Latest / UK Column Radio / Free Spirits | UK Column Interviews

Transcript

Free Spirits | UK Column Interviews · UK Column Radio

0:08
Speaker 1: Hello.
0:09
Speaker 2: I'm Charles Maddeck with a UK column interview and today
0:12
Speaker 2: I have with me Jonathan Marshall for the second time. Jonathan,
0:16
Speaker 2: very warm welcome back to UK column. It's great to see.
0:18
Speaker 1: You, absolutely great to be with you. Thank you, thanks
0:21
Speaker 1: for asking me.
0:23
Speaker 2: No, not all. Now they do say never work with
0:25
Speaker 2: children or animals. You've certainly chosen to work with animals
0:30
Speaker 2: and to inspire children. And whilst the moment is upon us,
0:34
Speaker 2: just tell us who have you got with you at
0:36
Speaker 2: the moment, right.
0:37
Speaker 1: Well, I have the normally very very well behaved Crystal who,
0:42
Speaker 1: for some reason another never done it in her life,
0:44
Speaker 1: but she's decided that she wants to chew up my tablecloth.
0:46
Speaker 1: But anyway, she is beautiful falcon. She's a jear falcon.
0:51
Speaker 1: And these birds are very very rare birds. You don't
0:55
Speaker 1: often see them, certainly you don't often see them as
0:57
Speaker 1: pretty as this one. And she's from Iceland or Greenland
1:05
Speaker 1: or anywhere in the Arctic, which is why she's white.
1:08
Speaker 1: But jure falcons over the centuries have been prized for
1:12
Speaker 1: their power, their beauty, and obviously when something's rare, you
1:16
Speaker 1: know it has a value to it, and so Crystal here.
1:19
Speaker 1: Being as white as she is, it makes her quite valuable. Now.
1:23
Speaker 1: She's only come to me because unfortunately her previous owner,
1:28
Speaker 1: who's a very very good friend of mine I've known
1:30
Speaker 1: for over forty years, sadly he's got terrible illness, probably terminal.
1:37
Speaker 1: So he said to me before Christmas, you know, of
1:40
Speaker 1: all the people I know, I know you'll look after Crystal.
1:43
Speaker 1: So she's been with me now since around about November.
1:48
Speaker 1: She's lovely. You are lovely, and she's like the jewel
1:52
Speaker 1: in my crown. I've got some beautiful falcons, but you know,
1:55
Speaker 1: none of you, look at it, none are more beautiful
1:57
Speaker 1: than her.
1:59
Speaker 2: She does absolutely stunning and I don't want to jinx it,
2:02
Speaker 2: but I mean she is playing along for the time being,
2:06
Speaker 2: so we'll capitalize on that. Jonathan, to those people who
2:11
Speaker 2: didn't listen to your interview last year, or indeed have
2:14
Speaker 2: not heard of you might still be wondering why it
2:18
Speaker 2: is you do have such a beautiful falcon beside you,
2:21
Speaker 2: just in a brief nutshell, just explain what it is
2:24
Speaker 2: you do.
2:25
Speaker 1: Do right, I'd basically do falconry on horseback display. So
2:31
Speaker 1: I have beautiful horses, I have beautiful falcons, and my show,
2:36
Speaker 1: which is called Free Spirits, has evolved over many years.
2:40
Speaker 1: I've been on the show circuit for well over thirty years,
2:44
Speaker 1: but I've found that my show has sort of naturally
2:46
Speaker 1: evolved because of the world and because of everything that's
2:49
Speaker 1: happened to all of us in the last I don't
2:52
Speaker 1: know decade. I've found myself turning my display into a
2:56
Speaker 1: cross between falconry, horsemanship and motivational speaker because I sensed
3:01
Speaker 1: a great need from the general public to have something
3:04
Speaker 1: to be excited about and to feel optimistic because of
3:06
Speaker 1: been so much negativity, so much I would say, public
3:13
Speaker 1: programming of everybody's consciousness by the mass media and everything
3:17
Speaker 1: else that we all know about, or those of us
3:20
Speaker 1: who are awake know about. I just thought, well, I've
3:22
Speaker 1: got a half hour sort of opportunity to try and
3:25
Speaker 1: give everybody a bit of light relief from all this
3:27
Speaker 1: negativity and give them some hope, and give them some
3:30
Speaker 1: optimism and make them feel good about themselves. So actually,
3:33
Speaker 1: I just did the Royal Cornwall Show and somebody asked
3:35
Speaker 1: me the very same thing, what is it you're trying
3:37
Speaker 1: to do? And my whole objective is in my half
3:41
Speaker 1: an hour. I want people to be elevated to a
3:44
Speaker 1: place where they float away from my arena, thinking life's
3:49
Speaker 1: absolutely wonderful, and the falcons and the horses are if
3:54
Speaker 1: you like the props and the instruments, and I just
3:58
Speaker 1: I'm the.
3:58
Speaker 2: Presenter, Okay, Now I am hopelessly biased because I've seen
4:04
Speaker 2: you perform a number of times and been absolutely blown away.
4:08
Speaker 2: Now and what I'm not going to do is make
4:10
Speaker 2: the mistake I think I made last time, which was
4:11
Speaker 2: not to give an example of this until quad a
4:14
Speaker 2: lot later in the interview. So what I'm going to
4:16
Speaker 2: do now is we'll just pause our conversation and we're
4:18
Speaker 2: going to look at your Free Spirit's promotional video just
4:22
Speaker 2: to give an idea of what it is that you
4:24
Speaker 2: are actually talking about.
5:05
Speaker 1: S S S.
5:10
Speaker 3: S S same name.
6:07
Speaker 2: I would defy anybody not to have been moved by
6:11
Speaker 2: what they've not just seen but heard. And it's very
6:13
Speaker 2: clever the way in which you did, and I think
6:15
Speaker 2: I should, I should absolutely say at this stage that
6:18
Speaker 2: whilst you are taking people into a different plane mentally,
6:22
Speaker 2: it's not fake, it's real, and that that I think
6:26
Speaker 2: distinguishes what you're doing from so much of what we
6:29
Speaker 2: see in the world today. But just I mean people
6:32
Speaker 2: will have made their own minds up about the challenge.
6:34
Speaker 2: What is completely incredible in the video we've just looked at.
6:38
Speaker 2: But how on earth do you even start? You know,
6:40
Speaker 2: you have Crystal with you, how do you approach her
6:46
Speaker 2: in terms of getting her to know? I say, do
6:49
Speaker 2: what you want her to do, but you know, to
6:52
Speaker 2: to use her natural will, her own sort of instinctive
6:57
Speaker 2: tendencies to create the effects that you do.
7:01
Speaker 1: Well. It's something that's very hard to explain and hard
7:04
Speaker 1: to describe to people who perhaps haven't got an affinity
7:08
Speaker 1: with other animals. But in some degree or other, everybody
7:14
Speaker 1: has a natural tendency to gravitate towards things that are beautiful. Now,
7:21
Speaker 1: all my life, I have loved animals and nature. That's
7:25
Speaker 1: my thing. I love animals and nature. In fact, I
7:27
Speaker 1: feel absolutely kind of like an addict if I'm in
7:31
Speaker 1: an environment like London. I had to go to a
7:33
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, and it's like, I need me
7:35
Speaker 1: fixed nature. I've got to get away from all this
7:38
Speaker 1: concrete mess. As soon as I get out into nature,
7:41
Speaker 1: she's going to spoil it. Now, come on, I just
7:49
Speaker 1: think I'm amongst things that I know and I trust
7:52
Speaker 1: and I love. I think that is the word, and
7:54
Speaker 1: it sounds incredibly old fashioned and incredibly cheesy, but it
7:58
Speaker 1: actually is all about love. It is. I don't do
8:02
Speaker 1: this with the horses and falcons and stuff because I'm
8:04
Speaker 1: making a fortune I wish I was. I do it
8:07
Speaker 1: because I love it and I've got a passion for it,
8:09
Speaker 1: and it makes me feel good and I can see
8:12
Speaker 1: how it affects other people. So in order to answer
8:16
Speaker 1: your question, I would say what I've done is followed
8:19
Speaker 1: me heart all my life. I've followed my heart even
8:22
Speaker 1: when it felt like it was the wrong decision. Legacy,
8:25
Speaker 1: my beautiful cult I've just got. I got him last
8:28
Speaker 1: year when I was not really in the right position
8:29
Speaker 1: to get it, but I recognized the signs. He came
8:33
Speaker 1: into my life at a time when all the signposts
8:38
Speaker 1: were pointing to me that way. The same thing happened
8:40
Speaker 1: with Amadaeus, the same thing has happened with her, and
8:43
Speaker 1: I just went with my gut feeling and I was
8:47
Speaker 1: sort of like motivated by wanting to do something. First
8:51
Speaker 1: of all, that was a kind thing to do, but
8:54
Speaker 1: because I love it, because I want to do it.
