through the Welsh Mountains. I was having a meeting with some of my wonderful green ladies and she's run the Greenfields of Glastonbury. And I put that on the CD on the car player. Fantastic, and driving through the Welsh Mountains. It's very powerful.

Speaker 311:33

My Say Beauty

Speaker 211:36

Uh

Speaker 311:37

To the

Speaker 311:42

Have a great time

Speaker 311:54

Uh

Presenter12:02

Elvis Presley, and how great thou art So, Michael Evas, you were pretty much forced to abandon your navy career. You had to go back to the farm because your father was ill. Were you able to see him again before he died?

Michael Eavis12:15

I was with him when he died actually, yeah. I was at the other side of the bed wi with my mother when he died. And um um I thought I ought to get the Methodist minister to come and see him as he was dying, you know.

Michael Eavis12:30

And he said, no, thanks, son. He said, no, thanks. So you didn't want that. Because he had.

Presenter12:34

Because he had been a Methodist lay preacher himself.

Michael Eavis12:37

He was a preacher himself, yes. I think he enjoyed the social thing of it actually.

Michael Eavis12:42

And he had a good laugh and he enjoyed himself, but that when it came down to die with the minister he said no, thank you.

Presenter12:48

Did that make any impression on your own relationship with the church?

Michael Eavis12:50

You should

Michael Eavis12:52

Probably not, because I mean we're quite light with the Methodist thing's a bit light. Um we're all full of the creation and the creator and all that kind of thing, but when it comes down to God it gets a bit s um a little bit tricky, doesn't it? We're not quite sure what God is, you know, but we just enjoy enjoy singing about praise and stuff. But when it gets down to specific stuff it gets a bit complicated, doesn't it?

Presenter13:16

It certainly does. Let let's talk then not about the complicated stuff, but about the hard business of running a farm. You were pretty much left to do that as the eldest son on your own. Didn did did it feel like a lonely and difficult time?

Michael Eavis13:16

Let's

Michael Eavis13:21

Uh

Michael Eavis13:27

Well, I was nineteen actually, I was only nineteen. So I had to get in at the deep end and I had to go and see the bank and talk about loans and and overdrafts and things because obviously father wasn't that well off, but the farm was worth about probably twelve thousand quid or something. So the temptation would have been to have sold the farm, wouldn't it? But um I was quite keen not to do that though and uh

Presenter13:49

Why? Why was it important to you not to sell the farm?

Michael Eavis13:52

Probably because I'd always been there and my great grandfather came and moved in eighteen sixty four. So something had been there a long, long time. I didn't want to walk away from it just like that.

Presenter14:04

And what about your mother under these circumstances? Because, as you say, she she'd had great ambition f for all her children. She'd sent you to this uh pretty posh school. She had driven you to to work hard, to study hard, and there you were back running the farm. How did she feel about that?

Michael Eavis14:19

Well I think she wanted me to do it. I mean she sent me to see the bank manager. So it was her idea that I should go and confront the this reality of the problem really. And and um the bank manager did in a way, you know, try to say, you know, are you up to this job? you know, because you're probably having been away for a few years and I've seen another side of life. Uh, did I really want to knuckle down it and sort of get sort of stuck in at the deep end?

Presenter14:43

But you certainly did. Not only did you take on the farm, but you took on a wife. You weren't married for that long, but you had three children in your first marriage.

Michael Eavis14:51

Yeah, yeah.

Presenter14:52

And there you were by thirty, divorced, the father of three children, running a dairy farm, working what time do you have to get up to do the middle?

Michael Eavis14:58

Running

Michael Eavis15:01

Well, I was working so hard, you know, all the hours of the day and night and doing it all myself, and really it wasn't conducive to a good marriage really. So that so that I was obsessed.

Michael Eavis15:12

With succeeding in the farm really.

Presenter15:15

Did it get you down, or were you pretty stoical?

Michael Eavis15:17

To the extent of the marriage, I think it affected the marriage. You know, most it definitely did, yeah. Uh uh no, I I'm I don't get depressed, no, I never get depressed.

