Warwick Davis

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 the actor Warwick Davis, Hollywood blockbusters, T V sitcoms, documentaries, horror movies, quiz shows, Christmas pantos. He's been at it since the tender age of eleven. Not just surviving an early start in showbiz, but using it to build a flourishing long term career.

Presenter0:53

Then again, bucking the odds is something of a habit. Born with a very rare genetic disorder, the doctors thought he'd be wheelchair-bound and die in his teens. Well, I can happily confirm that my forty-six-year-old castaway walked into the studio to day apparently in robust health. He says The reason I became a performer was because I was short, and growing up I had to be larger than life, had to be funnier, I had to be louder, be bolder than everybody at school.

Presenter1:18

Otherwise, I'd get left out. That was my apprenticeship for being a performer. So welcome, Warwick. A performer, do you think, rather than an actor?

Warwick Davis1:27

Yes, I guess. I I mean, I I do look at myself as being a performer because my career takes many different directions. It's not only acting, it's being a presenter, an author, public speaker. I do all sorts of things. So yeah, performance, I guess, is the umbrella term I like to use.

Speaker 21:35

Uh

Presenter1:35

Please

Presenter1:44

I mentioned uh blockbusters there in the introduction. Much of your film career, it strikes me, has been in elaborate costume. I'm thinking of Star Wars, of course. Or you know, you've been in heavy disguise in the Harry Potter movies.

Warwick Davis1:52

Yeah.

Speaker 41:52

Yeah.

Presenter1:57

Those parts take a long time in the make-up chair. How are you with that sort of stuff? Are you restless for those four hours before you get on set?

Warwick Davis2:02

Normally those four hours start at about four o'clock in the morning, so I'm not particularly awake at that time. So I do nod off and it's a weird experience because you go to sleep

Presenter2:06

So

Warwick Davis2:15

looking like yourself and wake up looking like someone else.

Presenter2:17

You know the father doing all the processes.

Warwick Davis2:18

Absolutely, yeah, yeah. And now and again they'll have to give me a nudge saying, Can you just look up for us a minute? We need to, you know, glue the piece under your eye.

Presenter2:25

You were one of the very few actors who was in every single one of the Harry Potter films. You said you don't know where you are with a goblin. That's one of their character traits, which is one of my favourite quotes ever. The first role you played was Professor Flitwick. He was part goblin, wasn't it? I mean, how do you even begin to know what a goblin's character traits are?

Warwick Davis2:34

Switches.

Warwick Davis2:43

What's lovely about roles like that, they're not really predefined in any way. I have to use my best interpretation. I've got to fulfil the reader's imagination, because prior to watching the films, most people's realization of these characters is in their own imagination, and I've got to try and find a kind of a character that fits into most people's view of that character.

Presenter3:06

Let's have some music, Warwick Davis. Tell me about your first disc of today. What are we gonna hear?

Warwick Davis3:10

Well this is a very important piece of music to me, it is the theme from Star Wars, and I started off as a Star Wars fan in nineteen seventy seven. Going to see the film had a huge impact on me as a seven year old.

Warwick Davis3:24

At that point I didn't know it was going to become a huge part of my life and career, and shapes everything I still do to this day.

Presenter4:07

That was part of the main title theme from Star Wars, composed by John Williams, who was conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. That was the Return of the Jedi one, I think, was it? Yes. You were just eleven years old then, Warwick Davis, when you got your first film role. It was as an Ewok in Return of the Jedi.

Warwick Davis4:15

I think we'll

Presenter4:23

Your parents weren't in show business, so how on earth did you learn the part?

Warwick Davis4:27

Well, I've got radio to thank for my career. My grandmother was at home in her kitchen.