8:58
Speaker 1: Hopefully that answers your question. It's very difficult to describe,
9:00
Speaker 1: but it's to do with I would say, following your
9:05
Speaker 1: gut instinct. That's what I do.
9:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you do, and that that is absolutely instantly
9:10
Speaker 2: obvious when confronting you in your I would say your
9:14
Speaker 2: natural environment where you are actually performing. It was the
9:16
Speaker 2: first thing that hit me those couple of years ago
9:18
Speaker 2: when I first saw you. And if that heard you
9:21
Speaker 2: know the way you use music and all the rest
9:23
Speaker 2: of it. But I think to focus on love. I mean,
9:26
Speaker 2: first of all, actually I should reference the previous interview
9:29
Speaker 2: I entitled thinking with your heart, and I think that
9:34
Speaker 2: was something that you had described. I think it was
9:36
Speaker 2: something that you're am I right, it was your grandmother
9:38
Speaker 2: that had done.
9:42
Speaker 1: If you think with your heart, if it makes sense,
9:44
Speaker 1: if you think with your head. You know, you can
9:45
Speaker 1: be persuaded by you know, other people's opinions and whatever.
9:49
Speaker 1: And sometimes you know somebody who might be very charismatical
9:52
Speaker 1: or persuasive, a salesman, a good salesman. They can persuade
9:56
Speaker 1: you of something and at the time you get convinced.
9:58
Speaker 1: But actually, if you always what's really in your heart,
10:01
Speaker 1: what's in your The thing is whenever you say this,
10:04
Speaker 1: it sounds like you're trying to be out of the story.
10:06
Speaker 1: But but there isn't a really better word. There's no
10:09
Speaker 1: better Consciousness is perhaps a good word. If you follow
10:11
Speaker 1: your heart or your conscience, then it all makes sense.
10:16
Speaker 2: It does. Indeed, now I have to ask what exactly
10:19
Speaker 2: is Crystal following at the moment, because she is she
10:23
Speaker 2: is now, Oh, no, there we go. She was just
10:26
Speaker 2: having a go at this applecloth. The question really what
10:29
Speaker 2: I was wondering, And I don't mean to be trite
10:31
Speaker 2: or facetious at all. It's a really serious business, and
10:34
Speaker 2: that the element of love and how you use that
10:36
Speaker 2: in order to create these incredible effects, both with the
10:40
Speaker 2: horses and the falcons. But let's say with a falcon.
10:43
Speaker 2: With Crystal, where on earth do you begin? How is
10:46
Speaker 2: it you suggest to her that she wants to do
10:49
Speaker 2: something for you.
10:51
Speaker 1: Well, at the moment, because I've brought her into my office,
10:54
Speaker 1: she's thinking, oh, it's obviously we're going to do something.
10:56
Speaker 1: I'm going to get fed, So she thinks she's going
10:57
Speaker 1: to get fed. At the moment, lunch is currently defrosted,
11:02
Speaker 1: so she can't have it until it's defrosted. That's what
11:04
Speaker 1: she's thinking of. So I would say that there's very
11:08
Speaker 1: little love comes back from the falcons, but there is
11:11
Speaker 1: love that comes back from the horses, that's no question.
11:15
Speaker 1: But you know, birds are reptilian in their origin, and
11:22
Speaker 1: if you look at a bird's brain, any bird, but
11:26
Speaker 1: particularly a bird of prey, the part of the brain
11:29
Speaker 1: which is connected to emotion is tiny, but the part
11:33
Speaker 1: of the brain which is connected to instinct is huge.
11:36
Speaker 1: So they're all about instinct and very little to do
11:39
Speaker 1: with emotion. Of course, they get scared, they get frightened,
11:42
Speaker 1: and they get nervous, all of those sort of things.
11:46
Speaker 3: Crystal, I go on, I set let's bit the sort
11:48
Speaker 3: of out. Listen, you can't carry on smashing up the office.
11:51
Speaker 3: I'm trying to be all sentimental and emotionally. Yeah, you're
11:54
Speaker 3: ruining it. You're ruining the effect.
11:58
Speaker 1: Okay, I said, down, I'll get you something in a bit. So,
12:03
Speaker 1: having said that, with the horses, there is definitely a
12:07
Speaker 1: connection and much stronger bond, and that's because, of course
12:09
Speaker 1: they're heard animals in the wild. They form bonds, they
12:13
Speaker 1: form alliances, and they know where they are within a pack.
12:17
Speaker 1: So that's the big difference between horses and falcons. But
12:22
Speaker 1: essentially to create the effect that I need to create
12:26
Speaker 1: in my show, a lot of it and a lot
12:28
Speaker 1: of it is illusion. And what I mean by that
12:31
Speaker 1: is that when I get my horse to bow. For instance,
12:34
Speaker 1: I've trained my horse to bow because in the beginning
12:37
Speaker 1: he used to get a carrot, so he was bowing
12:39
Speaker 1: for the carrot. But the audience don't know that. All
12:41
Speaker 1: they see is a beautiful horse bow down and they
12:43
Speaker 1: think the horse is taking a bow because we think
12:45
Speaker 1: that the human mind when you see actually what he's
12:49
Speaker 1: really doing. It's nothing to do with being majestic and
12:52
Speaker 1: noble on all those sort of things. But that doesn't
12:55
Speaker 1: matter because the effects is the same. So as a showman,
12:59
Speaker 1: which is basically what I am, you know, everything I
13:02
Speaker 1: talk about and everything I say I absolutely one hundred
13:05
Speaker 1: percent mean, But also I have to remember that I
13:08
Speaker 1: have to present it in a way that people can
13:12
Speaker 1: kind of it's almost like a hypnotist, you know, when
13:14
Speaker 1: somebody is they do it what's called a deepness. So
13:17
Speaker 1: they'll say something and they'll say something on top, and
13:19
Speaker 1: they'll put layer on layer on layer until your psychologist
13:22
Speaker 1: get into such a state that you go under hypnosis.
13:26
Speaker 1: I studied hypnosis fifteen years ago, and I realized that
13:31
Speaker 1: what tim presenting to a thousand people has to have
13:35
Speaker 1: an effect in order for it to work. So if
13:38
Speaker 1: by using showmanship and the things like the bowing I
13:42
Speaker 1: just explained to you, I can then create in the
13:46
Speaker 1: audience a feeling of amazement. Actually, and when they see
13:51
Speaker 1: my folk and fly off so it's out of sight,
13:54
Speaker 1: and then it comes screaming in one hundred miles an hour,
13:57
Speaker 1: shrounded the horse's belly. People go, well, they can't believe it.
14:00
Speaker 1: It's like a magic. It's like something out of a
14:04
Speaker 1: story book. Well that's good. I want it to look
14:07
Speaker 1: like that, because what I want the people to do
14:12
Speaker 1: is believe in me, because I'm explaining to them something
14:15
Speaker 1: that I want them to go away and feel good about,
14:17
Speaker 1: which is actually that they're brilliant and they can create
14:20
Speaker 1: magic in their own way, not necessarily with horses and birds,
14:23
Speaker 1: but whatever the field they choose to go into, they
14:26
Speaker 1: can also create that magic and have the same sense
14:30
Speaker 1: of satisfaction and love that I've got with what I do.
14:34
Speaker 1: I think that explains what I'm trying to put across
14:36
Speaker 1: to you, but it's a really hard thing to do.
14:38
Speaker 1: It's a mixture between showmanship and I find that my
14:42
Speaker 1: audiences are already wanting to feel like they're going on
14:50
Speaker 1: a journey. In other words, they're leaning against an open door,
14:53
Speaker 1: and the best way of doing it is using music.
