FIL TV Presents... Gill Hicks — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00today on field tv we talk to a woman who
2. 0:02has dedicated her life to peace
3. 0:05on july 7 2005 her life changed forever
4. 0:08she was on the same carriage underground
5. 0:10in london as a suicide bomber
6. 0:12now she miraculously survived but lost
7. 0:14both her legs but she's gone on to do
8. 0:16some amazing things
9. 0:18she's the organizer of a not-for-profit
10. 0:20organisation called
11. 0:21mad for peace she's won a gazillion
12. 0:24gazillion awards and
13. 0:25she's pretty darn funny we're talking to
14. 0:28jill hicks
15. 0:32now i've been thinking of ways to
16. 0:34introduce you jill
17. 0:35and there's so many words that come to
18. 0:38mind there's
19. 0:39author speaker advocate survivor
20. 0:42mum i'm intrigued to know what words you
21. 0:45would use to describe and introduce
22. 0:47yourself
23. 0:50um i think probably for me it would be
24. 0:54um absolutely a mum
25. 0:57first and then it would be
26. 1:00someone who feels a
27. 1:04great um
28. 1:05[Music]
29. 1:07a great need to communicate so i would
30. 1:09say that i
31. 1:10am a communicator and a communicator of
32. 1:15all the things that i feel are the
33. 1:19you know the important messages are
34. 1:22based on
35. 1:22on experience that i would
36. 1:26love to see um humanity sort of
37. 1:30respond and be all i know it
38. 1:33to be and to be as great as i know it
39. 1:36can be
40. 1:37yeah and i think that floats back into
41. 1:39being a mum as well because i see
42. 1:41the responsibility of being a mum is is
43. 1:44is bringing up you know the next wave of
44. 1:48contributing
45. 1:49brilliant adults so yeah yeah and
46. 1:54we've had previous chats and you have
47. 1:56quite a
48. 1:57sense of humor if i would put it
49. 2:00now is that something that has developed
50. 2:03um
51. 2:04as you would call it in your second life
52. 2:07or
53. 2:08is that something you've always had and
54. 2:10people have always known you for
55. 2:12i think it's something i've always had
56. 2:14it was quite it was quite funny actually
57. 2:15when
58. 2:16um when my my brother was flown over to
59. 2:20the uk to london to be with me um
60. 2:23in hospital and one of the first things
61. 2:26that he observed
62. 2:28um that i remember he was saying to the
63. 2:30medical teams was
64. 2:31oh no look she's absolutely fine because
65. 2:34she's just been making the same bad
66. 2:36jokes that she was making before
67. 2:38so he knew that i was still jill
68. 2:41despite um you know all the horror
69. 2:45and then if we do flash back to that day
70. 2:47july 7th
71. 2:482005 can you just give us a little bit
72. 2:51of a rundown of what happened that day
73. 2:54dave what are what i've thought about a
74. 2:55lot this and it says 15 years
75. 2:57and it's really interesting how over the
76. 3:00space of 15 years
77. 3:02you think about um the different angles
78. 3:06of an experience life-changing moment
79. 3:09for me that i've
80. 3:10i've kept retracing and rethinking
81. 3:14you know if only i'd you know been two
82. 3:18minutes later
83. 3:19if only um i took another five minutes
84. 3:23to get ready
85. 3:24it's these tiny little increments of
86. 3:27time
87. 3:28that made a significant difference but
88. 3:32even so when i explore
89. 3:36when i was standing in the carriage you
90. 3:39know if if i was just a centimeter
91. 3:42you know in a different position i might
92. 3:44not be here now so
93. 3:45again it's it's all these tiny tiny
94. 3:48little
95. 3:49little moments that have really stuck
96. 3:52with me
97. 3:53about how precious
98. 3:56every second minute is because
99. 4:00it actually does make a difference um
100. 4:03and again i i guess the
101. 4:07fury in me is that i was a workaholic
102. 4:10i was the person that was religiously at
103. 4:14my desk at 7 30 every morning
104. 4:17i had a coffee club that i'd meet
105. 4:19everyone at
106. 4:20um in covent garden at
107. 4:23seven we used to drink coffee i used to
108. 4:25have a little cigarillo cigar
109. 4:27and then i'd be at the desk at 7 00 30.
