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Piers Morgan is joined by Pete Waterman, who reflects on his life and a career which has seen him achieve more number one singles than The Beatles. Pete reveals that, in spite of launching the pop careers of Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley and Jason Donovan, he did not learn how to read and write until he was in his thirties. He also talks about his three failed marriages, how he once owned 18 Ferraris, and the tragic death of his eldest son at the age of 33. Peter Alan Waterman, OBE, DL (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team, he wrote and produced many hit singles. He is the owner of significant collections of both historic and commercial railway locomotives and rolling stock. Full transcript here "Mm. A. Yeah, Yeah. The water is the great hit maker in British music history. There's no loose in my career there all highs. Now what I am fed up with people believing is But anybody over the age of Twenty-two is too old. He's had more number ones. The Beatles a away from the music. His personal life has been pretty disastrous. Uh, yeah, yeah. Pete's been through three failed marriages. He's been through some terrible tragedy in his life. The loss of his son, the loss of another son, you know, come from some dark places. And some of the pain is very difficult. Double two. I'm an old man These days. P water in your career spans almost 50 years As a songwriter producer, you've locked up an incredible 18 U K number one singles, which is more than the Beatles, Cliff, Richard and Madonna. Pretty amazing, right? That's a yourself. I think more than the Beatles. Uh, I pinched myself every day I wake up, you know, um, leaving school, you know, in commentary to end up in the city of London, being part of, uh, international business having all the success. It's impossible. You can't ever. So, yes, I wake up daily and think, Oh, my God. This is an amazing, amazing trip to be on. You said that the height of your success in the late EIGHTYS you and your partner might stock we're earning a million pounds a day equivalent to about £2 million a day in today's money. Staggering. You know what I wish? I wish I enjoyed it. I didn't know it was doing it. Too busy doing it. You know, there was no time to stop and smell the roses. You did buy a few rows. Yeah. Pretty extravagant. Yeah. At one stage, it was alleged that you bought 18 Ferrari in a single day. Not true. How many was it? Uh, I only ever bought one a day of 18. Uh, you also splashed out on another fancy bathroom. Do you remember that? Yeah, absolutely. Did you spend £200,000 on gold plated taps? Not true. How much was it? Uh, 60 grounds. Your exact quote at the time you spend the money in the bathroom was where better to look at my money than when I'm sitting in the bath. That is actually quite that is a true statement. I said when I come from a councilors that didn't have a bathroom, at least when I set me back every morning smoked cigar. I know. I've made it. You've been quoted as being somewhere between 30 and £45 million. It's unfortunate that we wait a either of those figures anywhere near accurate. A lot more? No less, of course. Really. All those figures Ridiculous. Yeah, of course, that you've been involved in the creation of over 200 hit singles. Do you have an instinctive, absolutely cast iron? Got feel for a hit? What is it? What? I literally do you feel it? Have you ever thought that is a guaranteed number one And it completely tanks? Of course, of course. I mean, I wouldn't be sitting here, not failures very much. A look back at how you became the country's best known that. Remember where you saw this record? First, the water has clocked up in 50 years. And the music business Pete was like king of the spots and sold 500 million records. You can't ignore people. German's place in music history is a multi-award-winning producer. Pete was a great ideas, man. D J songwriter He just cracking pop songs and t v. Judge Simon, you must have something in your ears. I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today if it was the water. Yeah, yeah. Okay. He was born in 19 Forty-seven and the council house by the railway and bombed out commentary Penalize to walk from primary school every day. And we crossed the railway bridge. There's always a steam train coming past. I feel that's where the train from I call him a train spotters with an enthusiasm for music Pete left school at 14 to become a real woman soon. Passion for music took over today and he became a D. J. Was so passionate about records. It was always listening to this one. Kid, it's fantastic. You've got to play this one tonight. In the seventies, the boy from commentary got noticed. He came down to London with all these other D. J. And you could see the one that just stood out. He was offered a job Magnet records. He was full of buzz, Absolutely loved his music. Really? You know, it was just this character. Pete began to build