Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Television presenter, actor, and entertainer known for The Chase, Doctor Who, and the biggest-selling debut album by a British artist.
On the island
Eight records
this changed my outlook on music entirely. I was used to listening to stuff like late Beatles stuff, you know, and sort of the 60s and 50s music because of my family and things like that. And then all of a sudden, this guy came along, about 1969, 68, 69. And then he releases this, Life on Mars, David Bowie. And to this day, I have absolutely no idea what the words mean. … Do you know what? You can actually write music that doesn't mean anything, but as long as it means something to you. Is all that matters.
This harks back to my early days in Watford. It used to be a club called the Top Rank. … And they used to play this song. And whenever they played this song, we'd all get up and just run about and jump and dance. And I never forget it. And it's called March of the Mods. And it's by the Joe Loss Orchestra. That was the song to get everyone out. And that was the worst song you could ever imagine because it used to be like setting float of fireworks on. Bedlam on the dance floor.
I did a school assembly as one of the Bay City Rollers with a few friends, and we mimed to this song, dressed as the Bay City Rollers. The whole gear. We made it ourselves. And I was the drummer. … And because of this, I ended up in school plays because of this.
This next track became our signature tune. Me and my mates, after a drink and a skinful, used to perform this at Rolls-Royce Sports and Social Club for everyone and pretend we were ten CC. I'm Mandy, Fly Me.
That cassette was played about six or seven times on the way down. So much so. I went round the block when I got to the Roebuck Inn, and sat in the car park so's the tape could finish. Firefly Tony Bennett has become my favorite singer of all time.
Everyone in our industry should listen to that song. I said remember where they've come from.
Always and ForeverFavourite
This song is my wedding song. This was our first dance and it's Always and Forever. A great band called Heat Wave. This is for me and Donna. And this is the person, I hope everyone's got someone like their loved one, their wife, their partner and someone like Donna they can make that journey with.
It can only be the one song. It says everything about me, I think. I imagine when I'm long gone or on my the day I go they'll be playing this at the funeral, I guess. I love it, it's a great tune. That's life, Frank Sinatra.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:30How do you judge when you're getting that right [making people happy]?
You have to go through a transient period of where things aren't going quite right. And so, consequently, you spend your time sort of. Dying on your backside, and then all of a sudden you get better, and it's a learning curve. And then, once you hear the laughter, and once you hear people sort of enjoying themselves, and that becomes a bit sort of a bit like a drug, really. Addictive. Yeah, addictive is actually the right word. It becomes addictive, and you'd like to carry on hearing that. It's not about the applause, it's about the laughs, I think. And I've actually enjoyed people. It's not about talking at people, but more so being with them in the fact that we're sharing an experience. And I, because I like people, I like people watching, and I like talking to people.
Presenter asks
4:48How would you describe your dad [Danny] and what was your relationship like?
Very funny man. I used to go and watch him play football, and was very proud of him. He was a good local footballer, my dad. He he was just a man's man. He would he back in the day in the sixties, they used to work all week, then on a Friday at around four o'clock they would go into a pub and then get home quite late, sort of nine-ish o'clock, and go then on a Saturday morning they'd probably get up, him and my mum and w would watch me play football for Saturday morning team or my school. And on a Saturday evening he would sit in the club or the pub and drink. On a Sunday morning he would then um go and watch Sunday morning football. He would then sit in the pub until sort of two or three o'clock, come home, have his Sunday dinner, and then say to my mum, Right, we're coming out and my mum's evening would be either going up the club or up the pub. … I'm not sure looking back on it, we had a common ground, which, of course, was football. And as a man's man, I think he ha at the time those sort of guys had time for the men. Do you know what I mean? They would rather be interested in talking about other stuff than spending a lot of time with the children.
The keepsakes
The book
Alexandre Dumas
The last words in The Count of Monte Cristo is wait and hope. Just wait and hope.
The luxury
I've never gotten any better because I've never had enough time to devote to it. Now there would be enough time.
Presenter asks
6:23Tell me about your mum [Margaret]. I think you've credited her with your work ethic.
Oh, one hundred percent. Her work ethic was extraordinary because I remember my mum uh, you know, would have like two two two or three jobs at one time to keep us going because my my my mum and dad separated. … Not just the nursing. I think she worked in a canteen of some description. Yeah, all sorts, all sorts, really. I adopted the same thing because when I was younger, I ended up with about four jobs at one time. … I'd get up at 4:30. How old are you at this point? I'd say I'm 13. I'd help unload the van, stack all the shelves, ready for it to open. I would then go back home, go back to bed, reset the alarm, get up, go to school. It never did me any harm, but I just had so much energy.
Presenter asks
9:37Brentford offered you a trial. Tell me about that. How did it go?
