SPEAKER_00 0:00

In Conversation Live returns to Kew Gardens this summer from the 9th to the 11th of July for three days of live podcasts with intimate, inspiring conversations, and no doubt some memorable summer experiences. With an eclectic lineup of celebrity guests, expert storytellers, broadcasters, historians, and nature lovers, the podcast will come to life on stage against the stunning backdrop of Kew Gardens. Joining me to look ahead to their connected to nature session, Bird Song and Brushstrokes, on Friday, the 10th of July, is Husband and Wife Joe, Jim Moyer and Nancy Sorrel. And I'm delighted to welcome you both. Hello, how are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Hello, we're very well, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

We're great, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Excellent. We were we were just chatting before uh off mic, weren't we? About we're looking forward to some good weather this weekend, which means getting outside.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Absolutely. Well, we uh we're outside all the time, and we've just actually come in from being outside.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Yeah, we've just come back from birdwatching, and it was amazing because we we saw the nightingale and heard its beautiful song, and I get very excited at that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yeah, wow, it was brilliant, actually. We were just uh it's quite near where we live. We're very lucky because we've got some nice uh heathland near us. The nightingales appeared about about four weeks ago. Yes, and uh so we we were just on our wandering around there looking, and uh and there it was like presented itself perfectly on a branch right in front of us.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

It was as we were sort of leaving, and there it was, it's just so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Have you ever heard a nightingale?

SPEAKER_00 1:31

I have, and it's it's a very noticeable and beautiful thing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Well, it's I think people probably presume that the singer's sweet melody, but it's it's it's more like um it's like a robot. Yes, it's a collection of words and whistles and one and a ray gun.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

I was gonna try and attempt it then.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

I I don't think you could. Do people try and Nancy's actually very good at imitating birds, but I'm not sure about that one, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Maybe that's something which you could touch on uh when when you get to to Q Gardens. Um there's so much to get through. Um I just wanted to cover one thing off, if you if you don't mind, and I'm sure you get asked this all the time, but you've both got incredible um careers behind you for for different things other than bird watching, but now as of the art and the bird watching and the and the programs that come with that. But Jim, I guess uh are there still a lot of people who still see you as as Vic Reeves and can't, you know, have trouble making that jump to Jim Moyer?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Well um, I think so, yeah. I think people just presume that Vic Reeves is a real person, but it was just a character that I invented, and um I did my time doing that and it was fun. And uh, but I just I was a painter before I did Vic Reeves and and acting in various names and uh whatnot, but it was always painting for me, and um I just thought that's what I want to do. I just want to paint, and so I do it every day. I paint in the morning and go bird watching in the afternoon. Well, we both do, but uh it's a super day old state. Oh, look, it's Vic Reeves there, or quite often didn't you used to be it's the classic one, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Now, what can people expect from uh from your talk? Bird song and brush jokes. It's that fabulous setting at Kew Gardens, and people bring picnics and they all sit out. What can people expect from you?

SPEAKER_02 3:18

They are they're gonna love it. I mean, it's gonna we'll be obviously well, we'll be talking about what we love doing, which is bird watching, of course.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

We're like um, yeah, we are kind of like clockwork um creations that you know someone asks us a question and we just go off.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

We go off for about a long, a long time.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Who knows where it's gonna end up, but it's gonna be probably because the whole event thing is about the the wild about wildlife, so it'll be about our adventures bird watching, and yeah, and there's not too many adventures painting, but we can see what we can get out of it.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Well, so where does the inspiration come from? You know, is the artist inspired by by the birds, or is the does a bird inspire the art? You know, which way around is it? How does it work?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

I think it's probably both ways. You know, I always say that you know you paint what you know and what um excites you and inspires you, and for me it's birds, so I I don't just only do birds, but um uh but birds are the inspiration. That's what we do, you know. So it's a we live a great life. I paint in the morning and we go out and bird watch.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

And also, Jim, I mean, when we're birdwatching, and if we see you know a particular bird, Jim will come back and and draw it. I mean, today we've we've posted what we saw, the nightingale, and then Jim's got a painting of the nightingale on as well. It's it's a win-win.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

It's it sounds like you've got an idyllic life, the two of you.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Do you know what? I absolut I do say this, you know, you've got to live each day like in in in a good way, and I would say that this is the best time ever. It is. You know, it really is though, because I you know, I think the fact that we can just do that, just you know, go leave the house and not go very far to see what's right in front of you, which is birds and wild, you know, everything in front of you, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah. I mean, a lot of people who take up gardening or bird watching or art or any sort of hobby like that, they often say that there is a benefit to their mental health. And you've both come from from pretty intense careers and backgrounds in in television, haven't you? Are you are you both karma now? Are are you different to how you used to be because of the bird watching?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, probably. I mean, it's t doing TV. I mean, you don't work particularly hard, but you do when you do, it's intense. And uh and it is kind of a very intense sort of you know you could be in a studio for sort of eight, nine hours at a time.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Do you know what I mean? So you might not get a chance to go out bird watching when you're doing that. But now we've got we can do it, you know, so it's great, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Who's the best?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

I um I'm la I'm loving life.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, well, good good for you. Who's the best spotter out of the two of you? Because you know, you've just mentioned that you spotted the nightingale, which is fantastic. But uh are you competitive when you're you're out spotting?

