Gary Barlow

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0:35Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm in a rush because I haven't actually made food yet. How are you mum? I'm very well darling. We're doing a recipe from this new cookbook that you love. Yeah, called Sunlight and Breadcrumbs. By Renee Erickson. And you've sent me loads of WhatsApp messages. So I'm kind of looking at my phone and trying to do it. And I'm now realising this was a stupid idea. But... Why is it stupid? Because it's one of them ones that you have to make all together. It looks really delicious. The coffee machine is in the background, if you can hear a hum. And I'm speaking really fast.

1:13Why are you speaking so fast? Because I've got to get everything in before our guest comes. Okay, fine. Castle Franco. Radicchio? Radicchio? What is it? And you cook that for a couple of minutes. Then you take the leaves out. How can you pre-cook that now? Well, I need the... Yeah, I could, maybe. and then you scramble eggs into it and then you put parmesan. So it's just kind of cheesy and then you add a good balsamic vinegar. So I've got the belazu. It's slightly legroni of scrambled eggs. Well, let's bloody find out. Radicchio. Radicchio, now we know. Alice has just come over, producer Alice has come over with the formal spelling, pronunciation of radicchio.

1:55Well, now it's radicchio. Radicchio, formally known as radicchio. It's got an H, so I think it makes a C hard. All right. If you're Italian. Oh, okay. Ciao, Bella. Anyway, we've got prosciutto. We've got amazing focaccia from Dusty Knuckle. Thank you for letting us take your lunch stock. I love you. And you've made banana bread. Oh, yeah, and I made banana bread. With tahini? I put a little bit of tahini in. Yeah. Let's see. It's got chocolate. It's got walnuts. It's got... Oh, my word. Yeah. The lot. My son made it with me yesterday. So we've got Gary Barlow. No, we need to build up this a bit better.

2:31Who was the loves of your life, most of your... I don't know if we should talk about this. From about the age of nine. Take that. Yeah. You loved them more than anyone in the whole universe. I did, but Robbie was the one that was my love. I know Robbie was the one, but the whole... But Gary was the clue. Gary was the singer. Gary was the songwriter and the singer and the leader and is just brilliant. And he's always been such a nice bloke. I've met him a few times and he's just a lovely guy. We'd call him a mensch. A mensch. He's a mensch. And he's come on to talk about his new TV show, which is about him going around bloody Italy tasting wines.

3:04It could have taken us with him. It's absolute liberty. And he's also brought his Gary Barlow wines over. Fabulous. He's changed it. Hang on, there used to be a piano. I know, the piano down the side. It's now on the front in the little gold piano. The little keys. No, I like the piano. A bit sad. So maybe we're going to do a wine tasting at 10.30 in the morning? No. No? What? I would have thought you'd be well up for it. No, I can't do it anymore. I mean, obviously, we've got lots to talk to Gary about, whether he can confirm Robbie Williams' story about King Narn, Narn King. We'll see if Gary has a different version of events.

3:39Million love songs later Here I am trying to tell you Well, should we get him on the old Joanna? Yes! Lenny can finally get her duet with Gary Barlow.

3:59How are you, Gary? I'm great, I'm great. You seem very happy, peaceful, even though you're doing about 10 ,000 things, you've just sent about 20 files. Yeah, yeah. You've been up since 6.30, getting your kids to school. Yeah, yeah, that's a normal morning for us. 6.30, what time does she leave the store? Well, it's not just the leave. About 10 to 8 she actually goes, but it's the series of wake-ups. and then it's a lot of rallying, a lot of like, come on, let's get going. You know, it's a lot of encouragement. I've got that to look forward to then. Yeah. I've got the thing where they wake me up at six and I'm like, please, no.

4:36Yeah, I remember those years. Yeah, yeah. Which one's better? Do you know what? I think I prefer the being the woke up. Yeah. Really? Yeah, yeah. I prefer the wake up, definitely. I mean, we'd love our kids to be small again. We'd love them as kids. Really? but as they've got older they're a bit more complicated yeah you've got girls you've got two girls and one boy okay which one's more complicated oh the girls come on you didn't need to ask that no I didn't yeah there's a lot of it's a question but there's several more behind it as my son just goes I just want some food and it's that simple and you've already been to the studio I've been to the studio, yeah.

5:21You've seen Stuart Price, who is our friend, mutual friend. Yep. So what, have you already written a song this morning, Gary? I've not written a song. It's 10.30, by the way. We're doing this in the morning. You know what, though? Some days, if I'm in London, which I am at the moment, I am first in the studio, and I've tried to... I've done something before everyone arrives. I like the peace in the morning before everybody arrives at the studio, and then everybody wants things, and the phone starts ringing, and, you know, emails start popping up. So I actually like to work early, yeah. Do you like to finish early too?

5:56I do, yes, yeah. I must be honest, nowadays, three, four o 'clock, I'm done. Me too. Yeah. Jessica. Why is it Jessica? You're young, darling. I know, what does that say about me? Does that mean I'm lazy or just like efficient with my time within the parameters of a five-hour session? I don't know. As soon as I get home, I get into pyjamas. Early. Yeah, I'm early. I like early too. I'm negotiating with my kids to go to sleep. And the way that they'll finally go to sleep is if I get into my pyjamas, I'm like, I'm going to bed too. And they're like, okay, fine. And that is like eight o 'clock. But you have really young kids.

