From SAS Soldier to Brad Pitt’s Bodyguard | Extraordinary Lives Podcast | @LADbible

how the hell did that happen how did I just walk away from that somebody your distance from me trying to blow my head off a mist with Six Bullets you didn't get a second chance that's for sure [Music] hello and welcome to extraordinary lives the podcast from Lab Bible in this episode we're joined by Billy Billingham great to have you here Billy and it's great to be here thank you could you give us a brief introduction to who you are and what you're known for yes only um I'm Mark Billy billing I'm better known as Billy I grew up in the West Midlands in the early 60s 70s um went a little bit Rogue as a kid getting in a lot of trouble found sort of Direction with the military I joined the military at the age of 17 and a half in 1983 during the parachute regiment um were served in Belize initially and then all over the world with the partnership regimen for nine years including three operational tours including Northern Ireland um from there decided I want to go to the best place I could and that was the SAS I joined the SAS in 92. stepped out and the first job we got insecurity was head of security for a number of a-lists celebrities including Angeline Jolie Brad Pitt going from one side of the camera guarding people to go on the other side of the camera and get involved in TV and up to date now I'm working on a TV show called SAS who dares wins and Special Forces toughest test which is the same version but in America I mean that felt like it was about six lives he described that Billy so we're inside yeah I'm excited about getting into them but to go back to the beginning you said they went a bit Rogue as a kid so can we start there what was childhood like for you right so I was born in the West Midlands in a place called Warsaw into an absolute great family actually mum and dad um two brothers older brother older sister younger brother younger sister I was the middle child my brothers and sisters were great I just went rogue I knew right from the early age out to manipulate and get away with things and I played the numbers game thinking you know do 10 bad things if I can get get caught by just one then I've done all right and uh I really was I was um that kid that you know when your mom stands there and said oh he got him with the wrong crowd yeah well I was the wrong road and I knew it I knew what I was doing in the area where I lived it was all gangs it was it was a poor area you know where it came from a poor family not to say that's an excuse but um so I started to get into gangs and even at that young age then I had my own little gang and I used to steal Trilby hats right I don't know why I did this it was crazy sell them or just no I just collected them because I thought it was cool I wanted to try and make a name for myself because as I looked at all the kids in around my area you know something they've been in uh ball stool and all that sort of stuff and I thought that was the right way to go and have a name be the tough guy and of course I was totally wrong um so even from the age of nine I started stealing these hats and me and my two made so I used my mates would run in front of the victim normally a 70 year old man distract him I'd run up his back grab the hat and run off and then one particular day this guy caught me this old man chased me and caught me and uh I just went into a panic I just went straight into a boxing stance and my teammates had legged it left me and the old guy just stood up and says listen he said there's something about you keep the Hat come to my boxing gym and this is very very true you gotta honestly it's crazy so I threw the hat at him grabs her hat and he lets me go but before I went he says look the boxing gym is here it was a pub downtown in Warsaw called um Rock City at least oh the digbeth at the time so I knew exactly what it was where my dad drank right but something told me to go there now this happened on a Sunday afternoon in February it's now Monday I'm nine o'clock sorry nine years old I'm going to meet an old man that's stolen from at the bottom of a at the back of a pub who suppose he's gonna teach me boxing but I went and it was one of the best things I ever did it became probably the second most influential man in my life so I went beyond this Pub I met this old guy and um absolutely breaking it thinking what am I doing you know nine years old imagine you letting your kid do that seven o'clock at night Pitch Black in in February so I'll go behind the pub through the snow knock the door the old guy calls me in so I'll go inside and uh I'm sure myself but I follow him and as I go in I'm looking around I see all the little kids around about my age all in there doing boxing training so I've kind of calmed down and I'm going to jump forward a little bit here but the old man basically took me to one side and he says listen I want to teach you about boxing says okay he said boxing is not a sport of brutality it's a poor man's game of chess and I never forget these words and this is very true right and he says look it's about anticipating what's in front of you having respect for what's in front of you to win a fight you will win it with your feet and your mind not your hands and he says it's when the chips are down it's about going that little bit further don't give up now those words I swear to you right I'm going to jump forward 20 years I join the SAS when I join the SAS in the middle of the camp is a clock tower one of the sayings in the SES is you have to beat the clock which means if you don't beat the clock your name goes on that toe it means you're dead killed in action like a lot of my friends are unfortunately now at the bottom of the clock the last line is always a little further just like the old man had said to me when I was nine years old and I've kept that as my Mantra all through my life amazing do you think he knew that about the SAS no he had no idea mate I mean I didn't even know I was nine years old it would just happen to it was just a saying and a phrase and it was really like the airs on the back of my neck still look when I read I went wow yeah because I always remember those words from nine years old you know and from that age I started to go really Rogue I was getting in a lot of trouble thinking I was a tough guy I was getting brought home every other weekend by the police for whatever it was at the age of 11 I had a criminal record so the boxing gym didn't necessarily straight you understand set you on the straight and narrow kind of put me on the straight tracks for a while yeah it also taught me how to fight which made it worse if I'm honest but he gave me respect and he gave me discipline and I was training on a Monday and a Wednesday I think it was so at least on those nights I was staying out of trouble yeah but then getting in trouble the rest of the time you know but I knew what I was doing you know when people say oh it's just a child doesn't always say I knew what I was doing but what did you want what did why we did I was looking for status right I was looking to be like the hard guy in the town you know I think that was it um and then at the age of 11 like I said I got a criminal record um for abh gbh and whatever else that was and then at the age of 13 um and in between this sorry I joined the cadets this is my first insight into anything to do with military and I loved it I loved the way I was being treated the discipline of it you know if you just did something wrong like in the old-fashioned he was you got a clip around there and put straight and I liked it I enjoyed it but what I also enjoyed was the fact that I was see being taught how to read a map made sense to me how to do first aid so everybody's someone's life again it all made sense to me all these things that I was learning you know made sense while I was in school crossing the t's dot in the eyes learning it made no sense to me and I was still going a bit wrong at the age of 13. I decided to glue the maths teacher Mr Lynch to the chair sort of put glue on his thinking always Big and of course I get thrown out of school and expel from school at 13 yeah and like I said my dad was a wonderful wonderful man but he worked 12-hour shifts he couldn't really control me and when he came in after doing 12 hour shifts mum went out doing 12 hours so it's all difficult and anyway one was a parent anyway you know it is difficult to control your own kids you can like your kids can wrap around your fingers that's what I was like and uh so yeah so I got expelled from school I carried on doing the cadets I carried on an unboxing I was getting in and out of trouble but I knew I wanted to join the military I just knew it that's where I have to go but now I know I couldn't join until I was 16 because I had a criminal record it finished at 16. ah I thought that would be great I'll keep my nose clean as best I can and I'm still getting in trouble but I was getting clever at it I weren't getting caught as much then the age of 15 things went badly wrong I ended up in a fight and uh with two guys and I got stabbed I got stabbed in the back Jesus how old were they about 17 18 I think for that age that's quite a severe yeah eight little bit like I say this is the world I was in yeah it was a time of the skinheads and all this stuff and although it had nothing to do with that music music thing or it was just a fight it ended up in a fight and I got stabbed so what what happened like where did that fight come from it was just some falling out although I can't remember why we had some falling out over some gang issues or something and I end up on the embankment Railway and banking at the back of my house fighting with the two there were brothers fight with these two guys and while I'm fighting with one it was kind of I was pushing down the bank the other brother came behind me and I thought he hit me with a brick in the back and then all lost all my wind and went light headed fell to the ground they sort of legged it and I ended up feeling around feeling all the blood and realized I've been stabbed God and I crawled back to my house and I'll never forget it you know that when you saw you've been kicked in the nuts and you get that can't breathe feeling I had it was like that pain and I'm crawling back to the house and as I'm crawling I could feel the blood all running down my back and down back of my legs and all on my hands not knowing how bad I was and I crawling over through the fence to my house and I'll remember crawling through the back door can see it right now crawl through the back door and my mum was like mopping the floor and she turned around and just screamed obviously you could see I was covered in blood but at that stage I was going through the door it was it felt nice I was like I was floating basically I was bleeding yeah the pain had gone and but I can remember seeing my mum and then the next thing I'd collapsed she covered and got police got the ambulance and off I went to hospital and I was lucky very lucky but and I recovered but I remember lying in hospital saying to myself if I get through this I'm I'm staying out of trouble I am doing everything I can to get into the military and that's what I did I stayed out of trouble what I didn't do what I should have done has gone back to school I didn't I ended up getting a job in a factory in an electoral plating Factory totally illegal 15 years old and I worked on the night shift uh 12 hour shifts earning 80 pounds cash in hand and