S1 Ep12: New Year's Special with Bradley Walsh!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
He's a former professional footballer,

(00:02):
Bradley Walsh.
turned all-round entertainer.
I used to do impressions of Norman Wisdom and stuff like that messing around.
They said, why don't you enter the talent competition?
So I said, of course.
And I ended up winning the talent competition.
And...
the king of game show gaffs.
Fanny Schmiller.

(00:23):
With a TV career spanning an incredible four decades,
he's done everything from acting to singing.
Sun's shining, come on, get happy.
And beyond.
It was Ray Winston that actually said to me,
get back into acting, when I ended up in lot stuff.
No, Chaffee, that ain't my car.
That part changed my life.
He's the funny man who fronts our favourite TV game shows.

(00:47):
Ten points!
Give it up for Broncie, everyone.
But who is the man behind the laughter?
We're in this party and Dan Baldwin charged a barney
and he said, do you reckon you could get your dad to do that?
And Barney went, yeah, why not?
Jesus Christ.
I said to one of the crew, I said, get me in a car,

(01:08):
take me to the nearest pub.
I said, F this lot, I'm off.
I made him drive me down the bottom of the slope, the mountain.
I got in the pub, I had about four or five straight whiskeys
and I had a couple of pints before I could move.
Welcome to the Mile Fly Club, your VIP lane to first class travel tips.
Tell old talk and turbulent life tales.

(01:30):
Think the Mile High Club only with more clothes, but no less revealing.
Each week I'll be inviting high flying globetrotting guests to bear all in my club.
So if you're searching for some tantalising travel tidbits and a good old gossip,
you've arrived at the right destination.
Now sit back, relax and get ready to join me in the Mile Fly Club.

(01:52):
Ladies and gentlemen, we've now reached our cruising altitude.
I'll go ahead and turn off the seatbelt sign, so sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.
From Wheel of Fortune to Cory, The Chase, Blankety Blank, Gladiators and Breaking Dad.
His name is synonymous with TV and comedy.
He's the triple threat who's acted, sang and danced his way into the hearts of the nation.

(02:15):
Welcome to the Mile Fly Club.
Bradley Walsh, are you ready?
Bradley Walsh, are you ready to join the Mile Fly Club?
Yes, indeed. Let's do that.
Well, we're going to talk about The Chase because I came on that show
and I've not lived it down ever since I've been on the show.
Right. What happened?
Well, we'll talk about that in a minute.

(02:36):
Right, OK.
Because you know I've made two and a half thousand of them.
But I can't believe you don't remember the show with me.
I mean, I thought I was unforgettable. We've worked together.
Well, you are, Laura. I remember you.
I remember you when we first worked together in 2006, was it?
Or 2005, 2006, I think, probably.
Milton Keynes, you played Cinderella. You were lovely, delightful.

(02:58):
Well, that's it. Not many people will know that actually I've known you for that site over 20 years.
It's just coming up for 20 years.
Yeah, and you love a good panto.
I do.
So what keeps you going back to panto?
Well, if I'm brutally honest, I loved panto.
I thought panto was fabulous because it's the most fun you can have in the industry.

(03:19):
It's like the mini musicals.
And when I used to work on them, especially in the earlier days of your fledgling career, 2005, 2006 and 2007, that sort of stuff, I was producing them as well, really.
So when the year after we worked together, I then produced the following show.

(03:41):
And that got me into producing pantos.
And so I was very fortunate.
And I've done that sort of since.
So you're still producing panto?
I produce the odd show now, yes.
I mean, I haven't done for a few years because I've been too busy.
I've been too busy.
And I want Christmas off.
I remember having one Christmas off and thought, this is fantastic.

(04:04):
Because what you can do, you can have all the family around on Christmas Day, enjoy a drink.
I wasn't doing that.
I was making sure I was the one sort of being very stoic because you had to be in the theatre the following day, Boxing Day for two shows.
And it is a hard stuff, isn't it?
I mean, what did you do?
It is a hard.
13 shows a week?
Yes, 13 a week, something like that.
You and I never did that.

(04:25):
And I'll tell you why we didn't do that, because that was in my part of my deal.
I didn't do 13.
I didn't do 13 a week.
I only did a maximum of 12 to a day.
Yeah.
So I wasn't doing 300 Saturday.
And although we would do one in the morning and then one at lunchtime and have the after the evening one off, but that's very rare.
But that's the most fun you can have in a show.

(04:47):
I mean, if you've ever done West End shows, that is the most fun in the Panto because everyone's so, you know, they're sort of so focused on what they're doing in the West End show.
And it's obviously very serious.
The people are paying good money.
In Panto, they're not paying to see that.
What they're paying to see is you also having a great time.
So I used to just mess around the entire time.

(05:08):
Well, actually, you and I did have a bit of a thing going on where you said, I will make you laugh.
I will make you crack.
And you didn't.
And I was so proud of the fact that you didn't make me laugh until the second to last show.
And then I literally lost you on stage.
I do remember you saying that.
With a broom in my hand.
Yes.
But I'm really grateful that you've actually squeezed us in to see you today because you are busy.

(05:32):
And actually, if anyone is watching this right now, they will not just listening.
They will notice this is quite a different set up to usual because we've come to you in Elteri.
You've just finished filming The Chase.
You've come to the film studios. That's correct.
And I virtually live here now.
I live at the studios.
I have a constant room here now.
This is where I work from.

(05:53):
And yeah, so.
So how was The Chase today?
Well, we make three a day.
So we start at 10.
But today, I think we started at 10 to 10 and we were down by 430.
And we were making sure they're very short turnaround so we could get in, get this in, because once once I finish this now, I then got to go next door to for a zoom with some people in Japan and some people in London because I'm off to Japan in a couple of weeks.

(06:24):
So to work.
So it's a bit full on, but I can I'm all right because tonight I'll have a drink and I'll and I'll watch a bit of TV and I haven't got to get up in the morning.
You know what I mean? I can have a lay in.
But you do like to get up on a Sunday with a cup of tea and a biscuit and watch your favourite show.
Well, when it's not when you're not watching them off like you've got another favourite show.
I do. Yes.

(06:45):
And and funny because we sit there, Mark, Donna and I, and we watch and we watch you all the time.
You know, and we all when we go make the cup of tea, get the biscuits out the shortbread, my wife, love shortbread.
And we sit like, I wonder where Laura is today.
And we put on the set, we find out where you are.
And I'm always moaning, always moaning about that show.
Honestly, I think I've texted you before when these people waste your time, you trot about these countries and then they go, oh, you're not sure.

(07:13):
And then they go, you know, it's different now.
More people are buying.
They want to be abroad.
It's not just that, though. But when they say, you know, what are you looking for?
You say, what are you looking for?
And they go, and here's John and Jean from Coventry.
And they've they've sold their house and they're now looking.
And we're on the Costa del Sol.
We're in Estepona. That's where we are.

(07:34):
I'm flying on Sunday. Are you? Malaga.
Yeah. John and Jean.
How much have you got to spend?
And what are you looking for?
We're looking for a nice three bedroom home right by the sea.
That's what we're looking for.
But maybe views and stuff like near the cafes.
How much have you got?
Forty five grand. And what you want to do is punch the pair of them and go,
don't get a lot, slap them and say, get in the real world, you maniacs.

