[Music]
hi everybody how are we doing good quick
disclaimer before I get started I’m not
very good at talks not very good
speeches I’m more of a tell a story kind
of guy and if you can take something
from that that’s great if you don’t it’s
a bit late in the evening to get your
money back from Ted so you might be
screwed on that front just telling you
let’s start at the very beginning I am
what happens when a fighter pilot has
unprotected sex with a air traffic
controller yes in fact wait before that
let’s go a little further back let’s get
serious let’s go a little further back
my grandfather okay he’s a he was on the
beaches of Normandy he tried to get to
the beach at Normandy he was in the top
of the tank he was a tank commander so
he’s kind of sticking out the hole in
the top shell hit blew him clear took
his finger off got some nasty injuries
to his knee everybody else in the tank
died whether they were crushed blown up
or drowned there in the salt water but
he came back he did the obvious with my
grandmother and created my father now in
this situation my father became very
competitive and instead of joining the
army he joined the Canadian RAF and he
became a fast air pilot went to Miramar
the top gun competitions and all that
kind of stuff won the awards he then
later retired as a brigadier general so
my grandfather left tenet colonel my
father Brigadier General and then at the
age of 16 I pretty much looked at him
and said I know what I want to be when I
grow up and he said what’s that I said I
want to do ballet
now my father being the incredible human
being that he is he looked at me and
said I don’t care what you do you’re my
son I’m gonna support you and he did and
I dentist and I loved it because I hung
out with chicks and spandex and it was
great now the reality is is that I
injured myself doing an acapella version
of the Devil Went Down to Georgia and
I’ve lost my scholarship so I went back
to Canada I was in the States at the
time went back to Newfoundland store
they’re pouring pints had a great time
living like a vampire my stepfather who
is British himself who was in
Newfoundland at the time took me to see
a stand-up comedian called George
Carlin’s remember George Carlin he died
recently did you remember him okay he
did jokes like why don’t you ever see
people run in poo at the same time his
bizarre anyway I saw his stand-up comedy
routine and I and I we both had myself
and my stepfather I had a drink at the
bar afterwards and we were like he said
like well how did you feel about that I
said I think with a bit of practice I
could probably be better than him so he
said put your money where your mouth is
two weeks later I quit my job got an
airplane flew to London Heathrow to be a
stand-up comedian now there was a
fundamental flaw in this plan that is
I’m not funny okay so by day I would
drive a forklift around his warehouse
and by night I would go to London and do
open mic nights but unfortunately I was
booed out of most of the venues that I
did including the Comedy Store I would
get drunk because I was nervous I have
more drink and than I do really
inappropriate comedy and they’d boo me
out 300 people booed me out it was
amazing
amazing anyway do you guys know where
Stanford is it’s kind of up the a1 yeah
there you go guy from Stanford I hope
you like horses it’s a real big kind of
burly Horse Trials as bit posh it’s not
really my scene I like places that stick
to the carpet anyway I’m in a place
called the Lord Burleigh very posh and
we’re drinking wet sand I’ve got my
girlfriend at the time there and my
stepsister there and I’ve got her other
half there too and I’m talking about
this TV show that I’m interested in
doing about shooting people with
tranquilizer guns and recording it and
they say to me irrespective of the topic
not only is that illegal but you’re
never going to do it I said we mean we
said you’re not the kind of guy who gets
things done you come up with an idea and
then you switch like a week later to a
different idea you don’t actually
complete anything I was like oh come on
right and then my girlfriend steps up
says yeah actually they’re kind of right
on that one I was like wow like big hit
to the confidence so give me an example
of when I actually didn’t complete what
I started she says to me smoking you
said you’ve wanted to quit smoking
you’ve never even tried I said all right
I’m just gonna say this now the next
part of this story is extremely blue so
I’ve had to dumb it down the truth is is
that later at the bar if you see me you
want to hear more details you’re buy me
beer and I’ll definitely tell you but
the bet that I made to quit smoking
for a month was very sexual and I quit
smoking for a month now she says to me
congratulations now knowing my
motivation she says I’d be more sexually
attracted to you if you were in better
shape so I say well obviously and she
says another bet of a sexual nature and
I decide the best way to do this is if I
go to the army recruiting office sign up