Presenter15:28

Tell me about meeting Jean, who was to become your bedrock for for very many years, for thirty y years. Can you remember the first time you saw Jean?

Michael Eavis15:36

As you saw in a fish and chip shop at Glastonbury, funnily enough, and uh we got together and fell for each other then we went for it then. We got sort of stuck into the whole thing of the farm and everything.

Presenter15:49

More about that in a second. For now, tell me about your fourth record today.

Michael Eavis15:49

Yeah.

Michael Eavis15:52

The fourth track is The Grateful Dead, kind of a hippie band Extraordinaire, really. And um we used to go off to London to see The Grateful Dead and go to those all night concerts where they played for about sixteen hours or something. That's a non stop. It was great. I mean they were so good.

Speaker 316:09

Goddamn well I declare have you seen the like

Speaker 316:15

There was a built of canon

Presenter16:38

The Grateful Dead and Uncle John's band for you are dedicated. You're a dead head. Is that what they call fans? Yeah, I was a dead head.

Michael Eavis16:44

Yeah, I was a deadhead for a while, yeah.

Presenter16:46

So Michael Evers

Presenter16:47

The leap then that you made between being a very hard working farmer and thinking that you could launch a music festival, how did all that begin for you and Jean?

Michael Eavis16:57

Gene and I actually went to the Bath Blues Festival and fell in love with the whole idea, the really of a festival. I just could not believe that that could happen, you know. It just went a few miles away from the farm. There was no fence, there were no gates, nothing, no people taking money or anything. And the Moody Boos were playing. Millions and millions of people there, and they're all lying about in the sun, and uh but they look absolutely fantastic, I thought. So I fell in love with the whole concept straight away. And I said to Gene, I can't wait to get on the phone tomorrow to do my own show.

Presenter17:28

Did she say what are you talking about?

Michael Eavis17:30

She thought I'd gone a bit dotty, I think. Yeah, I think she did, actually. So I got on the phone the next one, the very next one. I couldn't wait when I finished milking to get on the phone in the Colston Hall at Bristol.

Michael Eavis17:42

And so how can I get the king? she said.

Presenter17:44

You said you got on the phone the next day and said, How can I book the Kinks? I mean, you were aiming high. The Kinks were a huge group at the time.

Michael Eavis17:51

The kinks were sort of number one at the moment with a Lola, that's a thing.

Presenter17:54

Yeah, but you used to plea to the coast.

Michael Eavis17:55

But you do

Michael Eavis17:56

So that was a track I was playing through my sound system to the cows while I was milking it.

Presenter18:00

Tell me about the sound system that you have.

Michael Eavis18:00

Uh

Michael Eavis18:02

The sound system was a huge clay pipe, you know, sewer pipe, which was about eight feet long, and it had a speaker sort of strapped on to the end of it. Coming into the parlour from the outside, yeah.

Presenter18:13

So the radio was strapped on one end outside the milking parlour, and this huge clay pipe came in.

Michael Eavis18:15

Outside the milking parlour and a huge

Michael Eavis18:17

And it came into the parlour with an incredible bass sound to it.

Presenter18:21

Did the cows like it?

Michael Eavis18:22

Whether they did or not, I'll tell you what, it sort of kept me going, I'll tell you. And of course, Lola was such a hit at the time. Did it up their yield? So I was wondering.

Presenter18:29

I'm wondering.

Michael Eavis18:29

Uh well they say it does, don't they? I don't really know whether that's true or not.

Presenter18:33

I want to fast forward you to nineteen seventy nine. You took a decision, a big decision, that that could have well, it could effectively, I suppose, have ruined you. You borrowed fifteen thousand pounds against the farm to go ahead with the festival in nineteen seventy nine.

