Family Life and Final Choices

Hello, I'm Lauren Verne and this is the Desert Island Discks podcast from BBC Radio four. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book, and luxury that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. For rights reasons, the music's shorter than on the original broadcast, but you can find a version with longer music tracks on BBC sounds. Listeners will also get access to episodes twenty eight days earlier than everyone else. I hope you enjoy listening One castaway this week is the TV presenter and former motorcycle racer Guy Martin. On the track, he achieved seventeen podium finishes at the Isle of Man TT races, one of the most prestigious and dangerous motorcycling events in the world. Along the way, he's survived numerous spectacular crashes. He's also set seven speed records, including Fastest on a Wall of Death in a soapbx and on a tractor. On screen, he's the hugely popular host of programs that bring together his fascination with engineering, history, and his daredevil nature. We've seen him build a replica arrmy tank from scratch, train with the Royal Marines in the Arctic Circle, and learn the skills of trawlermen and firefighters. He's also the author of six hit books about his life and adventures None of this, however, is his main occupation. He is, he insists, a mechanic first and foremost. He was born and brought up near Grimsby. He's been working with engines since he was twelve, and he's never given up the day job despite his success. His next escapade comes second to a busy MOT season He says, I like a bit of danger I haven't got a death wish, but it makes things exciting, doesn't it I guess I'd like to see how close I can come to death without actually dying Gai Mart and welcome to Desert Island Discs sounds half interesting, han't it? I've been quite busy. D all, thanks very much for having us. Well you've ped it in. We've got a lot to talk about. Guy, you retired from racing quite a while ago now. Where do you get your hit of danger these days day to day Where do I start? It's never stopps And I am looking forward to the day when I can get up in the morning and I'm just happy doing not a lot But I can't see that day coming anytime soon So su just since The racing stops Yeah, be getting on for ort of a professional if that was ten years ago that all stops. and then that because I got bored It wasn't Interestingly, I was riding round on these motorbike races Im thinking, what am I gonna have for me tea? What's happening at work? And I just thought right, somethingomet needs to happen here. If I'm not fully concentrating on what I'm doing I'm going end up you say you can end up with a wooden top. You know what I mean? End up in the bottom lid this? End up with a coffin lid? Yeah. So anyway I have found things since then. to grab me my attention. I w Oh my word, I've been building this motorbike for I'm six years into this project It's an all browod thing and I'm trying to go fast, but really the eventual goal is to do three hundred mile an hour and a standing mile and I'm six yearsible Um But it's as much of a science experiment as it is a hunt for adrenaline What does it feel like to go that fast to be going up two hundred and eighty odd miles an hour I go to a speed event and I have a good raw and everything goes well. I do two hundred seventy two eight miles an hour. And I'm not I genuinely do not sleep for two days Just the rush is like nothing I have ever experienced before No matter how extreme the road racing was does not come up to the knees of mile racing. It is like nothing else. And what about fear? I mean, you know and it sounds like you were very calm in the eye of the storm when you're actually racing. Is that fair to say? Were you ever frightened Yeah, and I think that was the original Balls was fear and When it's not scaring you, I think we have a problem because if you're not scared, then your mind starts to wander and that's when things can go wrong. So what I do now scares the living daylights out of me and that grabs my attention. So as it is, that's what I'm going to keep doing You once described yourself as good at crashing, which I really lik I'm a fair and yeah. I'm a fair and I know Yeah, if it's going wrong, get away from the bike and relax, let it happen. And that yeah, I've got away fairly lightly. What do you mean relax? like as you as you' mid aair essentially, trying not to tense up. is that what you mean? That's just that, justust that, J just that I mean the bike chucks you off and you can see roofs of the vans in the pits, you think. Oh. This is going to hurt, but just let it happen, D't fight against it and then I've got away quite lucky Over time, man, I've got lots of nuts and bolts and screws and plates in me, but I'm all right, man, I'm still here Allright guys, it's time to get into your music today. I know you are a huge music fan. What's your first choice? This is Alabama three Bamamam Make Michael Bill, right? that sponsoring is a bit a legend of a bloke is a legend of a bloke and always a man for wise calm words in awkward situations. Okay. So if I've ever had something a bit tricky, it always just without getting emotional about anything Yeahah, he's being a great man for wise