Latest / The Discussion Podcast / RadioAlty & Me - From Travel Desks to Radio Waves: Ken Garrity’s Journey

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RadioAlty & Me - From Travel Desks to Radio Waves: Ken Garrity’s Journey · The Discussion Podcast

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This is the Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell supported by,
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Childbird Learning in Nature's Playground,
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So as part of Radio Alty at Six, we're doing a series called Radio Alty and
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Me, where me, myself, Rod Maxwell, are interviewing a number of our presenters
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to find out how they got into it and what being on radio and Radio Alty means to them.
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And today, I'm delighted to be speaking to my good friend, Mr.
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Ken Garrity. Ken Garrity and friends, who started on the station about summer
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of 2020, Ken? August 2020, I believe.
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And you started, you'd never done anything like this before, had you?
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No, no, no. i talk i talk for a living i'm a travel agent so
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i've been talking for quite a few years but one to
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one on the radio no and had it ever even occurred
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to you that you might actually do something like this on
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the radio no no no i was always interested in
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radio from a young child you know when you recorded the top
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40 or whatever and you had to cut it off before
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the dj started speaking yes i did all that sort of
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thing and i was trying trying to be ahead with the music all
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the time but that's all my way back in the past now so how did steven carton
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was persuade you to come into the studio with him well we've known each other
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for a few years in rotary and i introduced him i hope i'm not going to spoil
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anything for children but i introduced him as santa for altering.
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Well the santa has standings doesn't he that's
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right yeah but so yeah so
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we got on and in rotary i'm out and
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about and the doer or a doer there's several
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of us and i like helping in the community putting
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things back and i was also in court lead
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as well uh so again it's sort of things
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that you do they made me the province in 2019 so you know i do know the town
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i do know people so it was part and parcel of it and when stephen said would
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you like sorry i beg your pardon when he said what you're doing next week i
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think it started right and i went why you're very suspicious so he says would
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you want to come on my show? And I went, why?
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What do I do? You know, very, again, like, you know, not hesitant.
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Anyway, I went out and got the microphone and we did a Zoom meeting and it worked.
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And of course, in those days.
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We were still in lockdown, so you were actually talking to him over Zoom,
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and it was going out live then on Radio Alty.
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Exactly right. And I didn't feel anything, because we're not in the studio,
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we were talking as we normally talk, but what happens is Stephen is very political,
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and he's got a lot of knowledge about it.
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I had zero knowledge, I didn't know who the Chancellor was, I didn't know who
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the Prime Minister was, that sort of thing.
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And his his whole show is about you
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know politics so i had to quickly get the papers start
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reading who's this who's that and eventually we
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moved to the studio and the studio in those days
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was just the work surface wasn't it wasn't
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the plinth and we were both facing the wall very basic
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but it worked you know we got we got a show out and it
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was twice a week tuesdays and thursdays and i
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never stopped since then and eventually steven was
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moving sideways he had other ambitions and it
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became my show by default i didn't know how to
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press buttons and dials what have you and he says
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oh you've seen me do i said yeah but when i'm looking upside down as
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it was as in you know i you can't work on like that i said so the next week
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i sat next to him or he sat next to me should say i'm in the driving seat i
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got it right i don't know how but i got it right you know press the button at
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the right time next week he sat opposite me and i did it third week he didn't
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turn off, I had my own show,
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and I hadn't realized how it was being worked on to me very easily, apparently.
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Well, I have to say, I think...
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What you demonstrate is that the
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technical bit is this is not the important bit you know it's
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about people and engaging and people and interacting with
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people and we'll come we'll go talk about your professional life
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as well because you're still doing that you're you're you are a very
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modern man mr garrison yeah because
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you you will never retire and i think people don't retire
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no why why do you retire exactly exactly what
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so today on radio waltzy and me as part of that series speaking to Ken Garrity
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and I call him the Terry Wogan of Radio Walthy Soda and we'll be back with him
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in a couple of minutes time you're listening to the late late lunch show with
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back to the garden childcare where little explorers grow naturally.