I was playing for a local site called Levesden Hospital, which was where my mum worked. My mum was a psychiatric nurse. And unbeknownst to me, Brentford had been watching me for a little while. And after the game, the groundsman and scout, a guy called Dave Bromley, came up to me and said, we've been watching you for a few weeks. We want you to come and play at Brentford. And I said, oh, okay. Now, this is a Saturday afternoon. I said, oh, okay. Wow, I can't believe it. Fantastic. He said, yeah, it's Monday evening. And you'll be playing against Southend United. Anyway, I end up... having a drink after the game and having a few more drinks and a few more drinks like I do on a Saturday night playing just county football. Get up on a Sunday morning. I play football on a Sunday morning. Have a few drinks. I'm not married or nothing, no kids or nothing. It's just a young lad. Go out Sunday night, have a few more drinks, get up for work Monday morning. I go to work at Rolls-Royce in the factory. Bit of a hangover. I come home from work. I'm sitting in my mum's front room, seeing my mum, having a cup of tea. There's a knock on the door. I'm watching the telly, and my mum answers the door. She comes in and says, Brad, there's someone here for you. And I walk to the door. Here he goes, Right, you ready? And I went, oh my god. Oh, so oh wow, so sorry, so sorry. We go to Griffin Park, I put my kit on, I go out and play, I have the game of my life. Even with a two-day hangover. Even that, I have the game of my life. I scored the winner, I finish, I come off, Bill Dodging says to me, follow me. And then I've got my kit on, still have my kit, all my boots, and he walks me up this oak staircase. … And he said, Do you want to sign for us? And I went, sure. He puts it, gives me a pen. He goes, there you go, sign there. He said, for the rest of the season. So I signed, literally signed there and then for the rest of the season to Brentford. And I signed the following season as well. So I had basically two seasons. I had probably about 50 games, something like that. … It felt great, I felt elated and I couldn't really believe it, to be honest with you.
Presenter asks
13:34It must have been absolutely crushing when you got the news that Brentford were letting you go.
Yeah, yeah. I was trying the thing is, Lauren, I was coming back from injury and I'd spent too much time on the bench. And we'd had a new manager come in called Fred Callahan, and he said, Right, he said. The holiday's over. He said, I haven't come here to win friends. He said, I've come here to get us out of the third division. I'd fractured my ankle about three months prior to that, four months prior to that. And then after three months and out I'd fractured the other ankle. So I was really struggling. And he said I'm letting you go. And he fired me. And I was devastated. I was devastated. … Fast forward about thirty seven years, and I'm at a charity dinner … I get a phone call. And Lesstrong's phone goes whilst we're sitting having this dinner. He said, Here he said, I've got some one sitting next to me who you'll know. I said to Les,'Who is it'? He put his hand over the phone, and he said,'It's Fred Callahan. The manager who'd sacked me all those years ago. And I went, Hallo, Fred And he went, Who's that? I said it's Bradley Walsh. He laughed his head off. He went, I'll bet you're glad I sacked you now. … I just laughed. I said, thanks very much, Fred. Prop you did me a pro
Presenter asks
22:45You went on tour as a support act for Tom Jones. How did that gig go?
That was my first big step up. Phil Bowdry, one of the legendary tour managers of our time, he was Tom Jones's tour manager, and I was told to get on. And do my 25 minutes. I'd never been in front of 11,000 people. You must have been terrified. I was terrified. I mean, terrified. … The intro I got. Now 11,000 people. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Tom Jones Inn Concert. And everyone stamping their feet. But first. And the audience said, uh oh. But first, please welcome Tom's very special guest Bradley Walsh thinking it's going to be a band, and I walk on on my own. Whoa, I tell you. Anyway, I came off. Let's say I did 15 minutes. It wasn't brilliant, I have to say. … Phil Bowdery is standing right there backstage. He went, Where you going? I went I've done it, I've got it. He said, get back out there. I went, no. He said, Tom's not here. Get back out there. I said, I can't do anymore. I don't know what. He said, out. And he got me, turned me round, pushed me. And I went back on stage in front. And then I started doing a load of stuff just to add a little bit of a load of stuff and sort of got away with it till Tom arrived. That then, I thought, aloe, this is now a bit of improv. I am now. All of a sudden, I started working in a different type of way. So it came together. It sort of came together. It wasn't brilliant. We came together, but I learnt how to work those big arenas.
Presenter asks
30:44Where does that reluctance to turn work down come from and that drive that you've obviously got?
I think it's a working class thing. You always worried no matter how well you if I was to win if I'd have just made today $100 million on Bitcoin I'd still be wondering where my next beans on toast was coming from. I'll always be that baker's boy. I'll always be collecting bottles as a kid knowing you're gonna get threepence back on them the empties and taking them up the thing collecting them around the back. I don't know what it's a work ethic.
“It's not about the applause, it's about the laughs, I think.”
“Do you know what? You can actually write music that doesn't mean anything, but as long as it means something to you. Is all that matters.”
“I'm not sure looking back on it, we had a common ground, which, of course, was football. And as a man's man, I think he ha at the time those sort of guys had time for the men. Do you know what I mean? They would rather be interested in talking about other stuff than spending a lot of time with the children.”
“I think it's a working class thing. You always worried no matter how well you if I was to win if I'd have just made today $100 million on Bitcoin I'd still be wondering where my next beans on toast was coming from. I'll always be that baker's boy. I'll always be collecting bottles as a kid knowing you're gonna get threepence back on them the empties and taking them up the thing collecting them around the back. I don't know what it's a work ethic.”
“The Count of Monte Cristo. You know the last words in The Count of Monte Cristo is wait and hope. Just wait and hope. In life, wait and hope. Something will happen.”