FCD & Ant Middleton - FULL INTERVIEW

it's great to welcome today at Middleton brand ambassador for forces cars direct and it's been a wonderful year for you at 2018 and so thanks for coming now if I travel east even like I said before it's great to be an ambassador for forces cars direct that helped out so many military personnel and veterans as well so pleased to be satay with you mate no thank you very much so it's been a world win 2018 for you you started off with an evening with you've had a number one best-selling book filming done for SAS is next series and also you've done Everest so tell me how it's been for you in 2018 I spent exactly that esteems been a whirlwind I started off the year with an evening without Middleton which was a very much a motivational source inspirational talk around the country at all around the UK and that lasted a couple of months then went straight into Everest filming Everest and then I've just got back from filming two series on SAS who dares wins one with women which would be Series four and they stand up to cancer celebrity version so like you said well wind and it's not laying up just go go go so let's talk about there an evening with at the beginning of the year how did that actually come about I didn't really want to do at all at first when Neil idea came up I was like I'm not too sure about this because I'm not a public speaker so it was the message that I wanted to get across you know I get thousands of messages a month through my social media mainly from youngsters our future generation coming through who are inspired who look at me as an inspiration as a role model and then the question that I get asked often it's about mindset you know and how did you get through this moment how did you do this how did you you know manage to cope in this scenario and when the tour idea did come up on foot you know what this is my time to get that message out to the masses rather than replying which I could never do to each message I fought to know what let's do this tour because there's an important message I want to deliver on mindset and on positivity and this is the way that I can do it collectively and get the message to around to the country and answer those questions that I cannot answer on social media there were people there from all walks of life from people who were in World War two down to eight to ten year old children in the audience it's a very very unique talk and very unique audience so I reached out to all the ages really how did you did you write that did you did you know what you're gonna do from that do you know what I saw just went along with it I didn't write out script it too much I just went through my sort of my career in chronological order you know when I was a youngster then maybe I'd fire back to an experience I had I overcame that people could relate to what I want you to do is sort of give a message that people can either sit there and think cough been through that or I'm there now well they might find themselves there in two three years time I got half that that's what I was talking about I wanted them to go away feeling positive inspired and something relatable you know I want them to realize that I'm just like you guys but I just happened to be take a different route it doesn't mean I'm any different to you guys I just think differently therefore it allows me to push through certain boundaries and push myself beyond what I'm capable of so that was the message I was trying to get across and it did happen due to the first tour inspired boom a second tour was born out of it were you nervous about it because when when the first location was there I think was Glasgow was your first location i text you afterwards and you said you smashed it were you nervous about it did it come across the way that you wanted it to the first one you know I really stuck to the script it's such you know I restock two key points you know right this is a start of the sentence this is where I finished the the that cat that part of the of the talk and then there's a keynote or key word that will start the second half all all in the second chapter whatever it may be so I very much stuck to that but as it went on more and more I could elaborate and then I could think where why I can elaborate on this not get lost in it and go back to where I needed to be where at first it's very sort of regimented it's very keywords hit the key notes move on so I did smash it in a way I wanted to get my point across but as the tours went on as the dates went continued it became more more natural so how many overall nights was or what was the first section the I know that you extended it for another a few nights but how many was it in total do you know yeah I've done 29 events in 36 days around the UK so literally just bounce back to back to back to back it was literally my routine was traveled to the hotel check in the hotel get ready go out talk go back to the hotel sleep travel to the next location hotel and only hit the gym or something before that for the show talk and then sleep and then travel so it was a repetition of of a routine for yeah those 36 days and your confidence grew every want every time every single time Steve my confidence this when you know and it wasn't so much the confidence it was just repeated repeater repeater repeater until you were saying in your sleep so it was very there's a lot of hard work put into it but I found that the more you went on the easier it became and then the more you got used to people you could play to the crowds you could be story tell you know you could be a bit of a comedian it really depended on the crowd any hecklers and that's you