Sam Fender joined from a farm
Scott and Chris had not seen Sam Fender properly in more than a year.
Like almost every interview in 2020, the reunion happened over Zoom.
Sam was on a farm with a recording studio, working with a full band and trying to capture a more organic live sound.
Scott joked that future Zoom calls needed to transmit smell as well as video.
Sam replied that he currently smelled like a farm.
Writing to himself became more emotional than expected
Sam had agreed to take part in the show’s letters to ten-year-old selves.
He assumed it would be a cute exercise.
Then he started writing.
Memories came back quickly and the letter became far more emotional than he expected.
For an artist whose job already involved turning thoughts into songs, even Sam was surprised by what writing directly to his younger self uncovered.
Stop worrying about hair, weight and school bullies
Sam pictured his ten-year-old self as a little lad with questionable hair.
High school was coming.
So were major family changes, including new step-parents and life split between Newcastle and Scotland.
He told himself not to worry so much.
The children who would mock his appearance, hair and weight would not matter forever.
He would grow.
His body would change.
Years later some of the same people would want his autograph.
Sam’s advice:
do not give it to them.
Sensitivity would become a career asset
The letter told young Sam not to be ashamed of being sensitive and empathetic.
Those qualities would eventually sit at the centre of his songwriting.
The thing capable of changing everything was already sitting in the corner of his bedroom.
A guitar he had received for Christmas.
It was gathering dust.
Pick it up.
Within months, Sam promised, he would be falling asleep in his school uniform with the guitar still in his lap.
Once he properly started, he would never really put it down again.
He also joked that being able to play would help with girls — although excessive *Star Wars* chat should probably wait until after a relationship had been secured.
Listen properly to Grandad
The most reflective part of the letter was about Sam’s grandfather.
He urged his younger self to ask more questions and listen to the stories from the Second World War.
As a child, Sam had understood only fragments of what his grandad had done.
Only later did he realise there was far more behind the understated stories of RAF service and wartime experience.
Sam’s grandad died when he was 13.
The letter could not change that.
It could remind the ten-year-old version to pay attention while he still had the chance.
Parents are human, not superheroes
Sam also told himself to remember that his mum and dad were ordinary people rather than invincible adults.
Make his older brother a cup of tea.
Tell him he loved him.
His brother needed Sam as much as Sam needed him, even if the younger version did not yet understand that.
The letter ended simply:
stop worrying.
You’ve got this.
The letter opened conversations Scott would never normally have had
Afterwards Scott reflected on why the format had worked so well.
A conventional interview with Sam Fender might have covered music, touring and the next record.
The letter had instead produced stories about family, school and a grandfather’s war service.
The same had happened with Liam Payne and the listeners.
A simple writing exercise gave people permission to talk about things which ordinary interviews rarely reached.
The Who Game went festive
With Christmas only days away, Monday’s Who Game received a seasonal edition.
Boxing Day sales and old Christmas television immediately appeared.
*The Vicar of Dibley* Christmas dinner episode — in which Geraldine agrees to several separate meals — was an instant Whooo.
After Sam’s deeply personal letter, the programme returned to exactly the sort of disposable festive nostalgia needed to lighten the mood.
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