Jay Blades

Presenter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs Podcast. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. And for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:43

My castaway this week is the furniture restorer and television presenter Jay Blades. He's best known as the host of BBC One's primetime hit The Repair Shop, which sees a team of experts bring family treasures, which have seen better days, back to life. The show has been praised as the perfect antidote to throw away digital culture and as a hymn to patience and craftsmanship. But it isn't just about French polishing, it's about people. The broken music boxes and scruffy teddy bears that come in to be fixed bring with them the memories and stories of their owners. Jay has been restoring furniture for almost 20 years and restoring people even longer. He became a community worker in his early 20s and went on to start his own charity, passing on upcycling skills to young people like him from challenging backgrounds. He says, There's a reason for why I'm still alive. There's a reason why all these experiences I've had have brought me here. They've brought me here to make sure that I make a change. Jay Blades, welcome to Desert Island Discs.

Jay Blades1:43

Thank you for having me, Coblin. That's a wonderful intro. I'm here. This is real. What's happening?

Presenter1:45

Yeah.

Presenter1:47

It's happening and you've got quite a story to share. We're delighted to have you on the programme. Let's start with the repair shop, Jim. I mean, so many listeners will have seen you and cried along with you at those stories that come through the doors of the barn where you record it. Why has it won the hearts of its audience, do you think?

Jay Blades1:53

So

Jay Blades1:58

Stories that

Jay Blades2:05

It talks about stuff that we all want, which is community, people coming together, love, and then also just kindness. It's like people just feel comfortable and just open up.

Presenter2:15

Did you know at the beginning that that was going to be such an intrinsic part of the show's success, that it was going to be about the stories and the people as much as the objects?

Jay Blades2:24

No, I knew it was going to be special the first day. I think it was in 2017 when we all came together. You had all these different disciplines in the same place and you never have that in the restoration world. You don't have a ceramics next to a fine art, next to a wood turner, next to a clock restorer. You would never have that. So when I knew all these people were coming together, I was like, this is going to be really special. And I think it was one of the first reveals we did. There was a lady who brought in a piano stool that her grandmother used to teach her how to play a piano.

Speaker 22:41

So

Jay Blades2:53

And it was a little bit tired. And I remember she was joking, she was really a bubbly person when she came in. And then when she was walking away, she kept on saying to me, Jay, do not paint that leg blue. I don't want it. Just put it back to how it is.

Speaker 43:03

Uh

Presenter3:03

Just put it back

Presenter3:04

Yeah.

Speaker 43:05

signature things to do one

Jay Blades3:06

Different colour. So she said, I don't want it, I don't want it. So when she came back in to pick it up, what happened is she put her hand on the top of the stool, and that was it. She just broke down and she just cried. And it was the weirdest experience because we were just having a laugh. And then it was like,

Presenter3:07

Different colour.

Speaker 43:07

Yeah.

Speaker 23:21

Yeah.

Jay Blades3:23

I said to her, what are you thinking? She's like, I can feel my grandmother here. That's when I knew this is going to be special.

Presenter3:32

Letter you first disc jay, what have you chosen and why are you taking it with you today?

Jay Blades3:37

Every house I went round to when I was growing up, I heard this particular track. And it's only when I

Jay Blades3:43

have grown up, and I listen to it now.

Jay Blades3:46

What it means to me is there was a lot of stuff my parents, my uncles, aunties, everybody was going through that I didn't know at the time. They might have been dealing with prejudice, they might have been dealing with not being respected in some way, shape, or form, but they would put this song on and it just you would see people sway, you would see people dance, you see people hold each other's hands. And the song is John Holt, help me make it through the night.

Speaker 24:13

Take the ribbon from your hair

Speaker 24:19

Shake it loose and let it fall.

Speaker 24:25

Lay it soft upon my skin

Speaker 24:31

Like the shadows on the wall

Speaker 24:37

Come and lay down by my side.

Presenter4:40

John Holt and Help Me Make It Through the Night. So, J Blades, that track takes you back to memories of growing up.

Speaker 24:44

That

Presenter4:48

You were born in Brent in North London in nineteen seventy, but you grew up in Hackney. Your mum Barbara brought you up on her own. What characteristics come to mind when you think about her?

Jay Blades4:52

Yeah.