(07:56):
What are you going to get?
You're going to get what you're going to get.
Can you imagine if I turn around and we're getting the real world, you maniacs?
Yeah, we'll get another presenter.
But I want to you know, your career is phenomenal.
If I can say the word correctly, your career is phenomenal.
But you actually started as a footballer.
I did, yes. I did.

(08:17):
Funny enough, I was at I was at I was out during the week and someone come up to me
and it's a mutual friend of the family's name is Paul Kurbishly.
And he's the brother of Alan Kurbishly, who played for Birmingham City,
managed Charlton Athletic, played for Charlton West Ham.
And Paul was a pro and Paul brought in a program from 1978 where he was playing

(08:41):
for Charlton Athletic and I was playing for Brentford and we're on and we're on the team.
We're on the team sheet.
He said, have you ever seen this?
I said, no, I said, no, I haven't.
He said, you can keep hold of that.
But how it came about was I was I'd played at Watford Juniors as a as like a 14, 15 year old.
Then I'd played at Barnet under with Jimmy Greaves.

(09:05):
And then I got seen playing just local football.
I thought that was the end of it, seen playing local football.
And he the guy come up to me at the end.
He was the groundsman as well at Brentford, but also a scout.
And he said, look, we've been watching you for a few weeks.
We know you played at Watford and at Barnet.
Can you come and play in a game on Monday evening at Griffin Park against South End United?

(09:31):
We want you to play.
So I said, OK. So I played and I had a phenomenal game.
And I scored the winner.
We beat South End United 2-1.
And I signed on for the rest of the season immediately after the game in my kit.
I chomped up the stairs of my studs into the boardroom, signed on immediately for the rest of the season and the following season after that.

(09:52):
But to be fair, I was plagued with injury.
My ankles were just no good.
I've got I don't know. I've got ankles that sort of hang funny.
If I jump in the air, they hang funny.
So if I don't correct in the air, I land and twist them all the time.
And that's what used to happen.
I used to tear ligaments all the time.
And now my knees have totally gone.
So I'd probably need a new knee.

(10:14):
And what's interesting about old football is now I'm I'm coming up for I'll be 65 soon.
And and where are we now?
Actually, I'm 64. I'll be 65 in June.
I'll be. And so I don't know if as you get older, your math leaves you and your memory.
And and the thing is now footballers of my age, we also when we meet up,

(10:37):
old players, we all say the same thing.
We just wish we'd never kicked a ball in our lives.
It's really weird.
Well, because you get your wrecked, your legs, your lower limbs from there,
maybe your hips down, just totally wrecked, totally wrecked.
Because when we played, we'd have injuries.
We used to have injections.
We used to have injections in your legs to keep you going.
So how old were you when you decided to knock football on the head

(11:01):
and transition to an entertainer?
Well, I stopped playing.
How did that happen?
I stopped playing pro football at the age of 21.
And I stopped playing football at the age of 25, 26, maybe.
I played in non league football.
Funny enough, I played for Borum Wood.
And then but what happened was I got let go by Brentford and they said, look,

(11:23):
we had a new manager coming guy called Fred Callahan.
It's a great story.
He comes in Fred Callahan and he played for Fulham and he came in as the Brentford manager.
Anyway, he called me into the office and he said, look, we're letting you go.
I said, hold up, what, Fred? No, no, no, let's go.
He said, Brad, sorry, mate, you're always on the treatment bench.
He said, you're always injured.
We can't afford to keep players on that are always injured.

(11:45):
We're paying you for just laying on a bed.
What's the point of that?
And I went, OK, fair enough.
So anyway, a pal of mine called Bob Booker, who was playing at Brentford at the time,
and went on to play for Sheffield United and Brighton said to me, Brad, don't look.
Well, she don't worry about us.
I said, well, it's come on, don't worry.
We'll all go on holiday.
And it took we all went to Majorca and we went to this play called Calama place called Calama

(12:06):
Skeeter in Majorca, which at the time back in the day before you were born was it was called
Holiday Club Pontinental.
It was part of the Pontians group.
And I was always messing around when I played football was on the pitch or in the baths or in the
dressing room or whatever, or in the bath, by the way, to don't forget back in those days, we had
communal baths.
You jump in a bath covered in mud.

(12:28):
People don't realise this is what happened.
You know, there was no there were showers.
There were showers and but single baths.
Covered in mud.
And all in mud and sweat in the bath together like like a 10 foot by 10 foot by five foot bath.
Seriously, seriously, people would you think you're making up, but that's absolutely true.
And funny enough, up until they did demolish Wembley, that's what they had a Wembley as well.

(12:52):
Seriously, big baths.
I'm not joking.
So anyway, and so he said, look, let's go to we'll go on holiday together.
It's Calama Skeeter holiday club Pontinental.
And I used to do impressions of Norman Wisdom and stuff like that messing around.
And so they said, why don't you enter the talent competition?
So I said, of course, let's go into the talent competition.

(13:14):
And I and I ended up winning the talent competition with this impression.
So I got free drink for the rest of the week for us.
Free booze.
And then a block.
Are you allowed to do that as a footballer?
Well, it was close season.
By the way, don't forget, I've just been sacked.
So I can do anything I want.
And and at the end of the week, this guy comes up to me and he was like their entertainment manager.
And he said, we're affiliated to Pontin.

(13:36):
You know, I said, oh, yeah, I know.
Yeah, I know that.
He said, do us a favor.
He said, why don't you apply to be a blue coat?
He said, you do impressions.
You'd be fat and and you can coach football as well.
So I went to see I went to this audition and I went down and I got the job.
And they said to me, there was a lady called Jan Kennedy.
She was taking the auditions.
And she said, who then became an agent with the Billy Marsh Associates and stuff and ran that.

(14:01):
She said to me, do you know what Jan and Jim Kennedy that was running Pontin's at the time?
And she said, we think you were we actually think you're overqualified for this job.
But do you want to be a blue coat?
So I said, yeah, I really do.
So I went home, got this got this blue coat job and I never forget it was 40.
I think it was 40 pounds a week.

(14:22):
And I just got my job back in the factory where I was I'm a jet engineer by trade.
So which are you?
Yeah, a lot of people don't realize you're a jet engineer by trade yet.
So I used to work for Rolls Royce and I went through their college and their technical school after I finished school.
So I was playing football at the same time going to their technical school.
So I came out the other side and fully qualified and so I gave up my job, just gave up this job as a jet engineer.

(14:50):
And I could work anywhere in the world.
And I went to become a blue coat upon it.
It's like I was netting like 38 pounds.
So why? What was it that drew you to that?
I'll tell you what it was, Lord.
It's because you're if you've got a bit of a free spirit, it's very hard.
You can't sit in an office.
You know, if I wasn't in show business now on doing what I do, when I do an hour, do it and when I want to do it, I'd be I've always said my dream job would be a greenkeeper on a golf course because I'm being the outdoors or in the forestry game or something.

(15:21):
I don't know what a gamekeeper because I couldn't be cooped up indoors.
And that's what I felt in this factory and not.
And the factory I worked at is now the Warner Brothers studios at Leavesden, Harry Potter, where they make Harry Potter.
Yeah, they used to.
And the film studios up there.
So that was my that was where the factory was.
And so I gave that job up and went to become a blue coat.