Warwick Davis4:33

And she had uh the radio on, as she always did. And an announcement came on from uh Lucasfilm, who makes Star Wars, and uh it said we're looking for short people to play Ewoks in the next instalment of Star Wars. She heard the word Star Wars and she heard the word short people, and uh she didn't immediately tell my mum about this because she was worried that she might offend her by saying they need short people and I thought of Warwick, so she kind of held on to this this information for a couple of days and uh eventually she did call my mum, who immediately called the studios, and they said, Well, we've got everyone we need. We were inundated with calls. I really to this day don't know what my mum said to them, but uh they agreed to meet me. And just a couple of weeks later, in the uh January of 1981,

Warwick Davis5:19

I found myself on the set of Return of the Jedi.

Warwick Davis5:22

Alongside my on-screen heroes, was mind-blowing for an eleven-year-old, honestly.

Presenter5:27

You once said that you'd like the inscription on your gravestone to read an actor who just happened to be short. And I guess that's the sort of paradox of your career, because very often you've been cast because of your physical features, where you're three foot six, and yet you're also cast, I would say, you know, much more in the sort of latter part of your career, because you're a very good actor.

Warwick Davis5:38

Yeah.

Warwick Davis5:46

Huh.

Presenter5:47

Every physical attribute of an actor is taken into consideration when they're cast. It might be we're going to cast her'cause she's got a big nose, or we're going to cast him because he's got a wonderful jawline, but with you it is always part of the casting.

Warwick Davis5:51

It might be

Warwick Davis5:59

It's partly the jawline, but also um no. Being short is my USP and that's early in my career, obviously from getting the part in Return of the Jedi, that was the reason I got the part.

Presenter6:04

Yeah.

Presenter6:09

Do do you feel though at this stage in your career you have transcended that? Do you feel now that you get television and film roles because people think, well, Warwick Davis will be able to bring that to us, he will be able to portray that?

Warwick Davis6:20

More and more so now, yes, absolutely. The work that I'm offered now scripts come through, and there's no mention in the script of this character being short, or any reason for him to be short.

Warwick Davis6:32

They are just interested in offering Warwick Davis, the actor, the part, which is

Presenter6:37

Do do you take a a good degree of satisfaction in that?

Warwick Davis6:39

It's lovely to be thought of in in that way. And I think it's also a testament to society now and and the and the way things are changing, that that people see beyond somebody's physical appearance. There was a point in my career where people would be taking pictures and I wasn't quite sure whether I was being recognized or whether it was because I was short. And now I know that

Speaker 26:58

Yeah.

Speaker 46:58

Uh

Speaker 26:58

Yeah.

Warwick Davis7:04

Well, hopefully a hundred percent of the time people are taking a picture because they recognize me.

Presenter7:08

Let's have your second track, Warwick. What are we gonna hear?

Warwick Davis7:11

Well, I remember listening to this next track on a little record player, and it was one of those where the turntable sat on top of the speaker and it had a lid, and it was like a little suitcase, really. And the only record that I had on this was When You Are a King by White Plains. It's quite a melancholy kind of

Warwick Davis7:30

depressing song in a way, but I imagined myself being this kingly kind of character one day as I listened to this song, Somebody Very Important.

Speaker 47:41

Pardon in your hair, it's hardly ever there Wash your face, shabby in your dress Always look a mess, don't you care Mom is there to see you, always look your best

Speaker 47:58

Change your dirty best, when you grow you'll be a king

Speaker 48:04

Never do a thing

Speaker 48:07

Four and twenty black bus sing along

Speaker 48:10

Right a kiss they all bring

Speaker 48:13

When you are a k

Presenter8:16

That was When You Are a King by White Plains Memories, Warwick Davis. If you said you had this little record player and that was the only record you had to play on it. You were born in 1970s and brought up in Epsom in Surrey.

Speaker 48:20

Yeah.

Warwick Davis8:24

Yeah.

Presenter8:27

What would be your earliest memory of family life?

Warwick Davis8:31

Going on holiday in our caravan.

Presenter8:33

Is that the one your dad towed with an E-type jag?

Warwick Davis8:35

Yes, can you imagine this? A Monza caravan, which was the cheapest caravan you could buy, towed by an E-type jag. It was quite the amplitude.

