Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Entrepreneur and investor best known as a 'Dragon' on Dragon's Den, who built his fortune in nursing homes, health clubs, and hotels.
On the island
Eight records
being a Scot, living abroad, if you like, in England and and being surrounded by English people and my children actually consider themselves English. Um we always like to hear a Scottish voice. And the top of my iPod when I switch on when I get to the flat in London is um Roger Stewart with Maggie May.
on Joanne's fortieth birthday um she wanted me to um hire someone really special and and we hired Human League.
I spent a lot of time away from home in the Royal Navy and uh now I'm living in England and I quite often go home. Just to remind you of of going home, uh Tom Jones at Green Cream Grass I film and what a great record.
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree
I spent seven months um locked up and um you could only write a letter once a week. And I wrote to my then girlfriend and asked her to meet me when I came out... and we arranged to meet under this big um clock at Paddington railway station... and first of all I don't see her. And then she appears and and she's there and it was great and a few years later after this, um this record came out. And this record just brings it back every time.
Love Changes EverythingFavourite
I took my m my wife Joanne. I I wasn't really into music all that much, but she was, and I went to see this musical. Aspects of love. And we had this fantastic song by Michael Ball: Love Changes Everything. And it's always stuck with us.
this title is so apt, I I think that people spend their life thinking, you know, should I have done something different, would I have done something different, could have done something different, and Beverly Knight puts it in words. In actual fact, Beverly Knight actually came and sang this in my sixtieth birthday, which was absolutely fantastic.
on my sixtieth birthday, because my wife knew how much I I I think this record is is written for me... she actually got a surprise guest to come to my sixtieth birthday party and then Shaz and the Hooks can walking on singing, The One and Only.
When you visit places and and you see the problems that's been created by violence, by gangs and and by dictatorships, and then a few years ago when we decided to go into Iraq, and I just think that before we start in that again, and all politicians should be forced every Sunday to listen to this record. Because we should all be forced to give peace a better chance.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:08Do you think you enjoy your money more because you know what it's like not to have any?
I don't know if I enjoy the money, but I certainly enjoy my life. I've such a great life. I have a lovely family. And I love the business. And I think. Loving your business that you built up is more important than loving the money that that creates.
Presenter asks
1:52Are you sort of confecting this hard-boiled sweetie then for the purposes of television, or you just have to be a bit of a tough nut to make it in business?
No, I think I'm just tough in business when I'm talking to people about business. If we'd done a programme about family life at home, I'd have come across very different.
Presenter asks
6:14What was it about your father's working class background that meant he was proud of it?
Yeah, I thi I think it was something to do with after the war and everybody was slutted into class and he was working class. And if you weren't proud of it, I meant it. You were ashamed of it. And so you ought to be proud of it and and he was very, very proud of it.
The keepsakes
The book
Ken Follett
A book that I've promised myself I would read again so many times
The luxury
a nice, big, thick, soft pillow
I can't sleep at night unless I have a really, really nice soft pillow
Presenter asks
8:46Did [your father] talk to you about his time during the war?
He didn't until um Helen died and then he did then. Uh we both got drunk together and he told me quite a few things that that I'd never realized before. He told me about a time that they were all excited because they'd caught a rat and they managed to eat this rat. That's how hungry they were.
Presenter asks
21:41How difficult was [the collapse of your first marriage] for you to deal with?
That was very difficult. In the run-up to when my wife and I separated, I was just very unhappy. And I would get in the car and drive to work and stop in the lay by and I'd just start crying. And I came very close to considering suicide. I just knew life wasn't right.
Presenter asks
24:35Why on earth did you want to be famous, too?
Oh, I I wanted a bit of profile because a couple of things happened. Tony Blair came into power... and I thought, you know, I've done this thing, I've created 3,000 jobs, and he doesn't even know who I am. But I wanted to be known then, I wanted to be able to talk to politicians.
“when you've got a criminal record, no qualifications, no references, the best option is starting your own business, because no one can stop you.”
“I find it very hard to express my emotions... I spent a bit of time in Romania travelling with UNICEF and and you saw some terrible things and when I came home I'd lie in bed at night time, and something you'd saw that day would go through your head over and over again. And so you'd lie in bed and you couldn't sleep and you'd be crying and the pillow would be soaking wet. And I found out what I could do is I could jump out of bed, I could write the story down. And get back into bed. So that's how I get my emotions out.”
“I suppose I have a bit of an ampigian ego if you like, and I do like putting my name on buildings, a bit like Donald Trump.”