Fitz in the Community - Ep.4 - Xmas lights and Snooker

Welcome to episode 4 of Fitz in the Community, this week Fitz is invited to the town of Lee Moor to flip the swtich on their xmas lights and goes up against Ray Reardon in a game of snooker, think he will win? find out by listening here or on Spoitfy, Amazon music and Google play.

Or read the full transcript of the podcast below:

0:00:02 - Fitz
Well, this is a very exciting moment. I've been asked to turn the Christmas lights on Plymouth? No Oxford Street? No Harrods? No. Lee Moor. Lee Moor have asked me to go and switch on their Christmas lights. It's a great honour, Lee Moor. I'm just looking at a map, er. Where is Lee Moor? Well, I'm on Dartmoor at the moment. Hang on, I'll just go and ask that sheep. Excuse me, he's wandered off. I'll let you know when I find it. Well, I was expecting 12 people and a cat. We've got hundreds of people. This is Lee Moor, and the lady who's asked me to come here to switch on the lights is Jo Jo, who's coming down the road. Who's the band? It's Saltash Band.

0:01:01 - Jo
Oh, fantastic, how many people are here? Probably about 200, I would say. And it's like this nearly every year.

0:01:08 - Fitz
Tell me, you live in Lee Moor. Yes, just on the road. What's it like? I mean, this is embarrassing. I live what five miles away? Never been here.

0:01:16 - Jo
You don't know what you're missing, Fitz. It's lovely. It's a great village. Loads of people here and we even get villages from shore prior and water here. We even get some people from Cornwood. They come from everywhere. It's very much supported this village hall from all over the place.

0:01:31 - Fitz
That's a huge village hall as well. That doesn't match the surrounding. It's massive.

0:01:37 - Jo
No, it is a big village hall. The story goes that the guy that built the hall, who was the manager of the quarry, built it because his son liked Badminton. Yes, that is the story. Whether it's true, I'm not sure, but that was what I was told. He wanted to play Badminton.

0:01:53 - Fitz
Well, to be honest with you, you could have elephant polo in there. That's a big one.

0:01:57 - Jo
And we do have Badminton twice a week in there as well.

0:02:02 - Fitz
And here come the Saltash Band. They are brilliant. Look, thank you so much for getting me involved in this. I've got to switch on the lights in a minute, haven't I?

0:02:10 - Jo
Yeah, you have. I'm glad you came because you didn't believe me, did you no?

0:02:15 - Fitz
I've never believed you because we've worked together for many, many years and I just don't trust you.

0:02:22 - Jo
That's fine, that's fine. I could deal with that, but you'll believe me now, won't you?

0:02:27 - Fitz
Just don't under me Switching on the lights on a podcast. This is going to work really well. Where's Father Christmas? Oh, there he is. There are literally 200 people snaking down the hill.

This is truly, truly magical. Thank you to Joe and all the team at Leemore for inviting me. I've now got the chance to go and switch on the lights. We need to do a big countdown, okay, from five, four, three, two, one Lights oh pretty, that is lovely, well done. Now that is some tree that's got to be about 20 foot tall. Who got up to the top? No, don't tell me Tommy, tommy, he climbs up. You climbed to the top of that tree.

0:03:42 - Tommy
No, I have been up there. Yeah, we use a tally handler.

0:03:47 - Tommy
Thank you so much.

0:03:49 - Fitz
I've been up there and it worked. It worked.

0:03:52 - Jo
Yeah, it looks lovely, if you want to be here when they're putting the lights up in that tree. They have a tally handler here for a day and a half putting those lights up.

0:04:02 - Fitz
It's community it's the effort.

0:04:04 - Jo
Everyone comes together.

0:04:04 - Tommy
The local businesses, all help.

0:04:07 - Jo
Yeah, yeah.

0:04:07 - Tommy
That's what it's all about. Absolutely yeah. Friendship, engineering and subelco and wherever else to supply all our equipment. We wouldn't be able to do that.

0:04:17 - Fitz
So much for inviting me. Thank you, it's been brilliant.

0:04:18 - Jo
Thank you so much Thanks for doing it. Thank you for all the best it's in the community.

