Ross King interview

CELEBRITY INTERVIEW by Mark Boardman

We meet multi-award winning journalist and live broadcaster Ross King (Off Lorraine TV fame).

He is a all round nice guy with a vibrant showbiz personality and has starred in musical theatre and panto, author of numerous books besides being a voiceover artist and movie actor.

We discussed everything with Ross King in his biggest and longest interview ever! From Hollywood to receiving an MBE to many of his star encounters it’s all here!

So You are a multi-award winning journalist, a live broadcaster, musical theater, panto author, numerous books, voiceover artist like films, movie actor and to me, just a vibrant, bubbly showbiz personality. So where would you put yourself now? Like where you are right now?

“I’ve always enjoyed being a broadcaster in the true words, broad. So not being narrow cast and not just doing one thing, which is why I think I’m lucky that I can go from, covering terrorist attacks to singing on stage and Vegas, and things like that. So, it’s a funny old life” he told London celebrity journalist Mark Boardman.

                     And also, the fact that I’ve just been given the opportunity over the years, as you say to be able to do different things. So, it really stemmed from being a kid and going into radio when I was just 15, 16. And there was a guy there, Jack McLaughlin, he knew the business very well. He’d done TV and radio and his whole thing was, look, “I know you want to be the, top 30 DJ.” As anyone as a kid goes into radio and all that. He said, “Be a broadcaster. So, do the arts program, do the cinema program, do all that, broaden your horizons.”

                     And that’s what it was. And now I’m at that point in my life where I’m so lucky that I still am given the opportunities to do, as you were saying, whether it was like, last night I’m doing Lorraine and then I’m doing voiceovers for American Express. And then I’m talking to hopefully with the cruising world coming back again, I’ll go back off and I’ll do my show, my act on the cruise ships again.

                     Hopefully I’ll do some more acting when we can get back into things here. There’s a little short movie coming up that I’ve written that hopefully we can start filming. So, I think to be given the avenues to do that is phenomenal and I’m so, so grateful for it. And I’m so lucky that I had really good people in my life at such an early point to say, look, do different things.

                     And what, for me is interesting. I look at people that I worked with. At one point, we were all like the boys and it was me, it was Brian Conley and Shane Richie and Bradley was a little bit older than all of us. But I used to always say to Brad, “Brad, you can do everything and it will all come to a point where it will go bang.”

                     And you look at Bradley and he’s the consummate professional, who, again, is doing everything and no one’s questioning it, which is wonderful. You’re a comedian. You can host a game show or you can do this or you can be in a soap or you can be whatever. And that’s what I think is lovely.

                     And, again, I see Brian Conley going into EastEnders, things like that. And I think it’s such a wonderful way now that people have stopped being pigeon-holed. Even though if you were a movie actor, you couldn’t do TV. And then of course, somebody like Kiefer Sutherland does a TV show and people go, wow. And he says, “More people saw one episode of 24th and I’ve seen all of my movies.” That sort of thing.

                     And so, you realize that those boundaries have been broken down which I think is great and people can step over them. So, again I’m very lucky. That’s the thing I really like.

Mark:            That was really interesting talking about Bradley Walsh. I met him before he was cast in Corrie. I don’t think anyone realises just how hard some of these people work like Bradley or Brian Conley, when they are at their peak. I’d love to see Brian Conley back on TV, like proper, Saturday night TV again.

Ross:           Yes. Of course.

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I love it. it’s phenomenal.

Ross King on MarkMeets.com

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Ross:           Absolutely. I agree. And Bradley, even back in the early days when Bradley was doing all these Stand-up, he was very old tentative. He didn’t just come out and do gag gag gag. I used to watch him sometimes. He’s not somebody to be waiting on a stage and he’d be doing some of these charity gigs and comedians would go, “Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do tonight.”

                     “What are you going to do?” “I don’t know, I might do. Maybe I’ll do.” And you thought, you know exactly what you’re going to do. Whereas Brad would stand in the wings and you wouldn’t look at him and he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. And then he’d just go out and make something funny. And that’s what I think is the genius of him. I mean the comedy genius of him. It’s wonderful to see it.