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So today on Radio Walty and Me, I'm speaking to Ken Garrity,
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who you started pretty, you were probably the second wave of people to actually start, weren't you?
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I don't know. You probably were, roughly. I was drugged in, kicking and screaming.
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No, I enjoyed coming in and it was all new and I didn't realize.
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I knew it started in lockdown, but I hadn't realized how far down the line I was.
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And i i think that your your.
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Your business background and your company background and.
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You had guarantee travels yeah carlton traveling sale.
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Carlton and that was there for 27 years wow and
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then i started to get well there's a north at the end
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of my birthday numbers i thought i need to start doing
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something else and i closed the shop unfortunately or
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fortunately whichever way you look at it business boomed because i
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only did it on a one-to-one basis with an appointment and
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everybody booked so the bookings took
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off and interesting people i think
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people buy through people people you know
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people sell people if you like yeah and and
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travel is one of those things where while people can
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go online and do it themselves there's a certain generation
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don't want that they want the assurance and that's what
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you bring very much so it's experience and i've
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been doing it for quite a long time now and
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i've traveled i'm not going to say travel the world because it's
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a big place but basically i've done all the
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tourist spots around the world and if i don't know
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i will find out for the client that sort of thing but it's it's
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that you sell yourself and then you
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sell the to your client and i think the thing
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that you have that means that you relax
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people on radio is that you've got curiosity
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the first thing you've got to find out about somebody when they come to talk
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about travel is where do they want to go what do they want to experience you're
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asking questions sure and that's what really was isn't it yeah it's exactly
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the same and but i i am a people person and i like the person in front of me
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uh whether they buy or not it's another matter but this is the person i i get a.
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Got used to they've kept them for 30 40 years they're
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friends rather than clients and i love it and same with
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radio you you get to know i've had people on two or
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three times had amin o'neill on last week and great
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guy you know he can talk forever he really can
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but he's got so much background the deputy
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lieutenant what else has he done he's oh
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obe which i kept saying on the radio and he's
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had his own radio show of course on bbc manchester he's still
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on he's still on they they bring him in every so
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often when somebody has a week off or whatever but he's
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a great guy to deal with and to talk with and i
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treat him as a friend yeah yeah he is
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he's really nice a proper gentleman exactly right yeah and the other thing you've
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been i think very good at is bringing the youth through yes right and so will
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and dill for example came on your show initially and they were helping you press
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a few buttons but you were actually guiding them as well well it was good because
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This is a friend of mine, Brian,
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and he brought his nephew in, and he was studying media studies in Stockport.
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And when he came in, the very first words he said was, I don't want to speak.
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Just like that, I don't want to speak. And I'm going, okay, but don't be putt
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off, Ken. Let's get something out of him. I made him do the weather.
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Right did the weather fine the week
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after he came back and i got him a few more lion stew
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absolutely brilliant then he brought his friend in dill
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now this is chalk and cheese and
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dill is like a box of frogs he's all over the place and he
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just wants to know anything about everything he wants to get on and
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his radio is one of his outlets and he
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learned in i reckon his garden shed or something similar like
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that in lockdown but when he came on it was
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the combination of bouncing and i think you recognize it as well
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they were bouncing off each other exactly and as i
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say it's will is the the thinker dill
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is the doer and they are like uh an
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old married couple if you like in that way and that you entertainment's always
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had the straight guy and the funny guy if you like and and those combinations
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work it works very well on radio exactly well stephen and i were working with
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each other the only thing with stephen is a million miles ahead of me on his
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politics that I didn't know.
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And one day I found myself not falling asleep, but just like drifting off, right?
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And he asked me a question. He says, so what do you think about that,
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Ken? I went, yeah, that's a great idea, I thought. He says, so did I.
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Thank God it was in the background. Obviously, I was listening,
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but not taking it on board. But from that, I thought, let's do something with the show.
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Because if he's talking all the time and I'm drifting off, maybe other people
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are, I don't know, but people find him fascinating.
