Episode 6 Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman

We all love childhood holidays, don't we?

Fun in the sun, sandcastles, swimming in the sea -

can't beat them.

So, in this series, I'm going to be reliving those wonderful times

with some much-loved famous faces.

Everyone a winner!

Come on, hook a duck!

And some of the most surprising guests

have the most fascinating holidays.

-You could do a night here.

-You could!

-Yeah.

However, I think that's long enough for me.

THEY LAUGH

We'll relive the fun... TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

Oh, oh, oh!

..the games... Oh!

..and the food of years gone by...

That is a little taste of childhood right there.

..to find out how those holidays around the UK

helped shape the people we know so well today.

I'm giving you a standing ovation.

So, buckle up for a Holiday Of My Lifetime.

Can you come on all my holidays?

Irish eyes are smiling today,

as my holiday guest is a worldwide megastar,

who has been wowing audiences

with his velvety voice for over 30 years.

# When Irish eyes are... # You know the rest.

He was born in Donegal in 1961.

Oh, look at him in them shorts.

He's got stardom written over both his kneecaps. Oh, yes!

He released his first single in the early 1980s

when you could wear a pullover like that! Do you know what? I like it!

I think it would suit me.

In 1992, he just wanted to "dance with you". Well, I tell you,

if he wants to dance with ME, I'm going to lead.

Oh, yes, I'm the oldest!

Have you got it yet? Of course you have.

Today's guest is the Irish superstar Daniel O'Donnell.

Oh, Danny boy!

# Oh, Danny boy, the pipes... #

I'm on my way to pick him up

for a Holiday Of My Lifetime of a different kind.

Because today, we're headed to a beautiful, but remote, spot

that no-one's actually lived in since the late '70s.

Full steam ahead, captain.

BOAT ENGINE REVS

Daniel O'Donnell grew up

in the small seaside village of Kincasslagh,

with a population of around 40 people.

Among them were his four brothers and sisters,

his dad, Francis, who passed away when Daniel was six,

and his mum, Julia, who had to raise her five children on her own.

Now, believe it or not, Daniel released his first single,

My Donegal Shore, back in 1983,

which he paid for and even sold himself.

Since then, he's not only gone on to sell more than 10 million albums,

he's also had an impressive 16 Top 40 singles

and become the first singer

to have an album in the British charts 25 years in a row.

All that, and the ladies absolutely love him!

But sorry, girls, today, he's all mine,

and thanks to Captain Dan and Darcy here,

I'm collecting Mr O'Donnell from the shores of his childhood home.

-Daniel.

-Hi, there. Welcome, welcome to Kincasslagh.

-How are you doing, sir?

-I'm great.

-How good of you to come and visit us here.

-No. Watch out.

-Look I'm being helped out of a boat by one of my heroes.

-Why not?

-Thank you.

-Really good to see you.

-I'm starstruck, honestly.

-Well, how do you think

-I

-am?

-No! No, it's all one way!

So, we've got the boat. Where are we off to?

We're going to visit two islands - Owey Island

and Arranmore Island, just off the coast.

-Yes, take us back a bit in time.

-Are they buzzy, plenty going on?

Well, Owey Island has nobody living on it permanently.

That's where my mother came from, my grandparents.

But Arranmore Island is quite a happening island,

a lot of people living there.

-Well, you know I am a sort of happening sort of guy.

-Well..

I live in the fast lane.

Well, we'll have to make it as fast as we can today.

-What's the year that we're going back to?

-We're going back to 1968.

That's when the film Yellow Submarine came out. Oh, yes!

And while that also would have been the perfect transport for us,

back in the day, the family would have rowed the three miles

-to Owey island on this wee thing. Blimey!

-It's called a curragh.

So, what do you do? Just sit on the floor?

Yeah, but sit up the front and they have the paddle

and they do it this way.

'Well, much as I like to recreate the original holiday experience,

'you'd have to be Steve Redgrave to get across the water in that.

'So, instead, I've done what every other tourist has to do -

'hire a professional.' We've got this gorgeous launch.

-I'm going to call it a launch.

-We're going to travel in style.

-Travel in style, indeed.

-Nothing but the best.

'Oh, yes, indeedy!'