Jay Blades4:58

When I think about mum, I think about someone who's quite strict, doesn't take any messing, and as I reminded her of the man that contributed towards my birth,

Presenter5:06

So that's what you you call your father, right? You you don't use the the the F word?

Jay Blades5:09

Yeah.

Jay Blades5:10

The F word? I don't use the F word. No, he's not that. I'd see it this way, that anybody who has a label, let's say for instance, you call someone a mechanic. If they're a mechanic, they fix cars. If they don't fix cars, they're not a mechanic. So if you have someone who says they're a father or a dad and they're not doing what a father or a dad should do, then you can't call them that. It's just the man who contributed towards my birth.

Speaker 25:19

Hmm.

Speaker 25:21

So it's

Presenter5:31

He wasn't around when you were young, wasn't in the mix at all. But you did discover later that he had other children, that you had half siblings. How many?

Jay Blades5:34

Did discover

Jay Blades5:40

Discovered I had twenty five.

Presenter5:42

Twenty five.

Jay Blades5:42

25 brothers and sisters, or half brothers and sisters. I've only met 11 of them, and then since being on TV and the book coming out.

Presenter5:43

Brothers and sisters

Jay Blades5:51

There's another two that have come out of the woodwork. Wow. So there's 27 of us. I'm close with probably, I would say, two of them.

Speaker 25:53

Uh

Presenter5:53

Wow.

Presenter5:59

And has that been good getting to know them and getting close?

Jay Blades5:59

And that's not

Jay Blades6:01

It said that I've got an older sister because I was always the oldest and now I always knew I had an older sister and now I've met her and it's just really really nice.

Presenter6:12

And what about your relationship with or your attitude to your father today? Where's that?

Jay Blades6:17

My attitude towards him is still the same. He did call me when the repair shot started on BBC and then he called me up and I didn't know who it was. First of all, he was talking to me about he wanted something restored and I said, well, we don't take things like that. You're going to have to go through the appropriate channels. And he's like, you don't know who this is. And then he continued to say that he is the reason why I am doing what I'm doing because I am half of him. And I just said to him, yeah, I disagree, but what I do agree with is that you've shown me how not to be a father. So I can only thank you for that. And then we parted ways. So I probably reminded my mum of that person. And then also, I think with what he had done with regards to leaving her high and dry, where we had to go into a refuge first of all, and then she moved in with her uncle and myself.

Speaker 27:02

Um we have

Jay Blades7:08

Yeah, it's just it's not a nice feeling, I would say. Not nice feeling.

Presenter7:11

I would say not much. She had a hard road to walk. And I mean, she was just a teenager when she had you, I think.

Jay Blades7:15

Yeah, yeah. She was young. I think she was seventeen or eighteen. And she got kicked out of the family house and she was promised by the man who contributed towards my birth that he was gonna find them a flat and they're gonna live happily ever after. It didn't happen. He disappeared with the money and that was it. She had to make her own way.

Presenter7:32

So there was you, there was your half-brother Justin as well. How did you support the family?

Jay Blades7:35

Keep the

Jay Blades7:36

Well, she worked like non-stop. I remember my mum working a lot and I was looked after by a lot of extended family. So I would go to my Auntie Kate's that was in Stamford Hill, my Auntie Patience, which was just around the corner in Stoughton Earnton. And she used to cook me ground rice. She had this big house. We would go there and we would just play together. My childhood, I would say up until the age of 11, was absolutely beautiful.

Presenter7:45

Yeah.

Speaker 27:45

That would

Presenter8:01

I'm glad to hear it. So it's time for disc number two, Jay. What are we going to hear and why?

Jay Blades8:06

What you're going to hear is the great Lufa Van Dross. Now this guy, in the 80s, he'd done so much for me because every song that he was singing about, especially when he was singing about love, is exactly what I was looking for. And I think I was looking for it because of the lack of love I received from the man who contributed towards my birth. So every person I was coming into contact with, I was looking for love and I was looking to fall in love. The same way Lufa explains in this song, The Night I Fell in Love.

Speaker 28:34

The stars wear.

Speaker 28:37

Shiny

Speaker 28:39

Brighter than most of the time Then love can

Speaker 28:47

Out of nowhere.

Speaker 28:50

Yeah.

Speaker 28:53

No friend.

Speaker 28:55

Yeah, but

Speaker 29:02

I turned it.