14:56
Speaker 1: I always go back to black Beauty and Folly thought
14:59
Speaker 1: and all things from our childhood, and straight away that
15:02
Speaker 1: evokes memories in the crowd, and they go, I remember
15:05
Speaker 1: that when I was ten and I felt, so you
15:07
Speaker 1: feel like you felt when you were ten. I've just
15:09
Speaker 1: recently edited into my soundtrack read Rum winning the ground
15:13
Speaker 1: national for the third time, and the commentator it's a brilliant,
15:16
Speaker 1: brilliant little bit of dialogue. He's saying, red Rum's won
15:20
Speaker 1: and after off for the third time is amazing. So
15:22
Speaker 1: it gets people in that euphoric state, and they want
15:25
Speaker 1: to feel in that euphoric state, which is good because
15:28
Speaker 1: there's so much misery around. There's so much negativity around
15:31
Speaker 1: in our daily lives that if they can escape to
15:34
Speaker 1: my world for half an hour and have float away
15:36
Speaker 1: feeling great, that's what I want to do.
15:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, I mean I can bear witness to
15:41
Speaker 2: the effectiveness of that. I mean, it absolutely works, there's
15:44
Speaker 2: no doubt. Also, you've just talked about your career. You know,
15:48
Speaker 2: they say thirty odd years, which absolutely spans I would say,
15:53
Speaker 2: a period that has fundamentally changed the way in which
15:56
Speaker 2: humans communicate with each other, the way they interact in
16:01
Speaker 2: many ways, the priorities in their life. And you have
16:04
Speaker 2: the privilege of first of all, having not been pushed
16:07
Speaker 2: off course because of your primary interest and loves in
16:10
Speaker 2: your life. But also you get to see the effect
16:14
Speaker 2: when people are put in front of the environment that
16:18
Speaker 2: you create, which is an incredible thing. And so we
16:21
Speaker 2: go going back to how you were describing Crystal's brain
16:25
Speaker 2: and the relationship between emotion and instinct. I mean, what's
16:30
Speaker 2: your take on the perceived changes in the human condition
16:35
Speaker 2: over the period of time we're talking about. I mean,
16:37
Speaker 2: is this just a synthetic change and actually people can
16:41
Speaker 2: be sort of jolted out of it by an exposure
16:44
Speaker 2: to something like your show, or is it deeper than that.
16:49
Speaker 1: You've actually hit the nail round in the head. It's
16:51
Speaker 1: a brilliant question. Actually, So I've seen a massive change
16:55
Speaker 1: in public consciousness over the last thirty years, as you
16:59
Speaker 1: have and those of us who've resisted, and I would
17:02
Speaker 1: say I've totally resisted, and I've been aware of the
17:06
Speaker 1: change as well for the last thirty years instinctively. And
17:11
Speaker 1: I think that is because I do work with animals,
17:13
Speaker 1: because the very fact that my colleagues are burden horses,
17:17
Speaker 1: so I don't get bombarded with the same nonsense that
17:21
Speaker 1: say somebody who might work in an office with fifty
17:23
Speaker 1: other people who all watch television new or watch the
17:25
Speaker 1: same programming. I'm not exposed to that, so it's not
17:30
Speaker 1: affected me the same. But I was also very aware
17:32
Speaker 1: of it. I don't know why, but I was very
17:34
Speaker 1: aware or awake or whatever you want to call it,
17:37
Speaker 1: but I was very aware that there was this absolute,
17:41
Speaker 1: definite attempt to change public perception. Now, it's no surprise
17:46
Speaker 1: that as we've become into this digital agen now, especially
17:50
Speaker 1: with the AI, that people are becoming less and less
17:53
Speaker 1: attached to nature, even some farmers. I mean, we've just
17:57
Speaker 1: had farmers outside and on these basically computers which we
18:00
Speaker 1: used to call tractors, doing all the work for them.
18:03
Speaker 1: Well go back on hundred years, and they were all
18:04
Speaker 1: doing it by hand, and they were plowing and they
18:06
Speaker 1: were throwing bails. They're now computer operators. So if it's
18:11
Speaker 1: happened in farming, how would it be if you live
18:14
Speaker 1: in the city. You know, people are removed from reality,
18:17
Speaker 1: from nature, and you know with this climate issue for instance,
18:22
Speaker 1: you know this week we've had rain. A couple of
18:24
Speaker 1: weeks ago, it was roasting out and everyone's going all
18:25
Speaker 1: the climate, which I've never known where they like it.
18:27
Speaker 1: It's too hot. Now it's raining. What's wrong with the world.
18:31
Speaker 1: Nothing's wrong with the world. It's been like that forever.
18:34
Speaker 1: You know. Our grandfathers would say, well it's raining next week,
18:37
Speaker 1: or it was hot this week. Weather. They just get
18:40
Speaker 1: on with it. But now everybody is obsessed because of
18:43
Speaker 1: the programming that they've been exposed to on this catastrophic
18:46
Speaker 1: change which is supposed to be going on in the world,
18:49
Speaker 1: while they're taxings to the plumbing eyeballs and using it
18:52
Speaker 1: as an excuse, but people aren't seeing what's actually around them.
18:58
Speaker 1: It amazes me, and I'm sure it amazes you to
19:00
Speaker 1: many of your listeners and followers will be in my camp,
19:03
Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. I'm astounded how people
19:08
Speaker 1: believe propaganda and rather than looking for themselves and seeing
19:15
Speaker 1: I'm looking outside my window. Now there's foxgloves growing. There
19:20
Speaker 1: was wild garlic a few weeks ago, there was bluebells
19:23
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago. In a couple of weeks time,
19:25
Speaker 1: something else will come out. It's all happening like it's
19:28
Speaker 1: always happened. So it's very very obvious to me that
19:32
Speaker 1: the media and the AI and computer world is completely
19:39
Speaker 1: to odds with reality. But unfortunately it's so influential that
19:42
Speaker 1: it's dragging a whole portion of society with it who
19:46
Speaker 1: can't see the truth. And it's very sad. Now you
19:49
Speaker 1: just said, how do you jolt them back into reality?
19:52
Speaker 1: This is how you jolt them back. In the interview.
19:54
Speaker 1: You show them something that's been going on for centuries
19:57
Speaker 1: that they have no connection too because their life, and
20:01
Speaker 1: they go wow. And one of the things that's the
20:04
Speaker 1: most important thing actually is I try to address the children.
20:08
Speaker 1: You'll have seen this, I know you have in my
20:09
Speaker 1: grad in the audience. I try and talk to the children.
20:13
Speaker 1: I say, put your phones away for today, turn your
20:15
Speaker 1: phone off, forget your iPad, get out of your bedroom,
20:19
Speaker 1: go outside, go and collect some tadpoles, make a treehouse.
20:22
Speaker 1: Go walking in the country. You live in Cornwall, if
20:26
Speaker 1: you're in this area, you live in the most beautiful
20:28
Speaker 1: part of Britain and you've got all this nature around
20:31
Speaker 1: you and you're not making the most of it because
20:33
Speaker 1: you're stuck in your bedroom looking at Facebook or changing
20:36
Speaker 1: your profile picture by using an app. Because people are
20:39
Speaker 1: totally self obsessed now, which is extremely sad, because you know,
20:44
Speaker 1: young kids have got all these insecurities and it's totally bizarre.
20:51
Speaker 1: I was at BlackBerry farm Shop yesterday doing a display
20:54
Speaker 1: and the young lad there, the grandson of the owner.
20:57
Speaker 1: He was carrying buckets around, he was throwing back, he
21:00
Speaker 1: was scooping up horse more really nice lad, lovely, lovely lad,
21:05
Speaker 1: like a lad should be. You know. He wasn't stuck
21:08
Speaker 1: in his bedroom Diny's air blue and all the stuff
21:11
Speaker 1: that they do these days, calling himself a them. He
21:14
Speaker 1: was a nice, normal kin and I thought that's where
21:17
Speaker 1: we should be.
21:19
Speaker 2: I can't imagine anyone listening is going to disagree with
21:23
Speaker 2: one iota with anything that you've just said. That you've
21:26
Speaker 2: absolutely hit the nail on the head. And I think too,
21:31
Speaker 2: you know, you've just made reference to the sort of
21:33
Speaker 2: tech intrusion, AI and all the rest of it. Now,
21:36
Speaker 2: the observant viewer will have noticed that behind you is
21:41
Speaker 2: not just a guitar, but also a couple of pictures.