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So what I did, he invented, can we do
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a guest session great idea ken you do
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it can we do competitions great idea ken
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you do it can we do you know this and what
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i hadn't realized was i was actually developing my own show in the background
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you were producing it yeah and when stephen took a sideways step i got the show
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i thought well i've got it you know i know what i'm doing but it's just it's
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just confidence after that and we'll talk about travel because that's a big
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part of your show as well as people as well so today on And really,
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all day me, I'm speaking with Ken Garrity,
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our wogan of the station.
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And one of our, I don't want to ever call you an elder statesman,
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but the way the thing runs is you need people there who are the sort of foundations of it.
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And then the younger people come in and they provide the energy and learn from it, really.
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And I'm still 36 on the radio. You still are, right. And I can tell you he is.
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We'll be back with Ken in a couple of minutes' time.
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This is the Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell on Radio Alty.
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It's Rod Maxwell on Radio Alty and as part of
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Radio Alty's sixth birthday celebrations we've been doing a series of interviews
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called Radio Alty and Me and I'm delighted to be speaking with Ken Garrity who
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is a man six years ago I never knew of but most of Altrincham and South Manchester
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did but I didn't and I've got to say,
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we've got up to all sorts haven't we in the last
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six years and now you're a friend yeah exactly thank you and I actually appreciate
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you because I've got guidance from you I'm not tech at all and you can say yeah
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I can do this I can do that I wish I could sit down one day and learn all the
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tech stuff that we do but you've got something else and that's the you know.
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Yes you have a mouth in your spine let's talk about your other aspect of your life which is the,
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other community role that you do around Altrincham
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and you've been the provost yeah you're part of the
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court lead I think that's right so tell talk to
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me about that side of public life
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in Altrincham and why it's so important to society
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if you like Ken well Altrincham the market tells since
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1290 and that's not five years 10 years
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when 1974 arrived and we
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suddenly became Trafford we had to keep something
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that was ceremonial and courtly had been there since 1290 etc the market town
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and i think courtly developed over the centuries until 1937 i've got in my head
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when it closed down because the i don't know it's the duchy or the barony of altringham went
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Thank you very much. But it was reinvented 1972, 1974 era and brought back.
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It's ceremonial, but we do play a part.
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People like us, the robes, the wigs, the wigs, I don't have a wig, the hats.
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And basically, it's a case of we turn up, it looks professional.
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I've opened quite a few shops, the Everyman Cinema.
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And my year as Provost, which was in the old days, was called Mayor.
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But because Trafford adopted the name Mayor and took the jewellery away,
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by the way. Yeah, we had to reinvent that as well.
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But we got our robes, and it looks good, and it's part of the town.
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We had a town crier. Unfortunately, he's no longer with us. We're getting a new one.
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And the actual court, there's over 80 of us in there, and we have our meetings
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every, oh, three times a year.
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Okay, the assize, it's called. These were originally court meetings,
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and you could be flogged. You could be whatever.
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People were fined for watering down the ales or cheating on the weights.
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That sort of thing and anything that was serious was sent off
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to chester where there again could be flogging
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or hanging or prison whatever but that is part and parcel of the of the structure
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of altering and there is a a moment there is altering with a g ham competition
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and they've reinvented the old name of altering ham i think it meant hamlet
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on a hill that sort of thing very old fashion,
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but Altrincham's got so much to go.
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I like Altrincham Beard. They put so much into the background there.
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And if they put up something, it's always usually very, very good. And it's a time, I think,
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punches above its weight in a way. And it's always moving forward.
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It had that period in the 90s where it was struggling without a doubt.
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Right through to, I think, 2014, and people were going away.
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There were shop windows closed, that sort of thing. Even my neighbours were
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going, why are you going into Altrincham?
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We're off to Wilmslow. We're off to somewhere else, or the Trafford Centre, unfortunately.
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But when I think the Johnston-Johnson combination came in for the market,
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redeveloped the market hall,
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it brought a new sense of Altrincham, a new sense of life into Altrincham,
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and I call it the cascade effect, so the streets next door to Greenwood Street,
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Shores Road a new cafe, a new bar opened up, the next road was George Street
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that opened up again, it was reinventing itself, and I think it's still there
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now, and every year there's something new comes in.
