Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Intrepid broadcaster and writer known for adventure travel documentaries and an early book on al-Qaeda.
On the island
Eight records
I love it for the music primarily, but I also love the story. I love where it's come from and I love what it says about the place and the deep, deep culture that exists there that challenges our sometimes simplistic preconceptions.
it might well make me shed a tear or two hearing it.
I remember my brother putting shouts out on pirate radio to me from friends who'd set up pirate radio stations on the top of tower blocks in South Acton Estate and this reminds me of that whole time and a whole world of music.
Highlander was my gateway into Queen. There was a lot of the music in their music in the movie and We Will Rock You is one of my absolute faves.
I remember very vividly driving around Mogadishu in Somalia ... Mr. Brightside was playing very loudly, and it's a tune I love and still play. I can never listen to it without thinking back about avoiding death and how lucky I've been.
I owe a big debt to Stormzy because having Stormzy on and working at a stand-up desk and drinking a lot of tea has helped me do quite a fair bit of my work.
I knew that I was looking at the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with: this incredible woman who inspires, guides, and leads, and shares, and partners with me, and makes me laugh. And You're Lovely to Me is my and our soppy, lovely song.
Rocket ManFavourite
it always has me singing up to the stars whenever I hear it. It fills my heart and soul and makes me makes the old chest swell as I'm singing, it really does.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:05Why do you think it's important to show your emotions?
I think I've always been affected by it. I think the team initially, when I first started working on these programs, and I think the team were like, oh, God, Simon's crying again. But more obviously, perhaps I do it with my wows and my, oh my goodness, this is amazing. You need almost a little bit of a jolt from me as the presenter to be reminded that what we're seeing is either extraordinary or upsetting or should be inspiring. It's partly why I repeat some things back at people because they'll say in a sort of monotone voice, you know, we fought a battle with a thousand people from the other community. And they'll say it very normally, and the translation comes back as though they're talking about having lunch the previous day. And I'll respond and perhaps with a bit too much emotion, say, you fought a battle. So I'll get a bit carried away with my response. And it is partly because I'm thinking of what to say next, but it is also really just to try and bring home to anybody watching that this matters.
Presenter asks
14:25How do you look back at that time [after leaving school]?
I drank too much and I was in bed most of the time. And I didn't I couldn't face life. I couldn't face existence. ... And I found myself on the edge of a bridge. But I I stepped back in every possible sense. I was the wrong side of railings and I I I climbed back and I cannot fully explain why. I think partly it was fear of ending more than fear of going on, but it wasn't the most conscious of decisions. It was it was close. And I bounced along the bottom for a long time. ... And I listened to the advice I was given in there. ... And that that got me out and it did start to help. ... Then I came up with this mad idea that I was going to go to Scotland.
The keepsakes
The book
a beginner's or muppet's guide to making your own moonshine
One of the soundtracks to our upbringing was Dad trying to make not the most magnificent, it has to be said, fruit wine in these demi johns ... I'm gonna have a bit of moonshine myself.
The luxury
I think I'd need a few pets on a desert island, so I'm hoping that the the bird seed would draw em in.
Presenter asks
22:19How did you approach this complex subject [writing about al-Qaeda]?
I was living the life of somebody in their early twenties, living in flat shares in North London, going to parties, having a social life, and then being on the phone and meeting people from Pakistani intelligence and the American Joint Terrorist Task Force. It was completely surreal. And I was so young, but nobody else was really talking to these people. So they were willing to even talk to me, this young Brit, I think because they... were worried. They sensed that there was a threat growing that other people weren't listening to in the corridors of power when they were trying to warn about this new menace of a more apocalyptic type of terrorist. And people didn't realize what was coming at us.
Presenter asks
23:14What do you remember of the early days after the 9/11 attack?
And life changed for all of us and for other people in so much more profound ways than me. But of course, I'd spent time in the towers. I knew people who were there. I'd spent years researching the first attack on the World Trade Center. So I felt very connected to those images that I saw. I was appalled and horrified. I swayed. I remember almost feeling this is almost too much to take in. But by the time the second tower had been hit my my phone was ringing. And it just didn't stop. I'd written really the only book in the world on the group responsible, inevitably. The media were at my door within a couple of hours. Quite literally at your door. Quite literally. Satellite trucks outside. And I was really just being shuttled from new studio to new studio as a as a pundit, I suppose. Whatever age you are, how does one deal with a situation like that? I just did the best I could.
Presenter asks
27:23How do you juggle the needs of your programmes with your own carbon footprint?
It's a tricky one. And I obviously feel many a time like a hypocrite. Personally, I would like to think there is some tiny value in the programmes I make and I hope that mitigates in some ways the enormous footprint that I have and we have making these journeys. We've tried to incorporate from the beginning true, honest stories about what's happening to our planet and ultimately the only way we're going to know what's happening out there is by going out there and faithfully capturing it and bringing it back for people to see and be shocked by. I'm not sure we entirely get it right, but I think there is a value and importance to doing it.
Presenter asks
30:24How has becoming a father changed you?
We did have enormous difficulties, yes. I mean, to the point where I was told at one point that I was infertile and it would be impossible for me to have a child. So, how has it changed me? It's here's like nothing I have ever experienced before. No adventure, no encounter, no experience I have had anywhere on planet Earth. And in truth, I have had quite a few. Nothing comes close to the emotion and the joy and the purpose and meaning that I've had from that little lad popping out and then attempting to raise him the best possible way. He's absolutely everything to me.
“I found myself on the edge of a bridge. But I I stepped back in every possible sense. I was the wrong side of railings and I I I climbed back and I cannot fully explain why. I think partly it was fear of ending more than fear of going on, but it wasn't the most conscious of decisions. It was it was close. And I bounced along the bottom for a long time.”
“Just take everything step by step. And that that got me out and it did start to help.”
“I was sick, physically sick, for the first few days before going in. I couldn't eat. But I went. I did it. And I'm so proud of myself for going through that.”
“I remember very vividly driving around Mogadishu in Somalia ... Mr. Brightside was playing very loudly, and it's a tune I love and still play. I can never listen to it without thinking back about avoiding death and how lucky I've been.”
“Nothing comes close to the emotion and the joy and the purpose and meaning that I've had from that little lad popping out and then attempting to raise him the best possible way. He's absolutely everything to me.”
“I'm going to be missing my son. I'm going to be missing my wife. I'm going to be missing our dogs, my family, my friends, home, life, existence.”