Olly Smith: Days of Wine, Roses & Roger Moore

HA – Olly Smith – Interview

 

[00:00:00] Olly Smith: Quite right. It’s lovely to see you. Oh, it’s lovely

Andrew Sumner: to see you too, mate. That was a, that was a brilliantly impromptu piece of accidentally dining together that we enjoyed.

That was great. I was like, that was a really great

Olly Smith: afternoon. It was amazing. I think Tom Booton I reckon is one of the greatest chefs full stop. And I think we’ve yet to see the half of him. He’s what, 28 years old creating dishes that are that good with that much charisma and wisdom. And just the way he, he engaged with everybody walking around the tables on top of the door to throw on that roof.

I just couldn’t help, but think what a star and I think the future will be absolutely full

Andrew Sumner: of them. I couldn’t agree more. I was so tremendously impressed with him and his demeanor and his high levels of interactivity. And that was on top of being wowed by the food. I mean, I hadn’t seen him when he’d joined you guys on TV.

So, so at first I made, this is only an internal mistake. It wasn’t externally expressed. I just thought he was like, you know, the head waiter or [00:01:00] something, you know, that’s an amazing job in and of itself. Right? It’s very cool job. But I, I earlier, I was very impressed by as a result of that. I asked him for a clean knife and fork within about half an hour of being there when he’s walking around and he just, he just went and got it and gave it to me.

And then two thirds away through our thought. Oh, holy fuck. This.

Olly Smith: Guy’s the head chef at the door. Just the grill and so much humility though, just to say, Hey, no problem. I’ll get you a knife and fork. Yeah. I love him. I think he’s yeah,

Andrew Sumner: I was very, very impressed with them mates. Uh, Very impressive.  It was amazing. And have you been, have you been, since we last met. Been

Olly Smith: really well actually been absolutely roaring along. I’ve been working on a book, which is the deadline is sail by and I’m currently, there’s just, if you could see the desk in front of me, it’s just strewn with, with paper and flavor wheels and exotic ideas.

I have finished it, but I’ve just got to do those, you know, it’s always those loose ends where the, you know, the editor says, oh, can you just finish this? Could you just tie that up? And did you really mean martini glass here and all of those [00:02:00] questions? So, yeah, I’ve been really kind of hard at it with that.

And I’m actually doing lots of filming as well. I’ve just been up in Edinburgh, filming something, and then I’m doing lots of studio work, which is great. And the podcast, you know, the work we’ve got to talk about the world of

Andrew Sumner: podcasts. Oh, of course. Yeah. It goes without saying and a tip to digress for a second.

Welcome to Hardegree I’m Andrew Sumner and I’m privileged to be joined by the one. The only Ali Smith, the UK is foremost, a wine broadcaster, a national favorite, a man who is not only my mother’s favorite TV presenter, but is my best friend’s favorite T presenter, TV, presenter at the same time, it’s, you know, a man who is all over the place when it comes to.

Good food, good wine. And just personify, I think personifying, positivity. I think that’s something that you do extremely

Olly Smith: well, mate. What an introduction. I mean, that’s so generous of you and I’ve got to immediately say hello to your mum. I mean, that’s just a and get best mates. [00:03:00] That just means so much. And I think the thing about wine I’ve always felt there is always a flavor and always a moment that is available to everybody.

There’s a price that, that can be achieved as a kind of a way to get it in front of you. And for me, it’s always led to having a good time. So that’s really kind of, I suppose, the baseline of where my Jollity has always come from is the fact that I love it. And I want as many people as possible to just enjoy it the way I kind of feel it’s possible to do.

Yeah. I

Andrew Sumner: mean, you, you’re a classic example. I think you’re a great example of, you know, obviously in the course of the, the journalistic life that I’ve had, I’ve met, I’ve met very many famous people and you, of course, when you’re in the business of interviewing people with fame and celebrity, you get a very vulnerable experience and I’m by nature, a positivist, as you know, but the thing with you is I think you’re in the, I would say in the upper 2% of people who really.

Really walk the walk in terms of the persona you project on the screen is the person that you [00:04:00] are. And it’s, it’s a glorious thing to, to encounter and to witness, as we were just saying, you and I ended up having lunch by accident for a lovely afternoon in central London a couple of weeks ago. And I was just sitting there as we were chatting.

And man, this guy’s

Olly Smith: the real deal. That’s so sweet of you. And I think, I think that’s half the sort of ticket though in life. Isn’t it. If you have two rails, you’ve got to keep jumping between a persona and kind of your real self you’re just going to end up being confused and miserable either way. So I’ve always just thought, just be who you are, you know, be I once had this great phrase that I really liked to actually, which was do what you can, where you are.

With what you’ve got. And I just think, oh, that’s absolutely magnificent. You don’t have to do anything extra. You just have to kind of be what you are in that moment. And it was lovely to meet you in Santa. That’s a, that lunch you just mentioned. I was out with Matt Tibbetts and, you know, we were kind of enjoying the most delicious food and, and it turns out great company cause you were there and it was a barrel of laughs.

And I think that’s what food and drinks should be. It should never be [00:05:00] kind of a way away from each other. It should always bring people together and tables, interacting, talking together and getting to know each other is exactly what the game is all about. Yeah.

Andrew Sumner: Right on. Amen brother. I couldn’t agree more.

I put

Olly Smith: like, oh, don’t worry, man. I’m so sorry. Somebody, somebody wants me. That’s always going to be a good thing. So it was a good sign.

Andrew Sumner: Always a good son to have the

Olly Smith: lumping don’t I think it’s for you. I think it’s literally in case I was late for this podcast. I’m on the show.

Andrew Sumner: Very much. Appreciate that.

Not only are you here, mate? You’re early. Can we just roll back a bit. I’m interested in talking about your early years for a second, because you went to, you went to charter house right on a music scholarship. That’s true. Now, now charter house, funnily enough has us is, has a long-term relationship with, with music, not just the calm, we’re going to talk to you, but correct me if I’m wrong.

I think that is the school that the guys from Genesis one, two.

Olly Smith: You’re absolutely right. And in fact, one fine day, gosh, a long time ago, I remember [00:06:00] I was asked to show somebody around and I realized about halfway through the kind of showing this person around the school that it was Mike Rutherford of Genesis and all micro the very, yeah, I think he’s the guitarist, isn’t it?

Yeah. He was a delightful fellow and I was kind of there showing him around then I started realized, of course he’d been to school there. So I sort of said over here, you know, this is this is where we walk to school is like, yes, yes. I remember it. Well, he like, oh, right, okay. But yeah, it was wasn’t musical school and I did get a music scholarship there and my, I kind of had an unlikely.

It’s sort of a journey in music. My dad was a music teacher actually growing up and mum was a nurse. And, you know, my kind of upbringing was, I was very lucky. I had two very gorgeous parents who were still sort of kicking around and music was always there. It was always kind of filling the house and I loved singing.

So my kind of first break actually I was I was, I was really into choral music, which is so unlikely, but a true story. And I used to listen to records of it. I loved it. And I won a choral scholarship to Kings college, Cambridge as a kid. So I’m going off and did my thing in there and [00:07:00] then went on to Charterhouse again on another music scholarship and that the French horn and the piano and the organ.