Michael Eavis18:45

Well we'd already started with Arabella Churchill. Arabella Churchill was a major player in the festival, I have to say. But Arabella came to me and said, You know what, we're going to have to cancel the festival, Michael, because we're going to run out of money. And so I said, You can't cancel it now, because you've got Peter Gabriel playing and loads of top artists that were lined up for it, you know. So I said, You can't do that. You can't cannot cancel it now. So she said, Well, we're fifteen thousand down. So I went to the bank manager and said, I need the fifteen thousand to see this thing through, you see. So he phoned the head officer and they cleared it, you know, on the strength to the deeds of the farm.

Presenter19:24

What was Jean's opinion?

Michael Eavis19:26

Oh, she loves crazy.

Michael Eavis19:28

She thought I was crazy at that point. I mean, she didn't think it was a sound idea at all.

Presenter19:33

And was the nineteen seventy nine concerts?

Michael Eavis19:34

Well it was, it didn't make any money, but it was a lovely it was hot sunshine, it was beautiful actually. So that that actually laid the seeds for nineteen eighty one really to succeed, I think.

Presenter19:46

Tell me about track number five, then, Michael. What have you chosen?

Michael Eavis19:50

Bob Dylan and I Threw It All Away. I've always been a Bob Dylan fan right from the beginning and and uh and uh this is a lovely track of his, I don't think you can get one better than that.

Michael Eavis20:03

Sleepy pan

Speaker 320:03

And someone who gives you all of the love.

Speaker 320:09

Take it to your hot don't let it straight

Speaker 320:15

For one thing for a certain US shall it be a hood.

Speaker 320:22

If you threw it all away

Presenter20:27

Bob Dylan and I threw it all away. Michael Evis, you are old enough, of course, to remember the days of haymaking with horses and summer trips on steam trains to the seaside. I'm wondering about this

Presenter20:39

Highly strung world of rock star egos and multi million pound appearance fees. How how do you deal with that? Such a contrast?

Michael Eavis20:46

Oh yeah. It actually works very well together, the contrast actually,'cause you can relax with the farm and the cattle, you know, and the heifers and all that kind of thing.

Michael Eavis20:54

So there is a kind of relaxation about that. Can you see that?

Presenter20:57

I can see the

Michael Eavis20:58

Yeah, so the contrast is quite nice because you can relax so that I can cope much easier than having the whole thing rock and roll.

Michael Eavis21:06

and all stress, you know, sort of twenty million pound budgets and things.

Presenter21:09

I'm not asking you to name any names here, but surely you must have seen some extraordinary scenes backstage.

Michael Eavis21:16

Well funny enough, I don't go backstage a lot. Do you not? No, I prefer it out in the front, actually. That in itself is what excites me.

Presenter21:21

Do you not?

Presenter21:26

So you're out there, you're down there with the crowds, and you're enjoying it. I really love it, yeah. But of course, you do have to do all the behind the body.

Michael Eavis21:28

But of

Michael Eavis21:32

Well, they do a little bit of that.

Presenter21:34

The planning I'm thinking about. I want to ask you about I mean, I know that they have these things groups called riders, don't they? The things that they need backstage to make their life bearable. What's the most bizarre rider you've ever had to provide?

Michael Eavis21:41

To make their life

Michael Eavis21:42

Hey sh

Michael Eavis21:43

Yeah.

Michael Eavis21:47

Actually, Nigel Kennedy wanted an air conditioning unit to put his little dog in because it was too hot.

Michael Eavis21:56

How about that? That's pretty good.

Presenter21:57

That's pretty good.

Michael Eavis21:58

Yeah.

Presenter21:58

It's a long way from Mark Boland telling you to get your paws off his velvet Cadillac, but I'm wondering how do you get on with the stars themselves? How do you go and meet them? Do you chat to them?

Michael Eavis22:07

Not very often. I don't really feel um dreadfully at home. But Paul McCartney, when he played, he did ask for to pop around and say hello after the show.

Presenter22:16

He asked you to pop round.

Michael Eavis22:18

Yeah. So I said I'd love to see him. So I popped round after the show and he was so emotional about it. He loved it so much. He was so good actually. I think he was actually weeping with with joy, you know.

