Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Businessman and philanthropist who founded mobile phone retailer Phones for You and supports children with disabilities through his charity.
On the island
Eight records
It takes me back about 20 years, 15 to 20 years, when my partner of the day, Claire, was really into Elton John and loved Benny and the Jets. So Benny and the Jets sort of epitomizes for me those years with Claire, those years when I was working a lot with Elton's charity and we went over to South Africa with him. And that was a fantastic experience because we were working on his HIV projects in South Africa. And a highlight, a real highlight of that, was meeting one of the only heroes in my life, which was Nelson Mandela. So it's a very warm feeling about that relationship in those years.
Well, I chose She Loves You by the Beatles because when I was about seven, I loved the Beatles and I managed to grow Beetle cut haircut, which is amazing when you look at me today. And my father, well, both my father and mother, thought that the Beatles destroyed the music industry, replaced classical music and jazz with the most awful rout imaginable. I grew this Beatles cut and my dad eventually said, when he realized what it was, we're not having the Beatles anywhere near this house, and lopped it all off with his shears. And my hair actually never grew back properly after that. So it was also the end of my hair growing days and the end of my Beatle days. And a sort of an example again where my father just overreacted, really. But although there were sad times, there were, of course, very happy days as well.
Well, it's Bring Him Home by Alfie Bow because absolutely reminds me of my mother because she loves that music. But Alfie has got a very big heart and I asked him one day, would he come and play for mum in a bedroom? And he did and he charged me nothing. I flew down in my helicopter, picked him up from his home, brought him to the house. Total surprise to my mother. There's only me, Claire at the time, my mother and Pam, our amazing carer, in the bedroom when Alfie's singing all these songs. For me, his signature tune is Bring Him Home.
Well, I met a wonderful girl named Kate, Catherine, and Maggie Mae takes me back to those teenage years and early 20s years. Rod Stewart also played for my charity, became an ambassador of the charity. So it reminds me of my wonderful wife and my three children and those early years. And that's Maggie Mae, Rod Stewart.
Well, that's Frank Sinatra and My Way because I bought this boat. I'd never been out to sea before. I bought the 64-foot boat and against everybody's advice, put my partner at the time, Claire, and my children on board and sailed through the Bay of Biscay from Poole Harbour, through the Bay of Biscay, which is renowned to be a treacherous sea, down to the Straits of Gibraltar and up to Barcelona. We had some of the most unbelievably challenging experiences, gearbox failures, fog, rough seas, and we survived it all. And we went into the harbour in Barcelona. Claire came up with a bottle of champagne, put on Frank Sinatra, My Way. And ever since then, it's been my signature tune.
I had meatloaf for my fifty fifth birthday. … I love his songs, but Bat Out of Hell is probably nearest to my character.
Fix YouFavourite
Well, this is my son who sang this on stage. It's called Fix You by Cole Play. When Rufus was only about eight or nine, he was a brilliant entertainer. And he said, Dad, can I get on stage at one of your events? There was 2,000 people there. And he jumped up on stage and dedicated Fix You to the children in our charity. And he felt, because he knew enough about the charity by then, that we could fix those children.
Well, this brings me on to Current Day because I met my current partner seven years ago on a charity cycle ride. She was an Olympian and one of the world's top five female cyclists. Not when I met her, but a few years before. Didn't see each other for two or three months after that, but then got together again cycling. And about a year later, after that, she sent me a link to a track that she dedicated to her and I. And that was truly Madley Deeply by Savage God.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:54So let's start with this personal need for success, John. Is it as strong today as it was when you first started out?
Yes, it's not quite as hungry as it was because in the early days it was the hunger to be financially stable that gave a greater hunger. And so, and this stems of course from my father having a stroke when I was only 14 years old and dying when I was 18 and see my mother struggle dreadfully with the financial hardship and burden of that. But the underlying thing always in my life, whatever I do, is I want to be successful. It's to do with the end product and being very proud of the service levels and the way it changes people's lives or improves people's lives or improves the environment. So it's never going to be about money.