6:36Eight, five and three? Yeah, that's young. That's really young. Yeah. Yeah. I remember those years. You're in a sort of haze for about 10 years. And then you wish that you were back in the haze, right? I think you do. Oh, God. Where were you living when they were little? We've lived in London for about 18 years. Oh, a long time then. Yeah, yeah. So our oldest, Dan, he is 24 now. So he had a few years up north with us. But the move to London was positive for us. Do you like it? I like London. Me too. Love London. So where are you from originally? From Cheshire. Oh, Cheshire. Or if I'm doing an interview with the cool magazine, I say I'm from Manchester.

7:16Of course you do. Yeah, but the truth is, from Cheshire. Have you got Oasis tickets? Are you interested? I haven't got... Do you know, I really like the music. I'm not really a gig. I like doing a gig, but I don't really like watching gigs. You do like doing a gig. You're always on bloody tour, I would tell you that. Yeah. You do massive... You've just done, like... Was it stadiums? Well, we're only halfway through yet. We did UK, Europe and Ireland. We've done 70 shows this year already. But we're going back now. We do the rest. We do the rest of Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia, Japan, and then we're done for Christmas.

7:53How has your rider changed over the years? Rider? Our riders have been healthy for about 15 years. Oh, God, it's so boring. It is. So what was it like when it wasn't healthy? Well, we'd have had Jaffa cakes and, you know, tunnocks. Tunnocks. Oh, tunnocks, great stuff. However, I am... I thought you were going to say a bit more rock and roll than that. I'd have to say Jeff Cates and Tonics. Gary, I thought you were going to say strippers and coke. Well, afterwards, we would go out and go to clubs and stuff. But before show, I can't sing. I can't drink and sing. That's always been my thing. I lose my tuning, and it's not good at the best of times.

8:33But if I drink, my tuning goes way off. Why do you think that is? I don't know. It's something to do with... I got told the science behind it once, but I believe the sort of the scale of depreciation with your ears is one drink takes everything above 8k from your ears. All the high-pitched stuff goes straight away. You stop hearing it. So I must tune to a lot of high-pitched stuff because I really can't tune when I drink. But I think as you get older, your tuning goes, I mean, it gets worse anyway. So it's like my, I feel like my tuning is getting worse. Really? Yeah. I don't know you know or maybe you are good without maybe you'll come back round to it do you think yeah because I went to see last time I saw Jeff Lynne his voice was the best that I've ever heard ELO oh okay yeah Mr Blue Sky oh yeah yeah I mean like he's got to be 75 or something I think his voice was better than it was in the 70s yeah I wonder whether patriarchy yeah again they keep the tuning Tom Jones look he's still You're bloody doing great.

9:42And we all go flat. Do you think women go? I think, I wonder. No, Lulu. She's as good as ever. Yeah, she is. Does she still come on stage with you? All the time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And she's as... That's reassuring. Yeah. Yeah. I think you'll come back to it. What's on Lulu? Yeah, right. It's these kids. They ruin everything. Yeah, it's true. It's true. Yeah, they do. So how old were you when you were signed? Signed. let me see well you would take that when you were signed yes we were so teenagers now yeah I was 19 when I joined the band and I think it was probably a year later we got signed so you were living in Cheshire with who your mum and dad mum and dad and sister's brother older brother older brother yeah and who did the cooking mum did the cooking good cook excellent and still is what's her best dish well I don't always say the best dish she does is a pie.

10:40I love pies. What's the filling? Well, my favourite of her pies is a chicken and mushroom pie. Oh, how lovely. Yeah, I just love pies. Can Dawn cook pies as well? Yes, yes. However, she's a diabetic nowadays, so she can't really have pies, can't have pastry. She's got to watch her card. Got to watch the yeah, what's her flower something she doesn't eat. But yeah, we love pies. Are you a good cook? not bad I've heard you're mad into food and Italian cuisine and this is what I've heard well there's a couple of things that I quietly have sort of a hobby away from music because I think things are way I think you're probably like me I'm obsessed with music if I'm not making it I talk about it and if I'm not talking about it I'm doing it or playing it or performing I mean, I just love music.

11:34So anything that takes me away from music, it's good for me, I think, because otherwise I'd just do this all day. And cooking and wine is the two interests of mine. I don't know a lot about them, but I'm really interested in them and love to eat, go out for dinner, be with friends. I think if I probably go back a step before any of this, I really like people. I like friends and family. And I think that anything that helps that be great. So, you know, food and having a glass and saying cheers. They're happy things and I love happy things. So they're in addition to, it's an excuse to do that. Do you know what I mean?

12:21It's the occasion. But has this become a kind of growing love? And was there a point where you didn't feel like you had those happy things where you were like missing out was it from working too hard I don't know was there a point in your life where you're like I need to sit down and have more dinners with my friend and connect yeah yeah as time's gone on I think um and I think because I'm away a lot and I work a lot and often at dinner times I'm usually on stage somewhere yeah right I think it's become more important over time that when I do have time we make dinner and we sit together like our daughter's here from australia at the moment she's doing she's at uni in australia so we don't see her very often and she made sunday dinner for us last night and we all were around the table everybody and it was so nice um it's that it's the bringing together of people because you missed out on a big chunk i imagine when you were signed and take that when it's i mean it was just you zoomed and And it was manic.