Casting off from Kincasslagh in the northwest of Donegal,

we're heading to Owey and Arranmore,

two of the county's eight main islands,

which about three centuries back,

used to be under the control of a certain O'Donnell clan.

So, fittingly, Daniel and I are going to relive

some of his earliest memories of those places.

Every holiday begins with a journey and, apparently, even in 1968,

getting to Owey Island was an absolute Daniel O'Doddle!

Every house on the island had a special spot on the mainland,

so we would go and stand in my uncle's spot

and they would know that there was somebody coming to visit them,

-so they would get into their curragh and come out and pick us up.

-Right.

And every house was the same and they all knew...

You know, if somebody saw a person on my uncle's "mark",

as they called it, they would go to the house and say,

"There's somebody coming to visit you.

-"You need to go and pick them up."

-Right.

-Isn't that amazing?

It's amazing, yeah. That would be the only way,

cos there's no telephone or no other way of communicating.

No, that was the only way to get the point across.

And we would go out there then

-and you would just be...as free as a bird.

-Yeah.

-It was fantastic.

And having your grandmother there too.

My grandmother lived to be 93 and in the end, she came to live with us.

But on her 90th birthday, she donned her wellington boots and walked down

and got into the curragh and went to the island on her 90th birthday.

-Oh, fantastic!

-Yeah.

But island life, for Daniel,

wasn't just about the freedom or visiting his dear old granny.

It was also about the music.

I can remember sitting on the steps of the school,

listening to people singing, which was... It's a memory I have...

I remember one guy singing Peggy Gordon,

-if you know Peggy Gordon.

-I'm not sure I do.

# Oh, Peggy Gordon

# You are my darling

# Come sit ye down upon my knee... #

-It's a lovely old ballad.

-I love...

-I love Percy French.

-Oh, yes, great songs.

-All those Percy French songs were...

-# Oh, Mary...

# This London's a wonderful sight

# With the people here working

# By day and by night

# They don't sow potatoes

# Nor barley nor wheat

# But there's gangs of them digging

# For gold in the street. #

Thank you! Yes, I'm here all week.

Now, while Daniel was being inspired by the locals on Owey,

here's what else was going on in the world, back in 1968.

It was the year we saw the arrival of the MK1 Ford Escort,

an absolute classic, which sold in record numbers - two million plus!

Also making their first appearance in Britain, decimal coins,

confusing many a shopper

and even requiring some retail giants to retrain their staff.

Meanwhile, the notorious Kray twins were finally arrested for murder,

after what had been a successful run

of assaults, arson and armed robbery.

Debuting on the box, the fabulous Dad's Army,

which gave its 18 million fans the unforgettable catchphrases,

"You stupid boy" and "They don't like it up 'em!"

As for music, well, does this ring a bell?

# Jesus loves you more than you will know

# Whoa, whoa, whoa

# God bless you Please, Mrs Robinson... #

Oh, yes, Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs Robinson,

which topped the American chart, reached number four on ours

and went on to win two Grammys.

Of course, 1968 was also the first time

a young Daniel O'Donnell got to spend a summer

on the rugged beautiful Owey Island.

-This is exciting, Daniel.

-Absolutely.

Can you manage?

I tell you, what a place!

# As the raindrops are falling

# I can hear your voice calling... #

So, there you are. You're a wee nipper,

six or seven or whatever, over you come.

It must have been so exciting

-cos you had the free run of the whole island.

-Absolutely.

And then your grandparents are just... You can do no wrong.

So, I was just a wee lad coming

and she would have the arms open wide to greet you

and you were just free, as you say, to do whatever.

And there was another few more young children my age,

so we just ran wild and we went a way out that road out there

and you'd maybe be looking after cows

-or playing, you know, cowboys and Indians...

-Yeah.

It was ideal, really, I suppose, when you look back.

Yeah, it was quite a place.

-I suppose, as a child, everyone knew everyone.

-Oh, everybody.

And as a kid, you could run into anyone's house..

In fact, you were related to most of them.

I think there was only two families on the island

-that we weren't related to.

-So, this was your island!

Everybody was related here.

Back then, Owey had a small tightknit community,

though, by the mid-'70s,

the last of the islanders had moved to the mainland.

