Christopher Biggins: I Was on Virgin Atlantic’s First Ever Flight to New York | Travel Secrets LIVE

0:00I went with the Archdeacon of London, so grand, and he was a marvellous man, Peter Delaney, who's still one of my best friends. And I bought a terracotta horse, which was about this big, and it was for nothing. It was beautiful. And I don't know why, but I could have paid something like£20 for it to be shipped back to London. But I said, no, too expensive, not pay£20. And so I made Peter, and he had to carry it on his lap on the flight all the way back. this bloody horse and we managed to get it back to Hackney where we lived and I took it from him and I went into the front door and I clipped its nose off.

0:41We didn't realize but we were on the top table and I had to climb over some seats to get to my table dressed as this Austrian woman and I was confronted by Hillary Clinton who went oh my god you look fantastic!

1:00Tanya:Welcome to Travel Secrets with me, Tanya Rose, the podcast sharing wisdom for fellow travelers. Each week, I ask my guests to reveal their six travel secrets and the holidays and adventures that surround them.

1:18Tanya:Good evening, Henley. I've always wanted to say that, but I think it was more like Wembley. Anyway, Henley is a good start. Welcome to the Hot Podcast Festival and our very first live Travel Secrets, the podcast. We have moved from studio to stage, but the podcast remains exactly the same. It's for fellow travellers who want to get under the skin of a destination and travel more like a local and not a tourist. I always say this podcast might not change your life, but it certainly might change your plans. And before we start, I'd like to say thank you to our sponsors tonight. They have amazing houses in Tulum in Mexico, which I have my eyes on, Croatia coming up and Brighton.

2:08Tanya:And there's going to be a prize draw at the end of the evening, so don't go away. I'm going to pull out one seat number and hopefully you'll be the lucky recipient of that prize. now Travel Secrets is all about storytelling and my first guest this evening is my lovely friend the actor Christopher Biggins who has been in shows from Poldark to Porridge I Claudius to Joseph he's a national treasure he was the king of the jungle because he won celebrity I'm a celebrity get me out of here but more than that he is the best storyteller I know. So please put your hands together and welcome Christopher Biggins.

2:54I've got a great friend out there who gave me this shirt for Christmas.

2:59Tanya:Very nice. Yes, thank you Alison. And Simon. I rather like your jacket. Simon paid for it. Sorry. I rather like your jacket. Yes, it's German. When I was in Austria and I bought it, I love it. It's very, very nice. Yes, it's very good. It's very, yes. I'm glad you like it. I do very much like it. Well that's the clothes done. So before we get into the podcast and secrets can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and how has travel impacted the person that you've become? Well travel is is lovely. Unfortunately it gets more difficult as you get older. I mean last year at the beginning of the year we went to India to a party which I don't know if you've been to India but India is probably one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

3:46But I was 77 years old and I didn't put any stockings on the flight, which I think I'm really telling you all, if you're doing a long flight, put the stockings on. They're very, very important. With suspenders. With suspenders. It's just a jump to the left and a step to the right. Put your hands on your hips and bring your knees in tight. It's the pelvic thrust. No, this is a flying one. So anyway, always put your stockings on with or without suspenders. And exercise on the flight. It's important to get up and walk up and down. Because I came back and I went for a test. That's just a thing at the hospital.

4:32And they called me back within 10 minutes. I got home and they called me back and what had happened was I got a thrombosis on my lung and you don't realize that the flights can take it really out of you and I then had to have a be subjected to an injection every day and you don't think of these things as you get older I don't think and it's it's a nightmare and so now I can only travel I think four hours five hours and then you have to stay there and then you go on for the next part of the journey so traveling is much more difficult than it used to be. And of course, if you were a private jet, that's even better.

5:11And we all like a private jet, don't we?

