…BUT HE LOVED GRITTY CAPE TOWN
CELEBRITY PASSPORT – TRAVEL
DAILY RECORD (GLASGOW, SCOTLAND)
22 NOVEMBER 2003

Favourite holiday destination?
Cape Town. There are a lot of problems, but it’s so optimistic they really want to get going. I’ve been in the expensive hotels but I also spent the 2001 New Year at a Township, round a fire roasting a lamb, with kids everywhere and a beat box.

They still have tribal systems, witch doctors and nurses, but they were super friendly. It was good to see that side of things, and not just the white marble bathrooms. It’s still dangerous if you don’t know where you’re going, but it’s amazing.

Essential hols item?
Well, boringly enough, I have to take a tube of hydrocortisone cream along with me. I’ve got eczema. It was really bad when I was little. My skin’s OK now if I wear the cream.

Holidays from hell?
I’ve had one cracker. Once when I was working as an insurance clerk in an office after I’d finished college, a girl in the office showed me an ad for a camping holiday in France for pounds 150. I went out thinking it would be all lush glades, country walks and goats. But no, I was on reclaimed land with big ugly toads everywhere, burned out cars and gunshots.

Childhood holidays?
They were always in Scotland, somewhere up the west coast, like Mull and Skye. We were always around Loch Inver when we were wee. In my teenage years we went to Rannoch quite a bit. It was so beautiful, and in a way felt disloyal to go anywhere else.

Next holiday?
I’m not sure. I’ve not had a holiday in two years. I was working in New Zealand and Australia this time last year and stayed on for a few days. It was fantastic, but it wasn’t a holiday. I recently got in touch with an old school pal called Nick whose forefathers are from Mauritius. It would be really interesting to go there.