Paul Hollywood

Presenter0:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4. For rights reasons the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.

Presenter0:10

For more information about the programme, please visit bbc.co.uk/slash radio four.

Presenter0:34

My castaway this week is Paul Hollywood.

Presenter0:37

An artisan baker, he's brought a lifetime of skill and knowledge about bread, cakes, pies, and pastries out of the kitchen and onto our T V screens. As a judge in the hugely popular Great British Bake off, when he dishes up the criticism, the oven gloves are most definitely off. With a flash of those famous blue eyes and a dig at their soggy bottoms, he makes grown men and women crumble on national T V.

Presenter1:02

So, what separates him from so many of the hammed up teletuff guys that populate reality shows these days? Well,

Presenter1:09

He's for real. At fourteen he was in his dad's back shop putting the jam in the doughnuts. By his early twenties, he was head baker at the Dorchester. His award-winning first book, One Hundred Great Breads, has been translated into seven languages. To watch him deftly twist and coil a savoury brioche curonne is to watch a man clearly at one with his craft. He says, You know where you stand with me. I've always been like that, not just on bake-off, but with the lads that work with me in the bakery, because

Presenter1:37

Well, that's what my Dad was like with me.

Presenter1:40

So welcome, Paul Hollywood. It makes good T V, of course, all that shooting from the lip. But I wonder why.

Presenter1:46

You know, on T V it's a make believe world. Why do you feel you have to be honest?

Paul Hollywood1:50

I think you have to be. I mean, last year's bake off, funny enough, I found it very difficult to judge'cause the standard was just so high. It threw me for about two weeks. And everyone's saying, Paul's being easy on him this year. And so what I did was m move my bar up and then people started falling into the traps again. If they do something wrong, I'm not going to turn around and say it it's good, because that would be a lie.

Presenter2:13

Well, you don't have to say it's good, but you could say, Look, I know you've put your heart and soul into this, but you maybe you know, Mary does that, doesn't she? She kind of softens the blow a little bit.

Paul Hollywood2:19

Yeah, Mary does soften the blow a little and so do the girls, so do Melan too. We're looking for the best amateurs in the country and that is almost borderline professional. Therefore, I have to judge them with that bar. Mary will judge them from a home baking point of view, but I can't do that because I I don't know home baking. I only know professional baking.

Presenter2:43

Listeners, he's doing the eye thing. You know the eye thing? You get those very serious eyes when you talk about it.

Paul Hollywood2:48

So they close up the other

Presenter2:49

It's easy to make light of baking, isn't it? You know. The truth is, though, that there is a sort of deep resonance, particularly with things that are baked, that come out of the oven. They are sort of inextricably linked to memory and home and places. Why why is that?

Paul Hollywood3:07

It's because it's very nostalgic bacon. Where I was brought up, we used to have Sally Luns. Now, a Sally Lun near me was like a massive ice bun with fruit inside it. It wasn't my dad's bakery, funny enough. It was just the local bakery down the road. And I used to walk down from school, pick it up, and come home from school in the afternoon and carve up this huge ice bun with butter and then eat it. And it takes me back to when I was a kid.

Presenter3:12

Boomer.

Paul Hollywood3:33

Um, there's so many people I've spoken to who have their favorite bakes when they were kids, whether their nan made it or their mother made it. My mum's ginger biscuits have become famous and Tom Kerridge tried some recently and he said, They're the best ginger biscuits I've ever had. I said, They are, aren't they?

Presenter3:47

Does your mom still cook them for you when you yeah.

Paul Hollywood3:49

Yeah, yeah. If I if I'm coming up, I was saying bum, maybe some ginger biscuits, please. They're more cookie-like, actually. They've got they've got lots of butter in there as they bend.

Presenter3:57

So a cookie has a bend and a biscuit has a snap.

Paul Hollywood4:00

You know that.

Presenter4:00

I learn.

Presenter4:02

Yeah, we'll come on to your critique of my Banoffy pie a little bit later, don't you worry. Tell me about your first track this morning, Paul Hollywood. What are we going to hear?

Paul Hollywood4:09

This is uh a Lenny Kravitz strap which takes me back actually many many years. It's called Strut and I used it as my entrance music on my tour last year.