Mark:            I just scrolled and found your tweet, I think from 2015. So quite a few years ago about Brian Conley. Your journey, so you started off in Glasgow. Was it Radio Clyde? I guess you made a move to London possibly?

Ross:           Yeah, I did well Radio Clyde and then I got a TV show. So, I was at Clyde when I was 15, 16. well Hospital Radio, then Clyde, I was the Saturday boy just did everything. Rig the football grounds, threw the cables over all that stuff. Made the tea and the coffees and all the rest of it. And then, got TV show CTV-1 at the BBC.

                     They wanted someone, over the summer holidays to do the Scottish morning because, we’d obviously just always had the stuff that was sent from England. So that was it. And that was it. And then I moved to London, moved to Capital Radio and then I was getting a lot of TV at the time.

Mark:            You landed Pebble Mill.

Ross:           Way before that actually I did, I think called Young Krypton which was the kid’s version of The Krypton Factor. So, I did that as well. And then I did The 8:15 from Manchester, another Saturday morning kid’s show, and then did a few things like quiz shows. And then Pebble Mill was for me, just the dream job. It’s funny, if I could go back to doing one show that would be it because it was the most wonderful show. I got to travel all over the world, Ross King told Mark Boardman over zoom.

                     And then when we did the show in the studio, it was just amazing, you had everyone, huge American stars on there. And then you had all the British stars and then you had the music as well. And, oh, it was really one of the most joyous time, to do TV and I loved that.

Mark:            Well, you’ve been in Hollywood now 21 years. So, you’ve been doing that since year 2000?

Ross:           Yeah. 21 years, Mark. It’s just ridiculous when you think 21, I mean, how the heck did that happen? And also, where did the time go? That’s the other thing. Even I was doing, Lorraine, your time this morning and Prince, we’re talking about Prince and it’s five years since Prince passed, I’m thinking. I remember it vividly, standing outside Paisley Park and one cold night and it was such as sad night as well.

                     But it’s so weird. I’ve certainly found as I got older, if you’d said to me, and we hadn’t talked about Prince, and she said, “When did Prince die?” I would have gone, “Three years ago.” And everything is doubled.

Mark:            Crazy.

Ross:           That’s why I now realize that when I think, “Oh, that was 10 years ago.” And you go, “No, it was 20 years ago.” And then even things, you were saying, since I’ve been in America since 2000. So, if I think of something, well, I remember doing that in Britain. So that was 10. No, it’s got to be over 20 years. It’s like, no, no. But I learned the thing when I went back to acting class here for about three years when I moved out here to the States.

                     And I learned a thing, for being present in the moment, going into auditions and you do three things, it can be any three things, but you do three definite things. And I then thought, I’m going to put that in my life because you would do it and you will be very present in the audition. And I thought I’m going to do that in my life. So that’s what I do. And I feel that, I know that sounds ridiculous, but I feel like I’ve slowed life down a bit because I’m so present in the moment.

                     Rather than, constantly like what’s next, or what am I going to do next? Or where am I going to go? And what’s this and what will that be just to go enjoy the moment. It’s like now, you and I are chatting.

Mark:            I’m speaking to a legend.

Ross:           It’s funny, we’re having a little chat, it’s lovely. I’m thinking, Oh my goodness. When we were talking about the local radio, when I was a kid, when you think the football greats, it would be freezing cold in Glasgow. And you’d be throwing these cables over and going back to the radio van, the mass wouldn’t work and you had to start it manually and then jump back down and the wind would be battering your face and your hands would be frozen.

                     And then, there were no cell phones. So, you had to go on the antenna. Like, ku, ku radio van, one, two, radio engineering, come in, please. I can’t hear you. We haven’t got a signal, oh, and you think, look at this. Where exactly are you in London, Mark?

Mark:            I’m in London, I’m very lucky to be in the same apartment block as one of the girls from Little Mix. So, I’m in Canary Wharf.

Ross:           It’s beautiful, lovely.

Mark:            Lovely part of the world. Very blessed. I was going to come on to where you are obviously, but what do you most miss about Great Britain? I wasn’t quite sure what to say. England Scotland, Great Britain, but what do you most miss?