(15:43):
And then when you were at Pontins, you were a coordinator in football.
And then is it right?
You booted a child in the head of a football.
I actually I actually did.
I actually did.
That's exactly what happened the first day.
The first day, the very first day of the coaching football coaching.
They kept me on as a blue coat.
I after that I had to call the bingo.

(16:04):
But they kept me on this football coach and everyone turned up.
It was Middleton Towers, Morecambe, Lancashire and all the mums.
Dad's turned up because they said, there's this we got this blue coat.
We're so lucky to have this blue coat.
He's a pro footballer.
He's going to teach all the kids to play football.
And then you go, I mean, literally the first ball, the first ball, the bloke bloke, the one or the others through the ball, a dad through the ball.

(16:25):
And I and I rebone it and a rebone.
It was like you stand on your iPhone and you flick it like that on the half folly.
And it and I thought it's going straight towards it and it went I just miskewed it and it went like an exocet missile and this little girl smacking the face.
Oh, God.
She's like about six.
So literally it feels like football was like no, no, no, no, you are not meant to be doing this.

(16:48):
So about eight years ago.
I'm sitting in Bolton's restaurant in the city and old football pals of mine, Tony Gale and Tony Cotty played at Everton and Fulham and all those.
And I said, Brad, do you want to come along and Les Strong played at Fulham?
Oh, great old players.
I said, Brad, we're having this charity, dude, you want to come along?

(17:09):
I said, yeah, sure.
No worries.
So we sit and having a bit of dinner and Les Strong's phone rings and Les Strong played at Fulham with Fred Callahan.
So who sacked me at Brentford and Les looked at me and he's got his phone and he's gone, Brad, Brad, look, look, look, look, look, it's Fred.

(17:32):
And I went, oh, he said, talk to him.
I went, no, I'm not interested.
I hadn't spoken to Fred in 35 years, 40 years.
Anyway, he rings and goes, hello, Fred.
He said, what are you up to?
You can hear Fred go, what are you up to?
So I'm at a do here with Gale and Tony Cotty.
It's a big old dude with football, with lovely, with a few shirts, with auctioning and stuff like that.

(17:54):
He said, I've got an old pal of yours here, Fred.
He said, do you want to speak to him?
And Fred, who is it?
He spoke like, who is it?
He said, I'll let him introduce him.
Anyway, I get over the phone, get hold of the phone and I say, hello, Fred.
And he goes, he goes, who's that?
And I said, it's Bradley Walsh.

(18:16):
And he went, I'll bet you're glad I effing sacked you now.
Did he?
That's exactly what he said after 35 years.
He said, I bet you're glad you're effing sacked.
And what did you say back?
I said, thanks, Fred.
You did me a proper favor, mate.
Yeah.
But what's interesting, and I was talking the other day to, oh crikey.

(18:37):
This is, this is trouble when you get to an age of memory goes, we were talking to an old player.
I was in Portugal and we were chatting away and I said, do you know what?
I said, I'd give everything I've got now, everything I've done.
I'd give it all up.
I'd let you have it all to have played one game for England, to represent the country, be the best 11 players in the country at that time.

(19:00):
That's how much I loved football.
You clearly love it so much now.
But do you know what though, Lord?
I can't watch, I can't watch football now.
I can't watch Premier League football.
What, because it frustrates you?
Well, not just because it frustrates me, it's because it is what it is.
It's all about the money.
It's foreign owners and I'm going to think about foreign owners, too many of them want foreign managers.
What that does is that doesn't help our national game.

(19:23):
So when our national game suffers and not just that, but the younger and more diminutive clubs suffer, the Wiccan Wanderers as well, Exeter City, you know, Leighton Orient.
And they always say to me, like anyone who says, who don't realise I played a bit, and whilst you're a bit of a dinosaur having played in the third division way, way, way back in the day, they say to you, you know, what do you think?
You know, Pep Guardiola is a great coach.

(19:45):
Isn't he a great coach?
He's the best coach in the world.
Guardiola.
And you go, is he really?
They go, no, no, he really is.
His system's such.
So tell you what you do.
You take Guardiola.
You take all of his backroom staff, put him in charge, Leighton Orient and see how long he lasts.
Because they haven't got a penny to spend.
If you're playing for City and you've got all those, you know, you've got those, the richest people in the world beyond, you can buy anyone you want.

(20:10):
So of course you can have the greatest team.
You don't know.
I could manage Man City.
You could manage Man City.
Yeah, well, I know nothing about football.
You don't have to.
You just turn up on a Saturday lawn and say, guys, just do what you've been doing every week.
That's what you've got to do.
Yeah.
So it feels like you're a little bit frustrated really about like that part of your life or do you not, you know.
No, I don't. It's sliding doors.

(20:31):
Once one door shuts, another one opens and you've got to accept it.
You've got to accept that.
And that phone call that you received from him saying, I bet you're glad, you know, I sacked you.
Look at the way your life turned out.
And it's amazing.
And obviously they say that making the audience laugh is one of the hardest things to do.
Do you have to work at it or like listening to you go back to your sort of like pontoon stays and doing the impressions?

(20:53):
Is it something that just came naturally?
I think that I guess it was, but I also think it's maybe something inbred into you in school.
And I think that maybe because I wanted to be accepted.
I was a very diminutive kid.
I was tiny and not much of a fighter, I suppose.

(21:14):
So to fit in, you just become the court jester, basically.
Otherwise, you get a whooping every other week.
And I just think that's the way it was back in the day in the late 60s, early 70s.
And I've got to be honest with you, I lived in Levedon and that area and I had the most fantastic childhood.
I really did, because we played outside.

(21:35):
People like, it was like the Enid Blyton.
We used to play on farms and down by the rivers and make our own boats and all sorts of that.
Ride cows.
No, seriously, make camps inside all the hay barns that no one had find you because you'd take a bale of hay out.
That'd be your door.
And inside you'd walk in, it'd be the size of a small house and no one would know you were in there.

(21:57):
So you'd take all your camping kit.
You know, it was the most idyllic and fishing and stuff like that.
The sort of thing you'd see on, well, the Larkins, funny enough, when I made the Larkins.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just another one of your TV dramas that you did, Kyle Larkin.
I know. So for me, I had a wonderful time.
I really did. We used to and I could never remember any summer being miserable.

(22:18):
I always loved the summer.
But I loved school, though, to be fair. I loved school.
I thought school was great.
What would you what advice would you give to somebody that wanted to break it as a comedian or go into the world of showbiz?
I think what you have to do as a comedian, especially you develop a very thick skin and there becomes a certain moment in your life.
It's a light bulb moment and you do not care what anybody says or thinks about you.

(22:42):
If you start if you worry about what anyone thinks of you, you'll be their prisoner for life.
It's as simple as that. And once there's only one way to free yourself and that is to not care.
And you should. And I tell this to we got a film school across the road here.
And I sometimes go and give talks to the film school and people that want to get into the film and television game.
And I always say to them, you know, never, ever look back.