Presenter22:31

Country people, of course, live in the country because they like a bit of peace and quiet. What sort of relationship do you I mean you're a local yourself, of course, but what sort of relationship do you have with the people living in the world?

Michael Eavis22:39

Well they're all on board now because everybody earns earns some money from it. I've got about seven farms that I have to rent. So we've got a thousand acres that we use. So that the local economy gets over a hundred million a year, which is a lot of money. So it's a huge economic input. So there's no discussion about not allowing the festival licence anymore.

Presenter22:57

Yeah, nobody's gonna complain about the noise with those sort of figures.

Michael Eavis22:58

With those sort of figures.

Presenter23:01

Tell me about your next piece of music then, Track Six.

Michael Eavis23:04

Well the Smiths came and played 1984 it was, wasn't it? And I went up to Bristol to see them. Actually my son, Patrick, who's actually GP at Bath, and he's got a proper job. It was Patrick who said to me I ought to go and listen to The Smiths. So I shot up to Bristol University, went into their social hall thing. It wasn't a very big event because they weren't very big then. And so I listened to them and I was completely knocked over by The Smiths live. And so I went round and asked us and said, Do you want to play at the festival next year? So they said we'd love to. We'd been having hippie stuff up to then. And suddenly the Smiths, you know, were very cool and very fashionable. And it just changed the whole event so much that it suddenly became a big sort of pop festival then.

Speaker 323:50

The ocean has stopped me

Speaker 323:53

Fuck me if you think it

Speaker 323:55

Uh this one

Speaker 323:57

Oh my heart stop me

Speaker 324:00

Tell me if you think that you've heard this one before Nothing's changed, I still love you, oh I still love you

Speaker 324:10

Only slightly, only slightly less than I used to.

Speaker 324:16

My love.

Presenter24:19

The Smithson, Stop Me if you think you've heard this one before. You were absolutely enthralled by that track there, Michael Evas, and I must say, for a seventy-three-year-old, that's not typical.

Michael Eavis24:24

Clear.

Michael Eavis24:28

No, it's it's not. I don't think it is.

Presenter24:30

I don't think it is.

Michael Eavis24:31

I'm a real Swiss and I'm a Morrissey fan as well. And um when they started playing everyone started running down across the farm towards the pyramid stage and they all climbed up on it because Morrissey was kind of beckoning people to come up, you see. But there were no fences in those days, there were no barriers around the stage, you know. So it was very hippy and very free and easy going and there were hundreds of people up on the stage and so they had to stop playing. It's only played for 45 minutes, which is a real shame.

Presenter24:59

Is there a part of you that mourns the fact that it is all it does all have to be inevitably because it's on such a great scale these days? You have to be very conscious of health and safety, you have to have barriers up, you have to have how many thousand toilets do you have?

Michael Eavis25:12

Oh, about 4,000, I think. 4,000 plus. Well, the fence is about six miles long as well, you see.

Presenter25:13

Four thousand toilets.

Presenter25:17

So the scale of that takes the charm, I suppose.

Michael Eavis25:18

Game is that

Michael Eavis25:19

So yeah, it's all cha no, it doesn't take chow out of it.

Presenter25:21

It doesn't?

Michael Eavis25:22

Not at all, no. It certainly makes it safer, doesn't it? And you have to say it is a lot less dangerous than it was in the eighties. Are you talking about twenty thousand people so compared to a hundred and eighty thousand people now?

Presenter25:35

It's taken a long time to build up to the point it is now. And of course you on that journey with you along the way was was Jean, who you were with for thirty years. In nineteen ninety nine you had to sort of draw back from your involvement in the festival.

Michael Eavis25:43

Thirty years

Michael Eavis25:48

So in the year two thousand we'd agreed that we were going to retire then. Unfortunately she never made it to that date, so that she having died, I was more determined to carry on because I didn't I didn't have a girlfriend or anything. And uh I got loads of children, loads of grandchildren, and of course all the kids are very keen on it. So it was like my new lady friend in a way, the festival.