Presenter8:42

What was that about then? Yeah.

Warwick Davis8:44

Well, it was the car that we had. I don't know whether any other E-Type has had a tow bar fitted to it since then.

Presenter8:49

And your father was a broker at Lloyd's of London. He commuted into London from Surrey. I mean, when I saw the picture of the YouType Jag and I heard about your dad commuting, I thought, you know, it sounds like the good life. It sounds like Jerry and Margot a little bit.

Warwick Davis9:02

I've just got nothing but fond memories of of family life.

Presenter9:05

You were the firstborn.

Warwick Davis9:06

Yes, I have a a slightly younger sister.

Presenter9:09

Uh your mum and dad are of average height. When you were born, how soon was it that your parents knew that there was a chance that you wouldn't grow to average height?

Warwick Davis9:19

Well, you know, my very early days were kind of touch-and-go. I was christened without them being there.

Presenter9:26

Because the the medics were so fearful of you dying.

Warwick Davis9:28

I had pneumonia and then the prognosis they were given was that they weren't really sure about my condition and, you know, it didn't look good that I wasn't going to live that long.

Warwick Davis9:39

How my parents could take that information and then remain so positive, I'll never know, because throughout my childhood there was nothing but positivity coming from them about me. But they didn't wrap me in cotton wool. That's the most important thing. You know, if I couldn't reach something around the house.

Speaker 29:53

They didn't know.

Warwick Davis9:59

They wouldn't immediately pass it to me. They'd see if I would be able to figure out how to do it for myself, which is fantastic because we can have our homes adapted to help us out where we can reach things, but when you get out into the the big wide world, nothing is adapted for you. So you have to have that kind of innovation to be able to figure it out for yourself.

Presenter10:20

I took the liberty of saying in my introduction there that you walked in in perfect robust health today. Have you dealt with long-term health implications being born as a baby who was so ill in the beginning?

Warwick Davis10:30

Oh, absolutely. There are over 200 different types of dwarfism, dwarfism being the umbrella term. And my reduced height is because of a condition called spondyloepiphysial dysplasia, which means the bone ends did not form correctly. But along with that, because of a cartilage issue, you can have problems with your eyesight, hearing, which didn't manifest in me. But I had talapes where both my feet were turned outwards and had to have corrective surgery and plasters and all sorts of things from like.

Presenter11:02

That was very radical surgery that you

Warwick Davis11:03

Yeah, it was back then. And there are other things. I mean, my joints are not great at all, so I sort of live in in a world of fairly constant pain in my joints. And and getting up in the morning, it takes me about half an hour to kind of really get moving. But yeah, constantly have pain. But you you just to learn to deal with it. I don't take painkillers or anything.

Presenter11:22

Time for your third, Warwick Davis. What are we going to hear now?

Warwick Davis11:25

Jean-Michel Jarre. He really provided the soundtrack to my childhood. I was very fortunate to meet him at a chat show that I did in France in 1988 and I did tell him at the time, I said, I love your music and he was very flattered. And I said, I use it on all of my home movies, my short films that I make. And he looked a bit concerned at first because of copyright reasons, but I explained that they were not for commercial use and he was delighted.

Presenter12:23

Oxygen Part 4 by Jean-Michel Jarre. Tell me about primary school, Warwick Davis. How did you like it?

Warwick Davis12:29

I liked school. You know at school there's always the good kids, there's the kind of kids that can't be bothered, and then there are the kind of really bad kids. I was in the good kids' camp. I wasn't the class clown.

Warwick Davis12:40

But I was always the one to be involved with what's going on and the the jokes and the fun and the laughs.

Presenter12:46

And kids of course will pick on different s I get the feeling you weren't picked up on really.

