In our How I Manage My Money series, we aim to find out how people are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week, in our celebrity edition, we speak to Johnny Ball, the iconic 1970s and 80s TV presenter, about telling the Beatles they’d make nothing from music and not teaching daughter Zoe about maths.
When did you first become aware of money?
I had an idyllic first 11 years in Bristol but we moved to Bolton and everything went wrong. We were very poor as the shop my folks opened failed. Aged 14, I once only had a penny when my bus fare was one and a half pennies. So I got off two stops early and raced the bus. That began a daily exercise and a saving of half pennies.
What did you do after leaving school?
I worked for De Havilland Aircraft Corp before doing my National Service in the RAF at 18. After that, I did a season at Butlins holiday camp, before going to Liverpool because I needed a job. I got one in a shipping office, and you wouldn’t believe how Dickensian it was, copying with a fountain pen from one sheet to another sheet.
I got £8 a week.
What did you tell the Beatles about money when you briefly played with them in 1960?
I told them there was no money in rock’n’roll, because there wasn’t then and we were all working for about £2.50 a night. Two years later – in 1962 – different story!
How did show business become a career?
I was inspired by my dad who would have been a fine comedian, but never got the chance. At 11, I said, I’m going to be a stand-up comedian and turned pro when 24.
When I became a stand-up comedian, we were always paid in cash and I often had over £500 in my wallet and three hand-made suits in my van. I’ve been very lucky but I worked hard because I love communicating.
This led to numerous maths programmes on children’s TV in the 1970s and 80s. Writing the television programmes was such a joy because they were different. I’m so proud of shows like Think of a Number, because they influenced thousands of children towards careers in science, technology, engineering and teaching.
Were you good at teaching your children about maths?
I was working so hard that, frankly, I taught them nothing. My dad taught me more than I taught my kids because he had more time. I had no time. I was writing my scripts. Zoe’s pillow was on the other side of the wall from my office and the tap-tap of my typewriter used to send her to sleep!
I regret I didn’t teach my three enough directly, but you don’t teach your kids, they just learn everything from you, so watch how you behave in from of them!
When did you feel you were financially secure?
My bank manager in Hounslow knew I’d been a stand-up comic, and asked me for jokes that he could tell at the bank managers’ dinner. He thanked me for giving him jokes by tipping me off about an annuity pension, which offered 14.5 per cent for life and I’ve had that since I was 69, that’s 19 years and counting.
After 25 years in TV, the corporate world beat a path to my door and my earnings went through the roof. Then my musicals put the icing on top of that. Plus commercials. All bills, mortgage, debts, etc were paid off by 2000.
Do you own property?
I dabbled in property once, and emerged unscathed, but really I’ve only had the house I’ve got, which is now two-and-a-half times the size it was when I bought it for £50,000 in 1979 because it was an utter wreck. I’d had a divorce from my first wife, Zoe’s mum, and £50,000 was all I had. It’s now worth around £2.5m.
Are you a spender or a saver?
I’m not a spender at all. My wife Dianne and I want for nothing, but we don’t seek anything. We’ve toured the world and don’t particularly want to tour it again. We went to Canada in March, but that was the first overseas trip we’d done in five years, apart from a week in the sun. Financially I’m very comfortable, due to the corporate years of the 1990s.
Do you gamble?
I love gambling for the maths involved, but it’s a mug’s game so I weaned myself off it. Now I only ever gamble for a pint, usually on Liverpool FC.
Do you invest?
Yes, with Hargreaves Lansdown, but I chose my own investments, slowly, and I seem to have done okay.
What’s your top money tip to anyone wanting to break into entertainment now?
The secret is being able to write. When the phone stops ringing, you may need to write your career and your new way forward. Also, I have never found taking just the advice of an adviser as satisfactory. You must learn to decide what you do with your money.
What are you up to now?
I am still working every day and writing scripts and books, including Wonders Beyond Numbers, which is my greatest achievement in print. It’s meant to be a history of mathematics that anyone can read and understand, and it’s never daunting.
I love performing still and am possibly better than ever, in many ways. So it is sad when people think I am past it, and do not ring to book me anymore. I would work every day if I could.
‘Wonders Beyond Numbers’ is on sale now. To book Johnny Ball for a school or society visit johnnyball.co.uk.