Presenter4:18

'Cause you do these live baking tours, very popular.

Paul Hollywood4:20

It was very popular. And this music always pet me up. It's such a funky track. I love him. I think he's a great guy.

Speaker 34:26

But do you know who I think you are?

Speaker 34:30

You are a dream, and you are a star.

Speaker 34:35

So let it out and bring it on the scene And show the world exactly what you mean

Speaker 34:45

Let me see you all. Shut up.

Speaker 34:49

Let your body be dial. Stop!

Speaker 34:54

Show me how you work Struck.

Presenter4:58

That was Lenny Kravitz and Strut. We dared to put a rather shabby-looking paneau raisin in front of you this morning, and you've been sort of picking it apart there. What's wrong with it?

Paul Hollywood5:07

It's it's it's underbaked and it's quite raw inside.

Presenter5:10

I didn't bake it. I should say it's okay. It's really not okay though, is it? It's difficult to overstate the success of Bake Off. Regularly it's watched by ten million viewers. The final of the last series was watched by no fewer than fifteen point six million viewers. I mean these are the figures that people who make television programmes only dream of these days. What do you put the success down to?

Paul Hollywood5:11

Yeah.

Paul Hollywood5:31

I think it's very easy watching. I've watched a couple of them last year. We normally have all the whole family around. We all watch the first one together and we have a few drinks and watch the programme. The music, the tent, the weather, Mel and Sue, Mary Berry, the bakes. It's one of those things that at the end of the programme you think, isn't life lovely? And that's the, I think that's part of it. And actually, when we do a bake, they sell out the next day in the shops. If it's a particularly good signature bake, people go, I'm going to go and buy that. People can actually bake these at home very simply. I don't think it's one answer.

Presenter6:08

And I've always heard you be nothing but not just polite, but incredibly affectionate and enthusiastic about Mary Berry. I mean, what do you not like about her? What are the things about Mary that annoy you?

Paul Hollywood6:18

And she can eat as much as she want and doesn't put weight on the

Presenter6:21

Can she? Yeah. Oh, that's irritating.

Paul Hollywood6:23

Isn't it?

Presenter6:23

Have you ever been on a no-carb diet?

Paul Hollywood6:26

That's the work of the devil. I'm glad we agree on something. That's not right.

Presenter6:28

I'm glad we agree on something, but that's not wrong.

Presenter6:31

I've seen Mary sitting astride a motorbike of yours. I I don't know what it was, if it was a Harley or whatever, but it was a sorry. Did she actually did you take her out for a ride on that?

Paul Hollywood6:36

No, yeah, decassi it was, yeah.

Paul Hollywood6:40

No, I wanted to, um but that particular bike doesn't have any pillion um pegs so she couldn't. Um I could have stuck her on a tank I suppose and and taken her down the road. Um but no she can't die.

Presenter6:50

You can't damage me fairly.

Paul Hollywood6:51

Um I mean she really is game. I drive her everywhere, you know. Normally when when we leave the tent and go to the hotel, you know, she always has a Chardonnay, a cold chardonnay. So we sit outside. I'll normally have a either a Hendrix or a GNT. I just sit outside and we just put the world to rights. Then we have dinner together.

Paul Hollywood7:13

And then about half nine, we normally disappear up, you know. She goes to her room, she says, You're okay, do you need any ironing doing? I said, No, I'm fine, Mary. So Mary Berry is ironing your shirts. Mary Berry has ironed a few of my shirts on the first series. Not so much now'cause we've got wardrobe. We we've gone up market now. We've actually got an iron. But she is like my mother. Uh she acts like my mother. Um I do treat her like my mum. And she's met my mum and they get on really well. They were gossiping in the corner for hours, you know. But no, I I've got a real soft spot. You know, I really do genuinely love Mary, she's crazy.

Presenter7:22

First

Speaker 37:27

Yeah.

Presenter7:46

Let's have your second piece of music, Paul. What are we gonna hear?

Paul Hollywood7:48

This is something that takes me back to when I was probably five six seven years old There was a guy next door the Reese family When we were living in Wallasey and he had an MGB GT and it was a Sunday and it was quite a nice day if I remember rightly and he lent it to my dad and we went out for a drive in the in this car and it was an MGB GT with a little shelf almost at the back and we used to you know slide in back and forward on the shelf thinking we were the kings of the world and my dad's favourite song at the time I'm a mum's was the most beautiful girl in the world by Charlie Rich and it just takes me right back to those days and it was I think it's a great song.