Ross:           So, I’m not one of those people. I never get offended. If someone says to me, “Are you English?” And then I click on I’m a Scottish, but I understand, we’re a small country, I don’t get upset. Although it’s funny. What did make me laugh, I think it was about three years ago and I’m in London and I love black cabs always have done lovely chat, love the drivers, love the fact that they’ve done the knowledge, love the fact, they know all the little shortcuts and the double backs and know which way to go to get you on that side. And, I always loved the chat.

                     And it was so funny. I go in and the driver is like, “Hi there, Ross, how are you doing mate, you’re alright?” I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great.” And then we chatted about something and he went, ‘”Well, you’d know that being a sweat. I mean, being Scottish.” “Wait a minute, are you not allowed to call me sweaty anymore?”

                     And he went, “What?” And I went, “You were going to go being a sweaty, sweaty sock Jock.” And I said, “And then you were going to call me Jock and you didn’t call me Jock.” And he said, “No.” He said, “Oh, my people will take such offense.” And I said, when I play football out here sometimes, I’ll go, “Give the ball to the sweaty.” And it’s so funny again, obviously some people rightly offended about certain things, but anyone can call me a sweaty sock. I don’t mind that I’m a Jock.

Mark:            And like food wise. Can you get everything you want out there, like British, or do you miss your tea bags or like your biscuits?

Ross:           It’s amazing. Those days used to be, even when I moved here first, people might go, can you bring out this, but you get pretty much everything now. And even in terms of curries, which of course we all miss, and especially in Scotland, because the Indian population was incredible.

                     We were like another generation because I remember even going to London and the curries being good, but not as good as Scotland. And it was because we had Indian people, a lot earlier and they’d gone from like, the typical little Curry shop to the Indian Brasserie and things like that. So, we were kind of really ahead of the curve on that.

                     But yeah, you get good things like that. And there’s little English places, my Little Supermarket that is close to me, they do lots of British stuff. Actually, I’ll tell you, what’s quite funny is that when we went into lockdown here and it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as what you guys went through, but we went into lockdown. And I went to the Little Supermarket and he was drowning in terms of the shelves were getting emptied and stuff was coming in, stuff was going out. It was going off and all the rest of it.

                     So, a lovely guy called Alex. And I said, “Alex, look, if you need help with anything, just call me. Because I’m just up the hill and I’ll come and help out.” I said, “I’m quite good manual labor, you want me to hump some stuff in boxes or if it’s supplies are arriving and it’s all coming in too quickly and going out too quickly.”

                     So anyway, long story short he said, “Could you possibly start tonight at 6:30?” I was like, “Oh, 6:30 ’till 8:30 and then on Thursday.” And I was like, “Oh, I didn’t quite realize you put my name down for a shift, but yeah, it’s no problem. I’ll do that.” So, I mean, obviously completely free, just helping out.

                     And, so I started helping out and then it was incredible that Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the beautiful British actress who’s been in the morning show, who’s been in tons of stuff. She was helping out; we were having this great time. But what was funny was that with the British stuff, he had a kind of a little British section, but then we were like, “Oh, Alex, you’ve got to put this there.”

                     And then Marmite. And he had Marmite, way over on another shelf. He had it beside like chutneys and spices. And we were like, “No, Marmite such a British thing.” Funnily enough. And I said, it’s like Marmite, I don’t know whether I like it, or whether I don’t. So, I’d say “Put them right there as you walk into the store.” So, it’s funny, he sells out Marmite because we told him to move it, put it in the British section right in the front. And so, it’s funny, the things that people miss.

Mark:            Oh, my. That’s amazing.

Ross:           I think basically you can get everything that you need now.

Mark:            Back in 2018, obviously you received your MBE. It’s amazing for services to broadcasting, arts and charity. But what other highlights would you put up there, to write alongside that as an accolade or is that it?

Ross:           I think that’s certainly about it. Just because pure and simple it was such a surprise and my dear old dad who did a lot of work for charities, when I was a kid, you would see the New Year’s Honors list or the Queen’s Birthday list. And you were like, dad, “Why are you not on this?” And my dad simply said, “Son, people like us don’t get things like that.” And that was always in my head. So, I never ever gave a thought ever.