You know, coming here,

I can't imagine anyone who was brought up here wanting to move.

I know. You know, it broke their heart and when the last people left,

they left their houses with everything intact -

the dressers with...the tea sets, their cookers, their beds,

everything was left. In their head, they were always coming back.

And it was really a necessity for them to move

cos the younger people emigrated, saw an easier life on the mainland,

or wherever they might have gone to, and seen the difficulty

of living on an island with no electricity, no running water.

-Yeah.

-It was just...

It was no harder than it was 50 years before,

-but the mainland had got easier.

-Yeah.

-And that's what happened.

The older people then couldn't survive

and this, my grandmother's house and my uncle's,

they left about, probably, '73.

And the last people left for good about 1977.

While the island remained uninhabited, these days,

many of the cottages have been restored and used as holiday homes -

among them, the one that used to belong to Daniel's gran,

which is still in the family.

Look at what they were looking out at here. Isn't it just lovely?

-It's just... Well, everywhere you go, you see fantastic views.

-Yeah.

-So, here we are, Len.

-Oh, this is lovely.

-Isn't it lovely?

It's better than that. It's beautiful. And the open fire.

The big fire, yeah. That fire... When we were children,

there was a big crook on it and the pot and the kettle would hang

and then, when the kettle would boil, they'd pull it out a bit

-and it would be always warm, ready for the tea.

-Yeah.

These days, you'd probably call this a one-bedroom plus study,

but back in the summer of '68, Daniel's gran was making space

for up to three adults and five kiddywinkles! Blimey!

This was the bedroom here, these two beds,

and that's recreated as it was.

Of course, it's not the original beds,

but that's what they were like.

I remember I used to sleep in this bed

and all the boys must have slept there.

-Usually, the two boys and two girls and I would be in here, too.

-Yeah.

-And your grandmother would...

-Granny was in the bed beside the kitchen

and Uncle James and Peggy were in the bottom room.

But this was a big house.

Some of the houses were a lot smaller than this.

Daniel, I've got to ask something. It's a bit of a concern to me.

-Where's the toilet?

-There was no...

Well, there's a toilet outside but at night-time,

there was a chamber pot or a "shoveunder", they called it here.

-Shoveunder, yeah.

-Did you call it that?

No, we called it a "gazunder". "Gaz under" the bed.

And you'd pull that out and it's funny, I can remember one night,

as a wee boy, in the middle of the floor, but my aim wasn't the best...

You peed on the floor.

That wasn't the only hardship back in them days.

No bathroom, no electricity, no telly - hey, no thanks!

-What was the entertainment?

-The entertainment was...

Well, you'd go from house to house.

Some houses there was cards played,

-other houses they'd tell ghost stories.

-Oh, no.

And there'd be singsongs too. But card playing was a big part of it.

-Yeah.

-And then listening to the older people

-talk about years ago.

-Yeah.

Food is a big part of any holiday.

In Daniel's case, all the hard work was done by his gran

and the favourite dish was crab toes and dulse -

something I know as seaweed.

This is just to die for.

What we used to do is just put it in on the fire...

..and get them to roast up.

We used to do this with crumpets as a child, but never with a crab toe!

'Still, nothing quite beats a local delicacy.'

May I have mine medium rare?

Yes, you could have it medium rare and you could have it well done.

It just will be sort of the luck of the draw.

-Can you smell it, Len?

-Can I smell it?!

-Look at that coming out of there now.

-Yep.

-Oh, look. Shall we go in the garden?

-I think we will.

-We'll let them cool down a wee bit before we have them.

-Yeah.

'And just like that, we've got crab toe and dulse for two

'and we're going alfresco.' Oh, this is heaven!

Wonderful island, marvellous views, out in the sunshine,

eating crab toes.

I hope there's no seaweed lurking about... Ssh...

'Mind you, when in Rome...or even Owey!' Is this dulse?

That's the dulse, but you said you didn't really like dulse.

Well, I wasn't a fan, but I'm prepared...

-I think it's an acquired taste.

-Well...

Mmm.

-It just tastes of salt.

-Mmm.

-Very salty.

-Lots of salt.