5:15Tanya:We do. We do. We do. They're lovely things. I think they're marvellous. I don't know if ever you've been on a private jet, which I think I know some people here have been. What the joy of it is, is when you're landing, you see your car driving up to the aeroplane. So you get off the aeroplane, you get straight into your car and you go off. It's just wonderful. There's a wonderful, do you remember Russell Harty? Yes. Well, Russell Hart, you do, but do you remember Russell Harty? Yes. Well, Russell Harty invited Princess Diana to his school, and she arrived, and they had lunch, and then after lunch, they were talking, and she said, can I give you a lift back in the private jet, Royal Jet, to London?

5:54And he went, that would be fantastic, thank you. So he got in the jet, and they talked all the way back to London, and they got to the airport, and she waved him off, and he immediately hailed a taxi and got to the station because he didn't want to go to London at all. But he thought to himself, I cannot resist going back in the private jet with the future Queen of England. Which I must say, I fully agree with him. It was a wonderful thing to do. But private jets are extraordinary. And of course, you know, I say this as though I use them all the time, but I don't. I mean, I'm lucky to have a few friends who do have a private jet, which is fantastic.

6:35And it is a wonderful way to travel. Of course, there's first class, but first class is ridiculously expensive.

6:42Tanya:Not as expensive as a private jet. Yeah, but you're not paying for the private jet, are you? Okay, because you've got rich friends. No, I've got a friend. I'm not going to mention the name of the friend, but she's a very famous actress. No, anyway, that's the first clue. And she rings around and says, chats a few minutes about life and what have you, and then says, you're not going down to the south of France? Oh, how lovely. I'd love to come. And that's how she gets down there, in a private jet. You know, it's quite nice the way she does it. Did you grow up travelling? I did grow up travelling.

7:18I mean, I was brought up in Salisbury. I was born in Oldham, and my mother hated it. So we came down when I was three weeks old. I had bronchitis, and I was a weak child. and we spent my formative years in Salisbury. And we used to go on holidays and obviously we used to go down in the south of England. And we went to Butlins. That was our favourite place to go. And Butlins was a wonderful place for children to go because there was so much to do. And when I was there, I think the first year we went, I was about seven years old. And I tried to find this picture to bring, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

7:58but I went, entered the fancy dress competition dressed as Miss Salisbury. No, Miss Bognor, Miss Bognor, 1930 whatever. No, no, it wasn't 30, 1950 something or rather. And I had my mother's swimsuit on and we made a sash and it was my first day into drag, I think. That was the, you know, that's where I got the idea of doing pantomimes. Did you win? What? Did you win? I won, yes. Oh yes, I won everything then, it was wonderful. But those were great days of traveling. But you know, it's a bit like Americans who now go to Las Vegas and say they've been to Paris and Italy, because there are all these hotels which are themed in France, there's the Eiffel Tower now, but they say they've been abroad, but they don't have a passport, most Americans.

8:53and they haven't been abroad at all, but they say they've been abroad when they've been to Las Vegas. I mean, it is a marvelous way of looking at life, but traveling is fantastic. I mean, I love traveling. I went to China very early on when I was a grown-up. Actually, I was never a grown-up. I don't know what I'm talking about, but anyway, when I was older. And we went to China, and we were on a trip, and there were seven of us, I think, in the trip, and I, for some way or reason, and was given the tour leader. And we went round and we did the Great Wall of China, which was fantastic. Anybody been to the Great Wall of China?

9:31It's terribly steep. Where the Queen went? Elizabeth I. Second. Elizabeth I. Elizabeth II. When she went, I mean, how she went up and down in those heels, God only knows. It's very steep to go, isn't it?

9:43Tanya:You know, it's extraordinary. But we went there, and the real highlight was to go to Xi 'an to see the terracotta warriors. Now, the Chinese came to me at one particular point and said, I'm afraid we're going to have to cancel the terracotta warriors tomorrow because we can't get a flight to take you. So I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. The only reason we've come on this trip is to see the terracotta warriors, so we have to go. And they said, it's impossible. I said, well, if you don't organize it, there's going to be real trouble. So they went away, and then they came to me that night, and they said, we found a flight.

