Gavin and Stacey star Rob Brydon says he "regrets" turning down the chance to interview Dolly Parton after choosing to stay on a family holiday. Brydon fronted the BBC documentary series Honky Tonk Road Trip, where he travelled across the American South to celebrate 100 years of country music. In it he visited Dollywood, a theme park created by Parton, where Dolly's relatives had traced the lineage of the Parton and Owens sides to Wales.
He was told he could interview Parton if he returned after filming had ended, but chose to stay on his family holiday in Arizona - an opportunity he now wished he had taken because he never got to meet her before she died. Parton died peacefully in hospital in Nashville on 25 August following a brief battle with cancer. She was admitted to hospital four days before her death with kidney and autoimmune issues.
"I sort of regret it now," he told Lucy Owen during an interview on BBC Radio Wales. "I kind of wish that I had gone back because I never met her." During the interview, Owen's compared Brydon "encouraging children to pick up a book" with Parton's dedication to support children through literacy with her Imagination Library scheme. The global book-gifting scheme delivers one free book every month to children from birth until they turn five years old.
Owen's told him that it felt "like a really lovely circle". "That hadn't occurred to me, but yeah, you're right," Brydon said. The Welsh actor and comedian's debut children's book - The Cat in The Cupboard - will be published on 10 September.
Aimed at children aged between five and seven, the tale was inspired by the stories he invented for his children about their own ginger cat. Brydon said he had long made up stories and songs "for my own enjoyment" and was excited to share this with others. The story, which is told entirely in rhyme, follows Crumble the cat on his daring garden adventures.
He explained the idea came when they had to move their cat flap and "it went to the corner of the house... which meant that he came into the house via a cupboard". "I just remember saying, 'Oh, the cat in the cupboard, the cat in the cupboard, that sounds nice'," he said. The actor joins Lucy Owen to discuss The Cat in the Cupboard.
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