Gary Barlow
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That's BetterHelpHELP.com. You know, as a busy mom, there are lots of ways you can help yourself fall asleep. You could stare blankly at the ceiling and replay every conversation you've ever had, count sheep, have a debate with your pillow, give up caffeine, try acupuncture, and buy a weighted blanket that will make you sweat profusely. Or you could try some milk, which has nutrients that support healthy sleep.

Visit gonnaneedmilk.com for more info. And for everyone's sake, please don't give up caffeine. Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm in a rush because I haven't actually made food yet. How are you, Mum? I'm very well, darling. We're doing a recipe from this new cookbook that you love. Yeah, called Sunlight and Breadcrumbs. By Renee Erickson. And you've sent me loads of WhatsApp messages. So I'm kind of looking at my phone.

And trying to do it. And I'm now realising this was a stupid idea. But... Why is it stupid? Because it's one of them ones that you have to make all together. It looks really delicious. The coffee machine is in the background if you can hear a hum. And I'm speaking really fast. Why are you speaking so fast? Because I've got to get everything in before our guest comes. Okay, fine. Castle Franco. Radicchio? Radicchio? What is it? And you cook that for a couple of minutes. Then you...

Take the leaves out. Can't you pre-cook that now? Well, I need the... Yeah, I could maybe. And then you scramble eggs into it and then you put parmesan. So it's just kind of cheesy. And then you add a good balsamic vinegar. So I've got the Belazoo. It's like the Negroni of scrambled eggs. Well, let's bloody find out.

Radicchio, now we know. Alice has just come over, producer Alice has come over with the formal spelling, pronunciation of Radicchio. Well, now it's Radicchio, formerly known as Radicchio. It's got an H, so I think it makes a C hard. All right.

If you're Italian. Oh, okay. Ciao, Bella. Anyway, we've got prosciutto. We've got amazing focaccia from Dusty Knuckle. Thank you for letting us take your lunch stock. Love you. And you've made banana bread. Oh, yeah, and I made banana bread. With tahini. I put a little bit of tahini in. Yeah. Let's see. It's got chocolate. It's got walnuts. It's got... Oh, my word. Yeah. The lot. My son made it with me yesterday. So we've got...

Gary Barlow. No, we need to build up this a bit better. Who was the loves of your life most of your... I don't know if we should talk about this. From about the age of nine... Take that. Yeah.

You loved them more than anyone in the whole universe. I did, but Robbie was the one that was my love. I know Robbie was the one, but the whole... Gary was the clue. Gary was the singer. Gary was the songwriter and the singer and the leader and is just brilliant. And he's always been such a nice bloke. I've met him a few times and he's just a lovely guy. We'd call him a mensch. A mensch. He's a mensch. And he's come on to talk about his new TV show.

Which is about him going around bloody Italy tasting wines. Could have taken us with him. Yeah, I know. Absolute liberty. Do you think we need... And he's also brought his Gary Barlow wines over. Fabulous. He's changed it. Hang on, there used to be a piano. I know the piano down the side. It's now on the front in the little gold piano. The little keys. Oh, wow. No, I like the piano. A bit sad. So maybe we're going to do a wine tasting at 10.30 in the morning? No. No? What? I would have thought you'd be well up for it. No, I can't do it anymore. What?

I mean, obviously, we've got lots to talk to Gary about, whether he can confirm Robbie Williams' story about King Narn, Narn King. We'll see if Gary has a different version of events. Million love songs later. Here I am trying to tell you. Well, should we get him on the old Joanna? Yes! Lenny can finally get her duet with Gary Barnes. How are you, Gary? I'm great, I'm great. You seem very happy, peaceful. Even though you're doing about 10,000 things, you've just sent about...

20 files. Yeah, yeah. You've been up since 6.30 getting your kids to school. Yeah, yeah, that's a normal morning for us. 6.30? What time does she leave for school? Well, it's not just the leave. About 10 to 8 she actually goes.

But it's the series of wake-ups. She needs a good hour. It's a lot of rallying, a lot of like, come on, let's get going. You know, it's a lot of encouragement. I've got that to look forward to then. Yeah. I've got the thing where they wake me up at six and I'm like, please, no. Yeah.

- Yeah, I remember those years. Yeah, yeah. - Which one's better? - Do you know what? I think I prefer the being the woke up. Yeah. - Really? - Yeah, yeah. I prefer the wake up, definitely. I mean, we'd love our kids to be small again. We'd love them as kids. - Really? - But as they've got older, they're a bit more complicated.

Yeah. Little children, little problems. You've got girls? Have you got girls? I've got two girls and one boy. Okay. Which one's more complicated? Oh, the girls. Come on. Okay. You didn't need to ask that. No, I didn't. No, no. No. Yeah, there's a lot of, it's a question, but there's several more behind it. As my son just goes, I just want some food. And it's that simple. Yeah. Yeah.

And you've already been to the studio. I've been to the studio, yeah. You've seen Stuart Price, who is our friend, mutual friend. So what, have you already written a song this morning, Gary? It's 10.30, by the way. We're doing this in the morning. You know what, though? Some days, if I'm in London, which I am at the moment, I am first in the studio and I've tried to...

I've done something before everyone arrives. I like the peace in the morning before everybody arrives at the studio and then everybody wants things and the phone starts ringing and, you know, emails start popping up. So I actually like to work early. Yeah. Do you like to finish early too? I do. Yes. Yeah.

