WEBVTT - Ruthie's Table 4: Ian Wright 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.840 Welcome to Ruthie's Table four, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:05.440 Adamized Studios. 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.880 Some weeks ago, Ian Wright and his beautiful family were 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.160 sitting here in the River Cafe garden celebrating Nancy, his 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.480 wife's birthday. Ruthie the Waiter said to me, please go 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.280 and ask him to do a podcast, especially for all 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.400 of us. We know he loves to eat, but we 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.280 want to know more about him. He is our hero. 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.880 Ian does a lot that I could never dream of achieving, 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.720 for instance, kicking footballs into nets. But we do share 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.720 a lot as well, concern for healthy eating for children, 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:43.239 advocacy for social justice, a more fair society, and an 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.760 end to racial discrimination. Today on Table four, we're going 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.479 to get to know each other better, discussing all this 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:55.080 and more, including having delicious lunches with our family. Thank 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:56.840 you so much for doing this, and you're going to 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:57.480 stay for lunch? 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:06.840 Yes, yesky, deep fried zucchini flowers Okay, twelve male zucchini flowers, 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:10.400 sunflower oil for deep frying, two hundred and twenty five 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.800 grams plain flour, four tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, four 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.440 hundred millimeters of warm water sea salt. Freshly ground black pepper, 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.600 four large egg white. For batter, you have to sive 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:25.160 the flour in large bowl, pour the olive oil into 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.720 a well in the center, and slowly stir with a 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.280 wide spoon to combine the flour into the OIDs. 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:31.480 See. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.039 These are the kind of things where because I'm not 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.320 a great cook that I'm nervous about this. You had 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.480 a little warm water until the batter is the consistency 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.760 of double cream. Season and let it stand for at 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.960 least two hours. Eat the sunflow oil to one hundred 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:48.160 and eighty CENTI grade. 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.880 That's right. Wow. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.680 Just before cooking, beat the egg white until stiff and 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:55.960 fold into the batter. 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:58.640 Yeah. And I was speaking to Louis. 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.320 Oh yeah, he was telling me about how much he 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:03.800 has to beat the egg whites up. So then when 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:06.120 you know that they've don't you can turn it around 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.160 and then they don't fall out, which I thought. 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.360 Was pretty cool. So over your head, yes, and it 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:11.519 doesn't fall out. 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:11.920 Cool. 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:12.920 Hi, I'm Louis. 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:14.799 I'm a chef at the River Cafe, and today we're 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.760 going to be making deep fried zucchini flowers with Ian Wright. 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.000 Nice one look forward to it. 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.639 So basically, what we've done is we've made a batter 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.680 with zero zero flower olive oil and some like ice 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.440 cold water, and then we'll fold through some whipped up 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.600 egg whites. Yes that you want to whip them till 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.359 they're you know, stay if you can hold a ball 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.760 ups up above your head and they won't fall out, 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.400 and that really helps her like puff up the batter 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.079 and like makes them go. Helps with like the crispyness. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.080 We get these amazing zucchini flowers in from from Italy. 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:53.600 They're really fresh, vibrant. Yeah, these locks off of the 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.160 you know, the cross within the within the last day 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.800 or two and yeah, and we'll unky's in the batter, 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.280 fry them for a minute at one hundred and ninety 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.280 degrees and then they're just really delicious with a big 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:08.880 punch of salt and a wedge of lemon. 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:10.520 When I first saw them, I was like, what are 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:12.680 those about? Yeah, and then you taste them, they almost 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.520 like they kind of almost melt in your mouth like dissolve. 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.760 You know, They're very easy to continue just to eat 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:19.320 in them. 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.200 It only makes yourcuini flowers. When we're we're in literaly 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.120 because you get them, we go and pick them from 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:25.919 the garden, right, and then we fry. 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:26.919 Them, and it's so beautiful. 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.000 One, it's so beautiful, and I think it's what children 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:33.040 really love to do, because ultimately it sounds perhaps more 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.600 complicated than it is, because basically what you're doing is 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:37.880 you're making batter of folding the egg whites into that, 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.120 and then you have the flowers. You dip them in 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.200 and I like very little batter on them because the 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:47.720 flower that's so delicate. And then I don't know what 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.480 one hundred and eighty degrees is when I'm frying oil. 