Presenter9:05

Luther Van Dross and the Night I Fell in Love. So, Jay Blades, let's go back to the classroom. No problem. I know that, you know, in primary school was actually quite a nurturing environment for you, but there was one area that you found quite tricky, and that was reading. When you looked at a page in a book, what were you seeing?

Speaker 29:12

No.

Jay Blades9:12

The problem

Jay Blades9:23

It's kind of like the same thing that I get now, where the words, they're like ants. They just run around. It's like giving yourself a headache. Me looking at words, it's a lot of pain.

Presenter9:30

Me

Presenter9:32

So it was secondary school when when this really kicked in as a problem, and it wasn't the only thing that you were dealing with at at secondary school, I think. You were facing some some problems with the other kids. How do you remember that time?

Jay Blades9:39

Um

Jay Blades9:44

Well at that time called Blimey, I went to secondary school with this kind of naivety that I still have to this day and I love my naivety and I remember turning up with my new blazer, new tie, shoes, trousers, the whole shebam. And I got called all these names in the corridor and I was smiling at these kids and I never knew what these names were. So I would take those names back to my community and I had some elder people in my community that I used to hang around with. And I started calling them names because I thought those names were names of endearment.

Speaker 29:58

Yeah.

Speaker 210:01

Names were

Jay Blades10:12

And they're like, no, no, no, that name isn't right. And that's when he explained to me, that's a racist name. Because of the color of your skin, that's why they're calling you those names. But yeah, it was just constant fighting.

Presenter10:23

Well, I mean it's not fighting, is it? It's it's racist bullying.

Jay Blades10:26

It's racist bullying. It was defending because there was a friend of mine who also went to school, an Asian guy, Iqbal. Whoa, God blaming.

Presenter10:26

Yeah.

Jay Blades10:34

Sometimes I don't say the names because when you say the names it takes you there.

Presenter10:37

Yeah.

Presenter10:39

You're getting emotional thinking about it.

Jay Blades10:43

Yeah, he got picked on quite a lot and he used to have these national health glasses and I remember coming down the corridor one time and he was crying but he was holding back the tears and I looked at him and I said to him, what's wrong? He said, I can't fix it. And I'm like, what can't you fix? And he's like, my glasses, they're broken now. And that kind of also tipped me right over the edge. And I think from that I was fighting until I got kicked out of school.

Presenter11:09

And did that ch that must have changed the way that you felt about yourself, about about your place in the world?

Jay Blades11:09

Uh

Jay Blades11:15

It made you feel angry because there was nothing you could do about it. And then when I come back to Hackney, that was when we had the kind of rise of um the Sus Laws and you had the S P G vans going around

Presenter11:27

So that's stop and search and

Jay Blades11:28

Stop and search. Not just stop and search and say, okay, be on your way. I mean, beat you up and take you. I remember a couple of occasions I was beaten up, put in the back of a trunk SPG van, beaten with a trunction with a wet towel on your body because then you don't bruise on the outside. There's no evidence. It's like it goes on the inside. And then they would dump you off in some remote part of East London. I remember being.

Presenter11:29

Yeah.

Jay Blades11:51

I think it was a Saturday afternoon I had to try and make my way back from Canningtown and I remember running from some skin heads, me and a friend, trying to get back to we didn't know where we was.

Presenter12:00

So well, how old were you at this point?

Jay Blades12:02

It was about twelve thirteen.

Presenter12:04

I mean, looking back at at that now.

Jay Blades12:06

Yeah.

Presenter12:07

How do you feel about those experiences? Like you're describing a kid who's been.

Presenter12:12

Well, it's beyond being failed by a system, isn't it?

Jay Blades12:14

It hasn't made me bitter. I understand that all those people that were racist to me, they're racist because they don't necessarily know me. It's not for me to hold on to that. They have the problem. So if I then go round believing everybody's racist, the problem is they've won and I can't have that.

Presenter12:31

Jay it's time for some more music.

Jay Blades12:32

Uh

Presenter12:32

Tell us about this next track.

Jay Blades12:34

I think this is probably the time that I actually got some identity back because when you are racially abused, you don't know that those people are actually destroying your identity. So for me, Dennis Brown gave me back that identity with the Rust the Ferrymovement and religion and explaining about

Jay Blades12:52

What I still do to this day, which is about coming together, making the world a better place, and going to a promised land. And a promised land could be anywhere, but as long as you're doing it with people.

