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Anthony Joshua dedicates 'desert island disc' to Watford
Watford's Anthony Joshua chose a particular track as a homage to his hometown on Desert Island Discs.
The Olympic gold medallist and two-time heavyweight world champion boxer described the soundtrack to his life on the BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds programme.
Music from Bob Marley & The Wailers, Fela Kuti, Survivor, Skrapz, Stormzy, Nino Rota, and Nicholas Britell all made his list of tracks to take with him to a desert island, but his reasoning for including one song will have stood out to Watford listeners.
Explaining his choice of Hometown Glory by “the one and only Adele”, he explained that he wanted something that will help him think of home while all alone and far away.
“So, I’m on this island, I’m stuck, it’s a desert island and I’m just thinking about my hometown man, everything that I represent everything that I stand for,” Joshua said.
“There is no better place than my hometown and I want all the glory.
“I love the glory of being a hometown boy, North West London to Watford for me, that’s my hometown glory.
Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds here
“Shout out to everyone in north west, shout out to everyone in Watford, this one’s for you.”
Born in 1989, Anthony Joshua grew up in the Meriden Estate and described what life was like for him during the broadcast last week.
This included doing well in football and athletics at school, while never quite finding his sport, and studying sound engineering at college, odd jobs as a bricklayer and selling package holidays, but also many of the challenges he faced.
Anthony Joshua at Meriden Community Services Fun Day last month. (Image: One Vision)
The interviewee said he declared himself homeless while living in Watford at the age of 17, because he did not want to be a burden on family.
Once he moved into a hostel, he said he began selling weed in the estate and would regularly get in fights late at night.
This eventually led to being fitted with an electronic tag and being banned from the town centre, before walking into a Finchley boxing gym at the age of 18 allowed him to refocus himself and turn his life around.
Joshua now dedicates much of his time to giving back to his hometown through efforts including Clean Herts Community, a community-interest company he set up.
He chose a Bear Grylls survival guide as his book of choice and a punchbag as his luxury item.
