... um, just I'm sure people wanna know, what are the differences even just between something like Microbial Mass and Mammoth P, considering they're both consortia of, of microbes, of bacteria?

Yeah.

Uh, it's a great question.

The, uh, you know, nothing but love for, for Microbial Mass and, and them horticulture.

And the reason I jumped on with that group after I left Mammoth late in 2022, uh, just because of some internal issues I needed a break from, uh, some of the decision makers in, in that group, and that's why the company was u-under some distress, was because I love the microbes.

You know me.

I'm a microbiologist by training, a PhD in microbiology, invented Mammoth P, had a really good time building that company up, Mammoth Microbes.

Can you explain that a little bit?

Remind me again about the history of the Trust so that people would know.

Well, 13 years ago we lost our son Kevin in a hit and run in New York and such was the support we got from the people of Newry here in County Down, that's where we're from.

They raised £150,000 in the space of a week to bring Kevin home.

And obviously it didn't cost that much.

We had this money that wasn't ours.

So a week after Kevin's funeral, we heard of a young fellow from carried off in Belfast had died in Thailand.

And so we reached out to his parents and said, we have this money, we'll pay to bring your son home.

They just do it.

Remind me again about the history of the Trust, so that people would know.

Well, 13 years ago we lost our son Kevin in a hit and run in New York and such was the support we got from the people of Newry here in County Down, that's where we're from.

They raised £150,000 in the space of a week to bring Kevin home.

And obviously it didn't cost that much.

We had this money that wasn't ours.

So a week after Kevin's funeral, we heard of a young fellow from carried off in Belfast had died in Thailand.

And so we reached out to his parents and said, we have this money, we'll pay to bring your son home.

They just do it.

But you don't actually... stepping away you're just restructuring a little bit is that right?

Yeah well actually I mean it has grown so big and it's really too big for the small staff that we had there was only for 10 years 12 years there was only myself and and A raid in the office and we're at a stage now where there are so many repatriations.

I mean, we have 22 repatriations on the go at the moment.

And last in June, there were 37 repatriations.

So it's just got too big.

for the small staff we had.

So we have appointed a new director of operations, Jamie McCauley, and Olivia has joined the staff.

Which is the biggest strain on a family? Is it the cost or the logistics of even knowing where you might begin? Well, I mean,

But you don't actually... stepping away you're just restructuring a little bit is that right?

Yeah well actually I mean it has grown so big and it's really too big for the small staff that we had there was only for 10 years 12 years there was only myself and and A raid in the office and we're at a stage now where there are so many repatriations.

I mean, we have 22 repatriations on the go at the moment.

And last in June, there were 37 repatriations.

So it's just got too big.

for the small staff we had.

So we have appointed a new director of operations, Jamie McCauley, and Olivia has joined the staff.

Which is the biggest strain on a family? Is it the cost or the logistics of even knowing where you might begin? Well, I mean,

The execs began to flee.

Were we prepared to lose money on artists over a period of time putting out albums that didn't sell? Well, we probably couldn't afford to.

We might have not have been very good for a band like Placebo, for example.

We looked for more instantaneous success.

Yes, we did, because it's very expensive keeping acts on the roster when they're not really s- making money or selling records, and you have to go into three or four albums.

It's the sort of thing you can do at EMI or Sony or even Mercury, but it's not the sort of thing that we actually could afford to do.

So, um, w- we looked for...

What was the golden period, do you think, of London Records?

Wow!

You were busy.

Yeah, so everybody in Newry knew who the Belles were.

And as soon as word hit Newry that Kevin had been killed, the whole town just went and south down in South Armagh, because they were very, very well known, Kevin was especially, and they went into a frenzy of fundraising.

and within a week they raised £150,000 to bring Kevin home.

But of course it didn't cost that and the week after Kevin's funeral we saw on the news about a young fella from Kerryduff in Belfast had been killed in Thailand.

got in contact with his parents and said, we have this money, we'll pay to bring your son home.

But the thing is, it's not that you're stepping back, but people might not realise this column, but like you were on the end of a phone any time, night or day for the past 13 years, even on holidays.

There were huge gains to be had if you knew how to shift units.

It's very different now, of course, marketing.

Uh, marketing w- well, there were two aspects of marketing.

One was the sheer distributional aspect of it, which is getting the records in the shops and making sure you had enough records in the shops.

And traditional old-fashioned marketing put a great emphasis on things like point of sale material.

You get it in the shops, you put the posters up, that's it.

But in actual fact, by the time we got to the arrival of t- music on television, marketing became very much about photographs and imaging.

And of course it worked.

And but you were absolutely drawn to Bronski Beat and The Communards, and it was almost like a realization like, "Oh, there's something out here that might be for me, and maybe this is me." You know? It was kind of amazing, really.

We were always looking for the idea, you know? I mean, the concept of this man with a high singing voice, with a political agenda, who was totally anti-image and, and not prepared to compromise was as unique a concept as Boy George being glamorous and saying, "Oh, I only cu- take cups of tea.

I'm not gay," and all that stuff, you know? But Jimmy, Jimmy c- came from a really political background, you know, Glasgow streets and, and, and was a, was a f- was a fighter and was not going to compromise on the political message.

It was at least as important to him as a, as, as, as being a successful pop star.

And I say that with great care because I do know ...

I used to say to him, "Jimmy, I know all that, Jimmy.

But deep down, you also want to be Shirley Bassey" Right? At which point he would look to me and laugh.

One of the things about Smalltown Boy was the video.

And we want to find out from you today what it takes to fly into hell, and most importantly, what it takes to come home again.

I'd simply say that it was a job to be done.

We had to defeat the Germans because they had some very nasty plans of what they were going to do over here if they ever subjugated us.

You just had to get on and do it.

It didn't help to have too much imagination.

I always remember that Sailor Malan, who was a Battle of Britain pilot, a very experienced Battle of Britain pilot, he said that in his experience, survivors were those possessed of not too much imagination.

Fear kills, and, um, so it's not in my nature, uh, to be fearful.

Well, tell us then about that night in September 1944 over Emden.

And I think Colin tonight will explain to us, I hope, as somebody who's fought a war, what it means to him and why he believes it's important.

Why does...

What does it mean to me? Well, I think the first thing to bear in mind is that we were fighting a war for survival.

Uh, the Germans had some very, very nasty plans afoot if they ever came over and subjugated us.

So the first credit goes to the fighters of, uh, in, in the Battle of Britain, the heroes in the Battle of Britain that defeated the Luftwaffe.

Uh, if they hadn't defeated the Luftwaffe, then we'd have had the Germans over here.

And a very nasty experience it would have been, too.

You know the story about the Canadian guy who was very scared and you went and tried to, to make him feel better about his first raid?