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pack. Welcome

0:41

to part two of Walking the Dog with

0:43

JB Gill. Do go back and listen to part

0:45

one if you haven't already, because this man

0:47

is such a diamond and I know you'll love

0:49

him as much as we did. And I'd

0:51

also be thrilled if you gave us a like

0:53

and a follow so you can catch us

0:55

every week. Here's JB and Ray Ray. Did you

0:57

ever have a moment? Because a

0:59

lot of people I speak to who, you know,

1:01

achieve fame at the kind of level that you've

1:03

achieved it. Did you have a

1:06

moment where you sort of had a

1:08

word with yourself? You know those

1:10

points where you just watch

1:12

yourself doing something and you think

1:14

you're obviously a level -headed, very

1:16

well -brought -up guy and you

1:18

catch yourself either speaking to someone in

1:20

a certain way or being a

1:22

bit entitled and you think, oh

1:25

no, that's not me. Maybe

1:30

my wife

1:33

or my parents

1:36

might say that... has been

1:38

but i don't feel like

1:41

there has been not really

1:43

because and i think part part of that

1:45

is coming through the x factor that

1:47

i was under no illusions that part of

1:49

the reason why we had the success

1:51

we had was because of the people who

1:53

voted for us and obviously that was

1:55

our first experience of it right i do

1:57

think you know power does come with success

1:59

of it does but i've

2:01

never been one to even want

2:03

to abuse that power you

2:06

know and and and for me i

2:08

think you know my my only aim certainly

2:10

before i had kids anyway my personal

2:12

aims were always to be the best that

2:14

i could be and then you know

2:16

since having children and working in tv with

2:18

children and things like that has been passing

2:22

that on to the next generation. You know,

2:24

I'm under no illusions. I'm not going to

2:26

be here forever. You know, there'll be in

2:28

10, 20 years time, there'll be two other

2:30

people standing in this position having this conversation

2:32

with, you know, hit podcasts and whatever else

2:34

or doing whatever on TV or in the

2:36

world of entertainment or any other world. And,

2:39

you know, what, you know, they're sort of

2:41

carrying on that torch. And even if we

2:43

don't know who they are. So for me,

2:46

yeah, I've always been quite humbled

2:48

by that thought. very

2:51

excited to be honest so you

2:53

know for me it's it's great to

2:55

you know have done the things

2:57

that i've done but it's also great

2:59

to be able to pass that

3:01

on to other people and see them

3:03

flourish as well oh jb what

3:05

a lovely man you are well i

3:07

mean for me genuinely like i

3:09

just i just feel like that is

3:11

what the essence of

3:13

life is all about, you know. Well,

3:16

can I tell you what else the essence of

3:18

life is about? It was about your appearance on

3:20

Strictly Come Dancing. Come

3:23

on. That did give life, to be

3:25

fair. It's still giving

3:27

life. I mean, it gave life to my body,

3:29

I'll tell you that much. I mean, the

3:31

Bruno Mars medley. Well, I've never watched

3:33

a YouTube clip so much as the Bruno

3:35

Mars medley. That was

3:37

so good, wasn't it? But I

3:39

like that because you say that was so good.

3:43

Now, I like people that

3:45

can congratulate themselves. I

3:48

think you're able to do that. You're able to say, I

3:50

did a good job. Yeah. I think

3:52

that's part of life as well. It's

3:54

very important. It's one of those things, don't

3:56

ask me where I heard this, but

3:58

invariably I look at lots of different things

4:00

about bringing the children up and the

4:02

right things to do and the right questions

4:04

to ask when you pick them up

4:06

from school and things like that. And I

4:08

think I definitely saw something that said...

4:10

Effectively, you should ask your child what they

4:12

think of their work. Oh, that's good.

4:14

Because, you know, obviously they look to you

4:16

for validation, but actually it's much more

4:18

of a life skill to appreciate your own

4:20

work. And if you don't like it,

4:23

to go back and amend it or work

4:25

on it or change it. Well, I'm

4:27

going to be like you are to Ace

4:29

and Chiara now. What work

4:31

do you not like of

4:33

yours? Oh, that's

4:35

a good question. I mean, I've done some

4:37

TV shows before. I won't say what channels. We

4:40

were, you know, I'm talking about sort of

4:42

like my favourite cakes and things like that. And

4:44

I remember doing that and just thinking to

4:46

myself, why, why am I here? Honestly.

4:50

And then there was that crappy dog

4:52

podcast. I didn't particularly

4:54

enjoy that one. Look at these two.

4:56

Come on. You've got a Brazil shirt

4:58

on. We've got, we found

5:00

a little, what do you think that

5:02

is, JB? A little terrier or

5:04

poop? Yeah, a of some sort. And...

5:06

has, as you say, it's got

5:08

a Brazil shirt on. Ray Ray's got

5:11

distracted by the Brazilian dog. football

5:13

player. We like the little Brazil

5:15

shirt. I just only bought it back

5:17

for me from Brazil. Love it. My friend

5:19

was just noticing it. Oh

5:22

yes, very true. Oh my

5:24

days. That's one thing Nala does all the

5:26

time. I've got a massive cross and

5:28

she just, she literally hunts it. I'm like,

5:30

what are you doing? And then they're

5:32

rolling it. Yeah. She's like a velcro cloth.

5:35

so dirty yeah she's beautiful what kind

5:37

of dog is she oh she's a

5:39

multi -poo yeah she's got home grooming at

5:41

the moment because i'm taking her to

5:43

the groom oh don't i'm sick of

5:46

it with my dog it's so expensive

5:48

i spend more money on his hair

5:50

than mine i know me too and

5:52

that's when i draw the line so

5:54

i did it myself last night it's

5:56

a mess but did the job in

5:58

between cuts it looks lovely it's so

6:00

nice to meet you What

6:03

breeds yours? Oh, he's an imperial

6:06

shih tzu. Imperial? It's

6:09

very grand. Yes. Look at this.