electroplating for anybody that doesn't know what that is is um where you take like rusty old metal and stuff and you put it through a process of caustic solder sulfuric acid and then into zinc or Chrome and it comes out all nice and shiny so I started working in that and then on the night shift there was only two of us on and it was about two o'clock in the morning I had an accident basically the the older guy the adult who was working the crane that picks up all the work and puts it in these Vats of acid and stuff went to the toilet and I thought like I do I could do that so I jump on the crane break it and panic a little bit and figure [ __ ] before he gets back from the toilet I need to [ __ ] fix this so I jump up on top of the um caustic solder right next to the sulfuric sulfuric acid and I slip and as I slip I went in just to just below my knees which for this day I don't know how they all have been going because these vat is six foot I shouldn't even beer I should have dissolved I bounced with Agony backwards and as I came out and sort of landed on the floor the guy who was working with come running back saw it up and grabbed me round me to the top pull my coveralls off rip my wellingtons off turn the tap on and all the water ran down my legs I can watch it watching it and it just went in the layers of skin the skin just dropped off and he's like just blurred and bits and it was stinking it was painful as [ __ ] and I thought [ __ ] I'm gonna lose my legs and in the Panic he grabs me runs me to his personal car throws me in the back and heads towards the hospital can't wait for an ambulance but on the way to the hospital I was lying on his backseat like a cricket rubbing my legs together absolutely in agony you know and all I could think about was [ __ ] how painful this is and I'm gonna lose my legs and as I pull into the hospital I remember I can see it right now accidentally emerging I'm looking at it and the pain went from my legs into my heart and my head and I thought I've just [ __ ] up my whole life because I'm now now 50 and a half 16 I'm just about to join the military and I've kept myself clean ish and now I've got this injury and I thought that's ruined my whole life I'm never going to go into the military now because of these injuries the injuries were quite bad and he took nearly a year and a half to get them fixed so I didn't get into the military so while this was happening every two weeks I had to go across to Wolverhampton careers office to the medical get them checked check him away checking all these things before that allow me to join the military so that's what I did and eventually I ended up joining uh the partnership regiment but what's what's interesting there is like it's amazing that you thought you were about to lose your legs yeah and the first thing you were thinking was I'm not going to be able to join them like where was this passion do you come from a military family like where was the passion for joining the military why was it so strong at such you'd be very honest with the passion was staying alive right I knew because of the way I was living what I was doing I'd have ended up getting killed you know I look back I've been back to the area where most of my friends are either in jail for uh for Life or Dead yeah and I was going that way I never got into drugs but I got into you know I was going totally wrong and I knew the military was saving grace I had to get into the military and am I right in thinking that you actually you got quite good at boxing didn't you do you not have to make a decision between military and boxing yeah I did I was I was boxing um really from the age of nine from the old guy and then at the age of 11 he handed me over to a proper club and I never figured that was like a real horrible moment for me I felt like the block that I respected is has put me in the right direction to a degree was dumping me but actually wasn't it was putting me in two because at the age of 11 You Can Box competition yeah so I then went to a proper Boxing Club and actually it was one of the best things I did the boxing club was fantastic so I stayed with them and you know I was boxing pretty well and I was on the verge of shoulder stay sort of staying stay with the Midlands and go professional boxing or do I join the military but our kind of my heart was in the military so I think the military side of it all this as passionate as I was to be in it I don't think my dad wanted me to be in it wanting me out the Midlands he wanted me to do something but it weren't until the night before I joined the army that he really let his fought out and I didn't realize to later on why he did what he did and basically to give me a kick up the ass my dad wasn't one of these cuddly lovey dads he was six foot Bruiser but a great ringer still run our family and he almost did everything to put me off it yeah even even to the point of saying what happens if you go to Northern Ireland I want to go to Northern back in the day that's when it was pretty much a hotbed yeah UK and on in Ireland you know people getting blown up and killed all over the place and uh of course as soldier you want to make a difference try and stop that and be you know see how you reacted and he says that's great what if you die and you know I'm looking at my mom and dad and they're just staring at me going well I guess you better me Dad don't you anyway yeah I mean your mom we bury you so you can imagine how I went to bed that night thinking what the [ __ ] I thought was going to be proud of me of leaving the Midlands got away from the lifestyle of and the trouble had caused for the family and do this and I went to bed thinking what the hell is going on and I actually pretty damned well I know what it was I know I didn't find out till after he died unfortunately but it was to put that rocket up my ass of you never really did the emotional thing with me the love he cuddly lovely sort of stuff and uh he wanted to try that everything he tried on me you know give me a slap discipline in me never stopped me doing what I want to do and getting it getting into trouble he tried this to say to when the chips were down I was probably gonna throw my hand and come out it was that in the back of my mind to prove my dad wrong and stay there and that's what he was so that part so you get the parachute regiment you said was the first place you went now obviously to a young person that's about to join the military I think that what a lot of people would think was the most important thing as being tough and you must have been quite tough at that point because you've been boxing since you were nine you had this incident with your legs that you'd sort of push through recovered not giving up once you got in there did you see yourself as quite a tough guy at that point were you thinking right I'll get in here and I'll be like I'll be able to smash this too well man that's a great question no I didn't I forget that time I realized bear in mind I'd never really been out of Warsaw I was a tough kid around Walsall who should have the skills from Birmingham come over Wolverhampton Coventry you know only got in early got nasty you know getting these scraps okay this is all right this is what it is then when I joined the parachute regiment at the age of 17 I um I'll never forget it day one standing on the square of seventy seven zero people and looking down the line I'm still 17 I was skinny as hell I think I weighed about eight and a half nine stunks I've been boxing for years and as I look down the line they all seem bigger and older than me you know all the big blogs hairy chests tattoos mustaches Scotsman Welshman people I've never really met before and I remember thinking to myself what the f have I done I have not got a clue I've been gonna make this did you feel like a kid among adult yeah I tell you I felt like a a very small fish in a big pond yeah okay and then stood in front of me was one of the most respectful people I've ever ever met was a Corporal my instructor I'll call him he um he had a fresh scar right across his face being shot in the face in the Falklands and I never forgetting from his only moments of speaking to us just thinking well that's who I want to be right respect that man you know even I was proud I didn't even know him at this stage I'm proud of who he is what he's done because we knew what he'd done and I just thought that's who I want to be and I looked at these people again and thought unless they throw me out I ain't going nowhere I'm going to give it everything I've got to get through this and I had no confidence you know I was the skinniest the youngest the gobbyist for a short while not for long I'll tell you that and but as the days and the weeks went by the lines got bit smaller and smaller and the big guys were all falling out and I was starting to Growing concert so this is the selection process yeah for anyone that's listening that doesn't know can you clarify what the parachute regiment does yeah the parachute Regiment of the uh infantry it's the Airborne Division or or battalions of the Infantry it's probably in fact it is it's without shadowed out the best soldiers in the British military other than probably the SES and I wouldn't say the SAS are better we're just parallel to them we'll work at a different level um it's a very very tough um process and as I said 70 of us died at that process only seven of us finished God yeah that's the numbers you're looking at how over how long six months it's a six month course but there's a part on it called P company yeah just like the Marines have their 30 miler there that's everything this is three days of ten tests free free tests on each day except for the last day which is four tests and it's like a 10 miler with uh you know 50 or 60 pound in one hour and 10 or whatever it is I can't remember they don't call me on the numbers um stretch erase log race it's absolutely horrendous and I mean terrific and I remember when I did it I thought well I'm never doing this again and on the log when you do the log race which is normally if you fall off a log that's it you're already automatically fail right um this is fall off it as in if you drop the log yeah this is the log the log is a telegraph ball basically right and the six of you two at the front two at the back two in the middle and it's your on hands are looped into it with a rough rope right and that weighs a ton when when you're running with it and it's about two mile race and by the time we finish that I think there's only three of us left on the log and I was on the front and my arm was like the like Stretch Armstrong by the time I finished God I remember dragging it over the line thinking oh that was horrendous could hardly breathe but when you're going through that selection process as a young guy and you're seeing these bigger guys from all over the country dropping out was that making you think God this is really hard or was that making you think okay I'm still here I'm still here they're gone now it was it was a reality check of this is odd this is horrendous but growing in confidence believing in myself you know I think I can do this and when I did do it and past P coming although there's enough there's two more phases to it after P company peacock is the hardest thing without Shadow of Doubt physically anyway and it's um you know people get to the end but it doesn't mean you've passed you have to get have put in enough performance given 100 to get you you have to get at least eight points out of