10:21So I said, great. So the eight of us got into a van the following morning, and we were taken to a military air base. And there was an aeroplane which was extraordinary. It was like a... I can't tell you what it was like. We got on board, and we never flew higher. You could always see people planting rice. So you weren't very high at all? No, we weren't. No high at all. And there was a woman, the stewardess, was behind a curtain on the aeroplane, and she kept coming out with tea from a hot teapot and we could see occasionally that there was a naked flame.

10:58Tanya:She had the teapot on. A Bunsen burner. I mean, it was extraordinary. But she did serve tea and we did get to the Terracotta Warriors and it was absolutely fantastic. I mean, anybody been to the Terracotta Warriors? You have? It's a wonderful sight, isn't it? I saw them when they came to London. They were at the British Museum, but only a bit of it. Yeah, there's only a bit. Mind you, this was only a bit as well, because there are so many which haven't been unearthed yet. I mean, it is the most extraordinary experience. So that was a wonderful trip, except the fact that I didn't eat for two weeks because the food was so disgusting.

11:36Tanya:Didn't you say you got to Shanghai and went to a hotel or something? We went to the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, which is where Noel Coward wrote Private Lives. And we went there, and we actually managed to get a hamburger. God knows what it was made from, but it was delicious. Because otherwise, it was chicken's legs, feet. That was what they seemed to serve everywhere. And also things that you didn't know what was in it. I mean, it was just disgusting. I lost two stone. I bet you did. Didn't you buy something as well? Better than the jabs you get now. You bought something, didn't you, and had to carry it back on your...

12:09Tanya:Oh, yes. I went with the Archdeacon of London. That's so grand. And he was a marvellous man, Peter Delaney, who's still one of my best friends. and I bought a terracotta horse which was about this big and it was for nothing. It was beautiful. And I don't know why but I could have paid something like£20 for it to be shipped back to London but I said no, too expensive, not to pay£20. And so I made Peter and he had to carry it on his lap on the flight all the way back. This bloody horse. And we managed to get it back to Hackney where we lived. And I took it from him and I went into the front door and I clipped its nose off.

12:52Can you imagine? I was so...

12:56Tanya:Did you stick it back on with super glue? Yes, I think I took it to have it done professionally for£30, I think. You are hilarious. Let's go on to your number one destination you think everyone should go to once in their lifetime. Well, New York, I suppose, is my one destination. nation, I was lucky enough to go on the first Virgin flight. And they had this amazing party. I mean, I went, we've talked on the way down to Bonnie Langford, who's in Paddington at the moment, and she was on board as well. And so we had this amazing, it was like, and you know, Richard Branson is a wonderful entrepreneur, a wonderful businessman.

13:38And it was like having a party in the air. And I think there was at one particular point, I thought to myself, you know, I think I I better go home now. And I went to the door to open it. And thankfully, someone said, no, no, no, no, no, no. And because there was champagne, no one was sitting down. There were people playing instruments. It was the best flight ever. I mean, it was just wonderful. But there was a downsize to all this because all the press on board, they stole huge amounts of champagne. They kept putting champagne into their camera bags. You're joking.

14:13Tanya:That's so bad. Can you imagine? It was just unbelievable. And then we were looked after so well when we got to New York, and it was a very exciting one. And then I went, I think it's, what was the next anniversary? Was it 25 years or something? Probably. They had, and it was, I mean, he's a wonderful, we were in upper class, and his wife was there and his two children. who's the wonderful fashion woman who's just passed away a couple of years ago Vivian Westwood Vivian Westwood's on board and her husband and my partner Neil who's here tonight works for British Airways and so he sat next to Richard Branson's wife and we were talking and she said what do you do and he said I work for British Airways and she said get off very poor thing I just have that subject So when you go to New York, where do you stay and what do you do when you go to New York?