SPEAKER_02 6:09

No, no. I mean, I I help Jim because you know he's Jim's deaf in his left ear, so I I am Jim's hearing it per se, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

So there's what's listen, I can hear a garden warbler, where's it coming from?

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Yeah, so Jim Joe, Jim would just say, Where you know, I I know where the bird sound is, but Jim would just say, Oh, where's that coming from? And I'll just it's over there, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Because I I live my life in mono, the stereo's all gone, so I don't know where any sound's coming from.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

But we're not competitive in that way. But I must admit though, like the other week we got up, we got to a place at 5 30 in the morning. Uh, because I really like doing that, getting up really early with the birds, and I saw the nightingale. Oh my word, it was the best feeling ever. And I must admit I did see it before Jim, and I did give myself a tick.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yeah, you do do. Nancy does actually look at I saw it first.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

So there is a bit of competition then.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Who's keeping score?

SPEAKER_02 7:01

I am a little bit like that, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I don't think that's a bad thing, is it? No, not not at all.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Not because I mean in so many occasions when when you know married couples decide to do something together, there's always a little bit of tension, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Yeah, but we've always done something.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

We've always done, yeah, we've always been together, we've always done that. But um, there's that there's quite a lot of competition within the birding world, I think. You know, I've seen birds, you know, gone and seen an osprey and the bloke staying. He says, I was the one who spotted it first.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Is that the equivalent of my fish was this big sort of thing?

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah, well it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Yeah, but you know, it's fine. A bit of healthy competition.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Healthy competition is is always good. Uh, and I'm sure that you're uh the the two of you on stage uh talking about bird song and brush strokes is going to be more uh of this coming out as well, and people get the chance to ask questions, don't they? So um what about being starstruck by birds? Is there anything on your list? You must have a list of birds that you want to see or that and you've recently ticked off. Is there something that has really you know excited you? I mean, we know about the nightingale, obviously, but is there anything on your wish list?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Well we've seen a lot. We've seen there's got to be something when I suppose when we saw we saw puffins from a distance. Oh, here's one though we called an egg the eagle was amazing. Quite near us at Elmley. Um there uh you quite often see a long-eared owl, and you always know where it is because there's a huge amount of people with cameras facing it, and we yeah, and I always say it's like it's it's a like a rock star on at the O2, but it's got no idea that it is we always say that owls and birds in general they don't realise how famous they are, really, because so many people are there to see certain birds, but you know but we get we get excited on a daily basis. We're looking at bearded tits the other day.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

That was exciting, but and that that's not you, Jim. You never lose the comedy, do you?

SPEAKER_00 9:06

So talking of comedy um talking of uh of comedy, I mean uh you can't spend so much time together doing something like the bird wash uh watching, and and you've already mentioned the sort of competitive nature, but some there must be things out there that make you chuckle.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Well, you do. I suppose if you're looking for any a comedy moment, we were when we were filming our show Painting Birds with Jim and Nancy Moyer, we were on our way, I think, to Rockabille Island. Oh, yeah, east of Ireland. Yeah, and um well you say what happened.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Yeah, well, so Jim, just before we got onto the boat to go over to Rockabille Island, which is amazing, Jim got pooped on by was it a Gillymar?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah, Jim got pooped on, and I thought it was hilarious because until you got to the Rockabelle Island, you've got pooped on about a hundred times.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

But I've actually I've actually been pooped on by various animals. I was I was doing a documentary in Costa Rica once and I got pooped on by a squirrel monkey. Yeah, you did. Who actually uh they what they do is they actually I mean it's not if you're talking about the quality of poo, it's not bad because they just eat figs and berries and things, so it's not really horrendous.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

When it gets thrown at you quite you know hard, you know, from the squirrel monkey. It's I remember you came back and you did reek a bit. Well, yeah, you know, I said and you left your boots, you said I can't have these boots anymore because they they were bad, they couldn't be used anymore.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Is it is it isn't it supposed to be um lucky if you if you get pooped on the bottom? No, but is it not?