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And again, there's something new coming in, but there's still the traditional
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structures there of the court, late, etc They give it a certain continuity as
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well, don't they? Yeah, people can relate to it as well.
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I mean, places like Goose Green, Kings Court, these are slightly off the beaten
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track, but they're used and people know them.
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And if you're a local and you want to take somewhere different,
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these are the places you can go to.
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I mean, I've seen people be very critical of the new Altingham,
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if you like, and the market having changed. Too many bars, too many shops. Yeah.
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It brings life into Altingham. And I love Alibi.
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That's the guy there, Carl, runs it. He's part of Altrincham as well.
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There's so many of the Carls around that run Altrincham, and I like it.
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You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the Garden Childcare,
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where little explorers grow naturally.
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Today on Radio Alty, it's Rod Maxwell and we're continuing our series of Radio
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Alty and Me and I get the chance to interview some people about their time at
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Radio Alty and find out a little bit more about their background and what the
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station has meant to them.
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And today I'm delighted to be spending half an hour with Ken Garrity, our Mr. Wogan.
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Ken Garrity travels, Ken Garrity, Alty Afternoons, Ken Garrity and friends.
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And I think the core to you is people, isn't it? It always has been.
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I think from the age of 11 upwards, I remember being in church as you used to
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have to go and all that sort of thing.
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I was part of the team on a Sunday that stayed behind and taught the other kids
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about the Bible, basically.
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And then I got my paper round. I got my potato round, would you believe?
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Delivering potato. Potato, wait for this. And my milk round,
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virtually back to back to back to back. And I never stopped working.
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Up at five in the morning, off to school, back at night to do the paper round.
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Friday night, I was out picking up the money for the man who'd delivered the potatoes.
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Can you imagine that? And I'm picking up the money on the Friday night to make
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the books balanced there. Never stopped. And I'm just liking doing what I do.
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And how did you get into travel in the first place? oh brilliant this
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is my well living in near manchester airport i
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was up there every weekend and i was at the anorak that
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stood on the piers in the rain and the sun and what have you but i always wanted
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to work for an airline whether i don't know what job just don't ask me whether
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there's reservations on the flights i don't know it was just i needed to be
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near the aircraft airlines that sort of thing and you have a school man that
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comes around the year before you leave saying what would you like to do when you leave and i went oh
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travel well as in airlines so he's
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obviously put the word travel down somewhere and i got a postcard literally
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within two weeks of leaving school i'd written
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to all the airlines i could think of getting sorry
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no experience sorry not old enough that sort of thing you
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know you got and oh i want a pack of postcards from alitalia thank
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you yeah and it was basically where
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am i going with this and one day a card arrived and i say after
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two weeks after leaving school it says you have an interview at
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lewis's travel bureau in manchester well lewis's was
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the selfridges of the north they had one in liverpool glasgow
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leeds down south as well so it's part of the selfridges group
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anyway i went and got an interview but basically the gentleman said the job's
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already gone right but i'll take your details so the next morning i got another
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postcard very very similar to the original one saying please come for an interview
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so i rang them said i've already been would you come back so i went back that
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afternoon got he got the suit out the tie-out went down.
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And because I had a grammar school background, I think that helped a bit.
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I did have a brain in those days.
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And basically, I went to see the director this time, and the director says,
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blah, blah, blah, you've got the job.
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Six pounds seven and six a week does that do you i went yeah
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fine and he said
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i said he said to me when can you start i went now i'm not
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doing anything i've left school right there i was stamping brochures
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for the next 50 odd years and lewis's to
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me was a basic background to getting everything
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because they were the biggest company in manchester for travel
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and i got in every you know
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the airlines shipping timetables and because i
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knew my timetables i was given the task of doing the
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air bookings the rail bookings because you read the timetable what
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have you but then they moved me to liverpool as assistant manager
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which i loved i was there for 18 months i
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got on like house on fire but they needed somebody in london they'd opened up
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in selfridges themselves in london moved me down went for the interview and
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i said to the guy i don't want the job he said oh let's go for lunch so we had
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lunch got back to liverpool and it was like oh you will not be thought of again
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if you don't take the job.
