WEBVTT - Richard Thompson 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:12.680 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:17.520 My guest today is the one and only Richard Thompson. Richard, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.759 you have a new album shipped to short Why that title? 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.239 Well, it seemed appropriate at the time. Let me think, Well, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.280 I think in a sense, we're all a bit out 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.280 to see you know, you know, like musicians, songwriters and 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.519 and uh, we're kind of sending messages to land, like 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.239 a song as it is a kind of a little 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:46.040 a little message from far far out at sea. Uh. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.040 I think as an artist, I think you always feel 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.120 like like you're on the edge of society. You you're not, 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:52.880 you're not kind of part of it, you're not in it. 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:57.720 So I suppose that's what that really means to me. Anyway, Well, 0:00:57.760 --> 0:00:59.680 well tell me about feeling like you're on the edge 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:08.399 of society about it. I think if you're slightly removed, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:09.840 if you're one of those people, you know, you go 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.919 to a party and and you spend more time watching 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:18.960 everybody else that than actually engaging that, then I think 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:21.440 you're kind of on the edge. But when you're on 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.200 the edge, you get the best of you, You get 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:26.800 a clearer view of everything. Just being that little bit. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.240 Okay, So let's say I call you up and I say, Richard, 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.200 I'm going to a party. Are you going to say, okay, 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.240 pick me up. Are you going to say not interested? 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.760 I used to go to parties to pick up girls 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.920 and get drunk. Now I'm happily married and I don't drink. 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.000 Parties become more, you know, like dinner parties. I think 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.600 I love parties where you go and you sit around 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:56.560 and you have some dinner or something, and you have 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:01.840 really good intellectual conversations. I love intellectual conversation. That's my 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:02.520 favorite thing. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.440 Well, let me just say that I invited you to 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.080 a dinner party and you don't know anybody. Is that 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:11.440 exciting or depressing? 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:15.760 It depends who it is, depends who's sitting at the table. 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:19.560 I mean, I've done that many times, and sometimes you 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:24.399 make friends for life, and sometimes you meet really interesting people. Yeah, 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.680 if it's a table containing you know, uh, you know 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:37.440 William Blake and Stevie Smith and Dmitriy Shostakovich and you know, 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.320 Michael Angelo, then I think that that could be an 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.440 interesting party, you know. And I wouldn't mind if I 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.600 didn't know anybody beforehand. I could find lots to talk about. 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:49.240 Well, I don't think we're going to be going to 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:50.799 that dinner party soon, but. 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:53.560 Perhaps in heaven, you know. See. 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.560 So just to be clear, you feel like you're on 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.840 the outside, but you don't have any social anxiety. 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.920 Social anxiety and not really No, I used to, but 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:12.520 I think I think I think I'm over it now. Actually, yeah, yeah, 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:13.440 I think I'm fine. 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.360 Did you always feel like an outsider your whole life? 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.919 Most of my life? Yeah, an outside yeah, in some ways, 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.000 a bit of a stranger in some ways. You know, 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:29.880 I was a bit of a solitary kid, I suppose, 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:35.280 and I still enjoy my own company. I need some 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:42.760 alone time generally speaking. So yeah, I mean I think 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.040 I engage were well with people when I engage. But 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:51.880 there is always that the artist thing where you're always 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:58.560 thinking in terms of reflecting, in terms of reflecting reality, 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:03.920 reflecting society, and I think to do that you just 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:09.320 have to be that that little one degree removed, just 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:10.640 to give yourself some perspective. 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.480 So you need your alone time. What do you do 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:15.600 in your alone time? 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:17.120 What do I do? 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:20.479 Well? 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:27.240 I get creative whatever that means, you know, you know, 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:32.000 I play music. I think about music. I compose music, 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.719 I compose lyrics and I watched the football. 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:40.920 Well, is your alone time because you want to create 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.040 or you're sick of hanging with people? 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.320 No, I'm not sick of hanging with people. It just 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:52.240 feels like a need. If it's not daily, then it's 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.240 certainly weekly that I just have to get away and 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.560 create something. And that's an old human it's not a 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.200 human traits. Isn't it like a creativity? I think we 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.039 love to create something where we look for inspiration, you know, 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.800 So I'm just looking for inspiration, Okay. 