I must be honest, nowadays, three, four o'clock, I'm done. Me too. Yeah. Jessica. Why are you saying Jessica? You're young, darling. I know. What does that say about me? Does that mean I'm lazy or just efficient with my time within the parameters of a five-hour session?

I don't know. As soon as I get home, I get into pyjamas. She just likes to be in bed early. Yeah, I'm early. I like early too. I'm negotiating with my kids to go to sleep. And the way that they'll finally go to sleep is if I get into my pyjamas, I'm like, I'm going to bed too. And they're like, okay, fine. And that is like eight o'clock. But you have really young kids. Eight, five and three? Yeah, that's young. That's really young. Okay.

Yeah, I remember those years. You're in a sort of haze for about 10 years. And then you wish that you were back in the haze, right? I think you do. Where were you living when they were little? We've lived in London for about 18 years. Oh, a long time then. Yeah, yeah. So our oldest, Dan, he is 24 now. So he had a few years up north with us.

But the move to London was positive for us. Do you like it? I like London. Me too. Love London. So where are you from originally? From Cheshire. Oh, Cheshire. Or if I'm doing an interview with The Call magazine, I say I'm from Manchester. Of course you do. Yeah, but the truth is from Cheshire. Have you got Oasis tickets? Are you interested? I haven't got...

Do you know, I really like the music. I'm not really a gig. I like doing a gig, but I don't really like watching gigs. You do like doing a gig. You're always on bloody tour, we'll take that. You do massive, you've just done like, was it stadiums? Well, we're only halfway through yet. We did UK, Europe and Ireland. We've done 70 shows this year already. Jesus! But we're going back now. We do the rest. We do the rest of Europe, Middle East, France.

Asia, Australia, Japan, and then we're done for Christmas. How has your rider changed over the years? Rider? Our riders have been healthy for about 15 years. Oh, God, it's so boring. It is. So what was it like when it wasn't healthy?

Well, we'd have had Jaffa Cakes and, you know, Tunnocks. Tunnocks. Oh, Tunnocks, great stuff. However, I am... I thought you were going to say a bit more rock and roll than that. I have to say Jaffa Cakes and Tunnocks. Gary, I thought you were going to say strippers and coats. Well, afterwards, we would go out and go to clubs and stuff. But before shows, I can't sing. I can't drink and sing. That's always been my thing. I'm not one of... I lose my tuning, and it's not good at the best of times, but...

If I drink, my tuning goes way off. Why do you think that is? I don't know. It's something to do with... I got told the science behind it once, but I believe the scale of depreciation with your ears is one drink takes everything above 8k from your ears. All the high-pitched stuff goes straight away. You stop hearing it.

So I must tune to a lot of high-pitched stuff because I really can't tune when I drink. But I think as you get older, your tuning goes... I mean, it gets worse anyway. So it's like... I feel like my tuning's getting worse. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know, you know. Or maybe you are good without... Maybe you'll come back round to it. Do you think? Yeah, because I went to see... The last time I saw Jeff Lynne, his voice was the best I've ever heard. Who's Jeff Lynne? ELO. Oh, OK, yeah. Mr Blue Sky. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, he's got to be 75 or something. I think his voice was better than it was in the 70s. Yeah. I wonder whether...

patriarchy yet again they keep the tuning Tom Jones look he's still bloody doing well and we all go flat do you think women go I think I wonder no Lulu she's as good as ever yeah she is does she still come on stage all the time yeah yeah and she's reassuring yeah I think you'll come back to it it's these kids it's these kids they ruin everything

Yeah, it's true. It's true. Yeah, they do. So how old were you when you were signed? Signed? Let me see. Well, you would take that when you were signed. Yes, we were. Teenagers now. Yeah, I was 19 when I joined the band. And I think it was probably a year later we got signed.

So you were living in Cheshire with who? Your mum and dad? Mum and dad. And sisters, brothers? Older brother. Older brother. Yeah, yeah. And who did the cooking? Mum did the cooking. Good cook? Excellent. And still is. What's her best dish? Well, I don't always say the best dish she does is a pie. I love pies. What's the filling?

Well, my favourite of her pies is a chicken and mushroom pie. Oh, how lovely. Yeah, I just love pies. Can Dawn cook pies as well? Yes, yes. However, she's a diabetic nowadays, so she can't really have pies, can't have pastry. She's got to watch her carbs. Got to watch the, yeah, what's her flour, something she doesn't eat.

But yeah, we love pies. Are you a good cook? Not bad. I've heard you're mad into food and Italian cuisine and...

This is what I've heard. Well, there's a couple of things that I quietly have sort of a hobby away from music. Because I think things are way... I think you're probably like me. I'm obsessed with music. If I'm not making it, I talk about it. And if I'm not talking about it, I'm doing it or playing it or performing it. I just love music. So anything that takes me away from music is good for me, I think. Because otherwise I'd just do this all day.

And cooking and wine is the two interests of mine. I don't know a lot about them, but I'm really interested in them and love to eat, go out for dinner, be with friends. I think if I probably go back a step before any of this, I really like food.

people, I like friends and family and I think that anything that helps that be great so you know food and having a glass and saying cheers they're happy things and I love happy things so they're in addition to it's an excuse to

to do that. Do you know what I mean? It's the occasion. But has this become a kind of growing love? And was there a point where you didn't feel like you had those happy things where you were like missing out? Was it from working too hard? I don't know. Was there a point in your life where you're like, I need to sit down and have more dinners with my friend and connect?

