Former British paratrooper: Parachute regiment accepts all kinds

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00:00The Parachute Regiment, or the Paros as they're known, are supposedly some of the toughest in the British Army.

00:05So tell me about that journey, you know, from soldier to artist that you went through.

00:09Yeah, it's an interesting one, isn't it? I've always been a painter at school.

00:15I painted at university and I decided to join the Army and I went to Sandhurst

00:21and I went through Parachute Regiment selection at Sandhurst, which was a rigorous interview.

00:27And the chairman of the interview board, he said to me, what did you do in the summer before you came to Sandhurst?

00:35I said, I went to Paris. He said, what were you doing? I said, I was visiting art galleries.

00:39He said, what did you visit? I said, the Tuileries Gardens. Which art did you like?

00:44And I thought, this is quite a bizarre interview for the Parachute Regiment.

00:47And I got into that regiment and then discovered that it's quite an erudite mix of people,

00:54of writers and artists and poets and the usual warriors.

00:59So I kind of fitted in and I always parachuted with a tin of paints and a sketch pad.

01:06And I was in trenches in various places in the UK and other places drawing and painting.

01:12And I think it slightly endeared my soldiers to me.

01:16And they were fantastic and they kind of loved it.

01:19And I kind of learned that the Parachute Regiment accepts all kinds.