had in any of those events all the hecklers yeah I had one Hitler he was a I served to him actually he was in a wheelchair the at the back walked to the side at the back and no one knew that he was in a wheelchair that he was a veteran an injured veteran from Afghanistan I invited them along brought him backstage and he sat you know at the back so he could see with the wheelchair and then he kept heckling you know shouting around 'kathy knows me enough you know he's psychologically damaged as well so you know I can't really control himself people were getting annoyed I could see people were getting annoyed so if they could only see him you know you know II think it will Jade's a good power mine alright so I made a point of bringing them up and giving him a book during the interval you know before we started the second half I made a point of saying that it's my heckler but also um yeah it is people you know you get your hecklers right and you just have to ignore them and make sure that you stay focused and don't let that be a diversion to you you know don't let that person take away other people's fun and enjoying reasoning for being there you know one one hand you sort of you could reply to it you could bite to it but you've really just got to let it go and I just pretend I didn't hear most of them but only a couple know so you've been known as a heartthrob you know you've got a lot of admirers on Twitter and so on did you get anything thrown on stage from from any admirers or have you had any stranger requests on that idea I've definitely had some strange requests on Twitter that's for sure but normally I'm just like delete before the wife sees that I'm nothing thrown on stage as yet again the audience was quite diverse and I think you know people seeing children there and the older generation that'd be respect was there but I certainly showed some pictures of me topless some Mutiny know about my weight loss because I lost 21 kilograms and then you know the crowd soon liven up then to the disbelief of some of their husbands and the partners that were there so I'll just like right if anything was gonna jump onstage it was gonna be one of the guys jumping on the stage because the missus was wolf-whistling me you then went on to launch your first book first man in congratulations on being number one bestseller do you know how many you've sold so far or how many it needs to get to get to a best-seller my first week I sold just shy of 17,000 hardbacks now I'm up to you in all categories ebooks just shy of 200,000 so yes um it's done extremely well a lot better than I thought it would again it wasn't just an autobiography is really you know I'm really into you know getting a message across learning something from your reading or learning something from my tour for my speaking you know I'm all about that message you know there's Don wanna go out there and talk about myself or with my book just talk about me I want to say look this is what I've done this is what I've been through this is what I've learned hopefully you can apply that to your life well I read the book I thought was fantastic and you got some great stories in the book my best story that I like is when you're evading capture from the police and and you decided to you know hide in the water probably cold but what originally made you put pen to paper and then sit down and actually write a book you know I've always wanted to write a book you know when I passed selection for the Special Forces it was quite funny because I've done it so much in my life from you know from losing my father at the age of five living in Australia and living in France joining the army I'm doing P company getting out you know becoming involved in sort of gang and being quite violent on the streets from rejoining the Marines you know getting best recruit best PT you know Kings back then passed a selection of what I've lived you know for five lifetimes and I'm does only what 26 when I pass selection 27 and then I'll obviously left and I got into the media world and the whole new creators blew open for me I went from living in the shadows to living in the limelight so it just felt right and it was my way of you know showing primarily the younger generation that don't be scared to get out there and try stuff you know all this been shackled down with society nowadays with whatever it may be you know we can't do this you can't say that because listen I've done it the hard way and I'm sick I deem myself as being you know a quite successful individual and I haven't I'm not an intellect I'm not a bookworm obviously someone has gone out there learnt from my mistakes applied the lessons from what I've learned and used them to my advantage obviously books they don't happen overnight did it take you long to to write the book because obviously you're busy doing other things you're constantly away you know being pulled away in different directions how long did it that it really take to write that was a ghostwriter you know yeah I had a ghostwriter with me but I'm one of these people that I put my hundred percent into everything do and being back-to-back so busy finding that time to do that it's it's crucial because there's no point in putting something out there if you've only given it 90 95 percent because it guess what it lacks that 5% you know so with the book you know I went above and beyond I need to make sure that this is right that everything's correct about the book and that the messages that I want to get across other right ones and they're told in and white manner and keep it authentic were there any parts of the book that you thought you know you should have put into the book