'And while that's an acquired taste I'm not really acquiring,

-'I can't wait for the main event.'

-Have a go with that, Len.

-I will.

-How are they tasting?

-They taste fantastic!

-Isn't that gorgeous?

-It's better than gorgeous.

If this was in Gordon Ramsay's kitchen or Jamie Oliver,

-there'd be a price tag on it that you could nearly not afford.

-Yeah.

And here we are, sitting out in the wide, open space,

-overlooking the bay.

-Oh, this is heaven.

-Doesn't it taste lovely?

-Oh!

And would this be, like, on a special occasion,

-this sort of thing?

-No, these would be just at the drop of a hat.

-Yeah.

You'd nearly take this for granted years ago.

What was it like growing up in Ireland...

..in, really, a small village?

I suppose the nicest thing about it was the interaction with everybody.

-Mmm.

-Everybody knew everybody, everybody's door was open...

..so you were never on your own.

And especially when there was some kind of tragedy -

or in our case, it was when my father died -

to see people rally around

and almost lift those in need up, it was quite incredible.

# There's a moon over Ireland

# Comes in from the sea... #

Let me say, your voice is a bit like here.

-It's got a gentleness about it and a warmth.

-Ah, thank you.

And I think that's like the community that you came from.

Well, I always loved singing. It was always there.

When did you first find out that you...?

-I can't remember not singing...

-Really?

-..as the smallest child.

Yeah, but nor can I, but I didn't turn out like you.

I sang from when I was little.

I used to stand in - not when the fire was on -

but I'd stand in the fireplace

and I'd do one of the Beverley Sisters' numbers

or Frankie Laine, I Believe, one of those, and I'd...

-Give it all.

-..give it my all, but I never turned out...

-Yeah.

You've got the most lyrical voice.

I really have been blessed, I suppose, to have whatever talent

that I was given and been able to...

to be able to use it in the way that I did.

I never thought, when I was growing up,

that I would travel to so many places and get to do so many things.

'Mind you, I'm betting none of that quite compares

'to the pleasure of sitting here,

'crab toe in hand and eyeballing the view.'

Shouldn't we have a glass of chilled white wine?

Yeah, didn't we leave that? But we were going back to '68

-and there was no chilled white wine then.

-No, you're right.

-And if there was wine, it certainly wouldn't be chilled.

-No.

Back in the day, the residents of Arranmore paid rent

in the form of potatoes. But in the mid-1800s,

two events greatly affected the island's fortunes.

The first was the potato famine,

and the second was the arrival of landowner Charles Beck

in the mid-1800s.

He wanted the land, so he could put more sheep grazing on it.

He decided to evict 168 people from the island in one day.

They named it emigration subsistence

but it was actually just a fancy word for eviction.

Many of his former tenants ended up emigrating

to a place called Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.

There is still a connection today,

as Beaver Island is twinned with Arranmore.

The only condition was that you cleared the land of all the trees,

so the fishing was good and they were logging

and they sent word back to their families

and they sent money back home to Arranmore

and, eventually, up to 200 families settled on Beaver Island.

# As I sit here sadly thinking how... #

But nearly a century and a half later, this story came full circle.

In the year 2000, Arranmore Island twinned with Beaver Island,

so a lot of their ancestors came back that were evicted here in 1853,

came back to the island for the first time.

Not only were they greeted by hundreds of people,

all singing and cheering,

the locals also built this memorial to mark the occasion.

As for me and Daniel, we're off to see

another of the island's landmarks.

It was here, in Early's Bar, to be precise,

that Daniel had his big break when his sister, Margo,

a hugely successful country singer in her own right,

brought her little brother to the pub.

-Hey, hey.

-Well, this is memories.

And the man we all have to thank is the owner, Andrew Early.

Margo was a very popular girl all over Ireland and Britain as well.

-Yeah.

-And she happened to come into the bar that night

and there was music on.

So I said, when she came in the door,

I said, "Margo, I'd love you to sing a few songs."

-"No problem."

-Right.

And when the two songs were finished,

"I have a wee brother here," she said,

"I think he's a good singer as well. He would like to sing you a song."

He sang two songs.

I can't remember if he went to the third,

but I tell you one thing, I know he got a standing ovation.