ten on every event now and they don't tell you if you've done good enough or not so it's always playing in your mind just the fact that you're there at the end doesn't mean you're gonna pass and I'll never forget B there was we ended up in the auditorium and I think there's about 40 of us no 30 of us started that by that stage you know most of them are already gone 40 people had already gone first of us that started it and you go into this Auditorium and the all the staff are at the front and you just get your name called out and it's like Smith staff fail staff sits down and you're looking at you again and then Smith just gone then gone yeah and he just he was better than me in your head and I never forget it then my name gets called out stand up I know you pass and it was like I'd won the lottery bearing in mind in school all I ever heard was maths Billingham fail English Billingham fail and then I just heard this pass and it meant more to me than anything in the world the fact that I just passed I think I brought about six foot after that and I came out there thinking wow this is unbelievable so yeah they've failed they what happens to them is they go they get back squatted they go back and do the whole thing again or they get out most of them get out because you know that's enough but there are some that go back and do it again okay and then when we've got to the end you know you do that then you go to Wales uh you do these military exercises which is pretty horrific you know and again that was in like freezing cold winter in the snow and the ice for two and a half weeks then you do you're parachuting down at prize Norton which is kind of class as a holiday but if get in front of an aircraft [ __ ] fully serviceable aircraft parachute on your back you know it's a holiday then that's what it is but for me that was the first time I've even been on a plane right so it was on new experiences and never were you excited by them were you like going this is excited not intimidated I was um frightened by it you know because people get killed punishing I don't know I've never even been on a plane like I said the first day I get on a plane I'm on this playing the C130 and I'm looking and thinking they're saying what I'd expected yeah there's wires everywhere yeah Raw you know they take off and then all of a sudden you know you've got this thing on your back that weighs almost the same way as you get pulled to the door stick your head on you're like well next thing out and you're like out you go I'm falling through the sky I wonder what the hell and then you're like as soon as you feel that pull on your shoulders after four seconds poof and it's open you're like oh then you're a king again am I right in thinking that you ended up becoming the champion Cadet I did the champion recruit like I said there was seven of us finished at the end and I was actually the champion recruit and what does that mean does that mean just to top it means the best of all of the whole platoon that's amazing well it was amazing but I mean I'm not saying I'm any better than anybody else but they just said I was I didn't want the results they're all good great people but for me what an achievement yeah standing there looking at my mom and dad and my old man who actually didn't think I'd ever make it and I didn't tell him it was a temporary group oh really and did they announce it in front of them my mom absolutely figuring oh you know she delighted my dad's like okay well done where's the bar and then if we jump ahead a little bit so we're so you've passed you've passed now yeah you've got through you're selected yeah what was your first what was it your first tour like you know what was the first experience of being sent somewhere like well right this is true as well right back in the day then when I was in Depot you used to have these pay phones you wanted to pay phone and go so I then pass out pass out means you've you've finished your training um I've been told I'm going to three para Third Battalion the parachute regiment there's three battalions one part two paraphobra and my uh troops uh platoon Sergeant who was from free Prague was great because you've gone to Central America so I hear America I'm going to America Belize I didn't even think about Belize I just heard Central America so hi bro this is true I run to the phone ring my mom up and I go hey mum I've got a three para she goes she didn't know what that meant so it was great because well where's that where are you going I went America check Sun beer so wow what about America when Belize she's like you clown Belize is in the jungle I went oh she goes if you'd have done your geography in school you'd know where you're going yeah so I haven't gone to America but so that's where I ended up I ended up in in the jungle of Belize and I must have been a shark oh was it ever mate I've never been in the jungle of course you know I mean all I ever knew about the jungle is what you see on Tarzan yeah so I thought right okay here we go yeah and you go up to the Battalion this was this is quite a sad time in my life actually because I went up to the Battalion and obviously you know gonna leave for about two weeks and he came back and the Battalion was already out there so you go on to what they call rear party where free parrow normally live in all the shop there's just a skeleton crew just keeping security of the camp so we ended up doing that for a week and I met a wonderful wonderful guy there called Benny and um it was the only real adult that spoke to me or us really nicely and obviously got for training you have to be shouted screamed out and pushed to the Limit and you know you don't really get a rapport relationship with these people and then he was the first person and he was a great guy he'd been to the fork and he's done all this and he was he was running the rare part and he sat us down he goes right Lads listen to me when he got to the Battalion this is what you need to do keep your mouth shut you ain't big guys he says listen and learn follow the people out acquire not the people that are screaming and shouting because they've got nothing to teach you and he was absolutely 100 right and he actually said to us he says I'll see if the last couple of months of the tour anyway because I'm coming out finish the tour off make some money and I'm getting married and then I'm out the army now bear in mind this is 1983 for the beginning of 84. the Falklands has only really just finished so everybody in the Battalion really except for a couple of terms before me had been to the Falkland so these were no-nonsense people they'd all been to war so I'll get out and join the Battalion and wow it was like I've never been away from home I'm now the gobby newest recruit not gobby anymore but the newest recruit no one's really talking to me and it was a real tough time and then being put in The Jungle which was I had romantic fantasies about what the jungle might be like it was horrendous horrendous you know I was a new guy they give you the biggest gun the anti-tank weapon which you're never going to use in the jungle anyway but the mate you carry it you've got all this weight all this water all this kit and you're at the back of the patrol and just following just trying to listen and learn and you the first couple of patrols out there I was absolutely petrified I remember day one getting off the helicopter we've only gone about 20 meters into the trees put our burgers and wait for the other cops to go let everything settle then you start moving tactically I just put my hand in the side and Bergen this tarantula runs up my hand this is like on day one hour one of being in the jungle God it's big Beastie things running and it sat on the back of my shoulder neck and I'm like froze to death thinking so I'll just shoot myself here and the lads are just taking the person laughing at me like you know I'm like what the [ __ ] somebody take the [ __ ] off and eventually some hardest Nails blockers and sweeps you off with half my head and off you go again and you know this was my introduction to the Jungle no one's I'm like what and at that point are you like like just to be a bit blunt about it like you're not scared of being killed as well yeah you are you're on at the time I mean this is the first time I've really cut carried live rounds yeah with everybody else and the reason we're doing that in 1984 there was still a skirmish going on across the board of Guatemala and um Belize itself so there was we're border patrolling and the reason they were doing that mainly was because intimidation of the local populace to scare them out to either loot or steal or grow uh and steal um poppy poppy um plants and drugs and also illegal logins so it was real now there was a couple of skirmishes I put it personally wasn't involved in any where there were shootouts and kind of people did get killed you know while we're out there and yeah it was dangerous so it was all this new world to me grown men been to war carrying live rounds now intimidated but intimidated by the jungle taking a while to fit into this group of people which is probably rightly so you know so yeah it was absolutely petrifying and the lesson the guy Benny told me right at the start was you know you get some people want to Gob off and shout and you think oh he's a tough guy I'll listen to him then you find out later on absolute idiot probably did nothing and the quieter guys within the group who are sort of gravitated towards were the right ones who've done it been there and taught me you know and it was he was a wonderful wonderful time and so the reason I mentioned Penny was because Paramount I'm 17 yeah you know I've seen people have been around people that had been killed growing up but not to this extent and then I remember one night one day was in uh at the we came out the jungle we're at the base camp and all the alarms went off and normally when the alarm alarms go off on the camp there's a big problem so I'm down by the rugby pitch and the helicopter comes in the alarms have gone off all the medical teams are still doing nothing what the what's going on here and the helicopter comes in and lands and they bring a body off and it was Benny and I was like and I think I grew up again that day I was like Jesus Christ this is real he was gonna get married he was the one who's he finished off and getting married God bless him yeah so you know it was an old baptism of fire big learning people we're not like maybe this is too much for me no it just made me feel like you know I'm here for the right reasons nothing ever made me feel like I wanted a goal you know even the artists of times they had to they were going to throw me out you know I ain't going nowhere because I need this where does that come from because a lot of the people that we meet who would have similar experiences to you yeah or or the the sort of like military that we meet the other people would have had no choice but people like yourself are willing to volunteer to do that where do you think that like what is that mindset it's just the one to do it and feeling yeah you know I had a number of things whizzing through my head one I want to make a difference one I want to I want to change my whole lifestyle instead of being known as this idiot this little scumbag that's causing trouble I want to be respected so that was always there I did love what I was doing I love the challenges I love the fear of the unknown I did you know you know the fact seeing people die and think like