I mean, it was an extraordinary opportunity, but what I quickly realized was that music was a kind of gateway into all of the arts, you know, and I love the theater. I loved literature, I loved poetry. And I realized that actually like everything that, that I love in life, it’s just all about meeting people and doing things together.

And that was where really kind of. Found my flourishing, if you like, because I wasn’t terribly good at sport. I won’t come as a surprise to those is Amy, but you know, I’m going to waddle around the place, you know, smiling, but I, I wasn’t brilliant kind of sports person, but I did love activities that you could do together, whether it was singing or being in an orchestra or, or whatever it was.

So, yeah, I felt really fortunate to, to have those opportunities and then really to kind of, to learn how to communicate, I suppose, off the back of that, you know, how to express and not feel kind of too, too worried about getting it wrong because we’re all human, right. You know, everyone gets there’s no wrong or no.

Right. We’re just doing what we do. Of

Andrew Sumner: course, of course. And I, I’m going to ask you [00:08:00] a very technical question about your music and the only reason I’m asking you, this is not because this is something I care about personally. It is a question, however, that my dad will ask me once he listens to this and he knows about your music background.

So I also come from a very musical family, but one of my dad’s obsessions is what level of musical grade you’ve got to in what particular

Olly Smith: discipline. Yes, I can answer that. I cannot start. Do you want to know? I would love

Andrew Sumner: to. I would love my Ken Sumner. My

Olly Smith: father would love to know I can, I can, I can say that on the front, probably the highest one was the French horn.

When I did get to grade eight with distinction, which is the kind of the last of the exams. And, and I, I did work hard to do that. And then yeah, to my shame, can I kind of, I don’t really play the French horn now and that’s awful because I just really should. I love it. It’s just like everything in life, you know, you become a father, you’d get busy at work and these things, there are some there’s one somewhere, you know, knocking around at them.

I really should get it out and have a tool because I love it. And the sound, the French horn makes it’s a weird one because it’s kind of mournful [00:09:00] at the same time as being quite exuberant, you know, it can express this great joy, you know, the Mozart of home Conchita is really joyful, but it can be really sad and really reflective.

And yeah, it was K what was Ken’s instrument? Was it?

Andrew Sumner: Yes, he was. Yeah, he was he three things like selfie sings a bit, which, which I also do. He plays trombone. But his main thing is he was a big band drug, so wow. By five day he was a bank manager, but he, he beat, but yeah, big,

Olly Smith: big, big band, but just love.

I mean, I’m a massive fan of book, camp fits orchestra, you know, back in the day, you know, by, by blues is one of my favorite all-time recordings. It’s just got such light and dark with the brass section and the, this the what Bert camphor, those of you haven’t heard, but capita basically, if you imagine kind of a sort of jazzy orchestra, but it’s, some people might say lift music, but it’s not live music itself.

It’s it’s lift music. Best possible way, but he always has this bed of co quite often uses coral sounds. And it’s so warm, just hanging around in the background, people oohing and honoring. And I think, oh, [00:10:00] this is tremendous. It’s almost like somebody just hasn’t skimped on the extra cream with my black forest Gatto.

That’s a great thing

Andrew Sumner: in life. There is a, there’s a very famous bird. Naked ladies are there, but

Olly Smith: can’t fix got the out. Yeah. Matt hits. Yeah. I remember that. Do you remember? They were very well. If I had a million dollars, what a song that

Andrew Sumner: superbs song. They, they always deliver live those

Olly Smith: guys though. You never seen them.

Have you seen them a few times? Yeah.

Andrew Sumner: I’ve seen them many times. Yeah. She made it. And once when I was working on the anime, this is near the beginning of that career. They came to the Stamford arms, which is the pub around the corner from my PC, from Kingsbridge tower, we loaded the animate world where we used to be based.

And they came to the, the upstairs and the cap of the Stamford arms. And they played like an impromptu show for all the journalists. Incredible. But I’ve seen them many times since then. And there, they, if you ever get the chance, you must go because they are phenomenal live

Olly Smith: brilliant. I think my brother will see them a few times and says the similar sort of thing that they’re just [00:11:00] epic.

And you know, when Mike, I remember, gosh, the first kind of first live band ever saw was Meridian in about 19 87, 19 80 at the clutching at straws tour and the Gusto hole in Jersey. I mean, fish, I love him. I still love him. I think he’s a great lyricist. And, but you know, if you’re not into prog rock, you’re never going to get really.

But I did at the time, I just loved what they were doing. Cause it was just. I think it was quite characterful off-beat as a live band though. And I was probably only about 13 years old. It just hit the wall of sound effect. It really was like hearing that, that first moment, the experience of sound, just going through your guts and up through your shoulders and out through your head is just absolutely staggering.

I loved it. Oh,

Andrew Sumner: well the suit it’s under super theatricality and the great with a great prog bands and you, you’ve got a lot of this with, and you’ve got a lot of this through Genesis. Even when the sound became much more mainstream, you’d go see them live and go see when I would see them a lot. A few times.

Once you roast it live a [00:12:00] few times and what you get with all of them, it’s this all encompassing. It’s like, it’s like, don’t see rock music, which has been interbred with pantomime.

Olly Smith: That’s a brilliant way of putting

Andrew Sumner: it, but it’s all consuming and it, it really gets you, as you say, in the viscera, you really feel

Olly Smith: it it’s a show.

You’re absolutely right. And, and it’s. There are some artists that have never seen live and won’t get the chance to like George Harrison. I’m a mega fan of George Harrison, and I kind of want to listen to his music. I sort of think he gets that carnival theatrical feel in his lyrics and very intimate as well.

It’s depending on the album and the era, you know, you’re either going to get something quite sort of sparse or that, you know, famous wall of sound that, that I touched on, you know, actually, could you call back on a really in smaller sound? I think George might be a bit annoyed by that. But I I kind of think he has that same sense of epic scale and he delivers that, you know, even in his albums and that’s one artist, I would absolutely love to have seen live.

Did you ever see him by any chance?

Andrew Sumner: Sadly not sad that I’m in the same boat as [00:13:00] yourself. I would have absolutely loved to have done one of the beloved got close and it was one of those things that if I could go back in the time machine, the moments when, when I, I chose to do something else, instead I would, of course have made, made a different decision.

Yes. The thing about the great artists, you know, you never know who’s going to abide and who’s going to be the.

Olly Smith: Yeah, you’re so right. And one of the, I mean, I probably, in fact, I would say it probably is the finest gig I’ve ever seen was Iggy pop at the Albert Hall on the postpartum depression tour. And it was one of those nights where I, it had sold out.

I managed to get a ticket, grabbed a friend of mine. We went and at the time I didn’t realize it was being filmed, but now you can watch it back. And it is still just, I mean, it’s, his performance is exceptional, but there’s the super band, you know, Josh, homie and all the other guys, I have never experienced such a tight performances that, and eggy, I don’t know what age he is, but I’m guessing late sixties, if not, you know, further than that, leaping around stage diving, showing us all how to live at [00:14:00] the top of his lungs.

I was so inspired by her. And every time I think about it, I do still get the tingling, visceral feeling of I can’t. I just can’t believe I was there. I cannot believe I was there. It was absolutely mind blowing.