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Anyway, so I took the job. In Selfridges on Oxford Street.
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Yes, I used to work there. Did you? I did, yeah. Oh, we could have met.
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Well, a few years after you missing out. Thank you for that. I'm only 36.
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But yes, so I survived there for three years. At the time, it was a case of
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doing the job, which I did.
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I did take advantage of the tourist things there because it was on your doorstep and we didn't.
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But when I came back to Manchester and people were saying how do i get from
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euston to victoria oh i said it's four stops down on the northern line you jump
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down there you could do it off the top of your head because you did it every
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day so that was my another background i came to manchester i opened up carlton travel in 1981.
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And closed it down in 2008 but it didn't close it moved i moved over to another
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shop but it didn't seem to work out i was commuting every day which i didn't
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like however what i did do is develop my homeworking skills and people ringing
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on the phone, you didn't have to be in front of them.
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Uh, whereas I was used to that. So I'm doing it on the phone or I went to their
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houses or we met somewhere and the bookings.
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Went up, not down and I'm going, whoa, this is good.
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However, obviously recession comes in. I've kept my clients 30, 40 years.
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I know them as I say, as friends and they're still with me. Unfortunately they
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are kind of say popping the clogs and it's like, oh, what a shame.
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But it's a case of you keep them. You, you look after your clients.
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You don't just say next, next.
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You just look at it. So you're still working for people. You're still fine.
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You still go to travel events.
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You're still, you're looking for different parts of the world.
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And the travel industry, you say, 2008, that crash then took a bashing.
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It took a bashing during lockdown.
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It's taking a bashing now with the war in Iran. But it does always bounce back,
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does it not? Yeah, it's a very resilient business.
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And the amount of pressure that are on the staff, airline staff.
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Travel staff, we're all talking about it, obviously.
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And what have you we all compare notes like have you
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got people stranded in bangkok have you got how did
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you get them back that's something so it's a nice little community
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it's a village and we all know each other and i consider them my travel associates
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as friends as well because you get on with them they we all have the same moans
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but we so long as you can have a laugh as well at the same time and i guess
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there's always new locations popping up there's new experiences just popping up.
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It's constantly changing, isn't it? Well, as I said earlier,
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it's like I've traveled the world in small places
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brackets but there's always new developments like
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exactly like you said or a continuity of what
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you already know you've got to update it all the time because i've
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been to quite a few places and if you go back you go
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to the old-fashioned way of saying it wasn't like
21:45
that in my day right but things like
21:48
cruising where did that come from that's just boomed and
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you've just been on your first cruise haven't you yeah last year
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and i was just going to come to that in that it's almost like
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they've been reinvented so they're coming back around again
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yeah basically yeah basically on cruising is it's
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getting the ship right getting the itinerary right because
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they all look glamorous on on the picture but if you want to sit with 6 000
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other people it's not for everybody i've just been on a cruise ship with 600
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people and i also went on the one in the summer for 6 000 the combination the
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difference is is amazing i'd rather have the smaller ship i must admit I don't
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want to queue for a lift or a buffet anymore.
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I just want a bit of peace and quiet. Thank you and sit by myself.
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But cruising isn't for everybody. But what it is bringing is younger generation now.
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Because it used to be, oh, bow tie and DJs, that sort of thing.
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But it's not anymore. It's much more casual. Oh, very casual.
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People are also enjoying the
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formality of it, even though it's not as formal as it used to be. Sure.
22:47
I think basically if you're going to go out, the wife wants the glamorous dress, that sort of thing.
22:52
Do you want to dress up for at least one night which is his second night out
22:55
the captain's night the night to do it it's
22:58
just his part and parcel of the holiday It's Rod Maxwell and
23:01
Radio Waltie I'm speaking to Ken Garrity from Ken
23:04
Garrity Friends Tuesday afternoons 2 to 4 and I always do a Ken Garrity travel
23:09
section in that and we've got a podcast now called Talking Travel as well and
23:13
I'll be talking to him about him and Radio Waltie and Radio as well I'll take
23:18
a break come back with Ken in a few minutes time.
