0:01

BBC Sounds Music Radio

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Podcasts Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne

0:06

and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast.

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Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight

0:11

tracks, book and luxury they'd want to

0:13

take with them if they were cast away to a desert

0:15

island. And for rights reasons,

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the music is shorter than the original

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broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

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Music

0:44

My cast away this week is Greg Jackson,

0:46

the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy.

0:49

In just seven years, it has become the UK's

0:52

second largest domestic energy provider with

0:54

over 5 million customers and is one

0:56

of Europe's leading investors in renewables.

1:00

The company shook up the established energy

1:02

market through innovative technology. Its

1:04

operating system, the enjoyably named

1:06

Kraken, is now used by suppliers,

1:09

including many rivals, around the world

1:11

and is estimated to be worth billions in

1:13

its own right.

1:14

But as well as being a CEO who understands

1:17

the global market, he's one who knows

1:19

how it feels to be scared to open your gas

1:21

bill. He grew up in a single-parent

1:23

family in Halifax where money was tight

1:26

and the supply was sometimes cut off after a final

1:28

demand went unpaid. He was

1:30

entrepreneurial from a young age. He tinkered

1:33

with tech and became so successful as

1:35

a bedroom coder that he left school

1:37

at 16 to work for a games manufacturer.

1:40

Later, he returned to education and studied

1:42

economics at Cambridge where he began honing

1:45

his business strategy. He says, I'm

1:47

not going to tell everyone they should be an entrepreneur

1:49

and go and do it, but what you shouldn't

1:51

do is sit there wishing for a different life.

1:54

Either do it or don't. Greg Jackson,

1:56

welcome to Desert Island Discs.

1:57

Thanks for having me. Greg

2:00

you are clearly someone with drive is

2:02

it a powerful motivator for you today

2:04

as much as it ever was? Yeah it is I don't

2:07

necessarily think drive is a good thing by the way it

2:09

enables you to do a lot but

2:11

I think it also means you're often very restless and certainly

2:14

for me it means I'm not very good at relaxing

2:16

not great at watching movies but I

2:19

wouldn't change a thing. How

2:20

and where do your best ideas

2:22

come to you I wonder

2:23

Greg? It's always when you're

2:25

getting your hands dirty so if I'm

2:28

with some of our engineers software engineers

2:30

and seeing what they're capable of and then realizing how you can

2:32

solve a problem elsewhere in the business. I think a lot

2:35

of people in companies and other organizations

2:37

will go away for an innovation session or sit there and trying to

2:40

think of ideas but of course you can't

2:42

think of ideas on demand not good ones.

2:45

Last February I was walking home it was 10

2:47

o'clock 10 30 night bitly cold and

2:49

I knew that in the energy crisis the early stages

2:51

of it then some of our customers will be scared to put their

2:54

heating on but I remembered a conversation

2:56

I'd had with a PhD engineer who said look it only

2:58

takes 40 watts to heat a human and

3:00

a gas bottle is 10 000 watts so

3:03

if we can get 40 watts into someone we can

3:05

keep them safe and warm. So I phoned

3:07

up our chief product officer and

3:10

it's 10 o'clock at night 10 30 and I said look can

3:12

we get 5 000 electric blankets and when

3:14

someone's speaking to our team and they're worried about

3:16

their health because they can't they're worried about turning their

3:18

heating on send them one we

3:20

didn't announce it. The last thing I wanted was kind

3:23

of people saying energy company says you can't turn heating

3:25

on but but actually it came

3:27

out on social media. It did after a

3:29

few months some of the customers were so happy

3:31

they posted social media I think we ended up

3:33

giving away 40 000 electric blankets to help people

3:36

our customers really matter to us and having

3:38

custodianship for that rather than just selling

3:40

electricity and gas I think that's kind of

3:43

such a source of the innovation.

3:45

Right it's time to get stuck into your first

3:47

disc Greg Jackson what are we going to hear?

3:49

When I was about 16 we'd

3:51

just finished GCSEs and with three mates

3:53

we went camping across North Yorkshire

3:56

we had very little money and tents

3:58

on our backs and camping beans in the bags and

4:01

we had a little radio, a little FM radio that could pick

4:03

up two radio stations almost all

4:05

the time at least one of them was playing. Yas and

4:07

the plastic population, the only way is up.

