JANE HARDY INTERVIEW Julian Simmons

It is an end of an era as Julian Simmons steps away as UTV’s continuity announcer. Here he discusses with Jane Hardy his much-loved television career, his former fl ight attendant job and growing up in Northern Ireland.

JULIAN THE GREAT

If asked which much-loved Northern Irish celebrity earned the nickname ‘Ginger Vermin’ at the start of his career, you might not immediately think of Julian Simmons. But the former UTV linkman did answer to the moniker when working at McCalla travel agency.

He explains: “We all had nicknames there – me, my friends Andytown Jez (or Jezebel) and Thunderbum, who gained hers for obvious reasons. And she was always asking whether her bum ‘looked big in this’.”

He adds that the agency, which has now disappeared, was in Donegall Street and on the ground and fi rst fl oors they had admin and the customer-facing section where Simmons worked. At the top, apparently, was the typing pool where you found all human life.

“That’s where the nicknames were handed out,” he remembers. “I had a good time and used to go for lunch with Andytown Jez in the Europa restaurant where we’d people watch.”

Twenty-year-old Julian was the business trip booker, having attended the Methodist College, and the job triggered his later career in the airline industry. Simmons admits he really wanted to be an airline pilot and earn his stripes.

“Oh yes, but I wasn’t bright enough at maths. I was best at English, which I found easy, I was good at geography but I’d never have been able to do the calculations.”

Instead, Julian joined Air Canada. At one point during this glamorous era, he worked two jobs and would sometimes fl y back to Belfast from London where he’d fi nished a long shift.

“I’d head for the Havelock Street studios, go to a corner of the room, throw my gear on the fl oor, ignoring the fact I’d been up since 5am, and don a suit to introduce the news.”

How did he keep going? – “Lots of vitamins”.

Looking back now, at the age of 59 (“It’s a good age, I think I’ll stay there for a while”), after his brilliant 35-year career as the continuity doyen at UTV, not to mention newsreader and travel show presenter, Simmons says he’s been very lucky. You sense that this is modesty and that clearly an awful lot of talent was involved. As a natural humorist, Simmons reveals he often had to quash his natural reaction to shocking news items.

“In Northern Ireland we all have the ability to talk about horrendous events and make them sound funny. People would go ‘Oh Julian, have you heard the awful news?’. I often felt I was at risk of corpsing when reading out terrible things on air. I knew there’d be people

Jane Hardy

is a feature writer who has interviewed a few of the big names from Arlene Foster to Mrs Thatcher.

watching and waiting for it to happen, but I developed my face with a hard look during the news bulletins.”

Julian reveals he would get advance warning of trouble via shopkeepers. “My family is from Bromley in Kent and I arrived here in the late ‘50s with my parents, but I feel Northern Irish. When I went shopping in Belfast during the Troubles, they’d say, ‘Tell your mother to get the powdered milk in’, if they knew there was going to be an incident.”

He says that he was involved in a horrific bombing while working as a travel agent.

“A girl came into the office wearing thighhigh white boots and all the guys noticed. She was booking a trip for her boss, which we did and she then left quickly. A short while later, we heard the sound of a bomb – it’s a very loud noise like nothing else – then I looked out and saw her boots in the street.”

His job has always involved a degree of performance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Julian Simmons’ break came via amateur dramatics. He started acting when very young and recalls playing a bandit in a primary school production. He loved the costume. “I wore a big black hat and black knickers stuffed with newspaper to stand out and look like pantaloons.”

Looking the part is crucial, according to Simmons, and when he acted the Demon Vanity in the 1996 Grand Opera House production of Mother Goose, he and the costume department went to town. “They wanted a golden knight, not a Gothic demon, so I had lots of jewels and studs on.”He was a fabulous punk Liberace and put on his Belfast accent, which he adopts effortlessly.

The teenage Julian became involved with the theatrical side of church life at St Mark’s Church of Ireland on the Holywood Road. “I was a bell ringer, sang in the choir as a treble, then tenor (my voice broke late), and was a keen member of the youth club.”