21:43
Speaker 2: So the other element I would like to talk about
21:46
Speaker 2: is creativity, because as well as what you have described
21:51
Speaker 2: with your falcons and horses, you right, you paint, you
21:56
Speaker 2: create music, And this again is a really magnificant factor
22:01
Speaker 2: when we think about the way in which this sort
22:04
Speaker 2: of insular narcissism that's been created by AR is just
22:11
Speaker 2: such a destructive force. Now do you think it's coincidence
22:15
Speaker 2: that your passions for the outside and nature and all
22:20
Speaker 2: the rest of it are also aligned with your prodigious
22:24
Speaker 2: sort of outputs musically and artistically.
22:28
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, what is art? What is creativity? It's
22:32
Speaker 1: a form of expression, isn't it. I would say my displays,
22:36
Speaker 1: whether it be the falcons and the horses, my music,
22:39
Speaker 1: my art work, whatever it is, it's all a way
22:42
Speaker 1: of being able to try and express an emotion or
22:45
Speaker 1: evoke how you feel, or explain how you feel. And
22:51
Speaker 1: I love my paintings. I love I love being creative.
22:54
Speaker 1: And right now I've got an exciting project and I'm
22:58
Speaker 1: actually building a gypsy gypsy wagon. I've always loved gypsy
23:02
Speaker 1: caravans and wagons, and I thought, you know, I'm going
23:04
Speaker 1: to make one. So that is my sort of project
23:07
Speaker 1: for the summer. And whenever I get some time, which
23:10
Speaker 1: isn't very often, I do a little work bit of
23:11
Speaker 1: work on it and stuff. So yeah, the most frustrating
23:16
Speaker 1: thing now is that people go, oh, it's just a
23:19
Speaker 1: eye in it. It's so frustrating. I've been playing the guitar,
23:23
Speaker 1: Charles for fifty years. I'm fifty eight this year. Got
23:26
Speaker 1: me first guitar on my eighth birthday, so I've been
23:29
Speaker 1: playing for fifty years in August. And you know, if
23:33
Speaker 1: you can't play guitar for fifty years, you might as
23:34
Speaker 1: well forget it. So I'm pretty good on the guitar.
23:37
Speaker 1: But that wasn't an app that downloaded. Nobody said, eh, Jonathan,
23:42
Speaker 1: I'll give you the ability being but this in this
23:45
Speaker 1: day and age, you can you can download an app
23:47
Speaker 1: and be an expert like that. Same with the paintings,
23:51
Speaker 1: these paintings I was, let me show you this one
23:53
Speaker 1: in This is one of my peregrines, and I'll take
23:57
Speaker 1: her down to the cliff that's actually a dutchess now,
24:01
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of weeks ago that was a
24:03
Speaker 1: bit of counts and I got some paint and I
24:04
Speaker 1: sat and I did it. It took me a couple of hours.
24:07
Speaker 1: But unfortunately, as you probably know, you can just go
24:11
Speaker 1: on AI online do a painting of a folcon, print
24:15
Speaker 1: it off and anyone can do it, which in its
24:18
Speaker 1: way is great, brilliant. But for all the people who
24:21
Speaker 1: have spent years learning how to do it, I have
24:24
Speaker 1: to say, it's a bit of a kick in the pants,
24:26
Speaker 1: you know, because you think, the hell, we're being replaced
24:28
Speaker 1: all the skill, all the time, all the years I've
24:31
Speaker 1: put into learning this, and now AI does it better.
24:34
Speaker 1: And then of course people think that you cheat. That's
24:37
Speaker 1: really annoying. Oh you've not written that, You've just done
24:40
Speaker 1: it on AI, you know, so annoying And I get
24:43
Speaker 1: that all the time. But worse than that is the
24:46
Speaker 1: fact that as this AI such a thing evolves, what
24:50
Speaker 1: we're all going to do for a living. I mean,
24:52
Speaker 1: how many people are being put out of work? You know,
24:54
Speaker 1: they keeps out creating this many jobs. How many people
24:57
Speaker 1: are being put out of work? Photographers, artists, writers, you know,
25:02
Speaker 1: because you can just do it all in seconds. And
25:05
Speaker 1: I think it's brilliant in one respect, but really scary
25:10
Speaker 1: in another, because one of the best things about life
25:13
Speaker 1: is striving to achieve something, isn't it. You know, if
25:16
Speaker 1: something comes easy, then it has no value. But when
25:19
Speaker 1: you strive for something and it's hard work and then
25:22
Speaker 1: you get there, you get that sense of real satisfaction.
25:26
Speaker 1: But if it's all done at a press of a button,
25:28
Speaker 1: what's the point of being alive? You know. That's my
25:32
Speaker 1: feeling on it. Anyway, I couldn't agree more.
25:35
Speaker 2: I think you're absolutely right. This is it. The suggestion
25:39
Speaker 2: or the insinuation that you have actually created something is
25:42
Speaker 2: of course totally false, and therefore people are going to
25:45
Speaker 2: sleepwalk into lives where there is absolutely no sense of
25:49
Speaker 2: fulfillment or genuine achievement or indeed genuine knowledge. There is
25:56
Speaker 2: a constant requirement to look at some sort of a
25:59
Speaker 2: device in order to know what you're supposed to do next,
26:03
Speaker 2: and that's a very very sad route to be going down. Now,
26:09
Speaker 2: I'm going to shift the conversation very slightly by referring
26:13
Speaker 2: back to the interview that we did last year, and
26:16
Speaker 2: one of the comments on the UK Column website, which was.
26:22
Speaker 1: It would be.
26:22
Speaker 2: One sorry, it would be a wonderful thing at next
26:25
Speaker 2: year's event. I September twenty twenty six, it would be
26:29
Speaker 2: a wonderful thing at next year's event if Jonathan could
26:31
Speaker 2: attend and give us a display. Well, guess what, viewers
26:36
Speaker 2: and listeners, to those of you who have been paying attention,
26:38
Speaker 2: you will know that Jonathan is booked in to come
26:41
Speaker 2: to our twentieth anniversary event in Plymouth in September, and
26:46
Speaker 2: I think Jonathan, I mean, obviously I accept that not
26:49
Speaker 2: everybody listening will be able to join us for that event,
26:52
Speaker 2: which clearly is a great pity. But for those that
26:55
Speaker 2: are there, First of all, we have to put to
26:57
Speaker 2: one side the suggestion that we're going to be performing
26:59
Speaker 2: in or at least putting on the event in Reiling Countryside.
27:01
Speaker 2: Sadly not. It's going to be an indoor venue. But
27:04
Speaker 2: just tell us a little bit about what you'll be
27:07
Speaker 2: able to do for those that do come to the event.
27:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean I'm very excited about this. You're
27:14
Speaker 1: going to be able to see basically everything that I
27:17
Speaker 1: would normally do at the Country Show, except we're going
27:19
Speaker 1: to have to do it indoors, and I'll still be
27:21
Speaker 1: able to do it indoors. I've got a lovely little
27:23
Speaker 1: falcon and I almost brought him in when she was
27:25
Speaker 1: doing this tablecloth earlier. I thought maybe should just choose Loki.
27:28
Speaker 1: I've got this little Lana falcon called Loki. He's probably
27:31
Speaker 1: half the size of her and he's very agile. So
27:34
Speaker 1: Landa falcons are from Africa and they catch you know,
27:37
Speaker 1: small birds, diamond duvena, so they can actually fly in
27:40
Speaker 1: an indoor venue really really well. So I can do
27:43
Speaker 1: the whole show really with the horse or horses, probably
27:47
Speaker 1: one horse and the falcon. I can do all of
27:50
Speaker 1: the presentation that I've talked about, and actually I think
27:55
Speaker 1: it's going to be great. I'm hoping we might be
27:57
Speaker 1: able to have a great big screen somewhere because I
28:01
Speaker 1: can also then play videos of I've just done a
28:04
Speaker 1: video which I've sent to you, this one legacy my
28:07
Speaker 1: young horse running free, and it's all slow motion has
28:10
Speaker 1: made it's all very beautiful and lovely music. So for
28:13
Speaker 1: a long time I've wanted to try and sort of
28:15
Speaker 1: cross my show, and I'd love in the future to
28:19
Speaker 1: do some sort of like tour of theaters or something,
28:23
Speaker 1: because yes, it works brilliantly outside, of course it does,
28:29
Speaker 1: but actually, when you're inside in a controlled environment and
28:32
Speaker 1: you can use lighting and sound with live interaction with animals,
28:37
Speaker 1: it could actually evolve into something fantastic. And I'm hoping
28:41
Speaker 1: that our event in September is going to be like
28:44
Speaker 1: the first step towards that. So I'm actually really excited
28:47
Speaker 1: about it. It'll be wonderful.