-Yeah, I was a forward wee ten-year-old, there you are.

-Yeah.

And he's no stranger to the island.

He's come into this bar for 28 years after.

Looking back, from when he was ten tears old,

did you think then he was destined to be a star?

Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt.

-Ha-ha.

-He says all the right things, doesn't he?

Let me ask you one more thing.

-Be honest with me.

-I will.

-Is he as nice as he seems?

-Nicer again.

Oh!

It seems to me that it would be amiss that you're back here,

the place is set, there's a stage... Could you do a song?

-We'll pretend we're ten years old again.

-Come on, then.

We'll get no standing ovation today - there's nobody here!

'And what better song to sing than one about Donegal?

'Though first, we need to get one thing straight.'

You can do the voice and I'll be the good-looking backing singer.

Absolutely. Everybody needs a good-looking backing singer.

That's me.

# The lights of London

# Are far behind

# The thoughts of homeland

# Are crowding my mind

# Familiar places

# Come into view

# I see my home now

# Soon I'll see you

# This is my homeland

# The place I was born in

# No matter where I go

# It's in my soul

# My feet may wander

# A thousand places

# But my heart will lead me back home

# To my Donegal. #

I'm giving you a standing ovation.

Without a doubt,

Arranmore and Owey are two of the loveliest places I've ever seen,

making it pretty clear why Daniel,

after travelling and performing all over the world,

always comes back to Donegal.

There's always a part of me that never leaves

and there's a completeness when I return.

I think the area, as we can see, the scenery,

-but I think, most of all, it's the people.

-Yeah.

I think it's the people that bring me back.

-Of course, you got honoured by the Queen.

-That's right.

-How was that?

When I got the call, I realised that it was something

that was requested by fans who have enjoyed the music through the years,

writing to the Palace or to the government

to see if I could be honoured.

And I was so thrilled and it's such a great honour.

We don't start out in life doing what you're doing

or, in my case, singing, to get the honours.

The singing is the joy.

To get the opportunity to go out and perform and sing

and have an audience that enjoys it - that's the real reward.

# Oh, I know it's not right

# Reminiscing tonight... #

For more than 30 years now,

Daniel's been entertaining fans across the globe.

But the nicest thing about his success

is that he's never forgotten where he's from.

# For the girl I dream of... #

Being able to show you this area that I know,

-that's like a hidden gem...

-Yes!

How unspoilt it is, how close to what it was years ago.

We have all the modern things that you could ever want,

but yet, we've still held on to the past as well

-and that's fantastic.

-Yeah.

'Daniel, sir, the pleasure's been all mine.

'On this holiday, I think we've discovered

'the real reason why Irish eyes are smiling.'

I've had such a wonderful, wonderful time.

I hope that you will remember my one day spent with you here.

I'm certainly delighted you came.

I feel so privileged that you would take the time to come and see

where we're from and see what I did when I was growing up here.

It's fantastic.

Well, as we all get older, our memories fade

and I don't want this day to fade, so...

-..here is a scrapbook...

-Oh, for goodness' sake!

-..of our holiday together here.

-Oh, thank you very much.

Like I always say,

there's nothing like a few holiday snaps to put a smile on your face.

Though, naturally, that's not all I've picked up at the gift shop.

I know we didn't come over on one of those little boats.

-What are they called?

-The curraghs.

-The curraghs.

And in a way, I would have wished we could have both squatted down and...

-I don't know who would have done that.

-No, not me! Ha-ha!

But we didn't come across on one, so I've done the next best thing.

-And my name on it.

-The Daniel O'Donnell.

-Oh, that's fantastic!

Look at that!

-Perfectly formed.

-Perfectly formed.

-Oh, that's gorgeous!

And let me just say, the hospitality you have shown

and the people on both of the islands -

the warmth and the welcome - has just been fantastic.

-I've had such a great time.

-We're just so glad you came

and just delighted you were able to experience

a little bit of what I remember as a child

and what we have here today. Thank you so much.

-No, it's been my pleasure.

-Oh, the pleasure's been mine.

-It's been lovely having you here. Thank you.

-Thank you.

'And so, as we sail off into the sunset, it's tatty-bye to Donegal.'