He graduated to the Holywood Players and was spotted while acting in, of course, a comedy. He recalls:

“It was a play called Leave it to the Boys by Trevor Hughes and I played an IRA boy who didn’t want to be one. It was a little like Give My Head Peace and got great reviews.”

A guy chatted to Simmons after one of his performances, saying he had contacts and would aim to get Julian a chance to try out for TV. “I thought, ‘Yes, whatever...’ but then it happened.”

An audition followed and Julian Simmons became part of the furniture in Northern Ireland’s sitting rooms during dark times in the late 70s and 80s. His workload was prodigious; as well as telly duties, Simmons worked at the Air Canada office in the mornings in North Street.

One of the happiest periods of Simmons’ life was when he and his mother headed to England after he was appointed to a senior customer service role at Heathrow Airport. Naturally, the celebrity body count was high.

“I love Heathrow and it was an amazing job, sometimes difficult as you had to deal with the public in stressful situations. But I developed a technique for not getting riled.”

On one occasion Julian Simmons witnessed Liz Taylor’s A-lister entrance at first hand. He says now: “Liz Taylor was a total diva. She remained in the plane’s facilities doing her make-up so long the cleaning team couldn’t get on board to start work. She insisted on a wheelchair, was wheeled through the airport until the point at which you reach landside and the photographers were waiting.” Then, as

In his early days at UTV.

he says, a miracle occurred when she got up “and walked towards the adoring crowd”.

On another occasion, George Michael and a young assistant headed into London when their flight to the States was delayed. Simmons dealt with this, saying: “George was lovely, the epitome of politeness, said they wanted to eat in London, not at the airport. His sidekick, a young whippersnapper who thought he was important, was tiresome, but I explained I could warn them when they needed to return but they’d have to check in again and if they missed the flight, we’d have to take their luggage off.”

And Dame Vera Lynn had a haughty husband. “I went on the plane and escorted them off, then guided them through Customs. Dame Vera’s husband kept saying: ‘I thought we were getting preferential treatment’. What did he expect me to do, bow?”

Although Simmons enjoyed being at Heathrow, he and his mother missed Northern Ireland. “London was too big, too anonymous, so we came home.” And the second phase of Julian Simmons’ UTV career began.

In spite of his many roles on stage and small screen, Julian Simmons insists that the person at home in his apartment in Belmont BT9 is not that different from the persona we’ve enjoyed on screen. “To be good at continuity, you really need to just be yourself.”

He tells me the story of how he started to introduce the kind of (scripted) ad-libs and detail that made his programme links into an art form. “I remember one Christmas I was working and there was no news on so I decided to work on the links. I introduced Coronation Street a particular way. Later on, when doing a link to Wish You Were Here?, featuring Judith

Chalmers in a boat in the Caribbean and the other presenter in a caravan in Clacton-on Sea, I said something about joining Judith in luxury and they cut for lack of time my mention of the other item.”

Coincidentally, Julian Simmons recalls he was heading upstairs in a store in town and Ms Chalmers was coming down. She saw him and said ‘Thank you, Mr Simmons, for mentioning me by name’.” Both total pros, you could say. Julian adds a social footnote, that the wellknown travel presenter was staying with her friend, the late Betty Scott, in Belfast and had caught the show on UTV the previous evening.

They say the child is father to the man and Mr Simmons’ penchant for travelling owes quite a bit to his father. Julian Simmons, an only child, was always close to Alan, a

Julian making his mark on UTV in a career that spanned over 30 years.

successful businessman whose concern was eventually sold to ICI, and Pearl, his muchloved mother. The three of them visited the main cities of Europe whenever Julian’s father went on business trips.

After his father died, Julian and Pearl would regularly lunch together and had a close relationship. Which didn’t prevent her putting him right on things, including his on-screen dress sense.

“She’d ring and say, ‘Why did you wear that awful tie? If I had seen you wearing it going out, I’d have told you to change it’.” Clearly a stylish woman, who died just over ten years ago, she is remembered by her son as someone who loved to put on her high heels and head down into Belfast to meet friends for coffee. Simmons says: “She was bright as anything to the end, but it was the right time for her to go.”