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.280 So what you do is you just heat it for 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:53.840 a long time and then when you put the flour in, 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.680 it sizzles, and if it doesn't sizzle, it's probably not already. 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:59.320 But so it does look like I have to probably 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.360 write a new cook so I'm prepared to do that. 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.080 But tell me about your because you do love to 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.840 eat out. Yes, I see you here and you always 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.000 seem so happy. Did you eat out as a child. 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.920 No, This is probably why I love eating out so much. 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.560 I didn't actually start eating out until obviously, I think 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.680 I'm probably twenty one. Yeah, I didn't have a lot 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.880 of experiences of going to restaurants. And even when I 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.720 started doing that, I only I started eating past the 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.240 very late in my life. My mum never there wasn't 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.120 a lot of variety. There's a lot of West Indians 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:38.400 stew chicken. It was curry, golt, mutton, tripe, pigs, trotter's oxtail, 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.040 white rice, rice with peas. 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:42.120 Boiled dumplings. 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:44.479 So it was that kind of food all the way 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:46.440 up until that point. And I remember when I started 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.240 playing football in Crystal Palace, I used to get very 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.280 nervous about going to like we used to have to 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:54.960 go to hotels. You just have to go to restaurants 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.680 and communal eat all of us together. And I was 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:00.839 very insecure about it because I did no I didn't 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:01.520 know foods. 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:02.520 So and then we. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.479 Had older players who were really they were quite mean. 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.359 Let's say things like, you know, you know you've got 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.359 duffin wires on there, you know you've got sour tae potatoes, 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:12.880 And they'd say things like do you know you don't 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.160 even have to spell duffing wair? 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:14.880 You know what I mean? 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.640 Do you know what potatoes ares? Can you afford steak? 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.120 So what I would do is I would I would 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:22.120 end up then getting my mum to make me something. 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.520 I'd go down so the boss would see me, and 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.560 then I'd say for a fire, and then I'd leave 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:28.560 and get my food warmed up by the people in 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.800 the kitchen, and I'd eat in my in my hotel room. 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:32.120 And that's what we used to do when we was younger. 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.960 We used to all eat either in the bedroom or 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:36.960 in the living room in front of television or stuff 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:37.240 like that. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.120 So I was more comfortable doing that. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:44.119 But my problem was insecurity about ordering the food. 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.520 So you know, it's intimidated. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:48.880 It was, and it was intimating to the point where 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.520 the manager I've done it a few a few times, 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:53.560 about three or four times, you didn't see me at dinner. 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.120 I remember in the morning he said, where are you? 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.560 I'm not seeing you at the dinner. That's how I 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:03.120 get together. And then I explained to him why, and 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:05.719 then he kind of sorted that out for me. 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:07.479 He had a word with them. You know. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:12.320 Obviously, you know it didn't help because obviously when people, yeah, 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:14.560 it was, it was, it didn't help. But then I 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:16.640 just I just blasted through it. And so offer the 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.120 back of that, yeah, you know, you start to because 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:20.919 you get into a situation where you can go to 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.479 nice restaurants, and so when I love. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.880 It, so when you talk about being excellent at your sport, 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.680 being able to do what you do so well, and 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:34.400 that you're on a team, and then going to a 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.279 meal time was painful, And it was painful because you 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.479 were made to feel unable to feel in theory. 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.480 To be honest, if I was about I was twenty one. 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.479 In fact, I just turned twenty two when I joined 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.960 Crystal Palace, so it was very late for me. A 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.279 lot of my experiences started to come as learning on 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:53.560 the job, about mixing with people, different people, worldly people, 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.000 you know, know it, you know, even just the knife 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.839 and forks from you know, outside in you know, knowing 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:00.360 what to do. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.160 You know, you sit there and you're nervous. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:06.240 And so those were the kind of intimidating things about 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:08.280 going to a restaurant or eating with people that used 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.080 to really frighten me because I never we ate on 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.680 our laps literally all the way through. 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:14.880 And it's obviously was. 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:19.400 Your mother working. Was there a table where you could sit. 