SPEAKER_01 10:41

I didn't find any like when I I had a taste of squirrel monkey poo hanging off me specks. No, but um I got maybe it has brought good luck.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

And Nancy, you mentioned it was a Gilliamot as well, which I find fascinating because you identify the bird. I it I mean you could suggest there's a hierarchy of birds which which ought to, you know, be dropping things on you.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Well, that's it was when you're at sea and there's a lot of say um Bass Rock, which is just off um North Berwick, and there was thousands of gannets.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yeah, um I was thinking I it absolutely reeked, but you forgot about that smell after a while.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Yeah, but it was it was raining down.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

I tell you what, that is the most fascinating thing. I love gannets as well. That was you could get up cl really up close to them as well. And watching it dive into this amazing, incredible.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Sensing so much excitement and enthusiasm in your voices for for this thing that you love doing so much.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Absolutely. Well, Jim will say, because you'll say, Let's go here tomorrow, because there's going to be a certain bird. It could be a rare bird, and then yeah, let's do it. And then we're up and we're off to find that bird. But I must admit, I'm not a bird watcher where I'd sit there for five hours until it appears.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

No, you like to move on.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

I like to see the bird, get it, and it's and even say whether I think it's very cute, which I tend to say all birds are in my eyes. Because uh, and then I've seen it, I'll take videos of it.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

If you want to hear more uh about the bird watching exploits of Jim and Nancy, then you need to buy a ticket for their session. Bird Song and Brushstrokes, part of In Conversation Live at Q Gardens. Uh, the whole series runs from the 9th, the 11th, a whole range uh of people there. They will be there on Friday, the 10th of July, and the website you need to go to is InconversationLive.co.uk. Um, question to the two of you Do you both want the same thing for the audience to take away from this event? What do you want them to get out of it?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Well, um, probably our dynamic enthusiasm for everything that comes across in bucket loads.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

I actually think they'll leave wanting to bird watch because when we had our the painting burrs with Jim and Nancy Moyer, we went bird watching the next day and there was this couple, and they saw us, well, they couldn't believe it because they just watched the show and then they said, We are doing this because we just saw you bird watching, and it meant so much, you know. Because that we if you can get people if people go out and bird watch, it's fantastic, and also you get lots of lovely exercise as well. You can walk for about four or five miles, so that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Absolutely. Uh Jim, we we should obviously talk about um the art as well, because as you mentioned, you you've been an artist for a very long time and have uh you know exhibited at some really top uh venues, including Satchi Gallery, the Royal Academy. Um for anybody who hasn't seen your art, I recommend that they go and have a look at your website. Is it absolutely incredible? Um, is there or are there things that you yet want to paint or or styles that you want to experiment with?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Well, I'm glad you said styles, because yeah, I've been accused of varying styles in the past. And I I but uh, you know, I suppose it's like what you know, people have different moods. And um I'm not saying I ever have a bad mood, but I might have more of a comedy mood. So I uh that would lend me do a comedy or comedy painting. But uh, you know, I I think it's um I think that another thing that people should try, because people say, Oh, I can't paint, but everyone can paint. It doesn't matter whether it's a uh an accurate depiction of something, you can you can have fun with it, even just so I like putting um watercolours down. I used to be afraid of watercolours, and then I started doing it, and then it became my kind of main medium.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

And what is it we say, don't be afraid, just go for it.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

The guardian referred to you, didn't they, as the the warhole of bird painting? That's quite so. What's next for the two of you, apart from obviously the 10th of July at Kew Gardens? What else is going to and your bird watching and your walks out and your painting? What else is keeping you busy?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Bird watching. I said to Nancy last night, have we uh is because I think bird our bird watching is more than a hobby. I I said, I think our our hobby is probably watching TV.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Yeah, we were saying Jim said to me, What's your your hobby? And I said, bird watching, and then Jim said, and TV.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yeah, it's not bad, is it?

SPEAKER_01 15:19

I don't know what we're gonna do. We're still hoping that we can do some more TV shows, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

And we've we've done little bits for the one show that we really enjoy as well. It's really nice to do that. Yeah, we just love it. Things come in, and you know, we we're happy to as long as it's if it's bird related, we're there.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

That's not not a bad that's not a bad job, is it, in anybody's book. Lots of information on the website in conversationlive.co.uk. The date for your diary, if you want to catch up with Jim and Nancy, is Friday, the 10th of July. Uh, but they do run from the 9th to the 11th. There's lots of people there. Julia Bradbury is going to be there, Matt Baker's going to be there, Professor Tracy Borman talking about history. And if you're a Gavin and Stacy fan, you can catch up with uh Matthew Horn and Joanna Page, uh, who are doing a good food live broadcast with Tom Reed Wilson and uh and Anna Williamson. So much to see. But Friday, the 10th of July, is when you can see Jim Moyer and Nancy Sorrell. Uh it's been an absolute pleasure to catch up with the both of you. And I feel privileged that you've come indoors from bird watching to chat to me.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

I know. I'm surprised we're not in the garden, actually. Well, we will be in a moment.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Thank you.