or stories that you think were actually I shouldn't maybe put that in there how did that how do you feel about what your final result was of the book yeah some when I read back on the book or when I read back on the book before it was published I thought he'd want to be disclosing that or you know I really want to be letting people in this much and then it just goes back to Who I am being brutally honest with myself allows you to be brutally honest with other people and it wouldn't have felt right to have just put all the glorious stuff in all the successes in you know if anything you read that book and you go wow it's all like you've done that really but it's refreshing people have come back especially the feedback saying how refreshing or about the honesty of the book you know my life isn't all about everything perfect so I I think it was great by having some of the stories that from the past that didn't work for you but worked in your life yeah I look back on them and I do cringe it healthier but then I think to myself wow I've actually learned so much from that situation would I change anything I wouldn't so you've done the tour done the book the TV what's next is it film after shave you know Christmas record no I keep getting asked for the calendar and I'm like no that's not gonna happen for you more TV I've got a lot more TV and a pipeline more tours and more books basically the same of what I've done in 2018 but it's gonna up it we're just gonna wipe out game we're just gonna you know I'm gonna make it bigger better and more knowledgeable for the people out there so I know that you've been asked this before and if there was a movie made of yourself and you who would play you and you can't say Tom Hardy because you've answered that one before well that's quite funny because I've had quite a lot of interest about my book turning it into TV or into a film it's a good question Steve that one but it would have to be someone you know that's quite old school that's you know has these old school principals about them but can move along with the with a new generation you know the understanding and the way the world is going but to also keep that or grit determination and so that's still within them ollie Rick Bonney Rick is a an actor who done my girl seriously yeah he was the ESF officer in that and he's a great guy I've met him a couple of times he's spoken about about the book and about potentially making it into TV so Olly Rick take my take my space play me it'll be cheaper than Tom Hardy more expensive than Tom Artie so family's important to you and an Emily stood by you as you mentioned in the book what does it mean for you to have that support back at home it's invaluable without mass support back at home I wouldn't be where I am today fat full stop and again this isn't cliche this isn't I've always said this from the moment I presented myself into the limelight it's because of my wife that I'm but I passed selection it's because of my wife that I joined the Marines it's because of my wife that I can push myself 100% at work knowing that she's there 100% loves what she does back at home with the children with you know whatever career that she wants to take on which she's got ideas what she wants to do just having that foundation to operate from allows you to not only concentrate on yourself but concentrate what needs to be done so that's why i attack everything at 100% because I know that if it doesn't go right someone goes wrong I've got this solid foundation where and go back talked wife be with my children reenergize refocus Andrea tack that foundation is absolutely crucial so you've got five children and you named your last child Bligh that was that a decision made during before or after mutiny Bligh actually came during the voyage oh I saw Tom mutiny so those four thousand miles from Tong it's hunger to Timor but probably halfway in between and one of the guys wish he said to me Annie you mrs. juicy not yeah and you know in three or four weeks time he went it's gotta be baby Bligh the moment he put that into my head he easier and the Asian guy on the on the boat awesome guy he was their quartermaster and he put that seed in my head and then I was just like baby Bligh and like I remember landing on the beach and I said to Emily straight away I wonder father you know if you had the baby no no no he's still you know he's still in it get back in now and I said to her it's gotta be baby Bligh she's I'm not too sure and so I got back home and we had a fire discussion about it and I said no this is like a legacy passed on to my son knows such an eye-opener of a voyage I learnt so much about it you know that name has so much meaning to me nice you know I lived and walked him Captain William Brides shoes now if we can carry on that legacy of calling us on Bligh then we should do it and he came out and we looked at him and he was a Captain Bligh yeah correct we knew that we knew at the 20-week scan it was a boy so you know once I had that in my head I'm like a dog with a bone Steve well forget some of my head I'm like all right let's make this happen you know I'm very much like that but I'm obviously it's my wife's final decision you know she was carrying Bligh for nine months and you know she has that bond it's very important that she was okay with it so obviously your programs that you've done SAS mutiny and escape how much influence did you have in regard to content how did you get involved in that with everything I do concerning TV or media I try and keep it authentic you know not an actor you know follow me see what I do if you capture it you capture it if you don't there's no car let's do that