6:11

I mean, he's being carried. Yes.

6:14

He's wonderful. Oh, thank you.

6:16

Nice to meet you. Yes,

6:18

take care. We

6:20

were talking about Strictly.

6:23

Yes. And obviously it was

6:25

a huge journey for

6:27

you, that show. Yep. Because

6:30

not only had Aston... done

6:32

it yes a few years previously

6:34

and i'm going to call

6:36

it one of the greatest injustice

6:38

what a travesty i love

6:40

shirley she's done this podcast but

6:42

you know what sometimes i

6:44

think there's an expression even homer

6:46

nods and as in the

6:48

original greek who you'll know yeah

6:51

as a theologian but yeah

6:53

even homer nods i think she

6:55

got it wrong and he

6:57

was eliminated but jb bursts on

6:59

the scene And

7:01

you were partnered with the wonderful

7:03

Amy Dowden. Yes. And it was,

7:05

you know, hugely emotional in some

7:07

ways because it was her return

7:10

on the, it was an anniversary,

7:12

was years? Yes, 20 years, yeah.

7:14

And she'd recovered from, you know,

7:16

she was recovering from her treatment

7:18

for cancer and then she gets

7:20

this injury. Yeah. And she has

7:22

to pull out. And you get

7:24

re -partnered. Yep. How

7:27

was that? And what was your... Because

7:29

obviously your main concern was for

7:31

Amy. Yeah. But also that would have

7:33

thrown a lot of people. Yeah.

7:36

But I get the sense with

7:38

you that you've got what I

7:40

call the penalty takers gene. Do

7:43

you know what I mean by that?

7:45

I think you thrive in adrenalised environments. That's

7:48

so interesting. And the reason why I

7:50

think that's interesting is because my son

7:52

is exactly that. And I

7:54

don't, I didn't even put two and

7:56

two together to think that it's come

7:58

from me. But he just thrives in

8:00

pressurised environments. If you tell, you know,

8:02

he's into his football and like big,

8:05

big time. And every time he plays,

8:07

he's at Tottenham, every time he plays

8:09

Chelsea, for instance, he's in the best

8:11

club, probably in England, best academy in

8:13

England, certainly, but certainly in the South,

8:15

the best academy. Every time he plays

8:17

them. He scores two, three goals and

8:19

he's on fire. If he has to

8:22

take a penalty, I mean, he's obviously

8:24

missed a couple, but he nine times

8:26

out of ten is taking it a

8:28

minute and scoring. He always has the

8:30

goal that wins the whatever or comes

8:32

on and makes a difference. And I

8:34

find it so interesting watching him in

8:36

those environments because I just think, wow,

8:39

how do you do that? But the

8:41

fact that you said that about me,

8:43

I mean, I don't even think about

8:45

it. You know, so when that happened,

8:47

of course, my primary concern at the

8:49

time was Amy. And at the time,

8:51

of course, I had no idea what

8:53

was going to happen. I didn't know

8:56

whether she was going to come back.

8:58

I didn't know whether she was permanently

9:00

out or whatever. And,

9:02

you know, I'd known in the back of

9:04

my mind that, of course, health might play

9:06

a part. Of course. And, you know, Amy

9:09

and I had been very, very open about that and

9:11

how that might look and so on. And

9:13

I think for her, she was very hopeful that

9:15

she would come back. And,

9:18

you know, actually what caused her

9:20

to pull out of the Sunday show

9:22

that we did was one thing.

9:24

But actually what caused her to have

9:26

to pull out of the show

9:28

entirely was actually another thing, a different

9:30

health thing. So we just run

9:32

past. I'm carrying him. We've just come

9:34

to a sign, JB. Can you

9:36

see what it says? No skating, no

9:38

cycling, also no dogs. But you

9:40

know what? At this

9:43

point, I am carrying him. I

9:45

think you'll be alright. Do you

9:47

think I'll be alright? You

9:49

might get wet. Oh, we might get wet. JB,

9:51

no, because you've got a show to do. What are

9:53

you doing? What are you doing later, by the

9:55

way? Because you look very smart. Well, I mean, I'm

9:58

not going to be wearing this, but I am

10:00

doing the one show a bit later on. Oh, we

10:02

can't have you sold in for the one show.

10:04

We're going to have to divert. And plus this way,

10:06

I sneakily think I get an extra three minutes

10:08

with you by doing a diversion. There we go. We

10:10

want the diversion. eking out my JB time. I'm

10:13

like a competition winner right now. No,

10:15

it's all good. I

10:17

just wanted, obviously, Amy to be okay.

10:19

And then when I found out that she

10:21

had to pull out and I had

10:23

to have a permanent new partner, for me,

10:25

it was just, okay, I'm still in

10:27

this show. And as much as I thought

10:29

the journey was going to be with

10:31

Amy, you know, I've only got

10:33

one chance to do, you know, to be

10:35

part of this competition. And I remember speaking

10:37

to, you know, some of the execs and

10:40

the commissioners and so on and just saying,

10:42

like, know, if you really want to do

10:44

well in this show... you're just going to

10:46

have to play the cards that you've been

10:48

dealt. And it was as simple as that.

10:50

And, you know, that's no disservice to Amy

10:52

and certainly not to Lauren. Lauren's an incredible

10:54

dancer as well. And, know, I knew she'd

10:56

be professional. And as much as it was

10:58

different to dance with her, I think the

11:00

way that sort of my songs played out

11:02

over those first weeks changing partner was just

11:04

the perfect scenario. I had a couple's choice,

11:06

which is, of course, you know, a style

11:08

of dance much more comfortable to me. um

11:11

i then went into i think

11:13

it was a samba with the sambathon

11:15

and the sambas again very much

11:17

more sort of side by side No

11:20

public access. Sorry. Can't go in

11:22

there. Do you know what? We're

11:24

getting beaten by the signs today.