Andrew Sumner: Well live music at its best of course is exactly that it’s a transformative experience, you know, and and it’s great.

It is to listen to music great is to listen to Spotify as great as it is to listen to analog music. And it really is, and it is a much more powerful, emotional experience than, you know, listening to an MP3. You know, it’s lovely to listen to vinyl, but you know, wherever you go in life, it’s like when we’re at the Dorchester, the minute you hear live music in the background, you know, it’s life, you know, the whole way, your body processes that is different.

And when you’re seeing greatness, it just, it’s a

Olly Smith: transformative experience. So true. And, you know, behaviorally, you know, we react on, you know, you could, I don’t know if you could describe as vibrations, but we kind of pick up on each other’s vibes. Let’s say that. And certainly on the roof of the doorstep, you know, when that live band started playing, there was just a couple of them, but they were [00:15:00] really good and they lifted that mood and it was kind of blown quite early on the day, but everything in my memory of that just felt absolutely phenomenal and at ease and lovely, and that’s.

The power of great music. Obviously we were treated to amazing food as well, but you’re so right about that sort of sense of something else in the live show. Tom petty was another one I saw and he was, and he was fairly advanced in years when I saw him. And I remember at the time looking at him on the stage and I could have sworn, there was kind of a glow behind his eyes, you know, whether it was just a trick of the light, but it seemed somehow that the person was magnified and that the spirit filled the room.

It was absolutely sublime.

Andrew Sumner: Yeah. I, I, I, that is, that is a real hard degree for me. That’s I think that’s, that’s amazing when you have those experiences. I I once walked into the blue note jazz club and the one that’s in Honolulu in Hawaii. Right. And an amazing, amazing place. And I was, it’s amazing.

Olly Smith: How cool

Andrew Sumner: is this? It was [00:16:00] great. And th th there’s, there’s a guy called Jake shakin. Moros on there and I didn’t know this guy and he was a ukulele player. Right. He is a ukulele player. And I was like, oh, this is not really my top choice for what I would see. You know, I was really rather hoping one of the jazz greats would be on, but man, I’m going to sit down and watch it.

But it turns out that this guy is. Essentially the Jimmy Hendrix of the, . And so he he, you know, he, he loops his ukulele and, and he just, as a one man performance, the most incredibly complex rock rhythms on a ukulele,

Olly Smith: I think you’re right. The uke is capable of great things. No doubt about that. And, and it’s wonderful to discover the unlikely in that way and, and to realize it’s just in the hands of a great artist, you can be totally moved and Eddie Vedder’s album, he’s got what’s it called ukulele songs or something, but it’s phenomenal record.

I, I hung out for just so long on Discogs, waiting for it to pop up on. The original [00:17:00] pressing cause there’s so few of them and I managed to get it. And you know, it’s one of those great treasures in my record collection. Cause I actually was Olivia Harrison do, I don’t know personally, but I follow on Instagram and she was talking about this great album and I thought, hang on.

And I quite like Eddie veteran didn’t know much about this, so I downloaded it as you doing thought, oh no, this is a vinyl. This has to be and went on my magic quest and it’s oh, it’s such a prize. What an album, what’s an

Andrew Sumner: album. And you touched upon something, which is a beautiful thing about a life. I think the quest and the thing about the quest for information, the quest for, for creative information, whether it’s books, whether it’s music, I think it’s an experience that’s that’s largely denied to say my, my kids are both adults and they live in the instant generation of.

Everything is readily accessible at the click of a finger. Everything is in the ether and don’t get me wrong. There’s a great deal of beauty about that. I think. And the fact that you’ve essentially got the British library at your fingertips, wherever you go. And you can answer any question immediately is amazing, but the [00:18:00] beauty of the quest is what kind of gets lost.

Olly Smith: Yes. Yes. And, and, and funny enough, this was something that I used to love with my older brother will w w when we were waiting for a movie, we would just eat counts, any magazine, clipping, any appearance on TV, any hint we could get to research and kind of piece together, the cast, you know, maybe the locations.

And it would just be you know, months of anticipation that would finally build into this great. You know, an extravaganza of actually going to the cinema and seeing, you know, Raiders of the lost Ark or empire strikes back or time bandits, or I don’t laugh condo man, and a great movie, but anyway, but we’ve been, it was part of the experience and now you get all those teas and trailers jipped out and you’re right.

It is so immediate and everything is accessible. The quest is something beautiful. And that does, that does trickle into the world of wine. There are sort of historic bottles and, you know, iconic things that you can look for, but it doesn’t really matter what, what the discipline is or what kind of the uh, uh, the quest is, the quest is of itself such fun and it, and it kind of changes you, you know, here’s like [00:19:00] going on a proper quest.

That’s what it does. You know, you find out more, you develop, you become intrigued in other diversions along the way, the quest, I mean, that’s what it’s all about. Isn’t it? And this

Andrew Sumner: is why the quest abides throughout human storytelling throughout history. True. As you read Mallory, it’s all about the quest.

Yeah. And even some of he, even some early religious writings, they’re all about the quest and the echoes throughout eternity. For that reason, it’s a fundamental part of the human experience, which I think is you’ve mentioned something that I just want to touch upon, which is a condo man. Yeah.

Olly Smith: Love that baby.

Andrew Sumner: So not only have I seen condiment microphone for delivering the quality way before the era of superhero movies. I was almost killed by that film. What? Yeah. And and there’s the scenario. So I’m born and raised on mercy side. My brother and I was taking my brother’s about eight years older than [00:20:00] me. My brother used to be the publisher of wallpaper magazine, which you’re probably familiar with, well, well-known STX magazine, but at this is Neil Sumner aged age 10.

Right. And Andrew Sonder aged 18 has recently learned how to drive his driving kneel to the, the unit for cinema in Wallasey. On the other side of the mercies from Liverpool it’s is the only place that’s playing condiment. And we ended up driving through mercy side through a very treacherous part of the world called bounced and debt, which I’d never driven down before.

And and it’s basically a herping bend that goes over a vein, but it was heavy, heavy sleeting rain on Nanda. I will. I was. So I drove into the hairpin band and I was, and I was driving maybe 30 miles an hour, which was 20 miles an hour, too fast for those conditions. And I was in my mom’s canvas topped fee at 1, 2 7.

And I drove into the band straightened out the car, [00:21:00] but the car, but the car straightened out the wheel, but the car kept on going into the band and the car rolled. No. Yeah. It’s completely rolled that the top of the car got torn off. It hits an antique wall and knocked it down into the ravine. But the infant room is going into their vein through his, back into the main road where we came to rest on the driver’s side.

So I might face was touching the shattered window next to me and we weren’t wearing seatbelts right. 1982. So my, my, my, my 10 year old brother is lying on top of me. And we literally just got up and walked out of the torn off route like Elwood and Jake in the booth. And as we were dusting ourselves off, a car came round from the other direction at about 60 miles an hour, hit the fan at 1, 2 7, which then just turned into a ball of metal loneliness.

[00:22:00] Wearing seatbelts would have been dead.