0:04:26 - Fitz
Now, a few weeks ago, I got a text from an old friend of mine who stated quite simply I've just got a break of 100 at the age of 91. I've always wanted to beat my age on the snooker table. Who was it from? Oh, the one and only Ray Reardon. Come with me to Chirsten Golf Club. We need to celebrate this. This is known as Ray's Room.

0:04:59 - Ray Reardon
What a beautiful view.

0:05:01 - Fitz
Come over to the window. This is Chirsten Golf Club. How long have you been president here? 2001., what do you play off now? 80s T's Once. Just ask him once to be sensible. This all happened because you text me and you've just done a 100 break, haven't you that's right, I couldn't believe it.

0:05:27 - Ray Reardon
I never thought I'd make 100 again. I just wanted to beat my age old fully and over the last sort of 18 months. The age break I've made is about 70. And I was chuffed with that. And I was playing two weeks ago on a Thursday. First four frames didn't make a 30 break and then the first frame I made 100 break. Couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. Nobody more surprised than me. Honestly, I was absolutely amazed. I'm delighted.

0:06:00 - Fitz
And how old are you now?

0:06:01 - Ray Reardon
Ninety-one.

0:06:03 - Fitz
Wow, for a hundred break. Yeah, I don't know what's the more remarkable, actually, but it's quite interesting, isn't it really?

0:06:11 - Ray Reardon
I must be the only one in the world who's made a hundred break over ninety. Yeah, a ninety-year-old Perhaps. I don't know anybody else who's made a hundred break. I don't know many ninety-one-year-olds playing.

0:06:23 - Fitz
Just trying to think who is left from your I don't want to say age group- Nobody.

0:06:29 - Ray Reardon
I've seen them all off. All my school paths are gone. Everybody's gone. I've seen them all off.

0:06:35 - Fitz
What year were you born?

0:06:37 - Ray Reardon
Ninety-32. Eight-ten-32.

0:06:41 - Fitz
Minor policeman snooker world champion.

0:06:45 - Ray Reardon
Well-chambered champion six years running, 49-55. Couldn't defend my championship Because we moved to Staffordshire Because the mines expired. Why is that? I mean year. I was born and bred in Wales, 1932. And I couldn't defend my Welsh championship and then, when I was six years running from 49 to 55, the amateur championship of Wales. So I've been an international player for a long time, not so much like today. They pay to get in the professional organisation and that's it. Don't have to have any credentials of any sort. I mean to be a pro. In my day you ought to be the world champion or the amateur champion or you wouldn't be accepted, you know.

0:07:32 - Fitz
And you won millions.

0:07:34 - Ray Reardon
No, I never won a million. No.

0:07:36 - Fitz
I know you once told me how much.

0:07:40 - Ray Reardon
I've always wanted to win one, but no, it wasn't available. There wasn't that much. There wasn't that much money about it In my day. If you won 2,000, you're fortunate.

0:07:49 - Fitz
So how many times were you world champion? Six times, six times. And the biggest purse, as you say, was in the thousands. Not now, I don't know how much. It is the first one was 1250.

0:08:04 - Ray Reardon
Right, and as time went on it improved, you know. But it even happened in 73-74. It was no more than 5,000. Great. It started after that in 67, 68, 69, around about 2000. When would it have started to be 76, I would say 77? The money started coming into it. The sponsors came into it, there was more television, there was more tournaments, there was more players. You had to come in with Steve Davis and later on in the 80s and more television. So I won six world titles in the 70s, steve won his six world titles in the 80s and then Henry came along in the 70s and that's how it went, you know. Yeah, you were just the best of your age, sort of of your era.

0:09:00 - Fitz
Henry's records been beaten. No.

0:09:03 - Ray Reardon
It's equal now with Ronnie. Ronnie was seven, he's one seven. Now it could be beaten this year, possibly If Ronnie up to his normal self depends whether he's there or not. If he appears.

0:09:17 - Fitz
Well, you did tell me once you keep in touch with Ronnie O'Sullivan, don't you?