110. 4:30and this was the one day the
111. 4:34one day that i was out of my routine
112. 4:39and so everyone that knew me
113. 4:42when they when all of this started to
114. 4:43unfold
115. 4:45um absolutely you know no one was
116. 4:47worried about me at all because they
117. 4:48just said well
118. 4:50be in her office that's what where she
119. 4:52always is um
120. 4:53so it was a shock to everyone when
121. 4:57i was the only person in a building of
122. 5:01just over 200 staff i was the only
123. 5:04person to not come in that day
124. 5:07and and as it started to reveal
125. 5:11uh you know as the hours ticked by and
126. 5:13and the days ticked by
127. 5:15um because i was essentially um i had no
128. 5:19no means of identifying uh myself
129. 5:23and so no one knew who i was
130. 5:26and and chillingly uh
131. 5:29and again something that's gone on to
132. 5:32shape
133. 5:33my absolute thinking about how i create
134. 5:37a second life was how i was
135. 5:41labeled that morning which was
136. 5:45really still quite chilling to talk
137. 5:46about it but it was
138. 5:48just four words that were put onto a
139. 5:50hospital armband and it said
140. 5:52one unknown estimated female
141. 5:56and i i just you know even now i just
142. 5:59will never forget
143. 6:00looking at those words and
144. 6:04having that realization of i guess two
145. 6:08things really
146. 6:09firstly just the state in which my body
147. 6:13must have been in to have been labeled
148. 6:16and such
149. 6:16and i think secondly of the appreciation
150. 6:19of
151. 6:20of how everybody that did so much to
152. 6:23save me
153. 6:24did so regardless of who i was and so
154. 6:28it's it's really the crux of that
155. 6:31that's gone on to inform
156. 6:34me of what's possible
157. 6:38um what i need to hold on to as in
158. 6:41all the beautiful and good and how i
159. 6:44start to
160. 6:45look for my way through to create
161. 6:48a very different and unexpected second
162. 6:51life and you've said you were on that
163. 6:53when you were on that train
164. 6:54you weren't actually sure whether you
165. 6:56were still alive
166. 6:58and in that moment you've said you
167. 7:01thought
168. 7:02okay if i come back life isn't going to
169. 7:04be the same
170. 7:06and you would have a certain
171. 7:08responsibility at that time you didn't
172. 7:10know what that responsibility would be
173. 7:13now is mad for peace that responsibility
174. 7:16that you've taken on
175. 7:18i think so i think i think the the any
176. 7:21iteration
177. 7:22of mad is is honoring
178. 7:25the vow i made whilst i was still
179. 7:30in that scene in that tube um that
180. 7:32morning
181. 7:33waiting to be rescued and and it was you
182. 7:36know
183. 7:36very strong for me still is to this day
184. 7:40of if i'm fortunate enough to have
185. 7:44the gift of life back then i need to
186. 7:47honor
187. 7:48that gift and for me honoring the gift
188. 7:53is communicating communicating
189. 7:57the brilliance of us communicating
190. 8:01the importance of us seeing
191. 8:04each other as human beings first and all
192. 8:08our other differences
193. 8:09secondary um the importance of
194. 8:13you know over the years i've even
195. 8:15started to pick apart
196. 8:17the terminologies around or is it
197. 8:19talking
198. 8:20you know utopia visions and it's not
199. 8:22something that can be reached
200. 8:24so i've tried to really move
201. 8:27and stay fresh and keep you know keep
202. 8:31rolling that communication forward
203. 8:34to what will cut through so my i feel
204. 8:37that my life's work
205. 8:39is continuously exploring what's the cut
206. 8:42through
207. 8:43how do i you know talk to people in
208. 8:46their hearts
209. 8:47in their minds through their soul
210. 8:50through their being
211. 8:51you know what does it take to find those
212. 8:54right
213. 8:54pieces of communication to to
214. 8:58elevate our ideas of each other and and
215. 9:00of our time here
216. 9:02you know our time here is so short