13:24But there's that whole bit of your 20s where you weren't, you couldn't have had a normal life at all. You were kind of on tour all the time and managing fans. And when did you meet your wife? Did you know each other as Tina? Oh, she was dancing. I met her first in 1988 when I'd been brought in to do this really terrible video by Virgin at the time, which was, it had offshoots around the country and there was two dancers on that and she was one of them. And so we met then just for the day, never thought anything more of it and then bumped into her over the years at Top of the Pops and the Royal Variety performances and things.

14:08And then we did a tour in like 95 where we had like 20 dancers. We'd got big time by then. We had like 20 dancers with us and she was one of them. I think I was at that tour. Really? Yeah. We played the old court. Yeah, I think it was Earth Court. Yeah. Oh, no, it was Wembley, darling. And I had to wear earplugs for the screaming because it was so loud. So did we. And I just cried. And you cried the whole time. And I remember I had earplugs in. I thought, what am I doing here? And all the mums and dads had earplugs in because of the screaming. Right, right. It was, how old were you? You must have been 10.

14:49I think it was the moment. 10 or 11. Howard was doing his cowboy, you know, things. Yeah, I was 93. Oh, I was 93. Yeah, or 94. So how old were you? You were... I was like nine. Nine. Wow. Yeah. So you met Dawn. Yeah. She was on your tour. 95, that was. So you'd remembered her from 88. We'd bumped into each other. Was there a spark at the beginning, or was it more like, oh, there's Dawn, that lovely, lovely dancer that I get on very well with? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it was just... Carrie, let's make this a little bit more sexy, shall we? No, it wasn't. It wasn't because we were around a lot of people like that at that time.

15:25And you're professional. Good-looking young girls and boys, you know, dancing with us. It was just part of the aesthetic of what we were doing at the time. But when we got on this tour in 95, I really liked her by this point now. And I thought, what do I do here now? And we were so big at that time. Oh, my God. But you must have had girls throwing themselves at you. I know, but you say that. You must have been really confident. But you say that, there's a big, especially in that period, which I think was our most crazy period, for just sort of like, this is completely out of control. Nobody knew what the hell was going on.

16:06I think if you listen to Robbie talking about those years, he talks about the much, in a much darker sense than I do. It was quite positive for me that that era was, but completely like everyone had lost control. We were hanging on with one hand. You say there was all these people but there was a massive barrier between us and the world and there had to be. So for someone to be close to me inside that barrier was quite an unusual thing and that's where we really got together on that. Do you remember the city where you first kissed Dawn? Yeah. Tell me. Yeah, we were in Manchester and we'd been to a club and we were all piled in this van on the way home and we were in the very back of this van and we were sat right next to each other out of my arm around her and I just thought, this is it, kids, I'm going in.

17:01Oh. What, in a jam-packed van? In a jam-packed van. Yeah, a jam-packed van. Was anybody else snogging at the time? Nobody. Just us. Did everyone cheer? I think, no, I think a couple of people looked back and went, uh-oh, uh-oh. People giving it the old lunch, you know. And that was it. And that was it. Yeah. But what was it like? Just, I mean, people were so crazy for you. You couldn't have walked down the street. You couldn't. I mean, did it feel frightening? Did you feel, God, this is awful. I didn't, I love it, but I didn't think it would be like this. I didn't think it was awful. I was confused.

17:39and all the things that people talk about when life had not just changed, it was gone. It was like, how am I ever going to be? I mean, is this it forever now? And it was everywhere we were landing. We were landing in places which would take us 12 hours to get on a plane and the airports would just be full of these kids going crazy. I mean, it was everything we'd worked for and wanted, But I think when you suddenly see it, you go, oh, right, what the hell is this? It was so, as a sort of 23, 24-year-old. It must have been overwhelming. Yeah, yeah. Were you, was there ever a point in, because I can imagine you're so ambitious and you're so talented and you've got so many strings to your bow.

18:29You know, you can be the most loved judge on X Factor and you can be kind, you can be the greatest songwriter, you can be, you know, a pin-up, you can then, you turn your hand to everything, you write musicals, you do everything, right? Was there a point where you were satisfied, were you ever satisfied with Take That or did you always feel like you needed to do more stuff than Take That? This time, so the second time round was different. When we left those years of the 90s, it took me about 10 years to figure out what had happened. I blamed everyone else for a few years. I blamed myself for a year.

19:07And I slowly sort of got the balance back and thought, right, this happens again. I feel like I'm a bit more ready for it now. And I really was ready for it. So when we came back in 2006, now as adults, and it came clear from the very first time that we all sat together that we need to look after each other this time. I felt like I was a bit of a solo artist in Take That the first time round and I wanted to be in a band. Really? I felt like I hadn't been in a band the first time round. And so it was a very different, that's a different way of thinking when you come back in. So everyone was writing, we wanted to get everyone in the studio, everyone needed to play their part in what we were doing so it felt like ours rather than mine.