that could be me I kind of off my answers that could be me they were offices no it's not me it's not going to be me and I always believe that and I've since then I've been in some horrendous situations where to this day I feel don't know I've walked out of it so I felt it was the right reason for everything inside me said I want to be I need to be it and I was enjoying it the hardships you know I enjoyed it the artists didn't I kind of was had a good foundation from it from growing up you know like I said we came from a very poor family it was rough living I freaking everything was gonna hand me down I hardly had any shoes until I was about 13. you know it was a tough old time growing up it was so he kind of sent me the right set but I just wanted to be there because it's an angel it wasn't for money certainly wasn't for money because the money in the army okay terrible so do you think that do you think that kind of like the mental strengths do you think it's something that's grown or do you think it you start off with a wiring in a certain way that sets you on the path where you can develop into it I think yeah you are born with a certain you know strength of mind and then you just develop it it's just believe in yourself and every situation I'm in either I'll say to myself there's got to be a way around this or through this yeah and there is well there's proof I'm here [ __ ] is still here today doing talking so you know it's just never giving up I just don't give up you know and it's just it's growing with me I don't like to fail I don't get all you know I don't have a teasy fit about failing I'll learn from it I'll go okay up should I do that again or maybe that was such a bad mess I shouldn't do it again or if it wasn't so bad I'll go and do it again and hopefully get around it you know so that's always been my mentality and I'd say the the thing that you're you've become a sort of household name for is the SAS so yeah what was the point where you've started looking at thinking about joining the SAS and can you give people who don't exactly know how it all works an indication of how tough it is to join the SAS yeah I can so basically I mean you don't know a lot about it when you join the military when you go into the army Cruise no one talks about the SAS right you know it's the SAS area what they call a tier one group very very small group of special forces in UK there's only two two special forces that's the SES and the SBS right attached that we have surveillance teams which but that's always SAS SBS in America virtually everyone's Special Forces right they have a tier one special forces which is Delta and seal term six which is our equivalence so you don't know anything about that sort of stuff when you join the careers you join the Army and all want to be like everybody when you're first you're on the Army be in the Army be in that unit then as you you sort of grow and go through uh experience and time you learn about the SAS because you always crossing over room somewhere around the globe you hear what they're doing friends of mine before me had gone to the SES now I didn't really decide that's where I wanted to go until about seven years into my career good friends of mine had gone and I knew they're doing great stuff I bump into them once a year somewhere having a beer then everybody said what they did but I know they're up to good stuff and um at the end of The Seven Year point I'd been to Northern Ireland operational tour of Cyprus I've been to Belize so I'd seen some action I've done some stuff and I thought where do I go next I'll tell you what it's like it's like although I'm not saying parachute regimens low down if you're in a footballer you start off in a particular team whoever the top team is that's where you want to be right the premier top of the Premier scene well that's the same as the special forces the SES you want to be and and now we'll tell you this now that's not just in UK the SES without Shadow doubt the best special forces in the world really fact yeah we you know most special forces we've ever fought against or fought alongside I don't know who the special forces are like well it's true we are Shadow of Doubt we are the best in the world fact so at some point you know most people go I want to do that it is in the rentals course we all know that so the seven year point I put in my papers because you have to volunteer from the parachute regimen to go and do sea selection I then got told I've got to give another two years to the parachute regiment as an instructor down at the Depot which is where I went through you know which is obviously a great privilege to do that so that's what I did and when I went down to the depot which is perfect for me you fit as a fiddle you're running 210 miles a day you're in the gym every day your navigation skills are great your soldering is great it costs you training you're training the up-and-coming new paratroopers so that's what I did so when I went down there I knew I got two years of of a waiting time and preparing me to go on selection so that's what I did and then um so that's nine years of service yeah so yeah so the end of the end of the 9 23 or 24 so it was still quite young yeah still young yeah which is that was the average age back then right joining the parachute regiment um or 25 whatever you have to work the numbers out but anyway so yes that was really the average age sort of between 24 and 27 to join the parachute I told you on the SAS so I decided then well I decided at the seven year but that's where I want to go and the nine year Point they'll let me go and I joined the course uh first course of 92. which was a winter course there's two courses a year winter and a summer course I did the winter course which is the you know a lot of people say it's harder some people say summers are whatever I would definitely say the winter one is harder especially for navigation because she can't see Jack over black mountains down there in the snow whatever so I did that course and I turned up and I think it was 283 of us turned up and you're all stood on the Square Enix just like going back nine years when I was a young kid and we all do this she's like you know when you go through a particular job you look at everybody else and go wow he she looks smarter than me he's got the kit it's exactly I was doing again now I'm still at the end of the line of 283 people instead of 70 this time God he looks bigger he looks fitter they look better I'm thinking 283 yeah and I'm saying to myself what the [ __ ] am I doing yeah again same thing we in fact day two 80 of them are gone because you do think all the fan dance which is that that is the the the filter for anybody who really shouldn't it's a fun dance it's a 24 plus kilometer race let's just say off the top of the mountains right down the other side carrying about 60 70 pounds it's fast fast and anyway so you do you do the fan dancing boy yeah at the end of that 80 80 people had gone you know so the course is almost chopped in off already and then again day by day week by week the course gets cut down and down and down and down and that lucky number again for me at the end of selection which is six months there's seven of us left and so I'll look a number again and uh yeah it's it's horrendous you know there's a number of phases to it the first phase is over the mountains and it's like I said day two uh we lose 80 people and then every day the marches for a month get longer harder at night as well and you're on your own navigating and moving out of I won't say what speed because I can't that's a freaking good speed and there's no let up it's Relentless and is it are they when when people are dropping out is that because they're not successfully passing the tasks or is that because they're just going I can't carry on there's a bit of both a lot of it is mind it comes down to mind you know you talk yourself out of it and you think oh I'm never going to make this now especially you're allowed to get what they call a red or you did back then you could you could mess up on one you had to finish every Mark yeah but you could be like 10 seconds over on one March 20 seconds maybe a minute and they go okay that's a red next if you do that again that's it you're done um and most people just don't you know they just go over the time were there any points where you were like like if yeah I had a few dramas like everybody else you know and and I will say this and it's true is when you do selection you've got to be on top of your game you've got to be fit you got to be able to navigate but there is an element of luck as well you will get injured at some stage as a fact I had a few issues you know crossing the river one day in the mist and it was horrendous I slipped in I slipped on a rock Bergen on top of my nearly drowned dropped my weapon I was in the water for about 10 minutes freezing cold minus 10 or whatever oh my God trying to find my weapon which as a Slip release and with the current moving so fast it had moved so I'm going down the river found it and I think that day actually was my fastest time on that March because I just didn't stop running so if you turned up without the right oh my God is that you are dropping over left the Army I've never even gone back to the party right yeah I mean it's horrific right I was literally going across the river I'd only left the vehicle 20 meters and the mister was right down and the option was looked at my map I either go 800 meters down there there's a little bridge over and then come back to go in the direction I'm crossing that River bad mistake quarter of the way into the river slippery rocks it's about knee-deep and the power of the river slipped head went over the Bergen came on top of my head I'm almost drowning so in the Panic of trying to stand up I'll release a weapon and now the current's taking it like yeah only 10 meters but you're trying to leave my head I'm thinking yeah I'm thinking back I've got to go back to the truck and stuff like lost my what happened which I didn't lose I dropped out now then I got it but as soon as I got into the other bank I was absolutely Frozen and I just got my bear bearing and just sprinted sprinted sprinted I think I've got the fastest time that day on that but I mean I needed it yeah I couldn't wait to get to the end and get into some dry claws it was horrific yeah so there's an element to look and then I think on the last March you do over that month my knee was almost the size of my waist and I was taking painkillers and I just thought I'm gonna drag it with me and I did that was a time if I was not going to do it was I couldn't do it or your knee yeah my knee I twisted my knee it was all swollen up for the last two marches it was Agony and I just took painkillers and just went and the last March was about 18 18 hours it was a roof and do they see that you're in this pain but yeah well it's up to him yeah it's you to say that's it done right unless it's unless you're [ __ ] arms hanging off or something obviously medically no you're not going on so that was the first phase yeah that's the first phase which everybody thinks that's a phase if you can get through the mountains brilliant not at all phase the real phase of selection is the jungle right it's horrendous now I'd been to the Jungle three times before I'd gone on selection because I joined when I joined the parish original went there and I went to two other jungles since on training with the parachute regiment so I went with a full sense of security