Yeah, yeah. As time's gone on, I think. And I think because I'm away a lot and I work a lot and often at dinner times, I'm usually on stage somewhere. Yeah, right. I think it's become more important over time that when I do have time...

We'd make dinner and we'd sit together. Like our daughter's here from Australia at the moment. She's at uni in Australia, so we don't see her very often. And she made Sunday dinner for us last night. And we all were around the table, everybody. And it was so nice. It's that. It's the bringing together of people that I love. Because you missed out on a big chunk. I imagine when you were signed and take that when it's... I mean, it was just...

you zoomed and it was manic and but there's that whole bit of your 20s where you weren't

you couldn't have had a normal life at all. You were kind of on tour all the time and managing fans. When did you meet your wife? Did you know each other as teenagers? Oh, she was dancing. I met her first in 1988 when I'd been brought in to do this really terrible video by Virgin at the time, which had offshoots around the country. And there was two dancers on that and she was one of them.

And so we met then just for the day, never thought anything more of it. And then bumped into her over the years at Top of the Pops and the Royal Variety performances and things. And then we did a tour in like 95 where we had like 20 dancers. We'd got big time by then. We had like 20 dancers with us. I think I was at that tour. Really? Yeah. We played Earl's Court.

Yeah, I think it was Earl's Court. Yeah. Oh, no, it was Wembley, darling. And I had to wear earplugs for the screaming because it was so loud. So did we. And I just cried. And you cried the whole time. And I remember I had earplugs and I thought, what am I doing here? And all the mums and dads had earplugs in because of the screaming. Right, right. It was...

How old were you? You must have been 10, 10 or 11. Howard was doing his cowboy, you know, things. 93. Oh, I was 93. Yeah, or 94. So how old were you? You were... Nine. Nine.

Yeah. So you met Dawn. Yeah. She was on your tour. 95, that was. So you'd remembered her from 88? We'd bumped into each other. Was there a spark at the beginning or was it more like, oh, there's Dawn, that lovely, lovely dancer that I get on very well with? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it was just... Gary, let's play!

No, it wasn't. It wasn't because we were around a lot of people like that at that time. They're all good looking young girls and boys, you know, dancing with us. It was just part of the aesthetic of what we were doing at the time. But when we got on this tour in 95, I really liked her by this point now. And I thought, how do I, what do I do here now? And we were so big at that time. But you must have had girls...

throwing themselves at you. I know, but... You must have been really confident. But you say that, there's a big... Especially in that period, which I think was our most crazy period, for just sort of like, this is completely out of control. Nobody knew what the hell was going on. I think if you listen to Robbie talking about those years, he talks about the much...

in a much darker sense than I do. It was quite positive for me that that era was, but completely, like, everyone had lost control. We were hanging on with one hand. There was... You say there was all these people, but there was a massive barrier between us and the world, and there had to be. So for someone to be close to me inside that barrier was quite an unusual thing, and that's where we really got together on that. Do you remember...

the city where you first kissed Dawn. Yeah. Tell me. Yeah, we were in Manchester and we'd been to a club and we were all piled in this van on the way home and we were in the very back of this van and we were sat right next to each other, my arm around her, and I just thought, this is it, kids, I'm going in. Oh. What, in a jumper?

In a jam-packed van. Yeah, jam-packed van. Was anybody else snogging at the time? Nobody. Just us. Did everyone cheer? I think, no. I think a couple of people looked back and went, uh-oh, uh-oh. We were giving it the old nudge, you know. And that was it. And that was it. But what was it like? I mean, people were so crazy for you. You couldn't have walked down the street. You couldn't...

I mean, what did it feel frightening? Did you feel, God, this is awful. I didn't I love it, but I didn't think it would be like this. I didn't think it was awful. I was confused. And all the things that that people talk about when life had not just changed, it was it was gone. It was like, how am I ever going to be? I mean, is this it forever now?

And it was everywhere we were landing. We were landing in places which would, like, take us 12 hours to get on a plane and the airport would just be full of these kids going crazy. I mean, it was everything we'd worked for and wanted, but I think when you suddenly see it, you go, oh, right, what the hell is this? It was so... As a sort of 23, 24-year-old. Must have been overwhelming. Yeah, yeah. Were you... Was there ever a point in...

Because I can imagine you're so ambitious and you're so talented and you've got so many strings to your bow. You know, you can be the most loved judge on X Factor and you can be kind, you can be the greatest songwriter, you can be, you know, a pin-up. You turn your hand to everything. You write musicals, you do everything, right? Was there a point where you were satisfied? Were you ever satisfied with Take That or did you always feel like you needed to do more stuff than Take That?