Speaker 28:26

Really?

Speaker 28:28

Did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world?

Speaker 28:37

And if you did, why she cried?

Speaker 28:43

Right.

Speaker 28:45

In

Speaker 28:47

If you happen to see the most beautiful girl

Speaker 28:52

Then welcome me.

Speaker 28:55

Tell her I'm sorry

Presenter8:58

That was Charlie Rich and the most beautiful girl in the world and memories for you, Paul, of sliding around in the back of that little sports car when you were just a little thing. Uh you were born, as you say, in Wallasey in the Wirral. Yeah. Uh born in nineteen sixty six. Tell me a bit about uh Jill and John, your parents.

Paul Hollywood9:12

My mum was always the look at look at certainly looked after me and my brothers. My mum dad divorced when I was ten. And you were the eldest of three. I'm the eldest of the three, yeah. And um

Presenter9:18

And you were the eldest of three.

Paul Hollywood9:22

We lived in a quite a n it was a really nice house, I remember until I was ten years old. Then we moved down the road. Then there was just my mum and my brothers. But um I think my early days certainly were fantastic.

Presenter9:36

How would you and your brother spend time out of school? What did you get up to?

Paul Hollywood9:39

We were part of a church in in Wallasey, so on Sundays after church we'd all go off together, you know, big family groups and play football everywhere, you know, and it was all very family orientated. And everyone used to play in the road, I mean going out on bicycles, skateboarding down the road. We seemed to spend all our time outside. And I I'm very acutely aware of, you know, my boy growing up that he had time outside, not just stuck in the house.

Presenter10:05

And what about you say, you know, it was a really nice house we lived in, there was lots of stuff on on the weekends as a family together, and then at ten your parents divorced.

Paul Hollywood10:12

I mean, it I it hit me quite hard. I mean, I remember I I'd stand on top of the I'd sit on top of the shed roof and just refuse to go to school. It took me a while to to get over there. But then I think when I went to my last comprehensive school in Woolsey,

Paul Hollywood10:28

Things started to calm down a bit for me then.

Paul Hollywood10:30

My brothers were great and I think, you know, being part of the church as well when I was growing up was was strong. That was a good backbone for me as well.

Presenter10:36

And you say it affected you. What happened? Did you have a bad temper?

Paul Hollywood10:39

I yeah, I think I just uh sulk a lot. Uh it would be angry, but uh it it's not something that really manifests itself into anything. But I just tend to sulk a lot and go quiet, you know. I was actually quite quiet kid. Um and I I was I suppose when my last school I was a bit of a sweat.

Presenter10:57

What's that?

Paul Hollywood10:58

Long hair into Zeppelin and Floyd and all these other music. So, yep, I was leathers and wranglers and

Presenter11:01

These are the amusing.

Paul Hollywood11:04

stinking a bit unique. But that was quite the norm for for our group.

Presenter11:09

Let's have some more music, Paul. Tell me what's next.

Paul Hollywood11:11

My uncle is a is a canon now.

Paul Hollywood11:14

And I remember going to watch him in in church and he sang this, My Sweet Lord, George Harrison, with his wife, Jenny Mayauntie. I mean, what a cool cool vicar at the time. And he had long hair, and he looked great.

Presenter11:22

I mean, what a cool catalogue.

Paul Hollywood11:27

But also the fact that George Harrison being a Liverpool lad, and this is one of those songs that really takes you back to the seventies and to my my uncle singing this song in church, classic.

Speaker 311:40

My sweet Lord.

Speaker 311:44

Mm hello.

Speaker 311:48

Mm, my Lord.

Speaker 311:52

Really wanna see you

Speaker 311:56

Really wanna believe in them?

Speaker 312:00

Really wanna see Lord, but it takes so long, my Lord.

Speaker 312:08

Last week.

Presenter12:12

My sweet lord George Harrison, they say, Paul Hollywood, that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Your father owned, was it, twenty odd bakeries he had on his

Paul Hollywood12:19

I think it was about fifteen, twenty bakeries, yeah.