words and he got me to my first Alabama three kick This song is massive standout because they came and they did a gig in Grimsby. Yeah and there was two hours late coming on stage and the place was going wild Yeah, this was just a standout song Iegitimate baby Yeah. born a long time ago, to that call b. B no thing name me. The devil tried to call me crazily. Could you still a chance standing in my shoes W get my phone side Alabama three featuring Aurora Dawn with Bamalam. hereere comes Daddy. So Guy Martin, let's go back to the beginning for yourselfe. Well you were born in Grimsby, nineteen eighty one and you grew up in the nearby village of Cirmington. You're the second of four and I know that you credit your mum and dad Rita and Ian with teaching you your work How did they do it Well, that's all we ever knew as kids I've got an older sister. Younger brother, younger sister And that's all we ever knew, right? Did't say that much of dad. Great dad, but it just works work get on from work at seven or eight o'clock fall asleep watching the news with his newspaper on him, eating his tea And mean mum was only the same. she brought the kids up And while we was all at school she would go out picking tates and then back home and make a tea and then when We were all at school And we're all grown up a bit. she went off and trained to become a nurse. you know what I mean? there was a b This never stopped, your mum. No, she had An interesting upbringing brothers, a dad Walter, Walter Kidols. He was Latvian and came over to England on the way to Canada after the Second World War. It was in and it sounds bad when it was in the WaFNS. He was conscripted, right? Yeah, conscripted. Any Latvian conscripts was automatically assumed as WAFNSS and that's why it was Yeah, so after the After the Second World War, he was on his way to Canada, I think and then stopped in Hall on the way there and then met me Graham Lil. Yeah, and then that's where it all started from there. So you said your mum had quite an unusual upbringing, so quite kind of no nonsense, quite tough from what I've heard, what I've read. Yeah, just, I mean is this one She was to telling she was a kid she Um, pet rabbits, you know I mean? because Walter loved to have cheatating pets all for. it turns out for eating, me mum had a pet rabbit and she gets home from school and says Find me rabbit, whereere's my rabbit?? A dad said, you're eating it and that sort of Okay And that sort of how she was brought up and then we've all Yeah, she's a good person, but No emotion. it sounds bad, but no when we were kids. Yeahah, I think in later life we've probably all struggled So that were all a bit different That kind of physical kind of touch and that didn't you didn't learn the language of that as a little kid. you No Yeah. No, we never did. Light now I've got a daughter and I think try and learn from Bill Words. But then I look back like she was she used to get a spaghetti measure and a wooden spoon and tanner back sides. You know what I mean? That was a great, I put discipline and that's frowned upon now, isn't it? And I think Yeah, don't want that dught I don't want that for my daughter. I just think Maybe not stern words, just Wds pololice are not Wooden spoons Yeah, so you're having the conversation instead of Yeah, my daughter, she's eight year old. so she's not quite Yeah, she's cheeky, she definitely ts after me I could get dead. You' Yeah, because I mean my mom she was a great mother. She was a great but J' strict. D mess with it door mess with it And what kind of dad are you then? How would you describe your parenting style? A struggle A struggle don't come naturally I look at mates to mine kids and they there loving the great and I really have to try and I really like kiss out and just to give her a cuddle does not come natural to me and I really have to try and I do try, I really do try. Yeah, I just ye Let's have some more music Gy Martin, your second choice today. What have you gone for Testify rage against the machine Kosov The last few lines in the song, right? Nineeen eighty four, George Owell, I read that book year ago, rightight? And I'm I'm not a much of an academic type at all really I don't know why. I just got into reading the boooks and I just I spnd a lot of time in track, spend a lot of time driving and listening to Rad against machine and just the words from the end of that. I thought, hang on I know those words He who controls the past controls the future He who controls the present controls the past I thought I've heard that before. and I know where I've heard that. I've read it in nineteen eighty four. Yeah, they're just sort of simple words but yet so so meaningful. . Rge against the machine and testify. So Gy Martin, we've heard about you your mum. tellell us a bit more about your dad, Ian. He was a motorbike racer himself when you were growing up What kind of competitions did he take part in? My dad What a boy. Ian Martin, yeah. U Yeahah, he raced and we're going live out of a caravan for a weekend He knew that there was compromises to family life when you race motorbikes. So that's why you never encouraged me as a kid to go and race motelbacks. He thought it would take too much away from the rest of your life. Yeah, ye, you