Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Sun newspaper royal photographer who became a Fleet Street legend documenting the monarchy for over thirty years.
On the island
Eight records
This is uh Prince Charles again and Diana at the Live Aid concert in 1985 and Bob Geldoff escorting them to their seats and giving the Prince some earplugs because the music's going to be loud and Princess declining and this is Queen and Freddie Mercury and Radio Gaga a performance that just took the place apart. It was the most wonderful, wonderful event.
Panis AngelicusFavourite
Well the next one is Catherine Jenkins singing Pinus Angelicus, a soloist from our parish, in our parish church in St Joseph's in Hutton, sang this at our daughter's wedding and it just brings back just wonderful memories of that day. I mean any man will tell you, you know, escorting your daughter down the aisle on her wedding day is probably the most emotional thing you'll ever do in your life.
Oh, this is uh the Kaiser Chiefs and Ruby. Um My second son, Paul, waited ten years for their first child and um him and his wife Laura, um they decided to call if it was a girl to call her Ruby. As she was giving birth to Ruby in the hospital, the Kaiser Chiefs were number one with this song Ruby that was playing in the delivery room, actually on radio too. So, you know, we've got to have this.
Oh, this is MacFly. I was asked to go to Uganda with them to when they were recording a song for Comic Relief and I bought their album and played it and played it in the car for a fortnight before, so I knew every single song. And I think they appreciated our taking the trouble. And when we got back out the blue, they invited my grandchildren and their friends to one of their concerts. And so this really is for my grandchildren.
Well, my next song is by my favourite singer, Leonard Cohen. I'm the only one in my family that l likes Leonard and I went to see him in concert a couple of years ago and it was the best concert I ever went to and I picked this song, um The Tower of Song.
This is um Brian Ferry who did an album on Bob Dylan songs. I love Bob Dylan, I think he's one of the greatest songwriters and performers ever, but I love Brian Ferrer's version of A Simple Twist of Fate.
Oh Travis, I was asked to go to Southern Sudan with Fran Healy, who's the singer in Travis, and of course when I sat down with Fran in our little tent in the middle of nowhere with no lights, we talked about his songs and I said, you know, tell me about Flowers in the Window. And he said, well, I was in France and I was with Nora, who's now his wife. I realised that she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and have children with. And I looked up and I saw these flowers in this window at this French chateau. And he said, I wrote that song in 20 minutes. And it turned out to be one of his biggest hits. And it's, of course, Flowers in the Window.
Uh this year I did the best tour of the Queen I've ever done, and it was to Ireland, our nearest neighbour. And the last day in Dublin, the British ambassador had a concert. The opening performance was by two award-winning school choirs, one from Belfast and one from Cork, and they mixed together and they sang Danny Boy. And that song means a lot to me. My wife's father was named Danny, and a great friend of ours who Died Too Young, that was played at his funeral, so it means a lot to me, that song. And I think it meant a lot to the Queen because that concert, I've never seen the Queen, so I moved. It was a great end to the visit.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:21Was [Lady Diana] saying yes [to being photographed] the most interesting part of that story? Did she not say get lost or run away?
And she agreed, you know, and I remember when I did the picture of the see-through skirt at the nursery. And I knocked on the nursery door and I said, Lady Diana Spence at work here. I said, Yes. I said, Would she come and pose a photograph for me? Surprise, surprise, she said yes. And some people have sort of pilloried me for taking that picture against the light. But honestly, Kirsty, as I was taking the picture, the sun came out and I saw those beautiful legs and it was a page one picture and I remember the headline today, it was Charlie's Girl. And from then on it was just not a question of if but when.
Presenter asks
3:06When you started taking pictures of the Royals, what did you actually think of them? Did you have an opinion?
Well, not much of an opinion. I wasn't exactly a a royalist, although … over the years, I've grown to like them very much, especially Prince Charles. You know, I really like him an awful lot.
