Episode 3 Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman

Childhood holidays - we all love them, don't we?

Fun in the sun, sand castles, 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 had 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 HOOTS

Oh! No! No!

'..the games...'

Aargh!

'..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 Holiday Of My Lifetime.'

Can you come on ALL my holidays?

On today's journey through time, I'm picking up our mystery

holiday-maker in a 1970s classic coupe. Ho-ho!

They'd have stood out from the crowd in this one!

I'm on my way to meet a man who, like me,

is really good with his feet.

He was born in Leicester in 1969.

Look at that cheeky grin!

Ah, bless him!

He started his professional football career for Norwich City

before getting signed by Man U for a million quid.

He went on to play on the hallowed turf of Wembley for England.

Come on! On me head, son! Go on! Get it in there!

And after hanging up his boots,

he turned his hand to TV on a well-known property show.

Come on! Do I have to HAMMER it home?

You must have it by now, surely!

Today's guest is former footballer-turned-TV

presenter Dion Dublin. Oh!

We're going to play football together. Well, I hope so.

And I'm on my way to pick him up

in this marvellous Morris Marina coupe, starting his holiday

just like he and his family did all those years ago.

Dion, come on, son!

Why don't we play a bit of football? Oh, yes! I've got talent, you know.

Dion was born and bred in Leicester.

With three big brothers and an older sister,

he was the baby of the family.

His dad, Eddie, worked in hosiery and mum Rose was a nurse.

He grew up in a house practically next door to Leicester City

football ground.

Perhaps it's no surprise that he was kicking

a football as soon as he could walk.

From humble beginnings at fourth division Cambridge United,

it wasn't long before the Premier League came calling.

Later, he swapped pitches for presenting, becoming

a regular sports commentator and panellist on the telly.

I'll be getting onside with Dion today after

I've surprised him with his old family motor.

Shame about the Great British weather, though!

HE LAUGHS

That is brilliant!

Oh, my word!

HE LAUGHS

-It's the same car!

-Yes!

-Oh, my gosh!

-Good to see you.

-How are you?

-I'm well.

-Very nice to see you.

-So you recognise it?

-My gosh!

-Look at that!

-Eh?

-And we squeezed about four of us in the back of that!

-No!

-We did!

-Yes, we did! Look at that!

-So where are we going?

I'd like you to take me to Great Yarmouth, please.

-We can do that.

-Can we do that?

-Yeah. What's the year?

19...79. 1979.

-The year Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

-There you go.

-You know what the big hit was?

-Go on, then.

# YMCA! #

Was it really?

-Was it really?

-Yes!

-And you've still got the moves!

-Well, I wouldn't go that far!

-Oh, wow.

-Look, your chariot awaits.

-Let's do it.

-Great Yarmouth is beckoning.

-Look at this beauty!

Oh, Great Yarmouth, famous for its golden sands.

It's been a seaside resort since the 18th century.

On the East Norfolk coast, 20 miles from Norwich,

it's the gateway to the Norfolk Broads and the North Sea.

There's 15 miles of beaches here, as well as six museums, two piers

and countless arcades, rides and attractions lining the promenade.

Great Yarmouth has been a family favourite for generations

and more than a million people come here every summer to

enjoy its good old-fashioned charm.

'Today, I'm taking Dion back to relive those glorious family

'trips here when he was a nipper,

'sampling some fine local delicacies...'

Ooh-hoo!

'..feeling the need for speed and kicking about on the same

'beach that inspired the budding football star,

'and showing him how it's done..'

HE CHEERS

'..discovering how the holiday here in Yarmouth helped shape him

'into the top football and TV personality we know today.'

But before any holiday can begin, you have to get there first.

Whether by plane, train or automobile,

the journey is a big part of the excitement.

Austin Marina in orange. Outstanding!

And for Dion, in 1979, it was the one time of the year when the whole

family got together, all piling into Dad's car

and setting off for a week of fun at the seaside. Ho-ho, what larks!

-Dion, let's set the scene.

-Go on, then.

-How many of you were in this car?

-Well, there's five...

I've got three brothers and a sister, Mum and Dad.

And we all used to try and cram in here, you know.

Just cram it all in and off you go.

And that's all we could afford at the time.

-Everybody did those holidays, didn't they?

-Yeah.

-And I suppose you were a bit of a cheeky lad?

-Er...

-Were you all squabbling and that...

-Yes, yes!

-..or was it all sedate?