Jay Blades13:02

It's all about community. So here you have it, Dennis Brown, Revolution.

Speaker 213:29

Shout out to the

Speaker 213:32

Tighten and game stamp for sure.

Presenter13:36

Dennis Brown and Revolution. J. Blades, your problems with reading meant that you didn't do so well at school and you were put in the L class, the learner's class. What was that like for you?

Jay Blades13:49

Being in the L's, you were classified as dumb, and that was it. I would say, let's say there was 30 people in the class.

Presenter13:55

Right.

Jay Blades13:55

I would say out of that thirty there was at least twenty eight that were dyslexic.

Presenter13:59

Okay.

Jay Blades14:00

Because there was no learning that went on there. No help, no support.

Presenter14:00

Because

Presenter14:04

You left school at sixteen. You didn't have any qualifications and you worked in factories and as a laborer on building sites. And then when you were twenty, you had your first child, a son. How did you make the adjustment at such a young age to becoming a dad?

Jay Blades14:18

I wasn't ready, plain and simple. I didn't know how to be a father. And it proved I wasn't ready because I didn't stay with Maria, Levi's mum, very long. I think I stayed with her for about a year and that was it. If you don't see something, you can't be. You have to be taught how to do it. Or you have to see a positive role model. I had a lot of positive role models as uncles growing up, extended uncles, but I never saw them being a father. I normally just played with the kids and we just went out and we did what we did. I didn't see what they did as being a father. So it was very hard for me to do that. I mean, really, really hard.

Presenter14:47

We just

Presenter14:53

I'm ready.

Presenter14:54

It was a rocky period for you, this. So that you became a father at twenty. By the time you were twenty one, you were single. You'd started volunteering at a hostel in Oxford. Now that experience you described as a culture shock. Why was it a culture shock?

Jay Blades15:00

It was

Jay Blades15:03

Yeah.

Speaker 415:03

Yeah.

Jay Blades15:04

Oh yeah.

Presenter15:09

And and what did you get out of working there?

Jay Blades15:09

Yeah.

Jay Blades15:12

That place taught me humanity.

Presenter15:15

And the work was was pretty humble really, definitely to begin with. You know, it was it was making sure that these guys were looked after and fed and watered and making cups of tea and stuff like that.

Jay Blades15:23

It's a mic

Jay Blades15:24

Yeah, making cups of tea it goes a little bit more and you had to wash'em. Take people who had um no legs, take them and give them a bath. You had to delice people. There was people who was coming in um off the street and you had to clean them down.

Presenter15:33

Oh wow, okay.

Presenter15:38

And presumably talking to people, because I can tell from talking to you that that is you've got a natural facility for that.

Jay Blades15:42

That

Jay Blades15:45

Yeah.

Presenter15:45

You must have that must have come in really handy.

Jay Blades15:47

It did come in handy, but I didn't even know I had that. That I think they taught me that.

Jay Blades15:52

Yeah, it taught me a lot that that place did a real lot.

Presenter15:56

So, as you say, that was an experience that taught you a huge amount, but you wanted more, you wanted to study. So, you were 30 and living in High Wycombe when you decided to enrol at Buckinghamshire New University to read criminology and philosophy. Now, before you could get a place, you had to write an application letter, and you knew that would be a challenge. So, you picked up some tips from applications you found online. How did they help?

Jay Blades16:20

There was one from a guy who was applying to Harvard from Brooklyn. So I got that.

Presenter16:27

And in into Boston. I was living in Highwick. I was living in Highwick.

Jay Blades16:29

Oh well no I was li I was living in High Wycombe University I was living in High Wycombe so I changed Brooklyn to High Wycombe and then Buckinghamshire New Uni um is what I changed it to yeah and then I got a a letter of unconditional offer that to go to university

Jay Blades16:46

It sounds really stupid when you think about it now.

Jay Blades16:49

Sorry, but this is the way it went. When I went to university for the first time, they gave me this reading list and I was like, well, what is that? They're like, oh, those are all the books you've got to read. And no one ever lied. That's when I got proper nervous. I was like, this is serious. I'm going to have to read something.

Speaker 217:01

So

Speaker 217:02

Say it.

Presenter17:03

Yeah.