(23:05):
That's not where you're heading. You cannot do that.
Just keep going. You know, Churchill once said something which is but no more what you do in your life or how it pans out or whatever happens to you.
You know, if you are going through hell, keep going.
It's as simple as that. You know, people find trauma today.
The kids with I don't know, tick tock or Instagram or whatever is this online bullying or whatever it is.

(23:28):
I mean, it's anxiety. We didn't have that when I was a kid back in the day.
We used to do TV shows and on a Sunday you'd wait for the papers to come out and they'd have, you know, you'd be as the show hit.
Now everyone's got an opinion. Don't adhere to that.
Don't don't don't. And I'd say to the youngsters, just don't do that.
It's very hard, though. No, no, it is.

(23:50):
It is because there'll be a thousand good comments, great comics.
You'll just focus on the one. And why would you ever take the opinion of someone you've never met?
I just doesn't compute with me. It just really doesn't.
So let's talk about the chase. You've done the show for many years.
You've obviously just been filming today. Yeah.
Any particular funny standout moments?

(24:13):
Well, clearly not my episode back in the day.
We used to they deliberately would try and mess me over by getting you back.
You mean no, no, what they would do, what they would do.
They put questions up because I don't read the questions. I don't I don't read them.
I don't pre read the questions. I do it as is.
I play the game with the. Yeah. Yeah.

(24:34):
And so what what they would say, they'd come up.
Why do you why do you not prepare them? Why do you not do that?
You just like to know because I think it's spontaneous.
If I get a reaction, then it's much better.
You know, you can over rehearse everything.
And, you know, it's like and it's like when you do a drama, I very rarely do two takes.
Very rarely. Very rare. I do two takes.

(24:57):
That's that's the moment it happens.
I've learned that from a couple of real good directors.
And that's what happens in that moment. That's what you'll do.
There's no point in trying. There's no such thing as a perfect performance.
There isn't. That's in the eye of the beholder.
And I think that when we do when we do the chase, I'd rather the questions come up and I read it along.

(25:19):
And I'm a bit like Cancaman. You know, I'll read what's on the auto cue or I'll read what's in there.
So I read it and half the time I don't realize what I've said.
And it's not until afterwards it dawns on me.
So, for instance, the Fanny Schmeller moment is became quite iconic because people still today think I'm corpsing deliberately, but I'm not.
That's actually me laughing. I had no idea that was up.

(25:43):
And then after that, the question setters then decided to try and catch me out.
And they used to have bets who would be able to catch me out.
So plenty of moments on the chase within the.
Well, my episode that I film with you and I appreciate you do so many episodes.
I'm sat here and I'm looking at that little mini fridge over there because your question and it sticks so well.

(26:05):
It's like firmly cemented in my head. You speak quite quickly.
I speak quite quickly and you asked me this question and it was right.
This form of electrical appliance comes in three forms, ceiling, floor and wall.
And I didn't hear the word ceiling and I said fridge.
All right. So fam is the answer.
It was fan. Yeah.
And of course, that episode has been repeated about five or six times.

(26:27):
And every time it's on the amount of online trolling, I get people saying, have you seen him on the chase?
She's so thick. She's such an airhead.
Like, who would think a ceiling fridge and you joke, you went, how many how many houses do you go into on a place in the sun law?
And you open the fridge and you go, do you want a beer?
I'm going to see you and literally, I just never live it down.

(26:48):
Well, you know what?
What the beauty of beauty of you is, you're not trying to laugh at yourself and not trying to have fun.
And I think that's wonderful.
That's how it should be self-deprecating humor.
It never hurt anyone.
And I think you should be very proud of that moment.
I'm very proud of what you do.
The problem with people is you must remember this.
And I'm talking to every single person on the planet and everyone is listening.

(27:10):
Jealousy is one of the most deadly sins.
Jealousy is and people are jealous.
They'll be jealous of you.
They'll be jealous of you because you're beautiful.
They'll be jealous because you because you're bubbly.
They're jealous because you're a lovely girl and you're jealous because you're earning a living in television.
They're jealous.
They're jealous because you'd be able to walk down the street.
They're jealous because you can go to sleep and like this is people, envious people.

(27:33):
And it's all it is. It's envy.
And it's a shame.
It's just a it's just a very poor human part of nature.
I suppose I've always I've always speak so highly like I always feel like you're you're like really supportive.
You've always been really supportive of my career.
So I really appreciate it again.
I love I've loved what you do.
It's funny because I worked on Doctor Who with with Jodie Mandip and Tosin.

(27:58):
And in the end they just all they everyone they were calling me dad and I really quite liked it.
Do you know what I mean?
I really quite liked it.
Any problems they they'd come and ask me what they what they should be doing and what they shouldn't be doing.
And in regards the industry.
I mean, you've done so many things.
How do you have a career that spans musicals, singing albums, presenting, acting?

(28:23):
Yeah.
How how has it happened?
Do you know what? I don't I don't really know.
I hated getting the pigeon.
I hated getting pigeonholed.
That was for me was the deadly sin.
And and it's really, really, really it's an awful place to be.
Is that if that's the only thing and you think I've got to see if I'm not if I was to come into the studios every day and do the chase every day after a while it would drive me mad.

(28:51):
But you've done it an incredibly long time.
So what is it that you know?
Well, I only people.
But don't forget, I only do.
We film free a day.
So I only really do 50 days a year on the chase.
So there's three hundred and ten, three hundred and fifteen other days the year I do other stuff in.
And that's what keeps me going.
Then I'll do a drama or I might produce something or I'll do this or I do that.

(29:12):
And I think that for me or, you know, I run I got other businesses going outside of the industry.
Do you ever switch off?
I probably don't.
The only the only thing the only place I love and I can switch off entirely, which I leave my phone indoors.
This is absolutely true.
It's Portugal.
So when we go to Portugal, my phone stays indoors and I've got a little Vespa and I pop off down the shops and stuff like that.

(29:36):
Meet me mates or Joe or me and Don.
Don jumps on the back of the Vespa and we're off.
No one knows it's us.
We're like, pull off.
We go.
Yeah, it's terrific.
And funny enough, I actually went on there.
I sit on the beach.
I watch all the boats go by and and a couple of my mates are skippers down there on the boats.
And, you know, and when you go.

(29:57):
Talking about Portugal, that is where you've got your property.
Yeah.
Do you call it?
Yes.
Home.
Did you see Portugal was more home than the UK?
I think this is a I think UK is a workstation.
If I could if I could work in Portugal, I think that would ruin it.
I think that would ruin it.
And I think to be able to go to Portugal and sit on the beach and I don't know.

(30:21):
There are a load of people in our game live near me in Portugal.
And they don't go on the beach.
And they live right by it.
They won't go on the beach because they're maybe a little bit concerned that people will be coming up to him and stuff like that.
I don't care.
Do you get recognized when you do?
But it's like you're virtually I think if you make a big deal out of it, I think you'll come unstuck.

(30:44):
If you were to walk, for instance, if you were to walk up Epping High Street with me now, right.
People literally are walking past you, you who in real money I may only have ever seen once or twice in my lifetime.
And I've done known to say they'll go, I know Brad.
Brad, hey, Brad. All right, Brad.