11:26

And I'm feeling you're quite a

11:28

rule -bound person, I feel. Yeah,

11:30

I am. Yeah, I think you

11:32

obey signs. I do obey signs. And

11:35

I keep just thinking if Cynthia wouldn't

11:37

approve if we flouted the rules. Because,

11:40

you know, I think Cynthia was like,

11:42

you can be as good as anyone

11:44

else and you can be brilliant, but

11:46

never think you're better than anyone else.

11:48

Yeah. Yeah, I think so. And she

11:50

always had another thing. She always said,

11:52

everything in moderation, including moderation. So

11:54

that was the rule -breaking part. You

11:59

can go crazy, but don't go crazy every

12:01

time. Just go crazy once a year, it's

12:03

fine. you

12:05

do make quite bold decisions. Like,

12:07

I give you your

12:09

decision to buy a farm.

12:12

Yes. You have this farm

12:14

where you sell turkeys. Yes. and

12:17

that's it's primarily a turkey farm

12:19

isn't it you've got pigs but

12:21

you and your wife chloe live

12:24

there and was the turkey farming

12:26

thing a sort of well look

12:28

this is a side hustle and

12:30

there's an element of us always

12:32

kind of utilizing the land it's

12:34

like yeah making the land pay

12:36

for itself a bit yeah absolutely

12:38

i mean as with a lot

12:40

of great things in life it

12:42

started as uh Not

12:44

a mistake, but, you know, it was

12:46

never intentional. So when I bought

12:48

the land that we have now, I've

12:50

got about 15 acres of farmland,

12:52

it was me actually being very sensible,

12:55

as usual. And my mum

12:57

always encouraged me. She always said, listen, if you

12:59

ever get a chance to buy land, buy it.

13:01

Because there's only so much land in the world.

13:03

Yeah. If you've got your own little slice of

13:05

it, then, you know I mean? You've

13:07

got your own little slice. You can do

13:09

anything you like with it. So I bought it

13:11

and very quickly it became a headache. I was

13:13

still in JLS, still travelling, still touring. what

13:15

I love is the idea of you and JLS?

13:17

Heart won't beat again. We've

13:19

got some problems with the pigs. They come out of the

13:21

bed. No, sorry. I didn't have the pigs then. I didn't have

13:23

the pigs then. I just had the land, right? It's

13:27

not. And trust me, every time I came home,

13:29

I was just like, what is this? Why do

13:31

I have this space? Why did I listen to

13:33

my mum? You know, all that sort of stuff.

13:35

And I'm thinking to myself, you know, I've got

13:37

this space. And every time I come back, it

13:40

looks exactly the same. Overgrown. I pay

13:42

to get someone to cut it back and make

13:44

it look nice again. Then I go away. And

13:46

then three months later, I come back and it

13:48

looks exactly the same. So then it was a

13:50

case of, right. I know JLS is coming to

13:52

an end. It was about 18 months just before

13:54

the end of JLS. And so we were thinking

13:56

about, like, what can we do? How can we

13:58

do it? You know, like you say, it was

14:00

about being resourceful, to be honest. And

14:02

that was basically how the idea of the

14:05

farm came about. And I knew that it

14:07

had previously been farmed. The

14:09

previous owners, we actually kept in really good contact

14:11

with the people who sold it. And,

14:13

you know, they kept horses and, you

14:15

know, had lots of different animals. And we

14:17

thought, yeah, we didn't have any animals

14:19

at that point. And we thought, you know,

14:21

OK, it could be quite cool to

14:23

do something along that line because that's what

14:26

the land had already been. used for

14:28

um and that's pretty much how the idea

14:30

was seeded excuse the pun um but

14:32

then it just it just escalated from there

14:34

i know but it just escalated from

14:36

there and and the turkeys which is now

14:38

sort of our primary thing was was

14:40

a genuinely accidental so i got in touch

14:42

with this guy called paul kelly um

14:44

and you know he's got award -winning is

14:47

this the kelly bronze kelly bronze oh

14:49

we all know about a kelly bronze

14:51

exactly so i didn't know about kelly bronze

14:53

because we network traditionally for christmas we

14:55

never had turkey we always had like ham

14:57

like caribbean ham and lamb and you

14:59

know chicken and you know because we had

15:01

lots of different types of meat it

15:03

was never the big turkey i didn't know

15:05

there was a man called paul kelly

15:07

yeah Wow. Yeah, it

15:09

was Derek Kelly that started it.

15:11

Oh, look at you with all your

15:13

knowledge. I mean, we know each

15:15

other really your business. Yeah. And did

15:17

you get, did Kelly, so with

15:20

the turkeys, I'm presuming your WhatsApp blows

15:22

up like the 4th of July

15:24

on, around December time. Yeah. Do you,

15:26

I presume, that some celebrities have

15:28

sampled some of your turkeys. Do you

15:30

get orders from celebrities? Would you

15:32

care to share some? Yeah, absolutely. Kimberly

15:34

Wyatt, Pussycat Doll. We

15:36

dropped the pussycat doll straight away. Who

15:39

else? One Direction Boys, they've had

15:41

some. Various

15:43

footballers have had them over the

15:45

years. Little Mix, I believe. Little

15:47

Mix, yes. Leanne gets one every

15:49

single year, to be fair. I

15:51

have to shout out Leanne. Name

15:53

her, because every single year... pay? Well,

15:56

Leanne's dad gets it, to be fair. I always

15:58

give her a good discount. But,

16:00

yeah, like, I mean, Leanne, I definitely have to

16:02

shout Leanne because she always, always gets one

16:04

without fail. One year, I don't think she'd ordered

16:06

one. And I messaged her to say, like,

16:08

obviously, it's fine if you don't want one. But,

16:11

you know, are you sure you want one?