So the second time round was different. When we left those years of the 90s, it took me about 10 years to figure out what had happened. I blamed everyone else for a few years. I blamed myself for a year. And that slowly sort of got the...

got the sort of the balance back and thought right you know this happens again I'm feeling like I'm a bit more ready for it now and I really was ready for it so when we came back in 2006 now as adults and it came clear from the very first time that we all sat together that

we need to look after each other this time. I felt like I was a bit of a solo artist in Take That the first time round and I wanted to be in a band. Really? I felt like I hadn't been in a band the first time round. And so it was a very different...

that's a different way of thinking when you come back in so you know everyone was writing we wanted to get everyone in the studio everyone needed to play their part in what we were doing so it felt like ours rather than mine um

And so when I came back to it this time, we definitely said no more than we said yes. I think almost at the start, the people were like, you're going to ruin this if you carry on like this. But it was really important we were doing what we wanted. And not in a diva way. It can sound bad, that can, but it's like, you know, we've got kids now, most of us. It's like, I don't want to work on Saturday and Sunday. I want to be at home. It was things like that where like,

This is important to us this time. And so we really did it to a degree on our own terms. And we have continued to do that this time. Did you have to put... I mean, it seems like when you came back to it and you said, we want to be a team and we want to work together. Did you have to have therapy together to be able to get to that point where you could communicate well? Or had time passed and therefore it was...

kind of mended, almost. Well, I think if we'd have been reforming now, we would have had a therapist with us. Yeah, right. I think in 2005, when we sort of all met again, people didn't talk about that stuff then. We did it ourselves. Because, you know, in our band...

There's some really clever people, you know, who have lived in family units. And this is like a family of band. And there's a pyramid to a band as well. People have their positions. And I think the biggest sort of test for us all was when Robbie came back. I think the four of us getting back was a really big thing.

Had you properly fallen out? Oh, I'd fallen out with him. Yeah, you had. It was a proper fallout. And how did you reconcile? By sitting like this. And chatting. Talking to one another. Yeah. And was there regret on both sides? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And a real sign of...

We'd lived a life in that period, you know, and we had a lot to talk about. And I think sometimes you've got to see the person to just understand a bit of where these things start and end. Are you chummy with him now? Yeah. So you're all friends now, even the ones that have left. Yeah. Do you keep in touch with them all? We try some more than others. Yeah. Robbie, we hear from every week.

Jason we hear from every five months or you know so to varying degrees we keep in touch Howard and Mark I speak to them every day so it's you know it's just one of those things and there'll probably be a day when I'm sure we're all

I really see that again, the way we're all... Because it's a good thing, you know, this. Do you look forward to going to work every day? I do. Every day. So you love it. I'm going to start making the scrambled eggs. Yes, is that what we're having? Scrambled eggs, yes. No, we're having scrambled eggs with radicchio.

which is like a bitter leaf. Yes, yeah. And then with parmesan. Okay. And some focaccia. We've got some tomato prosciutto. We have. It's a bit of a... Because, well, we could crack open one of your wines if you want. A little early. Can we ask you, if we were coming round to yours and your daughter wasn't cooking a beautiful Sunday roast, what would you be cooking for mum and I? What would I... Do you know what? I...

We really got into a few some ago was the dal. Do you remember when the dal become popular for a second? You've lost, Mum. Really? Don't like dals? No, I don't, not a bit. It's an extra on the side of a curry. It's an addition rather than a main thing. Yeah, it's not a main thing for me. Are you veggies? No, I'll tell you what it was. No, you're veggie. You're not veggie. Not veggie. But I'll tell you what it is, is that when Dawn first got diabetes,

It took me ages to... I was talking to so many people. We have a lot more information now than we did then. This was 12 years ago. But I was like, how the hell do I get flavour into food? And I slowly realised, you're going to laugh at this, but it took me ages. Spices. Oh, yeah. That's how we get flavour into food.

And so I started making these dahl things. But she can't... You like Italian food and Italian wine. Yep. But she won't be able to eat pasta. Doesn't eat pasta. Unless it's gluten-free. But often, you know, nowadays we've found that most of this gluten-free stuff's worse for you than the actual stuff with the gluten in it. Why? Well, I don't know. Whenever there's some...

I always find that we've taken the sugar out, that means we've put a load of crap in instead. I don't know. So you're making dal with what? I'd make it with lentils. Yeah.

a bit of spinach and then a whole host of spices. Okay. Depending on... And what would you eat it with? We'd eat it with some flatbread. Yeah. Or I'd put some chicken in it sometimes. What wine would you have with dal? Yeah, tricky. Spices are tricky. You have to drink beer with dal. Yeah, true. Gary, you've just spoken about curry. So we've got to ask you whether you can confirm what Robbie Williams talked about when he was on this podcast.

Narn King. King Narn. King Narn. Yeah, I never won that. I'm not going to lie.

because I don't really like very spicy food. For anybody that hasn't listened to the Robbie episode, can you explain to the listener what King Naan was? So we were so bored in the 90s, right, that it became this thing where, I mean, we would eat curry, literally. We'd come off stage at one in the morning and go to a curry house. Really? And have a full starter main course, Irish coffees afterwards with tons of sugar. I mean, we would honestly... Which town's your favourite curry town?

Manchester Bradford Bradford yeah which do you can you remember the name of the curry house I really why do we call them curry houses I know yeah it's weird isn't it so we've we had a couple of places we used to stop in Hounslow a lot when we were driving to London oh that well great curry great curry Birmingham obviously Birmingham's great amazing Manchester Manchester's very good erm

But yeah, Yorkshire for curry, Leeds and Bradford. Excellent. So what I'm explaining is we used to go up and down the motorways a lot in a van, touring around, trying to tell people we were good, even when we weren't. But so to explain the Robbie story, because he's absolutely right, what we'd do is we'd go to these curry houses and it would be a competition of who could eat the hottest curry ever.

