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The 5-Minute Interview: Paul Jones, Singer and broadcaster

'The harmonica is unfairly dismissed. Playing it makes you look funny'

Tuesday 02 January 2007 01:00 GMT
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Paul Jones, 64, was 'The One In The Middle' in Sixties pop group Manfred Mann. He now jugglesa show on Radio 2 every Thursday and playing with the Manfreds, Dave Kelly and the Blues Band

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be ...

Finishing my coffee.

A phrase I use far too often is ...

Great stuff. Sometimes it's easier to say "Great stuff. Now here's another record by ... "

I wish people would take more notice of ...

The harmonica. There are wonderful harmonica-players the world over but they're not given the same attention as guitar-players. I know what it is. With the guitar, you can throw shapes. With the harmonica, you look funny.

A common misconception of me is ...

That I am completely, 100 per cent, self-confident.

I'm not a politician but...

I sometimes wish that people were not so taken in by the likes of [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez. And ... no, I won't say any others.

I'm good at...

Picking the right records to play on the radio.

But I'm very bad at...

Putting up with people's bad driving. You should just let it be water off a duck's back.

The ideal night out is...

Being with thousands of people who are having their lives changed by the love of God. Having their bodies healed, having their minds healed, having their finances healed, having everything that needs healing in their lives healed.

In moments of weakness I...

Blame somebody else for what I've done, or what I didn't do.

You know me as a musician, but in a truer life I would have been...

A musician, but a Christian musician.

The best age to be is...

Whatever you are. Don't wish to be anything else.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is...

Don't try to answer questions, or understand things or affect things or cancel things which only God has the power to do. Just be humble.

Pierre Perrone

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