a reputation as one of Britain's top music producers, scoring his first number one hit. That was his first big, big, successful record. And then he teamed up composers might Stock and Matt Forming Stock Water Man and hitting the number one spot again that, uh, on the map, the factory was born and it was a factory. I mean, literally, whoever you put into that system would come out with a record. Kylie Banana Roma Jason Donna Summer melon came to stop taking a water, Had a top 40 every week. For four years. He was building an empire, and, uh, he was fearless. People would come in with these great ideas. I've got Jason and he's a young twenty-year-old. He's just had his heart broken, too many broken hearts. Okay, right. That song? Yeah. There's been a newspaper story about me saying has a toyboy. Pete saw that. I've got it. Toyboy Somehow he was able to smell out where that next it was going to come from Peter become a musical force to be reckoned with. His rise, Peter the secret not only to those closest to him. I know a lot about childhood and growing up, and I know that he didn't read all right for a very long period of his life. Growing up, I didn't know that he didn't read or write. Particularly it wasn't until he had actually learned to read and write that he was open about it because he always he was embarrassed by it. In his thirties and a rare break from work, he decided to do something about it. In the eighties, I actually learned to write properly, and I don't know how long it took him. But he's right, right? It's actually really good now. When he became able to read a little bit, he started to devour books. He read Book after book after book on all sorts of subjects, a quite extraordinary revelation that it wasn't in your thirties. You can read, All right, Amazing. Um, and then we'll shy of it appears I never I never was ashamed of my education, but to be in your line of work and not be able to read newspapers or books about artists or music or whatever it may be, was it very difficult for you gave me a passion, gave me a passion, and you know, when I did find boxes, and Steve Jenkins says that I divided. What's amazing is I've got a copy of the first book. You read that boat. What's amazing is it. It's a really dense, quite complicated book, a famous famous book. But this is hardly the first book you would use to learn how to read. Well, put it this way. I think that's your first book. Everything else is light. Shakespeare was quite after that. What was it that triggered you? Wanting to learn how to read easy that one had a girlfriend who wouldn't go on holiday with unless unless I learned to read, she wasn't prepared to sit on the beach beach for me talking to If you want me to go and you'll get a book, how did you get away with this? How did you block people by the secret? The secret friend who's called my bank manager and the first Ferrari I bought? And I said, I need to check for £33,000 making out of this company, and he wrote it out for me. I could probably spend 30 but definitely couldn't spell, you know, the rest of it. 1000. I never did you even spell Ferrari? No. No, you can't. Actually, I'm gonna try. Double are. I know. I know. In 19 ninety-four you teamed up with two musicians might stock to form the legendary stock water. You had over 100 top 40 singles. And as I said earlier, at one stage, you were in the top 40 every week for four years. It really was a factory. That really was hard work. Yeah, I was gonna say I mean, what was the secret? Do you think when you when you go back to work? I was working 20 hours a day? There was nothing gonna take my focus away. This is serious. We were selling millions of records to people who believed in what we were doing. We went against everything that the industry wanted with the absolute auntie industry. Which is why we wrote respectable. You can. You can hate us. You're never gonna changes were never gonna be respectable. Yeah. How much of a bastard were you looking back? Walked away from three women. Yeah, Let's go back to where it all started. You were born Peter Water in commentary on the 15th of January 19. Forty-seven and you almost dead on arrival. Why was that? Um, I was shocked by the court and about to be putting the bag and started off. My granddad got a bottle of the Well-known brand of brandy, stuck it on a spoon, stuck it down, and then he asked me a grand a year. Do you still drink to this day? I feel like a 30 in your life. Yeah, absolutely. The water family lived in the only council house on the road. Quite unusual situation. Did it feel like a stigma t that you were the only council house? No, but I think you know your different. Only we didn't have curtains. Everybody else that curtains. You know, if you break a window playing football, there was a cardboard cutout there for a long time. It's amazing, given how wealthy you became because your mum used to put on the electricity when your dad got home from work to save money. And that was the only