just once you get addicted to it, that's it. because he loved it and he'd go and race British Championship and then he'd go do that he'd be away for two weeks and go and race the TT.. And then yeah Was he successful? He must have been quite successful. He was all right Yeah It was all right. Yeah, he got on all right. Always the older He got the faster he was. You When he's looking back you mean? Yeah. ye. The addiction of motor bikes. And he was what was called a privateer, your dad. What's a privateer? Yeah, you just only his own motor bike. put it in the back of his van and went and wrisk. D didn't ride for a team. just did his own thing, funded himself. He had a few mates that helped him, a few mates that would go with him. And that's all I grew up hearing the stories. Yeah. So he worked as a mechanic, your dad on Lorries, you know, like you do. You went to work with him quite often when you were little, I think. Yeah. What did you learn from him I've been doing it this way for forty years, That's the way it's done, but I learned some of my dad learn something of my dad J' very meticulous in the way that he does things. very much stuck in his ways, but he was yeah just as a kid building his motorikes. He'd let me sit on his bench in the shed while he was building his motorikes In't alled to say anything. I could sit on this sh just watch him. J Fascinated by how things work What's going on And then that's sort of a evolved to going to work with him Yeah when I was twelve year old. So yeah, what were the first engines that caught your eye when that started to happen? becausecause it was such an early interest for you Oh I stied, young guys stied Oh my word, I've been about seven year old started building lawmar engines And then folks from around the village give me their old ong, I was to rebild I just fascinated by taking them to bits and getting them running And then I got into this obsession, we're trying to blow them up I used to drill bits of there. So if you couldn't fix it, you would blow it up, would you? I used to fix it, get it running, get it running and then try and take bits out of the engine until I get it to blow up lightning bits and polishing bits and just o I love destruction Just yeah, I just love blowing stuff up. Yeah, pushing stuff to the limit. That's where it all started from. So it was started with exploding lawnmowers didn it. And what about you and your dad's relationship? You know, you talked about your mum.ad Mum and dad both obviously very supportive I don't know if supportive would be J It wouldn't be I'm always for doing the hardest most impossible thing that I'm never going to achieve. I love that. And like when I first went from racing club motorikes to racing at the British Championship, he was like he was like why would you do that? You're never going to do it. Why would you do that? I just that's all I wanted to do. Something that was outside of my comfort zone. Let's get stuck in and see how it goes All right, and he's the man from as you described, like routine. I've been doing it this way for forty years. So just different personalities.. So did you clash Load time. Just an example I'd have been working for him. I used to work school holidays and Friday nights from being tought twelve year old his work, where he worked and then I when he set up his own business and then I went to work for him then And that must have been a rightsat male thought on me when I was a kid, right I had lost his adjustable spammer He said I've had that for thirty years This adjustable spanner. I said, Well it's about time you got a new one then. Anyway, I gotta take here for that. Rightly so, rightly so So guy, you got your first bike for Christmas, I think What was it It was a I'd have been Five years of age, my sister had have been seven And we got a Yamaha TY eighty. ake,' first time out and it's cred in the Rse gard didn't putull me off did it Honestly, straight the roads c. That's the tone for a lot that was to come. Mate, yeah, get used to it. It all starts here. L lot of crashing, mate, a lot of crashing , Martin, I think should have some more music. It's your third choice today. Tell us what we're going hear next and why you're taking it to your island. Yeah, the streets, We've got the streets here now, aren't we? This is club music to me. you ever been a big clubber? No, I'm not. And I've been in sort of rock and roll situations. where going out and getting trolled or maybe. Taking drugs was sort of the normal thing and I've never done that we went out One night on a filming job in Brixam. I think that was the one I of four pints that night. and that's the most rock and roll I've ever been. But I've never taken drugs neverever Yeah, not I'm not a drinker. I'm not Titotal but I'm not because I just can't be doing with a thick head in them hor it. So what is this music? this is I mean, the track you've gone for is it's really hedonistic. It's about that kind of lifestyle, isn't it? Well I think for me, that song is so descriptive I never need to take drugs because I might as well have I might as well have been taken because that you just can just listen to this instead. not I know. Just the words taste like airspray. All of those lines of her song Yeah, don