4:10

There are four 16 year olds who don't

4:12

really know what camping gear is, yomping

4:15

across, I don't know, a place like Ozmuthaly in

4:17

Pickering, and a very peaceful

4:19

countryside with that blaring out of the tiniest

4:22

radio you've ever seen. The

4:35

only way

4:39

is up, Yas and the

4:41

plastic population.

4:53

So

4:59

Greg, I want to go back to the beginning. Your dad Brian

5:01

was a surveyor in the army and you were born

5:04

on a base near Hanover, Germany, 1971.

5:06

What do you remember about your early years there?

5:08

My first language was German.

5:10

I think my mum at the time was very keen that we

5:13

integrate. So did you, you didn't live

5:15

on the base then? No, I think she actually had us live

5:17

in the town and she spoke fluent

5:19

German and it was my first language. I still remember being

5:22

chased around the house with mum shouting, you

5:24

know, schnell, schnell. So, you

5:27

know, there was that sort of early exposure, but

5:29

sadly I've lost on with German now.

5:30

So your mum and dad both

5:32

came from Halifax?

5:33

Yeah, look, I mean, they were both super bronic

5:35

people, but because of the social structure at

5:37

the time, they both left school at 16. I think they

5:40

both had A's at O level or something

5:42

like that.

5:42

They should have gone on to university, but didn't

5:44

have the opportunity.

5:45

It would be more likely today that that would

5:47

be what happened. And so I think they were quite cosmopolitan,

5:50

but came back to the UK when I was about three

5:52

years old. So it is a very brief

5:55

period of my life. Your

5:56

dad left the army and the family came back to Halifax.

5:58

How did they adjust to be?

5:59

back in the UK. I'd found

6:02

a job in construction working

6:04

on surveying road building projects.

6:06

I mean typically those projects

6:08

are wherever they are and so we didn't

6:10

see much.

6:11

And it wasn't long after they came back that

6:13

your mum and dad told you that they were going to get a divorce.

6:16

Do you remember the moment they told you?

6:18

Yeah I do. I was I think

6:20

I was seven or eight years old and

6:23

they sent me on the washing machine which is kind of a super

6:27

high level I guess for parents and told

6:29

me yeah that dad

6:31

would be leaving and I remember it

6:34

really hit me. I think it's about that age

6:36

when a boy sometimes

6:38

transfers his closest parental

6:41

imprint from mother to father and I think it's around

6:43

that time so for me personally

6:45

it hit me hard. I

6:46

could see that you feel the emotion of it now looking

6:49

back.

6:49

Not long afterwards mum took me

6:51

to a sort of child psychologist

6:54

or therapist and we've called it these days provided

6:56

by a local council and it

6:59

was transformative actually. One or two sessions made

7:01

a world of difference and probably gave me

7:03

the confidence and everything that has

7:06

helped me be who I am and I'm really grateful

7:08

for that.

7:08

I think we better have some more music Greg your second

7:11

choice today what have you gone for and

7:12

why? This is one of the first records I ever

7:14

bought. There's a small record shop in Halifax

7:17

and we used to get the bus home from school so

7:20

I could drop by and flick through. At

7:22

the time I had a babysit whose boyfriend

7:24

had a motorbike and they were both into heavy metal and

7:27

so I had this kind of early indoctrination.

7:29

The song is Run to the Hills by Iod Madon

7:32

laden with meaning and

7:35

also with the most powerful optimistic

7:37

driving. Run

7:51

to the hills

7:55

Run for your life I

8:02

am maiden

8:05

and we're

8:10

on to the hills. Greg

8:12

Jackson did life change for you after

8:15

your dad left the family home.

8:16

I don't think I noticed it in that way. It was interesting

8:19

when I was at school once and someone told me about their dad telling him off. It

8:21

was like, what, your dad told you off? It

8:23

didn't feel like, you know, I almost

8:25

didn't feel like something I missed. And then mum

8:27

was incredible, you know. I think

8:30

when they first got divorced, she had no job. She started

8:32

working in a pub in the evening. She studied by

8:35

day to get a degree. She had three kids,

8:37

you know, I was about eight, my sister was about seven and my

8:40

youngest brother was a baby. I think she's

8:42

about four for eight. She'd get on the bus

8:44

to get in the central high facts, come back

8:47

carrying

8:48

all the week shopping and carrier bags. We

8:50

had so much freedom. Mum's way of making

8:53

it all work was to devolve responsibility

8:55

and freedom to us as kids. I was probably about 10

8:57

or 11 years old when she said, right, there's a thing called family

8:59

allowance. I get a few quid off the government every week.