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.600 No, the kitchen wasn't big enough for a table for 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:23.760 the four of us, So it was it was my mom, 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:28.920 my stepdad, my older brother, me and my sister. So 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:30.800 you know, there wasn't enough space for all of us 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.320 to sit and have that dinner and have that chat. 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.640 We never done that, you know, that's something that's happened 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:37.520 to me later in my life. 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.600 And your mother you were describing that the food that 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.800 probably cook quite a lot of effort to cook. So 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:45.840 would she cook that all day? Why would she have 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:46.240 a job. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.080 No, no, no, no, she didn't work, and she didn't work, 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.080 but she did cook the food obviously from the morning. 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.400 The thing is, we didn't eat a lot of food. 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.400 You know, I didn't eat like breakfast, lug I could skip. 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.720 There was no problem was that because you couldn't afford 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:00.560 it would. 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.680 Have been there, but like I wasn't used to having it, 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.960 you know, and we could literally go up and you know, 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.920 you can have cereal if you want, or for lunch. 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.040 You know, you can have it if you want. But 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:14.080 I found that probably because I was out playing football 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.400 all day or doing so that all day. It didn't 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.440 bother me to eat breakfast, eat lunch. But the dinner 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.680 was something that was always there, and it was very 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.560 repetitious of everything that we always have. You know, we 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.240 had rice, some peas and chicken on a Sunday. You 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:31.360 had soup on a Saturday, mutton curried mutton and stuff 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.240 like that, white rice, rice and peas, and that is 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.480 the diet all the way. For I didn't start eating 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.760 pasta till I was like twenty one, because when I 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.520 was at school, you used to see little pasta bits 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.640 that they used to have in school, like used to 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.600 draw patterns around them for Zilly and Penny and all 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:46.760 that sort of stuff, And so I didn't see that 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:48.800 as something that we should be eating. You'd go to 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.440 some people's houses and their parents would make macaroni cheese 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.520 with the sunday rice and peas, but my mum never 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.960 made that. So I wasn't very good with anything that 0:08:58.000 --> 0:08:59.839 my mom didn't make. She didn't make a lot of 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.160 getables for us. There was we used to get some 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.600 kalalou when we was younger, West Indian klalou like a 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.240 green cabbage thing. But I didn't eat a lot of 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.160 stuff because school dinners for me were a nightmare. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:12.360 Why were they there? Was? 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.360 It was so blind, it was so so plain, and 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.160 everything that my mom, my mom cooked with a lot 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.360 of seasoning. So this is why, you know, as time 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.320 went by, even when I'm sure we'll get onto it, 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.719 when with Arsenal and Arson Venger, eating bland. 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.360 Food is very very difficult for me. 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.120 It has to be seasoned or some form of taste, 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:33.920 you know, I need to have that. So you know, 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:35.920 that is something that my mum done a lot. And 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.439 so anyway I went to eat, if it wasn't seasoned properly, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:39.360 I could easily not eat. 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.960 Did you qualify for free school lunches? 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:46.040 Yes, we did, which was obviously again it had its 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.839 own drawbacks, but I was I was never bothered about 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.160 being teased for that, and you were that, yeah, you 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:54.120 tease that because one of the things I always used 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.720 to wonder what they why they did it was you 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.720 had to cue up in a different line, you know, 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.960 And it was always you know, you get people who 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.760 you know, kids, the kids, aren't they just tease you 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:08.600 and stuff like that. And what was what I used 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:10.679 to get a lot of teasing for because obviously I 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.080 was quite good at the football at the time, so 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.320 they find find something that they could use against me 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.040 to to try and make me feel bad and insecure. 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.240 And it used to work. So some of the times 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.120 I used to really I used to wait and wait 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.800 and wait, and then I'd go and do it. And 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:27.439 then if people tease you just get on with. 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:28.120 It, you know. 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:29.839 Was an inner city school. 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.600 I went to a school called Samuel Peeps in Brookolyn. 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.120 I love the school even though you had such yeah, 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.000 because like you know my friends, you know, and I. 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.880 Could play football if you have a skill. 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:45.840 Because yeah, because my problem was when I was younger, 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:50.760 was my attention spanning the classroom wasn't very good at all. 