Nah, none of that sedate rubbish.

You get the odd jab in with your brother,

just in case he kicked off, put your sister in the middle as the referee.

We were, you know, four lads and your sister.

-Sister used to get the brunt of it all the time.

-Of course.

-She'd get the blame for everything!

-Yeah.

And if there was any food to be had,

you had to eat it very quickly otherwise it'd be gone.

-All gone.

-Biscuits and stuff, crisps. Yeah.

So your mum sorted out... You had a bit of a packed lunch sort of thing?

Yeah. Mum sorted everything out. Mum was the boss.

-Some sandwiches?

-Yeah, sandwiches.

-Bit of lemonade?

-Yeah, exactly.

Oh, lemonade. I don't know about lemonade. We'd have squash.

-Couldn't afford lemonade.

-Oh, right. So where were you living?

We were living in Leicester at the time, right by the football

ground, Leicester City football ground.

So were you a Leicester City supporter?

Yeah, I used to go and watch Leicester City play.

My sister, Carmen, used to take me down to Leicester.

-Three quid it was to get in.

-Right, yeah.

-£3 back in the day.

-Bit different now.

-Yeah, it is.

-So how long was the journey?

-Must have been a few hours.

-Yeah, it was.

From Leicester, it's about 2½ hours.

So what made you come down to Great Yarmouth?

Well, we used to come and see my eldest brother.

He used to be down here. It was good to see him.

That's why we went there,

that's why we went there for so many years, actually.

It was just such a nice place to go. They have summers down there.

Of course you did, unlike today.

Yes. Our summer is like a couple of days now?

Yeah, if you're lucky!

I can't believe there were so many of you in this tiny car.

I just can't believe it.

-Can you see this sign here, Great Yarmouth?

-Great Yarmouth.

-Here we go.

-We're in.

-Come on, lad.

-We're in.

It was all...

GEARS CRUNCH

Oh, you sound like my mum's driving!

Do you know what I'm going to do in a moment,

-I'm going to pull over and let you have a go.

-No, no, please, no.

No, please.

In the summer of 1979,

everyone needed a holiday after a winter of discontent.

Months of industrial disputes and some terrible weather

brought the country to a standstill.

It was bad news for milk drinkers too, as the price of a pint went

up to 15p.

Scandalous!

And a low turnout for the first referendum in Scotland meant

the vote was defeated but certainly not forgotten.

And the soundtrack to all of this, well, it wasn't the most

cheerful of years but for the Bee Gees at least, '79 wasn't a...

# Tragedy

# When the feeling's gone and you can't go on

# It's tragedy... #

The legendary band of the Gibb brothers made their way up

the charts, all the way to number one in the UK and America.

This is the start of Dion's holiday of his lifetime.

THEY LAUGH

With beaches extending for miles along the coast

from Great Yarmouth,

one of the best stretches of sand is just down the road at Hemsby,

which is where Dion and his family were based for their week away.

Hemsby beach.

-These are the places where you went to get a brand-new...

-Beachball.

A beachball and a bucket and spade.

-Because the sands here, as I remember...

-Yes.

-..are lovely.

Beautiful, really well-kept.

We've just arrived, the rain's stopped and it's lovely.

It is.

Quick! While the sun's out, let's get on the beach.

The young Dion back in '79 would have been bursting with

excitement by now.

-So, here it is.

-This is it?

-Is it as you remember?

-Exactly the same.

We wouldn't be walking this slow,

we would be sprinting as fast as we could to get to that beach.

-You know what, Len, everybody's on the beach.

-Yeah.

People that you didn't know that are coming from Leicester are on the beach.

-Really?

-Honestly. This is just...

-It's just as it was.

-And did you go in? Did you go in the water?

All the time. When you're a young lad...

-You don't...

-You don't feel the cold.

-No!

-Get your gear off...

-Straight in.

-Straight in.

-Yeah.

Not ALL your gear, of course.

-No, no, you keep your cossie.

-You keep your...

THEY LAUGH

-You keep your cossie on.

-You keep your cossie on.

Look how long it goes for. That's incredible.

It goes as far as the eye can see in both directions.

It is a most wonderful, wonderful beach.

-We have these beaches all over Britain.

-Yeah, of course we do.

Beautiful beaches like this, all over Britain.

-And then, I suppose, you bump into a few other kids...

-That's it.

-And you're all having a laugh.

-That's it.

Then you think, come on, get a couple...