thinking well I'm good in the jungle I love it now I'm happy with it and was I mistaken Jesus Christ and there's nothing special about the soldiering work you do in the jungle it's just Relentless of being watched all the time under pressure mental and physical pressure what people don't realize is the jungle in in Brunei where you do it it's like being the Bracken Beacon mountains but with trees on top of it right so under that canopy you're going up and you're going down and it's the horrendous eat all the time it's 100 humidity it's just soaking wet you know you're carrying a lot of weight you're being scrutinized the staff don't shelter you they ask you to do things and you make a mistake and you're kind of look at them thinking you're the same taking notes right and it plays on your mind you know and then you've got the creatures you covered in leeches you've got sores it's horrendous and you've got that now for five weeks I I'm gonna come back to the same question but that yeah that desire to do it yeah I mean I I appreciate that it's probably not an easy thing to articulate to someone like me who just wouldn't be able to if I had to do it maybe but the the knowledge that I could just go do you know what I'm just going to go back to what I was already good at before in the parachute regiment that's the easiest bit that's why people fail because it's all about self-motivation if expecting someone to grab you by the arm and go no no don't give a drag you forward it doesn't happen it's down to you on selection because your work after that when you be on the Enemy Lines there's nobody dragging you forward you're on your phone and that's who they're looking for right okay sure but for me my desire was I actually thrived on it I did I really loved it and seen people Falling by the way so just give me more strength again thinking I can keep going I can keep going for this you know I'm trying to encourage people to do with you in our little groups and that you know you try but you see their weaknesses and it just gave me strength to keep going so when you're in those processes are you are you all banded together and we can do this together or are you going I've got to get through this whatever you guys do no I mean the first phase is individual it's over to you all those navigation things and those carrying the weight of them is individual you're on your own it's it's me versus everybody when you get to the Jungle then you're into patrols then it's teamwork looking after each other but looking after yourself you know you've gotta you've still gotta make sure you're 100 then you can give 100 with the patrol so it's that as well so they're looking at everything they're looking at you again still isn't it we're more of what are you like under pressure working with anybody else and that sort of stuff so so because yeah because obviously they want you but they want to know that you were somebody that can be a team player I guess yeah so if you're if you're too set off on around and not interested in anyone else no it's ain't gonna work see it's a delicate balance then it is it and and I know exactly how it works because I went back as a DS yeah directing stuff years later so I knew exactly at the time I was on selection it's kind of all all man for yourself but teamwork when you needs to be teamwork you know what I mean you've got to know when to turn around turn it off and but then when you go back as a DS I know exalia works and what they're looking at is you they're just looking at every single person as who are you we don't care how big you are how fit you are what you look like what you've had in the past stripping you back to the raw you and putting you through physical mental emotional pressures like you've never been through to see how you cope can you think outside the box can you come up with a plan and an idea will you keep going will you try and find a solution or an excuse as soon as you're looking for excuses done you're done wow I know you're not used to us well when you say there about the the mental and the uh the mental the mental journey and the mental fortitude because one of the really I think famous things about the SAS which I don't think load is known about it but it's the third phase which is am I right in thinking because that's the interrogation and can you tell us a little bit about that yeah the interrogation is it represents you're gonna remember what our work is we do work in small numbers you do work individually you are very vulnerable you ain't got all the support around you immediately you know you're behind the Enemy Lines you're in the enemies Back Garden that's where you're working that strategic level of working you know and it's dangerous scary um so you've got to be able just to stand on your own two feet now the biggest vulnerability of being out there on your own even in a small number you're always outnumbered if it goes wrong it's going to go wrong big style and the worst case you can end up in is being captured not being killed being killed it's done it's over and done but being captured so what they do there's a phase that sort of tries to prepare you for that of how to survive under captivity how to escape captivity and being evade you know so that phase escaping invasion is what you're talking about so we'll all start with learning how to survive and live off the land worst case and I've been on your own how to navigate from the stars from nature all those raw skills that you need to know because inevitably when it does go tits up you know you probably ain't gonna have the Live support you had with you your burgundy may have lost or you know you've had to run without it your equipment so you're literally raw as it can be so you do you get to all those skills and how to survive and all that sort of stuff and you've already done quite a bit of it through the phase but then the really intensify it and at the end of it you know you go through a phase of learning how to if captured how to represent yourself to give yourself a chance of living building a rapport with the Enemy enough to keep yourself one to find out a way of escaping or to open that the Jedis are going to come through the window at some stage and save you so you're trying to prolong your life by building a rapport with these people so that phase is where you get interrogated stress positions and it is horrific it's horrible however you know everybody has a different experience we're all different inside the mind again for me I want to say Enjoy I didn't enjoy it it was horrific but I just knew they ain't gonna kill me okay you ain't gonna kill me but when you say it's horrific what does that look like oh man I mean I won't say how many hours it is that you do it because they're not allowed to but it's a hell of a lot more than what you see on any TV program it's a stress position yeah you're in these stress positions I mean if I ask you now just to stand up straight then bend your knees as half squat with your arms in the air yeah after about two minutes you're gonna you be like this trembling so you like that you know and you're there for hours for hours and then you know that you've got a guard Force that's got total control of your life so that's really messing with your mind you can't piss you can't talk you can't move somebody else to control your life you just think about it it's horrible and then you've been putting these horrendous positions like your backs killing you think your back's gonna snap your shoulders are hanging off your arms are hanging off just holding your head up it's just the worst of everything you want to die you're like well you're actually praying to be interrogated because at least when you're getting Dragged In and being screamed and shouted alone mentally your arms and your backs in a better position for a bit and then by the time they're screaming shouting at you and dissecting you and then you feel your mind started to struggle you're hoping to go back for a stress position so you're bouncing between but it's a long long process and a lot a lot of people do feel that but everyone is different again for me I thought you ain't gonna written someone else out yeah reality of the world in reality this is gonna this is gonna be a lot worse than what I'm getting here but that processor when we do it you just get I know you just keep saying something this is just a game but you start hallucinating bearing in mind before you get captured anyway you've been on the run for yeah two weeks you you know you sleep deprivation food deprivation you're absolutely exhausted and then you've got somebody just dragging you around who's just got total can you know don't not even being able to get for a piss yeah it's not like you see on the TV you put your hand up and ask for a person that ain't gonna happen no I'm gonna [ __ ] clap around the head but then like you say it's what's preparing you for is a reality yeah it'd be a lot worse if it was ever yeah you're preparing yourself you get an Insight an idea of what it's going to be like when you are working I know and and you so seven of you yeah past yeah which is I don't know what that is as a percentage down from 283 but yeah I mean they all say that the regiments the one percent of the one percent they want to do it you know so and then once you get in to the SAS yeah how different was it in terms of workings from the parachute regiment I love that you asked me this and I have told this a lot if you've heard it I'm sorry but so when I joined the SAS right um you have this expectation what's going to be like yeah of course a couple of friends have gone before me I don't know what they're like they're really fair they're strong they're big guys doing great stuff so when you get to the end of selection in my head I'm thinking right these are going to be super fit super crazy people if I said to you guys here now I'm going to bring you five SES guys most people be thinking okay big fit v-shape but you know that's kind of what you get you just think that image I don't know why everybody does I even I did it so when I got to the end of selection I got to all right and there's no big celebration there's no parade there's no nothing else just there you know the regiment Soul major comes in the command office goes okay well done you've all got there and did it there's your battery there's your belt you're going to be scoring you're going to do scoring you're going to Mountain true a squad whatever it is you're like great you don't care actually you don't want to Pray by the time you're just glad to be alive and be the [ __ ] end of it yeah so off you go and I go across the B Squadron um which are the guys who did the embassy years ago oh yes would you ever heard about great Squadron not all great squadrons but B's Better B is better so you got a B Squad I got a B Squadron and they're all in these they're on little sort of um areas we call them interest room uh where everybody hangs out and that's where you sort of you know you'll meet you out every morning decide what we're doing we're training we're doing what operations are going on all that sort of stuff and then and so it is so I get sent to B Squadron Mountain Troop so I've got my burial got my bell feeling proud you know off I go walking to B Squad and interest room and as I walk in I'm like am I in the wrong places I thought I walked into a council office in Hereford right I'm like what do you mean it's like fat block over there bald headed block over there skinny bloke over there