yeah, so I don't need to take drugs. I don't need to a drunk becauseuse that song does' all. He's a well specker. bit's green and blue. Freez's well she though. So I'll take free if I need to. Right, I'm in a plan. I wish the bouncers would go away, borrow water off this man. Here goes nothing okay. And I'm thinking's blind my That's proper rain. That tastes like hairpray and I'm thinking people wal into The streets and blinded by the lights. So Guy Martin, I want to hear about your school days. We've heard about you as a little lad, a daredevil from a very young age looking for a buzz Luckily you had a primary school that sounds like it could accommodate that because it was quite unusual the school that you went to, wasn't it But Aam Master. Norma Akam is wife she was head of the infants and then Burt was head of the juniors And we was all in that was in two separate classes throughout the whole school. eighteen kids in the whole school. Wow Mad sports days slow bike and fast push bike races. used to have a putotting green out at the back of school that was We should go and keep the potting grain for him M the grass Just Is this at in school hours? This was in school hours, yeah? So this is the curriculum. What else was on the curriculum I don't know I'm to putull this. Ary was always an interesting topic for me, but I never I have just too many questions. How does that work Beeding the fighter out, How does that work? I was just always asking questions and I thought, well, how does that work? Yeah, interestnting curriculum, but great Maybe not best preparation G go to a secondary school with foreign kids in it What was that like that adjustment for you No Having to be in the right Gang. to have to wear the right trainers with the right jumper to be in that gang And I was just to me, it was just, wow my word just how does this work? Right? It was just green. Yeah, it was just awkward. bit of bll in, which you sort of expect What kind of bullyion? Just Fighting, punching, fighting, spitting, getting call names. and then just there was a big line As soon as I learnt to throw a punch, o and it was quite and I'm not a fight now, but if it has to happen it happens and I'll fight. But it just changed people instantly in the way that they look at you how did you get on academically at school your left school, I think I remember we got four or five GCss easy enough to do. And for some reason I thought, I'm going to go into college and become an engineer So yeah, left go started an engineering course A college, yeah, that's where I'm going to be I going to be an engineer I think I got one term in and thought this is not for me. Why not? Why wasn't it Oh Theory wr down. it just didn't. I'm a practical person just strugg I really struggle, I really struggle. And I think I had that mindset about me then that Nwin something about it. So yeah, ended up into a truck dealer down the road, John Eb and then did me an apprenticeship there. So how did that go? Did you enjoy it? I amazing What I loved is They gave me enough rope to hang myself so many times in fixing things. I just loved it and I did it. I heard Guy that you developed an incredible recall for vehicle registrations while you were there. Is that true? That's always been the case, yeah. transit vans Fot wedges M three o three GRH first transit I took to Spain. W one seven three JD. Yeah I mean, that's new type of second of transit, yeah. Now around this time guy, you met a truck driver called Baz Kirk and I know that he inadvertently changed your life. What happened my momum would tell you. I went Boy and came back and man That was going. Baz Kirk, he come in to me dad's, he worked for a truck firm. He was one of the drivers And he said, Ohh, looking for someone to give me a bit of hand at the Mank's Grand Prix, which is the amateur version of the TT. Okay. He said, How do you fancy here? And there's me, outd been sixixteen. H before I left school Re come in S spana or is it they M Gnd P And there I went. in that van boy and came back a man. Yeah. What happened in the interim? Tell me about it. Ten pints a guuinness most nights for Yeah, and just working a motorbike and just dealing with men dealing with men that race motor bikes Let's have some more music, G Martin, your fourth choice today What is it My mate Paddy always likes A few year older than me, or he's mad for his music. get a listen to this, get a listen to this a so iny his van big one of the big speakers this is. G to listen to this Yeah, the band, the music Because at the time I've always listened to the music, but at the times A racing doing dangerous things. It was just lanes in this song that stood out to me and I thought, oh yeah so reason doing these things What's it like up there? Does the pain stop when you see the light? You know what I mean? maybe I'm over exaggerating these L but I canort justify air chance, I might not come back, but does the pain stop when you see the light? But this song just 'cause I could pick lines out of it, I just thought that I could sort of justify what I was doing Sheee like do. S youry Do feel b Sper trive say If the tell you come from, it would never be the same. We too high by our s, Th the me will come to. The music and getaway. Gimar