Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Snooker player widely regarded as the greatest of all time, with a record seven World Championships and the fastest 147 break.
On the island
Eight records
My first real turning point I suppose in trying to get back on track was when I met this guy called Pete Cohen who's a really good friend of mine. He was a life coach. He was the first person for me to start looking into how to sort of make myself more optimum level thinking wise, you know. So he was a big music guy and we talked about Eminem who was just coming on the scene at the time. It was massive and it was just lose yourself and it was just that one shot, one moment and it was like he was big on just that one shot. It was like, you know, we've got one shot of this and I kind of like remember that was a big turning point for me.
I love Jules Michael and the older I get, the more you kind of like look back on some of his old sort of videos and some of the sort of stuff that he was saying and I just thought he was just a genuine, lovely guy who was very smart, didn't s kinda buy into all what everyone else seems to buy in. He was a bit ahead of his time. Liked him a lot.
In the drive from my house to the forest I get the chance to listen to three songs and this is one of them and it just a feel-good song, you know, just sort of like going to run. It just gets me in the mood.
The reason why I chose this song was because me and my dad used to do a lot of travelling up and down the motorways when I was a kid. And I remember he got out on Bow and we were driving the very next day to a tournament and this song came on. And yeah, we both got kind of emotional. He was out on Bow so we never knew what was going to go but I just remember, yeah, listening to this song and it just reminds me then that time really.
I was 15 when my dad first got nicked for the murder and my mum thought it was a good idea to get me out to Thailand a little bit earlier hoping that I wouldn't hear about my dad and that by the time I came home dad would be home. It never happened that way so my mum phoned me up, told me while I was in Thailand what had gone on and I remember there were three songs on repeat mode in my hotel room and this was one of the songs which sort of sticks in my mind, you know, obviously. So yeah, that that's why I picked that song.
It was yeah, it was one of the it was a band I was introduced to just before I went into the Priory so I was getting myself clean and listening to stereophonics thinking yeah this guy's really good and then I think it must have been about nine ten minutes later after coming out of Priory I found myself at a party and I was a bit off the wagon and um Kelly was there and I was like … nine months ago I was clean listening to you, now I'm like, I'm off the wagon for the first time and it's like, how did that happen?
I've always liked this song and it was always um I'd pick my kids up from school on a Wednesday and they never liked any of my music and I was like you know can you put this on dad put it on and so I'll put it on and then one day I said they listened to this song and they listened to it and they went nah and and then they went they both really liked it so I was like cool I've got a song here and they just used to put it on repeat … once we were doing a cooking show and they said, Oh, we've got Train here, Drops of Jubiter, playing and I was like, Really? My favourite song. And I got to meet Pat and that and who's a lovely guy. And there he's my my walk-on song as well.
That's AllFavourite
I used to hear this a lot with my dad in the car. He was into Phil Collins and all that sort of stuff. And I used to, again, go into the running, going to Haint Forest, which is about a 12-15 minute drive from my house. I would listen to step-by-step with Whitney Houston, and then the next song was Genesis, That's All. And that was just sort of like the right, good feeling song. And I used to, by the time I finished listening to that song, I'd be ready to get out of my car, meet my mate, and I'm like, yeah, I've had a good morning. You know, the drive was good.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:40How do you prepare for a day's play?
I just listened to what you said there, and sometimes I think stupidity should have been put in there,'cause sometimes I think I just do it. You think, why? You know what I mean? You put yourself through so much sometimes, and feeling it and observing it is two totally different things, which I've come to just recently see. And when I see what I put myself through, I think, like, why would you do it? You know, most people would look at it and just go, don't do it. You know, so.
Presenter asks
3:20Tell me about being in control of your mindset as you approach a game.