Olly Smith: That’s extraordinary. Yeah. What a serendipitous moment and how unlikely that not wearing seatbelts actually seems to have had a positive. I know

Andrew Sumner: it was one of those. It was those 10,000 to ship to one shop deals. If we wouldn’t have actually survived, if we’d had the seatbelts on, we wouldn’t have got out the car in time.

Yeah.

Olly Smith: You must’ve been so shaken up for, for ages. Yeah.

Andrew Sumner: Funny. It’s one of those things. Not really. I was almost completely disconnected on it from it. I mean, when, when we were on our way to the local hospital in an ambulance and literally the only injury we got is I got a sprained ankle. That was it. My face just slightly grazed or it hit the ground.

My brother was absolutely fine. That’s incredible. Most of our conversation was when you think we’re going to be able to get, see, man,

Olly Smith: I think I have somewhere behind me. I’m probably not, but yeah. I’ve got an original press brochure from . For those of you in the podcast, not able to see this, I’m currently holding up the full color [00:23:00] deluxe posters and accessories version.

It was the press. I think the press were given this when they went and saw combo man at the premiere. But I have the original mag right here in my little office. I mean, man, but when did you get to see it? That’s the question? About,

Andrew Sumner: About a month later. So there is a, there’s a bit of an episode home because my, I rang my dad and he was at rotary club lunch and I was like, dad.

Before I send anything else, we’re both fine. For the hospital we’ll have the usual stuff and it was, it was fine. Everything was fine until my mum and dad were pretty calm until my dad took my mum to the garage to see the car. And because they’d both seen us and we were okay, but when my mom saw the car, it literally looked like it being in a trash compactor.

You’d look at this and go, well, there’s no way to people in this accident could have survived. And you know, it’s one of those weird things. You see cars have a dent on them and everyone inside the car is no longer alive because the [00:24:00] impact, but this car, when you look at the remnants of my mom’s fear, you think there’s no way anybody’s left.

You know, but, but we were just tremendously lucky so that there was a high level of family based upset after that event,

Olly Smith: condo man, in your case, it’s kind of a totemic symbol of what an X and what an extraordinary movie it is. I mean, I think that as far as John Aras go, it covers pretty much everything.

It’s comedy action, adventure, spy, romance. And in many ways it doesn’t really work at all. But in other ways, if you’re watching it as a kid, it’s just a romp. And you know, I look at the superhero movies now and think, yeah, they had it down reboot and Disney. What are you waiting on? How is it that you’ve got the property?

You can make it good. You’ve got the Falcon in them, in the Marvel adventures. Come on, come on, man. It’s not that far off. Surely you could be his godfather or something. Absolutely. The middle

Andrew Sumner: ground between the Falcon and the Phantom of the opera is yeah, fuck.

[00:25:00] Olly Smith: Yeah. So, so mate, to,

Andrew Sumner: to flip back to your to, so you’ve, you’ve, you’ve studied your music and you ultimately you’re, you got a degree in English literature, right, man,

Olly Smith: same as

Andrew Sumner: myself.

So what was, so what was your journey from that point to, to becoming the wine connoisseur expert and presented?

Olly Smith: It’s such a, it’s such a good question. And it’s, it’s a sort of unlikely story, really in many ways, but I’d studied English literature at university in Edinburgh. And while I was there, I had a job at the cameo cinema for many years where I kind of graduated from serving popcorn to tickets and got to know the bar guy really well in Hawaii.

He’s still a great mate of mine. Actually. It’s a fantastic bloke. And during that time I was kind of like, I just, I remember I was interested for some reason. I don’t know the precise reason why I was interested in wine. I just really wanted to find out more. And I remember going into an, I think it was an odd bins and just trying it and thinking, gosh, like three quids, you can get a pretty decent glug of something here.

This sounds. Yeah, it sounds a lot like [00:26:00] fun. And it was at the time when Ozzy wine was just coming in and it was feeling a little more down to earth. So I got myself, another job working at orange and company vintners. And that was really the transformative experience that was kind of in the holidays.

And I, I used to lift boxes and deliver them. That was my job. So I would look at them and read them and realize that I didn’t know anything about what anything meant like Rio Jer. What is that? And then, you know, go in the basement, say to me it’s pretty ARCA, right? What was that then? And he would explain it’s a place and the grapes that go into it, you know, tastes like this.

And I, I was really fascinated. It was kind of like going back to the quest, actually, I was fascinated by the idea that there was this hidden world with lots of different terminology and lots of different languages sort of surrounding it. And then a kind of veneer of this isn’t for everybody sort of hanging over the front of it.

And that, that felt really like. But wrong to me. I thought, surely if it’s that good, it should be all for one and one for all. So I made it my mission to kind of go out there and celebrate and talk about wine. And, and I got completely kind of hooked on the idea that, you know, wine should be [00:27:00] democratized for all.

And, and, you know, it was. It was just, it was fun rather than kind of feeling like you were going to some sort of exam. Cause it always, I don’t know if you agree, but it always felt like it was a bit austere and a bit buttoned up and that the years went by and I, I, I sort of started writing scripts for film and TV and I did a few for Pingu and Charlie and Lola and spent a day working on Wallace and Gromit curse of the wear rabbit.

But all the time I was like doing my little wine qualifications, loving it, boring, all my screenwriting friends, senseless with wine talk. And then this competition came along called wine idle, which nobody saw, cause it was like pop idol, but it was on a satellite channel and, you know, in the distant realms of, of the nether sphere.

And I kind of, I think it was about 6,000 people entered it and I managed to win it. And the prize was amazing because the prize was what it was supposed to be a year’s supply of wine. 72 bottles is a weekend that’s yeah, that’s just, that’s just true, but it was a lovely thing to win. And then it was an audition for a show called great food live with Jenny Barnett.

So I got the prize, you know, I [00:28:00] did my audition and managed to get on the show. And they kept booking me. And then eventually it turned into a bit of a roller coaster in lots of people were seeing me saying, oh, this guy seems to know stuff. And also in a down to earth way, offering people, I sort of flipped around the recommended.

So rather than saying, this is the best one in the world, you’ve got to have it, I’d ask them what they liked. You know, what flavors are you into? What’s your budget? Where do you want to shop? And then I just zero in on the perfect wine. And then they thought, oh, this is, this is actually quite fun. It’s like, it’s like the six degrees of verbose rack or something.

It’s like, everything’s connected. So I no, in the end I just, I was very lucky. I got the gig on Saturday kitchen. It was the rich and Judy wine club actually that led to that with the cactus TV. And no, I’m forever grateful for that because I’ve been on the show. I think 15 years now, 2007, I was definitely on it then, because I know my youngest child was born during pretty much during the show or the night before on the kitchen floor.

So yeah, it’s been a really lovely, lovely journey to be on. And I still always go back to the idea that there is a wine out there waiting for everybody. And it’s literally just a question of navigating [00:29:00] through those, those hidden corners and helping people on the quest so they can find ultimately enjoyment.

That really is what it, what it’s all about, you know? And I want people from whatever walk of life, you know, in whatever background to be able to think, oh, I’m going to get that. I go, it’s no different in my opinion, to talk about movies or bands or food or anything in life, it’s just knowing how to get in there.