and then I gotta do push-ups and sit-ups
and runs and pull-ups and stuff and then
when they say come on fella it’s time to
go to world go no thanks
I’m done all right friend of mine in the
RAF he turns around me and says actually
you’re just perpetuating a cycle you’re
kind of quitting again and that’s kind
of the whole point of this thing so why
don’t you pick the hardest one and be a
failure instead because people admire
failures because you gave it all you got
but you just didn’t hit the mark I said
this is a good idea right and so he says
look what you need to do pick the
hardest one they’re looking for
Rottweilers your Labrador Retriever
there’s no chance I said rockin who’s
the hardest one they said the Royal
Marine Commandos is the longest and
hardest basic training in the world
that’s your ticket so next day I signed
up for the role Marine Commandos so
that’s the end of chapter one are you
still with me
rockin let’s carry on now somehow I
passed knowledge test the intelligence
test the whole family was surprised
about that one okay
I passed the pre join Fitness Test now
by this time my girlfriend
remember the one who didn’t believe I
can do anything she says dude you quit
eating takeaways you quit drinking you
quit smoking all you do is go to work
come home go to the gym come home and
watch GI Jane to get buffed up for war
so like yeah that’s pretty much it she
was like I don’t really know who you are
anymore I said love there
the door done you’re in the way of
training so on Valentine’s Day I dumped
her I know I know I know don’t be hatin
all right bigger things in the plan here
all right so on I go I go to an acquaint
day now this is an interesting
interesting day because this is the
first time in my life I’ve actually
heard somebody yell at me
you can vomit and run at the same time
then they load beyond to the potential
Royal Marines course which is the three
days of hell where you’re like they
thrash you to within an inch of your
life and they find out if you’re strong
enough to start basic training
incidentally somewhere around this time
I met a woman at a bar because I thought
I was Jason Bourne I thought she was hot
and I married her and I know have a
three-year-old and she’s awesome FYI so
on into basic training I go now this is
this is an interesting part of my life
because they start you off with how to
put on your clothes how to take off your
clothes how to polish boots tie boots
how to make a bed how to iron sheets how
to make a backpack but what they give
you how to brush your teeth not a wash
your penis you know in their eyes if
they show you how to do something if you
do it wrong then you’re in trouble and I
lift that last one I literally mean I
stood there was very awkward fifty five
of us staying around watching my drill
sergeant washing himself it was a
bizarre situation took it with me I mean
it’s here
anyway so from there they start teaching
you how to March and how to climb ropes
and how to carry logs over long
distances and how to swim with like 25
pounds on your back and you know how to
jump out of things how to climb up on
things how to get yourself out of the
water all that kind of stuff and then
they put a rifle in your hand it’s
called an SI a DEA two and they they
teach you how to fix the sights and how
to zero it and then how to load and
unload and make safe and how to take it
apart put it back together how to clean
it how to love it right how to take care
of the magazines how to fire it
accurately then they give you a GPM G
which is a 7.62 belt-fed machine gun
which hasn’t changed since the Second
World War for a reason is incredibly
efficient at destroying human life and
it is a beautiful piece of machinery
right they teach you how to take it
apart and put it back together they
teach you how to hold on the word
grenade pull the
no tell everybody that you’ve got a
grenade and then lob that same
accurately then they start teaching you
things like how to crawl around in in
grass and how to stay hidden how to
identify things nobody else can identify
how to put grass on your helmet and then
once you get out of the grass you get in
the tree then you put your branches in
the helmet so that you’re a different
texture so you you’re not seen how to
put makeup on and I don’t mean like
Thursday night let’s head down to the
obvious I mean like like cam cream then
they start teaching you how to track and
destroy your enemy and then
commando-trained starts and that’s um
that’s epic anyway long story short
thirty two weeks later somehow I come
the top of the class without injury not
the top of the class but in the top
bracket I had a diamond on my chest
fifty five people started thirteen
originals made it to the end just to
give you an idea at one point time they
literally strapped this to a chair in a
room don’t the room underwater flipped
it upside down turned off the lights
turned on strobe lights and then told
you to escape from it and the reason is
not because they’re douchebags but