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.080 And when I couldn't grasp what they were doing it, 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:54.920 I'd get a bit disruptive. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:56.959 And this is you know, that was much more recognized. 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:58.920 But then what they used to do, they say, if 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.160 you don't start paying at mentioned moreis and you know, 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.760 you're not going to be able to play football that way. Yeah, 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.360 And so that was another massive worry for me, because 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.880 it wasn't because I was just being disruptive for being disruptive, 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:15.000 It's just I couldn't grasp lesson as quickly as other people. 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:17.800 So you know, now I understand it more. 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.679 But like, yeah, the food again, going back, one of 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.400 the things I did love about school was desserts and 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.040 after us because we never had anything like that. You 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.360 might have had digestive biscuits when we were younger, and 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.120 chocolate biscuits every now and then, but it wasn't very 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.040 We didn't have them a lot. You know, you go 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.240 to your friend's house and they would have all sorts 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.640 of like stuff in their larder and their kitchen, but 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.840 we never had that. So the school dessert, like school puddings, 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:50.800 was amazing, you know, so apple pie and custard, you know, 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:52.680 because I didn't eat custard for a while because obviously 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:54.200 I didn't have it home, so I didn't like that. 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.079 So I used to always have the sponge on its own. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.240 I used to have the apple bound it so and 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:00.719 then you'd have the sponge with the jam and the 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.920 coconut on the top of it, you know, and apple crumble. Honestly, 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.360 I used to look so forward to it. And I 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:09.360 remember I used to have a friend who used to 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.000 give me all these sponges because he didn't like sponge. 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:13.760 And then there was a time I used to give 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:15.880 him all the apple pies and all that that kind 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:16.439 of pace you on. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:18.280 And then I remember one day I. 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.480 Just said to him, I'm just going to taste it 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.600 because I never tasted it, you know, And then I 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:25.760 tasted it with the cusses, and I just I said, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.320 I can't give it to you. 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.160 Did your mother grow up in poverty? 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.160 Yeah, she could in Jamaica. It's very tough and grew 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.160 up with like seven eight siblings. You know, it's quite tough. 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.439 She had to me and she had to move out 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.560 and go and live with my aunts who didn't treat 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:44.120 her very well. And that was one of the things 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.560 as well. I didn't get to to really find out 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:50.080 the deep rooted problems with my mom's, with my mom's 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.040 like mental health and everything, what she went through, because 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.120 you'd be sitting down just watching the television and then 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:57.360 you know, my mum would just burst out cry. She 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.120 just you just see tears just coming down her face. 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.000 But as time went by, obviously, you know, people always 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.240 talk about my stuff, my Desert Island disc and I 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.160 tried to be as candid as I possibly could, but 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:09.560 I just remember how she used to be. She was 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.320 so she was so sad inside and kind of took 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.160 it out on me and my brothers and sisters and that. 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:20.760 But like never ever spoke about what happened to her, 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.079 to the point where some of the time she spoke 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.160 to me about her aunt and my cousin Ali Alvin. 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.360 Al Vanni's name was yeah, and his mum was, she's 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:31.640 really nasty to my mom. 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:32.400 You know. 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:34.120 When she used to tell the stories, she burst into 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:35.600 tears talking about that sort of stuff. 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.520 So that kind of abusively scars it, does, you know. 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.240 And I think that was maybe the way she had 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.680 trouble expressing her love because you spoke about you know, 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:45.120 but the. 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:45.719 Thing of it is ruf. 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:48.400 She always made sure there was a meal on there 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.080 for us, you know, we you know, we didn't have 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:52.720 like the greatest closing, but the clothes are clean. 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.440 Everything was nice, you know, ours was presented. Everything was nice. 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.120 But you know, she she just didn't have much. 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.600 You talk about your Jamaican family, your mother coming from Jamaica, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.400 leaving her family in Jamaica or did they come with her? 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:09.600 They left? So she left, she left. 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.120 How old was she She probably was when she came out. 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:15.520 She came up in the Windrush generation, so she came 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.800 here in I think it's fifty eight, you know, so, 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:20.040 and she came on her own. 