Presenter12:21

Do you remember the first time you visited one?

Paul Hollywood12:23

Yeah?

Paul Hollywood12:24

It was in Derby, Spondon, and I must have been probably ten.

Presenter12:29

What did you make of it?

Paul Hollywood12:30

Amazing. I mean, amazing. The smell of the bakery and doughnuts. I think doughnuts were fine at the time. And when you were a kid, a doughnut with jam in it. And I remember you pierced these spikes and you inject. But I just want to say, boom, boom, boom, boom. And it was just swelling up, you know, I was expecting this thing to just go bang and everyone's going to be covered in jam. But I think later when I joined my dad's business, he had a head office in York.

Speaker 312:40

I

Presenter12:40

Noah

Speaker 312:40

I've done it.

Presenter12:41

Yeah.

Speaker 312:42

But I just want that.

Paul Hollywood12:55

And I used to spend time with him and my brothers. We'd jump across on the train and then we'd go and spend time with my dad over the weekend in the bakery as well. And so I would try and help out in the bakery, trying to earn a bit of pocket money. My brothers would be doing something in the bakery and I'd remember my head was sort of like this at the table, looking over my eyeballs, watching these bakers handcrafting everything and making the pies and the cakes. Fascinated.

Presenter13:20

Your mum, I read, was a graphic artist, and I've always noticed when you're uh judging, particularly the batch bakes on bake-off, that you everything's got to be the same size and everything's got to be glazed the same, and everything's got to be very neat and tidy. Do you think you did you inherit some of that precision? Because she used to she was a pottery painter.

Paul Hollywood13:26

And they coffee.

Paul Hollywood13:29

Really score.

Paul Hollywood13:32

Do you think you

Paul Hollywood13:36

She was. Yeah, there is certainly an element of that from my mum. Never thought about that before, but yeah, there certainly could be. Certainly from my dad. I was looking at how it would look in a shop, how it would look as a group amongst others, and would I actually buy one. So there there's certain criteria that goes on inside my head, but it served me well'cause it helps me judge.

Presenter13:58

Is it true, Paul Hollywood, that it it was in fact an act of bribery that got you into baking professionally in the beginning? It was what happened.

Paul Hollywood14:04

Professionally in the beginning. I I was in art school and I had long hair and velvet jackets.

Paul Hollywood14:12

And I quite enjoyed art, you know, sculpture and all that stuff, and I ended up doing a low level in sculpture and I thought I could really take this further. And my dad approached me and said, Son, come and join the industry. And I went, Oh man, no He said, I'll give you five hundred quid.

Paul Hollywood14:28

And that were you know in the eighties.

Paul Hollywood14:30

That was a lot of money.

Paul Hollywood14:31

So I went from hair down to sort of my chest length to shaved literally overnight, just wom had a flat top. And he paid me five hundred cred and I got my car licence August of nineteen eighty three.

Paul Hollywood14:48

And that was almost about a month later I started waiting for my dad.

Presenter14:52

And life I imagine I mean, it's really hard work, isn't it, for a young boy in his twenties?

Paul Hollywood14:56

I was exhausted. I mean,

Presenter14:58

What time do you have to get up at?

Paul Hollywood14:59

Well, I'd be in the week probably about one o'clock and on a Friday night then we'd be in about half ten, eleven o'clock at night. I'm working through till about eleven the next m morning, you know. The hours I was doing were ridiculous and I was only quite a slight kid. I mean you do start bulking out a lot when you when you're baking, it's a very manual physical job. The flour bags, I could barely lift them. I was exhausted.

Presenter15:24

More in a second. For now, some more music, though. Uh tell me about this. You're fourth.

Paul Hollywood15:28

This is comfortably none Pink Floyd. I mean this goes back to the eighties. I I did have uh tickets to watch The Wall in concert and I couldn't make it, I was working. This song takes me back to loving all the rock music, Pink Floyd especially, and this track is just one of the best songs I've ever heard.

Speaker 315:44

My hands felt just like two balloons.

Speaker 315:51

Now I've got that feeling once again I can't explain, you will not understand This is not how I am

Speaker 316:11

Um

Speaker 316:13

Comfortably down.