16:13

She's just like, oh, my days, thank you so

16:15

much because I was expecting it. And if

16:17

my dad didn't get it this year, I would

16:19

have been so upset. And I just like,

16:21

don't worry, I've always got you. I'm hoping, JB.

16:24

That when you get one, maybe you

16:26

get a special Christmas message from

16:28

you as well. Because we all

16:30

know that you are a Christmas meme

16:32

now as well. I am. I was a

16:34

meme before my time. I'm actually really

16:36

proud of that. I'm really proud

16:38

of that fact. Are you? Yeah,

16:41

because you know what? Obviously, I still don't

16:43

have any idea what a meme or I

16:45

do. Do we want to explain what it

16:47

was? So you were singing on X Factor.

16:49

You were singing Wham's Last Christmas. Yep. And

16:52

there's a bit in the

16:54

song where George Michael kind of

16:56

whispers Merry Christmas. Not JB. JB

16:59

went... Merry Christmas. It's not a

17:01

whisper. It's not... I mean, you've got

17:03

to make it your own. And

17:05

Which is what I've done. There

17:08

you go. Because, you know,

17:10

it wouldn't feel right to do

17:12

the whisper on the X

17:14

Factor. So here we are,

17:16

you know? But you know what

17:19

was fascinating? On a serious note, if

17:21

what can be serious about, Merry

17:23

Christmas. I think what was so

17:25

fascinating about that was the way

17:27

you joined in the joke and

17:29

were able to laugh at yourself.

17:32

And I think that was so

17:34

telling that some performers, and we've

17:36

seen it, you know, when people,

17:38

there's a meme thing or someone,

17:40

they get very sort of sensitive

17:42

and, oh, am I being criticised?

17:44

Whereas you owned it and you

17:46

said, yeah, it's funny. Well, I

17:48

mean, I think it is funny.

17:51

If people find it funny, for

17:53

me, there's no issue in

17:55

that whatsoever, ever. And I

17:57

think it's very different people laughing with

18:00

you and people laughing at you, of course.

18:02

And I think, you know, I'm not

18:04

the type of person anyway, as you probably

18:06

can imagine, that would laugh at people.

18:08

But I think, you know, sometimes when you

18:10

find something funny with people and you're

18:12

happy to share those moments, you know, that's

18:14

what... really nice you know and it's

18:16

actually quite endearing it's a moment with people

18:18

and obviously i didn't you know intentionally

18:20

go out of my way to do that

18:22

but you know it's definitely for me

18:25

now it's it's like with anything everything that

18:27

i do you know whether it's the

18:29

farm or it's a moment like that or

18:31

jls or you know my children's work

18:33

or whatever it is you know People come

18:35

to identify you with certain things at

18:37

a moment. And that's the beauty of life,

18:39

you know. Do people ever say, especially

18:41

around Christmas time, do you get people saying

18:43

Merry Christmas to you? They don't say

18:45

it to me, but they want me to

18:48

say it. But every single year I

18:50

go and I do, I speak to one

18:52

of the boys or whatever, obviously on

18:54

radio now. My good friend Fleur, she's on,

18:56

or my wife's friend Fleur, she's on

18:58

radio as well. She always calls me up

19:00

and says, please, you have to say

19:02

it. Can we just do a quick interview

19:04

of you just coming on and doing

19:06

and it's not Christmas until you say it,

19:08

you know, that sort of stuff. You

19:11

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19:13

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19:15

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19:17

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at Great wolf.com. And Strengthen the

19:59

pack. I

20:05

want to talk about your brilliant children's

20:07

books, which I've read and I loved. And

20:09

for me to enjoy, they're not aimed

20:11

at my age, but I think, I can't

20:13

remember who it was. I think it

20:16

was C .S. Lewis, you know, who wrote

20:18

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, who

20:20

said the sign of a good children's

20:22

book is that an adult will enjoy it.

20:24

And I think that's very interesting, isn't

20:26

it? That he said... children's books that

20:29

don't work, only children will like. Whereas

20:31

if an adult, and it's true, if

20:33

you look at all the big children's

20:35

books that have been hits throughout the

20:37

centuries, they've always been ones that the

20:39

whole family can draw. And I really

20:41

feel this is true of your books.

20:43

Thank you. They're lovely books. It's the

20:46

central character is called Ace. Yes. There

20:48

are two. Well, I've read

20:50

two. Yes. Ace and the Animal Heroes

20:52

is a series, and the first

20:54

book is The Big Farm Rescue. And

20:56

the one that's come out most

20:58

recently... Is The Wacky Weather Mystery. Which

21:00

I loved. I sat

21:02

there reading these books, loving

21:04

them. As an adult woman.

21:06

Yeah. And why I love them is

21:08

that the character Ace, who shares

21:10

a name with your son... Yeah. What

21:13

I love about it is... kind of

21:15

about a blended family in some ways

21:17

as well, because he lives with his

21:20

grandparents. He inherits his

21:22

farm and suddenly, and he's

21:24

not expecting it, and he goes

21:26

to live there with his

21:28

grandparents and he rolls his sleeves

21:30

up and he starts turning

21:32

it into a sort of profitable

21:34

working farm. What was

21:36

your thought process behind the book and why

21:38

did you want to do something set

21:40

on a farm? I

21:42

wanted to do a book because in

21:44

the early days my son Ace had just

21:47

been born and actually I didn't start

21:49

with the main character being Ace and it

21:51

didn't start in the format that it...