And if you could eat the hottest curry, you would be crowned King Nan. What about your voice? No, listen. Burn your bloody vocal cords, darling. It wasn't the voice, it was the arse the next morning. Oh, my God. That's what... Listen, I am...

Cormor is my limit. Me too. Terrible. I'm hopeless with spice. I'm shocking. If I see a red chilli on something, I have to take it off. Get rid. Yeah, me too. But Jason and Howard were literally like, we want a... I could have told you that. Jason was fucking... Yeah, Jason. And he won. Why? Because he had... What's the... Is it a fowl? Yeah. A fowl. Have you ever heard... What is a fowl? Right, a fowl. The hottest. Hotter than it is.

Yes, it is. So what happens is the head waiter hears this. Who wants a fowl? And I think they go into the kitchen and go, right, guys, give it to them. And they make this fowl. And it's hotter than hot. So they would eat it and go, they couldn't get it down. And of course, the next morning, they literally couldn't walk. Of course they couldn't.

Literally couldn't walk. But you have to drink gallons of water to be able to get that down. Just ridiculous. For a bit of a laugh. For a laugh. And to have a nan bread round your neck as King Nan. A King Nan. The things people will go through. To everyone else, this is a desk. But to you, it's a launch pad. You're starting blah. This ain't a desk. This is Opportunity.

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I haven't made this before, darling. Is that a good thing? I don't know. We'll find out. It looks absolutely incredible. So I've just come back from Sardinia. Oh, lovely. My mum's 80th. Oh, congratulations. Yeah, we had a great time. And all the kids and my brother and his kids and all the partners came. There was 15 of us. Oh, fun. And it was just a wonderful weekend. Help yourself. So this is a familiar...

Italian food is great Jessie ready thank you what a gent Gary Barlow is serving us all and I've just shoved some prosciutto on my own thing hang on hang on thanks mate more of that lovely so tell us about this did you come up with this idea because I'm really jealous about this actually it's brilliant the best gig ever it's like if there was a queue to be the host of this TV show it would start in London and end in Edinburgh how did you get

I went to... He's got wines. Well, I know... It's my dream to have our own wine. Really? Yeah, I'd love it. I'll tell you the history of that. Is it a difficult thing, this whole wine thing? No. Are you sure? Oh, no, not at all. I've forgotten one of the bloody ingredients. One sec. What? He's supposed to put...

Oh, my goodness. It's supposed to put balsamic on it. Oh. Right, hang on. Let's just put a tiny bit on. Oh, this is sensational. We'll pretend that I put it on before. Oh, excuse fingers. Excuse fingers. Sorry. I'm going to put a tiny bit. Thank you. Just a little bit, yeah. Sorry, you were about to say. So there's two answers here. So the TV show was a brilliant one. It was one phone call. Yeah. 15-second pitch. Me, drinking wine with mates around the world. It's like, when do we start?

They pitched it to you? No, me. I'm really annoyed. You're basically the British Stanley Tucci now. Well, not quite that, but... When can we be your mates on the next series? Please. The next series in Australia. Oh, we'll come. Okay, I'm in. I'll also support Take That on tour. Fuck it, we'll just do two. Two for one. Let's go. Jessica, can you pass the tomatoes down? This is delicious. It is delicious, actually. It's not my recipe, but...

It's a different way to have a scrambled egg, isn't it? Oh, wow. I think the radicchio really works. Can we ask you? Yes. I still need to know more about this. When does the TV show start? November. And what's it called? It's called... Don't laugh. Gary Barlow drinks wine in Italy. No, no, it isn't that. No. It's called Gary Barlow's Wine Tour. It's literally what I've just been on. Because all we've done is drink wine all the way around.

And every season's in a different country. So we did South Africa and shot it in February. And I must tell you, it was the most fun I've ever had. I've got five mates, one for each episode. Incredible. Two beautiful regions, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek. You know, we did a safari. We went on the coast. I'm so jealous. It was brilliant. Me too. It sounds amazing. And you now have got a format where you just basically go...

New world, old world, let's go. Yeah, exactly. And do you know what the thing was? Is that my sort of stance on it is I know a bit about wine, probably more than the average person, but I don't know much.

And my sort of role is that I'm there learning. Yeah. So the audience are learning. It's not like me. So, hey, everybody, this is what you should be drinking. It's not that. It's basically me being taught about. So how did you choose your friends to come?

Well, I went for who was available. It was South Africa. It's a long way away. But no, it's great. Okay, so the reason why you are doing a wine tour on telly is because you have your own wine. Yes, yes. You've changed the label, Gary. Yes. You used to have much bigger keys. We used to like the keys on the side.

the side they're still there no this looks no this is lovely it looks classy it's a bit fancier it looks fancier it does look classy yeah so basically i'll give you a quick history because you were saying you thought it was going to be difficult not difficult at all um so basically i my foot it's a complete accident this whole thing because we're in lockdown and um

You were drinking. I was talking to my manager. I said, you know what? You know how long I've been into wine. I love it, I love it. Wouldn't it be great if I had a bottle with my name on the side? And I was thinking like 50, 70 bottles a year, giving out to your mates at Christmas, a couple of dinner parties. I cannot tell you how much wine has gone out in the last two years to the supermarkets. We have sold so much wine.