15:10Well, I'm very lucky. We've got a great friend called Cameron McIntosh, who is a theatre producer. You may have heard of him. And he's got a very nice apartment opposite the Carnegie Hall. We're lucky enough to stay there. But, you know, we went earlier, in the middle of last year, we went to see the Sondheim show that Cameron produced. And our friend, again, Bonnie Langford, was in it. So we went to support her. And we stayed in a Hilton in Midtown. which was very nice because most of the hotels now are$1 ,000 to$2 ,000 a night. And we used to go to New York with empty suitcases, and we'd buy comforters, towels, because it was much, much cheaper then than it was in England.

15:55Now, it's so expensive, and you get to theatre land, and there is the unbelievably overpowering smell of cannabis everywhere.

16:05Tanya:Yeah, it's true. And to be honest, I do think I want to go back. Especially as their president is still there. I walked through Central Park at seven in the morning on the way to a meeting, and I said to my colleague, what's that smell? And she said, it's called weed. And I was like, oh, OK. It's everywhere. I mean, I think it's since they were able to sell it on street corners, you know. I know, dreadful. And it's lost a lot, I think, of what it... Because it is a magical, magical city. It is, and there are some fantastic places to go. what's your most unexpected travel experience? My unexpected?

16:38What was this? Can you remember?

16:39Tanya:The Maldives. Oh, yes.

16:46The Maldives. Anyone read to the Maldives? Yes, yes. What a wonderful place that is. I mean, it is fantastic. The first time we went to the Maldives and Neil and I went to the Hilton Maldives which had as an extra bonus of a hotel beautiful hotel wonderful on the beach and it was just fantastic and but this uh hotel had a an underwater restaurant and it held about 14 people and so we decided to go and they said we're terribly sorry tonight it's completely booked out by an american couple uh so i said oh yes they've taken over the restaurant just for themselves so the two 14 seater restaurant two of them sitting there on their own and surrounded by all these fish.

17:33I mean, it's unbelievably beautiful. And she said, I must just go to the lavatory. So she went to the lavatory. And the next thing is, she's stark naked swimming with the fish above it. Now, that's quite unexpected.

17:49Tanya:Especially for the staff who were working that night. Well, yes, I mean, they... I bet they had a marvellous time. That was their tip. I bet. No, I mean, I think that's extraordinary. But in a way, I think it's rather marvellous that she did that as a birthday present to her husband. But, I mean, it was extraordinary. I think it's quite chic, actually. Yeah, I think it's very chic. And it was an extraordinary... But the Maldives are just wonderful. I mean, if you want to get away from everything and you want to, you know, have a whole beach to yourself and all the houses that are actually in the water where you can just walk out and go in, it's just wonderful.

18:24I mean, it's for doing nothing type holiday.

18:28Tanya:Yeah, fly and flop. Yeah, exactly. What's your most underrated or overrated? And it's very difficult. Lots of people don't like saying something's underrated. But what do you think is overrated or underrated where you've been? What did I say? You said something about a car going around the Scilly Isles. Oh, no, no, the Isle of Man. I was at the Isle of Man. Yeah, I mean, we had friends on the Isle of Man. And you know the famous race they do? In the Isle of Man. And you can do it on the back. What they do is they have a motorbike, which you sit on. And the two of you, side by side, and you're dressed in leathers, which they give you, and helmets and glasses.

19:07And you do the course. Someone pulls you around. You don't actually do it. You just sit there like a ride. And you go around. And it was actually fascinating. But once you'd done it, it was boring. There's nothing else to do. You just sit there, dressed like a leather queen, and off you went. I mean, it was extraordinary, but really rather wonderful in a way.

19:29Tanya:And I think you were also going to tell us about Saigon. Saigon?

19:38Tanya:I think you went down the Mekong River. Oh, yes, the Mekong River, yes, of course. I think I should have his prompt cards, actually. The Mekong River, it was... We love going on cruises, and river cruises are exceptional. I mean, they're really wonderful. And the Mekong River is an extraordinary place because you go through the most unbelievable countryside, and you stop off and you go through, you know, the war-ridden Vietnam. I mean, it's just so powerful and really rather wonderful. And we got to Saigon, and we were talking on the way here today. our favorite musical is Miss Saigon, which is on tour at the moment.