We’re halfway through the second series of the Tops and Tales podcast and I want to thank everybody for all the kind messages I’ve received to say how much they’re enjoying the podcast. It means a lot to hear these comments and it’s also been great to hear people still discovering it and having listened to one episode, going back and listening to and watching the rest of them! I think you can tell that we’re still building the podcast from the ground up and there are some potential perils of taking a podcast on “tour” with you, but there is absolutely no way I would be able to get the calibre of guests that I’m getting unless I took the podcast to them. It would be unfair of me to ask the players to take another day out of their very busy schedules to come all the way down to Cardiff to a studio to record with me for an hour, then go all the way back home. There are things that could be improved upon from my side but it’s all a process and as I sit and type this I’m on my way to record with my next guest, so I’m hoping that it will turn out well and everybody enjoys it. I want to take this opportunity to thank PlutoTV for their support of this season, my sponsors Winmau, my editor Ieuan Berry and all my guests who have been terrific to have on and have all spoken so well.
After landing back from Leverkusen after my last blog, it was three days at home and then on to Copenhagen where I promptly trashed my small hotel room to make enough space to record my podcast with Jonny Clayton (challenge to myself: try and go a sentence of this blog without mentioning the podcast). I’m not sure what Jonny made of my living conditions when he walked into my hotel room as the whole place looked like a hurricane had been through it with debris everywhere. In front of camera it looked very tidy but I can assure you behind the camera was a very different story! Copenhagen is a beautiful city and I thoroughly recommend it for a long weekend. On the Saturday I was picked up by Henrik from the Slangerup Dartklub and shown around one of the best dart clubs I think I’ve ever seen! There’s just dartboards galore, all with really good spacing between oche lanes, a proper professional setup you can say. Everybody there treated me so well and after a lovely lunch I noticed a familiar face on the wall so I promptly signed it! If you’re a darts fan and ever in the area of Copenhagen, go and visit this club because it is the b…….(not going to swear!) bees knees!!
After bursting into tears in the middle of Copenhagen Airport with podcast stress (I’m not going to make it through this blog without mentioning it every thirty seconds am I?) it was to Essex and to George Hall to record what would be the first episode of the new series. What a man and what a legend. I had read his new book “Still Here: Bobby George, The King of Bling” and what made me laugh was that his book is so full of stories, and then during the one hour and forty-three minute recording we did, he told me stories that hadn’t made the final cut! This man has lived life to the full and has the ability to make somebody he has just met feel like they’ve known each other their whole lives. A wonderful man and a joy to go to his mansion that he built himself for the first time! Eighteen bedrooms, and his big toe that he had off many years ago encased in a small bottle of vodka behind his bar. “Would you like a cocktail or a cocktoe?!” Brilliant.
The following day was filming with Winmau down in Bridgend for the trailer of the new series and launch of the YouTube channel as well as filming content with the Bullhitters and Rob Owen. At one point they started a video with Rob that I wasn’t meant to be in, and during their introduction I turned round and I’m right in the middle of the shot! So I desperately tried to get out the way and then two weeks later when the video is released they kept that bit in!! The Bullhitters are always brilliant to be with and at the time of writing this they’ve been uploading their vlogs from their time at the World Series in New York. When we were filming, their American-style darts shirts had just arrived and they were very excited to try them on so that’s how excited they were about the trip and now they’re uploading their content from their time out there so make sure you check it out.
Two days later and it’s to Frankfurt for the World Cup of Darts and thirty-three degrees of sunshine. Lovely, if only I saw any of it because I was locked indoors recording my PODCAST!! Have you ever tried lugging tripods and cameras and stuff through airports? They’re insistent you put it into oversized baggage which is fine but then out the other side it comes through the normal carousel, not oversized baggage. So be warned fellow podcasters in airports! It was a brilliant World Cup and congratulations to Northern Ireland who won a great final against Wales. The heat on stage was….a lot! It was very hot and often we found ourselves dashing off stage into the lovely courtyard area outside of the building to get some fresh air and there was no fresh air. Plenty of water was consumed over those four days!