time it was on. My dad loved his job. He was passionate about his job. Who is an aircraft loved every minute of it. Probably didn't make enough money to make ends meet. If the truth was known at the over time by about Monday, Tuesday at the latest had run out more money. There's no money in the house, but she was saying this shilling for the meter for Tuesday night, Wednesday night and Thursday night so that the minute she heard my dad coming up the path, she would put the bar in the meter. So my dad never knew he didn't have electricity. That's how much he loved it. It's amazing. When you were 16 16, you want to see the Beatles playing commentary, and that night was a bit of a turning point. Two for it. It changed my life. They walked out on the stage and went to deep for I've never seen that before. That was it. I was hooked. They're also rebellion because it was a convention that but we always national national anthem at the end of the show. What do they play? Well, we still have a policeman in the ballroom in those days, and the policeman, his job was to make you stand up. So the drum roll for the national anthem. Everybody stood up Well, she gave her a baby now and then they went off without playing the national anthem and the policeman running around Fantastic. You just look at this and you think that's that's it. That's gonna be my life. That's what I wanna do. Did you ever want to be a pop star yourself? Um, for a brief minute, you know, we actually have that brief, minute exclusive picture of tomorrow's kind. Yeah, I mean, this is It's almost the Rolling Stones. A few extra pounds. Are you any good? No. That's why I could sing. You know what I mean again? My talented picking songs. We work because we knew exactly what to play. So we've got lots of gigs. You began to establish yourself as a D. J can remember Your first name is D. J sockets on the water. I think it was dandy lion. Really? It through D J. You got into the music business. In fact, you were so dedicated that used to attend the famous New York disco studio 50 for most people will sequence and span days. But you you had a rather different outfit, didn't you? Water sock. Really? That was all you had? That was It must have been attractive site. It didn't get in, so it was a It didn't work. It didn't work. It was a good try. That that was good. Try your career was taking off a private life wasn't always a successful. Yeah, everyone. Yeah, in the late Eightys stock water ruling. The chance. Yeah, but not everybody was impressed by that particular brand of pop. People were no longer credit in inverted commas because of Kylie and everybody thought was sold. It was a lot of music right about us that we want more music and how do we think we are? And it's like an insult to the music industry. So we wanted to make a record that credit factor, like a truck stop taking a water and anonymously released an underground dance track. We put it out on 12 inch promo, just called Roadblock with nothing else on it. Everyone's raving about it. Top of the charts, everyone going. This is real music. But guess what? It was talking watermelon. Once the secret was up matter. Mike appeared in the video. The eighties was also forging a T V career. You had to stay up pretty later, seeing it went out after midnight? A. Yeah, I just remember there were lots of people in the globe. Pants and headbands. We've done some Blackpool. I try not to watch. It wasn't my favorites. Um, sorry. A touch. A chaos, Absolute chaos. But remember where you saw this record first? Yeah, but in 2000 and one of the prime time, Welcome once again. So a judge alongside his former protege, Simon Cow, I actually thought the show was always going to be about him. And it really it was He was as good as that. Colonized. It wasn't about being on T V. He was determined to find a hit. Artist took it. Really, really seriously Watch. This kid is, of course, tonight. Brilliant. We start you the whole time. I'm fed up with people Believe that anybody over the age of Twenty-two it's too old to be a pop. This has got nothing to do with age, but a lot of pizza career have made him a household name. Your throat. Private life is not such a success story. There's three marriages of all ended and divorce. I knew his first wife and I knew his second wife Julie. I know his wife, Denise, and I think the best one of these weddings. Almost Pete's first marriage, Twenty-three, lasted only four years in the Anderson Paul by his first wife, and his second marriage in 19 seventy-nine. Produced another son, Little Pete. People always ask me if it was strange that growing up with my dad having all these number one record, but it was all over new. But I mean, it's been amazing, but it was never there, and a marriage ended in 19 eighty-four. He was always away working, and we didn't see us all that much in My mum was very young and just with the first child, and it was just, uh, for them, a 19 ninety-one married type fame. A couple had two