23:23
This is the late late lunch show with rod
23:26
maxwell on radio all team so really
23:31
what you're doing on radio is an extension of
23:34
what you've done in your life isn't it i think so talk talk
23:37
and and look for opportunities and pull people in
23:40
and get people talking and and and i think
23:43
it's about your curiosity you've got to
23:46
be able to listen don't you very much so i think you
23:49
build up a rapport with whoever it is you get
23:52
them on board and yeah it's it's it's a
23:54
gentle nice way of going through life because
23:58
you meet people all along the way and everybody's got.
24:01
A story i'm interviewing somebody on the radio and off
24:05
air you get that three minute break four minute break for the
24:07
the music and they tell you another story and
24:10
i'm going well why didn't you tell me anyway you try and bring that back
24:13
in then and say well let's let's let's bring
24:16
this onto the show everybody's got a story which i
24:19
love and i think part of that then is you should never
24:22
over assume and that must be the
24:24
same with holidays what i mean is you you could you could look
24:27
at something and say i make an assumption as to what they could afford
24:30
or what they might be interested in you've got to let
24:33
them talk and listen because they might surprise you
24:36
wouldn't you can always make this mistake i tell you if you
24:39
address the dress or the coat you that's
24:43
not the person it's there's summary behind that and i've
24:46
done yeah over the years you could have done that better what have you but what
24:50
i've done i've kept the people that i've sent to somewhere different so for.
24:56
Instance tokyo or japan should i say where is it what is it what i can talk
25:01
them through it and it's they actually have this sense of ken knows.
25:06
And i've taken a group out to hawaii this is
25:09
a million years ago via vancouver out there and
25:12
where are we going it's an adventure for them
25:15
and i love to do it because i've been there four times and it's
25:18
great because they get the feeling of oh we know where we are now because
25:21
ken says the only thing is things can change but
25:24
you told me that this shop was the best and
25:27
it's not it things change all the time sort of thing so
25:29
you learn all the time and actually thank goodness
25:32
to do in a way isn't it keeps you keeps you young keeps
25:36
you 36 on radio can i'm coming up to my 36 again
25:39
soon yeah but yeah it's it's it's
25:42
uh loving the people that you
25:45
deal with this is how you do it because if you're just
25:47
turning people over they're going to find somewhere else to go
25:50
to that's something so yeah i like to keep in touch with them as.
25:53
Well and on radio
25:56
ulti you know it's six years is quite
25:59
amazing how quickly it's gone what what
26:02
do you think it means to the town or what do you think it means to
26:05
people well my my little pet thing is
26:08
we've got to get the name radio altie out there more i've i've
26:11
worn the t-shirt million times you know i better wash it
26:14
soon but uh for instance
26:17
we were at the the mayor's charity event about three
26:20
weeks ago you were there with me which is great and thank you for
26:22
doing the music there because that's something that they needed
26:25
yeah they didn't tell us at the time but i thought they
26:28
did but it's a case of you got to meet 10 mayors
26:31
of round wigan rochdale bolton that's all
26:34
they were all there and again i got the name of
26:37
radio alti up there i got everybody to pick up the phone tap into radio alti
26:41
there it is and then you can listen in to us it's getting that name around about.
26:45
Radio alti but i do love radio alti we're a small community on our own rights
26:49
we're all individuals and we've
26:50
all got our own personalities and i think we get on great and and i i i.
26:56
I guess it's something for young and old alike, hasn't it, Ken?
26:59
Well, when we bring in people like the Dylan Will people in there,
27:02
I put several people in. Tom Johnny came through me.
27:04
Who else was there? Alicia. I mean, not through you, but Alicia is a good example.
27:08
Somebody coming in young and has developed skills and moved on. She's brilliant.
27:11
Yeah, exactly. And when they move on, you feel as though you've achieved something.
27:16
It's like the fatherly figure. Yeah, you've achieved something.