(31:05):
How's it going?
How's Lulu the dog?
Also, I go, yeah, hello there.
How are you?
And you get treated like a greengrocer or the person owns the dry cleaners because it's just the way it is.
You know, and I like it like that.
I think it's great.
You know, if you're walking around with a baseball cap and dark glasses, you're asking for trouble.
I always think it's nice when people do say hello and talk to you because without the audience, right, you wouldn't be the success that you are.

(31:35):
I just think that you've got to.
I've been very lucky as well.
I've made some I made some bad choices and I've learned from those and I've made some really good choices.
And what you do about choices?
There are different shows that you work on, you think, oh, I've hit the post with that.
I'll get it right next time.
I used to do nothing but pilot shows.
I used to make nothing but pilot shows that never got a second chance.

(31:58):
And I saw the potential in the chase 15 years ago and that was it.
I thought, well, this will run maybe if I get two or three years out of this, it'll be fine.
I didn't know it was going to be a phenomenon and spin off and all the rest of it.
You know, so it's been it's been great.
It's been great.
Is there a show that you did a pilot for that didn't take off that you're absolutely gutted about or a career choice that you wish you'd made and you didn't?

(32:22):
I always remember Bruce Forsythe saying he wished he'd never done so many quiz or game shows and had done more drama.
And I didn't really do drama.
Yeah, he did.
Bruce, he did.
He did sitcoms and stuff like that.
Yeah. And he was in I think he was in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Disney films and stuff like that.

(32:43):
And he was a wonderful entertainer.
But I just think that Monkhouse was a very good actor.
Ken Dodd was a very good actor.
So comedians make it was Ray Winston that actually said to me, get back into acting when I went in when I ended up in in Lockstuck, the TV series for Channel 4.
And that started the whole thing off because I got turned down for the film Snatch.

(33:07):
They didn't.
Which part were you up for in Snatch?
I was up for I think it was Bricktop or something like that.
One of the Bricktop's henchmen.
Alan, the great Alan Ford's actor is henchman.
And the fact was Guy Ritchie is to me, I think Guy Ritchie strangely enough is having seen what he did with Lockstuck and the original and that sort of now The Gentleman and other stuff he's made.

(33:36):
I think he's a genius.
I think he's so clever.
And and I just think that he didn't want me in the film because I'd been working on The Wheel of Fortune and he couldn't see how I would have brought Gravitas to the part.
I would have made the decision back in the day.
You wouldn't care about it now because everyone does, you know, all the American film stars do TV shows and presents TV shows and stuff as well.

(34:03):
So he saw you presenting We're Fortunate and thought no, he's never going to work as a gangster.
He didn't. Someone told him.
Someone told him I present these.
Do you know that guy?
He's the one who presents The Wheel of Fortune apparently.
And then he said, well, he's not going to bring any Gravitas so we won't have him in the film.
I was there at the reading with them all.
I was where with Jason Statham and Brad Pitt and Trudy Styler and all that.
I was there with them in the reading.

(34:25):
I turned up to do the narrative of the reading I had.
And after Ray Winston saying you've got to get back.
Ray Winston said to me, we were playing in a charity football match at Wembley Stadium, Chelsea versus Middlesbrough.
After the game, Ray said, we're having a drink and a bite.
He said, you've got to knock all that quiz show game on the head, get back into the acting.
And I said, because I acted years ago before that.
There's no money in it.
And I said, OK.

(34:46):
And I was there the whole day and on the Monday, I rang my agent by the Thursday, he'd got me a job reading the narrative for this new film, Snatch.
And that was it.
And then because I didn't get that job, Guy Ritchie then started.
I was told that they felt a bit sorry for me and they'd started this TV series, Lock Stocky Barrelly thing on Channel 4 and said, oh, we've given them a part in that.

(35:08):
And that changed my life.
That part changed my life.
Seriously.
Why?
Because they got fired from the Wheel of Fortune.
I TV, you know, they didn't.
It was a bit too much for them.
I was a bit too lively for them.
They just wanted a straight game.
Oh, so you were thinking I've been fired from playing football.
Now am I going to get fired from a TV career?

(35:29):
I TV don't want me.
True, true.
And and what happened was that I'd I got this job on Lock Stock and A Fistful of Jack and Jules, the episode was.
And I'm standing at the elephant and castle and standing and I'm watching my stunt double being thrown out of a fourth story window.

(35:51):
I played the villain, Larry Harmless, a homicidal builder.
I know.
And and having buried someone in concrete the day before, which in actual fact is porridge.
They just get a whole thing of porridge, mix up porridge and pour it in.
That's concrete.
Yeah.
In film terms.
So anyway, and so I've got I'm watching my stunt double getting thrown and it was four stories.

(36:18):
So it's it and he's going to land on a load of boxes.
It took ages to set up.
And then and then he he you hear a thump on the top of the van and you see me slide down the windscreen of the van.
Anyway, I'm standing watching this stunt and a bloke comes and stands next to me.
And he's and you're tied into this story.
And he said to me, oh, yeah.

(36:39):
He said to me, he said to me, you enjoy this?
And I said, yeah.
I said, it's a July captain.
I said, yes.
So I said, there's no money in it.
Nobody just laughed his head off.
He said, look, if you we think you got potential.
I said, oh, thanks so much.
He said, would you like to do some more acting?
He said, yeah.
He said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do.
Why don't you take my number?
He said, if you ever want any advice, give us a shout.

(37:00):
And I said, OK.
I said, what's your name?
He said, Tony Wood.
And I said, Bradley Walsh.
He went, no, I know of you are.
He said, I said, what do you do, Tony?
He said, I'm the executive on the show.
So I said, OK, fair enough.
So anyway, Tony Wood becomes head of continuing drama at ITV.
And I end up being put up for this job on the bill.

(37:25):
So I go and see him.
I ring him.
I say, Tony, look, you know you said to me,
I could ring you any time for advice.
He says, yes.
I said, well, I've been put up for this job on the bill.
He said, I know.
You better come in and see me, whether it's specifically
written for you.
And I went, wow.
Wow.
So I said, right.
So I go in and see him.
And I said, I'm sorry, Tony.

(37:48):
So how do you?
He said, look, I came to see you once in a play.
He said, in a.
It wasn't Cinderella in Millgate.
No, no.
He said, I came to see you in a play.
Damn, I could have got my big break as well, Bradley.
He said, I know.
He said, I came to see you in a play at the Whitehall Theatre.
With my brother.
I said, who's your brother?

(38:09):
He said, Kevin Wood.
And for the listeners and the viewers now, Kevin Wood was the producer of the show.
Me and Laura in Cinderella in Milton Keynes.
And they were brothers.
And he said, and I saw you there.
And he said, you were very funny.
I said, I think it was a bit of a faster Ray Kearney fast written by Michael Kearney.
Anyway, and he said, do you want to do this show?
This, you know, we've written it for you.
I said, I said, I want to do the bill.

(38:31):
I said, I really don't.
He said, oh, why not?
I said, I'd rather not.
Thanks.
I don't want to do it.
Wow.
And he said, well, I turned it down.
Yeah.
And he said, well, why?
I said, because at the time the bill was, and this is going to sound terrible.
It was where a lot of soap actors ended up.
Do you see what I mean?
So people who'd left EastEnders or left Cory or left.