because if the helicopter crashes you
need to be able to get out and go and
continue the flight anyway they say to
me where do you want to go I say who
goes to Afghanistan first they said
those guys I said send me there so off I
go
2:42 command to roll Marines for my
first tour I’m not going to go into the
first one I’m just gonna say being shot
at is unbelievable and the sound of your
own breathing as you run with the weight
on your back while somebody’s telling
you to move over there to shoot in that
area to kill that person to have rounds
landing here to yell RPG is you
literally watch a grenade fling past you
is unbelievable and an incredible
experience I decided that I wanted to
save life too though something I picked
up from that first tour so when I got
back I went into medical training rock
and roll I came close to the top of that
class as well and they said where do you
want to go I said who’s going to
Afghanistan next they said those guys I
said okay send me there so on I go is
the J Company medic on to Herrick 14 now
great tour
I was patrolling everyday it’s having a
really good time I was helping local
people with with local injuries a couple
of our guys got hurt and I did my best
to help them out about two months in and
I remember we’d gone out to destroy the
enemy because they’ve been shooting at
us for quite some time
I remember being led to a safe area by a
local and then suddenly he panicked and
everything went wrong a friend of mine a
guy named Sam Alexander he won a
Military Cross he stepped on something
called a low metal content ie D low
metal content means copper wire was used
glass would crunch boom okay
the legacy part means they buried it
there about eight months ago so they
knew we were coming and I don’t mean
that because they were spies I just mean
they knew we were obviously eventually
going to get to them so they buried that
in there and ideas a improvised
explosive device that explosion took all
four of Sam’s limbs off and he bled to
death in Afghanistan it also took a
phenomenal amount of damage to my boss’s
head his name is Ollie Augustine he also
died there in Afghanistan the
interpreter thought he was a wiseass and
took his took his body armor out because
it was too heavy and put cardboard in
instead and he took a phenomenal amount
of shrapnel to his thoracic cavity and
he later died of sepsis in hospital
terrible way to die
I was next in line I am I have a
amputation here nearly lost that one
I’ve got some nerve damage up here I’ve
got a chunk missing there I had a double
fracture to my pelvis including an open
book fracture which is kind of dangerous
because you can bleed to death in there
which is you know it is what it is I had
a mild traumatic brain injury I had I
also had type 1 diabetes and semi
detached retina in my left eye that’s
the end of chapter 2 how are we doing
you still with me
all right so but guys there’s a time
limit here Jesus so they don’t tell you
that when you get blown up you wake up
and you’re a little bit volatile you
know you expect that you’re still in
Afghanistan you’re not I was gonna come
up for two weeks I woke up thought I was
captured so I chained one nurse and put
another one in a headlock tried to fight
my way out of the ICU and when I
realized I couldn’t I tried to then
negotiate my way out and ICU which also
didn’t work I was like you sound like
you’ve got a Birmingham accident you’re
obviously from the UK I can get you out
it’s okay and she’s like you’re in
Berlin so it was all a bit silly this
whole bit silly it’s a long process the
old recovery process I’ll be honest with
you you go you know from the ICU up to
the ward and from the ward you go to a
magical place called Headley Court
it’s my fly up yes so you go to Headley
court and this is the place where
everybody goes if you’re injured if you
end up at Headley court things have gone
wrong in your career so while I’m there
and I’m in a wheelchair I’ve still got
this ex-fix because they drilled into my
pelvis to make sure that I couldn’t move
it and would do more damage so I was
still there with a wean in a bag and
stuff and I had this metal cage taken
out of me and this guy says to me I some
person’s doing like a theater thing why
don’t you go out and check that out
it sounds like it’s right up you’re out
that wasn’t really a sportsman right so
if I go I will out I meet some guy named
own shears and another guy named Stephen
rain and they say they’re going to take
a part of a company called Bravo two two
company and they’re going to take
soldier stories and put them on stage
and they’re going to let the soldiers
active for a small intimate audience I
said look I used to do some stuff on
stage I’ll be a part of your crew sounds
good two weeks later they said you’re in
two weeks after that they said you got
the lead a month after that they said
you know how we said it was community
theater we’re gonna put it on the West
End
okay a month after that I was a room
with soldiers and actors and we were