in your first race meeting was at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. You were nineteen. Were you confident Oh no I've got a nineteen ninety seven Honda CBS six hundred. I don'd only ever rode like me rood my Dad's classic BSA and my AR fifty moped before then, you know there wasn't that fast. It was fast for a Mad it was eighty miles an hour but to get to go from that to a CBR six hundredth. They' really fashion on maybe one hundred and sixty miles an hour. Anyway, the first race didn't last long. I think I got about four corners in. Tk about four boys down and had a massive crash. Oh go. Massive crash yeah. I got up but I'd absolutely destroyed the motorbike. Oh no you'd think It would bring home to me, Guy, what are you doing? Yeah. but I just It was just an obsession that I So you never thought about giving up I never thought about giving up. And even though my mum and dad was like, Guy, I think this may ben't for you. this isn't for you. So like just I would do whatever. And that first year I ended up crashing fourteen times in that first year. I'll never forget that I just kept crashing becausecause I wasn't very good and I didn't know. but I wast scared. I wasn't scared. just kept crashing I just loved it obsessed. And by two thousand two, you had got your rac and license, but you ended up having it suspended. Why At that point I w did British Championship Half all right, really, I was getting in the top ten And the second year came and I made a bit more preparation, and I've got a couple of podiums And then after one of the podiums, I ended up getting a penalty for running across a chicane, right? And the clerk of the course at the time called me in for a telling off and told me was going to give me a ten second penalty. He was going to take the podium off me because I' ran across as she came which I had and I hadn't read The rules is that if you c up the circuit and you're gain time then you would get a ten ten competit, but actually I've lost time and I was really stubborn about this. I'd actually lost time. So by going across the che, you'd actually like ended up further back than you would have been. so it wasn't like you were trying to get ahead of someone. It was just right, okay. Exactly. And I was dead. was adam him I had lost time, right? And the clack of the course would not listen to me one bit and At the time I thought it was being Samami so iously my time at school. I wasn't shy of a fight. So I slammed his laptop on his hands told him I told him what I thought of him So that got me banned from that championship So I thought that doesn't matter. I'm going to go racial scara where my dad's career finished, I thought right, I'm going to go road racing and I did allright and then boke from an Irish magazine. there was a famous Irish magazine called Irish Road race in Ireland it was called and the Editor was a bloke called Leslie Muir and he saw me race at Scarborough and he says, All right. He said there's a risk going on an Ireland next weekend. You can come across and do that if you want thought Oh yeah I'll have a go look at that huh? So you'relf funding, you're building the bike yourself, you're fixing everything that needs to be fixed and training and everything else. Well, and having to work jobs Outside of my normal job to be able to earn money, I spend a lot of time in Driving on the docks we didn't need a license for just to be able to I could work a night shift. weren'tough money to pay the tire bill for the forthcoming season Iland was different. Went to Ireland, rested at Scarborough, earned a few quid. wentent to Ireland, right Me W one hundred seven three JadDO, Red transit pan Me They met Jim Andrews and my brother Stu went in a van I went and rested in Ireland We got there with the pits and we just said to these lads was the track was but we're on this bit of road outside this field Where's the track and then look at you and say, you're on it Oh. Ls like a goat track Where were You're on it. and they was not joking Anyway won a couple of races comebat with like fifteen hundred quid. I thought oh my word. This is the future. I've seen the future. I've seen the future. Anyway, after then, this would have been fairly early on in the year. A then, they said no because of the laptop incidents Maybe the month before they said, we can't have that. We're going to take you racing my license off you. So I didn't race anymore that year. But that gave me time to plan what I'm going to do for the year after. You how to end your sights I think we should have some more music on that note, Gy Martin. what's it going to be next? Yeah this is me and my monkey by Robbie Williams This was the Red Trany again W one seven fif AO Right driving Bain. Me and Johnny, the lad I used to work with, my best mate and Longy, another lad we used to work with Borby Dad V van drove down to Spain with the motorbes in the back for a bit of an adventure. we had one of those devices, only a tape player in the vamp. we had one of those devices put the tape that had wires coming out of it that would actually play CDs. Oh yeah. you remember like a fake tape where you would post the tape thing in and it had a wire coming out of it and you could plug it into a CD player. I