27:19
And yeah, Mike Gorkhan, he's BBC Radio,
27:23
oh, no, BBC Manchester, behind the scenes
27:26
he's not on air but he does the political uh side of
27:29
it he came in as a junior again i love
27:31
that sort of thing where you can encourage them to come through and i
27:34
must say thank you to our sponsors as well because basically without them we
27:38
couldn't work absolutely and we got several i won't mention one or two because
27:42
there's more than that but everybody that's a country bridge radio all day thank
27:47
you yeah and and you're nothing without the community are you and you're nothing
27:51
without the listeners and the sponsors and the supporters.
27:54
Well, I like getting different people out each week. It tests you,
27:57
by the way, because you don't know what they're going to say to you sometimes.
28:00
But I do my homework and research them. A gentleman came on yesterday.
28:04
He's doing a 130-mile walk from Midlands up to Manchester for the charity that's
28:10
at Altrican Football Club, and it's Andy's Man's Club.
28:13
So he wants to collect money for them because he knows people who've gone through...
28:17
The breakdowns or whatever the the social awkwardness
28:21
that sort of thing and his man club every monday at the old ring
28:23
and football club he's walking for that and i worked out
28:27
130 miles is for five days
28:30
this is this is a marathon a day he's
28:32
walking 26.2 miles a day and he's walking he's
28:35
walking it yeah down the canals as well which i think is brilliant as
28:39
an ex-walker i did the the lake district uh
28:42
the peak district offers dyke i even i did
28:45
a five-day walk in new zealand these are the sort
28:47
of things that i think people should do as well get out get
28:51
into the community bring money into the community as well for themselves and
28:55
help other people because we are a community-based society aren't we and we
29:00
should more of us instead of being the selfish me me me is get out there and
29:05
help other people and i gotta say this the bit i like about being as part of the station is that.
29:11
Gets you to go out there and talk to people yeah
29:14
and some people might think oh it means you're a
29:17
busy body i i don't think that i think it's you're finding
29:20
out about you're investing in your community that adds
29:23
to the community community hopefully and i hope that's what
29:26
radio waltie does what do you think it's exactly that i get
29:29
out and you certainly get out as well every week uh it's
29:32
getting to know the people out there and as you said earlier and
29:36
all the people have taken the mickey now that it takes
29:38
me half an hour to walk through all the string because people want to say hello
29:41
or talk to me it's not exactly like that but yes i
29:44
do know people and it's getting to know the people that
29:47
you like as well i've got one last question for you if
29:51
you could have your pick of any guests across the
29:54
world anybody to interview who would
29:57
come to mind well i've got one straight away but can i just go
30:00
through a little bit of background because i did bring a little note
30:03
here because i can't remember these days it's
30:06
how what have i done who what's my name where do i live.
30:09
And the people have got oh the mayor
30:12
uh the current mayor is uh jane brophy yes
30:15
chris boy's the mayor he's also in a rotary club which i
30:17
like doing never mentioned rotary club they do a fantastic amount
30:21
in altrincham as well one of the ones that came
30:24
up is a bruce melnick now who's bruce melnick very
30:28
current because they're sending artemis up this evening
30:31
about midnight i think yeah and he was an astronaut on
30:33
the shuttle twice he went up and he went up on
30:36
discovery and endeavor and he
30:39
was one of the longest in space on the endeavor nine days
30:42
and he had a very modest man came out of new york now lives in florida opposite
30:48
not directly opposite but where the shuttle is going to go from or the spacecraft
30:51
is going to go from there but i must go back to amon o'neill because he's the
30:56
guy he's solid i lived with him through every sunday with his brother-in-law, Jimmy Wack.