21:53

currently is or it's been published in. It

21:55

took you eight years, Joby. It took

21:57

eight years. And it genuinely did start as

21:59

sort of more of a picture book

22:01

idea. It was written in rhyme and it

22:03

was just designed to be a book

22:05

that I could read to my son. And

22:08

I read to both my children before

22:10

they were even born. So that while they

22:12

were in Chloe's tummy, you know, we'd

22:14

have Bible stories, we'd have nursery rhymes, we'd

22:16

sing songs, we'd everything, you know. from,

22:19

you know, any type of book, any

22:21

type of story, I would read. And it

22:23

was partly a bonding thing, but I

22:25

do generally, know, my mum, obviously being a

22:28

nurse, always told me that one of

22:30

the first things for, you know, a baby

22:32

to develop is hearing. And one of

22:34

the last things to go in life is

22:36

your hearing, which is why if, you

22:38

know, a paramedic comes to you or whatever,

22:40

they say, what's your name? And they

22:42

ask you to respond or they speak to

22:45

you because you can hear even if

22:47

you can't. physically speak you can respond of

22:49

course you know you know see people

22:51

in comas or whatever can move their hand

22:53

or can respond with a touch or

22:55

a flick of an eye you know whatever

22:57

even though you can't necessarily communicate verbally

22:59

so hearing is incredibly important so you know

23:01

from very early on I read to

23:04

the kids and when Ace was born I've

23:07

always loved writing and wanted to write

23:09

and very much, you know, not a

23:11

stranger to writing, having studied theology and

23:13

things like that. So, you know, writing

23:15

was never really an issue. And throughout

23:17

JLS, of course, writing in rhyme, writing

23:19

songs, things like that was always very

23:21

much part of my makeup. But

23:24

I wanted to write something that

23:26

was touching on lots of different themes

23:28

in my life, personally, and certainly

23:30

my family's life as well. And one

23:32

of those things, as you say,

23:34

is travel. And although Ace doesn't travel

23:36

that far in that first book,

23:38

it was always about, OK, he's used

23:40

to one environment. And that's similar

23:42

to myself. I was used to an

23:44

environment being sort of in the,

23:46

you know. South London in the

23:48

inner city and then having to

23:50

sort of like make that transition, which

23:52

is for me, obviously a transition

23:54

that I absolutely loved, going out to

23:57

the countryside and embracing all that

23:59

that sort of takes on. And,

24:01

you know, set up a farm. You can

24:03

do all the research you want in the world.

24:06

But if you don't spend time

24:08

on the farm doing those things,

24:10

it's impossible to learn it. Like,

24:12

impossible. You know, as much as

24:14

you can read about, you know,

24:17

pigs giving birth or any animal

24:19

giving birth, until you see that

24:21

and experience that, you have no

24:23

idea what's going to come. Are

24:25

you quite calm when the animals give

24:27

birth? Oh no, I freaked out. The

24:29

first time I saw Ginger, who was

24:32

the first pig, we actually rescued it from

24:34

the RSPCA. And she's no longer

24:36

with us, but not for that reason. But she

24:38

lives on in the book, so she's got a

24:40

legacy. She does. You know, the

24:42

first time I saw her give birth to a

24:44

litter, I freaked out. I was calling the

24:46

vet. The vet were very happy because I paid,

24:48

like, three or four call -out charges that I

24:50

didn't need to pay. And I remember, you

24:52

know, they were literally just like, you're just going

24:54

to have to, like, see how it plays

24:56

out. And I'm thinking, what do you mean? You

24:59

know, I've read all this stuff. You might

25:01

have to help the, you know, this is thinking

25:03

about sort of like sheep and cattle and

25:05

things like that. You know, you might have to

25:07

help in, get a glove on, put your

25:09

hand in, all this stuff. I tried to get

25:11

in Ginger's pen. And this is docile, chill

25:13

Ginger, who is so lovely, comes and brushes up

25:15

against your leg, wants a scratch from a

25:17

broom, all of that, virtually attacked me. And

25:20

I was like, hold on, this is not

25:22

what it for. Is that because they're feeling

25:24

protective over the unborn? Absolutely.

25:26

But that, you know, that sort of... you

25:28

know, an animal feel protected. mother would do. Yeah,

25:30

but you don't know what that looks like

25:32

until you actually physically experience it or see it.

25:34

Right. And so for me, it was, you

25:36

know, not quite a baptism of fire,

25:38

but when I saw the vet try and

25:40

get in and have the same reaction, I

25:42

was like, okay, so we're definitely hands off

25:44

here. Right. And then everything had to unfold

25:46

naturally. And it very much was nature. And

25:48

you think, know, she was literally the first

25:50

animal we ever had. And, you

25:52

know, everything's in the balance. Is she going to

25:54

survive this? Are the piglets going to be

25:57

okay? Is she going to squash the pig? do

25:59

I have to get all these questions that

26:01

you cannot answer until you physically experience something and

26:03

so for me that's what it was all

26:05

about you know trying to get some of those

26:07

experiences some of those things into this book

26:09

because they're interesting they're fun like you know for

26:11

a child to sort of learn about birth

26:13

you know which for me didn't happen until I

26:15

was an adult and I've actually physically seen

26:17

my own children You

26:20

never get an insight to that. So

26:22

for me, it was just so fascinating. And,

26:24

you know, of course, there's lots of

26:26

different themes. In the second book, you know,

26:28

as you can imagine, the Wacky Weather

26:30

Mystery, which I love. All about weather. But

26:32

it's, you know, here in the UK,

26:35

firstly, we're very blessed because we have four

26:37

clear, distinct seasons. Yeah. And that's unusual,

26:39

especially across the world. You know, usually it's

26:41

only hot or dry or wet and

26:43

rainy or hot and cold. You know, there's...