trying to come up with a storyline a
month after that I had a script three
weeks after that I was in front of a
thousand people acting out my own story
it went well we ended up doing 125 shows
won some awards pretty gnarly really at
the end of that show I kind of thought
to myself where do i e where do I want
to go truth is I kind of want Jonathan
Ross’s job
if I were jonathan will also be nervous
about it to be perfectly honest with you
I want to talk to celebrities that kind
of thing who’s gonna hire me so I went
out and I found British forces
Broadcasting Service and Forces
television and I said to them I’m not a
bad looking guy
I got a unique accent I’ve missed an
electron Afghanistan roar Marine
Commando vet and I don’t come to pieces
in front of people why don’t you give me
a job they said ok a year after that I
have my own TV show where I was
interviewing people like Keanu Reeves
and Tom Cruise and talking about the
movies they make now somewhere along
this process right somebody said that if
it weren’t for my morale my ability to
keep spirits high throughout all this
that they wouldn’t have survived
rehabilitation survived rehabilitation
BBC got wind of that and then they stuck
me into something called the people
strictly where I danced with Natalie
Lowe in front of 10 million people and
one the one legged guy Chris back to
dancing and wins it now I’ve learned
five things on this journey okay you
don’t have to take him with you I care
I’d like to say I don’t care I feel like
I do genuinely care but here it is pride
make sure that whatever you’re doing
you’re going to be able to look back on
yourself and say well I’m kind of proud
of what I did their determination
do not be deterred from what your goal
is which ties really happily into the
next one which is aggression and I’m not
talking fisticuffs you know Wing Chun
aggression I’m talking if you’re gonna
be a bear be a grizzly we’re gonna do
something do it to the best and the
strongest that you possibly possibly can
resilience you cannot succeed without
failure you have to learn to walk again
at some point in time or at least I use
that as an analogy you’re going to be
down let it brush off and get back up
and keep going
the last one is G that’s and I’ve taken
this straight from the roll Marines PO
to be thoughts cheerfulness in the face
of adversity because I’m going to be
real honest with you now if you ain’t
laughing man you’re just not doing it
right have a great evening
you
hi everybody how are we doing good quick
disclaimer before I get started I’m not
very good at talks not very good
speeches I’m more of a tell a story kind
of guy and if you can take something
from that that’s great if you don’t it’s
a bit late in the evening to get your
money back from Ted so you might be
screwed on that front just telling you
let’s start at the very beginning I am
what happens when a fighter pilot has
unprotected sex with a air traffic
controller yes in fact wait before that
let’s go a little further back let’s get
serious let’s go a little further back
my grandfather okay he’s a he was on the
beaches of Normandy he tried to get to
the beach at Normandy he was in the top
of the tank he was a tank commander so
he’s kind of sticking out the hole in
the top shell hit blew him clear took
his finger off got some nasty injuries
to his knee everybody else in the tank
died whether they were crushed blown up
or drowned there in the salt water but
he came back he did the obvious with my
grandmother and created my father now in
this situation my father became very
competitive and instead of joining the
army he joined the Canadian RAF and he
became a fast air pilot went to Miramar
the top gun competitions and all that
kind of stuff won the awards he then
later retired as a brigadier general so
my grandfather left tenet colonel my
father Brigadier General and then at the
age of 16 I pretty much looked at him
and said I know what I want to be when I
grow up and he said what’s that I said I
want to do ballet
now my father being the incredible human
being that he is he looked at me and
said I don’t care what you do you’re my
son I’m gonna support you and he did and
I dentist and I loved it because I hung
out with chicks and spandex and it was
great now the reality is is that I
injured myself doing an acapella version
of the Devil Went Down to Georgia and
I’ve lost my scholarship so I went back
to Canada I was in the States at the
time went back to Newfoundland store
they’re pouring pints had a great time
living like a vampire my stepfather who
is British himself who was in
Newfoundland at the time took me to see
a stand-up comedian called George
Carlin’s remember George Carlin he died
recently did you remember him okay he
did jokes like why don’t you ever see
people run in poo at the same time his
bizarre anyway I saw his stand-up comedy
routine and I and I we both had myself
and my stepfather I had a drink at the
bar afterwards and we were like he said
like well how did you feel about that I