                     And then when it happened and sadly my dad had passed by then, my mom had passed, but I remember looking up and going pops, “Look, people like us do get things like this.” So, that was a lovely moment where we can enjoy everything together and then going back to Edinburgh to get it at Holyrood, the Queen’s Palace in Edinburgh was amazing.

                     And then, to get the Queen to give it to me. Yeah. I totally think there are many. Again, when I’m talking to them Mark. I feel so lucky all the things in my life. And some things I’ve kind of forgotten about it until you do things like this, and as a kid going to be a footballer, but then actually playing football at Wembley for Scotland against England before the Boys Club final.

                     And it all been all ex-internationalists, Archie Gemmill, Eddie Gray, Frank Gray, Danny McGrain. New England had Stevie Coppell, Mick Mills, Phil Neal, all these guys, Dave Watson, it was just unbelievable to play them the same pictures there. And to actually get a chance to do that and to wear the Scotland stripe and all the rest of it, National Anthem before the game. And it was bizarre.

                     And then my sister was talking about something the other week. She said, “Oh, remember that time at the London Palladium.” And I was like, “What?” And she said, “Remember you had mom and dad in the Royal Box.” And I was like, “My goodness, me, I did.” The night at the London Palladium and I did the whole bit, buy into the box and then everyone looked at me and say, “No, no, it’s not her.” But it is the queen. It’s my mom and all that stuff.

                     So, there are certain things you forget about until again, we’re doing things like this and you think, how ridiculously lucky to have done that, to have had those opportunities. So, yeah. When you cement your things, it doesn’t even sound like, I go, “Wow. He’s been lucky always me.”

Mark:            I’m going to come now to who you’ve met, but I quite often tell people, yeah, I’ve met Justin Bieber, I’ve organized this, that but you’ve done many amazing things and met all the superstars! So, you’ve met, interviewed, shook, hands, had lunches with who I don’t know, like everyone. So loved your interview with, Anthony Hopkins. I know you’ve met Denzel Washington, the James Bond’s, Clooney, Rihanna, Gaga take that Miley Cyrus. But is there anyone who you would love to meet. Is there anyone who you would love to interview?

Ross:           It’s crazy, it’s crazy. I’ve actually got to this point when I kind of interviewed most people. And most people that I’ve always wanted to, which is ridiculous. Barbara Streisand was a huge one that I’d always had down on the bucket list and always wanted to. And I interviewed her twice in the space of two weeks, one time.

                     And for me, that was a magical moment because I remember as a kid at school, going to see ‘A star Is Born,’ that she was in and just falling in love with this amazing woman. And then to cut all those years later to interview her. And I had taken a little 45, I had a French 45 of, one of her singles and I just held up at one point and just said, “What advice would you give to this woman?”

                     And she was great. She was like, “Well, I wouldn’t give her anything. It’s turned out pretty well.” I was like, “Wow.” And then at the end of it, because obviously a lot of these interviews, don’t ask for photographs, don’t ask for autographs, it’s like all these things.

                     And as I got up, she went “Ross, man do you want me to sign that?” And I was like, “Yeah.” And she went, “Yeah.” And then she went, “Let’s do a photograph.” I was like, “Okay.” And, because everyone thinks she is the diva and I was looking around to see if her photographer was there and the lighting. And she went, “Do you have a phone?” And I was like, “Yeah.” She went, “God let’s get it.”

                     And it was like the most amazing thing, but this person and I talk to her, when I was a kid, I was probably 13, 14, or something, to watch it. So, magical moments like that are incredible. There are so many moments like that where I go, “Oh my goodness, me.” And, it really is pinch yourself moment and think, wow, how the heck did that boy from Glasgow end up here? A very quick story, which for me personifies the madness of hired that boy from Glasgow.

                     So, I move on here, I’m at a party friend’s house and I meet this other guy and I’m chatting with him. And he was really, really interesting. And then we’re sitting on this sofa and there’s another young guy beside me and there’s a guitar. I pick up the guitar and I’m useless, like three chords, terrible. The Young guy to my left goes, “Hey, man. Can I have the guitar?” I was like, “Yeah, sure.” So, I handed him the guitar and he play and he’s even worse than me.