Presenter26:22

And she had been so instrumental in building the success of Glastonbury that when she died, her passing was marked actually by the crowds there. Can you tell me what happened?

Michael Eavis26:30

What happened? Um, there was a two minute silence actually across the whole site. I could not believe that that whole site, all of those people, would have stayed still and silent for two minutes, would you?

Michael Eavis26:41

Nobody mucked around or anything, there was so much respect for Jean.

Presenter26:46

Tell me about your next record then.

Michael Eavis26:48

So we're on to the Stone Roses now, haven't we?

Presenter26:50

Yes, we are.

Michael Eavis26:51

A Stone Rose is actually played at the Pilton party, which is a fundraising thing for the village. It's a bit like the Village Fate, really. And so the Stone Roses said that they'd come and play if they could headline the year after, you see. I didn't really believe that they were going to come, but um

Presenter26:56

Right.

Michael Eavis27:06

Every single one of them turned up. It's actually unbelievable. There are only five hundred people listening to them.

Presenter27:11

So so in between the sort of judging for the scon and jams and the best carrot in show, there were the stone roses.

Michael Eavis27:17

Yes.

Presenter27:18

How many people were watching them?

Michael Eavis27:20

A five hundred.

Presenter27:21

And they could uh command an audience of fifty thousand.

Michael Eavis27:22

Command and order

Michael Eavis27:23

Oh, they couldn't. The last outdoor concert they did was probably one hundred thousand people. So we had five hundred people in Pilton listening to them, and they didn't really know what was going on, but they were so good. God, it was such an incredible, magical moment that was.

Michael Eavis27:37

But they never played the year after because they split up. I hope they will one day though. I'm still I'm still hopeful that they would do that gig and they would do a reunion at the farm.

Speaker 327:47

Read from the film and let's go on Mr. Mary Kinsatwar.

Speaker 328:12

Uh

Presenter28:16

The Stone Roses and Waterfall. Um, you headlined this year with the American rap artist Jay-Z and and came in for a lot of flack, certainly beforehand. I mean, people on the night seem to very much enjoy his acts, but d do you like the sort of music he makes?

Michael Eavis28:25

I mean people

Michael Eavis28:30

I'm not really a rap music fan myself, I have to say, but.

Michael Eavis28:35

That's your youngest

Presenter28:36

That's your youngest daughter.

Michael Eavis28:37

That's right, she's the daughter of Jean and um she does a lot of the the choosing of the music now. So that she said, Well, look, why did we go for Jay Z? He's absolutely huge in America. He's got more number once than Elvis Presley in America. And it did work actually with all the newspapers saying, you know, was it going to work, was it right for Glass and Maybe we shouldn't have had Oasis and all that kind of thing.

Presenter28:50

The

Michael Eavis29:01

But at the end of the day it was a huge success.

Presenter29:04

It strikes me that women in your life have been very important. I mean, there's Emily now and there's also Liz, who is your wife. I mean, does she get very involved in in the concert?

Michael Eavis29:10

Yeah.

Michael Eavis29:13

This was a midwife, and she's a midwife for about twenty seven years. So she's a very lovely, warm lady. I wouldn't say that she's a festival person, not really, no. But she does look after the welfare. We got a welfare centre next door to the farmhouse. Well, we look after people that they're unhappy or unsettled or whatever, for whatever reason. So she does a lot of work there now actually.

Presenter29:36

Is it true that some concertgoers ask to have their ashes scattered at Cleston Brown?

Michael Eavis29:41

Yeah. It is actually. We get probably one every two weeks. So I've got a field full of trees now where we've got the ashes. And um Joe Strummer actually I've got a stone for Joe as well'cause that was one of his last wishes as well. And Joe used to come every year, although he didn't come as a clash, you know, when I wanted them to come originally. But Joe at the end of his life he used to come every year and used to get involved with the festival quite a lot. So I've got a memorial stone for him that his wife wanted me to put in the field there as well.