9:02

I'm supposed to spend it on clothes and food for you. So from now

9:04

on, I'm going to give it straight to you and you can buy your own

9:06

clothes and things like that. Having that freedom early

9:08

and for example, I chose not to buy clothes. I bought

9:11

little bits of electronics and tinkered.

9:14

So I think I truly relish the freedom

9:16

and the creativity that we had as kids.

9:18

How did she manage all

9:20

of those financial emotional pressures

9:22

that she must have been under and were you

9:24

aware of how much she was dealing

9:27

with you paint a picture of her on the bus with

9:29

a week's shopping at not even five foot tall

9:31

and three kids. I mean, you can

9:33

see it.

9:33

She was really emotionally open.

9:36

But I mean, most of the time she wasn't struggling. She was working

9:38

with I mean, not only did she do a part time job

9:41

and study and bring up three kids and anyone's

9:43

bringing kids as part of a couple knows how

9:45

hard it never mind doing on their own never

9:47

mind in that situation. But she also spent,

9:50

you know, her spare time, I don't know

9:52

where that came from campaigning, you know, for the

9:54

stuff she believed in, she helps women's refuges. She

9:56

was part of the CND movement. She used to

9:58

go marching.

11:59

shipping forecast read by Eugene

12:02

Fraser, the grandmother, Greg Jackson.

12:04

I know you didn't see much of your father when you were growing up,

12:07

but the two of you did reconnect later. How

12:09

did it happen and what's your relationship like today?

12:11

I think he's incredibly

12:14

smart and funny and he's

12:17

a big fan of rugby league of

12:19

Halifax. And also by the way, of

12:21

Halifax Town Football Club. And both

12:23

of them end up coming to Wembley sometimes and he's like living

12:26

in London. He always comes and stays and it's

12:28

so nice to have him there and share his passion

12:30

for

12:31

blue and white.

12:32

My dad and I look the same. Like if you look at a photo of my

12:34

dad when he was young, he looked like me. I

12:36

therefore know what I'm going to look like when I'm older. It

12:38

kind of gets you by the heart.

12:40

So at school you did well in your exams,

12:43

but you decided to leave at 16 as soon as you'd

12:45

finished your old levels. Why did you

12:47

want to do that and how did your mum react?