Jay Blades17:05

How good is this?

Presenter17:05

Well, spoiler alert, it worked out okay, but we'll find out exactly how in a moment. First, Jay, I'm going to ask you for your next piece of music. It's disc number four.

Jay Blades17:10

Yeah.

Jay Blades17:16

When I first got introduced to UK Garage by my friend DJ Spooney, it was a tune that I would just close my eyes and like every day was a battle, but you can overcome it. So this is Wookiee Battle.

Speaker 217:28

Everything is not compact.

Jay Blades17:31

Uh

Speaker 217:31

But will overcome

Speaker 217:36

Get back in the

Speaker 217:39

Faith will bring us on

Speaker 217:42

I got rid of it.

Speaker 217:45

Yeah.

Speaker 217:47

Yeah.

Speaker 217:51

Yeah.

Presenter17:58

Wookie and Battle. So J Blades, you graduated from university with a 2-1. Congratulations to you. So how did you manage it?

Jay Blades18:08

Well luckily the uni identified my dyslexia. They sent me for a test and realized I had the reading ability of an 11 year old.

Jay Blades18:15

They then gave me help. I had...

Jay Blades18:17

a scribe journey exams and then they also gave me a lot of software to scan the books in and then I can actually talk to the computer and then it will type out what I'm talking.

Presenter18:29

I mean, that must have been a life-changing moment for you, that discovery that that that y you've had dyslexia.

Jay Blades18:35

It made me realize I wasn't dumb. Once you've got a kind of label that explains your difficulty with words, you feel so much better. You're like, oh, that's what it is. Okay. And what does that mean? And then they explain it to you, and then they give you support. And to actually end up with a 2-1 for someone who's got the reading ability of an 11-year-old ain't too bad.

Speaker 218:45

Yeah.

Speaker 218:46

Okay.

Presenter18:56

Definitely not bad, not bad at all. While you were studying though, you started working in the charity sector with your partner Jade and in 2010 you co-founded Out of the Dark which taught life skills including furniture restoration to disadvantaged young people. Now you didn't know much about furniture yourself at that point and you were learning alongside the teenagers. What did you enjoy about the experience?

Jay Blades19:18

Luckily for me we was based in High Wickham which used to be the furniture capital and a lot of the community taught me and the young people how to do those skills.

Presenter19:27

So you were kind of learning alongside them and and from the kind of master crafts people of of the area who'd, you know, worked at Urkel and various other kind of factories and maybe

Jay Blades19:35

Yeah, G plan, Arcanole. I just never knew there was another world like that because I knew nothing about furniture, absolutely nothing. And then when we went to different places to learn, because I asked the Neighborhood Watch, Age Concern, and also the WI groups if there's anybody out there that can teach us. And I remember our oldest teacher was a 92-year-old, Ken.

Jay Blades19:56

I should stop saying people's names. He was living in a home in Beaconsfield and

Jay Blades20:06

He taught myself and young people how to cane a chair and restore. And he was going to teach us how to rush a chair as well, but he passed away before he could do that.

Jay Blades20:17

We had a great time with Ken.'Cause of health and safety he wasn't allowed to come to our workshop, but we used to come to his place and it was just yeah, it was magical.

Presenter20:26

Jay, we're going to take a break for some music. It's number five. Tell us about this.

Jay Blades20:31

I've been raving to this since the 80s, and I still to this day go to Shubin's or big people raves. There's one called Cocoa White and Coco Black that has about 3,000 people dancing in it. It's like, wow. And when this song comes on, the whole audience is dancing. So hopefully, you guys can dance to this as well. It's Cameo. Love you anyway.

Speaker 220:53

I don't care if you don't love me like you say

Speaker 220:59

Cause I'm gonna love you in

Speaker 221:05

And I don't care if you don't love me like you say

Speaker 221:10

Cause I'm gonna love you anyway

Speaker 221:16

Take my heart down off the shelf

Speaker 221:20

Use your eye.

Presenter21:23

Cameo and Love You Anyway. J Blades, you and Jade carried on working in the charity sector together, but by 2015, you'd reached a crisis point in your life. What was happening?

Jay Blades21:34

One of the things that the man who contributed towards my birth has um

Jay Blades21:38

I've inherited from him is this inability to kind of focus on a relationship, and that was it. The relationship broke down, and we were running the business, the charity together. And obviously, that then broke down as well because there was a bit of funding that we needed to get that didn't happen. And I remember I got up and it was just like.