28:50
Speaker 2: It will absolutly be wonderful. Yeah, we're very excited about it,
28:53
Speaker 2: and for anyone who is able to come, please don't
28:56
Speaker 2: hesitate to come forward and get one of the few
28:58
Speaker 2: tickets that is remaining. But also Jonathan will be with
29:01
Speaker 2: us for the whole weekend, which is absolutely terrific. And
29:03
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, the main point is for you,
29:07
Speaker 2: if this is a springboard into being able to effectively
29:10
Speaker 2: showcase what you do to more people, that is absolutely terrific.
29:13
Speaker 2: And also, to answer your question, the av set up
29:17
Speaker 2: there will be fantastic. So yeah, they'll absolutely be a
29:19
Speaker 2: big screen and audio and all that all that good stuff,
29:22
Speaker 2: so you can you can do that. But but I
29:24
Speaker 2: think the the other element to this is the it's
29:27
Speaker 2: just the in person nature of the event and having
29:30
Speaker 2: you as one of you know, several presenters and people
29:35
Speaker 2: to talk to over the course of that event. You know,
29:38
Speaker 2: this is where I mean, this is very much along
29:41
Speaker 2: the lines of what we have just been talking about.
29:43
Speaker 2: But it is so utterly fundamental to maintain these connections
29:48
Speaker 2: with people, to spend that time talking face to face,
29:52
Speaker 2: and you know you are again by by interacting with
29:56
Speaker 2: people as part of what you do, you get to
30:00
Speaker 2: see the most amazing insight into people's behavior, people's thoughts,
30:06
Speaker 2: people's reactions to what it is you do. I mean,
30:09
Speaker 2: that must be an incredible privilege.
30:11
Speaker 1: It really isn't is really good news, Charles. Five years ago,
30:16
Speaker 1: people thought I was a bit of a nutter because
30:18
Speaker 1: of my views, because especially at that point, it was
30:21
Speaker 1: just after dare I say the C word COVID, It
30:25
Speaker 1: was just after that, and I was angry. I was
30:27
Speaker 1: really angry because I felt, like many people, that this
30:31
Speaker 1: was a big attempt by something bigger than all of us.
30:37
Speaker 1: And I was angry, and it came out actually in
30:39
Speaker 1: my shows. And I realized this probably two years ago,
30:43
Speaker 1: just after I met you. Actually, I thought I've got
30:46
Speaker 1: to change this. I can't allow my anger and my
30:48
Speaker 1: frustration to spill out into my show because it's supposed
30:51
Speaker 1: to be very positive. So at that time, a lot
30:54
Speaker 1: of people thought I'd lost the plot because of my views,
30:57
Speaker 1: which I was expressing. Now it's amazing how I would say,
31:02
Speaker 1: almost everybody comes along and they are like minded. They've
31:07
Speaker 1: changed their view of what they thought to where they
31:10
Speaker 1: are now. Even my mother, who I loved bits, but
31:13
Speaker 1: my mum was like, oh no, no, that would never
31:16
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, that could never happen, They would never
31:19
Speaker 1: do that. Now she's completely yeah, she understands now. And
31:26
Speaker 1: those who are clinging on to what they thought back
31:29
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one really are only doing it because
31:32
Speaker 1: they're too embarrassed to realize that, to admit that they've
31:34
Speaker 1: been duped. But the overwhelming feedback that I get from
31:41
Speaker 1: people is how much they understand what I was talking
31:46
Speaker 1: about then, and you were as well, and they get it.
31:49
Speaker 1: So I believe that, you know, to quote this, it
31:53
Speaker 1: sounds like I'm just using old little kind of buzzwords.
31:57
Speaker 1: But society, I believe is waking up and has woken
32:02
Speaker 1: up largely, but is waking up at very very quick pace.
32:06
Speaker 1: How could they not. When you look at what's gone
32:08
Speaker 1: on around the world and it is going on, how
32:10
Speaker 1: can you still be asleep now? And I think many
32:13
Speaker 1: many people who didn't want to admit that the people
32:18
Speaker 1: like you and I were actually speaking the truth are
32:20
Speaker 1: all going, yeah, they were right. I can't believe it,
32:23
Speaker 1: but they were right and they're getting it. So there's
32:27
Speaker 1: this feeling that in a way that almost like people
32:29
Speaker 1: who were wanting to talk about the truth of things,
32:34
Speaker 1: they're actually gaining a lot of traction. You only have
32:36
Speaker 1: to look at what happened in London a couple of
32:37
Speaker 1: weeks ago, how many people showed up to that. But
32:40
Speaker 1: globally what's going on. How you know. I don't want
32:43
Speaker 1: to get too involved in politics, but you can see
32:46
Speaker 1: how the pendulum is swung from over here and it's
32:49
Speaker 1: definitely swinging back, and I think it's a great thing.
32:54
Speaker 1: I'm optimistic about twenty thirty. Twenty thirty to me a
32:59
Speaker 1: few years ago was like, oh gosh, oh my god,
33:02
Speaker 1: I can't beare the that Now I'm thinking, I think
33:05
Speaker 1: we're going to actually get this right. That's how I feel,
33:08
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of people are feeling the same.
33:11
Speaker 2: I think they are. I think probably at the back
33:13
Speaker 2: of people's minds is the element of being conciliatory, you know,
33:23
Speaker 2: bringing to the fore the love that you talk about,
33:25
Speaker 2: in order that society itself doesn't remain divided in the
33:30
Speaker 2: face of what exactly it is you're describing. Because of course,
33:33
Speaker 2: it would be terribly easy to overstep in believing, like
33:37
Speaker 2: you'd say, you know, the viewpoint that you or I
33:41
Speaker 2: had from twenty twenty onwards, or at least about what
33:44
Speaker 2: was happening in twenty twenty onwards, was not that was
33:47
Speaker 2: not held by the majority. It would be an enormous
33:50
Speaker 2: mistake for us to take the I told you so line.
33:54
Speaker 2: There needs to be there needs to be a coming
33:58
Speaker 2: together because I think the the element that's yet to
34:03
Speaker 2: work its way out is what to do about it
34:06
Speaker 2: and to create the effect. But certainly what would absolutely
34:12
Speaker 2: hamstring that is any further division. And of course every
34:15
Speaker 2: effort is made by usually or rather via the conduit
34:21
Speaker 2: of the state, the establishment, to divide people, and that
34:24
Speaker 2: is something I think we have to be really really
34:27
Speaker 2: conscious of.
34:28
Speaker 1: But I think I actually think that a lot of people,
34:31
Speaker 1: not all, but a lot of people now can see
34:33
Speaker 1: the attempts at dividing us. They can see it because
34:36
Speaker 1: it's so obvious that whenever things look like we're kind
34:41
Speaker 1: of uniting, something will take place, an event, even if
34:44
Speaker 1: it's a staged event, will take place to try and
34:46
Speaker 1: divide people. And I think people now go, is that
34:50
Speaker 1: really the thing is? Because again because of AI, you
34:53
Speaker 1: can't believe the thing you see. But you know, whenever
34:56
Speaker 1: you get somebody over there saying look over there, look
34:59
Speaker 1: over there, my instinct now is to look the other way.
35:01
Speaker 1: And I've been like that for a long time. I'm
35:02
Speaker 1: sure you're the same. But the media has proven itself
35:06
Speaker 1: to be totally utterly fake and totally it lies, completely lies,
35:13
Speaker 1: almost to the point where you think, well, if you're
35:17
Speaker 1: somewhere over the mark, you know, other words, if you're
35:19
Speaker 1: somewhere near the truth, you know, you get attacked more
35:22
Speaker 1: than ever. Whereas if they're not, they're not worried about you,
35:26
Speaker 1: they'll leave you alone because you think, well, we don't
35:28
Speaker 1: live to bother. But if you're somewhere near the truth,
35:30
Speaker 1: you get attacked. Hence all the censorship and all of
35:32
Speaker 1: the stuff that you know, you're not allowed to say,
35:35
Speaker 1: you're not allowed to say it because it's real. It's true.