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:15.239 I find my best inspiration comes when I'm not looking 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:19.320 for it, primarily in the shower. Is there a moment 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.599 or a place where you find that you tend to 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.200 get the best ideas well? 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.640 The shower is very good, so is the bath, you know, 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:39.000 the Turkish bath very good. That work for Rumy gelidin Rumy. 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:36.360 I think. 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.200 But as Picasso said, you know, the music will find you, 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.680 but but it wants to find you working. And I 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.680 think sometimes you kind of have to meet creativity halfway. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:52.320 You can't just kind of let it come, or you 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:54.719 can wait for a long time and get very frustrated. 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.200 So I tend to kind of, you know, noodle at projects, 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.479 and then I find and at some point I get 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:07.359 in the right mental state to allow creativity in. 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.200 Okay, So this last album came, you know, essentially half 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:17.280 a decade after the previous album. You talked about working 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:21.720 to let the inspiration in. Was it that you decided 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.159 you were going to make another record or what is 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:25.280 that interim about. 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:32.360 I think the album process, unless you've got a deadline 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:37.919 that you have to, you know, grab, I think things 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.920 just accumulate. I think you accumulate enough material, and you think, well, 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:44.120 I've got I've got sixteen songs here. Surely out of 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.560 those sixteen, i've got twelve twelve good ones I can 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.720 put on a record, So let's book some studio time, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.880 you know. I think it works like that. Really, COVID 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.479 gave me a lot more time to write, but obviously 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.520 I couldn't tour, So that was two and a half 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.760 years of not touring. But you know, I wrote a 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.160 couple of EPs. I wrote this album, I wrote the 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.280 next album. I wrote a musical play, I'm one way ahead, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.120 I'm so far ahead, I can't believe it. 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:17.480 Okay. The last song on the album talks about needing 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:19.600 to go on the road to make the money to 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:23.920 make that whole work. So it didn't work for a 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.920 couple of years with COVID. Was that tough financially, Yeah, 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:29.120 really tough. You think, like a lot of musicians. I 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.000 had to had to dig into my pension. So many 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:34.320 people I knew did the same thing. 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.080 It was. It was tough, you know, on top of 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:43.120 an expensive divorce. But that was really tough. And I'm 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:44.040 still catching. 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:49.960 Up, okay. You know, you talk about an expensive divorce. 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:54.480 You get into the lyrics on this record and it 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:59.800 seems to be a divorce record, and then finding love 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.320 and it seems that, you know, you talk a lot. 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.120 The best song on me I'm for Me is trust, 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.720 and you talk about trust. How much is this reflective 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.960 of the relationship you were with and then you got divorced? 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.040 Probably nothing to do with that, really. I wrote the 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:25.160 song really about my wife, who's an adoptee, and adoptees 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.480 sometimes have a hard time trusting anybody, so so I 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.720 really write write it for her. I'm putting words in 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:35.880 her mouth. Frankly, It's an old trick, but I'll resort 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:42.240 to it if I have to and you know, she 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.360 has a hard time trusting people. She kind of trusts 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.480 me now after seven years fifty so that's an achievement. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:52.520 So how'd you meet her? 0:08:54.000 --> 0:09:00.880 I mean it backstage, classic friend of a friend, and 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.720 we're both from North London, both come from the same town, 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.280 you know, both come from the same background, share similar values, 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.520 and you know, just someone I have my I think 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.280 she's a wonderful person and she does do a lot 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.800 of work in the adopted your world, does a lot 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:28.480 of important work in that world, and I'm filled with admiration. 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:34.280 Did the new relationship have anything to do with the divorce? 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.960 You could say that I suppose. I think, you know, 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.320 I was married to my previous wife for you know, 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:49.720 thirty plus years, and I think at some point you 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.920 realize that that there's there's no life there. It's it's 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.240 a kind of a lifeless relationship and you're kind of 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:04.720 going through the motions. So yeah, well, without being too 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.760 specific about it, I should say that's true. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.400 And your present wife has children. Are they still in 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:13.960 the home or are they outside the home? 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:18.160 Her children are now just about left that they were 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:23.920 in their twenties, so they're now independent. Yeah, my kids 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:28.600 are much older. I got five kids. My youngest is thirty, 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:34.160 so my oldest is fifty something, so might have long 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:34.920 flown the coop. 