already got any teeth I was like this is the SAS in my head I'm thinking um are you kidding me because these people misshaped all sources I'm thinking what the [ __ ] Josh joined so I'm a little bit bewildered to be honest I mean I was quite fit I was skinny but I would because I just come through selection but I thought what is this there are some really fit dudes there of course there's all these different shaper people and there's a big guy another thing I can call in fact big fact I'll make it a cup of tea and he sees me like looking in shock and he turns around he's making a cup of tea and he looks old with me goes you're right son yeah I'm all right you and he goes yep you want to go for a run I thought Hey fat guy's asking me to go for a run but yeah I can [ __ ] run mate we went out the gate right I saw the soul of his [ __ ] boot for about 30 meters I never seen him again so I get back to the interest room and he's already had a shower and doing and I'm like what the [ __ ] is this and then the penny dropped this ain't about our image this is about what is there and that's why I remember on selection certain people passing certain people not passing and thinking it really is about what these people have got in there and then day two or three I haven't been there long and operation comes in a job these bloke walks in with a role in he's smoking and rolling flicking on and I thought he's the guy going to clean the bins major and he was right issues there's a operation going down you know it needs to be in a place save these people's lives whatever it was and he's gone let's do it and I thought it was a joke I'm like looking around going what the [ __ ] is going on and then I watched these people put this plan together all sat around no you know just talking and the next thing you're off bang doing this operation and he was like Wow are they bringing you in at this point yeah yeah yes I mean yeah and the Soul major is like sorry what's your name someone when Billy went all right welcome Billy how we're going to do this right asking me and I'm like I've just turned up well you know but that's how they are yeah and they expect you to have something to say there's no rank there's no class it's you know there is run we all know is in charge they don't wear the rant we know that guy's a the main man in ease this and now he's the patrol command and he's a troop staffy and does it still have the hierarchy in like the way yeah he does it he does but to be honest the the operational side of it is run by the guys the officers generally the younger officers get involved because they're new as well they're still they're learning and they get fed into it the older officers they all season thereafter they're the ones who do all the planning the government planning at the embassies around the Globes and that side of it so all the groundwork really is done by the blogs so from Sergeant made down is where it really happens and yeah and just it was just so I was like oh so elves in this all new world albums up to me I think for the first eight months other than one or two times I didn't even wear a uniform right grown man I was in places around the globe I'd never even heard of you know I was learning a language I didn't even know existed and then next week speaking in this foreign country doing surveillance type stuff and whatever so once he joined the SAS obviously you're in like an amazing physical and mental yeah position but were there any per were there any points where you were like I think I think I'm good like were there any points where you felt close to death any that you can talk about I know a lot of stuff you can every day right sure wait is that how is that how intense it is the way you train yeah you are you know you've side by side Realms going past your ears to the in the dark respirators on you've thrown yourself out in a aircraft at ridiculous eyes you know through the night with all this equipment into the ocean you're constantly training real realistic dangerous training we do lose unfortunate people in training and people badly injured and then operational yeah freaking hell you know from the Bosnia days to Afghan to Iraq close to even being shot or blown up or both regular regular you know and like I say because you just get on with it you just kind of get on with it and it's funny because when the blogs get together you'll have a beer and they'll go look at each other and go how the [ __ ] did you walk out of that and it'll be a certain operation where somebody's nearly blowing your head off or had the drop on you but somehow you got out of it or a particular bombs gone off quite closer but it's all been impacted by a vehicle in front of you or whatever it is so there's all these crazy stories that you get involved in and yeah it's at times when you get a bit you forget about most of it but a lot of it I say you forget about most what you do there'll always be something that'll trigger yeah in my own mind of I remember that time you know and I'll give you one example which I don't mind talking about was and we're in Bosnia and um real weird situation actually and it wasn't well I guess it was it was dangerous it was dangerous of course it was and we had an interpreter there's only two of us and we're on the ground and we're trying to find our way through to the front line because out there it was a mess you know you added serbs croats and Muslims all fighting each other yes and then in between all that was minefields everywhere we were trying to figure out exactly what it was fighting knew when the next thing was going to happen all this sort of stuff and we had there was two of us and we had an interpreter with us and The Interpreter was a female local so she came with she was balls he was a wonderful wonderful girl absolutely Nails we're obviously sneaking around nobody knows who we are what we're doing we end up trying to find where this front line was where the main fight was taking place this particular time we end up in this friggin Minefield and we didn't know we're in until we're halfway through it so we're now lying amongst all these mines so now we've got a either get out as best we can without going blowing up or continue with the task to do what we want to do and then get out so we decide we're going to continue with the task and we'll get through and we end up overlooking this Village and this Village is getting smashed and it's like a film set houses on fire there's gunfighters people fighting the street there's people hanging out in cars dead there's bodies everywhere and we're watching it from across this position you know probably about 800 meters from it The Interpreter is with us and she was wonderful she was used to all this it's her area it's her country and she had a little transistor radio so me and my buddy are watching this trying to make sure we don't get blown up and watching reporting what's going down and trying to do what we need to do and she says okay I'll play the radio and we're like well the bombs and bullets going off right No One's Gonna know who we are so she I said yeah no problem so she puts a little radio on and she's behind us and we're watching what's going on Hotel California comes on the song and I can either something you're kind of seeing it in your head as you're watching this horrific thing happening in front of you and then my mate nudges me and I was like well it goes behind you so look at our interpreter as I look Almost sure that she's in floods of Tears and in my tiny stupid head I think oh that record obviously reminds her of a boyfriend or something so I'll turn around to and I said a name I says hey If It's upsetting you just turn it off and she went no Billy that's my house I was like I just wanted to roll over onto a mine and just end it I thought oh my God you know it was just horrific but trying to paint that scene what I'm talking about and literally it was her house getting smashed on Fires people screaming I just and you're in those situations all the time so we carry on doing what we're doing and quickly get out but my point of saying that was there's certain things they'll trigger certain things and that song just reminded me of it you know or a smell or remind me of a certain situation in another country where where so-and-so was killed or that happened or this happened yeah there's things that you I mean that's sort of an amazing story like just but but it reinforces like the stuff that you do like the stuff that all people in the military do but then when you're saying the one percent of the one percent there's things that you guys do that like civilians just wouldn't be able to process how it feels to do it no how do you get to the point where you come like can you process these things indefinitely Or do they start leaving at all like when you talk when you're you know doing operations that will probably end other people's lives that's something most humans never do most humans never take a life and a lot of humans have a very limited exposure to death as well yeah people like yourself will have a high amount of exposure is there a way of protecting yourself against that or is it are you on a sort of countdown to it starting to having a no I think we kind of alluded to it earlier every single person is different everybody's mind's different you know we talk about comments about I sometimes can't get my head around out people give up on the interrogation so quick and all that stuff but we're all different so tolerating not tolerating but dealing with what we do deal with death destruction almost losing your own life or losing your mates life you might lose his life next to you you go through a massive process in your own mind of feeling guilty could have done this should have done that would they have helped you blame yourself you feel um like you've let yourself down and you know so you go through all these emotions and whatever it might be in the situations and you always ask yourself one thing is could I have done a better job the truth is probably not and the other thing is it's already happened so you've just got a sort of process it and move forward from it now the way I I've never had a mental problem I'm just lucky or fortunate not to have had any issues with it like I say I have my moments I have my dark times but I just sort of I don't know I just get on with it now will I be the same in five years time ten years time I don't know there might be something that triggers something that I can't handle anymore but right now I think by talking a little bit about it and especially talking with the people that we should be talking peers who know what I'm talking about because it's like anything as well you know and um while on this subject especially with the military I don't think we used to handle it very well people that had been we'd had some bad situations at times you know and would you just come back and just be expected just to go home for a couple of days and then back into work and off you go again there's no decompression or nothing and I think that's stem to a lot of the problems that we're having today so you're in a kind of in a hunting state of reflection and processing like little enough and we're just yeah yeah a little and often yeah you know have you got your remembrance days so especially today social media there's always every other day somebody will put you know God bless us I would rest in peace I did anything I remember I was but then there's the other sides of it that we've walked away from where