Warwick Davis12:50

You know, I don't remember any name calling. There was one boy who he was convinced I was from space. He used to call me the space boy. Obviously, it came true when I got the pole in Star Wars. But the thing is, at school, you know, as well, I mean, sometimes you have friends one minute, and the next minute they're not your mates. And I did have a little bit of a problem with two of my best mates who suddenly just decided that they weren't going to be as nice to me and would put my bag up too high so I couldn't reach it. And I couldn't figure it out. And I told my dad, my dad handled this so brilliantly. He was friends with their parents, so he had their phone numbers. So he called them up.

Presenter13:27

The boys are the parent.

Warwick Davis13:28

The parents are then asked to speak to their sons, and he said you're Warwick's best friend at school. He's having a bit of trouble. Some lads are not being very nice to him at the minute, and he described a couple of things that had happened. He said I wondered if you could look out for him, you know, being his his best friend, and it immediately stopped.

Presenter13:46

You became notable, aged eleven, as we know, of course, by appearing in Return of the Jedi, and of course this was the point at which Star Wars fever was at its very peak among school kids. I mean, how did your fellow pupils respond to that, to know that you'd gone off to be in a Star Wars movie?

Warwick Davis13:57

I

Warwick Davis14:03

Well, I played it down. Whether I was wise to the fact that if you started boasting about something, you got pummeled, I don't know, but I just kind of kept quiet, and if somebody asked me about it, I'd I'd talk about it, but I was not show offy in any sense.

Presenter14:14

There is a beautiful it looks very tender actually black and white photograph in your autobiography of the eleven-year-old you and you are being sort of lightly but very fondly embraced by Carrie Fisher and she's in full Princess Leah garb. It looks from the photograph that you got on very well, that there was a sort of quite a special rapport.

Warwick Davis14:26

She needs a

Warwick Davis14:33

There was. We met, obviously, while filming, and and I was fortunate to play the scene in the film where Princess Leia is discovered by an Ewok after she has crashed on her speeder bike. And um while we were filming that scene, she used to get very concerned for me being inside this quite hot costume. So if they took the head off, she'd have some chocolate milk and some cookies there to sort of revive me.

Presenter14:55

Let's have another piece of music, Warwick. Uh tell us about this one.

Warwick Davis14:58

This is a track that has significance for me from the time that I was filming Willow in 1987. In the movie, Willow, my character, has a best friend called Migosh, played by David Steinberg, who sadly passed away some years ago. But David and I really had a great relationship off-screen as well, and we both looked out for each other. Lean on Me by Club Nouveau was in the charts at the time, and it kind of became our anthem. I remember singing along to this with David on our way to set. Brings back great memories.

Speaker 415:33

We don't need that.

Speaker 415:34

We are not strong.

Speaker 415:37

And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on me for

Speaker 415:45

It won't be long till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.

Speaker 415:56

Yeah.

Speaker 415:59

Yeah.

Speaker 416:02

You need to go.

Presenter16:05

That was Club Nouveau and Lean on Me and Memories for You, Warwick Davis, of filming Willow and you you said that you know that used to be played on your way to set and it was something that you sang along with and enjoyed with your very good friend.

Warwick Davis16:10

Except that you know

Presenter16:16

You spent some of your earnings in those early days on a little video camera. You started making your own were they just home movies, or did you have greater ambition than that?

Warwick Davis16:25

Well I had greater ambition. I saw myself as the directors that I worked with basically. It was very basic equipment. The quality was terrible. They were normally kind of horror movies. My sister was in the films. It was just me and her basically shooting and being in it. And I couldn't edit the films. I had to actually film them in the order that they were to be shown in. So I was basically editing in camera.

Presenter16:50

When you were in Willow then you were I mean, we could see your face for the first time, which I'm I'm guessing, you know, when it comes to being an actor, that's a great advantage. You were starring opposite Val Kilmer.

Warwick Davis16:54

Which time you

Presenter17:01

And did you begin to think then that this is absolutely the the career for me? I can do this, I can make a living at it, I can get paid at it.

