Bradley Wiggins recently appeared on the long-running BBC radio programme, Desert Island Discs where the premise of the programme is that the guest is asked to choose eight pieces of music that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island.
During the programme, the guests are also asked about the reasons why they chose the particular songs. Wiggins gave quite a candid interview with the host Kirsty Young where he discussed amongst other things, his childhood, his problems after the 2004 Olympics and the use of drugs by his father Gary Wiggins.
He outlined that winning Olympic medals in 2004 didn’t lead to fortune, as he had expected. He told Young, “At that age, when you’re a kid, you just want fame and money. You think that people are going to knock the door down, writing cheques out for a couple of million to you, and that didn’t happen, and we still couldn’t pay the mortgage.”
“I had this incredible guilt that I was Olympic champion and that I wasn’t supporting the family. So I got a slight bit of depression about the whole thing really. It didn’t live up to the expectation of what I assumed winning Olympic gold was going to be about.”
Wiggins also spoke about his father Gary who had raced as a track cyclist on the continent, and had used performance enhancing drugs. “He did a bit of everything,” Wiggins said. “In those days it was amphetamines and speed. He was a user and used to sell it as well.”
The eight songs that Wiggins chose are below, and there are some pretty good choices there in our opinion, despite the inclusion of Chas and Dave.
- ‘The Queen is Dead’ The Smiths
- ‘I am the Resurrection’ The Stone Roses
- ‘That’s What I Like’ Chas and Dave
- ‘Reasons to be Cheerful Part Three’ Ian Dury and the Blockheads
- ‘Rock n Roll Star’ Oasis
- ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ The Rolling Stones
- ‘Cosmic Dancer’ T Rex
- ‘Sound and Vision’ David Bowie
I listened to it on Friday morning………. one of many great programmes on BBC Radio 4! Decent choice of tunes he had too…..
Some good choices alright Damien Ó Tuama, but Chas and Dave?
The Queen Is Dead yet he’s knighted.Kirsty should have asked him about that.Good choices if a little obvious.I know he could have done all Weller like he said.Excellent show.Wiggins excelled.
Some pretty play it safe stuff there, and not very Mod, (no soul music and Oasis are Mods? emmmmm…no, they’re not)
Still a class act as a sportsman and as person though, so he has my full respect.