Presenter16:16

Pink flawed and comfortably numb. So there you are, Paul Hollywood. You've got the buzz cuts, you've passed your driving licence, your dad's bribed you with five hundred quid to work in the bakery. Watching you in in the masterclasses that you do on television and in your own T V series, you know, I mean, I've when I introduced you today I said it's a man at one with his craft. How quickly did that come to you as a young boy? Did you automatically sort of find you had a skill for it?

Paul Hollywood16:38

Yeah, I did. At the time I didn't know'cause my dad would never say I was good, ever say I was good.

Paul Hollywood16:44

He only heard it six months ago. It took him a long time. I think he just thought I'd he'd said it when actually he never did. He'd watched Pies and Puds, he'd watched something I did. Oh, it was very good, that son. Yeah, he'd done well and I went, Sorry, Dad? What did you just say? That threw me. Did you have a

Presenter16:47

Yeah.

Presenter16:59

Did you have a bit of a moment?

Paul Hollywood17:01

I think it did, inwardly, it certainly did.

Paul Hollywood17:04

I think giving giving praise out to my dad was just not that type, you know. But that made me the person I am. That gave me the ambition, the drive. I have a huge amount of drive inside me, an ambition to be the best, to do the best. And even in baking, I still learn every day something different. I'm not the best baker in the world. I enjoy doing what I do, and I try and almost evangelize that through television to get people to bake. But I'm not I you know, I just love what I do.

Presenter17:35

What were the circumstances of you leaving the family business then? Because you went on down to London to work at uh the Dorchester Coast.

Paul Hollywood17:40

I think I was nineteen twenty and we had a bit of a bust up over I think a girlfriend at the time and I I I lost it, you know. I was a bit homesick if I'm honest. I was living in Lincoln at the time and my mum and all my mates were back in Wallacey in the world and I was seeing a girl at the time from Liverpool. So I think I used that as an excuse and said, I can't wait for you anymore.

Presenter18:03

You were in your early twenties when you ended up as um head baker at the Dorchester. Now that sounds it sounds rather good on the C V, but the truth is, you know, bakers in a big kitchen like that who are filling the bread baskets and making the croissant, the paneau chocolate, they are pretty low down the pecking order. How were you treated in the kitchen?

Paul Hollywood18:21

I mean actually, not bad. I think I was about 24 or something. I left my dad and went to work for a couple of businesses locally in Liverpool. Ended up working at the Chester Grove now. And then I remember saying to my mum at the time, I've seen this job. I don't want to go for it, but I have to go for it because I'm career-led. It was a massive challenge. And I got the job. I was the youngest head baker that I'd ever had. I was a bit excited, nervous as well. If you were head of a department, you had one of these really nice places in Queenscoat Terrace. So I had a little white balcony. I had two days off every couple of weeks. And on my day off, I'd be lying in bed and I'd get click, clop, click, clop, you know, from the horse guards coming down every morning. At half five in the morning, when I only lie in, and I get woken up by the horse guards coming past every morning. But I loved it. How long did you stick it for? I think I stuck it for, in the end, about eight, nine months. I had a bit of a bust up with the chef in the Deutsch. And then I got a bit itchy feet, to be honest, to go back home. And I just said, do you know what? Thank you very much, South. I'm back up north. And I just disappeared back up north.

Presenter19:29

Let's have some more music, Paul. Uh tell me about this, we're on your fifth.

Paul Hollywood19:32

Well this is Innocence by Enigma and this is my time in London. I think it's Barker's on the top in Kensington, going up there clubbing on my days off with the guys from the hotel, meeting all the other chefs from the Savoy and everywhere, and really feeling for the first time away from home.

Speaker 319:59

Don't be afraid to be weak

Speaker 320:04

Won't be too proud to be strong

Speaker 320:10

Just looking to your heart, my friend

Speaker 320:14

That will be the return to yourself

Speaker 320:18

The returns doing the same lie

Presenter20:22

Memories of your London clubbing days, Paul Hollywood. That was enigma and innocence. Um you worked then, as we know, you called it the Dorch I'm going to call it the Dorch from now on, the Dorchester Hotel in London's Park Lane, um also at lots of a few other uh posh hotels, and then you decided That you were going to venture much further afield. You went to Jordan and Egypt and Cyprus. Do you think it really informed your sort of more artisanal approach?