Either a pullover or something - football.

Jumpers for goalposts, there you go.

You get a couple of these stones...

-And you're off.

-I'm in goal.

-Yeah.

-That's how it works, isn't it?

-Of course it does!

Oh, it's fantastic.

In 1979, Great Yarmouth was a popular seaside town but it

had been a bustling resort since the arrival of the railway in 1844.

Victorian tourists came in their thousands, building two grand piers

and a mile-long esplanade to enjoy the benefit of fresh, sea air.

The town continued to grow into the 20th-century, becoming thronged

every summer season with factory workers from the Midlands.

Theatres, arcades, hotels

and holiday parks transformed the seafront.

By the time Dion's family started coming here in the '70s,

Yarmouth was at its prime,

enjoying mass tourism on a scale rarely seen since.

Local fisherman-turned-potter Ernie Childs grew up on the quayside

and he remembers the good times.

In 1979, it was sort of a busy year, things were happening.

It was a real moving-on town.

The shows in the evenings,

everyone was after the shows in the evenings

and we had The Windmill,

the Regent, the Regal.

Visitors to Great Yarmouth were used to seeing proper big names.

We had Engelbert Humperdinck, we had all the fancy groups,

The Kinks, Morecambe and Wise, all them sort of people.

They were all down here, you know. I think there was Blackpool and us.

Well, the rain's back but it's time to drive further down memory lane.

I've got more surprises in store.

Even as an excited kid, starting out on his holiday,

young Dion already had his heart set on one thing.

So even at the age of ten, were you keen on football?

Yeah, I played a lot of football.

I played football when I was nine years old,

is when I started to turn the corner and thought to myself,

-"Hold on a minute, I might be all right here."

-Yeah.

And my brothers and my dad all pushing me, "Go on, son.

"You'll be all right. Go on." There was a passion.

I couldn't get away from it.

It's lovely if you find something that you're really good at,

and you want to do, at such an early age.

I know, it is. I do.

If it's something that doesn't feel like work, you know.

I was lucky, my dad was a good footballer, my brothers were

good footballers and I just followed in their footsteps.

That's what's wonderful. I had a bit of the same sort of career.

I started dancing as a hobby.

-Did you really?

-Yeah, it was only a hobby.

I only went because there were girls there.

DION LAUGHS

And then I found that was my living for 50 years.

-Wow!

-It's a bit the same for you, I guess.

It's something that you would have done anyway,

you ended up having a profession.

-That's right, absolutely spot-on.

-How good is that?

It's lucky. I think it's very lucky.

You've got to have something in order to back it up.

Now, because Dion's brother worked at a caravan park in Hemsby,

all the family would stay there for a budget week's break.

-Look, you're here.

-Is this it?

Newport Caravan Park.

This is you!

I didn't realise it was so close.

-This is it.

-Oh, my gosh.

I'm chatting away there, thinking...

This is a posh place and it's your place!

It wasn't this posh before, mate!

-Oh, my gosh.

-Here you are.

-Look at this.

DION LAUGHS

Part of the magic of any childhood holiday is

the excitement of staying somewhere new.

The sights, sounds and smells of those hotels, motels and campsites.

For Dion, home for the week was here at the caravan park.

Static caravans were first introduced straight after

the war, but they really became popular in the '60s.

By the end of the decade,

they were being mass-produced with sturdy aluminium panels

and came as long as 28 feet.

For the millions of travellers coming to Great Yarmouth in 1979,

around two-thirds of the accommodation

available was holiday camps, just like Dion's.

Ho-ho! What fun!

So do you recognise any of this?

In this area here, I know we were in this area here, on this patch

-because it's, like, sectioned off, isn't it?

-Yeah.

We were definitely in this section. I'm not quite sure where.

It's a while ago now, I'm getting old now.

Well, I was hoping that it might all come back to you.

Yes, the place has come back to me.

This is definitely the section. A big section here.

I'll tell you what, why don't we have a look in one of the caravans?

-Keep it local.

-There might be a few people...I don't know.

Is that you, Hilda?

-We're all right. Oh!

-This is different now.

It's a bit different. It's got carpeting for one.

This...

You can stand up straight.

-Yeah.

-Is it a bit similar to how it was?

It is, the layout's the same.

There was a little bit more space in these kind of caravans

but it does bring it back. It does bring it back.

-As soon as you get up those few steps you think...

-Hello.

-Holiday, it's holiday.

-Yeah.