                     So, I said, “Look, can I give it to my friend, my new friend here?” And he goes, “Yeah.” So, I handed it to him and my new friend, says, “What do you want me to play?” I said, “I’ll play one of the songs you wrote for Elvis.” So, this was Mac Davis who wrote amongst other things, ‘A Little Less Conversation.’ And he wrote ‘In the Ghetto.’ So, he’s sitting beside me and he starts to play, “And the baby cries in the ghetto.” And then he stops. And I was like, “Oh no, please keep going.”

                     And he said, “Tell your funny story.” He said, “I was there the night, when Elvis recorded this.” He said, “To this day, I’m driving in the car.” And Max Savage just passed away less than a year ago. “I’m driving the car. And I hear Elvis sing In the Ghettoe.” And he said, I went to Elvis, “Elvis anyone lives in the ghetto, they’re in the ghetto, not in the ghettoe.” So, I think this is brilliant. I’ve got my story for the rest of my life.

                     I then go to Nashville to interview Dolly Parton. And I’m talking with Dolly about songwriting. And she says, “The only other person I really write with is a guy called Mac Davis. Do you know, Mac Davis?” And I said, “Actually, let me tell you a funny story.” So, I tell her the story. And at the end of it, she says, “Oh my gosh, honey, I got to go and phone Mac.”

                     And I was like, “Why do you not believe me?” And she went, “No.” She said, “I recorded ‘In the Ghetto.’ And I sang ‘In the Ghettoe’ as well because I sang it the way Elvis did. And I’m going to have to go and apologize.” And I was like, how does a kid from Glasgow, from a council house in Glasgow, end up in a conversation about Elvis singing the song with Dolly Parton, singing the song with Mac Davis? You know I just go.

Mark:            That’s amazing.

Ross:           “How did that actually happened?” So, yeah. Amazing.

Mark:            That’s amazing. So obviously you become pals with lots of people and certainly care. And I think you’ve spoken about having a one-to-one with Oprah, Prince and like Meryl Streep and talking about these sorts of meetings. How often did these opportunities come to you or do you make them happen, with the way you’ve gained the trust and friendship of many celebs within the industry?

Ross:           It’s interesting. Sometimes when people go, “Oh, your famous pals.” And it’s funny. I always say, well, my big famous friends, like Gary Barlow or Gerard Butler, or Catherine Zeta-Jones, I’ve known them all forever. I knew Gary before he played, I knew him with the band before they had any hits. I knew Gerard Butler before; I think Gerard had just done one little movie.

                     Catherine, I knew just as she was doing ‘Darling Buds of May.’ So, these people will go, oh, because I think it definitely is harder to then become friends with people when they are really famous, it’s harder. But I have a lot of really, really good mates, a lot of them are famous.

                     I think with those people as well, that I’ve got a real chemistry with them, over the years and that makes such a difference. And then it’s great. When you’re coming to do interviews. And I think that, you’re probably famous as well, Mark, that if people trust you, then that’s a huge part, especially nowadays.

                     Because as we know that anyone can take any little sound bite or anything that you say and twist it. And I understand where journalists are coming from because there’s a lot of lazy journalism that people just go to Twitter and go, Oh, one person in Twitter says, “I didn’t like that show.” And suddenly it’s like, wow, Twitter is a blaze of the criticism or whatever.

                     Or somebody says one good thing. And it’s like, they’re loved. So, I understand that. And also, it’s funny when you were talking about, when I was writing the books and I wrote with Shari Low together, we became Shari King.

My whole thing was, she originally came to me and said, “I’d like to ghost, write your biography.” I said, “Well, it’s a pamphlet, it’s a leaflet. My biography, we can just give it out to a few friends.” And I said, ” They know the story anyway. So, there’s nothing there to know.”

And also, I said, “I don’t have this deep, dark past.” I know that if somebody is doing an interview, that’s what they want your battle with or whatever. So, it’s an interesting time like that, but I get it that people want that stuff, which is understandable.

                     But again, in terms of the famous friends again, I’m lucky. And again, I think they trust me to have a chat and not to stitch someone up. And, I’ve done that my whole life. I remember, as a kid, there was a pop band at the time in Scotland and they’d broken up and they were saying really bad things about each other.