12:50

I think the kind of

12:51

freedom responsibility that mum had given us meant

12:54

that there wasn't really any discussion. There

12:56

wasn't really, I don't remember any expectations

12:59

that I was trying to fulfil by staying

13:01

in education. I was with that generation

13:03

of bedroom programmers that learnt to code

13:06

on a single-air spectrum and

13:08

you could feel that was a moment in time and that

13:11

really appealed. So I think it started probably a bit

13:13

younger than that. I mean I remember about the age of seven or

13:15

eight getting those electronics kits

13:17

that you get for kids, I've got one for Christmas I think, where

13:19

you make lights and buzzers and things. And

13:21

I remember probably about that age actually, taking

13:24

the wall clock off the wall and

13:26

then wiring it into a

13:28

tape recorder to create a

13:30

music alarm clock. Now it was 240 volts

13:32

and that was when I got my

13:35

first bad shock. So I was

13:37

learning that stuff quite early and when we moved

13:39

to Saltburn, there was an electronics

13:41

shop there with this lovely guy that

13:44

ran it. I used to go in and say look can

13:46

I buy a couple of transistors and some capacitors and resistors

13:48

or whatever. And he'd start talking

13:50

to me about more advanced circuits

13:52

and how different microchips would

13:54

work and point me at books

13:56

that I could learn from. And it was always

13:59

that joy of building. solving problems

14:01

see law school and then became a freelance

14:03

code is a video games he first game

14:06

didn't go down to well though by know

14:08

if you look to the software guys elegant

14:11

great code coding lovely air

14:13

but the game is not from supplies and stuff

14:16

as the what was it cause it was professional wrestling

14:18

simulator and the people

14:21

as want your for said milk in the publisher and

14:23

i was gutted assume was at the months of work

14:25

and was not get paid anything and think

14:28

what that's haunt me was this incredible lesson that

14:30

it doesn't matter what how good you for your work

14:32

is what matters is is it more

14:34

customers want and my credit

14:36

there was something cousins

14:39

wouldn't want to the ultimately your game is gonna

14:41

be some supplies to the matter what recording is nothing

14:44

that lesson stuck we may sovereign technology

14:46

business since and i'm always thinking about

14:48

what more is it with a for customers rather

14:50

more is it reading for self

14:52

survived this point in life i think your mom

14:54

it got a job as a sociology lecturer

14:56

at a set of education college and in red cat

14:58

and need to family to sell densities

15:00

nearby it's he said in halifax

15:02

so where where you live in

15:04

my grandparents a controlling sustain

15:06

their house or you

15:07

around and around in there at sixteen as classic

15:09

responsibilities and it for sixteen year old

15:11

looking us yourself

15:13

up to conceal a dot a so

15:15

perfectly norman united com very

15:17

basic males churning of freedom

15:20

testimonies it grants your

15:22

first choice today what's next in

15:24

line

15:24

while i was living with susan

15:26

during the am video games you'd

15:28

see played a concert around high park and

15:32

i've never been so big music event

15:34

before you tube is tiny

15:36

door and assistance but the music was

15:39

so powerful you to something

15:41

that is or is will turn to my

15:43

place was have email and i'm is

15:45

hard to track the am i saw him

15:47

family maybe

15:49

residents of it with me sad desire to keep

15:51

on making

16:00

I still haven't found

16:02

what I'm looking for.

16:26

So

16:29

Greg Jackson, when you were 17 you decided to

16:31

return to education and take your A-levels

16:33

at a local college. You then got a place

16:36

at Cambridge University to read economics.

16:38

What made you decide to go back to school?

16:40

After

16:42

discovering that it was possible to spend

16:44

several months working and not get paid for it, I

16:46

thought I want to make sure I've got fallback plans.

16:49

And I did an economics A-level and I

16:51

just fell in love with the subject. It's not about

16:53

money, it's about people and resources. I

16:56

found it absolutely inspiring because our

16:58

entire lives are governed by, you know, do we

17:00

have access to the resources we need or that we want? And

17:02

how do we make more of those resources without trashing

17:05

the natural resource of the planet?

17:06

So if you went to Cambridge to study

17:08

economics and it was there that you met James

17:10

Edison who now works alongside you at Octopus.

17:13

The two of you developed your first tech project together.

17:16

What was it?

17:17

James and I were on the sort of student council,

17:19

the version of the Student Union there. We

17:22

organized events and we organized one very

17:24

big event and we

17:26

decided to use technology to the

17:28

security. We did infrared barcodes

17:30

back in 1992. So it

17:33

was like a club night then or a ball or

17:35

something. What kind of event was it? A bit of everything.

17:37

You know, we had live bands, we

17:39

had hypnotists, we had people

17:41

dressing up in sumo suits, we had

17:44

Velcro, you know, barfly jumping

17:46

where you put Velcro on the wall and spring into

17:48

it. It starts at 6pm,

17:50

ends at 6am. It was kind of our

17:52

first tech project. It was also our first kind of

17:55

business venture. After

17:57

university you joined Procter & Gamble's

17:59

graduate scheme. working in marketing

18:01

but you left there after four years, why

18:03

didn't you want to stay?

18:04

I could feel that I was getting more

18:06

and more tempted to stay on a corporate conveyor belt and

18:09

life would be comfortable and easy but I

18:12

wanted to make more decisions, I wanted stuff I did

18:14

to matter, not to feel like a small cog

18:16

in a massive machine and so I just

18:19

had to leave.

18:20

You got a job as commercial director

18:22

for a company called Richmond Mirrors, which

18:24

funnily enough made mirrors, and after a couple

18:27

of months the owners promoted you to managing director

18:29

and that was your chance to run something, I think

18:32

you're about 27 then, so pretty young

18:34

to be given that responsibility, can you remember

18:36

how it felt?