It comes straight to holiday again.

I suppose you had to sort out who was sleeping where?

As long as Mum and Dad got their space, they were happy.

-Fight it out for yourselves.

-Right.

Because some of my mates were nearby,

-you'd do little sleepovers and stuff.

-Oh, did you?

Mum and dad might have a night on their own

and we would be all out and the boys would come in here.

This is, honestly...

I must say, let's have a look along.

It's a proper sink, look.

-Yeah.

-A proper sink.

-Proper gas stove.

-Microwave.

-Microwave?

-Well...

-Not in '79.

Not in '79, Len.

It's very different now, though.

Oh! Oh, hello.

-Three beds.

-Three beds in there.

It used to have bedrooms then, but this might not have been here.

-It's all sectioned off now.

-It was open-plan.

-Yeah.

-Oh...

-It's gone round.

-Yes!

-It's gone round full circle.

You didn't spend that much time in bed, anyway.

As soon as you went to bed, you wanted to get up.

Of course you did.

And not forgetting my dad snoring, by the way.

-That was terrible.

-Right.

Great Yarmouth's Golden Mile was a paradise for family fun.

No wonder Dion couldn't wait to get out of his caravan.

With so many things to do,

I've picked out seven attractions I think you'll like.

There were 22 model villages around the UK and the one on the seafront

here has been loved by the kiddies and grown-ups since 1961.

The teeny-tiny town of Merrivale is set in more than an acre

of gardens. And afterwards, have a go in the Old Penny Arcade.

I'll tell you what, I've had some larks in some of these.

British piers have been a traditional

part of the seaside landscape since Victorian times.

They're a real testament to the engineering skills of those

early entrepreneurs.

At either end of the promenade in Yarmouth are the Wellington

and the Britannia piers.

And they thrill visitors to this very day.

The Britannia even has a busy theatre,

entertaining the crowds every season.

The pier itself was built in 1857

and then it was damaged quite badly by bad storms.

The pier we're standing on today was built around the early 1900s.

Oh, yes, there's plenty of life in the old pier yet!

Well, I know Dion's quite the sportsman but I reckon I can

take him at one of his favourite childhood holiday arcade games.

Watch out, Dublin, I've got a mean right arm.

-Oh, this is it.

-This is the one. This is the one.

-Now, this is what you played with your brother, right?

-This is it.

This is a bit of air hockey, pal.

-Wow!

-Do you want to have a go?

-It's a bit smart. I'd love a...

Do you fancy a game, do you?

-I'm very dextrous.

-Do you fancy a game? Are you sure?

-Come on.

-If you're sure.

-The best-of-three.

-Go on, then. Come on, Leonard.

What have you got in your locker, kid?

That's not bad.

Keep it flat on the surface.

Oh!

-Come to me.

-No!

That's a beauty.

-If I get one...

-Oh!

Lucky. What a lucky man.

-Yes!

-That's why...

That's why I was number one.

Go!

-Oh, no!

-It was an own goal.

-It was an own goal.

-Right, next one, next one.

This is the one. Here we go.

-Oh!

-And he does.

He takes the win.

Oh. Shut up.

I thought it was going to be a whitewash. 3-2, I'll take it.

Great fun.

I'm down, Dion, but not defeated.

Let me try and even the score on sand.

Come on, let's hit the beach.

Now, I've heard that Dion scored

more than 100 goals during his Premiership career.

'45 of them with his loaf.

'That puts him into the UK's top three scorers of all time

'with headed goals.'

-Get it, Len.

-Hey-hey!

That's not bad, that, you know. That's not bad at all.

-That's a new record.

-There you are.

Were you scouted as a kid?

Did someone see you playing in a little, local game

and they said, "Oi, we could do with you"?

I was sort of eight, nine years old. All my mates were saying to me,

"Listen, come down the youth club Friday night,

"game of table tennis, game of table football."

I said, "I can't, I've got to play football in the morning."

"Rubbish. I better not go."

I went on Saturday, scored, and Leicester seen me play.

-It was just...

-You could have gone to that...

-Could have gone.

And then you would have been a bit cream crackered the next morning

and nothing would have happened.

No, that's what it is all about. Choosing the right things.

How long were you at Leicester for?

I was at Leicester from the age of 9 to the age of 15.

I did a year's work and then I had trials all over the country.

My dad, he wrote one letter, photocopied it 92 times

-and sent it to every professional football club.

-Right.