                     And then I called them all and I said, guys, we did this interview. I will scrub this tape because you’re all saying these things and I just want you to have a little bit of time to settle and maybe you don’t really mean all these things. I think things like that have stood me in good stead because I think you’ve got to be human; I think.

Mark:            Yeah, that’s true. You’ve been on the red carpet more times than me. So, your Oscars, your Tony’s the Emmy’s, the Golden Globes, the Grammys, what’s the difference between them and say Cannes or the London Film Festival or the BAFTAs. Is there a different feeling?

Ross:           The Oscars definitely that feeling on the day, especially, that buzz, because it’s the entertainment world’s biggest night, whether you agree with it, don’t agree with it. Like it, don’t like it is the pinnacle for the acting profession. And it has that vibes. It’s so sad this year that there isn’t that buzz around town. And I always do love that when you get into awards seasons and then, about to have tea parties and, there’s always the build-up to the Vanity Fair Party.

                     Who’s been invited, who hasn’t, which kind of look are you going for this year. And then the Oscars themselves. And then, normally I’ll interview Wolfgang Puck, the chef, and we’re talking about, what he’s going to make and all that stuff. So, there’s always that wonderful buzz.

                     I’m sure like a footballer go to the World Cup, like say you go to the World Cup, well, that’s it, isn’t it? That’s the pinnacle and the Oscars are the World Cup of the entertainment business. So, I don’t think anything beats that buzz, that feeling. And also of course, here in Hollywood, it’s, Hollywood’s biggest night.

PIC

Mark:            That’s true. Now that’s funny because you mentioned Wolfgang. I can remember you interviewing him and I think you were handing back to Adil Ray and you called him Richard Madeley. Is that him?

Ross:           That’s right. Yeah.

Mark:            Have you got any other on-air gaffes or like there’s a whole lightsaber thing, which you didn’t broke, handed it back to someone?

Ross:           That’s kind of like crackers. Yeah. Well, the other one was that, because it all been very last minute and they couldn’t get the signal up and there were a few problems with this thing called Live View. The show the day before I think it was Richard had been doing it. And I couldn’t really hear that clearly.

                     And I could just hear this voice saying, “Oh, and I met Wolfgang.” And in my head, I was thinking it was Richard that was hosting the show. So, I didn’t even think that it was somebody else. And then of course it was, Adil. I did immediately text afterwards and say, “I am so sorry. I couldn’t really hear clearly nobody had said that you were hosting.” And so, that was it.

                     Yeah. The lightsaber one. Oh, my goodness me. With these things, I’m sure you’ve dealt with them before, is that these props? And of course, when you think about all the things over the years, it’s funny, the memorabilia that I’ve kept from over the years that no one bothered about it. It was like, oh, and again, I think Debbie Reynolds was one of the first big Hollywood stars I interviewed when I was at Pebble Mill, that’d be ’93 or something. And she had this huge collection.

                     She was doing this museum and she would just go to the studios and she’ll go, “You have to go and help yourself?” Like, she would be picking it up dresses. Oh, Judy Garland, they wanted them cleared out. There was no need for them. And of course, you know, how much things go for, it’s amazing like ‘Star Wars.’

                     When they brought them to the house, because we were filming it here, just over there. And the guy comes in they have white gloves on and everything is put down and then they place things. And then sometimes, they hand it to you and then you can take it and then you have to just do the photograph and hand it back and all that stuff.

                     And oh, my goodness me. So just again, as you said, the lightsaber and as far as I can remember a guy handed it to me and then I took it and then I just remember moving something and then I remember thinking, Oh, no, and it came away. It came away in my head, I was like, Oh no, Oh no.

Mark:            To me watching it back earlier, like you were saying, it’s worth 25 to $30,000 and a very valuable, and then all of a sudden, it almost like the guys trying to take it back off, you.

Ross:           Oh no, I know $25. So yeah, that’s probably one of those moments, when your heart sinks and you think, Oh my goodness, me. And then funnily enough, another moment we had was when I was covering the election out here and we’d gone to, Mar-a-Lago obviously Trump’s, where he lives there.