do. You've got it. We didn't have many CD's, but one of the CDs was Robbie Williams Escoppology. loved it today And me and my monkey were just h Yeah, such an odd song ze roll of blades, smoking filtter tips, reclining in the passenger seat of my supercharged jet black. Sip We have the soft top down. He laged the wind in his face. He said, Son, you ever been to Vegas? I said, No. He said, That's where we're gonna go. You need a change in pace. Robby Williams and me and my monkey. Gy Martin, during your time racing in Ireland, you've admitted that you were taking too many risks. Why was that Lost a lot of mates A lot of competitors pain and You just learnnt to ing thing you learned to deal with you just learn to ignore it Is that good for you? do you think? pushing through? I mean, you know when there are fatalities on the track, it's a huge thing to Inore That's what you did and it was Sort of the unwritten role Remember Tommy Cluucas got killed. he got killed. Wentter hiss funeral, right? And I thought, my God, this isn't Elalthy. this is going to fellow racist funerals. I best not do that again. So that's the last racist funeral that I went to Yeah. even people he knew, even friends, Wow. Well, like my best might in racing in Mart and Finneigan. Yeah I was at his wedding six months before I got killed. Yeah, didn't go to his funeral. I'd my best might in Rac, didn' go to his funeral. Ccauseuse you're just in it. Don't question the madness There was there a point that you thought this is not healthy. This is not a healthy response to people that you know and care about die and doing the thing that you're doing. didn't? And I still don't Gos No one is making anyone Do anything We all know you the buzz you cannot. Money cannot buy that. And we own know the price to pay for that sometimes is not coming back Do your head any favours into funerals. so it stopped that and just carried on. And to be honest, that was the only way to deal with it It's interesting though, I know that you have benefited from thinking about your attitude and the way that you thought around that time though, you got very into Chim Paradox by the psychiatrist Steve Peters. and started to look at the way that you were thinking and the way that you were behaving. What did you learn? What did you take away from the book? do stupid things on impulse sometimes and It's made me understand Why I do these things The only way I could deal withith doing these stupid things was this mad part of my brain is ran by a monkey called Brian. So this is the essence of the chimp paradox, that we all have an inner chimp and you know you read the book and you're supposed to name yours and you've named yours Brian. Brian. I know what it looks like. What does it look like A, You know the film seexy basast? Yeah. Ben Kingsley sexy beast, right? But imagine Ben Kingsley as a chimp. Right, that is my chimp, right? And that's how he talks to me pointing at me and telling me exactly how things are gonna be done. Ben Kingsley is scary in that film. Yes, he is, right? And that's how Brian is. Do not mess with Brian But now I now know how to deal with Brian. I have to put him in his box and I know exactly how to deal with Brian. And so does my wife Sharon, she knows that's not a guy, that's Brian. All right? So we know how to deal with him now. How'd you put him in his box I would sll on my push bike for a couple of weeks and pedal to Mexico down the continental divide or Hedling through Arizona to Uah through the Grand Canyon, the only way to deal with the chimp is to sit on a push bike and suffer for a couple of weeks at a time So this is the only way and we're at this point now really Sharon saying You need to get out on your bike.ike I do bike whether it's to work, bike I'm on the bike. but you need a big mission. You need to do proper big challenge. Miserable mission. Just go and sit and only be pushed bike or suffer for a couple of weeks Complete in a dish It used to be every couple of years we had to do this just to keep Brian in cheeck, what he sort turned out to be an annual occurrence over the past four years But it's just that keeps everything S swweet Hea, let's go to the music. It's your sixth choice today. What's next? Johnny Cash Allight just For that reason really Hurts Oh yeah. How are you with pain phhysical pain You seem to have an unusually high tolerance for it You could say it's a tolerance for it or it's I enjoyed it whether it's gettinget over broken bones. Oh peddling for days at a time What feels good about it Yeah, I don't know. It depend. I don't think Ion't know So want to know, I just What's there chimp in his box. The pain keeps him quiet Because if Brian's not quiet, I'm maybe not the best person to be around He needs the pain, he needs to suffer I hurt myself Today To see it first still feel I focus O the thing The only thing That's really The needle tears a hole Johny Cash and Hurt. So Gy Martin, in two thousand four, you made your debut at the Isle of Man Tourist trophy event. You received the newewcomers' trophy that year. How did it feel I would have died for it. I loved it so much. I put so much effort in Yeah, was it was just an amazing experience. just that a pinnacle of road racing it was. And does it ever