Warwick Davis17:09

Yeah, I can't remember the actual moment where I started to think that. I was just enjoying being offered these roles.

Warwick Davis17:17

and going off on these adventures.

Presenter17:19

When you were very young, you were working with some of the industry's very biggest stars. We've mentioned Carrie Fisher, you know, indulging you with chocolate milk and cookies. You worked, of course, also with David Bowie, you worked with Harrison Ford. There's a great picture of you I've seen with Michael Jackson. Were you learning things from those very big stars as you watched them? Because what's interesting is you started at eleven and yet you're still here. A lot of people who started in show business at eleven, you know, c come to tell a a sorry tale, don't they?

Warwick Davis17:27

You work

Warwick Davis17:46

Indeed. Yeah, I mean, everyone I work with, even to this day, the best apprenticeship is actually getting out there and doing some work, you know?

Presenter17:53

But when you worked with David Bowie, what was he like as a character to be around?

Warwick Davis17:56

Oh, it was amazing, but so down to earth and so ordinary. He would come into onto sets, and obviously, in Labyrinth, he was dressed in a brilliant costume with a very extravagant, sort of 80s big hair. So he made quite an impression. But underneath all of that was quite an ordinary chap called Dave. So I was always surrounded with people who were extremely talented, but at the same time, fairly down-to-earth at the end of the day. Let's have a little bit of romance. Tell me about your fifth piece of music. Okay, this next song has very special poignance in my life. It's my wife and I's.

Warwick Davis18:32

Dating song

Warwick Davis18:33

It was the song that we danced the first dance to at our wedding as well.

Warwick Davis18:38

It just sums up our relationship. It's a groovy kind of love by Phil Collins.

Speaker 418:43

When I'm feeling warm

Speaker 418:47

All I had to

Speaker 418:50

Just take a look at you.

Speaker 418:53

Then I'm not so blue.

Speaker 418:57

When you're close to me

Speaker 419:00

I can feel your heart

Speaker 419:03

I can hear you breathing in my ear.

Speaker 419:10

Wouldn't you agree?

Speaker 419:13

Baby, you wanna meet that movie?

Presenter19:20

That was Phil Collins and a groovy kind of love. Warwick Davis, you've been married for is it twenty five years yet?

Warwick Davis19:24

It is twenty five years this year.

Presenter19:26

How did you meet Sam?

Warwick Davis19:28

In the theatre actually in uh in nineteen eighty eight we were doing a pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Warwick Davis19:34

And uh here we just kinda hit it off.

Presenter19:37

You have two kids, uh Annabel, who's now, I think, about nineteen, Harrison, who's thirteen. Yeah.

Warwick Davis19:42

Yes.

Presenter19:42

You and Sam had you had been through a lot before you had those

Warwick Davis19:47

Two kids. When you have a genetic condition, like I do and like Sam does, they're different conditions. Sam has dwarfism, but hers is achondroplasia and mine is SED. And we didn't understand this at the time, but um

Warwick Davis20:02

When we have children, we can pass on

Warwick Davis20:05

both of our genetic additions to that child,

Warwick Davis20:08

Only one of us could pass it on, or neither of us could pass it on. So we could have a child who's average height. But unfortunately, we had a baby called Lloyd, and we had passed on both our conditions. It's called double dominance, and Lloyd only survived for nine days. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with.

Warwick Davis20:30

You know, you have a child and you love that child, and we were only able to do that for nine days.

Warwick Davis20:36

But at the same time

Warwick Davis20:39

He brought a whole family together.

Warwick Davis20:41

made a huge impact on us, changed our lives forever.

Warwick Davis20:45

You never really fully get over it because you always think, oh, he would have been, you know.

Warwick Davis20:51

such and such an age this year. We still think of him on his birthday. We remember him on the day he died.

Warwick Davis20:58

And

Warwick Davis21:00

Yeah, you never get over it, but it makes you a stronger person. It it informs who you are. It's all part of the building blocks of of your

Warwick Davis21:09

Your being a human being.