Simmons is a bit of a Tigger in real life; he likes to look on the bright side. But although normally an affable sort of chap, Simmons says he became angry about the recent storming of the Capitol building in Washington. The keen traveller reveals he was so appalled by events he’d change his future travel plans. “At the moment I don’t want to set foot in North America again. It was disgusting to see what they did. I think it must have been some sort of Trojan horse thing, but it was terrible. You worry to think it could happen here.”

Just over ten years ago, Julian Simmons developed a heart problem. Initially, he ignored his symptoms. “I got very tired but thought I was just exhausted from work, and it would go. It didn’t and it got worse, then I noticed I had swollen ankles and thought, ‘That’s it, I’ve got heart problems like my mother’.”

He consulted the clinic, was immediately admitted to hospital and had a quadruple heart bypass. Yet Simmons manages to see a bright side even here. “Dr Donnelly and sister Tania were brilliant. But I think I was very lucky as I have never smoked and don’t drink much. To be honest, two glasses of wine and I’m anybody’s! Drink just makes me very tired and want to have a nap.” Sauvignon Blanc is Julian’s preferred tipple.

Simmons is also known for his style and is a dapper man. I remember seeing him once in the flagship Belfast Marks & Spencer, where he goes to buy their Gastropub ready meals, dressed for the role in a great suit, walking through the store like the boulevardier he is. “You have to dress for the job, put on the suit.” He was introduced to good labels at an early age by his father.

“My dad opened an account for me at Austin Reed when I was quite young. You paid in money regularly, £15 to £20, then made your choice. I took it over and would always go over to London for the sales, picking up a load of shirts and ties and maybe a suit. While you can buy a great silk tie in Bangkok or Hong Kong for nothing, it isn’t the same.” Surprisingly, maybe, Julian does dress down a bit at home. “Yes, I wear jeans. Brian Kennedy once said to me ‘Julian, you’re wearing very tight jeans’ and I said ‘You should see the ones I put on at home, Brian, with the seams pressed.”

In terms of music for relaxation, Julian reveals that he likes anything that gets him boogying. “Earth, Wind and Fire, for example, but I like all pop. I’m mad about Kylie and love The Doors.”

A gregarious man, he enjoys getting together with friends but doesn’t mind his own company. “I’ve found it ok in lockdown as I am used to being on my own.” He lives alone and says that he is currently “footloose and fancy free”.

In terms of broadcasting heroes, Simmons name checks Gay Byrne, for his RTE radio programme. “Once I heard a woman come on air and criticise the loos at Shannon Airport. Gay Byrne pinned her down forensically, not letting her get away with vague criticism. He was also terrific on The Late, Late Show.”

He is someone who operates with a circle of mates, many from the airline industry to which he still relates. In normal times, Simmons relishes meals out at restaurants such as SHU. “I love fish and steak and like things with goat’s cheese.”

A weight watcher, Julian Simmons says that he exercises an amount of dietary discipline. “I always have something high in fibre for breakfast, sorry to be so base. I like an apple and cheese for an easy lunch and if I’m going out later, I try to rein back. Chocolate is my weakness.”

His post-pandemic plans naturally involve travel. “I am going to travel more when we can. I love long-haul and can’t wait to head out to Dubai or Thailand. On a long flight, I like reading and remember when I took The Da Vinci Code on one trip, the time flew by.”

When Mr Simmons gets back to base, you can envisage the guy whose talents include stand-up continuing as one of the funniest men in Northern Ireland. Talking to him cheered a cold January afternoon and I’d pay to attend an Evening with... based on Julian Simmons’ life and times, spiced up with reminiscence about the many characters he’s known, from Andytown Jez and Thunderbum to celebrity mates such as Brian Kennedy, Carolyn Stewart and Rose Neill. Think Larry Grayson crossed with Ronnie Corbett’s memorable big chair monologues.

“My family is from Bromley in Kent and I arrived here in the late ‘50s with my parents, but I feel Northern Irish. When I went shopping in Belfast during the Troubles, they’d say, ‘Tell your mother to get the powdered milk in’, if they knew there was going to be an incident.”