Martin Lewis

And that sense of being, you know, one of just two in your upper school, how did that impact on your identity?

It's an interesting time when you look back on it, because my nickname was Jew. It started off with Jewie Louie and Lou the Jew and it became shortened to Jew and I look back now and I'm offended with my current environment, but it was just the way things were then. I don't feel that was anti-Semitism or I suffered a deliberate form of prejudice. It was just more the way the 1970s and 1980s worked. But all of that did cement my identity into me. I mean, I went to a cathedral school, and in the morning there were prayers, and there were 600 or whatever it was, boys in that school. And when everybody knelt down to do the Lord's Prayer, there were only a few of us who sat upright and said nothing. And that's quite formative. Sitting up when everybody else in the room, when you're 12 or 13, is kneeling down and saying something and you're saying nothing. Actually, I do think there's a certain level of individuality that was educated in me that it's okay to be different, and it's okay not to do what everybody else says you should do if it's not right for you.

So Martin Lewis, another good cause that you've been involved in is a bereavement charity and you've been working with them for a number of years. You lost your mum in a tragic accident just before your 12th birthday. Now looking back at your younger self, at that little boy, what sort of counselling might have helped you at the time?

Anything at all. My mum was there one day and she wasn't the next. That was it. And none of us knew how to deal with it and we were all stunted by it at the time. And it was this was 1984. You didn't have counselling. Certainly you didn't have counselling in rural Cheshire. And so we had to get on with it. That was the end of my childhood. Ended on that day. And I struggled very, very hard, as we all did, for a long time. And I'm still not over it. Just better at dealing with it.

When I was getting ready for the interview today, I was looking through some old photographs and cuttings and I saw a really remarkable picture of you at LSE back in your time there, you and Mick Jagger, both grinning. I need to know the story behind it. How did you come to meet?

LSE operated an honorary presidency system, which was by a vote. And in my year, when I was General Secretary, or President of the Union, if you like, it was Mother Teresa, Yitzhak Rabin, and Mick Jagger. And to all of our surprise, Mick Jagger, who was promoted by the entertainment sabbatical, a guy called Gary Delaney, who's now stand-up comic and he's a mate. Gary proposed Mick Jagger and Mick Jagger won. Now Mick Jagger had been at the LSE. He did two terms of accounting and finance, then left to pursue his music career, which I hear from his tutor, who his tutor at the time says you'll never make any money from this, but it'll be ready for you when you come back. He won and Gary and I went to meet him to present him with his honorary presidency at Wembley Stadium when he was doing a concert. And I was empowered by the school, the LSE, to say that they had checked and his degree was still open and he was still welcome to come back and finish it whenever he liked. And we chatted for about probably 45 minutes an hour until he said, I've probably got to go and do a concert now. It was just one of those marvelous experiences. Meeting Mick Jagger when you're that age, going to Wembley Stadium. We got to see the concert afterwards. We were in hospitality, which was very nice for students. They were very, very posh pucker grub, I remember at the time. And yeah, it was just fantastic.

But in 2018 you were the victim of scam adverts on Facebook. They were using your picture. What was your reaction when you first realized what was happening?

Well, it was pretty horrible to be honest. The first person who really notified us, they were using scams for these things called Bitcoin Trader, nothing to do with Bitcoin, I just scams using the get-rich quick idea of Bitcoin. And these adverts promised that I backed it, I made all my money from it, and I'd give you the money back if you lost anything. And we had an old gentleman who got in touch very angry with me, asking where his money was. And then when we found out what was going on, you know, we wanted him to give... give us his details so that we could help him and he was quite angry and said why would I give you details you scammer it's a bit of a slap in the face when you spent your whole career with sort of advanced paranoia not to do anything wrong which is how I live my life to have somebody treat you that way. And that was the tip of the iceberg, as people will know. Not wasn't what I particularly wanted to spend my time doing, but we started the scam campaign that resulted in me suing Facebook, which was one of the scariest things I've ever done. I settled in a very good way. You always get flat for these. Why did you settle? Well, because I've been advised by my lawyers that had I gone to court, I might have won 50 grand. And I should say, this was always a campaigning lawsuit. I always said I'd never take any of the proceeds. And I settled for £3 million donation to set up Citizens Advice Scam Action, which has one-on-one facilities to support people who've been scammed or in the process of being scammed. And the UK now has on Facebook the first scam reporting button. So if you see a scam ad, you can press a button and report it, which doesn't exist on Facebook anywhere else in the world.