I arrived back home on the Monday to a week off! I don’t mind confessing I did absolutely nothing for five days and then felt bad for not doing anything for five days until a MODUS exhibition on the Saturday night in the great city of…..Cardiff! It was also the day of Cardiff Pride! So darts followed by Pride, my dream day! I can’t remember much from the night out I must say. I do remember recording with Adrian Lewis who was brilliant to talk to and came to the venue especially early to film with me so my big thanks go to him for doing that for me. After recovering from my night out on the booze I promptly went up to London whilst the darts was in New York to spend another three days on the booze, staying with different friends of mine which after the madness of the few weeks before was badly needed. The week after consisted of a couple of interviews, a birthday dinner for my Mum, a visit to my grandmother and an evening at Alcotroz with my soulmate Jess (if you don’t know what Alcotroz is, Google it and if there’s one in your area, go. It’s really good!) and then it was to Bridgend to MC the 50th anniversary event for Red Dragon Darts. The venue was the Coed-Y-Mwstwr Hotel, typically used for weddings and receptions so you can imagine what a nice location it was, and the event was a very emotional one as staff who have worked for Red Dragon Darts over the course of those fifty years were all there for it, including some who had packed away darts stems and flights into little plastic bags over their worktops at home, just as the company was starting out. Those who had given this outstanding service to the company were presented with awards by the Managing Director Vince Bluck, and there was also a quiz with yours truly as question master…..I felt like Chris Tarrant! Or it’s Jeremy Clarkson now isn’t it so yeah, Jeremy Clarkson.
Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the afterparty as I had to get home and only have a few hours sleep because the next day it was back up to London to be part of the parade of London Pride with Sky! Sky had very kindly invited me to be on their float in front of a million people across central London. Mum came along with me and after an early morning coach trip into Victoria we found the pub where everybody was gathering and had a couple of settlers. By the time we had to make our way to our Sky double-decker bus for the parade itself I had made friends with a few guys who worked for Sky and we all decided to sneak off to get some bus cans for the journey. Unfortunately, I/we had drank them all before the bus had even started moving so off the bus I went and got some more. Everybody was in great spirits, the DJ on the bus was playing some fabulous music and to see everybody on the ground, all waving and having a great time was magical. At one point the bus stopped and happened to stop right in front of a metal boxed-off area no bigger than the width of a road down an alleyway, which housed six or seven people, all of them between 65-75, who had draped over these metal railings, all their anti-gay and pro-religious banners saying things like how God will forgive us for our sins etc etc. One of the men was stood on top of a shoebox wittering incessantly into this megaphone which I thought was hilarious because nobody had a bloody clue what he was saying as the music was too loud and everybody was cheering either side of them. I noticed another vicar stood with the main crowd but right next to the protesters with a sign that said “LGBT is welcome in my church” which I thought was great. For those five minutes where we were “parked” right in front of them, I haven’t danced so much in all my life than for those five minutes. Towards the end of the parade after a few more drinks and with my confidence higher than was justified, I spent the rest of the parade dancing by the side of our Sky bus in front of the thousands (to the thousands who had to witness that, I apologise profusely!) and then it was the end of the parade. It was a brilliant afternoon and I want to thank Sky so much for having both myself and my Mum.
The week after I had a podcast recording (not mine this time!) with Petr Hais from the Czech Republic and then it was back to London for the first ever Hyde Park Darts Championship. I spotted the event for the big screens and the Pro-Am section of the day is now on the PDC’s YouTube channel. I saw the amount that went into rehearsing and making sure the event ran smoothly and honestly the PDC did an amazing job on the day to make sure everything ran perfectly and that we started and finished on time as we had to do that for the venue. The 4,000 fans seemed to be really enjoying it and it was a great atmosphere from start to finish, so congratulations to everybody involved at the PDC in making a great event at an amazing venue. Darts in Hyde Park eh? Who’d have thought it but this is the level the sport is at now. Two days later it was to Kiel for the European Tour. It’s one of my favourite locations on the Euro Tour and after a few quiet drinks by the lake near to the hotel on the Thursday, it was three days of top class darts with a lot of to players in attendance to get their eye in for the World Matchplay. It’s fair to say many of them did just that, and I personally think it’s now set up to potentially be the best World Matchplay of all time as there’s that many elite players in elite form. Good luck trying to pick a winner! A special shoutout to the crowd as well where there was barely any booing or whistling, as it should be.
So apart from that it’s been a pretty quiet time for me! There’s a lot to come as well for the rest of this year too. It really feels full on between now and the end of this year so I will do my best to update the blog as soon as I can. As I finish this blog the train is approaching Manchester and it’s just the one change to Blackpool North, then onto recording the podcast. Let’s hope it’s going to be nine days of epic action at the World Matchplay. I really think it will be. Enjoy and see you next time, oh, and did I mention I have a podcast?! There’s a whole second half of this series on its way so I hope everybody enjoys.