                     And we were on the edge of the water and Trump Mar-a-Lago was behind me, but there’s this whole big stretch of water behind me. And it sloped down towards the water where we were filming. So, it was quite a hard thing to kind of stand there and just, make sure you were not trying to be in the camera like this. So, it was a really weird moment. And then I kept hearing these splashing noises and what have you.

                     And I went, “What on earth was that?” And then my camera man said, “Oh, it’s okay. It’s just these big fish. It’s the lights from the camera and the lights that was just attracting the big fish.” So, I was like, “Oh, Oh.” And then we also had a security guy just because obviously it was on with the madness at the time. You weren’t sure what would happen. And the security guy came forward and he said, “Ross, just to make you aware that, there are alligators in there.” “What?”

                     He went “I’m not joking. I will stand at the side.” And I was like, “Wait a minute.? What do you mean what you’re going to do as the alligator comes out of the water, you’re going to jump? He said, “No, we’ll probably get fair warning.” And I said, “What?” So, I actually did a piece to camera with the concern that, there was an alligator was going to come out and actually get me.

Mark:            That was petrifying.

Ross:           Way to go. Can you imagine what a way to go?

Mark:            That is good live broadcasting.

Ross:           To see me get pulled away. Ross King. Good morning, Britain.

Mark:            Ross, you’ve got an amazing personality and I do have a couple of more questions. Next one, would you do a reality TV show? If so, what show would you, excel at and which show would like scare you the most?

Ross:           Yeah, I definitely went into the reality show. I’ve been approached quite a few times for quite a few of the different ones. The problem always has been that, I’m here and it’s there and we’ve tried a couple of times could I get the time off? How would it work? And, it’s never actually worked. There’s not any of them that I don’t think I wouldn’t. Oh, I wouldn’t do ‘Dancing on Ice.’ Not at all. I liked the show. I admire anyone who does that. Not the slightest chance. And everyone, I know who’s gone on it has injured themselves.

Mark:            Yes, you see injuries.

Ross:           Everyone, I think every single person I know from Bobby Davro, Chesney Hawkes, you name it. Every single person, Jason Donovan, everyone’s got injured. So no, that’s the one. But no, the other ones, there’s nothing. I think it would be lovely if you did ‘Strictly’ because you learn, I’ve been in a lot of musicals and I move, I’m not a dancer.

                     And normally if I’m doing a show, like my act or something, and you’ve got dancers, they can just put me in the middle of it, the whole dance round, and then I can do occasionally little bits to try and look like I’m kind of in it. So, it’s like a cheat. I think something like that is, fascinating to learn. I remember Chesney Hawkes seem to me that if he taught me the guitar every day for six months, I’d actually be not a bad guitar player.

                     And I think it’s such an interesting thing to learn something. And something that you’ve kind of, been on the periphery of, that you’d go, “Oh, that would be interesting to see if I could.” Obviously, I’ll never say I’ll be a dancer, but something like that. So yeah. It’s fascinating. I’m showing you all these things like cooking, baking, I’m useless, absolutely useless. So, it’s funny watching these shows and thinking, wow, I’d be out first week or I’d be out. Yep. No, they wouldn’t rate my scores or something like that.

Mark:            And you’re obviously on social media as well. And you got back to me on Instagram, but what’s your platform right now? What’s your outlet in terms of content, what’s your go to one, is it Instagram or is it still Twitter?

Ross:           Instagram. Yeah. Instagram tends to be the one. I think it’s such a shame that social media has become such a dark place. I said this to somebody the other day when I was at KTLA, one of the big stations here in Los Angeles when I was with them for about five, six years. And that was when Twitter just started. And I remember initially someone saying, “Oh, Ross, you should go on Twitter.” And I was like, “Well, I’m not 12.”

                     And then of course, then you saw it build. And I was like, Oh, and then I got on it. And again, it was such a fun place and everything was so positive and up. And it was like, yeah, an “A” and all that stuff. And then suddenly the dark clouds came in and it changed. And that’s what I think is sad.

                     And I think it’s sad for really young people that it’s there. And I think with Instagram it’s such an intrusion to people’s lives and also people feel that they have to put things on. I would say 99% of the time, I’ll only ever use it from a work point of view and it’s maybe to help publicize an event or charities or things like that. It’s normally all work-related, I do feel sorry.