Paul Hollywood20:45

Yeah, I was in Jordan, I went to Petra, and when you go past the treasury, which everyone remembers from Indiana Jones films, and I went into one of the caves, and all the strata of the rock, you can see orange and greys and blacks. And there was a Bedouin woman sitting in there with a flame, and above that flame, she had this piece of dough in her hand, she was just throwing it around, and it looked incredible. And I said to the rep, Can you tell her that I'm a baker and I'd like to? And she looked at me, she smiled, no teeth. And she said, So I sat down with her and I was playing with this dough, and she nodded. And we baked it and she gave it to her. I tried it. It was some of the most beautiful bread I've ever had in my life. And it's something which stuck with me. I thought I need to replicate this. There's so much more to a flowery bloomer. I need to get involved with sourdoughs and understand what these people are doing. And that's when I started really playing in the hotel and experimenting with different flavours.

Presenter21:40

Um, when you started your television work, you dabbled a little bit in in Cyprus. Did it seem like something you could then go and make a a proper living in a career? Because, as you say, you're a very ambitious man.

Paul Hollywood21:52

I didn't know. I mean, at the time, Thane Prince was filming a program called Food from the Village. And my wife, Alex was PR for the hotel at the time. And she mentioned to them and said, Oh, you should meet my husband. He's the head bakery. And he said, Oh, is he Cypriot? And he said, No, he's a scouse. And he went, We'd love to meet him. So I met the producer and did this filming with him. And Thane said, You're quite natural on television. I went, Oh, thank you. You know, I was shaking like a leaf. I didn't know what to do. And then they said, Oh, you should do some more when you get back to England. And I was.

Presenter22:23

But you you said you you were quite a shy youngster. Did did the the shyness that now sort of disappear when you

Paul Hollywood22:27

Youngster did did the

Paul Hollywood22:30

No idea where it came from. I was all I was told whenever you're talking to the camera, forget about the cameras. When you talk to someone, think of your three best mates sitting on a sofa. So whenever I crack a joke or talk to Mary or whatever, the the people watching don't exist. It's just three of my mates sitting on a sofa. Um I talk to them when I'm talking to the camera, I'm talking to them. And that that's how I dealt with it, you know. It's not something that's it's normal for me to do. I shouldn't be doing this. But I've just fallen into it, you know.

Presenter23:00

Well, it it was two thousand nine then, if we gallop a little bit ahead, when you were asked to get involved.

Presenter23:06

In this show called The Great British Bake Off. First of all, what did you think of the format? What did you think of the name? What did you think of the idea?

Paul Hollywood23:08

First of all,

Paul Hollywood23:12

Yeah. I I I was approached just before Christmas it was. And to be honest, things were things were tricky for me at the time. I'd forgot about T V. I was just working in my own bakery, doing my own books, doing everything all on my own.

Presenter23:24

And you had your own artifact bakery business.

Paul Hollywood23:25

I had a 10-year-old van and I used to deliver everything. I used to do all the invoicing, I'd do all the baking, I do everything. I actually really enjoyed that. And then out of the blue, I get a call from a company called Love Productions to say, we'd be interested in talking to you about being a judge on the Great British Bake Off. And I went, what? Well, what's that then? And I thought, okay, so this young person arrived at the station, all of a sixteen, seventeen, with a little camera, and I went, right. Because I thought they'd bring a crew. And they literally tipped out a load of baked stuff. There was muffins, there was cakes, there was rolls. And they said, can you judge them? And the camera went on.

Paul Hollywood24:05

And I went through and judged everything the way I normally do. And he went, That's great, thank you very much indeed. They said I'd be working with an older person, that's all I was told.

Paul Hollywood24:14

And then I walked into an office in London and Mary was sitting there. She goes, Oh, I knew it was you And I I just thought, Oh, it's great. It's like working with the Queen Uh and I go out and give her a hug. And it was just one of those things which we just hit it off straight away.

Presenter24:28

Can I tell you, your impersonation of her is rubbish?

Paul Hollywood24:31

You don't know it.

Presenter24:32

He sounds nothing like that. Let's have some more music, Paul Hollywood. What's next? We're on your sixth disc of the morning.