20:02and so when I came back to it this time, we definitely said no more than we said yes. I think almost at the start, people were like, you're going to ruin this if you carry on like this, but it was really important we were doing what we wanted, and not in a diva way. It can sound bad, that can, but it's like, you know, we've got kids now, most of us. It's like, I don't want to work on Saturday and Sunday. I want to be at home. It was things like that where, like, this is important to us this time and so we really did it to a degree on our own terms and we have continued to do that this time did you have to put i mean you it seems like when you came back to it and you said i want we want to be a team and we want to work together did you have to have therapy together to be able to get to that point where you could communicate well or had time passed and therefore it was kind of mended almost well i think if we'd have been reforming now we would have had a therapist with us yeah i think in 2005 when we sort of all met again people didn't talk about that stuff then we did it ourselves um because you know there's there's in our band there's some really clever people you know who who have who have lived in family units and it's like a family a band it's like and there's a pyramid to a band as well that People have their positions.

21:26Yeah. And I think the biggest sort of test for us all was when Robbie came back. I think the four of us getting back was a really big thing. Had you properly fallen out? Oh, I'd fallen out with him, absolutely. Yeah, it was a proper fallout. Yeah, yeah. And how did you reconcile? By sitting like this. And chatting. Talking to one another. Yeah. And was there regret on both sides? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And a real sign of we'd lived a life in that period, you know, and we had a lot to talk about. And I think sometimes you've got to see the person to just understand a bit of where these things start and end.

22:11Are you chummy with him now? Yeah. So you're all friends now, even the ones that have left. Yeah. Do you keep in touch with them all? We try, some more than others. Yeah. Robbie we hear from every week. Jason we hear from every five months. So to varying degrees we keep in touch. Howard and Mark, I speak to them every day. So it's just one of those things. And there'll probably be a day when I'm sure we're all... I really see that again, the way we're all... Because it's a good thing, you know, this. Do you look forward to going to work every day? I do, every day. So you love it. I'm going to start making the scrambled eggs.

22:51Yes, is that what we're having, scrambled eggs? Well, no, we're having scrambled eggs with radicchio, which is like a bitter leaf. Yes, yeah. And then with parmesan. Okay. And some focaccia. We've got some tomato, prosciutto. It's a bit of it because, well, we could crack open one of your, you know, wines if you want. It's a little early. Can we ask you, if we were coming round to yours and your daughter wasn't cooking a beautiful Sunday roast, what would you be cooking for mum and I? What would that? Do you know what? we really got into a few summer goes was the dahl. Do you remember when the dahl became popular for a second?

23:29You've lost mum. Really? Don't like dahls? No, I don't, a bit. It's an extra on the side of a curry. It's an addition rather than a main thing. Yeah, it's not a main thing for me. Yeah, we quite kind of... Are you veggies? No, I'll tell you what it was. No, you're veggie. You're not veggie. Not veggie. But I'll tell you what it is, is that when Dawn first got diabetes, it took me ages to... I was talking to so many people. We have a lot more information now than we did then. This was 12 years ago. But I was like, how the hell do I get flavour into food? And I slowly realised, you're going to laugh at this, but it took me ages, spices.

24:06Oh, yeah. That's how we get flavour into food. And so I started making these dal things. But you like Italian food and Italian wine. Yep. But she won't be able to eat pasta. Doesn't eat pasta. Unless it's gluten-free. But often, you know, nowadays we've found that most of this gluten-free stuff's worse for you than the actual stuff of the gluten. Oh, really? Why? Well, I don't know. Whenever there's some... I always find that, you know, we've taken the sugar out. That means we've put a load of crap in instead. I don't know. So you're making dal with what? I'd make it with lentils. Yeah. Bit of spinach.

24:46And then a whole host of spices. Okay. Depending on... What would you eat it with? We'd eat it with some flatbread. Yeah. Or I'd put some chicken in it sometimes. What wine would you have with doll? Yeah, tricky. Spices are tricky. You have to drink beer with doll. Yeah, true. Gary, you've just spoken about curry. So we've got to ask you whether you can confirm what Robbie Williams talked about when he was on this podcast. Naan king. King naan. King naan. Yeah, I never won that. because I don't really like very spicy food. For anybody that hasn't listened to the Robbie episode, can you explain to the listener what King Naan was?

25:26So we were so bored in the 90s, right, that it became this thing where, I mean, we would eat curry, literally. We'd come off stage at one in the morning and go to a curry house. Really? And have a full starter main course, Irish coffees afterwards with tons of sugar. I mean, we would honestly... Which town's your favourite curry town? Manchester. Bradford. Bradford? Yeah. Which, can you remember the name of the curry house? Why do we call them curry houses? I know, yeah. It's weird, isn't it? So we had a couple of places. We used to stop in Hounslow a lot when we were driving to London. Oh, that, well.

26:04Great curry. Great curry, yeah. Great, Birmingham, obviously. Birmingham's great. Amazing. Manchester, Russia. Manchester's very good. But yeah, Yorkshire for curry. Leeds and Bradford, excellent. so what I'm explaining is we used to go up and down the motorways a lot in the van, touring around trying to tell people we were good even when we weren't so to explain the Robbie story because he's absolutely right what we'd do is we'd go to these curry houses and it would be a competition of who could eat the hottest curry and if you could eat the hottest curry you would be crowned King Nan what about your voice?