26:46

usually only two seasons for most of the

26:48

world. Here in the UK, we get

26:50

four seasons. And so all throughout those four

26:52

seasons, know, you get all different types

26:54

of weather. People take for granted, you know,

26:56

when we had the lockdown, you know,

26:58

that spring and summer was unbelievable. So

27:01

lovely. And especially being in that situation,

27:03

having to be in, it was so

27:05

nice to have warm weather and just

27:07

enjoy it. But that was such a

27:09

long, warm period that had a massive

27:11

impact on... our turkeys massive impact on

27:14

livestock and animals you know we had

27:16

a hosepipe ban i'm pretty sure that

27:18

year so that meant we had to

27:20

have water delivered which thankfully our council

27:22

did for us right but little things

27:24

like that you don't again there is

27:26

nothing you don't know about well it's

27:29

just you would definitely be my phone

27:31

and friend do you know what i

27:33

mean because i think he's got it

27:35

covered well theology do

27:38

they say? Jack of all

27:40

trades. Agriculture. It's

27:43

just, for me, it's intriguing.

27:46

I'm inquisitive about the world. It's one of

27:48

the things that I love with the

27:50

TV shows and the books. Going on the

27:52

farm and cooking with the girls we

27:54

love. Oh, we love cooking with the girls.

27:56

Because, you know, I love that. Not

27:58

only do I get to see your two

28:00

fabulous children. I get to see

28:02

a bit of Chloe. Yes. And we all

28:04

love the Chloe JB love story. She's

28:06

a secret weapon. She is. She

28:08

already loves Chloe. Because we should say, I'm

28:11

going to let you go soon because

28:13

the one show is calling. But I have

28:15

to, Chloe needs to be mentioned. Yeah.

28:17

Because you two met, we won the X

28:19

Factor and Chloe was a dancer, is

28:21

a dancer, but she was dancing for the

28:23

X Factor. And she caught your eye.

28:25

But it wasn't just your eye that she

28:28

caught, was it? I'm

28:30

not sure how many people

28:32

know this, but basically Arisha took

28:34

her number, or they exchanged

28:36

numbers, shall I say. You little

28:38

Arisha. Well, I also noted

28:40

the number at the time. What

28:42

do you mean? Arisha has the guts to

28:44

go up and ask for the number. You're lurking

28:46

in the shadows. I wasn't lurking the shadows. When

28:49

you say it like that, this sounds really,

28:52

really bad, but I wasn't lurking in the

28:54

shadows. I was just being... What's

28:56

the word? Opportunity. Yeah. You know,

28:58

why not? Numbers are being thrown about.

29:00

You know, I probably was trying

29:02

to get someone else's number at the

29:04

time. Because

29:07

that week on The Earth Spectre, I think there were

29:09

six new dancers. And don't ask them what it was.

29:11

Probably the fact that they were all blonde. Love

29:14

was in the air. It was

29:16

such a weird week because we'd had

29:18

dancers from week one. We

29:20

had a good relationship and spoke to

29:22

them and this and that. But there

29:24

was just a spark that week. And

29:26

I think they were all very, very

29:28

hungry. And for Chloe, it was obviously

29:31

her first opportunity. And really for

29:33

her dream, that was it coming true.

29:35

to perform on this stage, you know,

29:37

for Brian Friedman as well, you know,

29:39

a massive name within the industry, certainly,

29:41

you know, within dancing and, you know,

29:43

he's choreographed the best of the best.

29:45

And, you know, here she was sort of having her

29:48

main, you know, opportunity. And, yeah,

29:50

we came along and, you know, we're

29:52

winding them up. on, Arishi takes a

29:54

number. Yeah. You are in the

29:56

shadows. I'm not going to move on from that position,

29:58

JB. Sequently noting it

30:00

down. Yeah. Then what happens?

30:02

Then I obviously used the notes

30:05

that I'd taken. The notes?

30:07

Yeah. I number. Don't try and

30:09

dress it up and make it sound a bit

30:11

more dignified. Like it's your theology degree. I use the

30:13

notes. I messaged her. Of course. Did you? What

30:15

did you say? Do you remember? No,

30:19

probably just something simple like, oh,

30:21

no, no, no, no, no. No, there weren't

30:23

lines at that stage. It was just a

30:25

case of, oh yeah, I got your number,

30:27

blah, blah, blah, whatever. And

30:29

it was really funny because I genuinely think,

30:31

I mean, there's probably been one or two

30:33

days since then where we've not. spoken on message.

30:35

What did Orisho say when you told him?

30:38

Was he all right about it? Oh, yeah,

30:40

no, I mean, I genuinely think it was just

30:42

an exchange of details rather than a... You

30:44

got the girl. Yeah, well, I mean, it

30:46

is what it is. Snooze, you lose. And

30:51

I think your partnership, a lot

30:53

of people feel very invested in

30:55

it because I just think there's

30:57

something rather lovely about the fact

30:59

that you met at that point

31:01

when your life was changing and

31:03

if you can meet someone... at

31:05

that seminal point i wonder if

31:07

that's quite a good thing because

31:09

you've been on that journey together

31:11

and she was exposed to your

31:13

life changing yes absolutely and for

31:15

me i think it it worked

31:17

so well and probably kept us

31:19

both grounded because we both experienced

31:21

it together. Sorry about that noise.

31:23

That was Inriche turning up objecting.

