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| The Tom Watt Q&A Interview Exclusive to talkSPORT1089.co.uk Ex-Eastenders man and all round sports fanatic Tom Watt presents BBC London's Saturday Sports Show from 2:00pm with the best coverage of London sport. Tom was on talkSPORT from 1999 presenting shows such as It's Round and It's White, The Season Ticket, Football First and Sportsday alongside broadcasters and journalists such as Gary Newbon and Michael Hann. Are you enjoying your current shows on BBC London and what sort of format do they take? BBC London is a great place to work, especially now we've pretty much got the live London football commentaries to ourselves! For the most part, I'm presenting live games, doing interviews and some phone-in stuff. We're set to treble our sports output for the forthcoming football season. When did you join talkSPORT and what were your first impressions of the people you worked with? I was brought to talkSPORT by a guy called Moz Dee who is now working for BBC Radio Five Live. I was working with him, Gary Newbon and Alan Parry for the most part, all people I've got a lot of time for, personally and professionally. You hosted The Season Ticket and It's Round and It's White as well as 505 on talkSPORT. How much did you enjoy working on these shows? I enjoyed presenting those shows very much. We pretty well created the formats as well as putting them into action. I thought we used to get the best callers anywhere on radio. It was great not having to spend hours on end listening to people slagging off referees and recycling opinions from the back pages. A lot of people working in the game used to listen and call the shows as well. Who actually got to choose the theme tune for It's Round and It's White? That was Michael Hann who found it. Clever boy! It was called Sil vous plait by the Fantastic Plastic Machine. What happened when you were removed from the schedules at talkSPORT? Was there some sort of disagreement with you and the management and who's choice was it for you to leave the station? The management at talkSPORT wanted to go in a slightly different direction, I think, and what I did wasn't really in line with that. As soon as my shows started to get cut back and switched around I felt I had to leave and I felt I had to leave the station as a result of that. I was off! You were heard on talkSPORT with Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs a months ago talking about David Beckham's Autobiography. Have you kept in touch with anyone at the station since you left? I've known Andy Jacobs for a long time and we stay in touch although now Chelsea are in the money he doesn't like to talk to his old mates. He's top man and I listen to him and Paul Hawksbee whenever I can. You and Michael Hann seemed to have a great rapport while on air. How long had you known Michael before doing the show on talkSPORT? We'd never actually met before we started working on the show together on talkSPORT so it was great that we had a good on air rapport. What is the key to bring success to Arsenal for years to come? We have got to keep the best players like Theirry Henry, Patrick Viera and Robert Pires if we want to continue the success for years to come. Arsene Wenger has one more year to run on his current contract and it is imperative that we sign him up on a long-term contract. If we can do this and make the new stadium at Ashburton Grove a success then we can be successful for a long time. Realistically, which players would you like to see Arsene Wenger sign? If we have the finances then I'd like us to sign Liverpool's talented midfielder Steven Gerrard. How did you get chosen to be the co-writer of David Beckham's Autobiography? I was recommended by a very good mutual friend of both David and myself. Are you still Wembley's official historian and will you be continuing this role when the new stadium has completed construction? I am not the official Wembley historian anymore, as far as I know, although if the publishers have got any sense they'll revisit the official history of the old place when the new place opens! Who were your idols as a child, sporting or otherwise? As a child, my idols were the 1971 Arsenal side that won the League Championship and FA Cup. It included great players such as Charlie George, George Graham, Frank McLintock and Bob Wilson. Did you enjoy your time on Eastenders? Do you keep in touch with the people you worked with? I enjoyed my three years on the show very much as Lofty, and especially running the charity football team. I don't really have any regrets in leaving Eastenders and neither do I even watch it now. I have never been a watcher of soaps to be honest. Do you have any books to recommend, apart from the ones you have written? I'd recommend the Gazza's autobiography of my recent reads. It includes everything from his time at Newcastle, Spurs, Lazio and of course, the 1990 World Cup in which we all saw Gazza's tears. What was the last CD you bought? The last CD I bought was A Grand Don't Come For Free by The Streets. What was the last film you saw at the cinema and what did you think of it? I haven't actually been to the cinema in years so haven't been able to see much at all recently. It's Friday night and you want a take-away. Where do you go? There's an Indian café in Stroud Green Road, the name of which escapes me at the present! Thanks to Tom Watt for the chance to interview him. You can hear Tom on BBC London 94.9's Saturday Sports Show every Saturday between 2:00pm-6:00pm. Tom Watt BBC London 94.9 July 2004 |
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