35:37
Speaker 1: They don't want other people to realize it. And I
35:40
Speaker 1: think a lot of people are get sussing that out now.
35:43
Speaker 2: I think they are judged by our perfect behavior. I
35:46
Speaker 2: think Crystal is also an agreement on that particular point. Yeah, exactly.
35:53
Speaker 2: I know she's got to have an outlet for her rage.
35:58
Speaker 2: Let's go back to the animals, because you you've talked
36:00
Speaker 2: about Legacy. We will. In fact, I'll tell you what
36:03
Speaker 2: what we'll do now is I'll just show a bit
36:06
Speaker 2: of the video that you have sent me, which does
36:10
Speaker 2: show how you've brought Legacy on. So we'll just have
36:13
Speaker 2: a quick look at that now.
36:15
Speaker 1: Right, we've done the Royal Cornwall Show, and now it's
36:18
Speaker 1: time for Legacy to do his first public appearance. We're
36:20
Speaker 1: at BlackBerry Farm Shop. It's quite early in the morning,
36:26
Speaker 1: but he's good ever back. So I got him all
36:30
Speaker 1: lovely and clean and off we went and he was
36:33
Speaker 1: absolutely fantastic. He cantered and he bowed and he reared
36:46
Speaker 1: and he booked and everyone loved him all the time
36:53
Speaker 1: and patience and care and love that I've put himTo
36:58
Speaker 1: Legacy in the last year, he's really starting to pay off.
37:02
Speaker 1: He's rewarding me so much. Every day he grows, every
37:06
Speaker 1: day he learns new things, and he does it with
37:11
Speaker 1: just the most beautiful grace and lovely, friendly nature, and
37:16
Speaker 1: absolutely in love with him. He's wonderful. I had been
37:49
Speaker 1: quite worried about how I was going to ever be
37:52
Speaker 1: able to replace beautiful Amadas because he's so special. I
37:58
Speaker 1: just thought nothing is ever going to match up. But
38:01
Speaker 1: I can see in Legacy that I actually have got
38:04
Speaker 1: a wonderful, exciting future doing my shows with my falcons,
38:09
Speaker 1: and we're right at the start of his journey, and
38:24
Speaker 1: of course ama Daus gracefully watches on like a father
38:30
Speaker 1: proudly watching a son turn into a man.
38:36
Speaker 2: Jonathan, that was Legacy and how you've brought Legacy on.
38:39
Speaker 2: But I think what I'd like to is just go
38:41
Speaker 2: back a bit further, because the story is amazing, and
38:43
Speaker 2: he has been such an incredibly significant part of your life.
38:47
Speaker 2: Just tell us about Amadaus and his remarkable story.
38:54
Speaker 1: If I can get this story out of that burst
38:56
Speaker 1: into tears, it'll be the first time. Amadaus is the
38:59
Speaker 1: most wonderful, effect incredible, beautiful soul ever, and he came
39:04
Speaker 1: into my life about eleven years ago by accident. I
39:08
Speaker 1: don't believe in accidents. I believe in fate. It was
39:11
Speaker 1: meant to be. And out of the blue, I got
39:13
Speaker 1: a phone call. We've got this stallion. The previous owner
39:17
Speaker 1: has been killed. We're all fright at the stallion. We
39:20
Speaker 1: just won a home for him, and I said, without
39:22
Speaker 1: even thinking about it, I said all of it, and
39:24
Speaker 1: I sent to Laurie to go and get him. I
39:26
Speaker 1: hadn't even seen a photograph. He turned up at my
39:29
Speaker 1: house and he was like the most stunning thing you've
39:31
Speaker 1: ever seen, beautiful, and he went from being completely untrained
39:36
Speaker 1: and within a week I was riding him on the
39:38
Speaker 1: beach in Cornwall and we just got on. It was
39:43
Speaker 1: just like the glass slipper moment Cinderella. It was just
39:46
Speaker 1: fitted perfectly well. In the last ten or eleven years,
39:49
Speaker 1: Ama Das has brought me so much joy, and thousands
39:52
Speaker 1: and thousands of other people as well, because he's become
39:55
Speaker 1: the star, if you like, of my performances and shows
39:59
Speaker 1: everything else, as well as doing film work and all
40:02
Speaker 1: sorts of public events. I've got to quickly tell you this.
40:05
Speaker 1: I was at the Suffolk Show last week. A young
40:06
Speaker 1: lad nineteen. He said, my brother is terminally ill, twenty
40:10
Speaker 1: two years old. He's not expected to live much longer.
40:15
Speaker 1: Is there any way you'd be able to bring Ama
40:18
Speaker 1: Dais to meet him. He's in a hospice in Suffolk.
40:22
Speaker 1: And I said, I'm doing the frammeling. I'm showing August.
40:25
Speaker 1: I said, tell your brother. Oh gosh, I said, tell
40:32
Speaker 1: your brother to hang on. If he's got to make
40:35
Speaker 1: it to the twenty first of August, I'll bring Amadeus
40:39
Speaker 1: to his bedside. Now that's what we're going to do.
40:43
Speaker 1: I've got rubber boots that can go on the horse.
40:44
Speaker 1: I'll be able to lead him right into the wood,
40:46
Speaker 1: right to this young man's bedside. Now, remember he's a
40:49
Speaker 1: twenty two year old lad. At twenty two, you should
40:51
Speaker 1: be fit and handsome and the whole of the world
40:55
Speaker 1: in front of you, your life ahead of you. That's
40:57
Speaker 1: what you should be at twenty two. And this poor lad,
40:59
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but he's terminally ill.
41:02
Speaker 1: He's not going to survive. So you know, I can
41:06
Speaker 1: take Amadas to meet him, and Amadeus, I know, will
41:10
Speaker 1: be fab withous because we've done this type of thing
41:12
Speaker 1: many times and it will be a wonderful moment, a
41:15
Speaker 1: very very sad moment, but it will be a lovely
41:18
Speaker 1: moment as well. So I said, tell your brother, he's
41:21
Speaker 1: going to hang on until that date and I'll be there,
41:23
Speaker 1: I promise. And that's the sort of thing Amadas has
41:26
Speaker 1: brought into my life. He's given me a purpose in
41:29
Speaker 1: a way, because I'm just a bloke who does a job.
41:32
Speaker 1: But my horse has something about him. You'll know because
41:36
Speaker 1: you've met him. He has a presence and something very
41:41
Speaker 1: magical and I want to try and share that as
41:44
Speaker 1: long as I can with Amadas. And of course now
41:47
Speaker 1: Amadeus is twenty this year, so I'm thinking, gosh, what
41:50
Speaker 1: am I going to do when I don't have Amadas. Well,
41:54
Speaker 1: Legacy just out of the blue, same thing we've sort
41:58
Speaker 1: of dropped at my feet. And he himself was a
42:01
Speaker 1: skinny little foal. His mother had been wrapped up in
42:04
Speaker 1: barbed wire. She'd had to go off with the vectory treatment.
42:07
Speaker 1: So Legacy was brought up by cows and I've got
42:10
Speaker 1: photographs of him suckling from a cow in the field
42:14
Speaker 1: in Scotland and he was all skin and bone. Well,
42:17
Speaker 1: now he's the most beautiful young stallion. And he's coming
42:21
Speaker 1: on exactly like Amadaeus. It's like he's learned from amad
42:24
Speaker 1: That's why I called him legacy, because he is Amadaeus's legacy,
42:27
Speaker 1: and he's the future. He's the future for me, and
42:29
Speaker 1: it's the future for my shows, and all those thousands
42:33
Speaker 1: and thousands of people children and who've got Amadeus's storybooks.
42:39
Speaker 1: They will then have the next chapter, which is going
42:41
Speaker 1: to be Legacy. It's really exciting.
42:45
Speaker 2: It's very exciting, indeed, No, I mean it's a very
42:48
Speaker 2: emotional tale. And also, of course many more people than
42:53
Speaker 2: realize will have actually seen Amadeus somewhere before, won't they.
42:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean many TV shows, Game of Thrones, Lloyd's Bank,
43:04
Speaker 1: hold up far from the Planes, numerous pop videos, He's
43:08
Speaker 1: done lots and lots of stuff. But you know, people
43:10
Speaker 1: used to come up to him and say, is this
43:12
Speaker 1: the horse from so and so?