And it's cheap and it's good. I know where it's from. I know it's, you know, the people who make it. I'm really proud of it. And the company that I've sort of partnered with, Benchmark, has been so supportive and helpful and, you know, very incisive. And I've learned a lot. It's just been a brilliant journey and not like work at all. So what did you start with? What were your first couple of bottles that you started with in your business?

We started off with a series of tasting. Very difficult. But someone's got to do it. For the people. Someone's got to bring this to the people. You owe it to the public. I've done it. I've done it, everyone. So don't worry. So what they work out is what your taste is. And so we were blind tasting all these bottles. And slowly, as the day goes on, it gets narrower and narrower. And so you're down to like three. And we realised that we were basically blind.

really enjoying Spanish wine. Oh, wow. So we ended up with a Zinfandel grape for the red and the white from this gorgeous little vineyard about an hour south of Madrid. And there was a price point we wanted to get to because I wanted my audience, all of them, to be able to enjoy it. Yeah.

And so, yeah, we hit the stores. £7.50 for a bottle, which I think is really reasonable. I know it's good wine. No, it's good. And it's all Spanish. No. So this, the new one, the fancy one, is all the South African range. Oh, fantastic. Yeah. Yeah.

Jessie, do you think that works? I do. I think it does. It's interesting. It's absolutely delicious. I love it. It's not too bitter? No, not at all. No. It's really like the parmesan. It needed that on it a little bit. You know, isn't it funny? It really did need that. It's like a little sprinkle of pepper or something. Gorgeous. Like the Negroni of breakfast. Oh, don't mention it. I love Negroni. Do you like Negroni? Oh, I think that's my number one drink. Is it? Yeah, love it. Okay, well then this leads on to the Last Supper.

Would you go for a Gary Barlow wine or would you be going with the Negroni? For the last supper? Yeah. You're going on a desert island for six months. Mm-hmm. So you've got to make the most of it. Okay. So my last drink, no, it would be a glass of red, I think. Yeah, it would be. What kind? I'm quite classic with the reds. Go on.

I mean, French wine is still so fabulous. Really beautiful. If I was going to go fancy and posh, I'd go for a Pouliac. Okay. What's the most expensive wine you've ever bought? Well, most of my cellar is actually...

Wine that people have bought for me. Okay. Nice wine as well. When do you decide to choose which bottle? That's why I have really nice wine bought by people and then I never bloody open it and I'm sure I ruin it. Do you know what I mean? There's like that window. It's got to the point now where I write on the side who it's from.

That's nice. Then I can go, you know what, tonight we're going to drink so-and-so and then I'll send them a picture of us drinking it or whatever. So what do you think is your most expensive bottle of wine in your cellar? I think it's a bottle of Puliak. I do believe, I'm going to name drop, I'm afraid. Come on. The king gave it me around... What? Yes, around... That is a brilliant name drop. The Diamond Jubilee. He spent his money on wine. I think it was around the Diamond Jubilee. Because you performed?

I organised the concert for that. So, yeah, I got it sort of a couple of days later with a little telegram. And, yeah, I haven't touched that. It's actually not even in the cellar. It's upstairs in the house. When do you think you'll drink that? On his next birthday, maybe. Okay. Yeah. Do you know when his birthday is? I don't.

He has two probably. Why? They have an official birthday and their own proper birthday. That's right. Because they do the Trooping of the Colours on the official birthday, I think. We should start that. Yeah, maybe we should. Two birthdays would be good. Have you ever shared a glass with King Charles? I haven't. No, although he was very... So when I was doing that concert in 2012...

They also asked, they wanted a song for it. And I thought, oh no, this is going to be one of those things that everyone remembers for the wrong reasons. And it took me ages to come up with. We made a song called Sing. But I wanted to go around the whole family and say, what is the Queen's Taste? Tell me, what is it? And he was the most helpful. Oh.

I went down there and he had his CD collection he was playing me things from Africa very much so lots of the Commonwealth once I'd written the song went all the way around the Commonwealth putting musicians from each country on the record one of the best things I've ever done brilliant

How fabulous. Was that a good answer? Yeah. I thought you'd like that. Yeah, you've always got a good answer. But you do need to give me your last supper. Starter. Where are we going? Starter. Okay. I love a crab salad. Oh, yeah. Where have you had a delicious crab salad?

Well, I used to have it at the Ivy. Do you remember the Ivy was a thing? Yeah, I think, you know, still is a thing for some people. Yeah, and then it went to the Woolsey. I used to love it there. Oh, I've never had it there. Yeah, and then I think they moved again then to the Beaumont Hotel. It's called the Colony Grill. It's one of my favourites, actually, and they do a gorgeous crab salad in there. Okay, Maine. Maine would have to be a pie.

chicken one chicken pie your mum with any mash no with some roast potatoes ooh lovely gravy gravy yeah 100% any veg

Not fast. Not really. Can I ask you, has your mum's pie got a top and a bottom? Yes. Oh. And the bottom's mushy. Oh, you don't mind it? And the top's crusty. Soggy bottom. You don't mind a soggy bottom? You don't mind a soggy bottom, no. Yeah. Pudding, are you a sweets man? I'm not really. I'm not really, but if you were going to force me to have a dessert, I'd probably have a Cornetto.

