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Gold, Frankie says, and myrrh

Frankie Goes To Hollywood have tackled a lot of Important Topics already this year — things like Sex, War and Love. Now they face up to the biggest issue of the lot — Christmas. Are they for it or against? And why? Holly, Paul, Mark, Ped and Nasher tell all. Words: Ian Cranna. Photo: Peter Ashworth.

Holly

Christmas? I’m basically for it. Oh, deffo (laughs). It’s a good thing.

Where I’d really like to be is on a beach in the Bahamas but I suppose in a way just because of the holiday value. I think I’ll be at home with my mum and dad in Liverpool. Everyone should be at home really. I’ve got like close family, like brothers and sisters and nephews, and mum and dad, but I don’t see many relatives outside that. No doubt I’ll see them this Christmas, a lot of them! (Laughs). Oh, what fun!

No-one goes out on Christmas Day, do they? Everywhere’s just desolate and everyone’s at home — that’s what I don’t like about it, the quietness. It’s a very emotional time, Christmas. I don’t know why — it just is.

Best and worst Christmas? The best one I think I got a fab magic set from my mum (laughs). I was very young, about six, something like that. I was very pleased with that. I was pissed off last
Christmas — or was it the Christmas before? — because I didn’t want to spend another Christmas on the dole, because it can be a bit depressing, so maybe this Christmas I’ll be a bit happier.

The Queen’s Speech? If it comes on the television while I’m sitting there in front of it, then possibly I’ ll watch it. I always like to see what she’s wearing! I I mean, they are a source of entertainment, the Royal Family — I quite buzz off them in that respect.

Favourite carol? I suppose I should say ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’, shouldn’t I? But it’s ‘Once In Royal David’s City’ I think. I used to do it in the church choir — that was my solo bit! (Laughs)

New Year’s resolutions? To be a bit more organised, basically. I just create this mess around me! (Laughs).I don’t know — it’s just something I have a talent l for, creating disarray!

Paul

I like the presents. And the dinner! Of course I’m for it.

I’d like to be on a beach somewhere — I really hate snow.

(cont.)
I’d either like to be in a place where there’s real snow — because we went skiing at the beginning of the year, the band, and we had a great time — but I’d prefer to be with sand, sun and sand.

I’ve got one sister, Monica, who my dad always spends Christmas with, and I tend to spend Christmas with. A lot of my sisters live in America — they don’t come home for Christmas so a family occasion is quite rare. It’s quite a big family but I don’t really see them.

My best Christmas I think was when me and my twin sister were about ten and one of my sisters who lives in America — she lived on an Air Force base over here, so we had an American Christmas and it was really over the top — it was brilliant. Worst? Oh… they’re all bad when you’re drunk and stuck in town and you can’t get a bloody cab home, and it’s always freezing cold — that’s the bit I hate.

The Queen’s Speech? It’s always playing somewhere in the background but I never take much heed of it. Sorry, Lizzie. They do the job — I suppose they do it well. I just don’t like those hats and those coats they wear.

Favourite carol? I like ‘Silent Night’ — I think it’s great! (Giggles). And I like ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’, and ‘Frosty The Snowman’ — it’s great. Good song. I like that Phil Spector Christmas Album — it’s brilliant.

New Year’s resolutions? I don’t need to make any! (Laughs). I just need to break a few! I never keep to them, so what’s the point? It’s too traditional for me, all that rubbish. I can’t handle it. All these people — do you need a New Year to do it?

Mark

I’m all for the getting drunk and getting presents bit! I suppose it’s a good time, yeah. Nobody really knows what it’s about any more — they just go out and get drunk, don’t they? I think it’s a time when everyone can get drunk and get loads of days off work!

I’ll be at home in Liverpool. There’s about eight of us in the house — I’ve got a lot of brothers and sisters. I don’t see my relatives that much but I have got a lot. One of them will always have a party.