Presenter asks
4:36Now, looking back on [trespassing on Prince Charles's lawn], do you think it was fair enough or are you a bit embarrassed?
The keepsakes
The luxury
Inexhaustible supply of tea and a kettle
Best thing in the morning is a cup of tea and listening at the Today programme.
No, looking back on it, it was a different time, because it was the eighties. It was very aggressive the way we went about things then. Not so much these days. We're much more gentle, I mean, and much more I suppose realizing that they do have private lives as well. And we're very respectful of that. But then it wasn't the case. You know, I went there to get a picture. But in fact, I never got a picture, but I got an awful telling off.
Presenter asks
10:19Do you think there is a different attitude these days to pursuing people for pictures and making that front page lead?
Well, I hope there is because, you know, if we've not learnt anything, you know, from what happened to the princess about pursuit of celebrities and the royal family, I think we've learnt an awful lot, and I think we've come a long way. And it's getting less and less. The paparazzi photographer is finding that hard at the moment to make a living because you can't photograph them just willy-nilly now. When William expects a reasonable expectation of privacy, he demands it now. And they take action, and they will take action against photographers that abuse that.
Presenter asks
11:55But what if something really is a story? Do you look back on [taking a telephoto picture of Princess Diana pregnant on the beach] with regret?
Yes, I did do that and it's the one regret I have. But you know, I arrived back in England after taking those pictures the next day and as I turned on the radio in my car I was being pilloried and I felt awful about that. And a few months later Princess Diala asked me about it and she said how much money did you make out of the Bahama Mama pictures? I said, nothing, ma'am. I said, I got the same amount of money as going as I'd covered a court case in Bradford. I just got my expenses. And she smiled and she said, Well, pass me the Kleenex. So she was not unhappy about it. And when she said that, it made me feel a whole lot better about it.
Presenter asks
28:20After Diana's death, when the photographers chasing her car were seen as a contributing factor, was there a point you thought 'I've had enough, I can't be part of this'?
You know, I did think about having done that in my wild days pursuing people in cars. I realised then, thank God that didn't happen to me, that I didn't cause anybody's death. But you know, when you know, I covered that, the inquest jury when it went back to Paris and looked at where the scene of the accident was, and I stood by that tunnel for an hour and a half and realised that if you went in that at any speed, you were risking your life. But that particular occasion, when she walked through those doors, and if you remember the pictures, the video of her walking through those doors, the Ritz Hotel in Paris, and the look on her face, she looked so unhappy. And you know, the one regret I have was she probably feeling very unhappy when she died.
“I didn't want it now. I was enjoying myself doing the cricket and football and general news.”
“I said, I'm not on your land, I'm on a public footpath, sir.”
“I wouldn't do the same thing, but you've got to remember there must have been about 40 photographers on that island, all trying for those pictures. Yeah. And if I had not got them, they would have bought them off somebody else.”
“That woman had amazing compassion, and I see it in her boys now. I remember in in Nigeria she held the hands of a leper. He'd lost several fingers, and she held his hand and looked into his eyes. and made him feel the most important person in the whole world. That you don't learn that skill, you know, that's something you've got, and she had it in bucket loads.”
“I know I did the right thing. And it was the right thing, you know, I did the right thing and uh no regrets. We've got three fabulous kids and you know, when I was working hard in the seventies and eighties, like I was working like a fiend to make something of myself. She brought up three great kids and they're brilliant citizens and they're and I'm very proud of them all.”
“I'd shut it all out of my mind. I just got on with getting this picture, getting the first edition. And I remember being at the hospital as the coffin was leaving, and Anne rang me and she said, Are you okay? and I said, you know. The coffin's coming out now and I started to cry and I was trying to take this picture and it was just uh unbelievable and that she'd gone and uh and it was when that coffin came out of the hospital in Paris With the the President's uh soldiers lining the the route got it and and that hit me then it was she'd gone and it was wow.”