0:09:21 - Ray Reardon
No, he's okay. He's never going to give up. No, ronnie will play forever. He's born a snooker player, born with a block of torque in his mouth. I've been living in Devon for what here? I spent 18 years in Bricson and now I've been over in Torquay for the past 17, 18 years. So I've been down here a long time. I was doing it on the holiday circuit and when I came across all these sites down here, I thought I know where I'm going to go when I retire.

I'm going to go to Devon Torquay because I used to play golf here in between doing snooker exhibitions. Fantastic Felt in love with the place. What a wonderful place to come. Magic magic, Absolutely, Of course. You could be anywhere in the world actually.

0:10:16 - Fitz
The sun is just coming out over Torquay. As you say, that could be Monte Carlo.

0:10:21 - Ray Reardon
It could be anywhere in the world, and you go to the golf course. Of course, you haven't been out there, have you?

0:10:26 - Fitz
Well no, you and I have always promised we were going to play golf, and indeed we could have had a game of snooker here, but they've taken the table away.

0:10:31 - Ray Reardon
I'm glad to say You're very pleased to say. Yeah, you don't want to be ficking balls over the fork. You know you were made to do that now.

0:10:41 - Fitz
Well, I'm still playing off 28.

0:10:43 - Ray Reardon
Are you joking?

0:10:46 - Fitz
No, but I am. So what is your handicap?

0:10:49 - Ray Reardon
I don't know what it is. Well, I haven't got one now, but when I finished playing I was 10.6.

0:10:57 - Fitz
Is that such a thing? If you are good at ball sports, you are good at any ball sport. Yes, you average, you become average.

0:11:05 - Ray Reardon
I played football, cricket, rugby you name it any ball sport. I played it and I was quite handy at any of it. And then I fell in love with this game of Billy's and snooker.

0:11:17 - Fitz
And all on top of the fact that I know you were buried in a mine at one point.

0:11:21 - Ray Reardon
That's right yeah, that wasn't very pleasant. Now, roof fall, stuck there for three hours, couldn't breathe a thing. I had to breathe through my nose, otherwise I would have died anyhow if I had both of them left, because these particles would have suffocated yourself. So I played marbles with my brother. I got a brother 17 years younger than myself and to keep myself occupied. When I was buried I couldn't move an eyelid, I couldn't do anything and I kept playing marbles in my mind must have played thousands of games, marbles.

0:11:58 - Fitz
Is there one remarkable, memorable game in your entire career that still stays with you?

0:12:07 - Ray Reardon
Yes, one in particular yes.

That would be in Australia against Eddie Charlton again. I know we have a good pause, by the way, we toured Australia, new Zealand, everywhere together, and he came across here. I mean I knocked him out of four or five world titles. I stopped him for winning three in the final and he was in Australia, melbourne, nanawadding Basketball Stadium, and I'm playing him best of 69. Oh, that's wrong, 61. And I'm 20, 29, 23 down, best of 61. And I won seven on the trot and I won 30, 29 up. And then he won the next game in into 30 all.

And that's the one I remember the most because in the last game we'd had a couple of defensive strokes and suddenly I've made a mistake and I've left him a long ball. And I've gone in off and left him a long ball on Up with a pink and he was the best straight ball player ever known in the game, eddie Charlton. And this ball was straight, put the white inside the brown, tucked inside the blue and it goes into number one pocket, left hand black pocket. And I went to sit down because I knew that he's going to come to the table now and he's going to win the title. I think I'm barely mine. He's never won it. I was defending.

I used to call play again Didn't take it on and I walked to the table and I knew what was there because I'd seen it when I left the table. And, eddie, when now, instead of him sitting down, he was standing up now, and I looked at him and I smiled.

I've always smiled. I can't have smiled. I see the funny thing of anything and I can see the position, because if he possibly already wins the title, if he misses it he loses the title. And of course I polluted it and won the title. And when I polluted it, I heard his crash.

And I turned around and he fell on the floor and Eddie was quite a big chap, you know, he's a bit of a boxer, very athletic and I put my cue on the table, went to try to help him Because I thought he'd hurt himself, and I got him standing up. He said I'm OK, and then I went back to the table and won the title. How unusual is that? Who would have done that? Well, thank you for lunch today.