daughters, Charlie and Tony. It wasn't a typical father daughter relationship because he wasn't there in the way that my friends Dad's there and go home and they see their dad. It wasn't like that. I think the way that we grew up, we were used to it and we were used to That was his life, and that was his career. Sadly, after eight years, this marriage also ended a divorce to achieve number one records. You have to give it 16 hours a day, which doesn't leave very much time for your personal life. That's what you have to do to get where he is. He's had to sacrifice part of his family life to achieve these things. Maybe there's always a tinge of sort of Yeah, sort of not regret that longing for something that never was that. You know, we didn't have the relationship that, you know one would want to have with her father, but that's how it was. You can't change that. You accept the fact that he was so dedicated to what he was doing, that he wanted to do it. Uh, you said that if you regret anything, you've heard people along the way that you've been a bastard. Yes. How much of a bastard were you looking back? What? You've just shown how much of a bastard I walked away from three women. That's not easy. But as you've heard for me, that there was no choice. That was, I believe, was what my destiny was. And still is when you hear your Children just saying we wished he been around more. Do you feel like a great plan of regret. I couldn't have done it. I think they understand. You have to give it 100%. I can't not give it 100% knowing what you were like knowing how obsessive you were. Why did you keep getting married? I think you know, I I want you to get married. You long for something. Maybe it was impossible. I don't know what sort of husband we Terrible. How terrible. What was it over there? I mean, if you know Julie. I mean, we lived in commentary. I community to London every single day of the week, you know? Do you regret it? Yes. I feel so sorry that I did that because I have chosen any other, but no, not at all. All these very attractive woman that you used to work with. And did you have a Yeah. You never know. Not even first base, you know? You know why I'm lucky enough that somebody wants very early in my career. Said you never have a relationship with artists. If you do, you can't produce. Um What's your life like at the moment? In terms of women, do you have a woman in your life? No, I don't know what it's called music even now. Yeah. I mean, now I'm happy to just bear me due date if I want to do. Yeah, I feel like I want a date. I don't want to go through it again. I think that when you get to a certain age, I think dating frighten the life of me to be quite honest, lonely with which is thirty-six walking for. Can you imagine? Imagine that freaked me out. I would not know what to say. If I turned up for a day. I wouldn't know what to say. What kind of one would be your perfect woman? Do you think the next it is, number one? You actually mean that? Yeah. The one woman who remain constant in your life is your mother, Stella, you were incredibly close to tell me about it. I think that Yeah, incredibly close night. Not just close. Um, she was everything. You know, she was fantastic to me. Um, and I think that, you know, we said earlier there's no money in the family, and they're really wasn't. I went with that. Nothing peers, whatever I wanted, I got. Did she see much of your success? Yeah. I mean, a little bit Our first big record, which was lovely. I love my dog with Peter Shelly. And so we turn up in my house, which was in Wellington roads, Keith in this Rolls Royce with the silver disc, and we walked up and my mom could hardly walk. She was at the door before we put the rolls-royce get that bloody thing move around the corner because she said, I think the bailiffs I want to put the silver disc up on the wall. Mom wouldn't let me put it up because she said it was ostentatious. She died at the age of 51. Tragically young, really. But my mom was in any way, but she had a serious heart attack the year before in the end. You know, the pain for her was too much. And, you know, God was more important to her than the pain. And she said to me, You know about it. I'm ready now. You can help me. The funds carried me over their heads onto the pitch. Now I'm gonna cry because this is an amazing, But I won't. Yeah, Yeah, uh, just to Simon car. Because in an unusual moment of modesty but his 50th birthday party, I was there. Everyone is that star studded all his friends, family, celebrities and so on. And he said this. There's one person I really want to thank. Everyone thought you might say Mom was very close to somebody else. But it was you. So I want to thank the water because I wouldn't be where I am without him today. And that was a pretty remarkable thing to say. How did you feel? Uh, yeah, he needs to say the word. He never needs to give me the credit he does on the show, whatever he does. But he has never for gotten that. I always stood