(38:55):
It was kind of like, yeah, it ended up in the bill.
And I didn't want to do that.
And he seemed to, it seems terrible now.
And I don't wish to seem disrespectful to anyone for at the moment, it seemed a bit of a backward step.
And I was on, they were asking me to do it.
And if I'm getting asked to do jobs, you know, I'm up for films, but I'm not getting them.
But I'm getting close.
I'm hitting the post and hitting the bar, you know, that sort of thing.

(39:18):
So anyway, he said to me, I okay.
He said, would you move, would you ever go to Manchester?
I went, for what?
It's incredible that they're like, they wanted you so much that they were creating or Tony was creating these roles.
Yeah, and he said, would you go to Manchester?
And I said, why?
He said, well, I'm leaving ITV and I'm going to become the executive producer on Coronation Street.

(39:42):
He was going to stay at, he was going to stay at ITV but run Coronation Street.
And I went, oh, and he said, he said, they've got Shane as Alfie Moon and we want an Alfie Moon in Cory.
And I went, he said, go and ask Donna.
I went home, saw Don.
She said, oh, you've got to go for it.
And that was it.
We were away.
I'm out of Coronation Street, kept me contract to ITV, went into Law and Order, got the lead in Law and Order, the number one as Ronnie Brooks, come out of that, did another drama, did a couple of small films, did work for Ken Loach, did a movie.

(40:15):
Non-stop.
Yeah.
Non-stop.
And you're obviously a family man.
I want to talk about Barney.
I want to talk about travel a bit as well because we need to get your, you know, your love of travel in there.
Barney, your son, I know he did Panto with you, but have you always seen him wanting to follow in your footsteps?
No, absolutely not.

(40:36):
Oh, really?
No, no, no.
And I'll tell you for why, because when we were working together in Milton Keynes, Barney was coming along with Don and we, when we ever did Panto, we'd always have Christmas time together in the Panto I was in and we'd set up all the trestle tables, all the food along the,
on what we call turn alley, you know, where all the acts are and stuff like that.

(40:59):
And Don would set all the stuff up and Barney used to come along and used to play and mess around with the kids, the dupes in the show.
And then he said one day, he said, I'd love to do what they do.
And I said, okay, so I rang, I said to Kev, do you want to, do you need another kid in the show?
And he went, yeah, why not?
So Barney took the part of whatever it was.

(41:21):
So Barney got his little part.
Yes, yes.
And was cast in a Panto.
Do you know what's interesting though, Lord, that's if, when anyone says to me, what's your proudest moment in showbiz?
That was it.
Barney getting that part and then saying, you know, and do you want to come to work?
And he said, yeah, it was great.
And it took another, I don't know, I know, 18 years or whatever it was, 10 years, whatever it was, to then go back on, to go on the road.

(41:45):
He's a talented musician as well, isn't he?
Yeah, he's a jazz piano player.
Incredible pianist.
Yeah, he's really good.
He's really played at Ronnie Scott's and stuff.
He's a good player, Barney, yes, great.
Well, I've seen him on Breaking Dad.
Yes.
Playing piano.
Yes, yes, yes.
Wow, love it, love it.
Yeah.
I mean, how amazing is that getting to travel the world with yourself?
And do you know, do you know why?

(42:06):
Do you know, this is absolutely true, how this came about.
I'm at a party in Portugal, right?
Someone shows me a video and it's their mum, their 80 year old mum is wing walking.
Is this the guy in Ireland, there's a guy in Ireland who does it with his mum?
No, no, that's, you know, a hundred ways to kill your mammy.

(42:29):
So we're in this party and someone says, hey Brad, look at that, look at that.
I went, oh yeah, wing walking, why would you do that?
Why, you're mad.
And I said, who's that nut on the wing?
He said, it's my mum.
I went, oh, sorry.
I said, oh dear.
He said, no, she's nuts, she's nuts.
I went, oh right.
I said, how old is she?
She went, 82.

(42:51):
I went for crying out loud.
What does that matter?
Well, and Dan Baldwin, Holly's husband standing next to me.
And he said, would you do that?
And I went, certainly.
I said, are you sure?
I said, no, absolutely not.
And he turns to Barney and he said, do you reckon you could get your dad to do that?
And Barney went, yeah, why not?

(43:13):
And that was it.
And then you were in a little plane.
That's an episode that I love.
You were flying, because I've been learning to fly.
OK, I haven't been doing it for a little while because I've just been too busy.
But I saw you in the back of that tiny little plane and you were literally shitting yourself.
You know why though, Laura?
You know why?
Because I'm not driving.
You're not in control.
Exactly.
That's all it is, mate.
That's all it is.

(43:34):
I'm not in control.
So when I sit in the back of the car, because we have to get driven to work.
People think we get driven to work because it's flash, but we have to get driven to work for insurance purposes.
So to get you there on time and you're not driving, it's da da da da da.
I head down and I'm working.
You don't like him in the car being driven by somebody else.
Oh, no, no, no, no.

(43:55):
Right.
So tell me then a bit more about Breaking Dad.
The most emotional moment you've had that was in Costa Rica.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, there's so many.
There's too many to mention.
Barney said something to me in the RV one day.
And I actually do drive the RV and I love it.
So how come you're allowed to drive that then if you've got to drive yourself to work for insurance purposes?

(44:17):
No, because we're aboard.
It's part of the show.
The insurance is very heavy for that.
But Barney can never drive.
You have to be over 25.
He's 26 now.
So you have to be over 25 to drive that.
That's a big old vehicle to drive.
It's great.
It's really lovely.
And you really don't stay on it all the time, do you?
Yeah, yeah.
You do stay on it all the time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's incredible.

(44:38):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
People say, no, they don't.
We do.
No, we do.
Yeah.
And I love it.
And Barney said something to me in the RV one day.
And I started to cry.
And we went to...
What did you say that made you cry?
I can't remember.
It was something about the...
It was great, Dad, the way we're knocking around together now.

(45:01):
It's a wonderful thing and we can do stuff.
I just started to go.
Because I never did that.
I was going to say, did you have that relationship with your dad?
No.
My dad was a generation of...
He was born in 1934, my dad.
And he died in 1993.
That's not the point.
The point is he was a man's man of the sort of thing.
The women looked after the kids.

(45:22):
He would go to the pub after work on a Friday and not come back until Sunday night.
That sort of thing.
Or take my mum out on a Sunday night.
And that was their night out down the pub.
They wore suits.
Someone who played the piano.
It's a very odd...
Anyway, look...
You've got a very different relationship with Barney.
So the relationship you had with your dad.
Yeah.
I mean, we tell each other.

(45:43):
As a family, we all say we love each other every day.
And back in the day, my dad wouldn't even say hello.
It's just the way it is.
They're different people, different times.
But being on the road with him, I remember we were driving...
And by the way, when we're driving to these places,

(46:05):
I don't know what we're going to do.
That's the secret of the show.
But Barney does.
Barney does because he's in cahoots with the production.
And does he ever let slip though?
I think I wouldn't be able to keep a secret.
I'd be like, this is what we're doing.
So you just like...
No.
So we were dressed up one day in dickey bows.