18:36

When I took it on, I don't know, we had 60 or 70

18:39

staff and a half a million pound overdraft

18:41

and a half a million pound overdraft limit and every month

18:43

to begin with was just about making sure that

18:45

we could look after the team financially

18:48

and then find what was it that would break

18:51

us through. So we had a couple of

18:53

Paris-Négros catalogue and they sold OK. So

18:55

these are mirrors? Mirrors, yeah. But

18:58

I opened the catalogue and noticed that of course

19:00

when you look at a picture of a mirror you can't see the frames, it's

19:02

tiny. What you see is just all the mirrors

19:04

look the same. So we designed a mirror with really

19:07

fat frames which meant in the August castle you could

19:09

see the design and it

19:11

sounds like hotcakes. Kind

19:13

of like small detail in a way transformed

19:16

the business and I remember I used

19:18

to go to Pine and everyone there would be a lawyer

19:20

in a management consultant and I was like I manufacture mirrors.

19:23

But I loved it. I loved the autonomy, the freedom

19:25

and the creativity we had. It's real. You

19:27

know you could go into the factory floor, operate the machines,

19:30

talk to the team and let's drive a forklift truck. It

19:32

was fantastic.

19:33

I think we'd better have some more music Greg.

19:35

This is your fifth choice today. What's

19:37

it going to be? What are you taking to the

19:39

island next and why? When I was at university

19:41

we were organising these events. We had

19:44

attractions like the Velcro suits

19:47

but also fantastic music that would

19:49

get everyone up and dancing. And

19:51

I remember time again dancing to Dizzy

19:54

by Vic Reeves and the Wunderstaff. It was

19:57

just such a fun time. All of you mates.

19:59

Wendy

20:31

Hit me and the wonder stuff with

20:33

busy Greg Jackson, the mirror

20:35

company was sold in the year 2000 and

20:38

you walked away back then with a six figure some

20:40

then in 2003 you co founded a tech

20:42

business that built software and databases

20:45

for clients now by 2011 you

20:47

were looking for a new challenge and you found one in the form

20:49

of the energy market. Why energy specifically?

20:52

Energy stood out, you know globally.

20:55

It's a two trillion dollar sector and yet it was running on

20:57

software. It's two or three decades old and

20:59

when I thought about it's not hang on. That's why services

21:01

so bad because you have computers

21:04

as no because I was sitting in front of six different systems

21:06

trying to help a customer. You've got brilliant

21:08

people held back by technology and then we

21:11

pay too much for it back then. You

21:13

know, there are a lot of stories about energy costs, which of course

21:15

a dwarf by the current crisis, but

21:17

you could see that the roots of cutting costs

21:19

was going to be innovation. You

21:22

just had a personal

21:22

connection for you as well. You know,

21:24

having grown up in a house where the

21:27

relationship with basic service

21:29

providers was stressful and fraught

21:31

and a little bit unpredictable.

21:33

I just remembered that cutting

21:35

off moment and the phenomenal

21:37

stress of final demands and

21:40

it really understanding the extent to which if

21:42

you're selling watches, it's fine to

21:44

try and make expensive products. But if

21:46

you're saying something everyone needs like energy,

21:49

we've got

21:50

a moral imperative to try and drive the cost

21:52

down and that we could see that technology could do

21:54

that.

21:55

But I think it was a night in the pub that really

21:57

clinched it for you. Tell me about it.

23:54

Count

24:00

your money when you sit at the table. There'll

24:02

be time enough for counting when the dealing's done. It's

24:04

not really about money. It's

24:07

really about, while we're living our lives, we

24:09

can't declare success or failure. That

24:11

all comes at the end.

24:12

Is that a motto that you live by?

24:15

Yeah, it is. And when people say, look, you've been successful,

24:17

it's like, I don't know if we have yet. We've

24:19

had lots of successes, but a bit like

24:22

the gambler. During the game of poker, they'll play

24:24

many hands, they'll win some and they'll lose some. They

24:26

don't know till the game's over. And I think, yeah,

24:28

we've got to be humble all the time and recognize

24:31

that we've got to just keep on working

24:33

unbelievably hard, rather than

24:35

at any point getting comfortable.

24:38

And this face lost all expression

24:41

that if you're going to play the game,

24:43

boy, you've got to learn to play

24:45

it right. You've got to know

24:47

when to hold up. Know

24:50

when to hold up.