And once you’ve got the keys to the castle, it’s just, it’s brilliant. I just love it so much. May

Andrew Sumner: it’s so wonderful to hear you talk about it. And I think the thing is, you know, what, what I, what I enjoy about watching, watching you talk about wine is that you, you, I, I, what I get from you. Is a tremendous authenticity, but real joy.

And I think you’re into the democratization of the whole thing. You know, there’s no mystique to it. It’s like, as you said, there’s a wine for everybody and you know what wine has brought me such a tremendous amount of enjoyment during my, my multiple decades on the face of the earth. You know, I [00:30:00] think, I think you’re always confronted when you’re talking about it with the sheer joy of it, all, which I, which I would

Olly Smith: just love to watch.

I’m so glad you say that. It’s really, it just makes my heart warm because really the nicest thing about the job is if you’re actually in company with someone and they say, oh, could you give me a recommendation? I’m sure you get asked this all the time. And I’m like, well, yeah, I do. And I really love it.

So yeah, far away. And then you give them a proper recommendation and then you get the feedback and it might take a week or two. And actually, this is one of the things I think is good about sort of the instant world. Is that something like Instagram, I’ll get people saying, you know, what should I buy this weekend?

And I’ll say, oh, try this, you know, Sure enough, you know, a week or two later, most of the time people do come back and go, I really loved it. Thanks so much. You know, it’s just absolutely great to be able to try that we’d never bought it. That is just all the job satisfaction in the world. It didn’t cost me anything to do.

It’s just a bit of knowledge, but it’s given somebody something really joyful and hopefully will lead them to go explore the world of great flavors and whether it’s wine or beer or soft drinks or good food. I don’t really mind just, you know, if there’s just so much out there and there’s so many interesting [00:31:00] people doing it as well, you know, there’s so many good authors of, you know, agriculture and great chefs and, and places, you know, the architecture of some of these restaurants that are lucky enough to go to that alone is like so inspiring.

And it, I just always end up marveling to be honest, that the. The creativity and industry of, of, of we humans. It’s quite remarkable. It really is.

Andrew Sumner: Yeah. I think that’s very interesting because, you know, restaurant, I think restaurant architecture is fascinating. I think architecture and public human spaces, it’s a mega eating full thing, but don’t like

Olly Smith: temples to human endeavor really, that’s it?

Yeah. And I’m a big fan of airports and that sounds really lucky, but you know, like, you know, I live quite close to Gatwick, so I’ve gotta be, you know, I have a vague affection for Gatwick, but when you go to places like, you know, Barcelona airport, and you just, you have these sweeping kind of beautiful grass, it’s not grand, it’s just civic spaces.

You know, the idea that it’s for people for as many people as possible to feel good. [00:32:00] And it’s, it’s a huge statement. And I, I went to the other day, I had lunch in the Wellesley, you know, it’s a wonderful restaurant and again, really lucky to go there and love it. But that building, you know, it was a car showroom and you go in there and you think this, this, you are so right to use the word temple, because that’s what it feels like.

You walk in and think this wouldn’t feel out of place as a throne room in Lord of the rings. This could be Denna Thor’s palace. Oh

Andrew Sumner: yeah. And it’s, it’s beautifully done something I love about you mate, by the way, is when you were talking about this stuff and where I, I, you, you’re a, you’re a fellow travelers you’re always in touch with.

One of the things I’ve noticed is there was a regular conversational motif for you is, and I’m so lucky to be able to go to. And that’s absolutely right. You know, I think, I think recognizing that fact, you know, if, if whatever it is that takes you into those kinds of environments to recognize that, you know, just being in them is, you know, is an incredibly wonderful and positive and, and lucky thing to be able to experience.

I, I love, I love the fact that you’re also [00:33:00] connected

Olly Smith: to that. Thanks again. Thank you. I just think that all we should be doing is reaching out the door to all these places and just grabbing as many people as possible and saying, come and have a look, have a look. Isn’t it. Isn’t it incredible. It’s just, yeah.

I, I really do feel very fortunate and I think the, yeah, I was just walking through yeah, London just the other day, just, and just stopped and just looked up at the sky, you know, Regent street and just, yeah. Yeah. And Edinburgh, Edinburgh is another place I could talk to you for hours on end about I just, every single corner is a few, you know, it’s Laden with history.

There’s so many layers to it, literally figuratively, but yes, all of these civic spaces, I think really the common mission has to be, you know, Elevate each other and take one another by the hand and go on and have a great adventure in this, in this span of time we have, you know, and, and you did that for me, by the way in your previous life.

And, and if you sell out for forbidden planet, but I used to spend so long with my brother in a, is that one just up from Covent garden? The, yeah,

Andrew Sumner: no, it’s 1 7, 9 Shastri avenue.

Olly Smith: Perfect. Yes. It’s sort of north side [00:34:00] of the street. And we used to, we used to press our noses against the outside, you know, ogling the full-size predator figures and all of that.

And then we’d sort of go there. And for us, it was like, you know, visiting it felt like the behind the scenes tour of all the movies and we’d see, you know, save up and buy little bits and bobs, and we’ve still got, you know, loads of bits. In fact, should I, if I did borrow this, then I’ve got a Roger Moore spy who love me, which may well have come from your horns.

Yeah, years and years ago it was a readmission, I think. But yeah, I just love that you, you know, that curated sense of magic that VIN plaid it has. It’s extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary. It really

Andrew Sumner: does. Aid is the template in and of itself. It’s just, just opened as we’re, as we speak, it’s opened about, you know, about two weeks after, after an extensive London lockdown.

So, you know, the template is open for business wants, I’ll be back,

Olly Smith: I’ll be back.

Andrew Sumner: All was good, always good to meet a dedicated customer and to just examine the civic spaces thing. I’ve been very lucky, I think because [00:35:00] I grew up in a city Liverpool, which has beautiful architecture, and I spent a long time living in another city, London, which has beautiful architecture.

You’re absolutely right. It’s very easy to walk around cities of this nature and Edinburgh actually named Chet would be another one. And you’re so focused on your daily business. You don’t take the time to like step back and just, just look up. My friends and I all the, or other life magazine type guys, we had a bit of a reunion once you have the day at Bentley’s.

Yeah. Lovely. Such a lovely place. It’s such great food there as well. So it’s so amazing. And but as we were walking along, we walk past various Swami or whatever, you know, we had one of those moments where it’s like, Everybody just stopped and looked up. Yeah. It’s so easy not to do. And you know, with the such amazing sites you miss and you’re too focused on the pavement,

Olly Smith: I think see it through the eyes of a tourist.

And I’d say not just for cities, but for your [00:36:00] everyday life. Just imagine it’s the first time you’re seeing it. Cause it is it’s it’s it’s you know, there’s the, the high and the low in life and it is all there on display. However, there is. Just the, it always blows me away. And Rome’s another one where I kind of look at it and think it’s just every single detail either has been slightly eroded and weathered or carefully kind of crafted to sort of weave around that.

It’s, it’s such a, sort of a woven tapestry of, of centuries of human existence and it’s right there in front of you. And as you say, if you’re kind of too busy reading the map, as you go around now, just start them off way. Just have a look, have a look, and then ideally sit down and have a massive pizza and never leave.