43:13
Speaker 2: Is that?
43:13
Speaker 1: And now they come up and say is this Ama
43:15
Speaker 1: dais So? That's a good gauge of how well he's
43:19
Speaker 1: well known he's become. They don't ask about what he's
43:22
Speaker 1: done or what he's pretended to be. They ask me,
43:25
Speaker 1: is this him? And I say, this is the real Amadais.
43:29
Speaker 1: This is him. So that's a great thing.
43:33
Speaker 2: Absolutely is a great thing. And the story you tell
43:36
Speaker 2: about bringing him to hospital bedside is incredible. That leads
43:42
Speaker 2: me into asking you about what you call your free
43:45
Speaker 2: Spirits Experience. And the reason that I ask about that
43:48
Speaker 2: is that you're very generously offered it up as a
43:50
Speaker 2: prize for our raffle for the twentieth anniversary event. So
43:55
Speaker 2: just give another insight into how it is that you
43:59
Speaker 2: do do this for people, how you create this incredible,
44:02
Speaker 2: incredible personalized experience for those that take it up.
44:06
Speaker 1: Again, this was something nice su to Flight thought, oh,
44:09
Speaker 1: this is what I'm going to do. It wasn't a
44:10
Speaker 1: business plan because I don't work like that. It just
44:14
Speaker 1: one day somebody said I'd love to see Ama daeis
44:16
Speaker 1: on the beach because I ride him on the beach.
44:19
Speaker 1: And I said, well, I'll be going down to the
44:20
Speaker 1: beach next Tuesday if you want to come along and watching.
44:22
Speaker 1: This person did and they filmed it and I said
44:24
Speaker 1: you want to have a go, and really, yeah, I'm
44:27
Speaker 1: a ride on him. And then someone else, you know,
44:30
Speaker 1: I'd love to see if your birds fly off the
44:31
Speaker 1: cliffs in Cornwall. I bet that's and it is. I
44:34
Speaker 1: mean seeing them fly, seeing them flight of the show
44:36
Speaker 1: is great, but as you can see, this is where
44:39
Speaker 1: we go. This is a near Crackington Haven Boss Castle
44:42
Speaker 1: area and it's exactly like that. So flying them off
44:46
Speaker 1: the cliffs is even more fantastic than watching them fly
44:50
Speaker 1: at the show. So it's easy for me to take
44:53
Speaker 1: a couple of people out and let them have a go,
44:55
Speaker 1: stand on the cliff and fly a falcon. Easy. So
44:58
Speaker 1: you know, I started to do one or two and
45:00
Speaker 1: then lots of people say I'd like to do it,
45:03
Speaker 1: So I thought, well, I can't be out all the
45:05
Speaker 1: time doing it because I got shows to do. So
45:06
Speaker 1: I thought, what I'll do is I'll do a limited
45:09
Speaker 1: number of days per year where I take you two
45:12
Speaker 1: people and we go out. They have meet and a
45:15
Speaker 1: day's riding on the beach, have a bit of lunch,
45:17
Speaker 1: fly a falcon, and you know, have a lovely day,
45:20
Speaker 1: something that they'll probably never do again, but we'll never forget.
45:23
Speaker 1: And I decided to call it a free spirits experience
45:26
Speaker 1: because my horse, my falcons and me were all free spirits.
45:29
Speaker 1: And I tell my crowd that they're free spirits as well,
45:32
Speaker 1: but they just don't realize it. And it's very popular
45:37
Speaker 1: and it is. I love doing it, actually, I really
45:40
Speaker 1: enjoy it, especially when you get nice people. Most of
45:42
Speaker 1: the people who come out are like minded anyway, so
45:44
Speaker 1: we get on. So yeah, I decided that for your
45:48
Speaker 1: event it would be nice to offer that as an
45:49
Speaker 1: optional raffle brice or however you want to do it.
45:52
Speaker 1: And I'll do like a voucher so people can come
45:55
Speaker 1: out on an arranged day, any day within twelve month
46:00
Speaker 1: period that you just pick a date and we'll go
46:01
Speaker 1: and do it.
46:03
Speaker 2: Right. It sounds absolutely magnificent, and I think the any
46:06
Speaker 2: shame that, as far as I can says, I don't
46:08
Speaker 2: think I get entered into the price draw, but perhaps
46:10
Speaker 2: I have a word about that, But no, I mean
46:13
Speaker 2: it's terrific. But on that on the actual performance side
46:17
Speaker 2: of him, and as I as I've referenced many times
46:19
Speaker 2: and will continue to do so, obviously, I have seen
46:21
Speaker 2: you perform and it is completely incredible and I would
46:24
Speaker 2: absolutely commend it to anybody who has even the vaguest
46:29
Speaker 2: chance of getting to one of your shows. But how how,
46:31
Speaker 2: I mean, what do we do now? How's the season
46:34
Speaker 2: been going for you this year?
46:36
Speaker 1: Really? But I mean it's amazing how it's really taken
46:40
Speaker 1: off this year. I just did the Royal Cornwall Show
46:43
Speaker 1: last week. Unfortun it was wet on the last day,
46:46
Speaker 1: but the week before this was my schedule. I was
46:49
Speaker 1: in Lancashire one day. Next door is in Berkshire for
46:51
Speaker 1: two days, and I was in Suffolk. Then I was
46:53
Speaker 1: in Cornwall, then it was back to North Devon and
46:57
Speaker 1: then had to go to the New Forest. I'm literally
46:59
Speaker 1: all over the place, so I have to be a
47:02
Speaker 1: little bit careful. I got to pace myself, but I've
47:04
Speaker 1: got about sixty to seventy events throughout the summer and
47:09
Speaker 1: I'm sort of like just really only just starting and
47:12
Speaker 1: I go crazy from July till end of September. I'm
47:16
Speaker 1: really busy. So probably by the time I get to
47:18
Speaker 1: your event, I'll look about twenty years older. But it's
47:21
Speaker 1: great to be busy, and it's also nice that most
47:26
Speaker 1: of these things come about through word of mouth. I'm
47:29
Speaker 1: not the greatest businessman in the world, and so I'm
47:32
Speaker 1: not great at marketing or anything like that, but it's
47:35
Speaker 1: sort of getting its own traction because of word of mouth.
47:39
Speaker 1: You know, you're the event at the event where I
47:42
Speaker 1: met you. I think it was Frampton, wasn't it where
47:43
Speaker 1: I met you?
47:44
Speaker 2: It was, Yeah, that's right, Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah.
47:47
Speaker 1: So yeah, we just happened to me and then now,
47:49
Speaker 1: of course I've done a few things with you, and
47:52
Speaker 1: so that's how it goes. Oh have you seen this
47:54
Speaker 1: guy A good friend of my guy called Stuart Barnes,
47:56
Speaker 1: who's brilliant showman. He does a show called The Sheep Show.
48:00
Speaker 1: And I just saw him as a key weed blow.
48:02
Speaker 1: I've known him for over thirty years and I admire
48:04
Speaker 1: him so much as a showman. He's great. And he
48:07
Speaker 1: said to me, he said, Jonathan, your show is one
48:11
Speaker 1: of the best arena acts in the whole of Britain.
48:13
Speaker 1: I said, do you think so? He said, may, I've
48:14
Speaker 1: seen all of them and there's no one as good
48:16
Speaker 1: as yours. I said, that's so so nice of you
48:19
Speaker 1: to say, and it means a lot coming from Stuart,
48:21
Speaker 1: because he's brilliant. A lot of your listeners followers will
48:25
Speaker 1: have seen Stuart somewhere because he's everywhere. For him to
48:29
Speaker 1: say that, I was very very flatted, So you know,
48:33
Speaker 1: obviously I wanted to be successful, but it's not about
48:36
Speaker 1: trying to make a fortune, because I don't. What I
48:39
Speaker 1: want to do is get the word out there and
48:40
Speaker 1: make as many people feel good as I possibly can.
48:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean again to blang the same drama.
48:47
Speaker 2: That is exactly what you do? Do you do achieve that?