I got about ten replies, I got about three trials. It's incredible, Len.

Right, I'll tell you what,

-I'll find some stones for goalposts up here, you do it up there.

-OK.

-Yeah?

-All right, you go left post, I'll go right post.

-OK.

OK, here we go.

And were you, you know...

I imagine you must have been very competitive, even at that age?

Yeah, always wanting to win. I also wanted to score the most goals.

I always wanted to take the throw-ins. I was like Billy Whizz.

You know, I wanted to do everything.

-You wanted to do the lot.

-I wanted to do the lot.

But that's just the nature of a sportsman, I suppose.

-It ain't a very long pitch, is it?

-No, no, it's...

I'm going down a bit.

Two there.

I'll tell you what, it's not bad, that, Len.

We'll have another goal 20 yards, 30 yards away.

The kids would be bouncing about. The ball would go miles.

Nobody cared.

Did you continue to play, even if it went in the sea,

-or was that a throw-in?

-No, just carry on. Kick it.

Pushing each other. It was just genius.

-It was on this beach.

-Yeah.

-It was right on this beach.

I'll tell you what we'll do.

We'll have a three-kick penalty shoot-out.

-Go on, then.

-OK.

Give us your best kick. Give us your best.

Here we go.

-Oh!

-Good save, sir.

'Go on, son.'

-I tried to get it through the legs.

-Safe hands.

Argh!

Go on!

Oh, thank you.

It's all in the footwork!

Oh!

'Oh, keep up, Dublin.

'Well, nine-year-old Dion could never have dreamt that the

'beaches of Yarmouth would lead to the pitches of the Premier League.'

So, listen, you started off at Norwich and Cambridge.

Yes, that's right.

Then, of course, came the £1 million transfer...

-Yeah.

-To Man U.

The fact that it's £1 million must make you think,

"I've got to really perform here," you know.

-Yeah, a bit of pressure.

-Yeah.

For somebody to go from the fourth to the first division was huge,

and Sir Alex Ferguson got in touch with John Beck,

the manager, and said, "Listen, £1 million for Dion Dublin."

I think Cambridge United were like that. "Come on!

-"We've had enough of him anyway!"

-Yeah.

And then, of course, the worst possible thing.

-I know.

-You break your leg.

Yes, I scored on my debut for Man United,

away at Southampton on a Monday night.

Then I played my home debut for Man United at Old Trafford

and I was thinking, "Here we go, 50,000 people.

"I've got the Man United shirt on."

I break my leg. Out for eight months.

-Then they sign, you might have heard of him...

-Cantona.

Yeah, you might have heard of him, Len.

Then as soon as he signed,

-Man United went from strength to strength.

-Yeah.

That, to be fair, mate, makes me the catalyst for Man United's success.

-Yeah.

-I break my leg, they get Cantona.

-Yeah!

-Looking back on it, you wouldn't change it?

-No, I wouldn't change it.

You know, it was a bad break, eight months out

but getting a chance to play for Man United!

-Under Sir Alex, the best in the world, no chance.

-Yeah.

Good lad.

Now, while Great Yarmouth has been a top holiday

destination for years, it also has a fascinating maritime heritage.

Its port was once the largest herring port in the world with

boats hauling in more than 350 million herring

a season in the early 20th century.

Which leads me on to the next of my top days out in the area.

The Potteries on the quayside is an old smokehouse where

they used to make kippers with the millions of herrings

arriving off the boats every morning.

Open to tourists today as a museum and working art studio,

it was built 350 years ago, almost entirely from timbers

taken from shipwrecks after a devastating storm.

After sailing ships came steamboats.

Now a floating museum, visitors can step on board the Lydia Eva,

the last steam drifter built here in 1930.

The hull was made in King's Lynn.

It was the last ship actually built in King's Lynn.

The engine is the original one which was built across here,

and that is still operational.

The fish come here, locally out in the North Sea,

usually on a one-day turnaround.

They went out and they hoped to be at the fishing grounds about dusk,

when the fish started to rise from the bed,

and they laid out nets in a straight line because they were drifting.

They would put out a net something in the region of two miles long.

No holiday experience is complete without sampling the local food.

Holiday-makers back when Dion was in Great Yarmouth

would've had a chance to visit the market in town

to get the freshest fish for their fish and chips

and maybe a cheeky jellied eel.

Oh, tasty.

My family have been working at this market since 1946,

which is 69 years.