                     And I feel sorry that people feel that they have to put things on that it’s not their life. It’s like not their life and they’re trying to keep up with somebody else and it’s not their life either. It becomes sad. I wish it was a happier place.

Mark:            Up in our social media for ages, but you obviously, I won’t say how old you are because, you know, but you are in great shape. What’s your regime over where you are in terms of your daily routine, eating and exercise, or what are you doing?

Ross:           Again, I think I’m so lucky as a kid being so sporty and obviously wanting to become a professional footballer. So, I think fitness has always been instilled in me, mum and dad were very fit. And I’ve always been careful what I eat. I think, again, when you’re on the TV, you’ve got to be careful about, in terms of diet. And I know that when it’s come to lockdown for a lot of people, that’s been a problem.

                     I think here, I look at it just now and it’s beautiful and sunny, so you want to get your shorts on. You want to go for a walk, you want to go for a run. And I’m lucky I can run up behind the Hollywood sign. You know, all the things that as a kid, you’d be like really.

                     And I do yoga, which weirdly enough, Richard Gough but I played football with a few times. He was captain of the Rangers, Scotland Spurs, Everton. He always said to me, “Rossie, you’ve got to get into yoga. He’s the same age as me and I watched that game about a year or two ago. And he laid out the Rangers legends and played for 20, 25 minutes and just looked exactly like he did all those years ago. And, a lot of it, he said was yoga was a big thing.

                     So, I got into yoga, which I think is really good for my type, straight. I’m still playing football. I still love sport. And then food wise, I’m pretty careful about what I eat, but I eat everything. I wake up in the morning and I’ll make my smoothie with my spinach and my berries and all my can of green powders and that sort of stuff.

                     I’ve also been really lucky health wise. I’ve been touching with all those stuffs and I’ve been okay. And, not tell that I’ve, been affected by things. So, yeah, very, very lucky, but yeah, just look after yourself.

“I’m still working and doing what I love”

Mark:            That’s amazing.

Mark:            Work wise. You’ve written through the Sunday Post. You’ve written a lot of stuff.

Ross:           I still do. I’ve got my column a Sunday Column in the Sunday Post. Which is great. It’s, such a wonderful, lovely old Scottish, North of England traditional. And it was funny because I’ll show you this just here, which is funny. But I said to them, when they came to me and offered me the job, and I said, “Great.”

                     And I said, “I’ll take it. You don’t really have very much money?” And he said, “No.” And I said, “Okay, I’ll do the deal with you.” I said, “If I agree to do the column, you will put me in the Broons.” So, they’ve got the Broons and Wullie, which they’re two little cartoons. If you’re anyone from Scotland will know the Broons and Wuillie. And it’s like they’re cartoon strip. Put me in one of them and then give me the original and I’ll show you this.

Mark:            Oh wow.

Ross:           The original, artwork, which they won’t do anymore. It took me in three times once with Gerard Butler. And I one up there but that’s computer generated, but I’ve got two nights of the very last of the original.

Mark:            And they’re original.

Ross:           They’re original. It’s such a lovely thing. So, it’s nice to know when you can do that and go back So, to your roots a little bit.

Mark:            Last thing. Who’s that photograph on your right or that black and white photo?

Ross:           Roger Moore.

Mark:            Yeah. And on the right?

Ross:           That’s the handwritten lyrics to ‘Back for Good.’

Mark:            What!

Ross:           Gary Barlow.

Mark:            One of my favorite songs.

Ross:           Oh, that’s great. Isn’t it? I used to get guys who went to me one time. “What do you want for your birthday?” I was like.

Mark:            No, way.

Ross:           I was like, “What do I want for my birthday?” I said, “You know what I want, I want the handwritten lyrics of Back for Good.” “Alright, then you sure?” I went. “Yep.” And that was it.

Mark:            That is amazing.

Ross:           . As I said, the website is amazing. It’s phenomenal.

Ross:           Yeah. So, forth. So lucky. So lucky Mark. Well, good luck with everything..

Mark:            Bless you, sir. Take care. Thank you so much. Thank you. Take care.