by him. And whatever he wanted, I did. You know, sometimes it was difficult, but I was there to give him the breaks when he needed the brakes. He said he followed you around like a dog for two years, trying to persuade you to produce Anita. He told us when Simon wants something, he doesn't let go. It's a legend. You're quite similar. Really. I'm not as ruthless assignments. I wish I was I think I've admitted that I'm pretty hard. But by Simon standards, I'm a pussy cat. Another very famous person who worked with Paul McCartney. Tell me how that came about. Um, I was a d j radio city and I was on the air, um, faithful Saturday morning of the football match the hills, but is a disaster. And I got a call to do a record. Well, at that point, it was to do a tribute. Uh, and I said, Well, I'm just gonna go to Liverpool, two famous people from Liverpool to do this. If you're going to do that, you've got to talk to me. He wasn't survey, and so I picked up the phone as you do Paul speaking here. Did you get through? Yeah, just like that? Yeah. He said anything you want, you got came by the studio and he was magnificent. I mean, he was fantastic. It was very across the Yeah, and he misses the note. He gets. He literally got emotional. I loved it. That's me as a record producer. Word. That's the That's the money shot. That's it. So remember sending it down to his house and Linda around me. She said we love it. We absolutely love it. He's gonna call you. Don't give in. I said why? He said, Well, he wants to do his vocal, so we're not being funny. But the records that tomorrow And she said, you know, the whole family a little bit. Well, you've got the whole McCartney family vote. You've gotta deal with him. And he came on and I had this come up and do it now, Paul records out tomorrow I'm gonna come up in the car now. I promise you, the record has been number one for three weeks and still want to go and do it. Didn't matter that there was a bomb. No, because it was about this was a tragedy. This was a disaster. They closed in-field and they cleared a path for me to walk with the reef from the from the from the from the bands put on the pitch to make the video. I remember I had apart the car in the car park at Enfield. I never touch the ground the funds carried over their heads onto the pitch. Now I'm gonna cry because this is an amazing moment. These people were. You know, they saw that I took that time at my life to join them and make sure that that record was about Liverpool. The people on it. We're working in Liverpool. Everybody was a part of the community. That was They've treated me unbelievable. That was an amazing moment. Yeah. 19 Ninety-three Peter split with partners Mike Stock and taking a factory became history. There was a while where Pete was kind of in the wilderness in 19 ninety-seven discovered a new act. Steps 567. Yeah, we're gonna make, like, dancing. Cool. Um, nobody else got it, but Pete got it. He just got it. He just went British AB. And that was his catch line speed and it kind of stuck. Steps became biggest group ever since. 20 million records and releasing 13 consecutive top five singles. We never expected that level of success. The way Pete was able to turn it from a one off that record into a multimillion selling international touring act was beyond any of our expectations. Peter been joined in the business by two sons, Paul and Little Pete. My brother went to work for my dad when he got 17. I always wanted to do the same. And I went and spent every summer holiday working with him in the studio. The Watermelon Dynasty was beginning to form. It was a proper kind of family unit working on steps. Yeah, 19 ninety-eight just smashing tragedy was entering the charts. The water and families suffered a tragedy of their own. Yeah. Little Pete was involved in a serious go car accident. Someone come running across the track completely on fire. He was basically completely covered, had to in a 2nd and 3rd degree Burns, who is an intensive care, very close to death for quite a long time. This was just before Christmas, and then I was like, put to sleep till New Year. So it was very close to, you know, almost died. It was very lucky to survive. Yeah, Pete dropped everything to be the sun's bedside. Me and my dad became closer. And because we've got to spend a lot of time together in hospital and it wasn't about work. We just sit and talk about things that were a lot more personal than really I think it helps our relationship. My little bit recovered. He was about working in the studio with Dad and Big brother Paul. We all felt that Paul was gonna go on to be a very good producer for us and produce a lot of records for us. But in 2000 and four, Pete eldest son Paul was struck down by mystery illness. Paul started to get it, and I think not any of us knew what was happening. And I don't think people who either. Yeah. After six months in hospital, Paul passed away aged. Just thirty-three. It completely broke my dad Honestly, like, um, I