48:49
Speaker 2: Now you've just struck upon on a really important thing,
48:51
Speaker 2: you know, the title of your show free Spirits and
48:54
Speaker 2: describing yourself as free spirits and trying to impart that
48:57
Speaker 2: on other people to remind them that is exactly what
49:00
Speaker 2: they are. And you're going back to this fundamental issue
49:03
Speaker 2: of liberty, which course is why you've mentioned it. The
49:07
Speaker 2: COVID period was such an incredible shocked people because they
49:10
Speaker 2: realized the degree to which liberty could actually be stripped away.
49:15
Speaker 2: But in fact, I mean, would you put it, perhaps
49:19
Speaker 2: that people do have much more liberty than they realize,
49:23
Speaker 2: and that in fact, just saying no is something that
49:26
Speaker 2: people need to learn how to do.
49:28
Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, we don't have to be violent or
49:33
Speaker 1: aggressive or rude or kind. All we have to say
49:37
Speaker 1: to the people that, remember, we give power to the
49:40
Speaker 1: people who lord it over us. All we have to
49:44
Speaker 1: do is say thank you, but no, that's all we
49:48
Speaker 1: have to do. Thank you, but no, we don't agree
49:52
Speaker 1: because these people who are putting all these restrictions and
49:57
Speaker 1: taking away all these freedoms, they're the people that we
50:00
Speaker 1: are supposed to represent us. They're the tiny minority with
50:04
Speaker 1: a huge majority. There was a great cartoon of you know,
50:09
Speaker 1: I think it was a load of sheep, massive load
50:11
Speaker 1: of shit, white and they're all bar and there's one
50:13
Speaker 1: black one stood there saying you're all wrong. And basically
50:18
Speaker 1: that's what we all have to do, you know. And
50:20
Speaker 1: the thing is because of medium, because they've got all
50:22
Speaker 1: the so called power or the illusion of power. They're
50:26
Speaker 1: very good at hoodwinking everybody into feeling small, and I've
50:30
Speaker 1: always thought, actually, you're not small. Everything this is getting
50:35
Speaker 1: very deep, but everything only exists in your consciousness. Consciousness.
50:39
Speaker 1: So quick explanation about that is if I die tomorrow,
50:44
Speaker 1: everything dies with me. And what I mean by that
50:47
Speaker 1: is it doesn't everything's going to carry on, but for
50:50
Speaker 1: me it's all died. So everything only really exits. Like
50:53
Speaker 1: I'm talking to Crystal, I'm talking to you now, Crystal.
50:57
Speaker 1: She exists in my consciousness because I'm aware that she there.
51:00
Speaker 1: I'm aware that you're there, but if I died, she's gone,
51:03
Speaker 1: and so are everything's gone. So that means that actually
51:06
Speaker 1: you are in a way master of your own reality
51:11
Speaker 1: awareness and because you're the only one can see it
51:14
Speaker 1: from your point of view, doesn't matter about everybody else's
51:17
Speaker 1: point of view because you're not them and they're not you.
51:19
Speaker 1: So I'm sure you've followed that. So the point I
51:23
Speaker 1: try and say to people is, don't be small. Don't
51:26
Speaker 1: feel small and insignificant, to know I'm only this and
51:29
Speaker 1: you were actually everything that is. You were everything that is,
51:32
Speaker 1: because when you've gone, everything's gone with it. So don't
51:35
Speaker 1: feel small. You know you've got an opportunity over the
51:39
Speaker 1: next how many years you've got life to experience and
51:43
Speaker 1: be as big and as amazing as you can possibly
51:46
Speaker 1: possibly be, you know, possibly be. You can do everything.
51:51
Speaker 1: There's nothing out of your limits. That's my view. And
51:53
Speaker 1: the moment you start saying, oh, I'm only little, I
51:56
Speaker 1: can't do, you've fallen at the first hurdle, that's my view.
52:00
Speaker 1: So yeah, we're in control. They work for us, and
52:03
Speaker 1: we need to just politely say no, we're not doing that.
52:06
Speaker 1: We're going to do this because we can. We can
52:08
Speaker 1: force the issue, we just need to realize it.
52:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lovely message, and I think the calmness
52:13
Speaker 2: with which you deliver it is critical because you describe
52:17
Speaker 2: yourself as having been angry a number of years ago,
52:20
Speaker 2: and many people will be able to reflect on how
52:24
Speaker 2: that unfortunately or fortunately doesn't work as a way of
52:28
Speaker 2: expressing oneself. But no, I mean, I think John, that's
52:32
Speaker 2: very well put, and actually also going back to what
52:33
Speaker 2: we're talking about with artificial intelligence, and I think part
52:36
Speaker 2: of the paradox is that, or at least for those
52:39
Speaker 2: that push it, is that the harder they push it,
52:41
Speaker 2: the more there's a reaction against it and acknowledgment exactly
52:46
Speaker 2: like you say that people are being hoodwinked and that
52:48
Speaker 2: they do want to find a better way.
52:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and I think that appetite for to find
52:56
Speaker 1: in a better way will grow as we get further
53:00
Speaker 1: and further death. Well, it's going to go one of
53:02
Speaker 1: two ways, isn't it. We're either going to be completely
53:04
Speaker 1: taken over by robots, in which case what's the point
53:07
Speaker 1: of us all being here anyway? Or we'll find a
53:10
Speaker 1: way of navigating it and reclaiming if you like our
53:15
Speaker 1: own power, which is what we should do.
53:19
Speaker 2: That is it absolutely is, And I think, you know,
53:23
Speaker 2: as we sort of draw to a close, I suppose
53:25
Speaker 2: I would just ask you to just just sort of,
53:29
Speaker 2: you know, dig into the to the reserves. In terms
53:33
Speaker 2: of offering, I'm not sure whether advice is quite the
53:36
Speaker 2: right word, but I think people will have got the
53:39
Speaker 2: impression by now that you live a life that is
53:42
Speaker 2: unbelievably fulfilling, both mentally and physically. And yet unfortunately for people,
53:49
Speaker 2: they won't be able to come and watch you perform
53:51
Speaker 2: every day, or speak to you, or you know, experience
53:54
Speaker 2: what you do. What would you give us a message
53:58
Speaker 2: to people to, you know, how to regain that sense
54:02
Speaker 2: of perspective and balance in their lives.
54:05
Speaker 1: Okay, just while I think about that, I doubt Elon
54:11
Speaker 1: Musk listens to your podcast, but if he ever does,
54:14
Speaker 1: I've got a challenge for your Elon. I want you
54:16
Speaker 1: to create a robot that can fly falcons and train
54:18
Speaker 1: horses and do a show. See if you can do that. Yeah,
54:22
Speaker 1: my message would be to people like that is listen
54:25
Speaker 1: your only ear once, don't put it off. Don't think well,
54:29
Speaker 1: one of these days I'll do that, do it today.
54:32
Speaker 1: Don't sort of feel small and rubbish about anything, because
54:36
Speaker 1: you're brilliant. You're already brilliant, And go and do exactly
54:39
Speaker 1: what you want to do, and do it today and
54:43
Speaker 1: aim for the top. That's what you've got to do, Jonathan.
54:48
Speaker 2: That's a fantastic note to close on. But before I
54:51
Speaker 2: let you go, just give the details of your website
54:53
Speaker 2: because I know there will be people crying up wanting
54:55
Speaker 2: to come and see you perform.
54:57
Speaker 1: Yep, brilliant. Jonathan Marshallshows dot com is where you can
55:00
Speaker 1: find me. I'm on all the normal social media's as well,
55:04
Speaker 1: Jonathan Marshall, but my website Jonathan Marshallshows dot.
55:07
Speaker 2: Com super And therefore just we close with a reminder
55:12
Speaker 2: that Jonathan will be at the UK Column twentieth anniversary event,
55:15
Speaker 2: which runs from the eighteenth to the twentieth of September
55:18
Speaker 2: this year, and go to shop dot UK column dot
55:21
Speaker 2: org if you have not yet got your ticket. Jonathan.
55:24
Speaker 2: It's been, as always a complete pleasure and an inspiration.
55:28
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for speaking to me.
55:30
Speaker 1: Real pleasure. Great to see you. Thank you. Charles.
55:33
Speaker 2: The UK Column is very pleased to have announced the
55:36
Speaker 2: first issue of a print magazine, a quarterly called The Column.
55:40
Speaker 2: So please go to Shop dot UK, column dot org
55:44
Speaker 2: to find out more and get your hands on a
55:46
Speaker 2: copy