31:27

We should say, Inriche has no

31:29

problem with it. No. Yeah,

31:31

so you went through that together, which is kind of

31:33

lovely in a way. Yeah, well, for me, for us,

31:35

well, for both of us, I'm sure she was here,

31:37

she'd say the same thing. It was so nice to

31:39

be able to share the experience. And, know,

31:41

she, as I say, was ambitious and,

31:43

you know, went on and achieved some incredible

31:45

things for her career. both

31:48

performing at, you know, the mobos and

31:50

the brits and you know the big you

31:52

know radio one's big weekend and uh

31:54

t4 and the big all these big sort

31:56

of you know festivals and performances throughout

31:58

that period of our of our life but

32:00

we could both identify with it and

32:02

understand it you know if she was on

32:04

off on tour yeah i got it

32:06

you know if i was off on tour

32:08

she got it and you know don't

32:10

be wrong of course we had challenges throughout

32:12

our relationship and throughout that whole time

32:14

and you know we needed a whole another

32:16

hour or two probably to go through

32:18

that but it was it was just nice

32:20

to both be on the same page

32:22

and i think that's been probably the secret

32:24

to our relationship success is that we've we've

32:27

we've just been with each other through

32:29

everything you know and obviously now we've got

32:31

the kids yeah and vice versa you

32:34

know jb look at that blossom do you

32:36

like blossom i love blossom do you

32:38

know i knew you would you got blossom

32:40

all over you that that's the japanese

32:42

coming on you know how how seriously they

32:44

take cherry blossom in japan do they

32:46

have a season or something and they take

32:49

they celebrate it it's called sakura i

32:51

mean of course he knows what the bloody

32:53

name is honestly they have like it's

32:55

a full festival And as

32:57

you can imagine, look how beautiful

32:59

that is. Yeah, I love

33:01

hearing that about you and

33:03

Chloe. Yeah, it's lovely.

33:05

And for me, I think it's been

33:08

so nice to be able to share

33:10

that journey with her. I

33:12

bet. Yeah, it really has. What sort

33:14

of a dad are you? Are you

33:16

strict ever? Are

33:18

you kind of love and boundaries, you

33:20

know? Yeah, I think so. I

33:22

think Chloe's probably stricter than I

33:24

am. But it's... I love about watching

33:26

Chloe be a mother and what

33:28

I try to do as a father

33:30

is always, it's going back to

33:33

what mum said, you know, everything in

33:35

moderation, including moderation. We have very

33:37

clear lines and boundaries for both the

33:39

children. And I think that's important,

33:41

you know, to have a framework for

33:43

anybody is good. I just don't

33:45

think chaos. is good in any sense

33:47

but there's moments where we kind

33:49

of step outside of that and just

33:51

say well actually today's all right

33:53

you're right to just be free today

33:55

no i mean you can just

33:57

do what you know whatever it might

33:59

be in it that's anything from

34:01

springtime to you know the way that

34:03

they sort of interact with others

34:05

you know whatever it might be um

34:07

you know we think it's important

34:09

for them to be you know to

34:11

have manners and to do all

34:13

that sort of stuff but actually you

34:15

know every now and again it's

34:17

not it's okay just to let go

34:19

you know what would chloe say

34:21

if i had chloe here and i

34:23

said what annoys you most about

34:25

jb um that's a good question what

34:27

would she say jb i don't

34:29

know she always says like because i'm

34:31

quite particular about certain things but

34:33

they're not so particularly about other things

34:35

other what are you particular about

34:37

i'm very particular about things like loading

34:40

the dishwasher And

34:42

I say that because, like, for me, I'm like, if

34:44

you're going to do it, it's got to be done

34:46

in a way that actually cleans the dishes. And

34:50

Chloe tends to just put them

34:52

in and whatever happens, happens. But

34:55

then, when it comes to, like,

34:57

clothes, and I'm not really big into

34:59

clothes, but, know, as

35:01

you can imagine, whenever we're doing sort of promo or

35:03

anything like that, you know, we do have a

35:05

stylist for JLS and I get lots of clothes, you

35:07

know, and not just me, obviously, the other boys

35:09

as well. But I just

35:11

have so many and I hold on to

35:13

things. You're a bit of a hoarder. A little

35:16

bit of a hoarder. And I know she

35:18

doesn't particularly appreciate it. She's like, how can you

35:20

be so particular about something like dishes? But

35:22

you're just free for all when it comes to

35:24

something like that. So, yeah,

35:26

I know that definitely annoys her

35:28

a little bit. You seem

35:30

a very sort of good -natured,

35:32

quite mild -mannered person, you know.

35:34

And I can't imagine you... losing

35:36

your temper or being crossed,

35:38

but then you're a human being

35:40

and everybody gets crossed sometimes. Maybe

35:43

it was that jogger who just

35:45

nearly ran into you. What breaks you

35:47

and how does your anger manifest

35:49

itself? Are you a sulker? Do you

35:51

get passive aggressive? Do you say

35:53

nothing or do you snap, let it out

35:55

and then it's gone? I

35:58

am a snap, let it out and

36:00

it's gone kind of person. I very

36:02

rarely hold on to anything ever. And

36:04

I've always been like that. In fact,

36:06

growing up, whenever we had family disagreements

36:08

or arguments or anything like that, even

36:10

my parents, it was always in that

36:12

moment and then you move on. And

36:14

I mean, we've had, you know... More

36:17

sort of as late teens, you know,

36:19

that sort of stage. You know, had

36:21

disagreements, discussions, arguments, whatever. And then it's

36:23

kind of like... And the first time

36:25

Chloe saw this, actually, she was blown

36:27

away. Because her family's the opposite. Like,

36:29

they hold on to everything. And she

36:31

literally was like, oh, my days. Like,

36:33

we had an argument about whatever it

36:35

was. You know, it wasn't me doing

36:38

the throw -in, but, know, I'm sure

36:40

someone broke a plate or whatever. Something

36:42

happened. And within... I was

36:44

like, my mum was like, right,

36:46

so what are we having for

36:48

dinner? But that's always,

36:50

you know, we've always been like that.

36:52

And so for me, you know, that's

36:54

kind of how my anger manifests itself.

36:56

I'm interested in people's conflict resolution style,

36:58

and yours is, let's get in there,

37:00

you know, let's roll our sleeves up,

37:02

get this sorted, let our anger

37:04

out, and then we can move

37:06

on. Whereas some people's conflict resolution style

37:09

is, I just need time away

37:11

from this. Yeah, yeah. I have an

37:13

element of that as well, because...