Presenter asks
2:45As a child though, I mean, even before your dad became unwell, I think you were dreaming about being a rich businessman. You had a fantasy of that. What did it entail?
I just visualized myself in the back of a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, winding the windows down and giving five pound notes out to poor people. The Rolls-Royce epitomised the fact that I'd been successful, and the giving out the five pound notes was my desire to be seen as charitable and to help people. Of course, it's a very precocious and simplistic view, but that is sort of what I've gone on to do.
The keepsakes
The book
Well, it it would have to be surviving on a desert island, wouldn't it? Because that's what I'm all about. You know, it's no good reading a book and dying. I need to live on that island and get rescued one day.
The luxury
I freckle skinned, ginger haired, burn in the sunlight mad. So my luxury item would keep me alive, keep me comfortable, and that's a a full blown sunblock.
Presenter asks
8:33John Caldwell, as you mentioned, when you were fourteen your father suffered a severe stroke. How serious was the impact on him and on the rest of the family?
Oh, it was devastating. … And that was the first of two strokes he was going to have. The second stroke was way more serious, which was only about six weeks later. And it was just very, very sad to see a man that was dynamic, that was utterly capable, he could fix anything, cause vacuum cleaner, didn't matter what, my father could do it. And to see cut down like that and unable to adapt. It was very traumatic. And our relationship then suffered even worse because … He didn't try, and I was upset by that. I wanted him to try. I wanted him to, and then he was agitated and angry with me because he felt that I didn't understand his position. And that's probably true, you know, it was probably very true. And I would hate to be in his position because perhaps I would be exactly the same and give up. Because that's not my life. My life is doing things and achieving things, not being stuck in a wheelchair. So … You know, I'd like to think I could do a little bit better, but uh I think I wasn't understanding enough of him.
Presenter asks
14:08Were the results always worth it, or do you have any regrets over your management style over the years?
One of the keys to managing people is to treat somebody how they deserve to be treated. And if they're just deliberately or doing things that are wrong, rather than get too aggressive with them, it's better just to exit them from the business in the kindest way possible that leaves them with dignity. But I think, by and large, most of the people I've ever managed would say I did a great job on them. And certainly the ones that are successful, and there's thousands, thank me endlessly and continually. So yeah, I'd got my failings. But overall, I think I was a good boss.
Presenter asks
22:47John, by the year two thousand, the turnover of your business empire, the Cordwell Group by then, had reached one billion pounds. How many sacrifices did you have to make to reach that level of success? How many personal sacrifices?
Well, massively in terms of personal health, because for a period of time I lived on tranquilizers because I was working 22 hours a day. … Now I didn't do twenty two hours a day every day, but my average was probably on seven days a week it was probably an average of sixteen hours, seventeen hours work. But for five or six days of the of every three weeks I'd be doing twenty two hours a day with no sleep and my nervous system just wouldn't cope with it. … No, I don't think I yeah, no friends. No friends,'cause I didn't have time to socialize. I had no time. I you know, the only time I had was for work. … Happy regular life. But no regrets, you know, and it's enabling me to do what I do today, which is massively spiritually satisfying.
Presenter asks
27:05So in two thousand you founded your charity called Well Children, and that helps children with disabilities. What does philanthropy give you that the cut and thrust of business doesn't?
When you see the way you've changed a child's life for the better. I for me there's no greater happiness or spiritual satisfaction from anything that you might do in life than you'll get from that.
“I just visualized myself in the back of a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, winding the windows down and giving five pound notes out to poor people.”
“I found the way to avoid being bullied by being the bullier. I bullied other kids.”
“When you see the way you've changed a child's life for the better. … I for me there's no greater happiness or spiritual satisfaction from anything that you might do in life than you'll get from that.”
“I was devastated because my brilliant son, who is the most confident person you've ever met, turned into this anxious wreck.”
“There was many, many, many times when we thought we'd lost him. And we used to have to have twenty-four-seven people in his bedroom in case he tried to to kill himself.”