don't think you ever get over the loss of a child, you know that he's in pain and the sad, and he has all of these things that happened to him. But he doesn't talk about them. I don't think he's ever got over. And I don't think he ever will. He was in a very bad way. I just remember being next to him at the funeral. I said to him, You got to carry on. That's what I wanted from you. Um, don't give up. You must carry on, even if it's for him and his memory. Whenever we're together, me and my sister and my brother and my dad. There's always somebody missing, and it's always really obvious that there's somebody missing. And I don't think that was ever going to change. When did you find out that Paul was ill? Yeah, I went home because Paul live with me and he wasn't there. It's been rushed to hospital. Um, they thought he does stroke, and I didn't understand it could be a mess. Then they said, We think it's, um C J D You know, the point was about this was less than 12 months before I'm sitting with my youngest son in a coma for three weeks. Um, and he's not expected to live. And then just when you think But although obviously he's badly scarred, at least you've got your son back and you're gonna go on to be happy families. Suddenly you've got somebody telling you your other son, it's not going down with my apologies. Now you know you're saying yourself, Oh, my God, hang on, you know, and I go and see him in hospital. And the doctors were saying it was this or is that? But I wasn't getting a clear picture, and the reason I wasn't going to clear picture is that if somebody over 18, they don't have to tell you. So he told the doctors I wouldn't know how bad he was. So I'm going there thinking that, you know, we'll get him over this and then suddenly, um, they said we're going to release him. So I'm thinking, Wow, this is fantastic. I don't think that I know about it. He's still Pauly. So I said to the to the doctor, You know, Well, he's still Paulie and the guy looked at me and he said, Mr Water Man, he's never gonna get better. And I went, What do you mean he went? You don't know, dear. And I went no, he said, Well, your sons got weeks to live at the most. At that moment, the alarms went off in the hospital, right? He shout out the room. An hour later, Paul was on a life machine. He choked on a sandwich, He was in a coma and it's Christmas. And they said he was awake yesterday. I said What? He was awake yesterday. He woke up for his money left. He laughed. He was laughing with his mum and then they said. But we've got some seriously bad news for you. We now have eternal life support up two, uh, over 90%. And we're not being funny, but it could be 100% But then the next week, what do you want to do? I said, Well, I talked to his mom and we agreed that ninety-three percent, That's it no more. And then and I said to the doctor, and how long will give him? He said less than 20 hours and I went. But at night and I say goodnight and I said, I see in the morning. I told him I lifted. I turned up at the hospital because I knew he wouldn't. Last night. I turned up at the hospital half past five. I went to the room and he wasn't there. He died and I wouldn't even call me, so I never saw him again. Your family Clearly, I don't think you've really got over it. Is that how you feel about it? I know I went into a very dark place. There's a very dark place, um, hated music. Um, didn't want any. I just couldn't wasn't part of life anymore. Yeah. So I did take it badly, but I'm over it. You have to get over it. But it's taken me a long time. Never gonna not be sad. But I'm not in that dark place anymore. And again, we come back to what music does for me. A friend of mine. I knew that I was in a dark place, rung me and said, um What you doing Sunday night? Nothing. He said I got a job for your Sunday night D J. Yeah, right. I'm gonna go do Sunday night D. J. And he gave me a job on smooth radio four hours on a Sunday night. He moved to a Friday night. I'm still there Within three weeks. I was back in love with music, you know, It was just He knew exactly what to do. I just started playing all the sheikhs songs and all the songs I was back. My very proudest moment was that Rod Stewart did tell Chris Evans that mine was bigger than his. