Life's What You Make It by Phillip Schofield

Author:Phillip Schofield [Schofield, Phillip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405949132
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2020-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

The Berlin Wall comes down.

We walked through the doors, and back about sixty years. Crystal chandeliers sparkled above the old guy in a suit playing a grand piano. Only a handful of people sat in the bar. They were furtive, their conversations spoken into hands covering their mouths. On the bar was a huge ice bucket filled with bottles of Dom Pérignon champagne and beside that a huge bowl of caviar. The opulence inside compared to the forlorn and gloomy streets outside was shocking. We sat at the bar in stunned silence. What conversations had been had in this bar over the years? Probably quite a few like the one we were about to have.

‘Hello, boys,’ said a husky female voice with a heavy German accent. ‘Would you like to buy us a drink?’

The woman with her asked, ‘Maybe you’d like a little fun tonight?’

The two ‘professional’ ladies were very beautiful and excellent company. I should say immediately that our time with them remained in the bar, on four barstools!

They drank champagne and told us about their lives. Both had young children and struggled to keep them fed. ‘Business is slow,’ they said. They asked why we were there and we explained that we had just walked through Checkpoint Charlie. They were captivated. Was it easy? Could anyone cross? What was it like on the other side? We answered their many questions and reassured them that the border was open, the Wall was coming down. Did we think they could cross? We said we were sure they could. They said that they were extremely scared. Perhaps we could cross with them?

We agreed!

Both girls raced from the bar, assuring us they would be back in twenty minutes. Their mothers took it in turns to watch the children as their daughters went to work. About half an hour later, they returned, each with a small bag and their passport. They had also brought their car.

At about 3 a.m. we drove through Checkpoint Charlie in a Trabant with two East German hookers. They kissed us on the cheeks as we sent them, wide-eyed, into the bright neon lights.

Things were marching along at a substantial pace back in London. Kenneth Williams had asked me out (I declined) and Bob Monkhouse had said to me outside TC reception, ‘If I had ever had another son, I would have liked it to have been you.’ I only include that because it touched me deeply at the time, and still does. Bob was an ever-smiling gentleman and a TV icon.

So, everything was happening – all fun, some bizarre. There were only two things left to be ticked off my teenage wish list. And then Johnny Beerling, the Controller of Radio 1, called me into his office and I ticked off one of them.

‘I wondered if you would like to do a week on the Roadshow?’

The chorus in my head played yet again.

I was teamed with Roger Pusey as my producer, and I asked Cathy Mellor, who was production secretary on my Radio 1 shows, to come on board too.

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