(46:26):
And we were in Switzerland.
And there was James Bond music on in the car.
And I said, I like a bit of James Bond.
James Bond, a bit like James Bond, didn't we?
He went, yes, Switzerland.
I said, Switzerland.
I said, I know what we're doing.
We're going to see Tina Turner.
She lives in Switzerland.
And he went, no, no, no.

(46:47):
Well, maybe.
And he went, maybe.
And that's becoming to be...
I never forget coming down this road.
I'm driving down this road.
And the Contra Dam is in front of me.
You know the top of Golden Eye with Pierce Brosnan?
It's actually Wayne Nichols, the stuntman,
who's been driving for three months to dive off this thing
in a swan dive at the start of this movie.
It is, it's a thousand feet.

(47:08):
Wow.
Right?
And it comes in and I go...
I know what we're going to do.
I said, we're going to meet Pierce Brosnan.
And Barney went, no.
So we dropped the RV.
We're getting a car because the RV can't go up.
Take us all the way up there.
And he went, we've got something special in store for you, Dad.
I went, wow, what's going on?

(47:29):
And we walked around this...
And I swear to God, if you've ever been to the Contra Dam
from one side to the other, it's like, Jesus Christ.
It'd take 20 minutes to drive there.
It's just massive.
And you look down, it's like, oh my God, what is going on?
And we walked around and I see scaffolding in the middle of the dam.
And we're walking around.
I went, what's that scaffolding?

(47:51):
He went, that's for us.
I went, what are we going to do?
He went, you'll see as we get...
As we get closer, these two guys are there.
And they went, climb up.
And I went, what's that?
He said, oh no, this is the world's...
Because you're scared of heights, aren't you?
Oh, Jesus.
He said, this is the world's tallest bungee jump.
Fuck.
Well, I mean, I froze on the spot.

(48:13):
I actually froze on the spot.
I think I remember seeing that.
And I started shaking.
And I, anyway...
You couldn't do it, could you?
No, I couldn't.
And I got...
That's the only thing I can do.
And I got up onto the scaffolding, the platform.
And it makes me very anxious now.
And they tied me on.
They strapped me on.
And there was a French guy and a German guy.
And the German guy, who were running it all, said to me...

(48:37):
He said, we had a load of German paratroopers here yesterday.
I went, oh, great.
I said, and what?
He said, no, half of them couldn't do it.
Paratroopers.
And I went, what?
He went, no, no, no.
And I said to the French guy, what's he like?
He went, don't ask me.
I've never done...
He said, I wouldn't do it.
You're mad.
And I went, well, what the...
I said, what am I doing here?

(48:59):
So, Bave and Barney, who's got no fear of heights at all, stood there and he went, oh,
my God.
And he went.
And Barney went.
Oh, God.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe he's gone.
He's gone.
Boing, ding, boing, ding.
Anyway, he goes.
And I'm now...
I'm like, I've got that.
I think just to even be stood there must have just...
The worst part was, the bit you stand on is that metal sort of grid stuff you look through

(49:23):
so you can see the thousands of feet below.
And I now cannot let go of the thing.
The guy's trying to wedge me forward and I can't let go.
I can't let go.
My hands were aching.
My forearms were killing me.
And I actually nearly...
I was almost in tears.
I said, I'm so sorry, gentlemen.
I can't go.
I've wasted your time.
All the camera crew...

(49:44):
I'm so sorry.
I can't do it.
We finish.
I swear to God.
I said to one of the crew, I said, get me in a car.
Take me to the nearest pub.
Now.
And he went, really?
I went, really?
I said, F this lot.
I'm off.
I made him drive me down the bottom of the slope.
I got in the pub.
I had about four or five straight whiskies and I had a couple of pints before I could

(50:07):
move.
I swear to God.
I was so petrified.
I was so petrified.
Petrified.
So, you know, when people do the jungle, ITV, the jungle show, and they do that thing on
the building.
But how do they do that?
Because it's going like that.
Yeah.
It's like, God, I mean, I got, I well up now.
It's just petrified.

(50:27):
Yeah.
And I ride motorbikes.
I do all that sort of stuff.
No problem at all.
You know what I mean?
I've boxed.
I've done it.
Look, I'm telling you.
But it's just the fear of heights.
You're not going to believe.
My dad was alive when I was a kid.
Guess what I did?
Guess what my dad was at some point in his life.
He was a roofer.
So, who used to help him as a kid?
Me.
Maybe that's where it stems from.

(50:49):
No, up a ladder.
No problem.
Straight up a ladder.
Me, straight down.
No problem.
Running gear up and down.
And I mean, industrial roofs.
I'm not talking about houses.
Straight up.
No harness.
Didn't have a harness.
Oh my word.
No, no, no.
Straight up.
14, 15.
Up you go.
A little monkey.
As you get older, your mortality creeps up on you.

(51:13):
And we did a show in Holland where I went up what's called Excalibur.
This is All Breaking Dead.
All Breaking Dead.
And it was 100, I don't know, 200 feet tall.
And I got half-weight and I froze.
I couldn't move.
So, you know you're saying you like control.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How do you cope then when you're doing this show and Barney's taking you to places and

(51:35):
you've got no idea?
So, you have no control?
No.
So, why is it that you're okay with that?
Well, because I'm with him.
We were, as I say, if you ever look at the show, it's called Excalibur when we're in
Holland.
And it's the world's tallest freestanding climbing wall.
And I'm always saying the world's tallest.
I mean it's like 200 feet tall.
And it's gigantic.

(51:56):
When you get to the top, it's only as wide as you and me.
Right?
It really is only as wide.
And I got halfway up and I froze.
And I'm clinging on.
And all I can hear is people shouting from the bottom, go on Brad, you can do it.
And what you can't hear and what you can't hear is me screaming at them at the top of
my voice, telling them all to F off.

(52:18):
And I've lost the plot and I can't move.
I'm clinging to this thing.
And then I turn to look to my right and I've got Barney just, because Barney loves the
old rock climbing.
He just looks down at me going, okay, dad, you can do this.
Come on, mate.
Just put your left foot up there, right foot up there, your left foot up there.
It makes me well up now thinking about it.
Just to help you out of that situation.

(52:39):
Yeah.
And when he, when he took me on, so we've been all over Europe.
We've been all over the States.
We've been all over.
We go to Japan.
Tell me about what you've got planned in Japan.
I don't know.
Oh, of course you don't.
And then we go to Japan.
Do you know where you're even going in Japan?
We're going to start at the top and finish at the bottom.
And then we, we can't do the second leg in Japan because it'll be too cold.

(53:00):
So in January, how long are you there for?
Two and a half weeks.
Come back at the Crimbo.
Finish that.
And then in next year, early, early Jan, we go to Thailand.
So this is all breaking dad.
All breaking dad.
Yeah.
And I go to Egypt in about six or seven days.
And that's something else.
The pyramids.
Yeah.

(53:21):
Which I'm fascinated by.
Incredible place.
Pyramids.
You've never seen them before?
Oh, you're going to love it.
Never been.
You will love it.
I had the most amazing experience galloping on horses around the pyramids.
Very magical.
You kind of, it's, it's mad.
I mean, the surrounding area, I wouldn't say is the nicest, but they all of a sudden just
like they're just there.