said I think with a bit of practice I
could probably be better than him so he
said put your money where your mouth is
two weeks later I quit my job got an
airplane flew to London Heathrow to be a
stand-up comedian now there was a
fundamental flaw in this plan that is
I’m not funny okay so by day I would
drive a forklift around his warehouse
and by night I would go to London and do
open mic nights but unfortunately I was
booed out of most of the venues that I
did including the Comedy Store I would
get drunk because I was nervous I have
more drink and than I do really
inappropriate comedy and they’d boo me
out 300 people booed me out it was
amazing
amazing anyway do you guys know where
Stanford is it’s kind of up the a1 yeah
there you go guy from Stanford I hope
you like horses it’s a real big kind of
burly Horse Trials as bit posh it’s not
really my scene I like places that stick
to the carpet anyway I’m in a place
called the Lord Burleigh very posh and
we’re drinking wet sand I’ve got my
girlfriend at the time there and my
stepsister there and I’ve got her other
half there too and I’m talking about
this TV show that I’m interested in
doing about shooting people with
tranquilizer guns and recording it and
they say to me irrespective of the topic
not only is that illegal but you’re
never going to do it I said we mean we
said you’re not the kind of guy who gets
things done you come up with an idea and
then you switch like a week later to a
different idea you don’t actually
complete anything I was like oh come on
right and then my girlfriend steps up
says yeah actually they’re kind of right
on that one I was like wow like big hit
to the confidence so give me an example
of when I actually didn’t complete what
I started she says to me smoking you
said you’ve wanted to quit smoking
you’ve never even tried I said all right
I’m just gonna say this now the next
part of this story is extremely blue so
I’ve had to dumb it down the truth is is
that later at the bar if you see me you
want to hear more details you’re buy me
beer and I’ll definitely tell you but
the bet that I made to quit smoking
for a month was very sexual and I quit
smoking for a month now she says to me
congratulations now knowing my
motivation she says I’d be more sexually
attracted to you if you were in better
shape so I say well obviously and she
says another bet of a sexual nature and
I decide the best way to do this is if I
go to the army recruiting office sign up
and then I gotta do push-ups and sit-ups
and runs and pull-ups and stuff and then
when they say come on fella it’s time to
go to world go no thanks
I’m done all right friend of mine in the
RAF he turns around me and says actually
you’re just perpetuating a cycle you’re
kind of quitting again and that’s kind
of the whole point of this thing so why
don’t you pick the hardest one and be a
failure instead because people admire
failures because you gave it all you got
but you just didn’t hit the mark I said
this is a good idea right and so he says
look what you need to do pick the
hardest one they’re looking for
Rottweilers your Labrador Retriever
there’s no chance I said rockin who’s
the hardest one they said the Royal
Marine Commandos is the longest and
hardest basic training in the world
that’s your ticket so next day I signed
up for the role Marine Commandos so
that’s the end of chapter one are you
still with me
rockin let’s carry on now somehow I
passed knowledge test the intelligence
test the whole family was surprised
about that one okay
I passed the pre join Fitness Test now
by this time my girlfriend
remember the one who didn’t believe I
can do anything she says dude you quit
eating takeaways you quit drinking you
quit smoking all you do is go to work
come home go to the gym come home and
watch GI Jane to get buffed up for war
so like yeah that’s pretty much it she
was like I don’t really know who you are
anymore I said love there
the door done you’re in the way of
training so on Valentine’s Day I dumped
her I know I know I know don’t be hatin
all right bigger things in the plan here
all right so on I go I go to an acquaint
day now this is an interesting
interesting day because this is the
first time in my life I’ve actually
heard somebody yell at me
you can vomit and run at the same time
then they load beyond to the potential
Royal Marines course which is the three
days of hell where you’re like they
thrash you to within an inch of your
life and they find out if you’re strong
enough to start basic training
incidentally somewhere around this time
I met a woman at a bar because I thought
I was Jason Bourne I thought she was hot
and I married her and I know have a
three-year-old and she’s awesome FYI so
on into basic training I go now this is
this is an interesting part of my life
because they start you off with how to
put on your clothes how to take off your
clothes how to polish boots tie boots
how to make a bed how to iron sheets how
to make a backpack but what they give
