Top 10: Things I Love About Britain
Top 10: Turkeys I Have been Involved in
Top 10: Things to Do When the Shit’s About to Hit the Fan
Top 10: Saturday Night Television Treats
Top 10: Moments When You Know You Have to Let Go
Part Three: The Return of Radio Boy – Take Three
Top 10: Things I’ve Gotten Away With
Top 10: TV/Radio Jobs I Have Turned Down
Top 10: Things I’ve Learned About Marriage
Top 10: Johns/Jons/Johnnys/Jonnys/ Johnnies/Jonathans I know
Top 10: Things I Wanted as a Kid
Top 10: Things I Love about Ferraris
Top 10: Things that Can Happen When You Fail to Confront an Awkward Situation
Top 10: Things to Bear in Mind if You Ever Get Your Own Radio Show
Top 10: Things that You Learn to Accept as You Grow Older
Top 10: Best Things About the Mornings
Top 10: Things a Producer Does for a DJ (Well, Mine for Me, to be More Precise)
Top 10: What ifs About Taking Over Europe’S Most Popular Breakfast Radio Show
Postscript Top 10 Things I Still Want to do
INTRODUCTION TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS OF MY TALE SO FAR
10 Born with ginger hair and glasses to Mum and Dad (Martin and Minnie) in Warrington in 1966
9 Younger brother to Diane and David
8 Father died of cancer when I was thirteen and life changed – soon afterwards, I obtained my first job in a newsagent’s
7 Heard Timmy Mallett on the radio, fell in love with the wireless
6 Secured job at Piccadilly Radio in Manchester, as tea boy
5 Moved down to London, worked at BBC Greater London Radio
4 Was chosen to front The Big Breakfast with Gaby Roslin and Zig and Zag
3 Created Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush, followed by TFI Friday, for Channel 4
2 Took up post as host of Radio 1 Breakfast Show, walked out after a year (idiot)
1 Bought Virgin Radio from Richard Branson after borrowing £85 million
NOW THERE ARE SHOWBIZ STORIES and then there are stories about showbiz – the latter for me infinitely more interesting and compelling. These are the stories behind the stories if you like, about how the business works and sometimes doesn’t work and what kind of people want, or more often need, to be part of such madness.
That’s what this book is. It is my story of my madness and my experience in show business. It was always a dream, it’s often been a nightmare, but it’s never been dull. If my first book was the climb up the mountain to fame, fortune and the life I thought I wanted, this second volume sees me diving head first off a cliff and then trying to figure out why.
In the days when I took over the ownership of Virgin I was a ‘live for today’ kind of guy. I tended to jump in with both feet, and worry about the consequences later.
It’s only recently that I have woken up to the fact that the live for today philosophy, although often liberating and fantastically exciting at the time, can be damaging and destructive to almost everything you hold dear. Of course there’s nothing wrong with the pursuit of one’s hopes and aspirations but real life must always be taken care of first – or at least very quickly afterwards, because to achieve success at the expense of a single other human being is wholly unacceptable.
While it’s admirable to strive with energy and ambition fuelling your tank, this does not serve as an excuse to start hundreds of things off willy-nilly without at least giving some thought to how they might be concluded. This is the number one crime of the irresponsible dream seeker whose lives are littered with false starts, broken middles and a severe lack of happy endings.
It’s better to enjoy happiness and a clear conscience by doing the right things by people along the way. The keys to the kingdom of contentment and a good night’s sleep are only a few decent decisions away. Talent is not an excuse to use and abuse or take short cuts.
So let’s see how little of this I realised when I needed to, shall we? Because, as you will soon see, having bought my radio station for all the right reasons – things would end up going very, very wrong.
Little did I know that in the ensuing years, I would enter the list of the top 500 richest people in Britain whilst simultaneously becoming a lout, a drunk, dangerously unstable, generally out of control, almost completely friendless, full of hubris, and the unhappiest I’d ever been. These darkest of days would also see me plumb the depths of self-destruction, usually the more publicly the better and not care who witnessed me doing it.
Why I didn’t take this journey to its mortal conclusion and how the hell I got my life back on track I am as keen to discover as you – so let’s go.
Buckle up my friends – this one really is a bumpy ride.