The best Christmas I’ve ever spent would be when I got a bike — it was called a Dragster, this bike, and everyone was buying Toppers and I had one that was different so I thought it was great. Christmas was better when you were a kid. Worst Christmas? Not last Christmas but the Christmas before — it was dead boring. It just didn’t feel like Christmas, know what I mean?

The Queen’s Speech? Nah. More likely be — what would I be doing then? Is that before the Christmas Top Of The Pops? I turn the telly off after Top Of The Pops, stick some records on. I’m not really bothered about it. They’re there and you can’t do nothing about them, whether you like them or not. (Sarcastically) I just think they’re underpaid — they deserve a lot more money. I don’t know how they can live on the pittance they get.

Favourite carol? I suppose it’s the one you remember most from school — that was ‘Silent Night’. We used to go round where we used to live and sing Christmas carols with a guitar, me and Nasher. We did! We made loads of money — we used to start out in about October!

New Year’s resolutions? I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions. But I think we might be in New York on New Year so that’1I be good.

Ped

I’m for Christmas, yeah. Because it’s a happy time of the year and everyone’s happy and I’m happy.

I hope to be spending Christmas at home in Liverpool with my family — mum and dad, sister — all at home. I have quite a few relatives but I don’t usually see them over Christmas Day.

(cont.)
It’s usually like in between Christmas and New Year when there’s lots of parties. I usually see them all then. Cards? I always forget to send Christmas cards, or usually Christmas comes and I’ve got about two days before — I always mess it up!

I don’t think I’ve had a bad Christmas. All the Christmases I’ve had have been good for me. They’re all good. The most surprising Christmas present when I was younger was when I got a bike. That was about ten years ago. Usually you find out just before what you’ve got — you check all the cupboards upstairs to find the hidden presents. I wasn’t expecting this because I’d checked all the cupboards and you couldn’t hide a bike in a little cupboard. Next door had it in! I didn’t expect that so it was a good surprise.

The Queen’s Speech? No. I’ve never watched the Queen’s Speech. It’s not that I don’t think I’d be interested, it’s just that I’ve always been out in the pub or something. I’m for them — I just think it’s good to have people like that, rather than just having nothing. I just like to have people you can look at and think, well, royalty. Nothing really deep — just to have it, I think it’s good.

Favourite carol? No. None at all.

New Year’s resolutions? To stop getting drunk, to calm down a bit, because I’m going a bit mad with the other two at the moment. We’re all a bad influence on each other!

Nasher

It’s good. You get drunk! Nah — Christmas is a time for giving and receiving. It’s generally the atmosphere that people have got. Everyone’s happy. There’s not much to be happy about these days and Christmas is an excuse to forget it all.

Christmas dinner and all that? Dead good. There’s only four of us and three of us still live at home — my mum, my dad and our kid. I’ve loads of relatives. All the ones you haven’t seen since last Christmas all come together — you all go round to each other’s houses. It used to be great when you were a kid because you’d come back with about a tenner because they’d all give you money!

Not last Christmas but the year before was the best Christmas I’ve had. I was in the pub for nineteen consecutive nights! I’ve never really had a real bummer of a Christmas. Best Christmas present? Subbuteo. I’d already had the first edition when I was about eight or nine, and then I got the World Cup one when I was about ten — the Continental goals and all that — the spotted polka dot ball.

The Queen’s Speech? No! I don’t like them. I just think they’re a waste of time. I wish I could get that much money for doing so little. Being a tourist attraction — why don’t they pay Nelson’s Column?

Favourite carol? ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful!’ What a predictable answer! But you know when they all get dead loud at the end when they’re all a bit raucous — it’s like all the aunties and uncles who were into going to church and all that used to sing it after Christmas dinner, drunk out of their heads!

New Year’s resolutions? To try and stop smoking. Again. That’s been my New Year’s resolution for the past three years, but they’re made to be broken, aren’t they?