I remember walking into the main dining room at the United Nations in New York and suddenly feeling very much at home. I was there, together with my daughter Daisy, to perform a few concerts to celebrate St. David’s Day.
It had been quite a trip with shows at the home of Sony CBS, a concert at Trinity Church right in the heart of Wall Street as well as at the opening of the Peace Garden in remembrance of those who lost their lives on 911.
Daisy (Blue) Pope United Nations 2007
As we walked past the portraits of past Secretary Generals of the UN Daisy and I turned to each other and said almost simultaneously…’WELSH CAKES!”. The reason for all of these opportunities was down to some clever person at Welsh Government exploiting the Welsh Connection. At the time the head of Sony was a Welshman, Sir Howard Stringer and the British Ambassador to the United Nations was ‘Swans’ fan Sir Emyr Jones Parry.
The thing is the Welsh get everywhere. Maybe not quite so noisy as our Celtic cousins the Scots and Irish but definitely making their way in the world and often prepared to open the doors to fellow Welshies.
On tour with Max Boyce in Australia 1987.
Of course that’s no great surprise when you’re touring the world with someone like Max Boyce. The smell of Welsh cakes followed us everywhere we went in Australia and New Zealand. It was the unexpected meetings that made me smile; like the time I held up the plane from Wellington to Auckland because the security guard came from Brynhyfryd or the time I bumped into an old friend I hadn’t seen for 20 years in a toy shop in Perth, or the only non American in the show in Seoul, South Korea who came from Trallwn.
Even my tour of Europe supporting Art Garfunkel had its fair share of familiar accents. As part for the tour we performed alongside a number of other acts at some all day outdoor festivals. I think it was in Dortmund I heard a welcome Swansea voice. It turned out Barry Evans from Townhill (brother of former Tory MP and Dynevor prefect Nigel Evans) was tour managing one of the other acts. If I’m being honest it wasn’t the easiest tour I had ever been on and I was feeling rather homesick at the time. Just talking about Swansea for an hour or so helped make things better. After that moment in Germany we kept in touch for years.
Lucy from Joe’s Ice Cream and Carolyn Harris MP
This week I had one of those “Welsh Cake’ moments in No 10 Downing Street but this time it wasn’t cakes it was Joe’s Ice Cream.
Rhodri Morgan, Ron Davies Alan Rogers and Neil Kinnock. Westminster 1988
I’ve made the trip to Westminster numerous times over the years. It started in 1987 with an invitation to join a concert party off to Parliament to provide some entertainment for the Welsh Labour Party MPs. That has become something of an annual event and led to many memorable nights of Karaoke, Curry and Penderyn Whiskey.
In Westminster Again with some of the Jacks and Mike Ruddock
In recent years I’ve been joined by my band the Jacks, singer Steve Balsamo even the Welsh Grand Slam winning coach Mike Ruddock. The event itself is a mixture of tunes old and new with contributions from the most unlikely sources.
I still remember the night Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, turned to me after we had just backed him on the old Wilson Pickett classic ‘Midnight Hour’ and said in that deep Scottish accent ‘I just love those old Welsh folk tunes!’
I never take these moments for granted and no matter who has joined us each time we travel back along the M4 in the dead of night pinching ourselves and wondering if that really happened!
Downing Street with Ed Thomas, YJB Films.
I’m not a regular guest at No 10 but this wasn’t the first time I had walked past that familiar black front door. The last time was back in 2016, during the David Cameron years. I know old people always say this…but that really was a very different world. At the time Barack Obama was US President, we were still members of the European Union and nobody gave Donald Trump a chance in the Presidential race against Hillary Clinton.
Every year the Prime Minister of the day invites people from all areas of Welsh National life to celebrate St David’s Day in Downing Street. In 2016 the invite came in the post. In 2025 it came via email. To be honest the email set off my ‘phishing’ radar but after a few phone calls it became clear that it was real.
The date was set Wednesday 26th February. Of course the best laid plans and all that. It came as no surprise when the email came to say that the Prime Minister needed to re-arrange because he had to go to Washington to meet President Trump. The new date was Monday 3rd March.
I arrived at the gates of Downing Street with my invite and passport in hand. I don’t think I’m giving away any state secrets but as you can imagine that was just the start of a whole series of security checks before I was allowed into the main Street itself.
Larry Lamb or as everyone called him …Mick!
I think it’s down to security, but I had no idea who else had been invited. The first face I recognised wasn’t Welsh at all. Larry Lamb, or Mick as everyone called him on the night, was not the only ‘Gavin and Stacey’ Star to be invited. It wasn’t long before I bumped into Mel Waters (Gwen) and Stefan Rhodri (Dave Coaches). The last time I had seen Stefan was on Christmas Eve in Marks and Spencers. Fair play, as we collected our Turkeys I asked him if he was in the Christmas Special. He said yes but soon changed the subject. You can imagine my surprise the next day when he came down the stairs!
The first thing you do on entering Downing Street is put all electronic equipment into storage. This is a social media free zone.
Alun Wynne Jones
On entering the main room at an event like this, full of people, the first thing you do is look for any familiar face. That wasn’t difficult. Literally standing head and shoulders above everyone was Alun Wynne Jones.
Ken ‘The Sheriff’ Owens
Running him a close second was Ken ‘The Sheriff’ Owens. It wasn’t long we were talking Welsh rugby and my musical “The Contender’ about the boxer Tommy Farr. Ken and his wife had been to see the show because they were friends of that other Carmarthen star Mike Doyle.
Uzo Iwobi from Race Council Wales’s was there dressed in national costume. The outfit was definitely inspired by her African roots but as Uzo said it made her look like a daffodil! It wasn’t long before I bumped into Carolyn Harris MP for Neath and Swansea East. I think that’s the first time we’ve met up since our Christmas charity record and it was great to hear the Prime Minister single Carolyn out for all her work and also pay tribute to how much he has enjoyed his visits to Swansea.
It was nice to catch up with Michael Sheen who covers so many areas of Welsh life these days. I think the oddest moment for me was when a lad I instantly recognised walked past. I shook his hand and told him how nice it was to see him before realising that it was in fact Matthew Horne (Gavin from Gavin and Stacey) and we had never met before in our lives!!!
As well as people from business, sport and entertainment there were representatives from the Welsh Food and Hospitality sector. Lots of head chefs had come together to make canapes promoting the best of Welsh produce.
And then I saw the unmistakable Joe’s Ice Cream tubs. Not only had Lucy from Joe’s brought a table full of tubs she also brought her usherette style tray. As we left we all stood to take some pictures outside that famous door. Joe’s Ice Cream, the very best of Wales indeed.