Paul Hollywood24:38

This next track is by George Michael and it's Jesus to a Child and it was played my wife Alex and I was wedded in Cyprus in nineteen ninety eight and it just reminds me of that day. It was fantastic.

Speaker 324:51

Time this.

Speaker 324:54

In your eyes I gaze You heard me cry, you smiled at me Like a Jesus to a child

Speaker 325:14

I'm blessed, I know Heaven said.

Presenter25:21

That was George Michael and Jesus to a Child. So, Paul Hollywood, we've discussed the extraordinary success of Great British Bake Off. There came a point when you were chosen as a judge for the American version of the show. How did that go?

Paul Hollywood25:34

Oh, fascinating. I was told to do the same job, and that's exactly what it did. I'd never been to the States before in my life, so looking at the recipes, I was thinking, really? The amount of sugar in there? So I was more acutely aware of

Presenter25:43

They might

Paul Hollywood25:47

I'm going to teach them, you know, they can't put so much sugar in everything. They need to put use natural sugars. Honey is perfect to go in there. The technical challenges were were mine. It was same, but it wasn't the same, if you know what I mean. It wasn't it didn't feel comfortable initially. It took a long time to feel like I'm back in the tent again.

Presenter26:06

It wasn't recommissioned. What was it that went wrong?

Paul Hollywood26:08

I think it came down to the editing. So it'd be literally one, two, three, chain shot, one, two, three, chain shot. Whereas that's not bake-off. Bake-off is those long, lingering shots where you're looking at a cake or a bread or a pie. I didn't get it. I really didn't get it. I was doing exactly the same job as I do on this one.

Presenter26:28

One of the downsides of fame that you'll be more than well aware of is that, yes, you get all the perks, but also when the the bad news comes, it gets covered, as it did with you in the tabloids. There was a lot of speculation that you'd had a brief affair. When you look back on what I'm sure was a turbulent and difficult time, what do you think you learned?

Paul Hollywood26:47

I mean personal life is personal life and you know as far as I was concerned I didn't think anyone was interested in me. You know I was just happened to be attached to a big programme. I didn't realize how big it was until the press got the teeth in. And anyone that could sit there and say, oh no, I'll deal with that. That's dead easy. It's not because it plays with your head, it plays with everything. I was upset. I mean I was really upset. I was more worried about the family more than anything else. So for me I think it was accepting the fact that I was famous. That took years to get used to. I love the anonymity. I ride motorbikes now with a helmet on so no one knows who I am. I love anonymity.

Presenter27:34

It is almost impossible to put fame back in the box. And I'm wondering I I would guess that inevitably your professional life is populated by publicists and agents and schedulers and book deals and so on. Do you ever long for the simplicity of the night shift and the dough and the oven?

Paul Hollywood27:53

In the oven. Without a shadow of a dose.

Presenter27:56

Yeah.

Paul Hollywood27:56

When all this is done, I will end up probably having a little pizzeria, a little bakery in the village. I'll be like those French bakeries where you don't know when I'm gonna open and I'll just wander across the road, fire up the oven and make some magic in the oven. And actually that simplicity. I mean, I like nothing more than going home.

Paul Hollywood28:17

having a bath, whichever time I actually get in the door, whether it's two o'clock in the afternoon or eight o'clock at night, sit down with the family, watch a good movie and then go to bed. And I've been dressing down on by seven o'clock most evenings, and my feet are up on the sofa.

Paul Hollywood28:31

That is where I am. That's Paul Hollywood. That's the real guy.

Presenter28:35

Let's have your next choice. Tell me about this piece of music.

Paul Hollywood28:38

This song is by ColdPlay and it's Fix You. And I'm very close to my brothers, Lee and Jason. And Lee got tickets for me to go and watch Coldplay in Bolton. And we were bopping round all night. And then we had a few drinks afterwards. It was just a fantastic night with me and my brother having a good bonding session.

Speaker 328:58

Could it be wood?

Speaker 329:08

Lights will guide you home.

Speaker 329:15

And ignite your bones, and I will try.

Presenter29:26

Fix you, cold play. Paul, I've heard that uh your wife Alex is a very good cook.

Paul Hollywood29:33

She is indeed. She always was. That's how we met really. What's your favourite? Uh, I love her Tarti Flat. Tarti Flat and steak is just stunning. Her baking is is is actually really not bad. I mean this is where this is where it works.