rankle that you never managed to pick up the winners' trophy there I packed in racing ten year ago And I thought Right, give that a couple years I will regret not winning it ET. I should have put more effort in I should have kept going But not one bit of me Gret's not winning the T team. That's interesting. N Nothing I think it was great It made me realize it was all about the journey of getting the most out of the bike. wasn't about winning, but it took for me to stop really me to realise it wasn't about the winning. So Guy Martin, in twenty fifteen, you retired from racing. It was after a bad crash that you'd had at the Ulster Grand Prix. After so many others, why was that the crash that changed things for you? did I break eight verb I broke my hand, broke my ankle should a long lot damage and laid in hospital Hvin. discovered my love for endurance mountain bike racing and thinking There's more to life than racing mountk bikes, right If I wasn't fully committed to doing it, I shouldn't really be doing it because something like this would happen. And that crash didn't happen through lack of concentration. That crash happened through trying to win and I was leading at the time. And you don't mind crashing if it's for a a win crashing through a lack of concentration, I'd have a job Living with that or would it would that be what finish me off. so I thought I can't do with that really, I' tell what to do I'm going to pack in and I'm going to go these Daf pushbar rides. So you'd switched to you found a new obsession, something to grab your attention But you'd also been making TV programs for a few years by that point. You started in twenty eleven How do you feel about the job? How does presenting compare to All of these other kind of incredibly engrossing pastimes that we've been talking about well I'm not a a presenter because I can't talk to a camera. They've tried to get me to talk to a camera through mirrors Because I can't talk to this. Oh so that she film you in a mirror look I talk to someone Yeah I talked to the director, but they arranged the camera lens in such a way that it looks like I'm talking to the camera. because it was just too weird to talk down the lens, was it? I can't do it. It's quite can I just can't do it. becausecause there's nothing there. I can't I'm not a presenter. I can't do it. And I said, Oh well, that doesn't really work. So they couldn't get me to talk to a camera. They said it didn't really work the same just stuck. doing in it same way for the past seventeen years. And do you enjoy it I love it. It's amazing. buts is the attention that it brings Is that difficult? A struggle. Yeahah struggle, I've always struggled What's difficult about it? People knowing who you are approacachhing you talking to you J just a bit of a loner in ways and We just go out and just anyone would just come and sit and talk to us. And I can talk until the cows come on, but just sometimes it's a bit Intrusive areout for Sunday dinner And then someone' coming over to the Ohh yeah, say your program's great. thanks very much. thanks very much, but it is just a bit much sometimes and I do really struggle with that Gy, it's time for disk number seven. What's next We couldn't Miss Pigy It's Bger fan as I am of the prodigy I only got to see him live for the first time few weeks ago We got me and Sharon got married recently. We've been together for years, but we got married recently and that was a wedding present with prodigy tickets We got some special tickets and we got backstage and I met Yeah, I met Liam Yeah, and he was just quizzing me about some of my own stuff. I'm like how you know about me and he knew about Keithcause I end up with a sort of Keith ended up with my bike and I ended up with his bike. Oh right o There wass a longas he? I didn't know he was into his bike. My first I'm not surprised obviously, but didn't? He was as much into horses as he was into motorbikes, but my first ever motorbike race was Keith Flint's first ever motorbike race. No way. Yeah Yeah, yeah. Yes Yeah. so The Days My Enemy is from the album, Days My Eemy y The day is my enemy. So Guy Martin. in twenty thirteen, you found out that your neurodivergence. What did it mean to you? How did you feel about the diagnosis don't see as a problem I think whether it's the lads I work with or my wife, it just makes them understand a bit better but I'd just say if anything gives me And like I say honesty Terette I'm straight to the point, I'm black and white and then it maybe upsets a few people, but yeah, I think it helps, it helps me, It helps me deal with situations better that I'm just straight to the point everyone knows where to stand U that it makes and we're all different, we're all different. so I wouldn't I think it's a benefit. When are you happiest maybe changed over time, I've grown up. Go out M, shazer and dot Just Sunday dinner. Just go out and have a Sunday, just go Sunday dinner family? Yeah, with me family I can imagine Sharon wouldn't expect me to say that. She'd say when you're in your shed, I don't think it is I love just sitting and going to a Sunday dinner somewhere. Always trying new places, Just sitting at a Sunday dinner and watch the world. You look quite emotional. Yeah. ye. Yeah No family