Presenter21:10

You also had a child, George, who who was stillborn, and

Warwick Davis21:14

Mm-hmm.

Presenter21:15

When you and Sam had been through all of that, it would seem to me that the decision to go on and have a third pregnancy must have been a momentous one between the two of you.

Warwick Davis21:27

something in Sam was saying we she wanted to do this. And fortunately by then we had the care of a very brilliant doctor uh called Professor Rodek at uh UCH, who was able to look at the child

Warwick Davis21:41

in the womb and do various tests that he had devised and things that would allow us to determine whether the baby had inherited my genes, Sam genes, or both, genetic conditions. And fortunately, Annabel had just inherited my condition.

Warwick Davis21:59

But it was touch and go for her. She was born straight to special care baby unit in Peterborough, was there for two months. You know, I certainly attribute her.

Warwick Davis22:08

Being a healthy nineteen-year-old now to the brilliant work the doctors and nurses did for her then is fantastic.

Presenter22:14

And to both Annabel and Harrison, not the medical work, but the work that you and your wife have done bringing them up. What have you said to them about the best approach to life, about how to live with the prejudices they might meet, or people's ignorance, or people's preconceived ideas about who they might be?

Warwick Davis22:32

It's all about positivity, what you choose to listen to and accept. We don't choose to see prejudice, we don't choose to see people staring, pointing, laughing. We choose to see the good in society and the world. So therefore, that's exactly what they do. Naturally, you know, children follow their parents' example. You know, and if ever Harrison or Annabelle are a bit down about things, we'll just say, well, just look at it in a different way. Just ignore them. It's only because they don't understand. If I'm out and about, normally children about four or five might sort of laugh and point and say, Mum, mum, look at the funny man.

Warwick Davis23:13

And at that point, the worst thing that can happen to that child is they'll get.

Warwick Davis23:18

a slap from the parent and dragged off round the corner crying. Because then they have a very negative experience of seeing somebody who's different, because they're naturally curious. So I'll try and instigate a quick conversation by saying, Oh, don't worry, it's fine

Warwick Davis23:34

If I can have a quick interaction with that child, they go away with understanding and that will live with them.

Warwick Davis23:42

for the rest of their life.

Presenter23:44

Warwick Davis, let's have some more music. Tell me about your sixth.

Warwick Davis23:47

Okay, this is a track that really evokes a lot of emotion in me because doing my work that I do I often have to leave home, go and work away for quite extended periods of time and miss the family terribly. So Every Time You Go Away by Paul Young.

Warwick Davis24:02

Kind of makes me sad, but at the same time, sums up feelings when you have to leave those nearest and dearest to you.

Speaker 424:09

So you go again.

Warwick Davis24:10

Are you?

Speaker 424:14

When the leading man appears Oh, it's the same thing Can't you see we've got

Speaker 424:29

Don't hurt me from the far.

Speaker 424:33

Time you go away

Speaker 424:38

Take a piece of leaves with you

Presenter24:44

That was Paul Young and Every Time You Go Away. And Warwick, we were talking about your kids and your daughter Annabel is has followed you into the acting profession. A lot of kids might know her from the CBBC series The Dumping Ground. She's also had a couple of parts in the Star Wars movies, isn't it? Absolutely. Absolutely. What advice have you given her?

Warwick Davis24:52

Yeah.

Speaker 424:52

Yeah.

Warwick Davis24:59

Absolutely.

Presenter25:02

About the rocky old career of acting.

Warwick Davis25:05

You know, I didn't want either of my kids to become actors because I understand how difficult this business is and how disheartening it can be sometimes. And she auditioned, she got the part.

Speaker 225:11

Small.

Warwick Davis25:17

And she's now into her third series, made a huge success of the character that she plays, and is.

Warwick Davis25:23

I will say brilliant.