37:15

i don't like to do things in

37:17

the heat of the moment no

37:19

um i just find if just if

37:21

you do that you know it

37:23

doesn't end well very rarely ends well

37:25

but you know my wife has

37:27

very much let's attack this straight away

37:29

and sometimes that's too it's too

37:31

soon but that said you know for

37:33

me sort of when you go

37:35

through whatever it is and you have

37:37

a disagreement it takes me a

37:39

long time to get to that point

37:41

and it also i mean if

37:43

i lose my temper it's probably once

37:45

or twice in a year that's

37:47

good well i just but you obviously

37:49

go by that you know i

37:51

was told something once and it was

37:53

a bit life -changing by a therapist

37:55

which is your initial response isn't

37:57

always your genuine response so wait always

37:59

wait if you can it's whether

38:01

it's sending an email or someone says

38:04

something in a room that upsets

38:06

you what you feel in the moment

38:08

isn't always how you actually feel

38:10

yeah it's the front part of your

38:12

brain is responding going they've upset

38:14

me they're insulting me and you're like

38:16

sometimes you wake up the next

38:18

morning you find jibby and you think

38:20

oh no that they weren't that

38:22

wasn't about me no exactly but i

38:24

just i just think life there

38:26

are so many more deeper parts

38:28

of life and often like

38:30

you say the arguments that we're

38:32

having are purely based on

38:34

an opinion or you know something

38:36

that actually doesn't in the

38:39

grand scheme of things doesn't really

38:41

matter and so for me

38:43

I just I just I refuse

38:45

to sort of respond impulsively

38:47

when it comes to something like

38:49

that You know, I just feel like

38:51

there's so much more. Also, you actually just deal with

38:53

it. For instance, we circle back to Strictly and going

38:55

through that with Lauren, you know, yes, OK, it was

38:57

a big deal. And yes, I could have been, you

38:59

know, I could have said to the execs, this is

39:01

not fair that you've done all of that. But actually,

39:04

firstly, there's so many things are

39:06

deeper than this situation we're going

39:08

through. Plus, I'm actually having a

39:10

really good time. And this is

39:13

not a great situation, but let's deal

39:15

with it. For me, I'm almost always

39:17

more concerned with the resolution than the

39:19

conflict part of conflict resolution. Oh,

39:22

do you know what, JV? I

39:24

could spend hours with you, and

39:26

I would, but we have to get

39:28

you off to the one show.

39:30

So, do you know, Raymond is really

39:32

responding to you, and he doesn't

39:35

do this often. He can be a

39:37

bit standoffish. But I think...

39:39

don't know whether it's because you've

39:41

got an affinity with animals or he's

39:43

just responding to your quite gentle

39:45

energy. I'm not sure, but he's having

39:47

a great time, aren't you, Ray Ray? Straight

39:50

in with the Ray Ray. Yeah. I

39:55

mean, I've been working so hard

39:57

on this dog for years, pouring

40:00

in energy and time, and then

40:02

you, lurking in the shadows, listening

40:04

to the number. It's happened all

40:06

over again. All over again. History

40:08

repeats itself. Well,

40:11

do you know what? I could not

40:13

have enjoyed this more. No, thank you.

40:15

It's been brilliant. Did you like it?

40:17

Absolutely. Honestly, it could be here for

40:19

another couple of hours. I

40:22

really could. Well, I'm time blind, so

40:24

I need to get you off because

40:26

I will just keep talking for hours.

40:28

I think you're quite organised and on

40:30

time, aren't you? Strike me as a

40:33

type. I am organised and on time,

40:35

but I'm actually... So, Chloe is unbelievably

40:37

organised, but I'm also a... What's that

40:39

show, is she? I'm not saying anything

40:41

like that. Oh, look at that car!

40:44

McLaren, I love that. Her face is going

40:46

to be going crazy. Do you like posh

40:48

cars? Not for me personally to

40:50

have, but I can appreciate them. But I

40:52

bet you didn't blow your money on

40:54

cars. Absolutely not. I bet you got quite

40:56

a sensible estate car or something. See,

40:59

how do you know these things? I got

41:01

an E -Class coupe for my first car. I

41:03

loved it because I had four seats. I

41:05

had four seats. No point going to a

41:08

party with one person. Who wants to do

41:10

that? You want to get your whole gang

41:12

in there. I wanted all the friends in.

41:14

Do you know that's so true? Because my

41:16

sister used to say to me, she said,

41:18

I tell you who buys a sports car,

41:20

selfish wankers. I just could never do it.

41:22

Don't get me wrong, if you're going to

41:24

have three or four cars, great. Have your

41:26

sports car because you love it and whatever.

41:28

And no doubt, as I get older, I'm

41:30

sure I love Master Martin. That's the car.

41:32

Would you buy that? I would. I haven't

41:34

bought one yet, but that's on the list,

41:36

if I can. But

41:38

it's not yet. That's going to

41:40

be when Chloe and I are

41:42

going to the dinners at the

41:44

Savoy or wherever other hotel chains

41:47

are available. And for me, that's

41:49

the time. Not when you're cramming

41:51

kids and kittens. No. No.

41:55

JB, we've loved walking with you.

41:57

Can we give you a hug?

41:59

Yes, of course. Oh, So good. We

42:02

love you, JB. It's been a pleasure. Thank

42:05

you for having me. And if I don't

42:07

see you beforehand, Merry

42:09

Christmas. Merry Christmas. I

42:13

really hope you enjoyed that episode of Walking

42:15

Dog. We'd love it if you subscribed and

42:17

do join us next time on Walking the

42:19

Dog, wherever you get your podcasts. Do

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