it took a year and a half, and then eventually i had my first hit. and you also had wonderdog. oh, god, harvey. ( music playing, dog barking in rhythm ) harvey: so, that was a big hit, but you kind of got in the act, didn t you? - simon: literally. - literally. i said, well, what if we put a dog barking on a record for a joke? i send it over to radio one, they play the record, massive reaction. we then created this character called wonderdog. the actor we paid didn t turn up, so i had to get in the stupid bloody suit. ( laughs ) interviewer: so then what do you do, then, in the evenings? just go out, have a quiet night in. if there s any trouble to be solved, i solve it. and have you got any hobbies? uh, not really, no. ( audience laughter ) i thought we were gonna make a lot of money - you were wonderdog. - well, yeah, because we were gonna i thought we were gonna make millions. we thought we were gonna have our own animated series. turns out that the guy who drew the dog ripped o
- is that your son? - yeah, it s eric. - wow, is that the first one? - yeah. yeah. - was this planned? - no. ( harvey laughs ) boy, did you say that fast. no, darling, but. - .at my age, i was 53, 54? - right. so, you know, i wasn t kind of prepped to be a dad. ( music playing ) - this kid changed you. - yeah. - how so? - well, because, you know, we ve known each other a long time and i don t think we ve ever spoke about me being a dad or having kids. i mean, i was quite happy you know, living on my own, and - harvey: you seemed very happy. - simon: yeah. and i thought, you know, could i be a good father at my age? you know, do i know what to do? and blah blah blah. and you know, then this happened, the scan, and then, um, for the first year, i did find it difficult, because, you know, up to the age of one and a half,
it took a year and a half, and then eventually i had my first hit. and you also had wonderdog. oh, god, harvey. ( music playing, dog barking in rhythm ) harvey: so, that was a big hit, but you kind of got in the act, didn t you? - simon: literally. - literally. i said, well, what if we put a dog barking on a record for a joke? i send it over to radio one, they play the record, massive reaction. we then created this character called wonderdog. the actor we paid didn t turn up, so i had to get in the stupid bloody suit. ( laughs ) interviewer: so then what do you do, then, in the evenings? just go out, have a quiet night in. if there s any trouble to be solved, i solve it. and have you got any hobbies? uh, not really, no. ( audience laughter ) i thought we were gonna make a lot of money - you were wonderdog. - well, yeah, because we were gonna i thought we were gonna make millions. we thought we were gonna have our own animated series. turns out that the guy who drew the dog ripped o
you kind of had a privileged upbringing. uh, yes. ( music playing ) we lived in a big house when we were growing up. nannies, housekeepers, gardeners, blah, blah, blah, on the south coast of england. harvey: were you spoiled as a kid? simon: well, i was ( laughs ) yes, i guess i was. actually my dad did spoil me. we would drive down we would get toys on a saturday, sweets on a sunday. he was terrible at discipline. - harvey: you were terrible at school. - simon: terrible. i was always in trouble, thrown out, suspended. - harvey: bad grades. - simon: horrendous. harvey: you ended up just quitting school, right? - yeah. - i have a little bit of trouble understanding how somebody as smart as you could just not give a damn about school and learning. - i thought it was a waste of time. - why? because i wasn t getting anything out of it. i kind of learned how to add up in my head. i could talk english. i could write english. learned a bit of french. and i just thought, what else is there
a non-disclosure agreement? - so, seriously. - you actually told this kid that? yeah. so he re so lauren comes in, and i said, eric, what s the first thing you re gonna do when you get a girlfriend? and he goes, daddy says i have to get an nda. - oh, no! - you taught him that? i went, well, pretty good advice. ( music playing ) so what attracted you to lauren? well, chemistry, i think. you know, sense of humor. when you re so committed to your work, to be with one person, i m not gonna lie, it s hard. and you ve gotta i think you ve gotta find a partner - who gets what you do. - harvey: understanding. understanding. not that everything is about work, but of course, i m not gonna lie, it plays such an important part, and if someone doesn t get or like what you do or doesn t contribute to it, then i think you have a problem. there are people on sets and, you know, people who work in the music business who don t like it when they feel like