again because I'm not into that it's spare the moment it has to be real and authentic that's Who I am as a person that's how I want my TV work to come across so obviously there's you know restrictions and there's health and safety you know you can't you know put crew and yourself in certain situations but I certainly push the boundaries I really do my own stuff everything is authentic and true to what you see just to get that message across like I keep saying just to show people that if you've got the right mindset and the guts and determination to see something through you'll be amazed at what you can achieve and that's what happens with SAS I bring people's characteristics and weaknesses to the forefront here's your weaknesses how are you going to deal with that some people go right listen I've got to develop these and play to my strengths or some people crumble they go I can't I can't deal with what I've just seen I'm quite happy to be left alone in my bubble when people quit the course with mutiny there's only one way we were going to get off that boat and that was sailing the 4,000 miles from Tonga and getting off a team or you know I put it in everyone's mindset that there wasn't a safety boat so what about a mindset making people feel that it's real that were in a real situation therefore the authenticity will come across so I do grab the bull by the horns when I do a TV series and go guys you've got to follow me just certain aspect on this because it won't work but also we're making TV so do we put people's lives at risk or you know risk health issues et cetera et cetera maybe not pretty much you right to the end of that program you were almost there and you had to get the medical staff on board to get water and that's what you're talking about now heldens did at that point just had to take over yeah exactly that but when you look at mutiny when we had to take the water on board I was the one convincing my crew that we needed the water in the end there are in that much of a mindset that might feel a bubble where it was real they didn't want to take the water we were three days away from hitting land and I had to convince the guys that's how you know good a job I done let's say of getting them in that mindset they refused the water they were like I don't care if it's a TV they weren't even in a TV mind and it's amazing to see in this day and age that you can still get a team of strangers put them in a unique scenario and for them to think in that ferrell sort of old caveman style way with them with SAS mutiny escape and all the programs that you've done obviously working within the military there's a certain way that military are you know be an ex-military myself you have that mindset you know that already but how different is it compared to working with people who are civilians and bringing them into that controlling environment do you know what I think in the military you're expected to do it it's part of the job and it's the norm so you naturally jump into that where people say that bond can't be you know possessed or can't be held in civvy Street or in teams in in society because they're just not pushed to their boundaries that's not true now it doesn't matter what team you have as long as everyone's dedicated and committed to each other like the military is not so much the cause to each other you'd be amazed at what we can achieve mutiny amazing within two months that team you know build some bonds with individuals that are stronger than some military bonds that I have so it just gave me a different outlook on life and it made me realize that you know these bonds could be formed anywhere in the world with any team you just need to have that dedication and commitment to each other and really look out for each other like the military do but it certainly does happen in civvy Street as well it's just about applying that and putting people in those scenarios that are not used to being in like we are in the military and then for them to come out the other side some people come out the other side some people don't but when you do like I said on mutiny and even on escape you know those seven eight days on escape per episode some of the bonds are built there you know just as strong as the ones in the military so let's talk about Everest then I read somewhere that it was your toughest challenge or was that true yeah it was definitely the most dangerous thing I've ever done probably the stupidest thing I've ever done now to be fair you know I'm a husband and a father of five with Everest which massively took for granted was the altitude the unpredictable weather and the commercial climbers on the mountain you know a combination of all three it's out of your control you know you can be stuck on the top near the summit in a storm because the web is coming even though it's been you know told on the forecast that's gonna be a good day you can never predict it at 9,000 meters 28,000 feet whatever it is you know cruising altitude on a jet you can't predict the weather coming in you get stuck up there about altitude where there's no rescue no helicopter rescue it's self reliant and then you put in commercial climbers that have been dragged up the mountain are incompetent and when these storms do kick off they can't do anything they just freeze and go one way on and off that mountain doesn't matter how qualified you are or how good you are if you're stuck in the wrong time at the wrong place with the wrong weather like I was you're done for you know it really is out of your control people have fallen off the mountain and the robes taken you can't just you know you have to clip on because you're gonna get