26:46no, listen It's been so bad. Burn your bloody vocal cords, darling. It wasn't the voice, it was the arse the next morning. Oh, my God. That's what, listen, I am, coma is my limit. Me too. Terrible. I'm hopeless with five. I'm shocking, shocking. If I see a red chilli on something, I have to take it off. Get rid, get rid. Yeah, me too. But Jason and Howard were literally like, we want a... I could have told you that. Jason was going to be the fucking winner. Jason, yeah. And he won. Why? Because he had, what's the, is it a fowl? Yeah. A fowl. What is a fowl? Right, a fowl. The hottest. Hotter than a Bindaloo.

27:24Yes, it is. Yeah. And so what happens is the head waiter hears this. Who wants a fowl? And I think they go into the kitchen and go, right, guys, give it to them. And they make this fowl and it's hotter than hot. So they would eat it and go, they couldn't get it down. And of course the next morning they literally couldn't walk. Of course they couldn't. Literally couldn't walk. But you have to drink gallons of water to be able to get that down. Just ridiculous. For a bit of a laugh. For a laugh. And to have a nan bred round your neck as King Nan. A King Nan. The things people will go through.

28:17The market's uncertain. Revenue's tied and hiring on hold. That's why results-driven companies are using Upwork to keep work moving. Go to Upwork.com today and start hiring proven freelance talent fast. No bulky overhead. No rigid long-term contracts. Just the right expert right when you need them. Work smarter and faster with Upwork. Go to Upwork.com now and find your freelance expert. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com. Post a job for free and get started today.

28:53I haven't made this before, darling. Wow. Is that a good thing? I don't know. We'll find out. Oh, it looks absolutely incredible. So I've just come back from Sardinia. Oh, lovely. My mum's 80th. Oh, congratulations. Yeah, we had a great time. And all the kids and my brother and his kids and all the partners came. There was 15 of us. Oh, thank you. And it was just a wonderful weekend. Help yourself. So this is a familiar Italian food, isn't it? Great. Jessie, ready? Oh, thank you. What a gent. Gary Barlow is serving us all. And I've just shoved some prosciutto on my own thing. Hang on, hang on.

29:31Thanks, mate. A little bit more of that. Lovely. So tell us about this. Did you come up with this idea? Because I'm really jealous about this, actually. it's brilliant the best gig ever it's like if there was a queue to be the host of this TV show it would it would start in London and end in Edinburgh how did you get it? I went to he's got wine well I know it's my dream to have our own wine really? yeah I'd love it yeah I'll tell you the history of that is it a difficult thing this whole wine thing? no you sure? oh no not at all I've forgotten I've forgotten one of the bloody ingredients. One sec.

30:11What? You're supposed to put... Oh, for fuck's sake, right? You're supposed to put balsamic on it. Oh. Right, hang on. Let's just put a tiny bit on. Oh, this is sensational. And we'll pretend that I put it on before. Excuse fingers. Excuse fingers. Sorry. I'm going to put a tiny bit. Thank you. Just a little bit, yeah. Wow. Sorry, you were about to say. So there's two answers here. So the TV show was a brilliant one. It was one phone call. Yeah. 15 second pitch me drinking wine with mates around the world so when do we start they pitched it to you no me me I'm really annoyed you're basically the British Stanley Tucci now well not quite that but when can we be your mates on the next series please the next series in Australia oh we'll come okay I'm in yeah I'll also support take that on tour fuck it we'll just do two two for one let's go Jessica, can you pass the tomatoes down?

31:09This is delicious. It is delicious, actually. It's not my recipe, but it's a different way to have a scrambled egg, isn't it? I think the radicchio really works. Can we ask you? Yes. I still need to know more about this. When does the TV show start? November. And what's it called? It's called...

31:32Don't laugh. Gary Barlow drinks wine in Italy. No, it isn't that. No, it's called Gary Bowler's Wine Tour. It's literally what I've just been on. So all we've done is drink wine all the way around. And every season's in a different country. So we did South Africa and shot it in February. And I must tell you, it was the most fun I've ever had. I've got five mates, one for each episode. South African wine is divine. Two beautiful regions, Stellenbosch, Franschuk. You know, we did a safari. safari we went on the coast um i'm so jealous really it sounds amazing and you now have a format where you just basically go new world old world let's go yeah exactly exactly and you know what the the thing was is that my sort of stance on it is i know a bit about wine probably more than the average person but i don't know much um and my sort of role is that i'm there learning so the audience are learning.

32:33It's not like me. So, hey, everybody, this is what you should be drinking. It's not that. It's basically me being taught about. So how did you choose your friends to come? Well, I went for who was available. It was South Africa. It's a long way away. But, no, it's great. Okay, so the reason why you are doing a wine tour on telly is because you have your own wine. Yes, yes. You've changed the label, Gary. Yes. You used to have much bigger keys. The peas on the side. Really? They're still there. No, this is lovely. It looks classy. It's a bit fancier. It looks fancier. It does look classy. Yeah, so basically, I'll give you a quick history, because you were saying you thought it was going to be difficult.