My grandad used to get the jellied eels, my dad used to go

and fish them from the local river and they would prepare them

and sell them up here.

It was a lot busier.

I remember my parents would stand up here till 12 o'clock at night

because there was a lot of theatres open

and when the theatres turned out,

they would come to the market again for the chips, peas and seafood.

There's been a market here selling fish since the 1200s.

Now, cockles, winkles and whelks might not be everybody's

fancy any more, but some classics never go out of fashion.

-So, now, tell me...

-Yeah, go on.

..what was the sort of food you'd be eating back then, '79?

It was all sausages and chips and...

Did like me mushy peas. I liked mushy peas.

Little bit of a nip of mint sauce.

Bit of a strange delicacy, but, yeah...

Mint...? Mushy peas and mint sauce?

-Little bit of mint sauce and mix it up there.

-Never!

Yeah, that's what we used to have back in the day.

Some people say mushy peas descend from one of Britain's

oldest meals - pease pottage.

Either way, every town has its own take on the dish,

and 1979 Great Yarmouth was no different.

To take Dion back in time, I've brought him to Gary's pie

and pea stall, and we're going to serve up his beloved Norfolk-style mushy peas.

Mint sauce an' all! Well, I'll give anything a try once.

Oh, here we are!

This is it. Tradesman's entrance.

-Lovely to see you, Len, old friend.

-Lovely to see you.

-And you, Dion.

-Hello, pal. You OK?

-Lovely to see you.

-Right, now...

-Peas.

-Yes.

-Where do they come from?

These are the ones what are grown in Lincolnshire.

They're a special variety, what we do for mushy peas.

-They're called beluga.

-Are they?

Yeah. They're about the best peas you can get for mushy peas.

This is where they're cooked, all freshly cooked.

Look at how many you've got in there!

Without further ado, come on... Stop teasing us, Gaz. Come on!

Come on, we'll go for it.

-What we got, what we got?

-Here you are, you try these, me old son.

-Look at that.

-Get yourself a spoon.

-Cheers, pal.

There's some mint, there, look, if you need it.

I'll be banging in the mint sauce in two secs. When Len gets his.

-Just try it without mint first.

-That's nice.

-There you are, Len.

-Try it without mint first.

-I'll try it without the mint and I'll...

-OK?

You've got to eat them all up, you know...

-Oh! They're unbelievable.

-They are lovely.

-They are.

Because they've got...

-They are lovely.

-Do you know what I think?

-Go on.

I don't think you could improve on this, mint sauce or not.

-But I'm going to see.

-Got to give it a go.

-Yeah!

You'll know the difference, then.

Here we go.

I'm going to get a little bit of the old mint...

and put it there.

Don't be shy with the mint sauce. Get yourself involved.

Go on, Len, go for it.

Yeah, I'm giving myself an ample proportion. There.

Here we go...

There you go. You try first. Then...

It's a nice little collaboration.

-It is.

-It's a nice little collaboration.

-It is.

It's one of those lovely little...

-You know, yeah, like Mills & Boon, or...

-There you go.

-Go on.

-Taking me back, this is.

-Oh, go on, Dion!

-Hoo-hoo!

-Eh?!

You know what?

I can't fault you. Can't fault you. It's got to be a ten, Gaz.

Got to be a ten. That's unbelievable.

I'm nine years old again.

-Yeah!

-60 years on, we must be doing something right.

So, what do you give it out of ten?

-Let me give it one more go and I'll tell you.

-Go on, then.

Just a mark out of ten.

-It's a ten from Len.

-It's a ten from Len, Gaz!

Oh, yes! Oh-ho-ho, yes!

There you are!

'OK, we're refuelled and ready to go,

'and with the score at 1-1 after our games on the beach

'and in the arcade, I think it's time for another match.

'Now, let's see how Dion takes corners here.'

Oh, hello.

'Oh, yes, this is serious business.'

Body armour! I tell you what...

You look serious.

'Time to kit up, Dion.'

Where's the ball? Where's the ball?!

'No, it's not football!

'And we're not getting in the showers either! Leave it out!'

Now we dance!

'On me 'ead, son!

'Two lookers like me and you, we've got to protect our noggins.

'Prepare for a high-speed showdown.'

Heh-heh-heh-heh!

'It's Segway racing.'

Never been on one of these. How does it work?

-You get on...

-Yeah, if you like, step on.

-Whoa!

-Oi, I know you did that!

-What, what, what?