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.880 When you got involved with your present wife, you were 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.319 living with her. Were the kids still in the. 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:46.560 Home, Yeah, some so, some were somewhat. 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.040 So what was it like starting all over with the 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.120 kids in your home? I mean that must have been 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.520 you know, some people say they don't want to do 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.160 that anymore. Been there done that? 0:10:56.080 --> 0:11:01.400 You know, I'm I think it was unfortunate that the 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:03.880 wee all got on very well. I mean I really 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.600 like us that Zarah's kids, so that they're great kids. 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:11.240 And you know, it wasn't like we were there all 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.840 the time. You know, sometimes I'm working. I was in 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.520 England some some of the time. She was in the States. 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.080 The kids went off to college at some point, so 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.280 it wasn't like we were, you know, under each other's 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:29.880 feet or anything. So just a nice relationships all round. 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.360 So you have five kids, A couple of them are 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.880 well known from your first wife. What are the other 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:36.800 three kids up do? 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.400 Let's see what my daughter came He is a musician, 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.120 My son Teddy's a musician, my son Jack's a musician 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:50.920 slash interior designer. My daughter Moona's basically a mother, she's 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:56.040 got five kids, and my son Jesse's kind of does 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:58.880 it stuff that I don't understand. 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:02.040 And are they all off the payroll? 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.200 Yeah? Pretty much? Yeah, thank thank God that they'll start 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.959 paying me at some point. I don't perhaps they'll support 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.200 me in the assisted living home. 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:20.359 And how much contact do you have with them? 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:26.240 My kids? Yeah, I'm pretty good, fairy frequent. I probably 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.240 see Teddy the most because when I'm in New Jersey, 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.520 he's in New York, so we're fairly close together. My 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.280 mother kids are all kind of around, you know, Southeast England, 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.480 so I'll see them all in the next couple of 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:40.199 weeks probably. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.679 So how most of the time you're in New Jersey now. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.920 It's about fifty to fifty I should say, yeah, between 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:49.960 London and New Jersey. 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:57.640 And with your previous wife, where were the locations. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:59.800 Between London and Los Angeles? 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:01.920 And was it still fifty to fifty? 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:03.840 I say pretty much? 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.120 Yeah, So you have a place in London. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.600 I have a place in London from which I'm speaking 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:10.199 to you right now. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.280 And how long have you had that place? 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:18.880 Oh golly, at least thirty years, probably thirty five years. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.559 And when you're not there, is there somebody stays for you? 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:24.720 Well, where we have people look after it. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:30.719 Yeah, okay, So what's the difference to you living in 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.680 Los Angeles is supposed to living in New Jersey. 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.560 I love Los Angeles. I love California as a state. 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.440 It's a beautiful state and it's full of variety, and 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.200 in many ways it's easy living. I mean it's expensive living, 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.040 but it's kind of easy in so many ways. Compared 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.400 to Britain anyway, New Jersey for me is a lot 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:58.199 more convenient. I'm much closer for doing you know, Atlantic 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:05.400 backwards and forwards stuff. I'm twenty minutes from the airport 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:09.720 and yeah, it's it's a handy place to be. I know, 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.960 just in New Jersey. I just live it. Live at 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.120 a condo and I've got a studio in the basement 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:21.480 which is great, and some good friends and that's all 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:21.920 I need. 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.560 And what's the difference between living in the US and 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.880 living in the UK? I think. 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.240 What's the truth that I think? You know, Europe's older, 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:44.239 that's the main thing. The The socialist historian Eric Hobsbaum 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:49.280 said late in life he said that the best place 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:53.480 is to live a constitutional monarchies because they give you 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:58.080 the greatest chance of freedom. And I feel that really 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:04.800 about Britain's a kind of stability to bring and you know, 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:09.160 there's a security so that people there's a lot of 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.440 things people don't worry about. That the kind of accept 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.360 a certain continuum that Britain's been around for a couple 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.440 of thousand years and it will continue to be around 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.520 in the future. Well, with America, it feels much more unstable, 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.160 and it feels like so much more like it like 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.840 a new country and has all the insecurities of a 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:35.680 new country. And you know, right now politically America is 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:40.760 very divided. Although politics in Britain is pretty bad, it's 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.440 never at that level. So I'm concerned about about America, 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.200 about how divisive it's become, and it seems to be 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:53.080 really tearing itself apart, and perhaps it'll end up as 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.120 being a bit more fragmented than it is now. 