Yeah,

Andrew Sumner: exactly. I really could not agree more. Something so you touched upon Saturday kitchen and you’ve been through many incarnations of that show and deliver the quality throughout those incarnations, but it seems to me, and I can tell him and see you guys [00:37:00] off camera that you got, you have such great friendship chemistry with Matt tablet.

Olly Smith: Yeah. I, I, I love that. Yeah. Happy to I’ve always got on so well with Matt, we, we filmed the pilot together that never got made with Jimmy Daugherty actually a very long time ago. I mean, it was might even have been, you know, like early two thousands. I can’t remember the exact date, but we, we became very good friends off the back of that and never worked together, but always kind of hung out and like talking about food and drink, especially.

And the thing I’ve always enjoyed about Matt in company, or whether he’s at work is he’s so inclusive, you know, he’s, it’s, it’s, it’s just, it’s there for everybody and he wants to talk and he wants to have fun and he wants to listen and share stories. And that’s, I think is the real, that’s probably the characteristic.

We both enjoy most about one another. You know, there’s no, there’s, there’s nothing he could say about food that I wouldn’t find fascinating. He always surprises me. His recipes are great, but he’s, he’s genuinely one of those people who’s always. So he’s got a tale to tell and it’s always inquiring.

There’s always another thing he wants to find out. [00:38:00] So yeah, he’s very, very warmhearted. And as you saw at the lunch, you know, anybody who wants to say hello to him, he’s he couldn’t be more open-handed. So we’ve always had had the most lovely, lovely times together. And, and to be able to say, I hadn’t seen him in over a year, actually.

So that was the first time. Yeah, because of the extraordinary year we’ve just had, and obviously we’ve been working together, but to be back at a table with someone who, you know, you’re very fond of, oh, it’s just, it’s just like a river of golden syrup through the soul. It’s just like, ah, I feel like really.

Luxurious and bathing in good things and just life could not be better. Yeah, no, he’s a bit of a ledgers old man, young man, I should say

Andrew Sumner: young man, amen to that brother. I think I think the inquiring mind aspect of your friendship is, is the thing that’s that I thought I found to be particularly impressive because you know, here’s the thing, you know, it’s very easy when you’re, when you’re in the public eye and therefore people ask you about yourself a lot.

And I’ve been that guy asking those questions anonymously for, for decades, you know, but when you’re in any situation, people come up to you [00:39:00] and recognize you want to talk. I always think the mark of somebody who’s, you know, truly valuable human being, other people who ask questions and don’t just answer them.

You know, that’s clearly your mutual style. Both of you are very much cut from that cloth. Yeah.

Olly Smith: I, I love finding out about, you know, stuff and what makes you tick and like, as soon as you started talking about forbidden planet, I was climbing up your trouser leg in a minute. This is amazing. Can I get up.

Andrew Sumner: So the predator.

Olly Smith: No, but it’s, it’s exactly that it’s just really, it’s really good fun. And, and we’re all just full of stories. We’ve all got our unique journeys we’ve been on. And for me, it’s just finding, you know, it’s part of it is obviously finding out where you connect and where you can kind of find common ground and it’s the opposite as well.

It’s like, well, what don’t I know, you know, what would I like to find out about you that is unfamiliar to me, that’s a huge part. I think of, of, of the inquiring part is I’m genuinely fascinated by how extraordinary the possibilities are for, for life on this planet and to, to kind of have the chance to find out someone else’s, you know, experience [00:40:00] over a glass or two is, yeah, it’s a peachy thing.

It’s just great.

Andrew Sumner: No, it’s really, it’s really lovely. I’m one of your great expressions of that, of course, as being your very successful podcast series of glass with which anybody listened to this and find the link to in the show notes to this episode, but Okay. You had some amazing guests on that show.

Can you tell me about the Genesis of it, how it came together for us?

Olly Smith: Yeah, totally. I, it was funnily enough, it was, it was an idea that came to me via a guy called Richard hemming. Who’s a great friend in the wine trade who was after. He wanted somebody to host it. It was kind of, the format was there.

You know, you have a glass of something with somebody of note. And so it’s a fairly simple format. So beguilingly simple format in fact, but what I kind of discovered quite early on in the show is that one or two glasses in people really relaxed, you know, and I’ve had pink on the show. I’ve had staying and Sam Neil and some one Dawn, French Marie Margulies, and there’s been some wonderful characters.

And it’s just so true that this is what, you know, as people, one glass in [00:41:00] the stories start flowing, you get, feel like, you know, each other a bit better. And it’s really fun for me to kind of then listen back to the show. And you know, when it gets edited a little bit, you do get that sense of progression.

And I I had a brilliant one recently with them. Generic can tell though, and he’s so full of life. He’s the guy who drinks from the very font of the top of Mount Olympus every morning, and then just jogs down and spreads Goodwill around the planet. He’s a legend. But he was just absolutely loved the wine that we were drinking and got through quite a few glasses of it.

As you know, you’ll hear, if you listen to the show, Tom Beaton, actually the head chef at the door, I’ve just done him as well. And he was another one, you know, a few glasses in starts talking about his extraordinarily hard years as a 15 year old living school, working in kitchens. And then you flash forward to where he is now, the Dorchester.

And it’s fascinating. And I just think a glass of wine with a great conversation. Yeah. I love it. And, and, and podcasting is, you know, you’re, you, you will know is it’s such an informal accessible. Easy thing to, to kind of it’s, it’s great that we can kind of reach ever deeper. I think with it is what I’m getting to.

It [00:42:00] feels a wonderful medium to me. I love it.

Andrew Sumner: Oh no, it’s phenomenal mean, and it’s the simplicity of the concept. I think that always works in this cause and that’s the beauty of a glassware, you know, it is such a it’s, it is such a simple concept, but it just leads to so many interesting conversations.

Yeah. Yeah.

Olly Smith: I think w I think wine does that and we’ve had some tea totals on the show. We’ve done beer on the show spirits. I had Gareth Malone the other day, and I found out it was a massive whiskey fan. So we drank a late chick, 18 year old whiskey, which if you, if you’re a whiskey fan, it’s just, it’s one of those whiskeys I’ve never tasted.

I thought, well, I’m going to find a really interesting one made by the Tobermory distillery. And it. Just endless kind of fire, crackle of spices as you’ve set it afterwards, it just keeps going like, you know, popping candy almost on the tongue. It’s just, it’s a living drink. And I was just so thrilled to be able to have a conversation.

I never knew Gareth was into whiskey, just had no idea. And he wanted to refer back to that. And of course we covered off as music and everything else, but it really, it was. Insight into the [00:43:00] guy that is just his private passion. He just really enjoys a tram as a little collection, you know, just doesn’t treat it that seriously, but he he’s got great knowledge.

And that’s the other thing you find out in these shows is the kind of the, the other thing people do in addition to their kind of what they’re known for most people have got a few hobbies or a few questions in life. And that I think is almost more interesting, you know, and I remember I think it was steam talking about swimming in lakes, you know, you just never imagined, you know, I was like, yeah, no, I really like, yeah, I just really enjoy swimming fresh some, you know, oh, I never would have known, you know, how lovely the, tell me more and it’s that innocent sort of beguiling chat down the ways less trodden.