33:15How did you get into it? Not difficult at all. So basically, it's a complete accident, this whole thing, because we're in lockdown, and I'm talking to my manager. I said, do you know what? you know how long I've been into wine I love it, I love it wouldn't it be great if I had a bottle with my name on the side and I was thinking like 50, 70 bottles a year giving out to your mates at Christmas a couple of dinner parties I cannot tell you how much wine has gone out in the last two years to the supermarkets we have sold so much wine and it's cheap and it's good. I know where it's from. I know it's, you know, the people who make it.

34:04I'm really proud of it. And the company that I've sort of partnered with, Benchmark, has been so supportive and helpful and, you know, very incitive and I've learned a lot. It's just been a brilliant journey and not like work at all. So what did you start with? What were your first couple of bottles that you started with well we started off with a series of tasting very difficult but someone's got to do it for the people someone's got to bring this to the people i've done it i've done it everyone so don't worry so what what they work out is what your taste is and so we were blind tasting all these bottles and and slowly as the day goes on it gets narrower and narrower and so you're down to like three and we realised that we were basically really enjoying Spanish wine.

34:59Oh, wow. So we ended up with a Zinfandel grape for the red and the white from this gorgeous little vineyard about an hour south of Madrid. And there was a price point we wanted to get to because I wanted my audience, all of them, to be able to enjoy it. Yeah. and so yeah we hit the store £7.50 for a bottle which I think is really I know it's good wine no it's good and it's all Spanish no so this the new one the fancy one is all the South African range oh fantastic yeah yeah Jessie do you think that works I do it does it's interesting it's absolutely delicious I love it it's not too bitter no not at all no it's really the parmesan it needed that on it a little bit You know, isn't it funny?

35:51It really did need that. It's like a little sprinkle of pepper or something. I know, gorgeous. I like the Negroni of breakfast. Oh, don't mention it. I love Negronis. Do you like Negronis? Oh, I think that's my number one drink. Is it? Yeah, love it. Okay, well then this leads on to the Last Supper. Would you go for a Gary Barlow wine or would you be going with the Negroni? For the Last Supper? Yeah. You're going on a desert island for six months. so you've got to make the most of it okay so my last drink, no it would be a glass of red I think yeah it would be what kind? I'm quite classic with the reds go on I mean French wine is still so fabulous really beautiful if I was going to go fancy and posh I'd go for a Pugliac what's the most expensive wine you've ever bought?

36:49Well, most of my cellar is actually wine that people have bought for me. Okay. Nice wine as well. When do you decide to choose which bottle? That's why I have really nice wine bought by people and then I never bloody open it and I'm sure I ruin it. Do you know what I mean? There's like that window. Do you know what? It's got to the point now where I write on the side who it's from. Oh, that's nice. Then I can go, you know what, tonight we're going to so and so and then I'll send them a picture of us drinking it or whatever. So what do you think is your most expensive bottle of wine in your cellar?

37:22I think it's a bottle of Pugliac. And I do believe, I'm going to name drop I'm afraid. Come on. The king gave it me around... What? Yes, around... That is a brilliant name drop. The Diamond Jubilee. So that's why he spent his money on wine. I think it was around the Diamond Jubilee. Because you performed? I organised the concert for that. Oh. So I got it a couple of days later with a little telegram. and yeah, I haven't touched that. It's actually not even in the cellar, it's upstairs in the house. When do you think you'll drink that bottle? On his next birthday, maybe. Okay. Yeah. Do you know when his birthday is?

37:58I don't. He has two, probably. Why? They have an official birthday and their own proper birthday. That's right. Because they do the trooping of the colours on the official birthday, I think. We should start that. Yeah, maybe we should. Two birthdays, it'd be good. Have you ever shared a glass with King Charles? I haven't. no although he was very so when I made when I was doing that concert in 2012 they also asked they wanted a song for it and I thought oh yeah this is going to be one of those things that everyone remembers for the wrong reasons and it took me ages to come up with we made a song called sing but I wanted to go around the whole family and say what is the queen's taste tell me what is it and he was the most helpful.

38:43Oh my god I love this I went down there and he had his CD collection he was playing me things from Africa and beautiful. Does he like world music? Very much so very much so lots of the Commonwealth so then once I'd written the song went all the way around the Commonwealth putting musicians from each country on the record it was really one of the best things I've ever done, brilliant How fabulous Was that a good answer? Yeah. You've always got a good answer. But you do need to give me your last supper. Starter. Where are we going? Starter. Okay. I love a crab salad. Oh, yeah. Where have you had a delicious crab salad?

39:26Well, I used to have it at the Ivy. Do you remember when the Ivy was a thing? Yeah, I think, you know, still is a thing for some people. Yeah, and then it went to the Woolsey. I used to love it there. Oh, I've never had it there. Yeah, and then I think they moved again then to the Beaumont. hotel. It's called the Colony Grill. It's one of my favourites actually and they do a gorgeous crab salad in there. Okay, main. Main would have to be a pie. A chicken one. Your mum, with any mash? No, with some roast potatoes. Gravy? 100%. Any veg? Not fast. Can I ask you, has your mum's pie got a top and a bottom?