0:14:48 - Fitz
Pleasure I'd love to see you again, David.

0:14:50 - Ray Reardon
honestly, I know we're celebrating 100 at 91.

0:14:54 - Fitz
Should we leave it another nine years? When you're 100, should we finally go and get this game of golf? Well, I don't have a game of snooker.

0:15:03 - Ray Reardon
You know, you'd still beat me.

0:15:05 - Fitz
No, what I've got a chance there.

0:15:11 - Ray Reardon
Thank you. It was lovely to see you again, by the way. Thanks for coming.

0:15:21 - Fitz
What a remarkable man, ray Reardon A 100 break at the age of 91. He is absolutely fantastic, ray, we salute you. I haven't got the guts to tell him I'm actually colour blind. I can't play snooker. Listen, come with me. We're off to the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. I met a man called Angus Forbes. He and I are on stage talking to the Plymouth Manufacturers Group Now. Angus has well, an incredible business background and he's got some pretty blunt things to say about our community, the community of Devon. He's also got a pretty remarkable wife.

0:16:02 - Angus Forbes
I was born in Adelaide, south Australia, but I've been in the UK for about 30 years. I was in the city for 20 years on what we call the sell side being a stock broker and then the buy side being a fund manager Not a very good one, mind and then after that I've become an investor in consumer start-up companies.

0:16:23 - Fitz
How does the South West, how does Devon, actually shape up within this country of ours? I was speaking to someone last night who said this country works from Tuesday to Thursday and there's very little work ethic full stop. Did you agree with that statement?

0:16:39 - Angus Forbes
I think that's a bit tough. We've got a £2 trillion GDP. I think it's a little tough. I do think there is a tendency of a bit of skiving around the place and who doesn't like doing the Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, if you can get away with it? I think we're slightly lost our way as a country as to what we're doing, why we're doing it. I don't think we've really set ourselves new objectives in the post-imperial era. I think we have to get a little more intense. We need to work a bit harder. I think one of the great evolutions that's occurring right now is city-based. So the cities are getting powers and they're really beginning to find their own feet. So just in the last 10 years, manchester GDP per capita has gone from £39,000 to £53,000. Just in 10 years, the population of downtown Manchester has gone from 500,000 to 600,000. So that's really important that our cities really start pumping.

0:17:48 - Fitz
COVID. Everyone points to COVID to say, oh, that's why we failed, that's why this country is in the state.

0:17:54 - Angus Forbes
We're pretty good as humans as finding excuses, aren't we? Oh, my goodness, there's this thing called COVID. Let's use it as an excuse. But I think generally, people want to work, they want to improve their lot. Here in Britain, brexit was a big you know divider, temporary divider, but I think we're getting over that. Generally, that's beginning to disappear in the rear vision mirror and we have to get on with our work lives. So I think there are always bumps in the road, whether it's Brexit, whether it's COVID, whether it's geopolitical risk. What we've got to do is work harder and keep our sites up. Let's go for three trillion of GDP. Let's really push forward. I'll give you one stat which might shock you. In Australia, we have 26.5 million people. The government has already forecast the 2060 figure of 38 million.

0:18:55 - Fitz
That's a jump and a half.

0:18:56 - Angus Forbes
So, but they've forecast a 37-year forecast on what the population of Australia is likely to be and they're beginning to plan for it. So that is what I think we need to do here a little more. We need to say what do we want to be? When do we want to get there? Let's go for it. What I do think in Plymouth, from what I've seen in the 18 months I've been knocking around here and people, by the way, have been extremely kind and welcomed my wife and I very warmly I've been able to speak to a lot of leaders in the city and ask them what they think, and I think there's a disconnect between the ambition of the city and what it's achieving. So we have to work out how do we unlock the potential, and I think there is a way, you did mention your wife there.

0:19:47 - Fitz
You mentioned moving down here. Anyone would choose Plymouth, adelaide, adelaide Plymouth, sydney, sydney or London, or yeah.