Speaker 221:43

And that was it.

Jay Blades21:56

I am a failure. I am nothing. And I got in the car. I remember leaving the mobile phone.

Jay Blades22:03

and my intention was to drive into a bridge. It was almost as if I was existing, but I wasn't existing. I I couldn't see myself in tomorrow. So I drove up this motorway and every bridge had a kind of like a barrier around it.

Jay Blades22:19

And there was a flashing light that came on the dashboard, and I think it was the petrol, so I pulled over into a petrol station.

Jay Blades22:25

I put some petrol in, I got some cigarettes and I pulled into a retail part and I just stayed in that car for a week.

Jay Blades22:33

I remember people coming in, I remember it going night and day and it's like you're watching a movie.

Presenter22:38

By this time, obviously, Jade, your partner, had reported you missing.

Jay Blades22:42

Yeah.

Presenter22:42

And and then the police actually tracked you down. You you got yourself to a hotel in World Humpty.

Jay Blades22:47

In Walthampton. Um because basically I remember um I think it was

Jay Blades22:51

On the seventh day or something, um, I I decided, right, I'm gonna go to a hotel because I had a couple of quid in my pocket. And then, um, as the car drove out of this retail part, there was a number plate recognition. Because I had stayed there, it's like they hadn't seen me come in, so I wasn't

Presenter23:08

You hadn't appeared on a system anywhere.

Jay Blades23:10

Yeah, so once I came out and then went to the hotel, checked in, but then said to the guy, I'm going to the shop to buy some stuff to wash myself with. When I came back, the police were there. There was a police, two police officers, a psychiatric nurse, and another, there was another person. I don't know what the other person was, but they started writing stuff down. And it's only when they said to me, we don't need to section him. And I'm like, who are you sectioning? They said, you.

Jay Blades23:36

And that's when I realized like wow I need to um wake up and um as soon as they're leaving a friend of mine who's recently become my brother Gerald Bailey was waiting to talk to me I jumped in his car and it was for the first time I ever cried in front of a man and especially a black man and just broke down like unbelievably I mean I cried with slight snot coming out of the nose it was j it was a it was a mess

Presenter24:02

You said he's recently become your brother.

Jay Blades24:04

He's looked after me like and I classify him as my brother. He then I was living with him for about I'd say about a week maybe two weeks and he's a kind of bachelor at the time and he said to me look you're cramping me style now, you know what I mean? So you've got to go and live with me mum and my stepdad and that's who is my second mum but my first dad

Presenter24:24

All right, well, I want to hear about them. But first, I want to hear your next track, Jay. This is your sixth choice today.

Jay Blades24:31

Sometimes you go into a state of dreaming and Melody Gardo's voice just takes me there. But this particular song, it's all about I'm a fool for love. It means so much to me. Whenever I put this on, it's dream time and it's love time.

Speaker 224:45

How was I to know that this was always only just a little game to you?

Speaker 224:53

All the time I thought you gave your heart I thought that I would do the same for you.

Speaker 225:02

Tell the truth, I think I should have seen it coming from a mile away When the words you say are baby, I'm a fool who thinks it's cool to fall in love.

Presenter25:16

Melody Gardo and Baby I'm a Fool. So, Jay, after hitting rock bottom you came back up and it was, as you say, thanks to Gerald and his family, his his mum and his step dad, Thelma and Cass.

Jay Blades25:28

Yeah.

Presenter25:28

How did they help you?

Jay Blades25:31

How do they not help me? I think that one of the things that some people do is they just believe in you.

Presenter25:32

Not

Jay Blades25:36

They actually just nurtured me back. It was almost as if I had become a child again. And then they took care of me, made sure I had food. In the in the morning we was having um

Speaker 225:40

Again.

Jay Blades25:46

Akien saw fish with some callaloo some fried dumplings and plantain. It was a real nurturing based around food and the old way of doing stuff and they're an old Jamaican couple, just beautiful.

Presenter25:52

East the ramp

Presenter25:58

So Jay, you went back to furniture restoration, you set up a new venture called Jay and Co. Now it was around this time that you really honed your style, you developed your own style. Tell me about that.