we've all walked away from it's kind of funny but there are times I've got hell I've had chills in my back and how the hell did that happen how did I just walk away from that somebody your distance from me trying to blow my head off a mist with Six Bullets has that happened yeah God and I'm like how the [ __ ] is that I'm gonna do this day I still don't know Stevie Wonder could have done it [Music] yeah you know you just yeah and it's well looking and like I've always said it shouldn't have happened and it didn't happen you know and Blossom said to me how the F did you walk away from that well then when somebody puts about Six Bullets between your net your net your chin let you down that line there and where your arms are where your weapon was but and didn't kill me he didn't get a second chance that's for sure yeah but I mean that's those sort of scenarios you know you go you really live them and you go bonkers you know yeah I mean it makes it certainly I'm dropping that side of the car and the whole you know obviously in that Ali G thing where he stood against the wall and they open up on him and it goes all yeah yeah yeah and then he's obviously yeah yeah you know we've had a situation like that mortar bomb has landed that side of the car and it's hit it and the whole thing is all around like what the [ __ ] God you're like yeah let's go so I mean but basically Billy you're someone that like you've got so many aspects to your life so it's like you'd you'd want you'd I think we need four hours five hours I know that one of the things that we want to get on to is the celebrity bodyguard stuff yeah and so I guess because that's a fascinating thing because I guess that's not something a lot of people do is it when they leave the military alarm as you do get into security um not a lot of them do it at that level yeah you know I was I was just fortunate to be in a place to be asked to go and do it at that level right from the moment I stepped out the Army to be honest but Brad Pitt and Angelina yeah because they're like two of the biggest apples on the tree in terms of well they were on the in the day when I when I did that job there were I mean prior to leaving the military you know I I also I did 27 years I did more than 27 years because you do I stayed on a thing called um well the reserves I did five years of Reserve I didn't really do anything at all so I never really count that anyway okay but in all that time when I left I had it I had to find a job and the hardest thing about that was well firstly finding a job but secondly you know you spent I had spent all my life denying who it was and where I was because that's what we do we have to you know we're not even on any registers anyway or anything so that's our lifestyle so we've and then all of a sudden that career is over you got to go to work so what do you do and then I'll get off at a job security and it was for Brad and Angelina at the time with the biggest A-list on the planet and it's good pay I needed work and I thought well I'm going to take the job so I took the job and it was really awkward because all of a sudden well you know I've come from nobody knows where the hell I am to all these like this cameras everywhere and people who's this new blog who's that you know he was really uncomfortable I was kind of one foot in the water one foot out the water am I doing it am I not doing it and it was just he was awful being shot out with a camera as opposed to a gun was worse than ever is it not hard to come out of something like the military and then if you're bodyguarding people like that is it not hard to even have a conversation with people like that because if they're going to and going oh can you get the vegan food in and you're are you not going do you get what I mean like no I understand exactly and that's a good point Ben actually because I was going to allude to that so the first you know firstly stepping out into these new world cameras everywhere in the Limelight on every magazine that's going and I mean and then down to yeah can you make sure my stuff's at the dry cleaners but yeah and the driver's got the you know like you know yeah but you soon adapt you soon go you know what and he actually I started to chuckle about that can you make sure the Sushi's gone California rolls and I'm like do it yourself but you do you kind of you get used to and you start to enjoy it it's about to be fair all the skill sets that I had in the military it's a you've got all the skills that you need outside you just got to tone it down and adapt it to what it really is he's finding out what it really is you know and as soon as I realized once I'd stop worrying about me being caught on camera and me doing this I'm really concentrating on the job and what is the job the job really is protecting an image that's all you're really doing you know 90 of it of course you've got to be physically there you've got to be aware of lunatics who might want to have a go at them or want to you know kidnap or whatever you've got to have that in your mind whereas the life before it was all about that that was a priority deaf kidnapping killing whatever it is now it's making sure they're not still in front of a camera with coffee down there white shirt or say the wrong thing when they're drunk you know that so it was adapting that to babysitting really it's like glorified babysitting and it is a Threat Level there is it present it's a threat level you know everybody wants 15 minutes of fame yeah I mean look at John Lennon yeah yeah somebody will have a pop whenever you know I remember Tom Cruise who I'd looked after Tom a while but and and it was after I looked up and thank God he was walking the red carpet somebody pulled a pistol on him he was a water pistol right you know and fired water into his face that could have been acid so if people so there is a threat there there are they're not around every corner but you have to have that in your mind yeah don't get complacent but yeah there is a threat there and you you did quite a few of the big names yeah I did yeah I um I did a lot of Moonlighting if I'm honest I looked after all Colgan which I [ __ ] loved oh goodness wow I looked after all organ for a little character just for two nights I think it was but it was funny yeah and the thing about that was he's looking at me I'm looking at him he's like twice the size of me and he said he's thinking this blog's either oh there's Nails all mad he doesn't know and I'm playing it cool like hey me want to test it and he's like no so it's all about confidence yeah so I looked after him I looked after um Kate Moss briefly I looked after um Russell Crowe quite a bit actually Russell's awesome um Tom Cruise one night and Ellie's wife um so Michael Kane fantastic actually he was the last guy I looked after Michael he's brilliant a brand nanji yeah it's probably the most famous kind of like celebrity bodyguard film of recent years it was like the taken film he starts off and he's like oh Liam Neilson yeah yes and is he is it important to build a rapport with the people or yeah it's oh you've got to see this new bodyguard program it's the most realistic I watched about 10 minutes away right and it's just not real because of course you've got other report you can't be all robotic with the curly piece hanging out you're a stood there like a robot you need to know I need to know exactly everything from my clients underwear sizes to their medical records to what they're like what they don't like you know because if they're having a pissed off day you're having a pissed off day and you've got to be able to speak with each other and and be flexible and I've got to be able to read your moods you can't do that if you're walking around like a freaking robot and trying too busy looking like sculptured polystyrene you know big arms and all the rest of it but you got to be on a level where you can speak with them and you've got to be able to speak bluntly with them as well you know I would every one of my clients advice is we ain't doing that oh really doing it yeah so you have to be able to oh yeah you're right okay yeah of course because otherwise you put yourself in a position that you for instance as an example you know if my clients want to go to a particular venue there's a massive over excellus crowd which they do get obvious I.E the security ain't in place there's normally security at these venues if it ain't in place and it it's it's going to spill over and go wild I'm going to control it I can't control 30 40 50 people and the client would go well we really need to go oh you ain't going right find an alternative yeah and that was the beauty with when I was doing we had a great Mutual understanding I'm here to provide security that's what you pay me for we're not best mates I am your friend I am in May but I've got a job to do I'll only get it wrong once then I'll look a right Pratt you know and you're probably gonna end up in a bad position yeah so you you gotta allow me and listen to me when I say what I want to do you tell me what you want to do and I'll find an alternative if I can if I can't that's the way security comes first and I that was me with every single one of them as I'm speaking to you is how I spoke to all my clients you know and they ought to be disrespectful I'm doing a job I don't I've you know I mean into this you're a celebrity so what you're the person who's paying my wages and if I if I ain't working with you I don't get a wage it's as simple as that and did you develop any friendships or is it more all right great friendship with all of them I'd have a drink with them I've laughed stupid message of around and all that sorts of but then there's a line yeah of course when I'm working I'm working you know and yeah and even in the time off you feel you know we'd be in their house having a couple of beers I'm gonna laugh and joke I'd still make sure that everyone outside was Secure yeah you can never let your hair down in the thing about that bodyguarding world is people think it's glamorous yeah we I got paid well yeah I've traveled a lot yeah I met these cool people if that's what you're into but I was working 18 hours a day yeah and they go to bed I've got two hours work to be done you couldn't trust the drivers couldn't trust anybody else everybody just wants to steal your job because the driver's all of a sudden turn into Sterling mosstroke evasive driving instructors whenever they get in the car because they're trying to impress right okay well they turn up stinking of beer or something else or they're you know they're too busy instead of driving you know my clients in the back they'll talk and they're like right here right and trust him and I used to catch him out all the time you know a lot of the drivers would say okay tomorrow morning we're going to go down to Smith's make sure you're there on time do a wreck he did it yeah no problem nothing for well I ain't going there jump in the car go to turn right at the gate that morning I've got another turn left but you say we're going to Smith's no we're not we're going to Dailies and I'll go send the next drive go down to Smith's tell me what you see drive down to Smith's oh all the paparazzi are there oh really really you just you couldn't trust anybody mate so you had to constantly having to be one step ahead of the curve to just to get the day's job done you know because if it all if they turn up is where they're trying to keep a little profile and have a easy light and then there's Paparazzi every they can't