That just feels great. Oh

Andrew Sumner: yeah, no, it’s wonderful mate. Touching upon celebrities and somebody, I would love to hear you chat with on a Glasser, but that’s no longer possible, but somebody who’s a big mate of yours was Roger Moore. So, I I’d love to hear about that friendship and also. The, the project you’ve worked on together, which I love.

[00:44:00] Olly Smith: I mean, he, funnily enough, we’re recording this the day after he died anniversary his death, actually. And so yesterday’s, it’s in my diary, it’s Roger Moore day, which is always a national holiday in my house. And similarly his birthday as well. So I get two extra holidays a year, but in truth, meeting him, I was working on a, on a, on a project with a friend doing sort of, sort of animation scripts.

And Roger had a, a kind of a heart episode on stage in New York and wasn’t well, and was in hospital. And I was panicking that he might actually die without having met me. So my friend Dan team has made a little cartoon called sir malls Requiem, which basically showed what would happen to Serrata Moore’s soul.

If he can’t get it, you know, before he met me, you know, it’s this kind of terrible kind of thing. And, and, and it was actually just such a funny thing set to Verdi’s Requiem and. Raj by a complete coincidence. Within a few days, it hit the internet and he’d seen it on his hospital bed in New York. And apparently he was tickled pink.

So via his kind of assistant and a number of different connections, we got a message to him saying, look, get [00:45:00] well soon, mate. And if we can ever do anything for your work with UNICEF, you know, maybe we could do an animation script or we could ship pilot, whatever you need, you know, Counter sin and to our great amazement, he replied saying, yeah, you know, I’m back in, in a few days, you know, I’m not going to be in London.

So unless you want to come out and see me, there might take awhile. And we’re like, well, we’d love to come and see that. So flash forward just a few weeks. And we were in Monte-Carlo with a shooting script for an idea for UNICEF to promote for their Christmas campaign called the fly who loved me in which Roger played a father Christmas.

And I paid the fly. Yeah. Which did risk, did good things for them. And it was just so incredible going to meet him, having all of the, that you would normally have for meeting your hero in case they don’t live up to it. And then yeah, finding him just so we’re down to earth and so utterly disarmingly Real as the word, the word I would use.

And so warm and deeply funny and very concerned for the wellbeing of others. So that was the thing straight away through the door he was talking about. So low sodium and diets and goiter and education for girls around the [00:46:00] wellbeing of paramount importance, you know, and you know, that he was, he was desperately worried about the situation.

I think he was in Afghanistan at the time where he girls weren’t getting an education in the way that he was, he would hope they would. So. It really struck me right off the bat that he wasn’t just in it for the jollies. He was in it because he was a really deep thinking gorgeous person. And so we recorded this script and had a good time and stayed in touch.

And then, you know, every now and again, we just have lunch and hang out. And he, he, you know, he, we, in those days we used to speak on Skype, you know, we’re on zoom these days. It’s all very modern, but I remember I was on Skype in months and one of my kids, and they can’t have been more than four or five at the time.

One of the girls just totted in the background and just asking me, that’s a James Bond. And I’m like, yes, you have top secret mission. And Roger calls playing along, you know? Yeah. Top secret. Yeah. All the rest of it, just having a chat with Dublin seven and I’ve really had all the time in the world for him.

You know, I remember once he was doing a performance at the British library of Rudyard Kipling’s if I think it was, and popped in earlier on with [00:47:00] my brother to say, hi and fan. You know, he asked us for notes, you know, he was rehearsing. He said, give me notes. We’re like, this is ridiculous. This is our childhood bond.

And he’s asking us for notes on how he should do it. And he was just perfect in the performance ads. Of course it would be, but he just always had time for everybody. And yeah, he was, he was somebody who had had any, if there’s any fan of his listening, I can just reassure you that. You would have been everything you’d hoped and far more.

And he, I think there’s that phrase never meet your heroes. I actually think it’s flip it. You know, you should totally meet them. And if they don’t live up to the expectation, then they will never you’ll hear is in the first place. But he became my hero for not his acting. And although I do love his work, you know, manly haunted himself of wild geese and high Def amazing.

But it was because he was a good person. He was just a kind person that just carried so much water with me. I just, yeah, I do miss him. It’s it’s really, whenever I think of him, I always feel warm and, and glad that I got to know him a little bit, but just really just, [00:48:00] yeah, just, he was such a good force and the world needs more of that right now.

Andrew Sumner: I couldn’t agree more and how wonderful to be able to have and sustain a friendship with one of your great heroes like that. I mean, it must, must feel in the moment, like a kind of snap

Olly Smith: yourself moments. Yeah. Yeah. And some quite intimate times, you know, past, you know, some, some sad moments. I remember the day Richard Kiel sadly died.

You know, just, yeah. But, you know, as you do, you send your best and say, sorry to hear that. And maybe, okay. Roger was absolutely grief-stricken and just, you know, I had an all caps lock email back and it was clearly very you know, very moved and very sad, but you know, to be part of that small moment, you know, it’s a big moment, obviously, which kid was, was jaws and the bond films.

And and again, I was fortunate to meet him he’s he was, he was also quite interesting. So I found myself once having lunch right in real life, if there’s any bond fans listening, if you remember Moonraker jaws had a girlfriend called Dolly who was played pipes, and I was having lunch sat between Richard Kiel and blanks traveling, literally [00:49:00] thinking this cannot, it happened in real life.

I’ve stepped through the looking glass and again, they could not have been more genial and charming. Super kind about the whole thing. But yeah, th th there’s the whole kind of being able to meet somebody whose work you’ve really valued and then realize, oh, they’ve got so much to offer. It was, yeah, it was, it meant a lot to me.

It really, and it still does. Oh, how absolutely wonderful.

Andrew Sumner: I think it’s, I mean, I’ve only ever, I never met Roger Moore. I once loitered outside one of his homes because where I went and did my post-grad was in Exeter and there’s a beautiful place called Topsham just to the side of Exeter on the coast where it used to have one of his, one of his weekend homes, kind of lawyer as a student would take my time walking past his bay window just to see if I could see him.

But I did meet quite a few times who was named a massive Roger morphon was, was not a massive fan of a lot of people. There’s a massive of morphine. It was Tony Curtis and yes. Tony cases was a [00:50:00] brilliant interview. I interviewed him a couple of times, our breakfast with him once because he got to that point in his life where he just didn’t care.

He would say anything and he would be extremely candid. And and so he, it made him extremely entertaining company, but somebody about whom he was always incredibly positive and complimentary was was Roger Moore and somebody, he, you know, Curtis really loved working on the persuaders. He loved that entire project and he’s very, very proud of it.

You know,

Olly Smith: I think they did have a good. A good relationship. And I think Tony Curtis has, you know, has this reputation for, for whatever. But I think the feeling was quite mutual. I think there was great affection and I can totally see that, you know, Roger has just a very genial, you know, it’s exactly the sort of person you’d want to be in a, in a, in a collegiate situation with, and yeah, just, I just, just the little details, he just always kind of went the extra mile.

I remember, you know, once he sent me a birthday card that said, you know, and here’s to many, many more with a double low in it. Aw. That’s not going in the [00:51:00] bin. That’s going in my desk. I’m so excited. You know, I just knew it just knew how to make other people feel good. Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely mind blowing.