'Of course, these weren't here back in Dion's day but,

'after a quick talk, he's mastered the basics.

'Not too much, I hope. We're under starters orders.'

Now, this is a rolling start. So as we get to that start, we're off.

Go on, then.

Three, two, one...

Woohoo! Ha-ha!

Come on, Len. I'll give you the inside track.

'Hold on a minute, he's leaving me in the dirt!'

Here I come.

-I'm sort of getting the gist of it a bit now.

-Here we go.

Whoa!

'I've got this whippersnapper in me sights.

'I tell you what, he's going down!'

I do like these.

-Come on!

-Come on, son!

-Come on!

Oh, yes, now, now we're on it!

-We're on the straight, we're on the straight.

-I can see the finish.

We're on the straight, we're on the straight! Come on, come on, son!

I tell you what, I'm better at it than I ever dreamt. It's a tie!

Oh, no! Come on!

-Ohhh!

-Photo finish!

I tell you...

-Did you see me, lady?

-They are brilliant.

-I was wonderful, wasn't I?

-Well done, sir.

-Love it!

-Team photo.

-Yeah!

Whoa-ho! All this winning makes thirsty work,

so it's back to the caravan park clubhouse, where Dion and his family

would have headed for a spot of entertainment at the end of the day.

It's big, ain't it? It is big.

-It was bigger when you were younger.

-Oh, of course!

Talking of that, were you allowed to come in here?

There were certain areas that you were allowed to come in.

See, there's a big sign up there

-that says no under-18s in here...

-In this bit.

-Not allowed.

But, in there, you could get yourself a Coke and some crisps.

You'd probably be sat on the dance floor, Len, you know,

-legs crossed, watching a magician or something.

-Yeah. Yeah, the cabaret.

Because there'd be a show on.

Dion loved all the entertainment and music here when he was a boy,

but I think he's still fond of a tune or two now.

Going to bring up something now, because I'm very observant

and I've noticed a couple of times in the car and even now

and again at this bar, you've got a bit of a...

-..a percussive sort of vibe going.

-A tendency to tap all the time.

-Yeah!

Just always tapping. Always doing little bits and bobs. Doorframes...

Sending my mum crazy when she says, "Empty the bins."

I empty the bin and I'm playing it when I come back in the house.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So that's just been my passion for years, Len. Always.

-And then, of course, you invented...

-Yeah!

-Tell me about...

-Remind me what it's...

-It's called The Dube.

How did you get the name "Dube"?

-Well, it's in the shape of a cube...

-Oh, right.

-..and Dublin.

I made it, invented it nine years ago, and I thought it sounded OK.

It's just been a passion of mine for years and years.

While I've been playing the game of football,

my musical passions have sort of been lying stagnant.

-Now I'm retired, I'm an old man, I can try the other stuff.

-Yeah.

Give us a little...

-Yeah...

-Come on!

HE TAPS A SAMBA BEAT

Ohhhh!

-A little bit of samba there for you. A bit of samba there for you.

-Yeah.

-And I was gyrating! I truly...

-I could see the movement!

Yeah, I was absolutely gyrating. My buttocks were clenched.

-That's enough information.

-OK, I'm just telling you.

Yeah, moving on swiftly...

If you travel inland from the port of Great Yarmouth, you'll find

the huge network of rivers and lakes that make up the Norfolk Broads.

The Broads were originally peat diggings.

They were dug out in medieval times and, over the years,

they've obviously filled with water.

The Broads cover an area of approximately 303 square kilometres.

Out of that, 125 miles of the waterway is navigable by boat.

And we have within it nine national nature reserves

and 28 Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

There's more wildlife to be found at Thrigby Hall,

where you can get up close and personal with Asian tigers,

monkeys and other exotic animals in the landscaped grounds

of the 250-year-old garden.

And finally, a Norfolk man and a national hero, Horatio Nelson,

who sailed victoriously into Yarmouth Harbour many times.

He's commemorated in the town museum.

Well, Nelson famously lost his arm, but our Dion very nearly

lost his head during his own legendary career.

-Now, I've got to ask you this.

-Go on, then.

-I know you broke your leg...

-Yes.

-..but you also broke your neck.

Yeah, I did. In '99, playing for football for Villa, I crushed C5

in the front of my neck.

-So I've got a big plate in my neck now.

-How did that happen?

I collided with a Sheffield Wednesday player

and just crushed C5.

I've got bolts in 4, two bolts in 6

and a plate that holds it all up now.

