Shropshire comedy legend Greg Davies has paid a warm tribute to his family in his interview on Desert Island Discs.
The Wem comedian was the latest to appear on the BBC’s most famous interview programme where guests pick out their favourite music, book and luxury item to take to a desert island.
In the interview Greg revealed that his father had driven his mother across the border in the dream that he could one day be an international rugby player.
“There was a hospital seven miles down the road, but he drove her 45 miles… in a hugely unreliable 1960s car, across the border into St Asaph – just to make sure I was Welsh,” said Greg.
“He was a very proud Welshman and a rugby obsessive.
“When I was about 12, my dad begged me to go to a rugby club just for a Sunday practice, just to see if I liked it.
“We pulled into the car park of the rugby club, I started crying, he drove me home, and that's the end of my international career.
“I remember him shaking his head in quite a sweet way and going, ‘We'll go home, love.’”
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However he said that his dad had been a huge inspiration as “a sensationally silly man” recounting a time during a game of hide and seek where he barricaded himself in his bedroom – “I remember shouting, ‘This is ridiculous!’
“I got into bed and I leant over to turn the bedside light off, and my dad was lying in the gap between the bed and the wall with this awful expression on his face like a ghoul. And I screamed, I don't think I've ever screamed that much. And then everyone came in and laughed.”
He also paid tribute to his mum as “a naturally funny woman” and
“She's remarkably thoughtful about the universe and life,” said Greg . “ I love hanging out with her and I'm glad I've said it on Desert Island Discs.”
Greg also had two firsts in his interview. He was the first guest to choose the Leeds group Yard Act as one of his discs and was the first guest in nearly eight decades to choose sausages as their luxury item.
“In many ways I'd like to be a vegetarian, but to me… there's never a situation that isn't improved by a sausage,” added Greg. “Just bog standard – I don't want my sausages cut with anything, OK? I don't want them to put fenugreek in it. I want some cheap straight sausages. That's all I want. I'm a very simple man in my ways. I like the occasional sausage.”
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