Jon Gaunt Interview..................Part Three

GAUNT: “I SPEAK FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE A VOICE”

17-01-2008

Controversial radio talk show host Jon Gaunt who’s appearing at Birmingham Town Hall next month has been telling The Stirrer how he once “bullied” the Arts Council out of £26,000 – and says he speaks for the “people who don’t have a voice.”

Gaunt recalls how in the early 80’s he won an Edinburgh Fringe First and a Perrier Pick of the Fringe Award for his play “Hooligans” – despite the fact that it had been rejected for a grant.

In the wake of it’s success he says, “I wrote to the people who turned us down and sent them all the reviews of the play from the papers. I suppose it was a very arrogant thing to do, but I was angry about it.

“I said to the Arts Council, ‘you’re out of touch. You’ve only rejected us because we’re white, working class kids and you don’t understand us’.

He laughs, “It must have worked because next time we put in an application to them we got £26,000. I reckon we bullied it out of them.”

Although Gaunt has moved politically from left to right in the two decades since then, he maintains that the thread of speaking up for people who don’t have a voice is his constant thread.

Explaining the basis of his daily Talksport chat show and “Sun” column, he says, “I allow people to have a voice who don’t normally get heard – including the white working class of this country. Sometimes what they say is uncomfortable, and goes beyond what people think is acceptable.

“But I say let’s have the argument, let’s get it out there, and don’t cover things up. Let’s not have a culture of fear where people are afraid to say what they think.”

True to his ideal, Gaunt’s show at the Town Hall in February will start with a 20 minute monologue about his life and times, but will then consist entirely of a Q&A with his audience – who are invited to tell it like it is.

“Obviously I’ve got a few stories up my sleeve” he admits, “but the show will be driven by what they want to talk about.

“What are the big stories in Birmingham right now? The Mayor issue? Single Status? If that’s what people want to talk about, that’s what we’ll talk about.

“And if there are people who don’t like me and want to come and have a pop, I’m well up for that too.”

See An Audience With Jon Gaunt at Birmingham Town Hall on February 5. Tickets £16 from www.thsh.co.uk

Read Part One of our Jon Gaunt interview here and Part Two here