40:10Yes. Oh. And the bottom's mushy. Oh, you don't mind it. And the top's crusty. Soggy bottom. You don't mind a soggy bottom. Pudding. Are you a sweets man? I'm not really. I'm not really. But if you were going to force me to have a dessert, I'd probably have a Cornetto. I love Cornettos. Oh, which flavour? Chocolate? I like the 70s, you see. Yeah. A mint chocolate chip one. A mint chocolate chip. Your children like mint chocolate chip. Yeah. And I just don't understand it. My husband's big into mint chocolate chip. Okay. Yeah. That was very brilliant. Thank you so much. That was great. We're not finished though.

40:47I want to know, your song, Rule the World. Yes. Is that the title of it? Rule the World, yeah. It's become a gospel song, really, for people, hasn't it? I mean, I've heard so many gospel choirs sing it, and it's so euphoric and beautiful. I just wonder whether like this is more just me wanting to know the songwriter when you're writing a song like that do you all did you know that that kind of do you always go kind of for that I think it's such a beautiful song and I love hearing people sing it particularly gospel choirs it's so moving apparently Chris Martin has like a formula with the way that he writes it he like starts on the third I don't fucking know what I'm talking about but there's a way if you listen to Coldplay songs that he'll start with a certain chord that usually should be the third chord or something like that and so it keeps you it takes you there immediately is there a Gary Barlow formula to writing a hit chorus because I'd love to know because I'm in the studio later but I love I try and always look upwards I think it's a really good I don't like feeling sorry for myself I'm just not that person so my music always try and go upwards always I always try and make it feel like we're left but flying you know I love that feeling but interesting rule the world we actually wrote to picture that it was for a movie oh really it was for a movie called stardust and um the director had called us and said we'd like you to write the song and I said to everybody listen let's get in the studio this afternoon because if they've asked us, they've asked five other people.

42:31Yeah, right. So we literally went round to my house that afternoon and we called the director at eight o 'clock and said, we've got it. And that was it. So it was one of those, like, just a reaction. We felt it. We loved the film, actually, but we felt it and that's what we came up with. Does anyone ever say no to you, Gary Barlow? Oh, yeah. I feel like you get what you want. Yeah, I try to. I try to. 15 minute pitch got a fucking formatted series takes you all over the world say I've got the song it's like but you are a very buoyant happy sunny person and I think and talented and talented and I think that takes it with you thank you which song do you finish your take that conference with usually never forget is the last song another lifted I mean massive and it's funny how these you know I don't know if you've experienced this but when songs have been around for a while they get this life which you never intended for them like Never Forget is every you know when they finish at uni when they do the graduation they play it in the nightclubs at the end of the night oh my god stop honestly everywhere sweet yeah and it's like we never that was never intended for that it's lovely when it takes on a life of itself and that song, I think a lot of people have good memories to that.

44:00And again, it's upwards. Lots of people tell me which song they have sex to of my songs. Do lots of your fans tell you which song they have sex to of? Take that. No, never heard that. No. No. Jessica, aren't you interested? We seem to have weddings and funerals. Also very important occasions. Yeah, yeah. What's a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere? A taste. You know what? Do you remember Mivvy's? Oh, of course, a Mivvy. What's a Mivvy? Well, you probably... I know, I know. It was a strawberry ice cream with... Strawberry... Or orange. Lolly. Strawberry or orange. And it had ice cream in the middle.

44:46Yeah. It was like... It was called a Mivvy. Oh. It's a bit like a Solero. Yeah. But it was strawberry. With vanilla ice cream inside. Yeah. Yes. Okay. I think I've had one of them. It was more ice cream than the lolly. You could nibble the lolly from around the outside and then left with just the ice cream. It was really cool. Do you like a movie? I do, and it reminds me of Blackpool. That's where we used to go as kids. I did too, because I come from Manchester. Do you really? Yeah, I was telling someone, I think the most magical time of my life ever was going to the Illuminations. Oh, the best.

45:17It was so sensational. First of all, it was dark. You had to go and it was dark, so that felt exciting. my dad had a sunroof in his car and let me stand up on the back seat and I could see all the illuminations you thought you were in Vegas baby you just thought and the tram that was lit up was just magical yeah I love Blackpool me too it's why I like Vegas so much because it's so bawdy for two days it's just incredible it's mad what's your kitchen staple that you if your house was on fire you would be like I'm getting that out of my kitchen. Me, juicer. Oh. Yeah. What's it called? The thing that mushies everything in a bullet.

46:02But I love that thing. What's your juice of choice? What's going to be your concoction? Well, I've got to take it with me every day. I make it first thing in the morning. So it's a handful of berries. Yeah, berries. Blueberries. Please don't tell me you put kale in, darling. No kale. Otherwise, that's it. No kale. So blueberries, almond milk, a little bit of spinach. Yeah. Once you've whizzed it up, you don't know it's there. I don't like smoothies. And then I put some of my powders in. What are your powders? Protein. Do you? I don't know what it does. You sound like Rita Ora. Come on. I don't know what it does, but it's great.