be who they really are they've got to have this image along we all have any enemies like we do for Instagram or whatever it is you've got to be this person they can't be this off and it ruins a day then it ruins your day so you've just gotta you know stay on top of all that and how How does it go from that so am I right in thinking you've got an MBA yeah don't you okay so because I I think that you correct me if I'm wrong we'll edit it out but I think that you were the most decorated officer on the TV show yeah they love their tiles and they they put up the most decorated yeah SAS eyes ranking on TV I'm not the most decorating no no from the show from the show yeah yeah I mean my experience if you pull those guys together I've got more experience than every single one of them put together right not to say they're not good they're good at what they do but I just had a longest survey time I was fortunate I think I've been in every conflict other than Falklands so how does it come about that you get a call asking if you want to be in a TV show about the SAS it's funny as well but I got asked to be honest when I started working with the brand names I got asked all the time right the TV work yeah for TV will you do this will you do that I was never interested I was busy anyway I couldn't have done it then as I'll start to step off the gas with that I got asked like a real funny phone call through a friend of mine saying oh the this guy these guys running a TV show I want to speak to you so I said oh I'll speak to him I said look we got your name we're running this program where we're going to take fittest Eight British people or nine fitted people from the UK to the Jungle we rang the jungle School in Belize and the guy in charge there was a guy I took through his course right and he spoke to him and said look we're looking for a jungle instructor dirty girls who it was really good in the jungle but he's horrible he goes I know just they show he sells it to me so he goes yeah on a real horrible but he's really good in the jungle so that so it made me laugh and I was hang on mate back back and forth and they wanted to run this program and I said hang on what do you want to do and they said we want to do this put them through the paces they said fittest people in the UK I said stop let me tell you something it doesn't matter who they are they go to the Jungle they're going to die ain't gonna work no no you don't understand I mean no no you don't step back and forth anyway I did this program called unbreakable I don't know if you ever heard of it no it was on I think it was channel five Ricochet was a company a great great but she was great people and the students were fantastic but they'd never been to the Jungle the jungle's deadly it doesn't matter I don't care who fit or strong you think you are so anyway these people will turn up at the jungle we're going to do this course and I've already worn them 40 minutes into it I've broke all of them he's just they underestimate yeah yeah so I've now almost got the producer on the neck and got [ __ ] told her this so for the next three days I'm teaching them and then we do 30 minutes of running them ragged so make this program and he put me off I mean I ain't doing this no more don't [ __ ] listen and then I left a few years and years and years and then SES who does wins came around and one of the guys on the original Colin McLaughlin we've Ann and Foxy and Ollie Rings remember says mate we're putting this program together SS will you come on it and as soon as I said I said I said no because they've been cheesy little things about it and I said no I don't I don't want to do not interested mate anyway that went out at the same time again asked to do it a program called SFI Tough Enough and then in between all that sas1 going out and two about to do series two I'll get the call from a producer from minnow and he hounded me saying will you come on the show and I wouldn't know and he goes I said look where are you so I'm in London I said mate I ain't coming to London anyway he says I'll come to Hereford and he literally after off the phone jumped in his car drove to Marathon so we sat and talked about the show what it's all about and I said okay that's when I joined it and it was a bit uncomfortable to start with not I mean the lads there were three SBS guys obviously on the SAS guy at the time um although I had a lot lot more experience I didn't want to be anything more than just in the background anyway dear so I was not I was in any threat to ant or anybody else and it was all right I enjoyed you know doing bits and pieces and took a little while to get used to what what it was really all about and the mirror rooms when we were doing that the mirror rooms when we did the interviews I didn't really like it I didn't really understand it but now I love it it's what it's all about so it took a while to get used to but then I stayed with it and stayed with it and then moving on to where we are now I'm now the chief instructor on it and you so you enjoy the show do you like doing it I love it mate yeah I love it gives me a chance to keep fit yeah it's like being back in the military there's no script there's no uh rehearsals there's no retakes right it's yeah it's a basically we run it as a course right the celebrity thing is brilliant because you know every celebrity's got a fan base you know people worship these people wherever the wherever they come from whatever they're doing whether the soccer's players or TV people or whatever it is and the fact that again we don't know what's going to come out their mouth when they come out with something whether they've been abused all this you know towards you like whoa okay okay and weren't expecting that and they walk out of that room six inches taller because they've got it off the shoulders we give them sort of okay done no sympathy let's move forward and as soon as you tell them that they're like whoa I don't have to be a victim anymore but the beauty of that is there'll be 40 50 000 people I've watched that show that night I'll tell you now start messaging them if he can talk about it she can talk yeah yeah I can 100 and we get amazing messages honestly unbelievable you know and I love that feeling of knowing it's not just about thrashing people it's not a mud run it's not a Spartan challenge and it's not rehearsed so we run it as a course and as we would anybody in the military you've stepped into our world you've volunteered yeah you're gonna get screamed at and the only reason you're Scream and Shout out and which is different to the real SES we've only got 10 days to put yeah for everything so you've got to get it going and motivate them and put them under pressure are there any are there any celebrities that have been through the course that you think could have potentially done the real course no don't be so ridiculous yeah there's not nobody on any of it I thought no dude these are 10 14 days yeah sasolation is freaking six no sure but like there's that side of and also not to be disrespectful to anybody you've got to be in the military to go into yes yes that's the reality of it you know so what they do is amazing you know and these people that come on this course for the show they're doing 18 hours a day you don't you only get 40 minutes if you're on the show they get put for their Paces so it's a it's a big big it's probably the biggest test they'll do in their life you people look a good well you've got you know Fatima Woodbridge 60 years old you've got all these athletes how's she going to compete with them well she isn't Fatima Whitbread is competing with Fatima with bread yeah the Sprinter is who will look at every single one of you and go when you're 100 angular the same as this is or 100 so every day we have these prayers and we push you we want Fatima to run two kilometers with a Bergen I want him to run five kilometers in a bit faster because that's when he's being tested and you're being tested think you know because no matter what situation you are in there's a way out there's no I'm gonna say a way out there's an option and I've been in some places where I got me we're dead we ain't going out of this and then when you go I've got to do something I'm going to find an option you find an option it's never a good one but we're perseverance and a little bit of hard work around it you get through it and that's what you're looking for in every single person and that's what you get out of these people when you look back you know you you started off as someone who had like you know it could have been that boxing was your what you were going to do and then it was parachute regiment yeah and it was SAS then celebrity bodyguarding and then TV work you know they're kind of yeah roots that a lot of people would have as their one thing that they went into when you look back at that kind of very varied life yeah like what what do you think it's taught you overall like what's something you've learned across all your experiences honestly honestly I've made to to be grateful and to realize how fortunate we are and also to realize there's always somebody worse off than you seven percent of what I do today is Charity giving back I'm not saying this thing oh you know great that's what I do you know putting kids through school because I've been I've been lucky and I've been privileged to be where I am I've I've put myself in some of the most craziest hardest positions you can imagine and some of you know not through my fault and I've gone through it and I like to give that back to somebody the people who give me an opportunity in life like I said the old man it was stole from Fairly influential man the guy who ran the cadets another very influential money in my life Benny the guy got killed just give him put him in the straight and narrow my Corporal in Depot all these people that gave me opportunities I wanted you know all that experience and that knowledge give it to somebody else pass it on to other people the younger generation basically well local Philly it's been uh inspirational and fascinating chat I mean and the other thing that I always find interesting about people like yourself is that you always start off going like School wasn't for me school wasn't for me I never got my school but then you're able to talk so well about all the different complicated like situations and I sometimes wonder with people like you whether you just were at the wrong School that's possible mate but I know I was a little thanks so much for coming in mate it's been an absolute pleasure thanks man cheers I enjoyed it cheers Philly cheers I said to this day now I felt I've killed someone I've killed someone I've shot someone it was tap on the shoulder going a good job mate [ __ ] good job and it took me a good week to get my mind in gear thinking that's my job that's a job with a sniper

Channel: LADbible TV

Views: 1,561,005

Keywords: the lad bible, lad bible, lad, bible, videos, viral videos, viral, funny, comedy, funny videos, documentaries, exclusives, interviews, Vodcast, Podcast, Billy Billingham, billy billingham sas, sas selection uk, LADbible Vodcast, LADbible vodcast, sas soldier interview, SAS:Who Dares Wins, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Life as a celebrity bodyguard, Michael Caine, extraordinary lives podcast, extraordinary lives podcast ladbible, SAS Soldier, Kate Moss, SAS solider on killing people

Id: YJ7t8Cy1r_I

Length: 85min 43sec (5143 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 15 2023