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The Creative Jukebox FCUK Beattie McGuinness Bungay

The Creative Jukebox: Trevor Beattie offers up his favourite tracks while playing Jukebox Bingo

By Rose Little, reporter

March 2, 2015 | 5 min read

The Creative Jukebox returns, this time speaking to advertising legend, Trevor Beattie, co-founder of one of the most important London agencies in recent memory. Beattie talks to Rose Little about elements of his career while also choosing some of his favourite music tracks.

I should have known. A man famous for being a lovable troublemaker who likes to FCUK with the system is probably not going to stick to the format. And so I find myself navigating the unforgiving streets of Soho with a large Tombola wedged under my arm.

Trevor Beattie's Creative Jukebox by The_Creative_Jukebox on Mixcloud

I’m heading to Jungle Studios to interview Trevor Beattie, who – faced with the task of having to choose just eight songs – has had a different idea. Trevor Beattie’s Jukebox Bingo’: put 20 songs in a tombola, give it a spin, and pick out eight songs at random.

My lumbering journey across Soho is rewarded with the excitement on Trevor’s face when he sees I have actually brought a Tombola. He eyes light up with glee as he exclaims in his thick Brummy accent “this is bloody exciting!”

The whole bingo request had made me worry that Trevor would be a difficult person to interview. He might demand the studio be adorned with Beyoncé-style rose-petal candles or stocked with bowls of brown M&Ms à la Van Halen. But as he bounds into the studio with his trademark curly hair and wearing a Ziggy Stardust t-shirt he is incredibly relaxed, friendly and down-to-earth.

Which is probably a strange description for a man who’s set to be one of the first ‘regular’ folk to head up into space. I of course have to ask him about his pending trip on Virgin Galactic. He explains the physics of the mission, which is all very interesting, but I am much more concerned with the outfits. Or to be more specific the space nappies I’ve read about. Trevor is unsure what they will be wearing, he speculates it might be a silver thong. I think Branson would approve.

We move on to talk about his experience working with David Lynch on the famous Playstation ‘Welcome to the Third Space’ commercials. It’s a brilliant story that will make every creative – who’s had to sit through a three-hour meeting while a client picks apart their script like it’s a Nando’s chicken wing – weep with envy. Also Trevor’s impersonation of Lynch’s All-American trawl is so good I feel like Lynch could be in the room. One can dream.

As a man who’s met a lot of famous faces, and is one of the only people in advertising to gain notoriety outside of the industry, I ask Trevor if fame is something he has actively sought out. He says it’s simply out of politeness that he talks to the press, “I just answer the phone when a journalist calls me and I think most people run a mile”.

After I’ve picked the last song from the tombola I offer it to Trevor to take home, but he politely declines. So I pack it all up, retrieving a rogue ball from under my seat and head back out into the streets of Soho. Negotiating my way through the solid block of people with the awkward prop, I decide that from now on I will impose a strict BYOB policy on the show, Bring Your Own Bingo.

Trevor Beattie's Creative Jukebox, presented by Rose Little, can be heard in the file above.

Other installments of The Creative Jukebox can be heard at the dedicated MixCloud page, including Dave Trott and Dave Bounaguidi.

The Creative Jukebox FCUK Beattie McGuinness Bungay

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