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:07.480 When you say there's more freedom in a constitutional monarchy, 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:08.960 can you amplify that? 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:15.240 Yeah, you think of the British royal family and you think, 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:17.680 you know that these are over privileged people. You know 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:19.800 that I mean, my god, you know what, we pay 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:21.760 them all this money and they dressed up in these 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:26.200 uniforms and they do these ceremonies, and is it all 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.080 really necessary? You know? I think, particularly if you're an American, 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.800 you could look at that and think it's ridiculous. But 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.200 I think in Britain, you think, you know, the Queen, 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:40.560 the King, you know, it is a kind of kind 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:45.600 of a continuity, and politicians come and go, and their 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.520 egos come and go, and their incompetence comes and goes. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.440 But there's a kind of stability about the fact that 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:56.560 the Queen was there for like seventy years and you know, 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:58.680 went through god knows how many prime ministers. You know, 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:00.880 you have a fair price. The first prime Minister is 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:10.320 Winston Churchill. So you know, there's there's this very very accomplished, 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:16.160 very knowledgeable figurehead in the Queen for seventy years, and Charles, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.640 I think also fills the same role. It's just a 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:24.000 sense of inheritance and continuity, and it means that there's 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.240 less emphasis on the politicians. I think in America sometimes 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.240 the politicians get treated almost like royalty. But you know, 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.200 mister President's you know, people kind of genuflector a bit 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.160 to just the office of president. 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:42.320 Okay, wait a second, we're in the US, so we're 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:46.240 one step removed. And we read about modern European history 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:50.560 when the kings and queens had all this power. But 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.960 to us the queen feels like a figurehead with no 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:59.440 political power. How do the people in the UK view 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.560 her or here now it's a king. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:08.680 But yeah, yeah, the view is a good idea. The 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.440 kings and queens of Britain I have have not had 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:18.200 constitutional power for a long time, so that they've always 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.760 been figureheads. As I said, they say the Queen reigne, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.080 she does not rule, but I should say now the 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.920 king reigns, he does not rule. So it's it's a 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.760 symbolic can continue them if you like, in theory that 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.920 the king can can dissolve parliament. He can say that's it, 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.320 you know, you're out, but he'll never do it. Like 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.000 a lot of things about British politics, a lot isn't 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:47.240 written down. It's just kind of tradition and and you 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:53.639 know a previous experience really so yeah, it's it's a 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:57.600 totally symbolic continuity. But but but it does take the 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:03.240 emphasis away from the politicians as themselves. And what about Brexit? 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:12.680 What about Brexit? Absolute mess, absolute mess. I'm a stupidity incompetence. 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:16.639 If you were going to leave the European Union, at 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.400 least have a plan, at least look at it thoroughly 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:24.399 and figure out what you're actually going to do. This was, 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.280 you know, the Conservative Party of Britain basically in fighting 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.200 and mister Cameron thinking well that the way I'll unite 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.840 the party is to have a referendum over Europe, which 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.720 is absolutely stupid. No one expected people to vote for 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:42.439 outs anyway, but they did. I had to. I had 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:47.639 to hold to that and it's a disaster. There's a 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:50.639 movement to rejoin the EU and I might be a 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:51.720 fan of that actually. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.280 And we hear, you know, labor just got in. But 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.919 we hear that the NHS is underfunded. We hear that 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:05.679 immigration did not decrease, which was one of the big 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:12.160 points of Brexit. What's the status of the country today. 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.840 I think you just hit hit upon the two big 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:21.679 issues right now, which is immigration. But Britain does not 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:25.359 have a successful immigration policy and that they're gonna have 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:29.000 to deal with that. It's serious stuff. And the NHS 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.480 has been underfunded for years and years and years. The 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.879 problem is the medicine keyps becoming more and more expensive. 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:41.400 You know, to treat certain patients you need big expensive machines. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:45.320 It costs a fortune and the NHS has not been 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.600 able to keep up. It's a brilliant idea, but it 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:50.560 just needs more funding. 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:54.000 And if you become ill, do you go to a 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.439 private doctor or the NHS? 