(53:41):
And it's just, yeah, amazing.
You're going to love it.
So that's another show you're filming.
Yeah.
Filming that.
But I've been very, very lucky.
Did you ever envisage that your like TV career would then take down this path of like all
these travel shows?
No, no, not at all.
The only reason I got the job for Egypt is because someone asked me, they just happened
to be chatting to the guy who owns the company.
And I said to him, you do realise that the great pyramid of Giza is an actual scale monument

(54:07):
of one to 43,200 to the scale of our planet.
You understand that?
And he went, no, I don't.
What does that mean?
I said, well, and I gave him all the facts and figures.
How did you know?
Well, I'm a number cruncher.
So it's my, I love maths.
I'm a bit sort of, do you know what I mean?
Does this kind of bring back, come back to your jet engineer?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And at school I was very good at mathematics.

(54:27):
I was very good.
And basically what it is, if you, the top of the pyramid is 481 feet.
If you times that by 43,200, you get the polar radius of the earth to within 99.8% accuracy.
Why is it Brad?
When you say these things, I look at you and I'm like, is that actually factual?
Or is this a joke?
No, this is true.
But here's the thing.

(54:48):
Here's the thing, here's the thing, right?
And what people don't realise is this is at a time when the Egyptians thought the earth
was flat.
Okay.
What people don't realise is the actual earth is not a globe, it's a rugby ball.
So it's slightly squashed at the poles and wider at the equator.
So to work out your 481 feet, 43,200.

(55:10):
All right.
That's actually within 98 or 99.8% accuracy.
Correct.
If you take the base of the pyramid and you, you know, which is almost 750 foot square
and there's, there isn't four sides on the pyramid.
There are eight, people don't realise eight sides on the pyramid.
All right.
And I'll explain that quickly.
We'll move on to something else in a minute.
If you measure those and times that by 43,200, you get the circumference of the earth to

(55:34):
within 98.9%.
Now what's interesting about that is this is, this is 2000 years, two and a half thousand
years before they knew the world was round.
They always thought it was flat.
And so consequently, you have to get it in your head.
Is that a coincidence?
What is that?
So I'm a mathematician and a scientist and under no way, and also the top of the pyramid

(55:56):
is is three 65th or three 60th to within true North.
Now it's extraordinary.
And it was built in the reign of Kufu.
All right.
Now some of these, some of these boulders in there, some of these lumps of rock in there,
which are made of alien lights are probably in the region of seven African elephants.
So there's 70 getting on for 70 tonnes.

(56:16):
All right.
Now, and there's 2 million of these blocks.
They're not all 70 tonnes.
You understand?
And it was built within Kufu's life.
During daylight, during Kufu's life, they'd have had to lay each block every two minutes.
It's impossible.
It's impossible.
No matter what anyone tells you, how brilliant the Egyptians were.
It's impossible.
We couldn't do it today.
The technology today.

(56:38):
And you wouldn't laden yourself with making something within three 60th to the true North
lined up by the stars or not.
It's complete nonsense.
So someone built those pyramids, but it weren't the Egyptians.
And I'm convinced.
And that's what I'm going to find out.
Wow.
Yeah, and that's what I'm going to find out.
Oh my word.
I think it's a race that died out.
Every single religion on the planet has the great flood.

(57:02):
Every single one.
It's not missed out on any religion.
It's Christianity, Islam, Muslim, everything.
It's all Buddha.
It's the great flood.
So I think the great flood actually wiped a race out completely.
And I think it was them that built it.
And they were a cleverer and da da da da da da da da da.
And there's, you know, if you go to the Sphinx, the Sphinx, the height of the Sphinx on the

(57:24):
water marks are so high.
It was almost underwater at one time.
So there's just too many things.
Who do I think built the pyramids?
I don't think it was the Egyptians.
I really don't.
I actually don't.
I mean, they're going to tell me how they were built and I'm going to go, yeah, but
they were built for Khufu.
And they always, you know, the pyramids, they're the great tombs.

(57:44):
They're not tombs.
Nobody's ever been found in a pyramid.
That is like phenomenal.
And I can't believe you haven't been to the pyramids and you have all that knowledge on
them.
But I can't wait to hear and watch that trip.
It sounds amazing.
And Japan.
Yeah.
And we haven't even touched on Donna, the lovely Donna, your beautiful wife who...

(58:05):
Donna travels all the world, all the time.
Is she coming with you?
Does she come with you and Barney when you're...
No, no, she doesn't.
Because the dynamic would be different.
Because she'd always say things like, don't let your dad do that.
You can't let your dad do that.
You don't do that.
So she had changed the slight dynamic.
But she, Don waits at home and I ring her and I say, Don, I've jumped out of a plane
and she'll go, what?
I don't get you.
But Don does a road.
Don's very travelled around the world, as you know.

(58:26):
Yeah.
Miss World.
Yeah, she still helps out on Miss World, which is never seen in England, but all around the
globe.
So she travels all over the place.
And Barney's now living in Wales because he's in Casualty as well.
He's been in Wales now two years.
Yeah.
Which is, Cardiff's a beautiful city.
It's a wonderful place.
And what about your daughter, Hayley?
Is she in the business?
No.
She sits out there in Burkhamsted.

(58:48):
She does her thing with her husband, Tom, and her grandson, her son.
And so they have the time of the life.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's great.
So what does the future hold for Bradley Walsh?
Well, I'll be 65 in about six months and I will, I don't know when it will come to an
end in terms of I've had enough, you know, because everything, the beautiful thing about

(59:12):
waking up in the morning is you never know what you're going to get.
And I just think that's wonderful.
Every day's a new challenge.
I mean, a lot of people at 65 might be thinking it's time to wind down now, but it doesn't
sound like that's anywhere.
It's not that law.
It's not that law.
You must remember this.
If you love your job, you'll never do a day's work in your life.
And that's a true saying as well.

(59:33):
You know, you really must.
There is a work-life balance.
And, you know, like for instance, last year I spent so much time in Portugal, you know,
and yet you seem like you're on telly the whole time, but you're not.
You're actually not.
Well, Brad, thank you so much.
You are now officially a member of the Mile Fly Club, but I can't let you go without asking

(59:54):
you, are you a member of the Mile High Club?
The actual Mile High Club.
The actual Mile High Club.
I'm actually not.
I'm actually not.
Well, why was there an actually not?
Well, because back at, you know, I don't really know why I said actually not.
No, I'm not.
I guess I don't really think I've ever had the opportunity.

(01:00:16):
Oh.
You know me, I'm too busy at the bar.
Getting a free peanuts and pretzels.
Another brandy love, please, if I can.
You know what I mean.
How's you going, boy?
Get us a brandy.
Which I love, by the way.
Brad, thank you so much.
Good luck with all of your travels.

(01:00:36):
Lots of love.
And lots of love, hugs and kisses to Barney and Donna.
Thanks, Lor.
Cheers, man.
Thank you.
God bless.
And cheers, one here in the Marfly Club.
Thanks so much for traveling with us on these last 12 episodes.
And don't forget, you can watch all the full video interviews by subscribing to our YouTube
channel or follow us on Instagram for exclusive content.

(01:00:57):
And of course, the podcast episodes are available on all major audio streaming platforms.
Stay tuned for series two, which will be landing very soon.

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