31:02
And them two just cracked me up every day
31:04
and even phoned in and one day he goes are
31:08
you related to freddie garaghty and i went yes that's
31:11
my dad's cousin and he goes oh we thought so
31:14
they had a laugh about it sort of thing yeah you were made for me
31:16
that sort of thing however this is recently in the last three weeks
31:19
uh my nephew sorry my cousin came up from down south
31:23
and his mom my dad's sister had
31:26
written 15 pages of her background how
31:29
poor were we i hadn't realized this is
31:32
our my background so the alfreds and
31:35
anna came over from dublin to liverpool
31:38
to manchester 1890s and
31:41
they had they also seemed to be alfreds or fredericks that
31:44
sort of name okay uh freddie was my
31:47
dad's cousin as i say but they lived in
31:50
our ancoats by a canal and
31:54
the story went that the lady that wrote it at my auntie win saw across the canal
31:59
in a yard some scrap wood and what they were doing they were living above a
32:04
green grocers their only furniture was the orange boxes that was their furniture
32:09
the kids which is my dad slept on the floor.
32:12
She went over the canal to get some wood fell in nearly
32:15
drowned wow and all she got for her endeavors was
32:18
a beating from her dad and a beating from her mom because she
32:21
lost a plimsoll now that is your background and
32:24
i've only learned that in the last three weeks and there's there's me
32:27
living in fabulous alteringham and they came from that and
32:30
that's in my of the one generation back so
32:33
yeah for background is is all important well going back
32:36
to amon o'neill he has so many stories about his life
32:39
the irish life and the contingent and yeah
32:42
i would bring him on any time i did have the
32:44
ex-archbishop of canterbury you did roan williams
32:47
yes with my nephew up in iona where's iona
32:51
yeah it's off well the west coast
32:54
of scotland that's the oban mull go across the fairies
32:57
are a little strike of over that's another story but yeah you met
33:00
my nephew i said get out of manchester ended
33:03
up in iona right loves it it's his
33:06
world uh it's gone back up recently but uh
33:09
there in the retreat was the uh rowan williams
33:12
lovely guy and i got an interview i just
33:15
take my phone out talk to people and they talk back to
33:18
me so yeah there's a few of the people i've interviewed and that's why i love
33:21
is you take your mobile out and you stick the microphone end of it in front
33:26
of people and you talk and it's as simple as that in some ways isn't it yeah
33:29
yeah but literally yesterday we had one of our sponsors Adele from ABC Warrancy
33:34
what she didn't know about music.
33:36
Kept saying do you want my job do you want my job she was lovely
33:39
and the guy that she brought in Mark he was we
33:42
were talking about Eurovision which is on in about
33:45
three six weeks time but again it's it's
33:48
how you talk with them how they interact with you I just love doing my job and
33:53
one last question you've traveled for a part of the world you've sold travel
33:57
packages to all over the world yeah where is left that you would like to go
34:03
to it's Antarctica yeah this is.
34:06
That question i get asked quite a lot obviously and at
34:09
one time where's your favorite part of the world it was hawaii i
34:12
went four times nobody had been to hawaii that's why i loved it and
34:15
i went four times and one one of them was for
34:18
work as well to check out hotels and i'm
34:21
staying fabulous places thank you very much they're flying
34:24
me around the great stuff that sort of thing but then another one
34:27
was uh the trans-siberian express you know the one
34:30
that went across to the very far side
34:33
opposite japan and that was six days in those days
34:35
that you went on the train i don't think now that i'm
34:38
slightly older than 36 that i would do it but that was
34:41
what i wanted to do but what my every time
34:44
i took off somewhere my very first trip was to
34:47
la in 1970 six pounds for
34:50
a weekend right pan am 747 they
34:53
couldn't fill it because it was a big plane at the time so they
34:56
offered travel agents this 40 of us went out over five weeks
34:59
and my weekend and i never looked back
35:02
i just wanted long haul so every time i took off it was
35:05
24 hours later i was in australia or 12 hours
35:08
later in south africa or the forest that's my travel background well that's
35:13
something that's that's fantastic well look thank you for for joining me today
35:19
and uh thank you for all the shows and everything else you do around the scenes
35:22
with radio alty that's really all team me the
35:25
famous Ken Garrity, the Terry Wogan of Radio Alty. Thank you.
35:32
This is the Late Late Lunch Show. With Back to the Garden Childcare,
35:36
where little explorers grow naturally. Back to the Garden!