you how to brush your teeth not a wash
your penis you know in their eyes if
they show you how to do something if you
do it wrong then you’re in trouble and I
lift that last one I literally mean I
stood there was very awkward fifty five
of us staying around watching my drill
sergeant washing himself it was a
bizarre situation took it with me I mean
it’s here
anyway so from there they start teaching
you how to March and how to climb ropes
and how to carry logs over long
distances and how to swim with like 25
pounds on your back and you know how to
jump out of things how to climb up on
things how to get yourself out of the
water all that kind of stuff and then
they put a rifle in your hand it’s
called an SI a DEA two and they they
teach you how to fix the sights and how
to zero it and then how to load and
unload and make safe and how to take it
apart put it back together how to clean
it how to love it right how to take care
of the magazines how to fire it
accurately then they give you a GPM G
which is a 7.62 belt-fed machine gun
which hasn’t changed since the Second
World War for a reason is incredibly
efficient at destroying human life and
it is a beautiful piece of machinery
right they teach you how to take it
apart and put it back together they
teach you how to hold on the word
grenade pull the
no tell everybody that you’ve got a
grenade and then lob that same
accurately then they start teaching you
things like how to crawl around in in
grass and how to stay hidden how to
identify things nobody else can identify
how to put grass on your helmet and then
once you get out of the grass you get in
the tree then you put your branches in
the helmet so that you’re a different
texture so you you’re not seen how to
put makeup on and I don’t mean like
Thursday night let’s head down to the
obvious I mean like like cam cream then
they start teaching you how to track and
destroy your enemy and then
commando-trained starts and that’s um
that’s epic anyway long story short
thirty two weeks later somehow I come
the top of the class without injury not
the top of the class but in the top
bracket I had a diamond on my chest
fifty five people started thirteen
originals made it to the end just to
give you an idea at one point time they
literally strapped this to a chair in a
room don’t the room underwater flipped
it upside down turned off the lights
turned on strobe lights and then told
you to escape from it and the reason is
not because they’re douchebags but
because if the helicopter crashes you
need to be able to get out and go and
continue the flight anyway they say to
me where do you want to go I say who
goes to Afghanistan first they said
those guys I said send me there so off I
go
2:42 command to roll Marines for my
first tour I’m not going to go into the
first one I’m just gonna say being shot
at is unbelievable and the sound of your
own breathing as you run with the weight
on your back while somebody’s telling
you to move over there to shoot in that
area to kill that person to have rounds
landing here to yell RPG is you
literally watch a grenade fling past you
is unbelievable and an incredible
experience I decided that I wanted to
save life too though something I picked
up from that first tour so when I got
back I went into medical training rock
and roll I came close to the top of that
class as well and they said where do you
want to go I said who’s going to
Afghanistan next they said those guys I
said okay send me there so on I go is
the J Company medic on to Herrick 14 now
great tour
I was patrolling everyday it’s having a
really good time I was helping local
people with with local injuries a couple
of our guys got hurt and I did my best
to help them out about two months in and
I remember we’d gone out to destroy the
enemy because they’ve been shooting at
us for quite some time
I remember being led to a safe area by a
local and then suddenly he panicked and
everything went wrong a friend of mine a
guy named Sam Alexander he won a
Military Cross he stepped on something
called a low metal content ie D low
metal content means copper wire was used
glass would crunch boom okay
the legacy part means they buried it
there about eight months ago so they
knew we were coming and I don’t mean
that because they were spies I just mean
they knew we were obviously eventually
going to get to them so they buried that
in there and ideas a improvised
explosive device that explosion took all
four of Sam’s limbs off and he bled to
death in Afghanistan it also took a
phenomenal amount of damage to my boss’s
head his name is Ollie Augustine he also
died there in Afghanistan the
interpreter thought he was a wiseass and
took his took his body armor out because
it was too heavy and put cardboard in
instead and he took a phenomenal amount
of shrapnel to his thoracic cavity and
he later died of sepsis in hospital
terrible way to die
I was next in line I am I have a
amputation here nearly lost that one
I’ve got some nerve damage up here I’ve
got a chunk missing there I had a double