Presenter25:25

You also started something called the Reduced Height Theatre Company, and I might wonder that something like that might encourage directors in, if you will, mainstream television and theatre to say, Well, well, we won't cast a short person i in a park because they've got somewhere to go. They can go to the Reduced Height Theatre Company and, you know, they'll let them do serious stuff there, but we we don't need to have them.

Warwick Davis25:42

Hi, S.

Warwick Davis25:47

The Reduced Height Theatre Company came out of a a long standing dream that I've had.

Warwick Davis25:52

To be in a play. For all the amazing parts and projects that I've been offered over the years, I'd never been offered a play.

Warwick Davis26:00

And I really wanted to do something like the importance of being earnest or a mystery player or comedy. I just was desperate to do something like that. And I thought well, the only way to do it is actually just now to produce the thing myself and put on a tour. And I thought, wouldn't it be lovely to give these other actors, you know, many of them

Warwick Davis26:18

I've known since the start of my career

Warwick Davis26:20

Give them a chance to shine,'cause I know how brilliant they are, so I thought let's cast

Warwick Davis26:26

Nine other actors in this, we had eleven in total, including Neander studies, and let them shine. Also, one of my other ideas was to reduce the scale of the set. So, when you went to see the play, you would forget that we were short and it would be about the performances. So, I reduced the scale of the set, and the illusion was perfect. So, people would come to see the show. After a couple of minutes, they would totally forget that we were all short and enjoy brilliant comic performances in the play, see how they run that we were putting on. And it wasn't till the end on the opening night when our director Eric Potts, who is a large man in more ways than one, came out onto the stage, and you could hear the gasp from the audience because they had totally forgotten he looked like a giant. He was the person who was different, not us.

Presenter27:15

Let's have some more music, Warwick. Tell me about this. This is your penultimate disc of the day.

Warwick Davis27:19

Well, where do I start? This composer.

Warwick Davis27:23

John Hopkins is.

Warwick Davis27:26

My favorite musician. He is brilliant. He was a child prodigy on the piano.

Warwick Davis27:31

To me, I can escape. I can listen to his music and become

Warwick Davis27:36

infinitely more creative. If I'm writing, I'll listen to John Hopkins' music and be able to write so much better than I I could without it. So the trap we're going to hear is the main title theme from the film Monsters.

Presenter28:22

That was part of The Monsters Theme by John Hopkins. Warwick Davis, you and your wife Sam set up a charity. What's it for?

Warwick Davis28:30

We set out with the aim to help people with dwarfism and their families. Being somebody with a profile, I was often getting contacted by parents who had had a dwarf child just to get some understanding about the condition. So Sam and I would often say, Well, let's meet up. Where do you live? And we would meet up in a pub near to where they lived. And they'd be able to just simply ask us questions, you know, about what's life like when you have dwarfism and what's the future for our child going to be. There are charities out there that help people with dwarfism, but we felt we could fulfil a need that still existed and set up Little People UK. My wife, it's almost a full-time job for her now. She's the chairperson, I'm the patron of the charity. Mostly it's social support for people, people getting together.

Warwick Davis29:18

who have the same condition.

Warwick Davis29:20

talking to each other and understanding they're not alone.

Presenter29:23

You've used the term dwarfism, which is the technical term.

Warwick Davis29:27

Uh

Presenter29:27

I have not used the word dwarf because I I don't want to use that word and I'm not sure why I don't want to use it. In terminology terms, where are we? What's acceptable? What's not?

Warwick Davis29:37

Well, you know, that's also something that is individual preference sometimes as well. As somebody with dwarfism, I don't mind the term dwarf. I don't mind the term little person. That's my favourite, actually. Short person. But some people might not like being called a dwarf. They might not like little person. So it depends on the individual. But accepted terms are someone with dwarfism, a little person. There is a term which I've been trying to educate people about and mostly used by comedians after a cheap laugh, and that's the word midget.

Warwick Davis30:13

It is in America highly offensive and here.