24:52

Know when to walk away. Know

24:55

when to run. You never

24:58

count your own. You're

25:00

sitting at the table. There'll

25:03

be time enough to count

25:06

when the deal is done.

25:11

Kenny Rogers and the gambler. Fred

25:13

Jackson, when you started the business, you were taking

25:15

on a sector that had been dominated by what

25:17

were then called the Big Six energy firms. And

25:19

you became known as something of a disruptor. How

25:22

do you feel about that term?

25:24

You're wincing. I

25:27

don't like the term, but really it's that

25:30

challenge. It says, look, energy has been a sector

25:32

for 150 years. Most of the way that

25:35

it's been thought about has not really changed dramatically

25:37

in that time. And yet, by the way, the energy sector is going to

25:39

change more over the next 10 or 15 years than over the

25:41

last 100, because we've got to

25:44

increasingly use renewable energy

25:46

rather than fossil fuels. Cars will go

25:48

electric not because of legislation, but because

25:50

electric cars are better, and they just then keep getting cheaper.

25:53

Heating will go electric because it's going to keep

25:55

getting cheaper and will get better. All

25:57

of that is changing.

26:00

that we can bring. Now is that disruption?

26:03

I don't know, it's improvement, it's an upgrade.

26:05

Last year you took over bulb energy

26:07

which had collapsed as a result of the energy crisis

26:09

and you're in the process of buying Shell's household

26:12

energy business in the UK and in Germany. Isn't

26:14

there a danger that octopus energy will get

26:17

too big and that the customer service you pride yourself

26:19

on will start to suffer?

26:21

Actually I think it's easier to provide better services

26:23

as we get bigger because if you

26:25

take a problem only one customer had when we were small, we might never

26:27

have a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand with it so

26:30

we can create better solutions in the technology

26:33

to remove those problems. We can learn

26:35

more and we can reapply learnings across the world.

26:37

And of course you've been growing the business

26:40

alongside bringing up your family. You've

26:42

got two boys, Lucas is 16

26:44

I think and Zach is 6 and you

26:47

don't live with their mum but they do stay with

26:49

you a couple of nights at a week

26:51

and alternate weekends. How

26:54

do you juggle the competing demands of work

26:56

and family? I mean you're running an international business

26:58

now.

26:58

Travel means that it's much harder

27:01

now than actually it was even just working hard

27:03

before and so because

27:05

of this the importance of particularly the Wednesday night

27:07

with the boys. I've done things like flying

27:09

to Japan on a Sunday night. I

27:11

get to Tokyo Monday morning, meetings there, meetings

27:14

in Yokohama Monday afternoon, dinner in Tokyo

27:16

Monday evening and then plane overnight

27:18

to Sydney, meetings in Sydney

27:21

on Tuesday morning and then to Melbourne,

27:23

meetings in Melbourne Tuesday evening and back on

27:25

plane to get to the UK in time for

27:27

school pickup on a Wednesday and that

27:30

sort of thing is quite hard. I

27:32

talk to the boys about it, I try to be present

27:35

but if something happens then I take

27:37

a phone call. That phone is what enables me to

27:39

be here and I'll get rid of it as quick as I

27:41

can. I'm not massively

27:44

into cooking, I'm not a very good cook but I think for the

27:46

boys it kind of shows love. I was cooking

27:48

spaghetti and fish fingers, I mean

27:50

a quality meal. Italian

27:54

classic. Getting a phone call, cradling a phone because

27:57

my headset had fallen out and then

30:00

It's easy to say it's not about the money For

30:03

people who've got no money. So money's really important.

30:05

I think I know that person from childhood You

30:08

know for me all my money's tied up in the company.

30:10

It's coming successful

30:11

then

30:12

I'm very well off

30:14

And how do you answer those who think that

30:16

this is all very shrewd PR? I

30:18

mean however laudable your intentions your

30:20

company is primarily concerned with making money

30:23

Yeah, look, I mean first of all, I'm not ashamed that we

30:26

will have to make money after all Investors

30:29

have put an awful lot of money in but you know the

30:32

real challenge is the system needs

30:34

completely overhauling And

30:36

if we can use the investment we've received

30:38

in conversations like this to talk about

30:41

a cheaper system Then there's room to

30:43

slash prices and you

30:45

know for companies to make a little bit of profit Are you optimistic

30:48

about what the future holds? I'm really optimistic

30:50

about energy I know that all the solutions

30:53

are there for a cheaper cleaner energy system The

30:55

combination of wind and solar electric

30:57

cars long-distance cables connecting Continents

31:01

so we can ship lectures in where it's sunny to where it's not

31:03

for where it's windy The UK could be a clean

31:05

energy powerhouse because it's windy here a lot.