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk about steps because I didn't realize that they were by far your biggest act in the end. Absolutely phenomenal cash cow. They brought in more than Kylie. Jason read any of them sixty-five million pounds. And that was without tools and merchandise. Amazing. Yeah, it's one of those magic moments of my life when I felt so strong about steps. I remember coming in on the Tuesday We've made the record on the weekend and Carl the markets and a fantastic job. And I said, This is fantastic and they went, We don't want our name on it. No, I don't think we should put our name on this. I said, Well, I'll tell you what, kids, and put my bloody names. Um, you know, if you're looking like it was just water, if you look at the next one, it says, Taupe water. I was I was 1000% sure. Um, that steps would make it. Peter Pop stars have come and gone. There's one passion that's always stayed on track one more time. Yeah, powerful mix of talent. Dr. And Passion means he never does anything by half. Pete is someone I would say is all or nothing. He gets obsessed with things quite easily. He's had the fish, the animals. We had a lot of cars as well, so there was a garage for the Harari's, but they've got now on the trains in there instead, a piece childhood love Trains became a lifelong passion in 2000, and three began creating a scale model of the station at his home. In the whole of this, garages filled with just replicas and little controllers, and there was just a grown man playing around on them. It's just sort of realized how far it's gone. He has, like a whole group of friends, where they're all like train buffs and they dress up in the train outfits and they go to each others' houses. I went one time, and they all sort of sat on these little train things, and they all go around his friends garden. Yeah, the steamed up about the big stuff to obviously wasn't given any toys as a child. So when he became a millionaire, he just decided to buy real trains. He bought six poolside locomotives, and over 200 coaches didn't spend much time on the trains. When I used to get corner for the train chats, I didn't really enjoy them. It was a lot of kind of eye-rolling and thinking, Gosh, you learned quite frequently have conversations about age in the metal and how it looks like Mm, yeah, yeah. The trains hadn't totally taken over from music in 2000 and 12 people decided it was time to stay to come back, inviting his artists for a good old sing songs at the Oh two. It was like a class reunion. I was like I was on stage with my bedroom wall. It was great to see all the different artists they're paying, thanks to not just, you know, to Mike and Matt, who changed all those people's lives. And I think everyone in the arena felt that. But it wasn't all about blast in the past, but also introduced what will be the next big thing. Sixteen-year-old James Graham. It's funny because when I look at him, I kind of think, well, twenty-five years ago, you know, there's nothing I would do working in the studio. Repeat. It is a dream come true for me. It's got faith in me, and hopefully I can do them proud and you're paying for all that is done for me. I think it's gonna be a big star. The biggest stars are always going to be those kids from neighbors, for that must have been quite a special moment. I remember sitting with my dad in the box watching this, and I started to cry. I really wish my brother could have been there for that and certain things. You just do that. You really realized that you miss someone and I was just really wish you could have been there for that to see all these people after all these years, come back and just perform one concert together. It's amazing. Wait till I get my daughter way. She's got a chip off the block. The situation that evening, when you bought all the act together and the family, it sort of brought everything in your world, your life, you know, all together at one time. You know what appears? It's the first time ever I've enjoyed myself because for the first time ever, I was not responsible for one act on that stage rather than James. And that was all these people. And for the first time, you literally connected with him. And you've seen that, yes, it was a special to them because it was to you. Let's talk about your true love trains? Yes. Well, why do you love train so much? I do. Why? Yeah. What is it about? Trained to be the noise, The smell of everything. The people, the uniforms A dog. But I understand you use animal for to make grass for your training center. Is that true? It's not true. You think about my teddy bear. We are on my railway, which you saw there. We found a fantastic way of making grass. Was teddy bear for It's not real. Teddy bear for not the teddy bears are real Getting very sorry. Not real Teddy bear. Okay? It's actually warm for but its synthetic we buy and we got it and we diet, We shave it, set fire to it and it because if this person I know who's obsessive about train, especially model trains is Rod Stewart. Well, my very proudest moment was that Rod Stewart did tell Chris Evans that mine was bigger than this. How much money do you think you spend on trains over the years? £56 million. Yeah. So the rest of your life, you can either keep working in music, listening to it, playing it producing it having hits or you can be on the trains. You can't do both. Which one would you take? We'll have to take music now. I have to take the sound of you reclaiming your audience. Peter has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much. Yeah, Yeah. Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, yeah, yeah."

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