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:03.520 What if I can afford, I'll go you a private doctor, okay, 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.119 or I'll get ill in America? Where where where I'm 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:08.680 on medicare? 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:12.480 So you grew up in notting Hill. 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.800 Briefly. Yeah, when we were five we moved to Highgate. 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:22.720 And for those of us you know geography challenge, where 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:23.080 is there? 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:28.639 Well, notting Hill is a few miles west of central London. 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:32.719 Highgate is about five miles north of central London and 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.199 it's kind of a leafy suburb or on the edge 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:38.000 of a leafy suburb. There's a big park called Hampster's Heath, 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:43.240 which is yeah, you can't build on it. It's like 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:47.119 too sandy to build on. So it survived in close 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:51.480 proximities London. And that's where I live now in London. 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:53.639 And what do your parents do for a living. 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.520 My mum was a housewife, my dad was a policeman. 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.800 So when marijuana and other things became a big deal, 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:07.239 and your father was a policeman, how did you square that? 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:17.119 Well, he said, probably in the seventies, you know, he 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.639 said to me. Oh yeah, people talking about marijuana all 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:22.240 the time. He said, Well, we used to call it 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:26.480 Indian hemp back in the day, and it's pretty talking 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.040 about the nineteen sixties or even the fifties, he said, yeah, 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:32.280 you know, well we used to confiscate some sometimes from 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.359 the West Indian immigrants, you know, and we'd have a 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:38.000 little smoke at the police station. And he said, it 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:42.600 didn't do much for me, he said. 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:43.360 And so how many kids in the family. 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:49.159 In Oh, my siblings just a sister. I have an 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:49.760 older sister. 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.159 And okay, you were born in forty nine. Did you 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:55.160 still feel the after effects of the war. 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:03.960 Yeah, well, London was pretty bombed, you know, during the war. 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:07.520 So as kids were we play on these bomb sites. 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.199 I mean, it's really dangerous and our parents didn't know 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.800 necessarily what we were doing, but you know, we play 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:17.880 in the broken glass and you know, thank thank god, 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:21.520 we never encountered an unexploded bomber or an incendiary or anything. 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:26.120 But you know what, we just you know what, it's 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:28.879 your childhood. You've got nothing else to compare it to. 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:33.119 So it just seemed fine, you know. And the street 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:36.560 we lived on was like all shrad or damage on 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:38.760 the buildings, and at the end of the street was 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:43.960 actually a bomb site. But that was just our child well, 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:45.639 we just had fun. We enjoyed it. 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:48.639 And when did the fog live? When did it go 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:52.280 from black and white to color? I think. 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:57.600 It probably took till sixty seven. I'm thinking, you know, 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:02.119 sixty three when the Beatles, Mary Korn's, you know, the 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:06.320 whole fashion and music thing. London became the center of 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:08.960 that whole world. I think it was still black and 0:24:08.960 --> 0:24:11.960 white then, and I think sixty seven with sort of 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:17.679 psychedelia flower power, I think then suddenly it turned it 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:22.000 turned to color far as I remember, and you know, 0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:24.600 the fifties was very gray as far as I remember 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:28.040 as a kid, that just seemed like the weather was great. 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:33.040 It's just seemed like the people's energy was kind of down. 0:24:33.920 --> 0:24:37.399 But as kids were we just enjoyed it anyway. But 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:41.160 looking back, it did seem basically kind of post war 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:45.639 you know, poversy really And what was it like when 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:56.639 the Beatles hit exciting? Exciting? I think, well, you know, 0:24:56.840 --> 0:25:01.240 even when I was I was like thirteen, fourteen years old, 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:05.480 it was very easy to get caught up in pop 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:07.679 culture because you had the radio, you had music on 0:25:07.680 --> 0:25:13.080 the radio, you had some very good TV shows for teenagers. 0:25:13.280 --> 0:25:16.440 And by the time I was fifteen, I was going 0:25:16.480 --> 0:25:22.400 out to hear bands, going out to clubs, folk clubs, 0:25:22.600 --> 0:25:26.399 rock clubs. I knew you had a lot of choice 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:29.240 in London. You had a huge variety of things that 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:32.600 you could go and see, so you kind of felt 0:25:32.600 --> 0:25:33.960 you were at the epicenter really. 0:25:35.080 --> 0:25:38.200 So from your house you could get the tube or 0:25:38.240 --> 0:25:40.120 how would you actually get to these clubs? And how 0:25:40.119 --> 0:25:40.840 long would it take? 0:25:42.600 --> 0:25:44.679 Yeah, you could take the tube or the bus. The 0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:46.879 tube is very quick. I mean from my from our 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:49.960 house at that point, we could you could be in 0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:54.240 town in like fifteen minutes, twenty minutes from the kind 0:25:54.240 --> 0:25:57.080 of inner suburbs. Well, when my parents moved us to 0:25:57.119 --> 0:25:59.320 the outer suburbs, it took it took about you know, 0:25:59.359 --> 0:26:01.080 half an hour thirty five minutes. 0:26:02.280 --> 0:26:05.480 So did your parents ever care that you went alone, 0:26:05.520 --> 0:26:11.840 or they say, hey, go be your own person. I'd 0:26:11.840 --> 0:26:13.040 always I'd always. 0:26:12.840 --> 0:26:15.720