fracture to my pelvis including an open
book fracture which is kind of dangerous
because you can bleed to death in there
which is you know it is what it is I had
a mild traumatic brain injury I had I
also had type 1 diabetes and semi
detached retina in my left eye that’s
the end of chapter 2 how are we doing
you still with me
all right so but guys there’s a time
limit here Jesus so they don’t tell you
that when you get blown up you wake up
and you’re a little bit volatile you
know you expect that you’re still in
Afghanistan you’re not I was gonna come
up for two weeks I woke up thought I was
captured so I chained one nurse and put
another one in a headlock tried to fight
my way out of the ICU and when I
realized I couldn’t I tried to then
negotiate my way out and ICU which also
didn’t work I was like you sound like
you’ve got a Birmingham accident you’re
obviously from the UK I can get you out
it’s okay and she’s like you’re in
Berlin so it was all a bit silly this
whole bit silly it’s a long process the
old recovery process I’ll be honest with
you you go you know from the ICU up to
the ward and from the ward you go to a
magical place called Headley Court
it’s my fly up yes so you go to Headley
court and this is the place where
everybody goes if you’re injured if you
end up at Headley court things have gone
wrong in your career so while I’m there
and I’m in a wheelchair I’ve still got
this ex-fix because they drilled into my
pelvis to make sure that I couldn’t move
it and would do more damage so I was
still there with a wean in a bag and
stuff and I had this metal cage taken
out of me and this guy says to me I some
person’s doing like a theater thing why
don’t you go out and check that out
it sounds like it’s right up you’re out
that wasn’t really a sportsman right so
if I go I will out I meet some guy named
own shears and another guy named Stephen
rain and they say they’re going to take
a part of a company called Bravo two two
company and they’re going to take
soldier stories and put them on stage
and they’re going to let the soldiers
active for a small intimate audience I
said look I used to do some stuff on
stage I’ll be a part of your crew sounds
good two weeks later they said you’re in
two weeks after that they said you got
the lead a month after that they said
you know how we said it was community
theater we’re gonna put it on the West
End
okay a month after that I was a room
with soldiers and actors and we were
trying to come up with a storyline a
month after that I had a script three
weeks after that I was in front of a
thousand people acting out my own story
it went well we ended up doing 125 shows
won some awards pretty gnarly really at
the end of that show I kind of thought
to myself where do i e where do I want
to go truth is I kind of want Jonathan
Ross’s job
if I were jonathan will also be nervous
about it to be perfectly honest with you
I want to talk to celebrities that kind
of thing who’s gonna hire me so I went
out and I found British forces
Broadcasting Service and Forces
television and I said to them I’m not a
bad looking guy
I got a unique accent I’ve missed an
electron Afghanistan roar Marine
Commando vet and I don’t come to pieces
in front of people why don’t you give me
a job they said ok a year after that I
have my own TV show where I was
interviewing people like Keanu Reeves
and Tom Cruise and talking about the
movies they make now somewhere along
this process right somebody said that if
it weren’t for my morale my ability to
keep spirits high throughout all this
that they wouldn’t have survived
rehabilitation survived rehabilitation
BBC got wind of that and then they stuck
me into something called the people
strictly where I danced with Natalie
Lowe in front of 10 million people and
one the one legged guy Chris back to
dancing and wins it now I’ve learned
five things on this journey okay you
don’t have to take him with you I care
I’d like to say I don’t care I feel like
I do genuinely care but here it is pride
make sure that whatever you’re doing
you’re going to be able to look back on
yourself and say well I’m kind of proud
of what I did their determination
do not be deterred from what your goal
is which ties really happily into the
next one which is aggression and I’m not
talking fisticuffs you know Wing Chun
aggression I’m talking if you’re gonna
be a bear be a grizzly we’re gonna do
something do it to the best and the
strongest that you possibly possibly can
resilience you cannot succeed without
failure you have to learn to walk again
at some point in time or at least I use
that as an analogy you’re going to be
down let it brush off and get back up
and keep going
the last one is G that’s and I’ve taken
this straight from the roll Marines PO
to be thoughts cheerfulness in the face
of adversity because I’m going to be
real honest with you now if you ain’t
laughing man you’re just not doing it
right have a great evening
you
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