Yeah, because like the more you try and fight it, sometimes the worse it gets. So sometimes you just have to go with it and reason with it and kind of get a different perspective on it and understand that This moment is going to pass. I know it's a difficult moment, but give it 20 minutes, give it half an hour. Hopefully, I'll come out the other end and I'll be okay, you know. So, a lot of it is just sort of realizing that things are fickle. Once you kind of understand that, you kind of can then roll with the punches a bit more because you're not so up panic mode. You're going to go, Well, it's like biorhythms. There's two of you in there fighting. One guy's going to have his turn, I'm going to have my turn. Can't have it all your own way, which is difficult for me to accept because for a lot of the time I do get it my own way.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Adharanand Finn
Was my favourite book that I ever read. It was the first, one of the first books that I had to stop reading because I didn't want it to end. And I just kept flying through the pages ... I think that'd just take me to a place where hopefully one day I'll get to experience what Running with the Kenyans is like.
The luxury
Painting supplies (thick acrylic paint and canvas)
That would be something that would get me through times of what am I going to do? Oh, I know what to do. ... it'd have to be thick, heavy paint on a nice cut canvas background.
Does physical training help you maintain your equilibrium through something like the World Championships?
Yeah, it definitely helps for everything, you know. For me, just if I wake up and I get the trainers on and I'm out the door half seven, run with my mate, already I'm off to a flyer. If there was a pill on the shelf and you went in there and it says this is gonna make you feel happy for the rest of the day, we'd all be out buying it. Well, that's what running does for me. So I go and do it and it's a guarantee that I'm gonna feel fantastic for the rest of the day.
Presenter asks
6:23What keeps you coming back, bearing in mind how gruelling it can be?
I've taken time off before and it doesn't suit me. It doesn't suit me to be not doing nothing. You know, I get a little bit bored and a lot of the things that I love, like the running and the keep fit and taking time out, is only because I play snooker. If I wasn't to play snooker, I'd become very lazy. I won't get up in the morning. I'll lay in and, you know, that's not good for me. So in a way, snooker allows me to do all the things that I love doing, like the hobbies. So running, go to the gym. Not having a boss, being able to just decide what I want to do where and when is a great luxury.
Presenter asks
11:00When you first picked up a cue, your dad gave it to you when you were seven. Where did you play?
Everywhere. You know, my dad used to put me in the car. He'd go, Right, we're going to City Road today. I'm going to drop you off. You'll be all right there. I'll come and get you a late run tonight. I'll be like … about eight years of age, I'd say. So, yeah, he dropped me off there. But my dad was like an East End guy, so he knew he had the gift of the gab and he'd go in and he'd go, I want my boy, he's a bit younger come here. Here's the money for him to play all day, let him do what he wants, you know what I mean? Just make sure he behaves and just keep an eye on him.
Presenter asks
28:17Your father was jailed for murder. What do you remember about that time?
I remember my dad getting out on bowel. Coming to see me in Blackpool, because I just started out as a professional. I was literally in Blackpool for three months and I won 74 out of 76 matches and I literally played every day. And on the final day of qualifying for the World Championships, which was my last match, my 76th match, I travelled home the next day to my grandad's and was sat in the kitchen and that was the day of the verdict and that's when we got the news that it didn't go well. I could tell by my uncle's face when he came in like he'd seen a ghost. Oh, this ain't good.
“I just listened to what you said there, and sometimes I think stupidity should have been put in there,'cause sometimes I think I just do it.”
“If there was a pill on the shelf and you went in there and it says this is gonna make you feel happy for the rest of the day, we'd all be out buying it. Well, that's what running does for me.”
“I don't watch that one back'cause that reminds me of when my game wasn't in a good shape, you know. Although I made the 147, I wasn't really playing good enough snooker or consistent enough to win the World Championship.”
“I wouldn't have gone off the rails, put it that way, if he would have been out. I know that for sure.”
“I don't know what it's like to not have an addiction and be able to go, I'll have a bit of this, a bit of that, a bit of this, a bit of that, and you know, have a great balance in life. But I don't feel like I have that ability to do that.”