Jay Blades26:09

My style is just a splash of colour and doing things in a completely different way. So painting one leg, dripping paint and a lot of those came about as an accident. So I call it a beautiful mistake. The one painted leg came about where someone had called me. I had just started painting the chair and one leg was painted. I was on the phone and looking at the chair and I was like, wow, that looks really good.

Speaker 226:30

Wow.

Jay Blades26:33

I think it was an Urkhold chair at the time, and the chair actually looks like it's a Meccano set. There's all different components that come together. And basically, this one leg just made you look at it in a completely different way. So, yeah. And then another one was the dripping paint. I tipped over some paint and it was going on the chair. It was dripping down. I was running around the workshop trying to find a cloth. And when I got back to the chair, it was like.

Speaker 226:39

How's it going?

Jay Blades26:56

That looks alright, looks like ice cream. I'm gonna keep that.

Presenter26:59

Hello.

Jay Blades26:59

That um and that was it. He got dripping paint on stuff.

Presenter27:03

Can you summarize the joy of restoring a piece of furniture for me?

Jay Blades27:08

The joy that I have doing it myself is kind of like a kid-like state. So when I get creating, I forget all of the bills and ambitions or whatever. It's just that I'll do whatever and try to do what a child would do. When you're doing it on the repair shop, I think the joy of seeing someone pick up an item and you can actually see them remembering every family member who's related to that item just for that split second, the silence where they're just holding the item for a minute and you can just see them remembering.

Presenter27:40

Time for disc number seven, J. What's next?

Jay Blades27:43

I love dancing and I love music that takes me back to an era and this one, even in Champagne King, Kisses Don't Lie, I didn't find my love until now.

Jay Blades27:53

And now that I've found my love, this one is dedicated to ooh tiny, my fiancé.

Speaker 227:55

Go.

Speaker 227:59

See you some night.

Speaker 228:02

The parade

Speaker 228:05

For someone so special Tom May heaven sent just for me.

Speaker 228:14

This time I know it's real

Speaker 228:18

I asked my heart a question and it didn't reply.

Presenter28:28

Evelyn Champagne King and Kisses Don't Lie. So J Blades, I quoted you at the beginning of the programme saying that the reason that you are here is to make a change, and I know that you've been adamant that you want to celebrate diversity on the repair shop.

Presenter28:44

Tell me about how you think you've managed that.

Jay Blades28:46

I'm just quite vocal. And I basically say, Well, how come there's no female camera people behind it? How come there's no one of color behind it? And um sure enough, they sort it out. And I think also another thing we're gonna focus on is apprentice and stuff like that, because really and truly.

Speaker 229:01

Come on.

Jay Blades29:03

We've got a lot of skills in here. We have over, I think it's 600 years of experience in the barn. And if we're not passing this down, and that's what I'm all about, is passing down these skills.

Presenter29:12

We talked a lot about family today, and you've got three children now, two sons and a daughter. You've been honest about having to acquire your parenting skills along the way. How have they improved over the years, do you think?

Jay Blades29:25

I think my children are very grounded. They know what type of dad I am. I can be quite strict. I say the same thing. I'm quite repetitive. But I say the same thing to a lot of the young people that I mentor: that they should have a brilliant attitude towards life. Keep on moving forward. Keep on doing your best. Everything will be alright. I'm very consistent in what I say. So I think, I'll have to ask that. I'm going to ask them that question. I'm going to ask them, am I all right as a dad? Yeah.

Presenter29:51

You once said that the biggest repair job we've ever done in the shop is me. How has working on the repair shop fixed you?

Jay Blades29:58

The repair shop has fixed me because what it's done is actually brought me into another family. That's people in front and behind the camera who have looked after me and understand my kind of um I would call them differences and just accepted them. So one of the biggest things is in TV they send loads of emails about everything, schedules about everything. I don't read any of them and they just support me and the family as well, Kirsten, Steve, Will. You have to be there to understand that what you guys see on TV is brilliant, don't get me wrong, it's even better in real life.

Presenter30:29

Mm-hmm.

Presenter30:32

Jay, I'm going to cast you away from your real family and and your T V family too. I'm poised to drop you off on the island. I think your skills as a designer, as a restorer, will really help you when you get there. Do you do you agree? Do you think you'll be able to knock up a shelter, look after yourself?