I love Cornettos. Oh, which flavour? Chocolate. I like the 70s, you see. Yeah. A mint choc chip one. A mint choc chip. Your children like mint choc chip. Yeah. And I just don't understand it. My husband's big into mint choc chip. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mint choc chip. That was very brilliant. Thank you so much. That was great. We're not finished though. I want to know, your song, Rule the World. Yes. Is that the title of it? Yeah. Yeah.

It's become a gospel song, really, for people, hasn't it? I've heard so many gospel choirs sing it, and it's so euphoric and beautiful. I just wonder whether... This is more just me wanting to know the songwriter. When you're writing a song like that, do you...

Did you know that that kind of... Do you always go for that... I think it's such a beautiful song and I love hearing people sing it, particularly gospel choirs. It's so moving. Apparently, Chris Martin has a formula with the way that he writes it. He starts on the third... I don't fucking know what I'm talking about. But there's a way, if you listen to Coldplay songs, that...

He'll start with a certain chord that usually should be the third chord or something like that. And so it takes you there immediately. Is there a Gary Barlow formula to writing a hit chorus? Because I'd love to know because I'm in the studio later. But I love...

I try and always look upwards. I think it's a really good thing. I don't like feeling sorry for myself. I'm just not that person. So my music, I always try and go upwards. I always try and make it feel like we're flying. I love that feeling. But interesting, Rule the World, we actually wrote to picture that. It was for a movie. Oh, really? Yeah, it was for a movie called Stardust. Stardust.

And the director had called us and said, we'd like you to write the song. And I said to everybody, listen, let's get in the studio this afternoon because if they've asked us, they've asked five other people. So we literally went round to my house that afternoon and we called the director at eight o'clock and said, we've got it.

And that was it. So it was one of those, like, just a reaction. We just, we felt it. We loved the film, actually. But we felt it, and that's what we came up with. Does anyone ever say no to you, Gary Barlow? Oh, yeah. You get what you want.

I try to. I try to. 15 minute pitch. Got a fucking formatted series. Takes you all over the world. You'll say I've got the song. It's like. But you are a very buoyant, happy, sunny person. And I think. And talented. And talented. And I think that takes it with you. Thank you. Which song do you finish your take that? Usually Never Forget.

It's the last song. Another lifted, I mean, massive. And it's funny how these, you know, I don't know if you've experienced this, but when songs have been around for a while, they get this life which you never intended for them. Like, Never Forget is every, you know, when they finish at uni, when they do their graduation, they play it in the nightclubs at the end of the night. Oh my God, stop. Honestly, everywhere.

Yeah, and it's like we never that was never intended for that. It's lovely when it takes on a life of itself. And that song, I think a lot of people have good memories to that. And again, it's upwards. Lots of people tell me which song they have sex to of my songs. Lots of your fans tell you which song they have sex to of Take That.

Never heard that. No? No. Jessica. We seem to have weddings and funerals. Also very important occasions. Yeah, yeah. What's a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere? A taste? You know what? Do you remember Mivy's?

Oh, of course, a Miffy. What's a Miffy? Well, you probably, these, these. I know, I know. It was a strawberry ice cream with, strawberry. Or orange. Lolly, strawberry or orange and it had ice cream in the middle. Yeah, it was.

It was called a Mivy. It's a bit like a Solero, but it was strawberry. With vanilla ice cream inside. Yes. Okay, I think I've had one of them. But it was more ice cream than the lolly. You could nibble the lolly from around the outside and be left with just the ice cream. It was really cool. Do you like a Mivy? I do, and it reminds me of Blackpool.

So that's where we used to go as kids. Oh, I did too, because I come from Manchester. Do you really? Yeah, I was telling someone, I think the most magical time of my life ever was going to the Illuminations. It was so sensational. First of all, it was dark. You had to go when it was dark, so that felt exciting. My dad had a sunroof in his car and he let me stand up on the back seat and I could see all the Illuminations. I thought you were in Vegas, baby.

You just thought, and the tram that was lit up when it passed. Oh, incredible. It was just magical. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love Blackpool. Really, me too, me too. It's why I like Vegas so much. Because it's so bawdy. It's just like, for two days, it's just incredible. It's mad. What's your kitchen staple that you, if your house was on fire, you would be like, I'm getting that out of my kitchen? Me juicer. Oh. Yeah. What's it called? The...

The thing that mushes everything up. Bullets. But I love that thing. What's your juice of choice? What's going to be your concoction? Well, I've got... Take it with me every day. Make it first thing in the morning. So it's a handful of berries. Yeah, berries. Blueberries. Please don't tell me you put kale in, darling. No kale. Otherwise, that's it. No kale. So blueberries, almond milk, a little bit of spinach.

Yeah. Once you've whizzed it up, you don't know it's there. I don't like smoothies. And then I put some of my powders in. What are your powders? Protein. Do you? I don't know what it does. You sound like Rita Ora, come on. I don't know what it does, but it's great. What are you doing, like athletic greens? I do Maine.

What do you do? You know, Lion's Mane. Oh, you literally... Rita Ora is the only other person that's talked about this. Yeah. You are... Charga. So LA. Charga. You what? Charga. Oh, Charga. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Charga. C-H-A... It's the way I'm saying it. Charga. I don't know. Charga. Right, right. Ashwagandha. No wonder you're so fucking chilled out. Hi. Gary Barley, hi. It's just like edibles in a smoothie. It's like... Collagen. Collagen.