blown off the mountain you can't just run across the mountain at that altitude especially near the summit especially on the Hillary step when there's one way on and off it's loads of factors that are so dangerous about that mountain that I didn't realize but I soon realized very very quickly why it was so dangerous and it was out of my hands it's not like being in the military where you've got a group of very capable individuals you know you've got ammunition your weapon you know you can control the situation as much as you can really you know you can move here you know you're stuck up there nowhere to go you're running out of oxygen you need to get off the mountain but you can't because of incompetent climbers or the weather etc etc it just showed me how vulnerable we are humans and they sort of sucked all my superhuman powers out of me you know I felt it's sort of invincible before that then I realized actually Mother Nature can snatch you away just like that so um reason why it's so dangerous is because it was out of my control and it's the first time in my life that my life has been on the line and there's there was nothing I could have done about it your team that you went up with was it were you were two to three people presumably had a local Sherpa checking you up there it tell us about the team that you're with how is myself and mordioux who was a cameraman and two Sherpas but me and Ed got split up on the way back down due to a storm at the summit the winds came in 60 70 kilometers an hour complete whiteout people getting blown off the mountain I was the last one off the summit so I stuck behind a massive queue there was probably about 10 15 people between me and edy my cameraman and his Sherpa so they had to go they had to get off the mountain and they got down for hours before us so it's just a matter of five minutes me waiting at the top to be the final person you know the highest person on the mountain nearly nearly cost me my life what did it feel like being at that top surveying that whole view for you I look at the summit and I don't really remember the summit the summit wasn't the achievement for me the achievement was getting off the summit and back down to base camp which took a few days just the whole disaster that happened from the summit to camp for coming down pure survival instinct kicked in you know it was a case of no one else mattered I needed to get off the mountain I was gonna die people around me were dying anyway it got so serious that I've almost the summit I don't remember what happened on the summit I was just like yeah I'm on top of the world phone call to the wife and then the the big main bit for me and what I remember is the nightmare the disaster on getting down but having come through that that's that was the highlight of my journey that whole experience of escaping death so I don't really it's shame really because of this you know I don't really feel like I've achieved anything by climbing the mountain I've learnt more about myself which is great and you know I grow from that but the achievement of standing on top of the world that's it relic ated that's neither here nor there it doesn't really mean anything to me or I can't really remember much of it they call it the Death Zone and and then you mentioned that obviously you've come close to death on that so it was it more difficult getting up or was it more difficult coming down as a climber definitely more difficult coming down you know when you're on the Hillary step climbing up you can see where you put in your feet you can you know it's a lot of difference climbing down especially when you're caught in a storm caught in a whiteout climbing down trying to negotiate a foothold or you know you can't see anything that's why people on the Hillary step we're falling off the mountain literally dangling on the rope you know these commercial climbers that pay hundreds of thousands to get dragged up the mountain to stand on the apex of the world you know when they become unstuck they tend to freeze up and it was the climbers on that day that nearly cost me of my life in the Death Zone in terms of your preparation because you've done the Matterhorn you've done other mountains in the world did you prepared differently for this was it a long time to prepare for it how did you how did you accomplish that I don't prepare differently for anything that I do I always take everything on with my positive mindset I don't think right I've got to do this I've got to do this differently what I've got to do is keep a positive mindset and keep my mind mindset sharp you know you can be in for example to do Everest you know you don't have to be an athlete but your mindset needs to be in the red because you just need to crack on you need to you know get through the weather you need to just have that mindset of right I'm just going to put one foot in front the other until I reach the top so I don't plan or prepare any differently to any tasks that I take on I just make sure that I can believe I believe in myself and that I believe that I can do it and even sometimes I say to myself like with every step I've never been to nine thousand meters before can I do it but I never tell myself that I'm going to fail and sometimes I do fail it's tough we will fail it's tough with human rights but we learn and move on from it but I'll always take on that Tarr thinking right you know I'm gonna I'm gonna smash this and I do that with everything I don't plan any different to any any different task but what I did do where Everest is obviously the altitude just make sure that you you know about the job that you're taking on right you know you do your homework