Presenter29:46

Careful, careful, careful, careful.

Paul Hollywood29:48

Well this is this is the beauty. She's a cook, I'm a baker.

Presenter29:50

Yeah.

Paul Hollywood29:51

And this is why it works.

Presenter29:53

And D, are you competitive?

Paul Hollywood29:54

No. She's very messy in the kitchen, I'm not. But she creates magic, like a true artist.

Presenter30:00

What would be your uh your desert island dish?

Paul Hollywood30:03

Pork pie. Yeah, pork pie with an egg in it as well. When you bite through a crispy hot watercrust pastry, which has been layered in loads of egg to get that lovely shine, and you crack through that, and then you hit that little bit of gelatin, the jelly on the top. Then you hit the pork and the onion or bacon, whatever's in there. Then you go through the quail's egg. I know everyone's salivating at the moment, thinking, I'm gonna go and get a pork pie. And then you eat the whole thing together with tomato, cucumber. Sorry, that's just the best food in the world. Food of the gods.

Presenter30:25

Yeah.

Presenter30:34

I imagine you're a very practical person. You like big machines, mechanical things, you know, you ride motor bikes, you have fast cars, very good with your hands. I imagine on this island you could probably lash up a shelter, you could fish, you could take care of yourself.

Paul Hollywood30:47

I reckon I probably could. I'm a dive master.

Presenter30:49

Right.

Paul Hollywood30:50

So actually I'd probably spend most of the time under the water. I could probably find out where the octopus are and I reckon I'd be alright. I'd like the peace and quiet. I'd certainly like the peace and quiet. That would suit me down to the ground.

Presenter31:01

Do you ever bake with your son?

Paul Hollywood31:02

Yeah, the last thing we did was pizza and we made a chocolate cake as well. I did his birthday cake. And I did something I hate. I actually used bought chocolate fingers around the outside. Maybe because he wanted that. And I couldn't say, so I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to make them myself. I said, do you know what, I will. But we do like bacon.

Presenter31:22

Tell me about your final choice then, Paula.

Paul Hollywood31:24

Now this is my son all over. He loves DJing. We had a party recently and he loved doing all the mixing of the songs. And this track just reminds me of him when we're all on holiday together. And he introduced me to this and I thought, what a cool song. And it's six words, Wretch Thirty Two.

Speaker 331:41

Let me count my blessings One life, two children, free time, four dreaming, five senses, six words I found my treasure in you

Speaker 332:02

Found my treasure in here

Speaker 332:07

Bronze silver drop, no, it's you

Presenter32:11

That was Retch Thirty Two and Six Words. So, Paul, it's time for me to give you some gifts. You get to take the books first of all, the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, and a book of your own to accompany them. What's it gonna be?

Paul Hollywood32:19

Okay.

Paul Hollywood32:22

I would say it's a book by Geoffrey Wellham uh and it's called First Light and he was one of the youngest pilots during uh World War Two in the Battle of Brit Br Battle of Britain Day. I think he was seventeen when he first flew a Spitfire and it it's just a story of bravery, you know. I mean I remember what I was like at seventeen.

Paul Hollywood32:44

To be put in charge of a plane like that and losing friends daily.

Paul Hollywood32:49

I mean, what these guys went through, and it's such a great book. I've read it a couple of times.

Presenter32:54

Okay, that's yours then. Ah, you're allowed a luxury?

Paul Hollywood32:57

I would say a pillow.

Paul Hollywood32:59

I I always have one pillow which I sort of lean on and another one underneath my arm that gotta be just right.

Presenter33:05

I'll give you two, then.

Paul Hollywood33:06

Yeah, I I'd need to. Definitely.

Presenter33:08

All right, two pillows. And if you could only keep one of these eight tracks, which one would it be?

Paul Hollywood33:14

I think the most chilled out song which represents all our life and I still listen to a lot now, Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd.

Presenter33:21

It's yours, Paul Hollywood. Thank you very much for letting us hear your Desert Island discs.

Paul Hollywood33:24

Thank you.

Presenter34:05

You've been listening to a download from the BBC.

Presenter34:08

You'll find more information on the Radio 4 website bbc.co.uk/slash radiofour