217. 9:05so brief so precious you know
218. 9:08that do we really want to spend a day
219. 9:12you know hating you know feeling
220. 9:15miserable
221. 9:16um surely surely
222. 9:20know i could use my life to to
223. 9:24to convey those messages of of you know
224. 9:27live while you can and live with impact
225. 9:31and live with greatness and
226. 9:34contribute and you know leave leave a
227. 9:38very light
228. 9:38footprint across the earth but
229. 9:41you know contribute to it whilst you're
230. 9:43here i think that to me is
231. 9:45is what i'm meant to be saying and
232. 9:49obviously you have said that you've been
233. 9:51given a gift of life but you've also
234. 9:53given the gift of life with your
235. 9:55beautiful daughter emily
236. 9:57who is seven um
237. 10:01now has she changed the way that you do
238. 10:04advocate
239. 10:05at all she has i think
240. 10:08firstly there's more there's more
241. 10:10urgency
242. 10:11i see i see an urgency in when i look at
243. 10:15her
244. 10:15of just how important it is that we
245. 10:18create a world
246. 10:20in which our little people can act can
247. 10:23live with um a different
248. 10:27feeling of of safety and different
249. 10:31feeling of connectedness a different
250. 10:33feeling
251. 10:34of um what it means to be part of a
252. 10:37humanity that
253. 10:39is thriving on an earth
254. 10:42um and i i guess also it it
255. 10:47it's hit home the cycle
256. 10:50of our lives you know that that my life
257. 10:54has gone on to create another life that
258. 10:56my life will end her life your pleas
259. 10:59will continue
260. 11:00and and the cycle goes on so i think
261. 11:03she's really
262. 11:04brought that home to me um she's my
263. 11:08greatest supporter and my fiercest
264. 11:11critic
265. 11:12um so that if i'm ever doing anything
266. 11:15she's the first to let me know to say no
267. 11:18that's not the right that doesn't say
268. 11:19enough to me so she's um she's she's
269. 11:22amazing actually she's
270. 11:23uh we had a little moment uh yesterday
271. 11:26where i
272. 11:27i'm still the the fun mum and i you know
273. 11:30play and and she just said to me on the
274. 11:33way to school
275. 11:34actually that's really embarrassing can
276. 11:36you stop doing that
277. 11:38i just thought this is it this is that
278. 11:41day
279. 11:41this is that day she and she said why am
280. 11:44i the sensible one and i just thought oh
281. 11:46no
282. 11:46the day has come you know so um so she's
283. 11:50she's
284. 11:50she's growing and and she's
285. 11:53i i think she'll be a formidable force
286. 11:56in the world
287. 11:57and i guess she's at that inquisitive
288. 11:59age as well
289. 12:00has she asked why mommy's legs are
290. 12:02different or why
291. 12:03things are different um with you guys
292. 12:06look i
293. 12:06i mean i've never obviously i can't hide
294. 12:09being a double amputee
295. 12:10from her so this is all she's known i'm
296. 12:13the only mum
297. 12:14she's known this is the only form of mum
298. 12:16she's known
299. 12:17um and we've we've grown that yeah
300. 12:20yeah um we've grown with that so
301. 12:24you know she went through a period when
302. 12:26she was a lot younger
303. 12:27where um she thought i was perhaps
304. 12:30part robot so she thought that i was
305. 12:33actually really cool because all the
306. 12:35other mums at
307. 12:36kindergarten you know didn't have these
308. 12:38robot legs and she thought that was
309. 12:40great
310. 12:41and then she started to you know ask
311. 12:43questions
312. 12:44and and i've never not told her the
313. 12:47absolute
314. 12:48truth i've i've talked to her in terms
315. 12:51of the person that that did this
316. 12:54made a deliberate choice and that his
317. 12:58choices were based um
318. 13:01on on ignorance and so i talked to her a
319. 13:05lot around
320. 13:06how important it is um that the choices
321. 13:09we make
322. 13:10have an impact on the people around us
323. 13:13and they could have a wider
