Episode 25
July 3 , 2018
25. Giles Paley Phillips; Award-Winning Author on the Wonders of the White Cliffs, Glastonbury Festival and the Gardener in Syria Who Inspired His Next Book
Growing up in a small town on the Sussex coast was idyllic for children’s author and musician Giles Paley Phillips until tragedy struck and changed the course of his life. As a teenager in a small town he found the dodgiest clubs, yet soon learned his guitar was his ticket to ride. He’s travelled the breadth of the UK playing in Paul McCartney’s studios in Liverpool, at Glastonbury and his latest book is inspired by the gardeners of Syria.
On this episode we cover:
How Lisa and Giles ‘met’ on twitter
His 260k followers!
Fake followers
Piers Morgan’s fake followers
Giles’s stolen twitter identify
How he’s not as posh as he sounds
Posh names!
Publishers asking him to change his name
Norman Cook/Quentin Cook/Fatboy Slim
A very British conversation about name and class
Lisa Nandy (aka why Lisa uses her middle name)
His work as a children’s author
Seaford, Eastbourne and Brighton on the Sussex coast
The craziness of 90s Brighton
The dangers of the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters
Not being good at school
Becoming a musician
The death of his mother when he was six
His Dad’s drink problem
Living in a one bedroom flat with his Dad and Nan as a teenager
Playing Glastonbury
Touring the UK with his band
Not being a big world traveller
Not being snotty about travel
Not backpacking in Nepal
How people in Nepal will think Seaford is exotic
Life in a small town
Recording in Paul McCartney’s studio in Liverpool
The quality of the toilets at Glastonbury
Playing on the same bill as Flaming Lips
Edith Bowman
The other worldliness of Glastonbury
How Lisa missed half of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand
His first book – in aid of Leukaemia research
How losing his mum at an early age has affected him
The beauty of Sussex in the South East of England
The white chalk cliffs of the Seven Sisters
How the cliffs have become a friend to him
Hope Gap
How the landscape lends itself to deep thoughts
Beach Head and its reputation as a suicide spot
How spending time in nature is good for mental health
The beauty of the South Downs; villages, pubs and walks
Teenage days in Brighton, school in Lewes
‘The Trek Club’ in Seaford aka Clubbing in a small town
Brighton pub gigs – The Free Butt, The Richmond, The Pressure Point
Going Trekking at The Trek
Why Wolverhampton is grim
(apologies to anyone from Wolverhampton)
Returning to home towns
How weirdly, Giles has been to Lisa’s home town in Spain
Fuengirola, Spain, Gilbraltar
His time in Washington DC
Suburban isolation
Boston
Philadelphia
Fenced off shops in Toxteth Liverpool
How his mum’s illness and death affected the family
Taking the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe
Duty free booze runs
Wigtown in Scotland, almost completely taken over by book shops
His ambitions to travel to New York
The books he has written
Free verse poetry – ie the stuff that doesn’t rhyme
The garden centre in Aleppo in Syria which has inspired his latest books
Aleppo’s last beacon of hope
The Syrian ‘white helmets’
How gardening is huge in refugee camps in Iraq
The Lemon Tree Trust gardening competitions in the refugee camps
The surprising song that reminds him of his hometown of Seaford