Warwick Davis30:18

Is very offensive, and we're moving towards the highly offensive category. But really, at the end of the day, why do we have to label people? I have to constantly remind people, you know, even though I'm short, I still feel the same feelings. I have feelings of love, of hope, of passion. All of these things still exist within me, even though I'm much shorter than you are.

Presenter30:38

I'm about to cast you away to a desert island.

Warwick Davis30:42

I'm somebody who can go without human interaction for quite some time.

Speaker 430:48

Oh

Warwick Davis30:49

Well, my wife, Sam, does need to speak to people. She she's very social. But for me, I don't need to speak. Being alone is is kind of okay. Although I won't have an audience, you see. That does concern me a bit.

Presenter31:01

Only the birds and the bees. Um tell me about your final one then. What are we gonna

Warwick Davis31:05

Listen to

Presenter31:05

Yeah.

Warwick Davis31:06

This track really would be the theme tune to my life, I think. But it has extra significance to me because I was very fortunate to be cast in the West End run of Spamalot a few years ago. And I played Patsy, and this song was one of my numbers in the show. And I've since become very good friends with Eric Idle, who wrote this song, who originally performed it, who you'll hear perform it now in The Life of Brian. It's always look on the bright side of life.

Speaker 231:39

Always look on the bright side of life.

Speaker 231:46

Always look on the light side of life.

Speaker 231:54

If life seems jolly rotten, there's something you've forgotten.

Speaker 231:58

And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.

Speaker 232:02

When you're feeling in the dumps, dumpy silly chumps. Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing.

Speaker 232:10

Angel craves look on the bright side of love.

Presenter32:15

Always look on the bright side of life, Monty Python. Warwick Davis, it's time for me to give you the books. Every castaway gets the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, and gets to take a book of their own. What's yours gonna be?

Warwick Davis32:26

You know, I'm not a great reader of fiction. I never have been. I like factual books.

Warwick Davis32:31

And I'm thinking the Guinness Book of Records would give me plenty to kind of read. It's the kind of book you can pick up and put down.

Presenter32:39

Okay. And what about your luxury?

Warwick Davis32:41

My luxury is a pencil and paper.

Warwick Davis32:44

I still want to be able to write things down, ideas, do little sketches, drawings.

Warwick Davis32:49

So yeah, it doesn't s seem particularly luxurious, but I think that's the thing I would miss if I couldn't write things down.

Presenter32:54

Well, we shall give you that benefit.

Warwick Davis32:55

Thank you.

Presenter32:56

If you had to pick just one of these eight, which one would you pick to save?

Warwick Davis33:01

Hmm. So you've got to pick a song that wouldn't be annoying.

Warwick Davis33:05

If that's the only song I can then listen to.

Warwick Davis33:07

For eternity.

Speaker 433:08

Hmm.

Warwick Davis33:09

I'm on my own, but so I'm not going to see my family again. See, I don't know whether I want to listen to a groovy kind of love because I'll be like, oh, Sam, I miss her.

Speaker 433:10

Yeah.

Warwick Davis33:16

I'm on this island, so I don't I don't want to take that one.

Speaker 433:18

Okay.

Warwick Davis33:19

Every time you go away, Paul Young, again, it's like, oh no, you don't remember when I left to come to this island? That was that'll remind me of that.

Speaker 433:25

Alright, yeah.

Warwick Davis33:26

So that's always look on the bright side of life. That might be good to raise my spirits, but might get a bit annoying when I'm sort of a bit.

Presenter33:33

Dear, I can see your problem.

Warwick Davis33:34

It it's difficult, isn't it, you see? I think

Warwick Davis33:39

I'm going to take the theme from Monsters by John Hopkins because I can sit and look at the ocean. I find it quite relaxing and calming, so that's the truck I will take with me.

Presenter33:48

Okay, we shall give you that. Davis, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Warwick Davis33:53

Thank you, Kirsty.

Presenter34:34

You've been listening to a download from the BBC. You'll find more information on the Radio 4 website: bbc.co.uk slash Radio 4.