you you you learn about it and you take on to the best of your ability but it's all about self belief and positivity if you believe in yourself your dreams will be up here you know you might not reach your dreams but you'd always supersede from where if you gave yourself just a platform to get on no I always think people think I'm mad sometimes clung right yeah I'm just gonna go and do Everest well after a tour I finished my tour the 29th of March and I'll throw out on the 2nd of April I was back to back and again this is my life being back to back was just like like this Everest when a severus was finished is like my SAS who desmond after that tour you know it's just bumble bumble so next SAS then you've just come back from filming can you give us any indication of where it is what it's about and Steve you're asking for a lot of information here I can give you a general location its South America and we've hit sort of winter warfare Arctic warfare type course so it's gonna be cold wet and miserable so a lot of miserable recruits sports a lot of miserable celebrities we've done a normal series but this time it's been women and men and then back to back we filmed a celebrity version so which was very interesting very very interesting interesting dynamic interesting individuals because we've celebrities you know they have this persona on TV then they have this persona somewhere else and then themselves at home so it's interesting to just peel away those layers no not expose them for who they are because just let you know then whatever gonna let us in and we're you know gonna help them out or they're gonna put these barriers up well guess what we're gonna smash them down we're gonna chip away at this armor and reveal who you are we can do our way we can let us in and we can do it your way but I'd you know we help you identify it along the way if that makes sense you're the sort of person that doesn't really care where someone comes from and so there's no gonna be free passes just because they're a celebrity you gave it as tough as you would give it anybody else yeah I don't care where you've been what you've done you know where you've come from and I don't judge never judge anyone mrs. slate wiped clean they're all the same that's why we give them numbers it's not a case called we want to belittle them or anything like that by giving them numbers it's okay so we all of them want them to be on the level par all right okay you're all equals here okay and we're gonna find out who you are we're not gonna treat you any differently and you know I'm here to hopefully give you some tools that you can use in your life to better yourself and then it's down to you as an individual to better your life now I never claimed I can better someone's life because that's down to the individual but what I can do is give you some tools identify certain tools of India go here try these out and then ultimate over to you and you know if we feel that people don't want to be there for that then we won't waste our time with it and I won't waste my time relapse you're gone or we get rid of you because the people that do want to be there that actually do want to come out the other side of this hardship to learn about themselves then they're the people we want to push in the right in the right way but also making sure that they they understand that nothing comes for free in life it's I've learned the hard way so guess what you're going to learn the hard way and and those programs do you know when they're going to be launched on TV so we get a chance to see this yes the series four will be out in January time and a celebrity version I think that's coming out Easter time so quite a bit exposure so I'll be on TV in November of extreme Everest January time beginning of the year with series four and then Easter time with the celebrity version I'm SAS so you probably sick of the sight of me leave I don't think so so quickfire questions for you now don't go away jungle or mountains jungle jungle jungle or desert jungle running or swimming swimming push-ups chin ups chin ups can you do a minute Oh a minute I can bang out about over 30 30 30 and finally and lucky ones by the way over I know that you're an Arsenal fan but Tottenham or Chelsea who do you like - gonna have to say Chelsea yeah okay so you've been a positive person and you know is there anybody you know that you've admire in the past or something that you've read from some of that that inspired you or gave you gave you a little bit of a lift yeah I'll get inspiration from everyone you know I try and learn a little bit from everyone I don't look at people who are in the limelight or who are famous or we've been famous you know I don't necessarily you know look up to their moniker I've got a mentor for example guy called Mike Morris not even ears I meant he's like a brother to me he's a great friend you know we bounce off each other about positivity about you know self-discovery about being the best version of yourself and he's a very successful businessman I'm of a sort of I'm a successful individual doesn't matter wedding business whatever whatever I sort of put my hand to so it's different dynamics but we learned so much of each other and it's this about you know having each other's back my brother you know my brother Michael you know he's a he's a loose cannon shall we say and by you know he's a waiter there for me he's he's someone that I go to if get something off my chest or whatever there's my uncle as well my uncle Andrew there again he's like a father figure to me he's always there when I need him and vice versa so you know myself was very small though you know I've got