When I, when I kind of look back to it now and, you know, I ended up doing the tribute to him on radio to hosting that and interviewing his costars and family members and, you know, writing up a piece for the mail on Sunday, about him as well. I just couldn’t really believe it. And oh, I remember when I heard he died, it was, I was crossing a Haymarket.

On the way to interview. So Michael Parkinson for a dance with, and my brother who is another massive fan of Raj, just texted me and said you know, have you seen the news has ascended to the great ski Shally in the sky? And I just thought, oh, I just can’t, I couldn’t let myself go in there because it was about to interview someone.

And that was you know, so Michael Parkinson obviously knew Roger Moore and we’d had a little chat about it. And then that night I had to write the tribute for the mail and then it wasn’t until really very late that evening. I kind of really just melted into a, into a realization of what it all meant.

And yeah, it’s, it was a really, really sad day [00:52:00] for me. And yeah, I always, always remember so fondly though, what an absolute dude, you could have all gone to his head and it didn’t, that’s just the loveliest thing. He was just absolutely there for everyone just crack on let’s do the work and have some fun.

So, so,

Andrew Sumner: so wonderful to hear that perspective about him and mates. Well, I, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you to give me a few in the moment, wine recommendations.

Olly Smith: You’ve got to do it. You’ve got to do it now. What do you normally drink? What’s your normal template?

Andrew Sumner: So, so basically when it comes to, I’m a fan of both, I, when it comes to read on a big company, so many, I love that.

And when it comes to white, I’m a big shot and they, Nathan, you know, so, so I, I love,

Olly Smith: they love Shambley. Well, I think for shodhana and shabbily, I’m going to give you two options. My off the beaten track option is to try Greek acetyl-CoA if you haven’t already either from the island of sensory Guinea or from Crete, it’s basically quite a chiseled diamond of a wine, but it really reminds me of shambly different grape, obviously [00:53:00] different country, but really minerally soils.

And I I’m a big fan of Greek wine because there’s a lot of smaller boutique producers, a lot of organic production that don’t really have, you know, those great big brands that we know and love from other countries. But there is one I can recommend to you specifically that is for sale currently in an LV called Petra.

And it’s Hang on a second. It’s Aspro Petra and it’s a 6 99 and it is an amazing acetyl-CoA and I tasted it, it got sent to me by the the person who kind of backing it. And before it hit the shelves, I was like, okay, this is one of the great white wines of the world. And immediately is just needed to find out everything about it.

So I’ve kind of rummaged around and it kind of had an aspirin Petro label on the back and I’m like, okay, but who’s making it. And I dug and I rummage. And eventually I found out it’s this guy who I know at alpha state called loss ear treaties, who is there just a brilliant outfit. They are making some of the greatest wines in Greece and to find it on the shelves in Aldi for 6 99, Excuse me, 6 99, ASPE.

Petra. It is just ridiculous. I should send you a link so you can put it in the show notes. Please do [00:54:00] brother Tyler shard. And the recommendation is you’ve got to try English, English, Gardner. There’s some really good ones out there. As still wines, you know, everyone knows about the fairs, but in general, I think the still wines are gonna really come on in the next few years.

But I’d say certainly off the bat for your white wine. My top recommendation, ASPE Petra from Aldi, Greek white, 6 99. You cannot go wrong. Brilliant. I want to know how it was as well. So for reds, you like your Cabernet, I can either give you, I can. I’m very happy to give you a good cabinetry recommendation or I can kind of give you a, if you like having a child, that’s what I’m looking for me.

Well, I think so. Have you, have you drank many cabinet trunks? I haven’t. I do like it. Okay, well, we’ll move on because if you’ve already found it, you know, we could, we could spend a lifetime doing this. I think the, I think Portugal for me would be the place to go. And there’s the Douro valley is very fem support and there’s some very good Douro red blends, which if you liked Malbeck, I’d be saying we’ll try them.

But actually from a place called the Dao Dao, their red wines, particularly from Theresa nasty now are [00:55:00] absolutely stunning. And they’re, they’re not, I mean, 70 seven-year-old can be quite hefty. It can be fixed skinned and powerful, like a black currant cross with a rhino. But these wines they’re, they’re all about, but they’re sort of live as well.

So a winemaker in particular is Julia Kemper and she, she makes these incredible

Cabernet and you want to spend a bit of money, but not go crazy. That’s where you want to spend it.

Andrew Sumner: Fantastic, mate. Thank you so much. That’s brilliant. Oh, you’re frozen on my back now. Can you hear me?

Olly Smith: Yes, I can see and hear you

Andrew Sumner: again. Ah, good. Good. Yeah. You froze a bit. Well, we’re good now or we are we? Yeah, we completely interactive.

Ooh. Oh, that’s interesting. Yes. Okay. I’ve got your gate, right? Fantastic. So we are, we are sprinting towards the end of our time together. Now I know you’re. So in, in our, in our closing minutes, I know you’re a big genre fan or fun. How [00:56:00] about just name checking, some of your favorite movies and TV shows for me?

Olly Smith: Oh, that’s a lovely question. Said the Sopranos recently and you couldn’t find a less likable bunch of people and yet, you know, it does seem that there’s an endearing kind of a,

yeah. Perfect. So I’d say for TV, I do, I do love a, kind of a really good cereal. I think, you know, the Soprano’s I delighted in at the moment. I’m slightly obsessed with Alan Partridge. I think Steve, he’s got that nailed idea. I really like that. And in terms of movies, I can, I’m kind of old school. I do love Saifai.

I really love sci-fi. So anything, you know, blade runner alien or that, you know, I kind of get getting great German, but you know, give me Gil Gerrard, but Rogers in the 21st century. And I’m anyone’s, that is a great series. And the love, the movie that kicked it all off, you know, and [00:57:00] suddenly we talked about

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Tweaky is gone. Sadly. So I think anything Spotify for movies and basically anything I’ve read. I mean, I do love, yeah, I do love quite kind of grim organized crime.

Andrew Sumner: Me

crime is a big thing.

Olly Smith: Yeah. Like what was that? Railey auto. Was it called narc in that movie? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean any of that? Oh yeah. I love it. Love it. Absolutely love it. Casino, you know,

Andrew Sumner: Goodfellas. So I mean, yes, absolutely. Right. Great choices, two great choices and unflinching portrayals of violence and both of those films.

Yeah.

Olly Smith: Yes, I know. And here we are quite nice fellows, you know, reveling and just can’t get off the bus,

Andrew Sumner: watching people being baseball buttons.

Olly Smith: I don’t know why I can watch it. I can’t really watch it, but I do. I don’t know why

Andrew Sumner: it is [00:58:00] beautifully grim and a big heart degree from me. And I’m Andrew Sumner and I’ve been in conversation with the one, the only Ali Smith, what a fantastic art makes such a great, it’s a great opportunity to just chat for a while.

I honestly enjoyed it, mate.

Olly Smith: Thank you for having me. I just, any time seriously and will must have chicken. Oh, w

Andrew Sumner: well I’m 1000% into that brother. Well, take you. We’ll we’ll get it done for sure. Take care. Cheers. All the

Olly Smith: best mate. Loving it. Thanks buddy. That’s

Andrew Sumner: amazing. That was brilliant, mate.