ON THE ROPES (7)

If the show's really good, I treat, I gotta tell you, we're concentrating, obviously that's the nature of the programme on the kind of negative side of things, but equally when people come up to me and say, "Man alive, that show you did…" I did I think, a pretty good radio show yesterday morning. It was silly, it was dopey, but it really flew and it was good. But if someone came up and said, "I heard you this morning", I shrink, I can't bear that either. I cannot bear that either, because it's again, yeah that's what I should do. You know, that's what I'm paid to do and equally that's why I can be as contemptible on the other side and say, "Well they pay me a lot to do it. It didn't work out, you know, nobody died". There you go, that's the best you can say about any series - nobody died.

How much damage do you think you did to yourself as a result of your alleged, in one or two cases certainly, because we saw the evidence of it, actual boozing sessions with people like……

Ah (Baker tries to interrupt)

Just for the sake of the audience who may not have heard it..

Oh right…..

People like Chris Evans and Paul Gasgoigne. We saw a photograph of you one morning in the newspapers, all of you looking terribly drunk and dishevelled and all that…..

Now here's the thing and I would hope…….I would hope if……..I would never……..I couldn't look the world in the eye and say that Chris and Paul and I haven't you know, lunched well sometimes; that day no! That was eleven-o-clock in the morning, we walked into that thing, I'd just been fired from the BBC, you're Chris Evans, you've got Paul and I look awful, going like that….I don't photograph well. Thundering good story and individually you know, Chris and Paul may have got into scrapes elsewhere, but deciding that it's the three of us on some boozeathon, it's just not what I do. I've toured with the Sex Pistols, I don't need at forty odd years of age to be this kind of Loaded magazine cheerleader, I'm just not like that.

Can I put to you what Gillian Reynolds, you may have seen what she wrote about you, great fan………?

………Haven't read a newspaper for five years and that's again………

Not even your own, not even The Times?

Not even The Times Sir, not even The Times Sir. I don't know when they cut stuff. I like it when people come up and say, "Ah damn funny", I think that's all right you know. I don't mind The Times getting complimented but, people think, oh he must do, but I actually didn't. When I was fired and knew about it from Pets Win Prizes, fired from Pets Win Prizes and again it was run-ins……I got fired from Pets Win Prizes and I learnt about it in a cliched way. The phone rang and it was The Mirror saying, "How do you feel about being replaced by Dale Winton?" I don't like being on the back foot, as you can probably gather and that was the first time I thought I wasn't happy and my wife said to us, "I've never, ever seen you like this, this has 'gotten to you now, you are living……. because I was doing so much work and you're starting to live like that. I've never seen you unhappy. " and I said "that's it" and…."hand me that huge horse so I can get on it! back to that. I don't think of an audience at all.

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