INTERVIEW
But although his mother had been brought up in the
strict confines of a Scottish discipline, John and his elder
sister, Jennifer, had a much more liberal childhood. He
was born in St Albans in 1953 to parents who had met
in Portsmouth during the war.
“After the war my father worked as an administrator
for the local council in Watford. My parents were lower
middle class and not well off. We lived in a council
house, although they then bought it for themselves.”
Their determination also achieved a place for John at
St Albans School, coincidentally also the alma mater
of another old rocker, Sir Tim Rice. “My parents really
had to save hard for me to go there. My mother used
to do various jobs, one at the local museum. That
was horrendous. She used to put little trays of white
stuff underneath the dead furry animals, to stop them
rotting. I always thought the animals would bite me
and was really scared.”
Away from the museum, John showed from an early
age that he had plenty of spirit. “The entry exam for St
Albans School had algebra questions, and I just wrote
on the paper that I could not answer the questions as I
hadn’t done any algebra.” Clearly impressed by this nononsense reply, the school took him in.
The algebra exam might still stump him today. “I
would say that I have common sense, not intelligence.
I’m the sort that can join the scouts and make a raft and
get from one side of the river to the other. I’m practical.
Mind you I can’t paint a house.”
John Giddings is perhaps being over-modest about
his intelligence. He clocked up ten ‘O’ levels, three ‘A’
levels and a university degree. “Philosophy & Sociology,
whatever that is. I couldn’t get into university to start
with because my headmaster wrote on my application
form that I couldn’t conform to any authority. When
the universities received this, they rejected me. Finally
I got an interview at Exeter.”
He was never a great conformist. “The way I chose my
course was to put my hand over the list and look down
the right-hand side where it said English, Geography,
and so on. I selected Philosophy & Sociology. I didn’t
know what they were and I still don’t. I just wanted a
good time for three years.”
He certainly achieved that. “I had a fantastic time
at Exeter. I spent more time on the entertainments
committee than I did on the course work. But I was
the only person who went to university knowing what
they wanted to do afterwards, and that was to join the
music industry.”
What he would have liked to have done was to become
a pop star. “But then there’s a dawning realisation
when you are 16 that you’re not in fact as good as Eric
Clapton.”
He joined several bands when he was a teenager. “I
was a bass player. But often you’re not actually playing,
you’re just hanging around with your mates. One mate
said, let’s form a group, you play bass and we’ll pull
loads of women. He taught me some bass lines like
Sunshine of You Love and Foxy Lady. We weren’t very
good, I’m afraid.”
He even tried his hand at singing. “I don’t know how I
had the nerve. I go red thinking about it.” He also blushes
at the memory of one less than brilliant performance in
Island Life - www.islandlifemagazine.net
scratch. We had no help
whatsoever from anyone.
Even the music business did
not believe in it. They thought
it was a complete joke.
What’s your pet hate?
When a plane lands, I hate
people getting up in the aisle
when there’s only room for one
person. I don’t like people being
rude, though I can sometimes
be guilty of this myself.
What would you have
done if you had not gone
into the music business?
I have absolutely no idea.
I think I am completely
unemployable.
Your favourite TV
programme?
I like Lost, Desperate
Housewives, and Invasion, but
Green Wing is my favourite.
Your favourite film?
Lord of the Rings. I love the
adventure. I love drifting
off into another world.
Your favourite car?
My black Maserati. I wish
I’d never sold it. But it kept
going wrong, and each time
it cost £2,500 to mend.
“My idea of heaven is walking
along Ryde seafront and
having a cappuccino”
Your favourite holiday
destination?
Cape Town, South Africa.
I love places on the sea.
Your favourite food?
Scrambled egg on granary toast.
a band at university. “We were rehearsing one night and
two guys came in and asked if they could listen. They
turned out to be John Wetton and Bill Bruford from King
Crimson, and it was probably my most embarrassing
moment ever. I would never call myself a musician, and
I never recorded anything, so you won’t find me on ebay.”
He might not have been adept as a performer, but
he has always been passionate about the music scene.
“I suppose what I do now is the closest I can get to it
without being in a group. My mate became his college’s
social secretary and transformed himself into an agent,
and I saw that this was the way to go. I had applied to all
these record companies, but of course they had rejected
me. So then I called the agents that had dealt with me,
and I got a job.”
He was nothing if not keen. “I turned up for the
interview, and I’ll never forget the guy saying ‘F*** me,
Can you sum up the Isle of
Wight in three words?
Sun, sea and sand.
What shop could you
not live without?
Marks & Spencer. I recently
bought all my home furnishings
from them. I have spent
half my life in there.
What is the best thing
about the Isle of Wight?
It’s a beautiful place to come
to. The people are welcoming.
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