-So, it's still in there. It's made of titanium.

-Right.

-So, I don't beep...

-When you go through the...?

I don't beep at the airport, so I'm all right with that.

I wondered why you kept nodding your head a bit funny!

-Yeah, exactly. Nodding to people, saying hello to people.

-"Hello!"

In a life of two halves,

Dion's started his second career now as a TV personality.

He's a regular sports commentator and recently started presenting

the BBC property series Homes Under The Hammer.

When I was a player, Len, I put a lot of my money into houses.

Oh, so you've got a bit of background in property?

Yeah, yeah, I put a lot of my money into houses and did OK,

sold at the right time, rented. Had a few in Spain.

So, yeah, I've got a little bit of knowledge.

I'm no expert, don't get me wrong, but it's just...

It's learning a new trade. It's learning what you do.

And I think it's...

There's longevity in it, so, thanks to them for giving me a chance.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the show, I can tell you.

-Are you still a fan now I'm on it?

-Oh, yes, indeed!

-You haven't switched off, no?

-No, no, no. I really like it.

Have you got any sort of ambitions or things that, you know, "I'd like

"to have a dabble at that,"

or do you want to just see how things pan out?

Yeah, I love my music.

I love my music, I love my percussion, I love my rhythms.

I wouldn't mind playing a few live gigs.

Playing percussion with some of the big boys.

I've got to know, you know, a lot of big names in the musical world

and stuff, so that would be nice.

-I played with Ocean Colour Scene once, on stage.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Played with Ocean Colour Scene on stage at the UEA.

That was incredible. Toploader, as well, at a festival.

Yeah, I've never heard of any of them, if I'm honest.

-Never you mind!

-Don't matter. I'm sure they're big bands! Yeah.

Do you think, you know, your experiences here

and playing football with your mates and your mum and dad,

do you think that in any way sort of helped to form your future?

Yeah, I do, I do, Len. It's about your personality.

If I can come here and play on the beach with my mates at 19 years old,

then you get to...

You do that for six or seven years and then you get to...

somebody says about signing pro forms.

"Pro forms? What, me being a professional?"

It grounds you.

Honestly, Len, doing these kind of things, coming to Yarmouth,

it was the making of me as a person.

And the way I was brought up by my parents and stuff.

So, yeah, it does...

It's great to come back, mate, so thank you for that.

'It's been wonderful to come back with Dion and relive

'his personal memories of family holidays here in Great Yarmouth.

'Learning you mustn't judge food until you've tried it.'

-It's a ten from Len.

-It's a ten from Len!

Oh, yes! Oh-ho-ho, yes!

-'We certainly had a ball.'

-Ohh!

Ohhhh, ho-ho-ho! Ha!

Ohh!

'And he's been the perfect partner.'

'After spending the day with Dion,

'it's easy to see just how much Great Yarmouth means to him.'

It's a tie! Photo!

Well, Dion, look, obviously I'm hoping you'll remember this day.

-Oh, gosh, yeah.

-And I want...

Occasionally, in 20 years' time, you'll be going through

and you'll think, "Oh, what's this?"

And what it is...

what it is...

There you are.

A Holiday Of My Lifetime scrapbook full of all the photographs

and things that we've done.

A picture book of memories from our fabulous time here together.

But I've also got another souvenir for him.

-So, that's for you.

-Thank you very much, sir.

Now, I've got to be honest...

-You are very competitive.

-Oh, yes.

-I'm very competitive.

-I am very competitive.

-I've noticed, I've noticed.

-And when I think about, you know, the football...

-Yeah, yeah.

..the air hockey, the Segway things, I've got to say, I think...

-..you are the winner overall. I'm going to give it to you.

-Awww!

Thank you very much.

Now, I know you've got cup-winner's medals and this and that,

but I think this will go somewhere.

You're going to get the official

Holiday Of My Lifetime trophy, Dion Dublin.

It's engraved. Look at that beauty!

-Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much.

-We had a great day.

-That is amazing.

It's been great.

And, you know...

to the millions of people out there who voted for me,

I'd just like to say thank you very much to Len

for putting me through a bit of nostalgia.

Len, we all love you. We all love you, Len.

Thank you very much, mate.

This is going to go right next to the Premier League trophy.

Yeah, go on!

Look at that!

'So it's goodbye to Great Yarmouth, a great seaside town.'

For Dion, the beaches here will always be home

to some very special memories.