46:37What are you doing? Like, athletic greens? I do Maine. What do you do? You know, Lion's Maine. Oh, you literally... Rita Ora is the only other person that's talked about this. Yeah. You are... Chaga. So LA. Chaga. You what? Chaga. Oh, Chaga. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chaga. Chaga. C-H-A. It's the way I'm saying it. Chaga. Chaga. I don't know. Chaga. Chaga. Ashwagandha. No wonder you're so fucking chilled out. Hi. Gary Barley, hi. It's just like edibles in a smoothie. It's like... Collagen. Oh, wow. You do look lovely, plump cheeks. That's a few collagen for your face. Apparently. Apparently. I didn't know you drank it.

47:17I just thought you put it on your face. Yeah. Oh. Yeah, collagen. What else goes in there? A bit of protein. Ashwagandha, I thought I usually take it in the evening, but you take it in the day. In the day? Jessie, maybe this is the clue. With collagen in it. Yeah, yeah. Does it taste like, does it taste disgusting? Horrible. Oh, right. Disgusting. So do you drink that? Yeah. Bloody hell. Oh, no, I'm not doing all of that. Yeah, if you hold your nose, you wouldn't know. Who told you to put all these things in? I've no idea, but it's great. Was Dawn doing it and you were like, right, I'll do it too?

47:47She'll make a smoothie now and again. And half a banana, I have them in the freezer. Just pop it in and it cools it down. It's actually fine. It is actually fine. Sounds disgusting. Yeah, it's not the best. It's not the best. Since, you know, putting mushrooms into your diet, has your creativity gone through the roof? Listen, whatever goes into my day, I have a good day. I have a good day. He's such a sunny optimist. Yeah, I have a good day. So I don't want to take anything out because I'm all right. Yeah, I've got good energy. You feel almost Buddhist. Sleep well. I don't know. You seem like you're having a lovely time.

48:25I'm going to start doing these bloody mushroom drinks. I'm not religious, really, but I sleep very well. Do you? Yeah. Do you not wake up? Do you sleep right through? All the way through. You wait till you get old. That's what you dream of, just to sleep one night through. Is that because you need a week? Possibly, but you just don't sleep as well as you get older, I don't think. Yeah Or quarters as well Would you like any more coffee guys? I'm alright Yeah I'm okay thank you Tastes healthy darling I know it tastes a bit too healthy Oh why What does that mean? It's got shit loads of sugar in it So I don't know You can taste the tahini It's nice Oh my goodness That is lovely Wow Delicious We'll see you through Maybe this banana bread Will write you a hit This afternoon Well let's hope so Who do you listen to When you're not all sorts of things I actually love just putting the radio on and just hearing what someone else is choosing for me which station are you listening to?

49:22I'd listen to Capital oh really? yeah I quite like a lot of the the proper pop stuff yeah and do you know it's really interesting how music goes in a lot of girl solo artists every big artist is a girl solo artist Sabrina Carpenter. I love all that stuff. Yeah, I know. She's got good lyrics. So bright. I love Taylor as well. I think she's done brilliant. Did you go and see her? I've not seen her. He does a ghost of gigs. My daughter's been many times. The last gig I saw was Bruno Mars. When was that? That was in Vegas about a year ago. I fucking love Bruno Mars. I love him too. And it was Silk Sonic, which was even better.

50:05Oh, and Simpac, yeah. Which was even better. How fun. Yeah, it was like an hour's show, and everyone was up dancing from the word go to the end. Amazing. Is he the one who does marry me? Yeah. Marry me. I love that. He's brilliant. Would take that, do a Vegas residency. He's going to do one. That's what's happening, isn't it? Yeah, we're coming then. Is it happening? I'm trying. Do you know what? This is the fourth year. I've not been able to get it over the line, but I'm really, really close. I believe in you, Gary Barlow. I think you'll make it work. I can do it. You can. And can we come? can we come please yeah please I've got two front row seats okay I'm in yeah thank you so much for coming on the podcast bless you thank you and best of luck with the new show delicious food great company good thanks for coming and the rest of your tour just like you know keep drinking those juices and you'll be alright lovely thank you thank you pop the mushroom yes pop the mushroom oh my god

51:14This is my idea of a very nice podcast.

51:24Oh, Gary Barlow, what a lovely man. So sweet and so sunny. Also, can we also say that our management had a suggestion that we'd get him to do a TikTok for us saying, this is my idea of a very nice podcast. And when the cameras and the mics were off, we were talking about him going to F45 for like workouts. And I was like, God, don't people come up to you? He went, no, the thing that people come up to me for is that bloody TikTok. Are you having a nice day? A very nice day. A very nice day. Oh, Gary Barlow, lovely, busy. You could do with him in the winter because he just brings sunshine in. Oh, Lenny.

52:05I just think he was quite a very sunny person. He was very sweet. Just lovely. My favourite bit was that he put his glasses on to eat. Well, everyone has to do that, darling. He was so sweet. Everyone does that. I love him. He probably wasn't sure what he was eating. Mind you, what he puts in his bloody smoothie. Really nice food. I liked that. It was a good recipe, wasn't it? Yeah, really straightforward as well, guys. so easy. It was just a bit different. Just a bit different. Very nice. Thank you so much to Gary Barlow for coming on and yeah you'll be seeing us on the Grand Tour in Australia.

52:46Would you fly to Australia for that mum? Yeah. You'd do anything for wine and Gary Barlow. Gary Barlow, a lobster bun and flying business. We'll get it in the contract. Okay. We'll see you next week. Thanks so much. Thank you.