Presenter30:11

What does your indomitable mother make of it all, the scale of it, the size of it, your success at it?

Michael Eavis30:16

But yeah, I don't think she

Michael Eavis30:18

She didn't really approve, obviously, in the difficult days of the eighties because it was a bit untidy, it was a bit r unsa rough and ready, and the whole hippie convoy thing was not very attractive. But now, twenty years later, it's all wonderful now, isn't it? The family in particular are very proud of it now.

Presenter30:35

Does your mother ever come to any of the concerts?

Michael Eavis30:38

She comes every year, actually.

Michael Eavis30:40

We take her down in a wheelchair as she and to wheel her on to the stage. And she loved Paul McCartney and Johnny Cash. This year she came and see Neil Diamond. So she chooses the one act that she wants to come and see.

Michael Eavis30:54

And then we can make it happen. You know, get her up on forklift trucks and all sorts to get her up there.

Presenter30:59

Tell me then about your final choice to day, Michael.

Michael Eavis31:02

Club have probably performed for us for about five times, one time in particular when we were stuck for a performance for the Bilton party.

Presenter31:10

This is the small fair.

Michael Eavis31:12

Yeah, the small village thing. And uh so I was really stuck and Emily was in the kitchen and she said, Well why don't we phone Chris Martin? I said, No, you can't do that, you know I can't do that She actually dialed up the number and handed me the telephone and said there's Chris's on the phone Then so I'm really sorry about this Chris but um that we're actually stuck for a band on Friday for the Pilton thing, for the fundraising village

Presenter31:35

And and what day was this you were crawling?

Michael Eavis31:36

And it was Wednesday, so we had two days to go.

Presenter31:39

Great.

Michael Eavis31:40

And so he said, Well, I'm in Paris. He said, What, you want me there for Friday? And I said, Yeah, I know it's incredible cheek, but actually, Emily dialed out the number and so I've got you on the phone. I mean, she's she's got neck enough for anything. And so he said, I'll be there. He said, I'd come with Johnny, so the two of us would come. So we had him for an hour and a half. So brilliant.

Presenter31:52

Yeah, Google Scar.

Speaker 232:03

Come up to meet you, tell ya I'm sorry.

Speaker 232:11

Oh hello.

Speaker 232:17

I had to find you

Speaker 232:20

I tell ya I need you, I tell you I set you apart

Presenter32:30

Coldplay and the Scientists. So, Michael, I'm going to give you the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare for this island. You're allowed to take another book that you've chosen. What would you like to take?

Michael Eavis32:40

I'd like to take Peter Aykroyd's a book about Blake. I've always been interested in Blake. He's about three hundred years ahead of his time really, um in the shape of freedom of the individual and sort of liberty and and justice and he is s such a genius. He's uh sort of slightly crazy.

Presenter32:59

And you're allowed a luxury, of course, on the island. What what's your luxury going to be?

Michael Eavis33:03

Is that the mouse organ?

Presenter33:05

Is it a mouse organ?

Michael Eavis33:06

Yeah, they're gonna take a mask over. I'm gonna take it.

Presenter33:08

I have

Michael Eavis33:08

I'm going to learn to play the mouth organ. I loved it when Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and even Chris Martin actually, when they do the mouth organ, it's very effective.

Presenter33:17

You can have a mice or something.

Michael Eavis33:18

I mean so I'd have plenty of time to do that, wouldn't I?

Presenter33:20

And if the waves were to threaten to wash the music away, which one would you save out of these eight discs?

Michael Eavis33:26

I go for the Elvis one actually, because I'd probably need a little bit of that religious stuff,'cause I'd be a bit bit concerned about being stranded on the island, you think?

Michael Eavis33:35

So it might need a bit of spiritual backup.

Michael Eavis33:38

So I'd get that from Elvis Presley.

Presenter33:40

It's yours.

Presenter33:41

Michael Evis, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Michael Eavis33:45

Thank you very much indeed. Yeah, lovely.

Presenter33:53

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.