I was there's a part in my life well do everything by myself and there's only since a couple of years ago you know a couple of years back that I realized actually you need these people around you you know you need to it's okay to ask for help it's okay to not be the strongest or the best everything that you do it's okay to bounce off other people and get ideas and let other people in to maybe you know help you out this part of your life or that part of your life you know and one of these people is very hard to let go that cuz I want it done to my standards right so I want I want to make sure that it's done to the best of my ability because it's something that I'm interested in but you know I've known over the years it's okay to offload it's okay to you know to have that group of people around you that you can trust and it's relieving it allows you to focus more allows you to to you know re-energize and recalibrate and carry on so I would say you know talking to people and having that right group around you is massively important to grow not only as a business but as an individual as well so what's next anything that you're going to do in 2019 that I haven't already said that we can let your fans know about yeah 2019 is gonna be very much like 2018 more TV more books more tours a fitness regime as well so very much going to talk about fitness but not so much fitness in a physical manner but fitness in a mindset manner you know a lot of people train their bodies okay they look in the mirror and they think well I've got to look good you know I've got to train my body and but I forget about the most important tool that they that we all possess and that's our minds because we can't see it we think that we don't have to Train it when we don't have to concentrate on it there just looks after itself and a lot of people are very sort of self concerned or self-aware about how they look so they they concentrate on their body right and then they neglect the ultimate thing that's going to get them through everything and that's their mind so I've got this program and bringing out where it's very much going to concentrate on mindset over you know the physical side of things so thanks again and that's been a brilliant interview and you know thanks for taking the time today Steve always a pleasure mate thanks for having me is that a wrap all right Steve I'm gonna fit things here now I'm gonna interview you a bit you ready for this firing questions at me listen you're ex-military yourself let's talk through that you joined the ball as you join the military and what regiment were you in well I I didn't want to join the military as a 16 year old like myself I wanted to experience the city life first so that when I eventually got out of the military the the transition would be easy for me and so both parents of mine were in the military and it was always my intention to do it at some point so for me I really wanted to join when I was 20 21 and 21 was the time for me I didn't know what I wanted to be when I was young wanted to be a pilot but colorblind I you know didn't have the academic qualities to be a pilot at the time yeah and so for me I really went into the careers office in Slough and also and and spoke to an RSM there and and he gave me a few pamphlets and said what did I want to be and I said I want to travel the world that was really what I wanted to do and he showed me a pamphlet of the Army Air Corps and there were all around the world and I said that's for me the blueberry there's the screaming eagle I thought it sounded very airborne --is-- so the Army Air Corps was what I did when I was 21 so you thought you'd travel the world do you realize you're gonna travel the world cleaning it up yeah a lot of people say that you're a chopper washer in there or you often get called as a smurf but no in actual fact I was ground crew and the people actually did wash the choppers were the actual air technicians to be honest and how long did you spend in a military well I joined in April 1990 I remember it because that was when poll-tax came in the 1990 1990 ten years old ten years old well of 21 and so I joined in 1990 went to middle wallop pretty much straightaway and did my trade training but halfway through trade training the first Gulf War came about in August and my dad wanted to go to a unit in Germany I'd always wanted to go to Germany at that point and put them in for my posting choices and then I was looking off to go to a four regiment Army Air Corps in September of that year and didn't specifically think that I would ever go on tour and sure enough a few months later we were selected to go on the advance party and and I ended up you know going to to the first Gulf War in 1990 so you got a couple of medals on your Chesson well not not quite as many as year I'm sure and a very different type of warfare in 1990s it was today was a very very short period of the war but it's what I wanted to do I wanted to join up I wanted to you know go out and see action although it wasn't really the action I expected and I'm grateful for you know not really seeing some of the bad sites that we have seen since then Gulf War two in Afghanistan in the end for me five years was what I did and I was very happy in the end to get out but certainly certainly learned a lot in the military and got taught a few lessons when I was a bit of a gobby sprog when I was young yeah that's what I wanted to fire these questions that you give very humble guy you've served in the military you know you've done your time and you are still serving the military now in what you do that's why I'm fascinated about that transition of you being coming from a