Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Radio and television presenter best known for hosting the quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
On the island
Eight records
I'd actually like to play the theme from The Deer Hunter, which is John Williams. It's just it's actually one of the very few movies that I can watch more than once. And the tranquillity of the mountains compared with the horrors of the Vietnam War is beautiful.
I just like to play the Beatles because it's my island and I think they are just the greatest band and those two are just the greatest songwriting talent of my life.
Birmingham University, oh it's extraordinary the number of famous brummies that that I got to meet and it produced all sorts of great musical talents. I mean it it has a very sort of downtrodden image for them, but it produced people like the movie Blues. Nights in white satin.
Well, this is our hit. I have to play the hit because it's the one and only time of my life I was actually on top of the pops. I was between hot chocolate and the Nolans, which always seemed to me a very nice place to be, and it was called The Bucket of Water Song, and it actually changed all our lives.
Tequila SunriseFavourite
I do remember at this time, I think it was the first time I went out to America, and I remember thinking, oh come on, you know, life goes on and nobody's died and you've still got contact with your kids. And I remember driving along that beautiful long Pacific Highway... and I was playing the Eagles. And it was just, you know, life goes on and it's okay.
I think Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven is probably the most poignant song that I can remember, anybody writing and performing. How Eric dealt with the death of his son in the tragic circumstances, falling out of a skyscraper window.
When Capital Radio moved from the top end of Tottenham Court Road to Leicester Square, I suddenly became aware of something that Phil Collins had talked to me about a year or two before, about the real problems of the homeless in London... And Phil's song Another Day in Paradise was about that. It's actually scary.
I think Robbie Williams is the great talent around at the moment. I also like the song Angels because it is the song that everybody always tries to sing when they haven't got a voice. It's the worst Kara Oku song on earth.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:18Who really invented [Who Wants to Be a Millionaire]? What are its origins?
From a mate of mine called David Briggs was my producer on the Capital Breakfast show for years and years and years. And he and I did loads of sort of radio big money competitions... And David went off to seek his fortune on TV. Suddenly, then, out of nowhere, David Rang and said, They want to do it... And he said, we're going to call it Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And I was the guy, rather like the bloke who turned down the Beatles at Decca. I said, oh, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? That'll never take off.
Presenter asks
3:53Why didn't you go to America with [Who Wants to Be a Millionaire]?
Because I couldn't stand working with Americans. I spend a lot of time in America. I go out there for holidays or whatever. I go out there sometimes working and I'm very glad to get home. Probably if I was 25 years old, I would have, you know, I would have grabbed it and gone.
Presenter asks
7:44You went to boarding school, got thrashed, got desperately unhappy. Has it marked you for life?
No, I don't think it di I don't think it did me much good either,'cause although I didn't like being caned, there's that awful thing that they probably didn't do it on girls, but there's an awful thing they did where they're the really skilful caning masters actually made like the six go in exactly the same spot on your buttock each time, and it slowly got more and more painful.
The keepsakes
The book
Thomas Harris
I just thought it was a fantastic [book]. I saw the book before the movie, and I know, I just from page one, I thought, what? It's one of the very few books I've read about three or four times. It is the most extraordinary mind writing those pages. I could read that a lot. I think I'd be a bit of a scary person. If you're the only person who came to discover me, I might eat you, but I think I don't know what it would do to me. I think it's a fantastic book.
The luxury
My lucky sixpence is a little um you know those little sixpences you put in Christmas puddings and all that? ... And he gave me a sixpence... And since then, I've kept it around. And my luck actually changed. I met my wife very soon after... I never ever get on a plane now without that. I've got a little tin and I keep that sixpence in it. And I think I would definitely like that on the desert island because it was given to me in the most extraordinary circumstances to bring me luck. And it actually has brought me luck.
Presenter asks
16:32In the doing of all of that [success and partying] you lost a marriage, didn't you?
I lost the plot actually. I was a young guy, good-looking guy. There were lots and lots of girls around or whatever. I was travelling all the time and I just thought that being on TV, producing and writing and presenting and living Tiswas was the most important thing in the world. And in amongst that, I forgot or lost contact with my two young kids, which I've always deeply regretted... I couldn't believe that I'd made such a mess of it, if you like. I'd lost the plot.
Presenter asks
20:51Why didn't you come over to the B[BC]?
Radio One, I have to say, and it was quite a few years ago now, but I was seriously quite interested... And I talked to Kenny Everett, who's obviously a close friend then, and Alan Freeman, who'd both been to Radio One on and off over the years. And they both said, stay where you are... What Kenny said particularly said, they will promise you all sorts of freedom, but there will be those up there... who go, I was driving in this morning and I got Radio One. I couldn't believe my ears.
“I crawled in a few nights ago and I was feeling pretty pretty rough and uh my little boy was still up, little Toby was just nine... And it was like, Oh, Daddy, you look tired. And I said, Yeah, I am, I'm really tired. You know, he said, What have you been doing? I said, I've been doing who wants to be a millionaire. He said, Well, I don't know why you're tired, Daddy. He said, It's only a bit of sitting down. And I thought, That is actually all it is. It's so right, you know, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. That's my job, it's just a bit of sitting down, really.”
“I think Dad actually in his way, although Dad sort of seems like a very conven conventional guy, I mean, Dad is actually completely mad. I love the guy to pieces, he's still my best friend in the world.”
“I think that's everything. I'm I'm very secure. I enjoy what I do and if if it all goes wrong, it's always been, well, all right, then well if you don't like it, I'll well I'll I'll I'll be taking me fishing rod then and disappearing. I couldn't care less really.”