Jay Blades30:34

Your real

Jay Blades30:48

I could probably knock up a shelter, but I would probably like to sleep outside. I think the desert island will be very, very relaxing. So, as it's relaxing, I don't really want to do no work. I don't kick back that often, but when I do, I love to go to Barbados and I just sit on the beach. So, this is exactly the same thing: bring it on. I'm there.

Presenter31:08

Well, one more track before you go. What's it gonna be?

Jay Blades31:12

Gregory Porter, take me to the alley. And the reason why I chose this is that with all of the influence that I have becoming a quote-unquote celebrity, I would still always want to go to the alley. And Gregory Porter, make sure that I keep that focus.

Speaker 231:28

Take me to the island

Speaker 231:34

Take me to the afflicted ones.

Speaker 231:40

Take me to the lonely ones

Speaker 231:44

Had somehow lost their way

Speaker 231:52

Let them hear me say

Presenter31:58

Gregory Porter and Take Me to the Alley. So, J Blades, I'm going to send you away to the island now. We've talked about your dyslexia, and I know that your reading's come along very well, an ongoing process for you. So, I'm going to give you our traditional books: the Bible, the Complete Works of Shakespeare, and another book of your choice. What have you decided to take with you?

Speaker 232:04

Thank you.

Jay Blades32:04

Yeah.

Jay Blades32:19

Obviously, the Bible, Shakespeare, can be in audio. That'll be nice. And it just goes in a lot, a lot easier that way when I listen to it.

Jay Blades32:26

The Book of Choice has to be the autobiography of Malcolm X.

Jay Blades32:31

I think I got that book when I was fifteen and I've never read it. So that'll be a perfect time to read it.

Jay Blades32:38

Or listen to it.

Presenter32:40

So you can also have a luxury item.

Jay Blades32:42

I'll get a chair. I want a chair that has a recline on it and it has vibrating like massage on the back as well. Oh, yeah. Can I go that deep? Oh, yeah. You can go as deep as you want. That's really cool.

Presenter32:56

Yeah.

Jay Blades32:56

Uh

Presenter32:56

Happiest customer

Jay Blades32:57

Forever. No, I want to go there. You're teasing me now. You're going to say it's not true, isn't it?

Presenter33:01

It's about time to go.

Presenter33:04

One more question though. If your disks were washed away by the waves, what is the one disc that you would rush in to save first?

Jay Blades33:14

John Holt helped me make it through the night. It allows me to remember everybody.

Jay Blades33:19

That has cleared a path for me to be here, and have gone through so much struggles for me to be here. So it's always paying homage back to the older generation of what they've been through, and it's that song.

Presenter33:30

J Blades, thank you very much for letting us hear your Desert Island discs.

Jay Blades33:34

This has been unbelievable and I needed this and I didn't even know I needed it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Presenter34:01

Hello, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jay. We're going to leave him relaxing in his reclining chair, although I dare say he'll be making it over before too long. We've cast away many television presenters, including Sue Perkins, Anton Deck, and Bradley Walsh. You can find these episodes in our Desert Island Discs programme archive and through BBC Sounds. The studio manager for today's programme was Emma Hart, the assistant producer was Christine Pavlovsky, and the producer was Paula McGinley. Next time, my guest will be the radiologist and humanitarian Dr. Wahid Arian. I do hope you'll join us.

Speaker 234:54

Hello, I'm John Wilson and I'm here to tell you about my podcast series, This Cultural Life. In each episode, I ask leading artistic figures to reveal the most important people, events and cultural works that have had a profound impact on their own creativity. It was just so different. It was so away from everyone. It just blew my mind.

Speaker 435:14

I didn't know about this. I just was confronted by it. And to me, this was art, you know. I felt art. We didn't know we were going to be there for years.

Speaker 435:25

But I mean I honestly would have shot that thing for five years.

Speaker 235:28

I don't care. People like Nicole Kidman, Goldie, Armando Ianucci, Jarvis Cocker, Hannah Gadsby, Tracy Emin, Paul McCartney and James Corden. It means a great deal to me that show.

Speaker 235:40

You realize pal.

Speaker 235:42

Extraordinarily uplifting it can be to share an experience with 1500 people. The people whose work we love talking about the work that they love. Search for this cultural life on BBC Sounds. I'm very emotional now. Thank you, John.