Interview with Kevin, the Plumber

18 January 2011

 

How did you first hear about the project?
I was sitting at my computer one day - I get a lot of work from a site called MyBuilder, and I saw it on there, and just put in for it for the sake of putting in for it.  I never thought that I'd end up doing it.

What was it that attracted you to the idea of taking part?
I love history anyway.  My daughter studied archaeology, and I love history.

Why do you think the producers chose you to take part?
I think they chose me because I was a bit different.  I was the oldest on set, I'm a biker, with long hair, and a different lifestyle.  I'm a Geordie.  I think they picked me because I'm different from the norm.  I might be 52 in years, but in mental age I'm about 12!

You had to live on site in caravans.  How did you find that?
I was quite lucky, because I had my own caravan.  There were six of us and three caravans, but I knew Jim [the foreman] was going to be living at home for the project.  So I said I'd share a caravan with Jim, and ended up with a caravan of my own.  I think I might have struggled if I'd have been sharing a caravan for six months.  But I had my own space.  I had lots of ups and downs, and a lot of upsetting times because of certain things.  But I was there for the right reasons, and I learned a lot.

Did you all get on alright, or were there a few fallings out?
You're bound to have the odd falling out.  I don't think I particularly fell out with anybody.  I had a couple of wee arguments.  But nothing major.  We got on fine.

Who was your favourite colleague?
I got on with Jim okay.  He's  the one where I thought there might be a bit of friction, because I speak my mind, I say it how it is.  Everything that I may say to camera, I'll have said to their faces.  Young Darren was alright.  Ben, to me, was a very lazy young man.  Tim had a heart of gold, but he tried to form a bit of a clique around him.  That spoiled it a bit for me.  I liked everybody to a degree!

You travelled to Turkey to see the ancient Roman ruins at Ephesus.  What was that like?
It was three days of fantastically interesting stuff.  I had never seen anything as grand in my life.  It was a very tiring experience - three days of rushing around everywhere.  But Ephesus was just extraordinary - you see things there that are lying beside the road that, if they were in England, would be in the British museum.  That was really, really fascinating to see.  And we were privileged enough to be able to go and see the inner workings - to actually walk on the mosaic floors, and see 2,000 year old graffiti on the walls - it was really fascinating.  And then we had the Turkish baths, with all the Turkish massages [which can be fairly brutal].  When we were in the steam room I was laughing that much at young Ben that I could barely breathe. 

On the build, you were only allowed to use tools that were available to the Romans.  That must have been quite difficult.
Mixing the mortar was all done by hand, and breaking all of the stone as well.  That was hard work.  But what made it all even harder was that everything had to be transported from the barn area to the site, which was 300 yards away.  It was really quite knackering.  I'm really, really proud of how I coped with it.  I know I worked a damn sight harder than most of them. 

What was  the whole experience like?
It became quite an emotional journey.  It was a chance to do something - yeah, it was going to be on telly and that was a plus, but after two weeks, you just forgot all about the cameras.  Some of us did anyway.  You just worked and got on with it.  It was really interesting, and I learned a lot.  I loved learning about how advanced the Romans were.

Did you learn anything that will help you with your work in the future?
I learned a lot, and I'll probably use aspects of it in my job and my life in the future.  As for where building is concerned, what I do for a living is bathrooms - I install them, design them and so on - there's not a great deal, skill-wise, that I can take from this and use in my everyday work.  I don't do bricklaying or roofs, but I probably could now.  I learned a lot.

What are you proudest of?
On the build itself, I'm very proud that my daughter got involved.  She designed the mosaic floor.  She studied archaeology and is back doing her masters.  She came down three times during the build, and helped us to lay it and everything.  It was a nice story.  And I'm also proud that six people, over all their ups and downs and fallings out and makings up, managed to pull this off.

What were the low points or the biggest frustrations?
The most frustrating thing, in my eyes, was when we were under pressure to get stuff done, but we couldn't do it because the materials weren't there.  That was stressful.  And I also found working with a couple of the guys really frustrating.  I went out of my way for both of them, but we just didn't click. 

What were the funniest moments along the way?
Oh there were loads.  The funniest moment that there's ever been was the Turkish baths, without a doubt.  We were also using a wooden cart that collapsed one day - both the wheels came of it.  I happened to be wearing a t-shirt on that day, and as the cart collapsed, the camera focussed on my t-shirt that said "If it's got tits or wheels, sooner or later, you're going to have problems.  Lots of little quirky, funny things happened. 

How does it feel to be one the select few to have built a Roman villa in the last 1500 years?
The best way I can describe it - through my 52 years of life, I've been to many historical spots - castles, Roman ruins, whatever - and you go there and look at it.  While building this, I'd go and sit on the old Roman columns that are in the same field, and I would become quite emotional, because we were doing the same thing that they were doing 2000 years ago, using the same methods.  And I felt a bond with the people from back then.  Now, when I go anywhere, I look at things totally differently.   I live close to Hadrian's Wall, and when I go back there, I know what they went through to build that. They didn't have a cement mixer or a crane or anything.  It's given me a totally new perspective on everything.