31:08

We've got fantastic wind We don't

31:10

need to be at the mercy of a

31:12

global fossil fuel sector

31:14

You've got a new challenge ahead Greg.

31:16

You're off to the desert island in a minute. How will

31:18

you approach life

31:19

there? People pay a fortune to go

31:21

on sunny beach holiday true and I've

31:24

got one to myself That's amazing. So

31:26

first of all, I'm gonna make sure I enjoy it, but

31:29

I'll be restless So I'm gonna want to spend

31:31

as much of the time as I can doing two things

31:33

I think one is build stuff to make

31:35

the island ever more enjoyable Maybe build

31:38

a surfboard like let's make the most of the thing

31:40

All right, but also trying to build stuff

31:42

to leave the island because I'm gonna love it I've

31:44

got a try to go back

31:46

to attempt escape quite early then I don't

31:48

want to call escape because I

31:51

want to make sure I'm making the most of this but

31:53

I would love the opportunity to Explore

31:56

the places too. I might quite like this. I might

31:58

want to come back as well. Okay,

31:59

you just want the opportunity Yeah, excellent.

32:01

Well one more track before we send you to your

32:03

island final choice today. What's it gonna be?

32:05

It's Rockaway Beach by Motorhead,

32:08

right? And this is covering Ramones. Yeah,

32:11

it's covering Ramones and Lemmy's gravelly

32:14

voice it's so human. This is

32:16

a song about enjoying yourself on the

32:18

beach and whilst

32:20

I'm working on Making the

32:22

beach better and indeed perhaps finding ways to

32:25

explore. I got this banging I

32:32

I

32:56

A Final

33:00

track for you then Greg Jackson it is time

33:02

to send you away to the island I'm giving

33:04

you the books to take with you the Bible the

33:06

complete works of Shakespeare. You can take another

33:09

book of your choice

33:09

What are you gonna go for? I'm gonna take a book

33:11

called the Apollo guidance computer

33:14

manual it's been by the side of my bed on

33:16

and off for years now and I

33:19

turned to it and just randomly

33:21

open pages now it's basically about

33:24

the computers that form the guidance

33:26

system that took men's the moon

33:28

in 1969 but the reality is it's

33:31

a story of unbelievable

33:33

human ingenuity

33:35

It's yours. You can also have a luxury

33:37

item to make life more enjoyable or

33:39

for sensory stimulation on the island What

33:41

have you gone for? I'm gonna take a pinball machine.

33:43

It's this combination of the physics

33:46

and the electronics and Actually

33:48

pinballs got quite deep gameplay with a

33:50

storyline and so the one

33:52

I want to take is one called monster bash and And

33:56

it's a whole series of fantastic rocky

33:58

tracks that you unlock by achieving

34:01

certain goals with the pinballs. It's

34:03

going to be solar powered and it's going to be on full volume because

34:05

there's no one there to complain.

34:06

Monster bash it is, it's yours. And

34:09

finally which one truck of the eight that you've

34:11

shared with us today would you save from the waves

34:13

first?

34:14

One day like this because every time I listen

34:16

to it I'll be pitching

34:18

the boys.

34:19

Greg Jackson thank you very much for letting us hear

34:22

your desert island discs.

34:47

Hello I hope you enjoyed my conversation

34:49

with Greg. We'll leave him playing very loud

34:52

pinball on the beach I think. We've cast

34:54

away many people from the business world including

34:56

Tom Ilube, Deborah Meaden, Joe Fairley

34:59

and John Cordwell. You can find these

35:01

episodes in our Desert Island Discs program

35:03

archive and through BBC sounds. The

35:06

studio manager for today's program was Sue Mayo

35:08

and the producer was Paula McGinley. Next

35:11

time my guest will be the film studio executive

35:13

Dame Donna Langley. I do hope

35:16

you'll join us.

35:30

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