family military family background joining the military and still sort of being in that family now even though you're successful businessman how did that transition happen of you getting out and thinking you know what I still really want to serve the people of the military and the veterans that that you know deserve everything or you know the stuff when they get out it was it was it wasn't a conscious decision you know when I was a child that always wanted to you know have my own business but I really didn't have the business you know nons to actually do that and when I got back from Gulf War one I bought a car I got ripped off to be honest and I wasn't very pleased with that we all do it all and it stayed in my mind so when I got out in Germany in 95 I stayed in Germany and it was and I loved it I love the country all of the people it was fantastic and it was only three years later when I had an opportunity to get involved in car sales and I and I sold a car my very first day working for a company and I absolutely loved it and I didn't sell for the next 30 days a single car but I had the bug at about giving something back and someone could save a little bit of money on that and that was really and I think I've really found where I was I was about 29 at that point and then I met someone new Sharon oh you've met and wanted to come back to the UK and leave the job that I had and my old boss had asked me to come to Frankfurt to have a bit of a send-off and asked me what I was going to do and I said well I'm gonna you know work for a car dealership or something like that and he'd always had the idea of setting up a business in the UK but didn't have anyone to do it with I'd always had the idea of doing a business but didn't know how so it was a real perfect great partnership great partnership yeah and you know for us opportunities don't come along often and I've always been the sort of person that would always look at something and really and give it a chance I got divorced as well when I was in Germany and it was a very low point in my life and changing job to be a car salesman and then meeting someone new and then having that ability to an opportunity to set up a business I looked at it really practically and that if it didn't work then I just go and work in a dealership so it gave me the opportunity to at least try something new and it was it was all new I didn't know what to expect didn't had to invoice and I had to do marketing I didn't know how to do you know advertising I really know anything and I had to learn from that on my own pretty quickly Wow well there's no looking back especially with Forces cars direct now that you you run and that you own talk talk to me about forces cars direct I know about forces cars direct and the reason why I wanted to be ambassador is because stuff that you still do for serving military personnel and for veterans is amazing and if I can project that message out there which I if I would have known about it when I was serving I certainly would have jumped on board and it said you know talk to us about forces cars direct and what you know what you give back well forces caused the wreck we're not the first to ever sell cars to people that's absolutely true everyone's been doing that for years but we wanted to do something that was better we wanted to save more direct work directly with the manufacturers and give something back and really get the manufacturers to come on board and support our troops and so we were the pioneers and bringing military tax read to the internet so to speak and instead of having showrooms on the ground in Germany and we're weak we have expanded that over the time to in order to give military serving in the UK that never had the opportunity to do that and then again a few years later we expanded that to the retired military community and the awareness is is something that we really wanted to try and grow because not everyone who served twenty thirty years ago it is still aware of that so that's our biggest challenge is is getting that across and to try and save as much as we can to date I think we've saved nearly 95 million pounds and savings to all of our customers which is mind-blowing to think when I started you know I got ripped off buying a car and to give all of that back it's it's it's brilliant that they can spend money on other things but we partner with suffer as well as a military charity so it's not just about saving money on a car it's about giving back to that military community with Scotties lot of soldiers and Sappho we're both obviously involved with and really doing more than just selling a car it's amazing because that's exactly what I see especially being the ambassador for Forces cars direct and getting the message out people are like baffled that actually this exists and there are people like yourself that I've given something back you know you're going above and beyond what you need to do really and I just want to say you know I'm very proud as an ambassador we sat here with you and keep doing what you're doing well thanks very much you've caught me on the hop there but thanks anyway I thought that's brilliant to know and you know we'll do more and thanks for your help over the past few years as well so you talked about your partnership when you first got together this is a great partnership Steve thank you thank you very much thank you [Music]

Channel: ForcesCarsDirect

Views: 127,070

Rating: 4.8266253 out of 5

Keywords: Ant Middleton, Interview, SAS Who Dares Wins, Everest, Mutiny, First Man In, Brand Ambassador

Id: B4Rv-MyPS6Q

Length: 47min 32sec (2852 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 01 2019