WC MAY 16.
Sunday seemed strange to begin with as for the first time, since Lady Diana died, I did not have a show. It had been moved forward to Saturday to allow for the day-long coverage of Walk the Wight. I attended this and was inspired, as ever, by seeing so many people just achieving their objective in aid of the Hospice. Age is no barrier and it was great to meet and chat to a few as they approached the finish to collect their medals. Congrats to the full-time staff at IW Radio who all did such a great job. Their young people are fantastic and so full of energy, enthusiasm and confidence.
I returned to the Needles area on Monday morning to run from Totland to Freshwater Bay and back, via the Needles Battery. The previous day around 10,000 must have walked over the downs from Freshwater Bay to the Needles. I saw just thirty the morning after – and it was worrying to see some of them still had numbers on!!!!!
I headed for London on Tuesday morning, after many hours of intense research, to record three interviews. It did not quite get off to the start I wanted. I borrowed a showbiz pal’s appartment to stay overnight and within five minutes of settling in, to head off to Southgate for the first interview, the toilet overflowed and I was busy mopping up with towels. Thankfully, things got better after that. Clem Cattini was my first interviewee. He was in the Tornados, world famous for Telstar, and James Corden played him in the recent Telstar movie. Clem became a session drummer and has appeared on almost 50 number one hits. It’s quite a story. Then I headed to Covent Garden to interview my long term friend, TV, stage and movie star Celia Imrie. She brought me a lovely chocolate cake and became my roadie, as I left the Donmar Warehouse Theatre. A great day was completed when I had a meal with my son Sean and his lovely new girlfriend, who I met for the first time.
I had a job to sleep on Tuesday night. The London traffic never stops, it was a warm night and I had one of the biggest interviews of my life the following morning, at The Dorchester Hotel, which was going through my mind. I shouldn’t have worried, the legendary Neil Sedaka was one of the nicest people I have ever met and we really hit it off – and he gave me over an hour of his time. His Dorchester suite had more rooms that my first house in East Cowes. Later that night he was due at the Ivor Novello Awards.
The week ended with another superstar – Brian Blessed. Due to his PR lady not letting him know of my interview request, he willingly agreed to five minutes in the interval during his Friday night gig at the Medina Theatre. Despite having a heavy cold, he kept his promise and I ended up with more like 15 mins. What an incredible guy. I love eccentrics and they make you so happy to be in their company. I finally caught up with Fancy Smith – from Z Victor 1 – after not far off 50 years. It was all down to the dedication of Elaine Cesar from the IW Council. Thanks Elaine.