0:19:56 - Angus Forbes
Why Devon? We got very fortunate with a company I invested in Australia and we sold some of those shares. So we got some money which we did not deserve. And I said to my wife do we want to buy a folly or something like that? And she said no. So we sat down and said we want to invest in the UK, we want to invest where there's access to water in terms of beautiful harbour, we want to have access to surf, we want to have access to lifestyle and a place where there's work to be done, and Plymouth was number one on pretty much all of those charts. So we decided to make it Plymouth and it's the closest thing to Sydney Harbour that I can get in the UK is to live here. I don't think that. I think it's the most beautiful harbour in Britain for a city state at least.

0:20:47 - Fitz
When you stand in the city and look out, all you can see is green. That's what, apart from the blue? But there is green everywhere, hills everywhere, wonderful.

0:20:56 - Angus Forbes
Absolutely wonderful. It's a bit like a theater. Yes, the sound is the stage, the hoe is the front row of the stalls and then you have the grand tier with Mount Edgecombe, up the Tamar, round the back of Dartmoor and then down the other side where it's also an area of outstanding natural beauty. What I think we need to do is match the built landscape with the natural landscape. We should make Plymouth as beautiful in its built form as surrounds, and that's quite easy start to make, because there's a half a dozen buildings, probably a dozen buildings we could all name that we wouldn't mind blowing up and planting 50 trees, and that is an inexpensive exercise.

When people make it down here, they labour down here. If I could be crude, three hours, 15 on the train, if it's on time, the A3-03 will probably block up and you'll be four and a half hours. So you eventually make it to Plymouth and you go gosh, the countryside of Devon's stunning and look at the Plymouth, doesn't that look fantastic? And you come down the embankment and then you turn into town. You go what? It just doesn't match the natural environment and I think we should aim for that and we will draw a lot of people into the city to live.

0:22:27 - Fitz
Well, it's lovely to hear a passion for our community from somebody from outside of our community, but you're now part of us aren't you Us is my favourite and we are us in my favourite words.

0:22:38 - Angus Forbes
One of we is the Cornish always say One of we.

0:22:41 - Fitz
And your wife. We should mention who she is and what she does.

0:22:44 - Angus Forbes
So I'm very lucky to be married to Dame Darcy Bustle, dbe. Darcy was a principal dancer of the Royal Ballet for 20 years. She was close to the youngest principal I've ever made. To live with a complete professional and someone who's incredibly humble and giving and was the best at her trade has been a privilege.

0:23:09 - Fitz
And has fitted in and loves Plymouth as much as you, I'm hoping.

0:23:13 - Angus Forbes
Absolutely. I must admit that I led which is very rare, on that, for anything in our relationship for me to lead, but I did lead her. But she has embraced Plymouth and the theatre Royal Plymouth is brilliantly run James, helen, bronwyn, emma and Co Liz, now the head of production. So she's extremely proud to be chair of that organisation. It's an incredibly good receiving theatre. Plymouth should really count its lucky stars To have a 1600 seats theatre in the centre of town that is recognised throughout the UK. It's a great asset.

0:23:54 - Fitz
Do you remember your wife starring with another very famous plemothian Dawn French?

0:24:00 - Angus Forbes
and it was the mirror, in fact the mirror hung out in our backyard for about a year, the fiberglass and plywood prop that was used in the Vicar of Dibley, an episode which was well rated for a long time because of Dawn's generosity of agreeing or wanting to be Darcy's mirror image, which, you know, when Darcy was already a principal dancer, was not easy to do. But you might recall, david, that there was also a farting duck in that episode.

0:24:34 - Fitz
Ellen Nguet's farting duck. Yes indeed, Comedy classic.

0:24:42 - Angus Forbes
So, yeah, that was so good old Dawn, and in March Darcy and Dawn will be on stage together at the Theatre World during a sort of live interview by James Mackenzie-Batman. Love his speaking David.

0:24:54 - Fitz
Well, our thanks there once again to Angus Forbes and his opinion on Devon, our community. Oh, look at it raining again. This has got to be the dampest December I have ever experienced. Where would you move from Adelaide and Sydney to come to Devon? Well, maybe our county has a greater pool than we think. Maybe we just take it for granted. Look, it is a beautiful community and in the new year I'd like to see more of it with you. Is that a date? Thank you.