Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An athlete and one of the two top men in the world at the 400 metres hurdles, headed to the Montreal Olympics.
On the island
Eight records
Any record collection of mine would have to have something from Rod Stewart in it.
Looking for SpaceFavourite
This goes back to training in Australia and the spaces out there, a shared uh belief in conservation that uh John Denver puts across in so many of his songs.
This record obviously brings back all sorts of memories of of those Olympics.
You Are the Sunshine of My Life
This always brings back memories of a wonderful month that we spent out there.
This is a Beatles number actually, Lucy in the Sky with Diamond.
This is one of the big relaxations for me is uh after a meeting, to get away from it all and perhaps go to a disco which uh is the usual entertainment after a big athletics meeting, say at Crystal Palace. And uh the dancing record has to be the Rolling Stones Brown Sugar.
One of the fantasies I think I would always uh like to live out would be conducting a large orchestra for a very dramatic number, something like uh Tchaikovsky's Eighteen Twelve Overture.
This brings to mind all of the sorts of things that one really would miss from home, and some of the things that you wouldn't miss as well.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:41How would you be at enduring solitude?
I don't know, never having really been put in that position, I suppose the only um time in in my situation where I come into that uh area is in the morning before a race, when you're laying on your bed wondering what the devil's going to happen at three o'clock that afternoon.
Presenter asks
4:59Do you drink at all?
Yes, uh it's not a cheap round when you ask an athlete for a drink. I I enjoy uh wine and particularly with my meals.
Presenter asks
7:22You and Della used to travel together all the time, but now she's given up athletics, hasn't she?
Yes, she r she retired two years ago after a lot of injury problems had kept her out of the the Commonwealth Games. And uh it it was fortunate for me in many ways, being very selfish about it, because it was just at the time that I was breaking into the public landline and winning a lot of races, um having moved up to the 400 metre hurdles. And uh I think now much of her energy that she originally channelled into her own athletics is is channelled into my performance and all of the problems that that go with it.
The keepsakes
The book
Reader's Digest Gardener's Year
Uh I think I'd have the Reader's Digest uh gardeners' year because I hope I could grow something there and uh that uh that's my as I've said, one of my main interests at home.
The luxury
Um I think I'd have to take a diary and something to write in it with a pencil. Um I've got such a poor memory I'd need to record everything that I did and didn't do. Anything that goes back three or four weeks I begin to struggle with. I d I don't know what would happen in my life at the moment if I lost my diary. I would uh have to let so many people down because I'd just forget all of the engagements that I was supposed to be going to.
Presenter asks
7:53Why was it you decided to increase your distance?
Well, I'd had eight years before the Munich Olympic Games as a 110m hurdler. I'd really gone as far as I could do without the aid of various extra supplements which I wasn't prepared to take. I'm talking about drugs now. For the 110m hurdles, I needed to be more powerful, and I couldn't really bring that on naturally. I'd done as much work as I could. I was under a lot of pressure from people whose opinions I respect, like David Henry and Ron Pickering, to move up to 400m hurdles in the same way as Henry had done. It's a much more grueling. Uh
Presenter asks
12:36What about the setup of British athletics? Are there enough facilities? Is there enough encouragement?
Well, there can never be enough of anything in this situation. But we are falling behind still, unfortunately. I don't think we're falling behind quite as rapidly as we used to be. In terms of the facilities and the opportunities that we're giving young people in this country, I'm a big believer that we should find something for the young people of this country that they can do well, whether it happens to be in the arts or sport or whatever field they happen to be good at. We should allow them some channel to develop that. I think it's important for them and I think it's important for the country. And this is why I feel that more money and more effort should be spent in sport.
Presenter asks
14:19What are you going to do when you're over your peak?
Yes, I'm hoping to retire at the end of this season providing it's uh been relatively successful. Uh I'll have had ten years as a full international athlete and a couple of years struggling to get to the top and training full time so I think that's uh a fair quantity of my life spent on it. Um and I shall be leaving lecturing in physical education and moving into sports promotion and management and I can I hope I'll be able to continually be involved through the Sports Council and other channels in promoting sport and involving young people in sport.
“I think now much of her energy that she originally channelled into her own athletics is is channelled into my performance and all of the problems that that go with it.”
“I'd really gone as far as I could do without the aid of various extra supplements which I wasn't prepared to take. I'm talking about drugs now.”
“I was terribly embarrassed about it and wondering how the hell I was going to face people when I got home. But eventually I realised I was going to have to live with it and looking back now I think it was one of the best things and the nicest things that ever happened to me because it made people realise that we are just normal human beings and we make mistakes”
“I suppose the the biggest relaxation for me is just going home and shutting the door and just being myself, um being able to live my own life and particularly getting out into the garden which I enjoy um greatly. One, because I enjoy the gardening, but also because once I'm out in the garden I can't hear the telephone ringing.”