Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Entrepreneur and investor best known as a dragon on BBC's Dragon's Den for 15 years.
On the island
Eight records
My first choice of music is kind of the first piece of music that I really started to boogie to. And I was at boarding school. I didn't really like school. I didn't enjoy boarding school. I felt terribly cramped. But after dinner, we were allowed an hour with a record player and we could all bring a record. And my record was Ride a White Swan.
Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson
I actually left school really, really early and I went to Brighton to study business. I actually did very little business studying. Quite a lot of dancing. And this is the piece of music that really reminds me of those days and going to the Curtain Club, which was the cool club in Brighton at the time. When I hear it, I can see all of the friends that I know and the dancing and the atmosphere. So it takes me right back. It is a piece of music by Gil Scott Heron called The Bottle.
I went off to Italy when I set up my first business and I was driving backwards and forwards to Italy on a regular basis. I must have done it a dozen times. And this was a piece of music that I could play over and over. It was actually off an album that I could play over and over and over. But this one in particular struck home because I was already concerned about the environment and what we were doing to our planet. And this piece of music completely held it all together for me. So it's Marvin Gaye and it's Mercy, Mercy, Me.
Well, I had a little sort of purple patch with my older sister Gail. There's only two years between us. And we really didn't like each other when we were young. But when I was about twenty, twenty-one, we happened to be at the same place at the same time and we suddenly discovered we were best friends. And we used to work really, really hard. We were in Minehead at the time and drive up to Bristol after work and go to nightclubs. Nightclubs feature quite a lot in this... And this is a piece of music that absolutely reminds me of that time, and it's Leon Haywood. Don't push it, don't force it.
When I was running the prize bingo and I met my husband, I was a little alarmed at Paul's musical taste, to be perfectly honest. He didn't like any of the music that I liked, but I remember hearing Simply Red and Money's Too Tight to Mention and saying that band are going to be huge. That is a great take on the original. And he said, Oh, that was their original. I said, Oh, yes. The original is by the Valentine Brothers. Money's Too Tight to Mention. And that's my next piece of music.
I used to go down for a Sunday service and one of the hymns we would always sing is I vow to thee my country. And I'm not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person. And I still can't listen to Jupiter from Holst's Planet Suite without welling up, to be honest.
Be Thankful for What You GotFavourite
But I also love it because it reminds me of something that I am on a daily basis, and that is I am thankful for what I've got. So it's William Devaughan. Be thankful for what you've got.
In conversation
Presenter asks
6:16How do you feel when [entrepreneurs in the Den] are failing?
I feel different things depending on how and why they're failing. So I've had businesses that come into the den who have been really honest, have found some of the questions difficult, and some of them are sort of fair do's. I understand why you don't know that. So they can make me feel uncomfortable. ... But the ones that really, really I don't feel bad at all about are the ones who are trying to pull the wool over our eyes or being arrogant or I'll show you dragons. And those I think, come on, guys, you've got an amazing opportunity and this is what you're going to do with it.
Presenter asks
7:15What's the secret to getting a pitch right?
I'm sure it's different for different dragons. I don't mind if a pitch is not pitch perfect. And even if they forget something, because it's deep within them and they really properly understand, it's not just learnt, they live it, that actually they can pull an answer out that can help us understand the business. So they've kind of got heart. That's what makes a good pitch for me. It's honest, it's got heart, and they can demonstrate a real understanding of their business, even if they can't quite get it right putting it across.
Presenter asks
21:32Are you saying that gender isn't worth thinking about at all?
The keepsakes
The book
A History of the World in 100 Objects
Neil MacGregor
During lockdown, Paul and I have been every day turning the pages of my book that I would choose. And it's History of the World in 100 Objects. So we would turn the pages, we'd look at the object, we'd read about it, and out of that would spring so much conversation and so much thought about the world as it has been. And it's sort of hopeful when you look about what we were doing thousands of years ago, you know, and it's hopeful that we will carry on being creative and amazing into the future.
The luxury
I absolutely can't draw and I would love to draw and I'm guessing on the island that I would have an awful lot of time to practice. So I would like, and I'd like to cheat here a bit, I'd like a sketchbook and a pencil.
I guess my message is more about if I take my gender into account, it clearly signals to somebody else that they need to take my gender into account. ... I don't think it's helpful to carry my gender around.
Presenter asks
24:58How has [Brexit] impacted your businesses?
Well, I think we're still learning how it's impacting businesses, but we've been in a state of flux because from the minute the vote happened, businesses haven't really known what Brexit would look like. ... It's tough. Luckily, entrepreneurs tend to seize those challenges, but a lot of them have been unnecessary. And I just think what a better place we would all be in if we just didn't have that thrown into the path.
“I instinctively knew that if I wanted to build my own life, probably the best way of doing that was to have my own business.”
“thank you very much for describing as my father because occasionally he has been described as my stepfather and it makes me flinch because he is the man who is my father.”
“I don't think it's helpful to carry my gender around.”
“I am thankful for what I've got.”