324. 13:14impact um from there and to
325. 13:18always make sure that you're not making
326. 13:21decisions based
327. 13:22from an ignorant point of view so make
328. 13:24sure that you're always educated that
329. 13:26you've always looked from
330. 13:28from you know an empathetic standpoint
331. 13:31and um she she gets it
332. 13:34she gets it and she's gone from from
333. 13:37saying
334. 13:38you know i understand what ignorance is
335. 13:41that she feels that this this 19 year
336. 13:44old
337. 13:44suicide bomber was actually very
338. 13:47gullible
339. 13:48because he believed um
340. 13:51what he was being told without
341. 13:53questioning and i just thought
342. 13:55wow you know that's quite sophisticated
343. 13:58for her to think that far
344. 14:01around the idea of gullibility which is
345. 14:04you know now i sort of say well i'm
346. 14:05going to put that into my work with
347. 14:08you know looking at at why do people
348. 14:10hold on to
349. 14:11extremist ideas how do they come become
350. 14:14susceptible to it and perhaps yeah
351. 14:16there's a great deal of
352. 14:18of gullibility there at the core of it
353. 14:20so yeah she's
354. 14:21we're we're growing with each other
355. 14:24around the topic
356. 14:25yeah it's quite interesting because when
357. 14:27you do sort of give young people the
358. 14:29tools to understand things
359. 14:31they actually end up teaching us things
360. 14:34and i think you've really just actually
361. 14:36nailed that on the head
362. 14:38which is very interesting i listen to
363. 14:41her as well so she knows that i
364. 14:43completely respect her opinion
365. 14:47and even though she's only had seven
366. 14:49years of life
367. 14:51um that that she's she's
368. 14:54wise in areas that perhaps i've i've
369. 14:57lost my inner child about so i listen to
370. 15:00her
371. 15:01when i need to remember that inner child
372. 15:04for me
373. 15:04yes and you're going to bring some of
374. 15:06that fun with your fringe show that's
375. 15:08next year
376. 15:09which is super exciting
377. 15:14no it's going to be great i mean we've
378. 15:15had a year so i am
379. 15:17so excited to be able to have some um
380. 15:20fun and positivity um can you tell us a
381. 15:23bit about what that fringe show actually
382. 15:25is going to entail
383. 15:26it's a show's called um still alive
384. 15:29and kicking and um
385. 15:33the the whole premise is you know it's
386. 15:35to have it's yes it's to it's to talk
387. 15:37through a narrative
388. 15:39of of the appreciation of life
389. 15:42particularly from my my standpoint of
390. 15:46having been technically gone so
391. 15:49dead for just under 30 minutes
392. 15:52and how that's completely shaped my
393. 15:54appreciation
394. 15:55but but also for the year that we've had
395. 15:58in 2020
396. 15:59so i you know i'm sort of almost
397. 16:01desperate to be able to just
398. 16:04for the audience to be sitting there for
399. 16:05me to say we
400. 16:07made it we're still alive here we are
401. 16:10um and it's punctu narrative punctuated
402. 16:13with
403. 16:14um some jazz favorites
404. 16:17um there's absolute permission to
405. 16:20laugh your head off um to cry if you
406. 16:23want
407. 16:23um but i i'm hoping that people will
408. 16:26leave
409. 16:27just feeling a little a little more
410. 16:31purposeful a little more optimistic
411. 16:34life is it's amazing to be able to feel
412. 16:38and it's amazing to be able to
413. 16:40experience
414. 16:41and i'm a great believer i think if ever
415. 16:45i
416. 16:45if ever i was going to have a tattoo it
417. 16:48would just be
418. 16:49this too shall pass that would be my
419. 16:52my words yeah yeah great believer in it
420. 16:55yeah
421. 16:56well thank you so much i mean i could go
422. 16:58on forever and ask you a thousand
423. 17:00hundred questions
424. 17:01um but we'll leave it there thank you so
425. 17:04much for chatting to
426. 17:05us and thank you keeping mad
427. 17:09stay mad stay mad