Oh, wow. You do look lovely plump cheeks. Is that for your face? Apparently. Apparently. I didn't know you drank it. I just thought you drank it on your face. Yeah. Yeah, collagen. What else goes in there? A bit of protein. Ashwagandha, I thought I usually take it in the evening, but you take it in the day. In the day? Jesse, maybe this is the clue. Oh.

With collagen in it? Yeah, yeah. Does it taste disgusting? Horrible. Oh, right. Disgusting. So do you drink that? Yeah. Bloody hell. Oh, no, I'm not doing all of that. Yeah, if you hold your nose, you wouldn't know. Who told you to put all these things in?

I've no idea, but it's great. Was Dawn doing it? You were like, right, I'll do it too. She'll make a smoothie now and again. Half a banana, I have them in the freezer. Just pop it in, it cools it down. It's actually fine. It is actually fine. Sounds disgusting. Yeah, it's not the best. It's not the best. Since, you know, putting mushrooms into your diet, has your creativity gone through the roof?

Listen, whatever goes into my day, I have a good day. I have a good day. He's such a sunny optimist. Yeah, I have a good day. So I don't want to take anything out because I'm all right. Yeah, I've got good energy. You feel almost Buddhist. Sleep well. I don't know. You seem like you're having a lovely time. I'm going to start doing these bloody mushroom drinks. I'm not religious really, but I sleep very well.

Do you? Yeah. Do you not wake up? Do you sleep right through? All the way through. You wait till you get old. That's what you dream of, just to sleep one night through. Is that because you need a wee? Possibly. Okay. But you just don't sleep as well as you get older. Right. I don't think. Yeah. Or quarters as well.

I'm all right, darling. Yeah, I'm okay, thank you. It tastes healthy, darling. I know, it tastes a bit too healthy. Why? What does that mean? It's got a shitload of sugar in it, so I don't know. You can taste the tahini, it's nice. Oh, my goodness. That is lovely. Well, delicious. We'll see you through. Maybe this banana bread will write you a hit this afternoon. Well, let's hope so. Who do you listen to when you're not...

All sorts of things. I actually love just putting the radio on and just hearing what someone else is choosing for me. Which station are you listening to? I'd listen to Capitol. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. I quite like a lot of the... You'd like the proper pop stuff, right? Well, yeah. And do you know, it's really interesting how music goes in circles. A lot of girl solo artists. Yeah. Every big artist is a girl solo artist.

Sabrina Carpenter I love all that stuff she's got good lyrics so bright so bright and I love Taylor as well I think she's done brilliant did you go see her? I've not seen her my daughter's been many times the last gig I saw was Bruno Mars when was that? that was in Vegas about

A year ago? I fucking love Bruno Mars. And it was Silk Sonic, which was even better. Oh, Anson Pack, yeah. Which was even better. How fun. Yeah, it was like an hour's show and everyone was up dancing from the word go to the end. Amazing. It was so good. Is he the one who does Marry Me? Yeah. Yeah, Marry Me. I love that. Yeah, he's brilliant. We'll take that, do a Vegas residency. That's well fucking happening, isn't it? Yeah, we're coming then. Is it happening?

I'm trying. Do you know what? This is the fourth year. I've not been able to get it over the line, but I'm really, really close. I believe in you, Gary Barlow. I think you'll make it work. I can do it. You can. And can we come? Can we come? Please. Yeah, please. I've got two front row seats. Okay, I'm in. Yeah.

Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Oh, bless you. Thank you. And best of luck with the new show. Delicious food, great company. Good, thanks for coming. What more could you ask for? And the rest of your tour, just like, you know, keep drinking those juices and you'll be all right. Lovely. Thank you. Thank you. Up the mushroom. Yes. Up the mushroom. Oh, my God. This is my idea of a very nice podcast. Oh, Gary Barlow, what a lovely man.

So sweet and so sunny. Also, can we also say that our management had a suggestion that we'd get him to do a TikTok for us saying, this is my idea of a very nice podcast.

And when the cameras and the mics were off, we were talking about him going to F45 for like workouts. And I was like, God, don't people come up to you? He went, no, the thing that people come up to me for is that bloody TikTok. Are you having a nice day? A very nice day. A very nice day. Oh, Gary Barlow, lovely, busy. You could do with him in the winter because he just brings sunshine in. Oh, Lenny. I just think he was quite a very sunny person. He was very sweet.

Just lovely. My favourite bit was that he put his glasses on to eat. Well, everyone has to do that, darling. So sweet.

Everyone does that. I love him. He probably wasn't sure what he was eating. Mind you, what he puts in his bloody smoothie. Really nice food. I liked that. It was a good recipe, wasn't it? Yeah, really straightforward as well, guys. So easy. It was just a bit different. Just a bit different. Very nice. Thank you so much to Gary Barlow for coming on. And yeah, you'll be seeing us on the Grand Tour in Australia.

Would you fly to Australia for that, Mum? Yeah. You'd do anything for wine and Gary Barlow. Gary Barlow, a lobster bun and flying business. We'll get it in the contract. Okay. We'll see you next week. Thanks very much. The new Boost Mobile Network is offering unlimited talk, text and data for just $25 a month for life. That sounds like a threat. Then how do you think we should say it? Unlimited talk, text and data for just $25 a month for the rest of your life? I don't know. I don't know.

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