"Tales from a very minor celebrity‪"‬ Simon Baldock

On the 23rd February, 2023 is was announced the football commentating legend John “Motty” Motson had died at the age of 77.

He started working on Match Of The Day in 1971, and covered 10 World Cups, 10 European Championships and 29 FA Cup finals for BBC Sport before retiring from the organisation in 2018. 

I had the great pleasure of interviewing him in 2005 when he was promoting his latest book, Motsons FA Cup Odyssey which gave me a chance to sample first his incredible footballing knowledge and great love of the game. 

I’m a bit short of time this week so I’m just  going to okay you the interview without all the preamble that usually comes with my weekly podcast.

As you’re well aware I’m sure the World Cup has started and this week you can hear an interview I did with Uri Geller, the spoon bending physic who back in 2002 asked the whole nation to collectively try and heal David Beckham’s famous metatarsal injury which threatened his participation in that year’s World Cup competition.

England captain David Beckham suffered a broken foot playing for Manchester United in the Champions League on this day in 2002, sparking fears he would not be fit for that summer’s World Cup.
The United midfielder, whose stoppage-time free-kick in the last qualifier against Greece had taken the Three Lions to the finals, was on the end of a tough tackle from Deportivo La Coruna’s Aldo Duscher in a quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford.
Not only did the injury end Beckham’s domestic campaign, it also introduced most of the nation to the word metatarsal.

His recovery from that broken metatarsal was the source of daily interest, but Beckham eventually was passed fit and led England out against Sweden in their group stage opener on June 2……but did Uri Geller’s physic healing intervention have a part to play? 

Hi everyone, and welcome to episode 7 of this new season of Tales From a very minor celebrity, a delve into my celebrity archive a look back at some of my very favourite interviews from my career in radio and TV….
This week you’ll hear an interview I did with a woman who has a handbag named after her and recorded one of the most iconic love songs of all time, Je t’aime…she is Jane Birkin.
Born in London  Birkin began her career as an actress, appearing in minor roles until she met Serge Gainsbourg while co-starring with him in Slogan, which marked the beginning of their long working and personal relationship.
The duo released their debut album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg (1969), and Birkin also appeared in the controversial film Je t'aime moi non plus (1976) under Gainsbourg's direction. 
Birkin would attain further acting credits in the Agatha Christie adaptations Death on the Nile (1978), and Evil Under the Sun (1982).
After separating from Gainsbourg in 1980, Birkin continued to work as both an actress and a singer, appearing in various independent films and recording numerous solo albums. 
Birkin has lived mainly in France since the 1970s. She has three grown up children and In addition to her acting and musical credits, she lent her name to the famous Hermès Birkin handbag.
When we met in 2004 she was promoting her latest album rendezvous  but it was that song Je t’aime that I started by asking her about….does she ever get fed up talking about it? 

Hi everyone….we’re up to episode 6 of season 2 of tales from a very minor celebrity, a look back at some of my favourite interviews during my 35 year plus media career.

Now Jade Goody was born 5 June 1981 and died 22 March 2009.  She came to public prominence in 2002 when she appeared on the third series of the Channel 4 reality show Big Brother. 
She went on to star in her own television programmes after her eviction from the show, which in turn led to her launching a variety of products under her own name. Immediately criticised by the British press for her perceived lack of decorum and intelligence, Goody was dubbed by multiple outlets as "the most hated woman in Britain".
The country's celebrity magazines were less derisive, publishing reports of her affable nature and competent school performance from those who knew her.
Public opinion of Goody reached its most negative in January 2007, when she was involved in the Big Brother racism controversy while appearing as a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 5. 
Following her eviction, Goody made a number of apologies, but continued to get negative public reactions. In August 2008, she participated in Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, but left the show early and returned to the UK after finding out that she had cervical cancer. 
By February 2009, the cancer had metastasized and she was terminally ill. She married fellow Celebrity Big Brother contestant Jack Tweed on 22 February 2009 and died one month later, in the early hours of 22 March 2009, at age 27.
Public opinion of Goody had softened by the time of her death. Sky Living broadcast five tribute shows from 2009 to 2012, documenting her life from early childhood through her rise to fame and her final months. 
The last episode of Big Brother on Channel 4 featured a 15-minute tribute to Goody, praising her as the ultimate Big Brother contestant. She was one of several people to appear on the front cover of the final edition of News of the World on 10 July 2011.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jade on a number of occasions, on the final one she had her new born baby with her, Bobby and she was telling me about a number of new projects she was involved with.

Hi everyone, and welcome to episode 5 of this new season of Tales From a very minor celebrity, a delve into my celebrity archive a look back at some of my very favourite interviews from my career in radio and TV…. 
Michael Ciaran Parker better known by his stage name Michael Barrymore was born in 1952. During the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. he hosted shows such as Strike It Luck, My Kind Of People, My Kind Of Music, Kids Say The Funniest Things, and his own variety show, Barrymore. In 1993, he headlined the Royal Variety Performance.
At his peak he was voted the UK's favourite television star several times, and became one of the highest-paid performers on television from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s. 
Barrymore's television career effectively ended after the  death of Stuart Labbock in 2001 following a party at Barrymore's house in Essex.
He tried for many years to revive his TV career…he appeared as a guest or contestant in a number of celebrity style programmes which culminated with him being named runner up in the 2006 edition of Celebrity Big Brother
When I met him he was promoting his one man show at Londons Wyndham’s theatre back in 2003.

Hi everyone, and welcome to episode 4 of this new season of Tales From A Very Minor Celebrity, a  delve into my celebrity archive and a look back at some of my very favourite interviews from my career in radio and TV…. and as I always say I hope you will like listening to them as much as I did recording them.
Now this week my guest is not so much flesh and blood, but rather metal and oil…whilst working at a radio station in Essex I had the pleasure of being invited to do some very nice things…and a lot of the invites came from Ford…
Some of the things I was invited to were the launch of one of the company’s new transit van models, not that exciting you may think until I tell you that the launch was held in Spain, and 13 media types were flown over there in a specially chartered jet and spent a very pleasant two days driving around Jarez
I was also invited to to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Shakespeare Theatre in London as well.
But on this particular occasion I was invited to drive one of the iconic Ford GT 40’s around the test track at Warley. It had been set up to celebrate the company’s launch of their new version of the GT 40 which we also had a go in, but it was the original that I really wanted to experience.
The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car commissioned by the Ford. It grew out of the "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring) in an effort to compete in European long-distance races, against Ferrari, which won the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hour Race race from 1960 - 65. Ford succeeded with the GT40, winning the 1966 through 1969 races. The film Ford v Ferrari starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale is an excellent look back at that period in Fords racing history.
So join me as I have a trip of a lifetime in my dream car, the Ford GT 40