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.160 How old was she My mum was born nineteen thirty three. 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.120 In fact, she might have been born earlier than thirty 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.360 three then because when she died she was ninety four. 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.040 But like she came in that generation, you know, and 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:34.080 she came and stayed with friends and it just went 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.920 from there. So she had no family, not here, just 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.400 like friends and acquaintances. There was a couple of long 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:43.480 distance cousins who were here as well that came in 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.080 and around the same time, and so they met up. 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:47.720 So this is why I grew up in and around 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.520 Broccoli Lewis and Deptford, New Cross, all that side. 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.160 That's where everybody everybody. 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:55.840 Did you ever go back to Jamaica? Have you been back? 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:56.280 Yeah? 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:57.600 I used to go a lot when I was at 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:00.640 Crystal Palace in eighty five. You know when I started 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.200 when I was able to afford to do that, because 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.200 the first time I went on on an airplane was 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.600 with Crystal Palace. You know, I was twenty, I was 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.120 just turned twenty two and we act finally we went 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.760 to Qatar. It was amazing, did you Yeah, it was unbelievable. 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:16.920 But we flew over the Alps and that, and it 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:18.960 was like obviously the first time I was on a plane, 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.160 I just couldn't believe it. I was really afraid yet 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:25.960 because most of the trip I was doing how does 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:26.640 this stay up? 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:28.120 Stay up here? 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:29.600 I still think that. 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:31.680 You know, And I remember, like again, like we had 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.880 those those the older guys who obviously they. 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:36.480 Knew, you know, this is first time. 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.800 All this experiences was new to me, and like, I 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.280 think back on these experiences and they were amazing, but 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.120 it's it's always tinged with their nastiness because I remember 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:47.480 one of the things that they said to me, which 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:52.000 I'll never forget, was you have to be You're most 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.200 afraid when you're on a plane, the thirty seconds before 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.440 you take off and the thirty seconds before you land. 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.000 And to this day, I still have anxiety about that. 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.400 Can I ask you if when you were started out 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:10.080 was the bullying that was it? Racist players? 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:11.000 Yeah? 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:15.760 There was me, Tony Finnigan, Andy Gray, Henry Houghton was 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.040 there at the time as well. But yeah, the racing 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.760 was pretty bad. It was very it was accepted. It 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:22.320 was nowhere near what it's like now. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:23.920 The cruelty was from the white players. 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.360 It was from the white players and the older players, 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:28.480 you know, Obviously the younger guys who were in and 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.280 around the same age as us sympathizes with us. They 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:33.080 didn't like it, but it wasn't a time where you 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.520 could stand up to that kind of that kind of 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.600 presence in the dressing room because those guys that would 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.160 have been eighty five, between eighty five and you know, 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:42.720 eighty five. 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:44.280 Until Yeah, has it changed. 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.960 Yeah, it's changed a lot, because now what's happened is 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:51.160 that there's allies. Yeah, you know, black people don't don't 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.320 want racism. You know, if it was up to black 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:57.080 people for racism to stop, it wouldn't be there, you know. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:58.960 But what you have to understand is is that without 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.880 white people, white white allies, you're not going to shift 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.120 that you're not going to make a move on the dial. 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:06.840 And what's happening now is that there are more allies, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.720 there are more people who speak out, There are more 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.119 people that now are more than willing to put themselves 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.200 to put their heads above the parapet and say things 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:15.600 that you could never see. 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:19.080 One of the great great memories, and I'm much older 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:21.320 than you, but one of the really defining memories of 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:25.360 my life was watching the Olympic Games in Mexico when 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:30.919 the Three ran, and that taught me. I mean, my 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:35.520 parents are already you know, they went south, you know, 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.800 the civil rights My brother was arrested in Mississippi. We 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:43.320 were very liberal thinking family, but seeing the power of 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:46.280 that solute and their lives were rude, absolutely rue. They 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:47.280 never ran again. 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:49.920 Never ran again when they went back, like ostracized back 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.440