I'm happy. I'm happy I'm not I'm happy. I don't knees. I'm just happy. I've got my wife, got my daughter, got me dogs I'm happy. I'm happy. Well, I'm very sorry to say we're going to be casting you away from all that because we're sending you off to your desert island How will you get on on your own? You do love your time in the shed. so I think actually, like you said, you are a bit of a lone wolf, that bit might be okay for you. You know the saying It'll set an end on you Well that's what I'd be. I think I'd be alright for a fortnite then Little Brian will be screaming his head off inside my head The land over there, get ccking. I'd be like an ill city nen What does it mean? You know what that means anill sitting in? No that's ill cittity that's sat on her eggs and she keeps sitting about and jiggling about, getting her eggs warm. It's an ill city An ill city. you This is a new one I'm a city girl. I'm like Northern, but I'm, you know, I'm Sland. I'm like I'm a towny s little boat h. You're fing about like a bloody ill sitting anywhere. B m's definitely one of my mums, but it's not. I've heard other people say Yeah you're jiffling about like an ill sitting e. I that you say it makes perfect sense, but I was just checking Anyway. yeah, I'd be like an ill citting n All right, one more disk before we cast you away guy, Martin. yourour last choice. What is it today My wife Shaza, Sharon She's Irish So we've got a bit of U two in there, haven't we? She's from Island U Didn't you play this one at your wedding? Yeah, she's everything. I does you cry when you play out but I don't. you all getting emotional. Yeah talking about her. Yeah's she's Mega. She's Mega. She deals with me, She's brilliant. Yeah, with or without you. You too. Scott all bit. For Sharon? Yeah, Sharon Sight of hand and twist of face And a bed of nail she makes me wit And I wait with tune We without you. G withver Through the storm, we reached the shore You too with or without you. So Guy Martin, it's time to send you away to the island. I'm going to give you the books, the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, and one other book of your choice. What's it going to be Mattxley stealing speed. Motorbikes, that's why he was wr right about motorbikes, but it's a story about Nazi V two rocket technology being used for two stroke motorbike exhaust technology and this teechnology was all in East Germany at this point. It's an amazing story. It's an amazing story about a rider nicaking the technology, getting it across the border. G it in and then yeah, and then he just took off in motorbike racing from then on. And yeah, yeah, I've read that book loads of times, but just yeah, I still pick bits and I think that's what a story. Well, I'm not surprised you've chosen that history motorbikes and engineering. I mean it's all in there for you. A bit of adventure smuggling stuff in the boots of cars, getting over Branderburg Gate and all of that all my word. Heavens to Betty, that's yours. You can also have a luxury item, What you fancy The were about forty five magazines race engine technologies I think that's what number at. I the the first a hundred back catalog of race engine technologies. And it just blows my mind. entire back catalogue of race engine technology. It's a bit left field. You're not going to get that h. Can't be too niche for me, guy. That is I would like nothing better than to gift you the entire back catalogue for the island. So we'll go with that, right? OkayK, thank you very much. It's yours. It's a great read And finally, which track of the eight that you've shared with us today would you save from the waves first if you had to realize I get that emotional When I start talking about Sharon. So Yeah, it's gotta be. You too, aren't with it without you I' honestly, I didn't think I would. Yeah, you know I didn't think you would. I I'm surprised. Yeah and ask family, we don't cry, we don't show emotion, but I've just done that. So yeah, it remind me of Sharon and Doc G Martin, thank you so much for letting us hear at your Desert Island discks. Thank you so much. It's been an honour Hello. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Guy. I am so grateful to him for gifting us the phrase an ill satan head We've cast away many speed enthusiasts, including motorcyclist Barry Sheeen, racing driver Jackie Stewart, commentator Murray Walker, and motorsport executive Tota Wolf over the years Their episodes are available on BBC Sounds or via the Desert Island Disc's website The studio manager for today's program was Jackie Marim, the executive production coordinator was Susie Royls, the content editor was Mcgabby Turia, and the producer was Paula McGinley. Next time, my guest will be the glass designer Peter Leayton. I hope you'll join us here for years now on Uncany We have explored real peopleop's potentially ces thing that listeners have often asked me is why don't we look at supernatural cases from the past? You asked and we listened. Our new series, Uncanny Cold Cases takes a deep dive into some of these stories from the most haunted house in England to the original UFO abduction cases. Can we make sense of these strange stories that have haunted history? Uncanny cold cases. Listen on BBC Sounds