Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Former England rugby captain and flanker who led Wasps to five Premiership titles.
On the island
Eight records
It's a very uplifting song. When I left home I moved to Labbrock Grove in West London. I used to walk down the hill towards the station and there's a lovely uh shop which I think is still there called Dub Records and this song used to pump out quite a lot. It's very special to me.
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
I don't think I could have a top eight without including something from Michael Jackson. Uh the the song is entitled Don't Stop Till You Get Enough and uh I certainly don't seem to have a stop button, so uh fits in well.
I was lucky enough, as we mentioned, to uh record a song at Abbey Road Studios. Not with The Beatles, but with Tina Turner. So I've got some funny photos of me crossing the the zebra crossing, but uh this is a hard day's night.
Well ironically, I was in and out of trouble and occasionally I came across these guys. My track number four is the police walking on the moon.
It's a song about everyone stopping fighting and becoming one, a bit like the sentiments in John Lennon's Imagine.
Well we've spoken a lot about my mother and this song obviously reminds me not only about school discos and sort of pogoing up and down but also about my mother. Her name was Eileen so this is Dexie's Midnight Runners.
I was lucky enough to be a part of an amazing tour for the British and Irish Lions to South Africa, which we won against the world champions. And although Wonder War was the song that we kind of inherited as the anthem of that particular tour, my favourite song from the album is Champagne Supernova.
Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?Favourite
We are going to finish with an amazing song by Peter Sarsted, Where Do You Go To, My Lovely? This reminds me of my mother-in-law who was amused for Picasso and it's a song about ballerina, Zizi Jommaire, which reminds me of my sister and my wife Alice, who is just part of the jet set.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:34Is it important to you to be a man on a mission and to be in control of that mission?
Yes, I think it is. You know, clearly everyone has unfortunate things that happen in their life. I think for me, as you mentioned, losing my sister was devastating coming from an Italian Irish English family, uh where the family was really at the heart of everything we did, uh you know, to lose uh a quarter of that family, my sister, was difficult for all of us. And uh, you know, it just made me um more determined to do something to bring my parents together, I guess.
Presenter asks
2:01Is there a single moment that stands out as a highlight of your working life?
Well I think when I first took up rugby I took it up for not for sporting reasons, if that makes sense, because I needed something to grab onto. Rugby wasn't a job, it was just a hobby. In fact you used to have to pay to play and I think it it would be hard to pinpoint one particular moment. I mean everyone says oh it must be the World Cup. … But playing for England for the first time was a huge joy.
Presenter asks
5:47When [rugby is] taken away from you, does it make life a bit more uncertain?
I think the biggest challenge as a sportsman is that you are given a piece of paper at the beginning of each week and everything is kind of mapped out for you. And then when you finish playing you've got a blank sheet of paper. That is a challenge. I had to come to terms with retiring which is you know something that all sportsmen have to do but … to be honest, I haven't really worried. I didn't really worry too much about retirement because as much as I loved rugby and trust me, it became my life. I became obsessed … It actually got in the way of quite a few things. Got in the way of enjoying your life because it's just this incredible roller coaster of emotions, you know. And it stopped me from doing so many things that I've now slowly finding out.
The keepsakes
The book
Andy Ripley
I'd like to take Ripley's World. It's a story about Andy Ripley, the rugby player, an iconic number eight for England and the British Lions. I was actually privileged enough to be invited by his wife Elizabeth to speak at his memorial service at Southwark Cathedral in December. Obviously, I lost my own mother to cancer, and I'm inspired by his story.
The luxury
The only thing that I would really miss is Marmite, which is what I have every morning on my toast.
Presenter asks
17:10How did you hear that your sister Francesca was missing?
The next morning, my mum woke me at about 6:30, 7 in the morning, and in a terrible panic, saying, Have you heard the news? And I could hear helicopters buzzing around everywhere. The Marchioness has sunk, you know, and we haven't found your sister yet. And I immediately knew then that she she had died because you know, she was the most responsible person I'd met, you know, very grown up for her age, so of course she would have phoned up. And it was just an incredibly traumatic few days. I mean, I don't think they found her body till four days later.
Presenter asks
19:28How much have you thought if I'd been there [with your sister]?
Yeah, of course you do. You think, you know, and I mean I you know, I always think about that, you know, well, what what if? What you know, maybe I should have been, but then it's you sort of think to yourself, maybe the ample fourth null spiritual thing is, well, that was God's way, you know, because if well, if I was supposed to be there, I would have been there, wouldn't I? And I think that if I'd have been there, you know, you can think the manly thing, well, of course I'd have saved her, well, maybe I wouldn't. And it would be easy to fill yourself with anger, with guilt, you know, with all those things. But at at sixteen, I don't think you really understand those emotions enough to to put them into perspective.
Presenter asks
22:13What were the reasons [you didn't go back to Ampleforth]?
I think I'm sort of left. Initially, I was left in a quite a lonely place. Not that my parents didn't sort of think, oh, you know, check on me and make sure everything was alright, but you just do feel like you're on your own a little bit. And it was just a massive hole. And if I'm honest, I was completely blew my world apart. You know, I sort of began to live life much more day by day. … I did find it c very, very difficult indeed and and uh I wouldn't say I went off the rails but there was I was certainly floating around with no real purpose in life and I decided eventually about two years later that I've got to do something. You know, I joined um … I join wasps, I join a rugby club.
“having a father who's first generation Italian and having a mother who is uh from Irish roots that makes you a very dangerous Englishman because it makes you an Englishman who's not afraid to display his emotion.”
“there's no doubt that the greatest gift you can give a child is unconditional love.”
“I believe that a good side will always beat a great side because of the power that you can generate from that emotional touch point.”